Crafting for a Cause

Until about two weeks ago, I'd never crocheted for charity before, but I came across a post on reddit that just broke my heart and I felt compelled to help out the person who posted. Her friend's mom was recently diagnosed with cancer for the fourth time. To try and give her some strength and love, the poster, u/tryingforadinosaur, asked the r/crochet community to send her granny squares so that she can make a blanket for her friend's mom.

Since I got all of Sharon's yarn stash in December, I haven't really known what to do with most of the yarn since there's only one or two skeins of each color. This project was perfect, though, because I didn't need much yarn for each square and it allowed me to destash some in the process.

In all honestly, I intended to take pictures of all the finished squares before I packaged them and sent them off to Utah, but somehow I forgot and here we are. My best guess is that I sent something like twenty or more squares off to u/tryingforadinosaur and I'm really proud of myself for being involved with this project. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm pounding my chest and yelling about it from the mountain tops, but I do feel good about the entire thing and I really hope that she gets enough squares to make her friend's blanket. It'd be great if she could send us pictures of it when she gets done, but I'm not sure that that will happen and thusly I'm not getting my hopes up. Either way, all is well and I was glad to be a part of the process.

The Scrapghan is Making a Come Back!

I started going back to my knit and crochet group about a month ago and since then I've been crocheting nearly everyday (meaning that my cross stitches and cards have taken a back seat, but whatever.)

As a result of all this crocheting, I've been going through a lot of the scrap yarn that was given to me by a coworker before she retired. Truth be told, I'm still trying to get through it all to untangle and organize it, but I'm most of the way done and I've been crocheting up granny squares and granny's daughter squares (GDs) like a fiend. The extra scraps that are six inches long or more but aren't long enough to become GDs are then put into my scrap yarn container to be tied together later and added to my super scrapghan.

This is what the balls look like when I have enough to wind together and add to my blanket. I intentionally leave the knot tails wild so that they stick out all over the place as I crochet. The effect is pretty cool and I love the fact that this blanket will truly be one of a kind. The yarn has come from previous projects and friends and there's tons of memories interwoven with the yarn.

Off and on, I've been working on my scrapghan since January 2012. The project gets worked on when I'm actively crocheting, but until recently I haven't really been working on projects. With me going back to Sassy Stitchers, though, progress is imminent on this project. This last ball that I added made the blanket at least four inches longer and I'm over half way done with the entire thing, so I'm pretty happy with it all. Now if I can just get all my UFOs done and make space in my craft area for different things other than yarn, I will be very, very happy.

Link to my Scrapghan project entry on Ravelry

New Die Cutter & Resulting Birthday Cards

This year is flying by and I have no idea where it's going. And while I'm not sure that I've really accomplished anything significant over the last several months, I have been crafting.

At the end of June, I got a Sizzix die cutting machine to use with my thin cuts and I've been absolutely having a blast with it. My first projects were to make birthday cards for my grandmother and my husband. Gran got unicorns and Hubby got adorable cacti (and both loved their cards!) Pictures are below. Stamps and thin cuts came from Close to My Heart (great products!)

Home Sweet Home Yoshi WIP 035

I know that I'm crazy for saying this, but I feel like it's been ages since I've updated everyone on HSHY. As usual, the title says it all. Here is Day 035's progress toward completion. Will Yoshi ever get finished at this rate? For once, I'm thinking a strong and positive 'Yes!' (It's a miracle.)

And looking back at my time/stitch log, the reason it feels like so long ago for this WIP is because it's from July 30th... So much for getting up to date on everything this month. I didn't add a ton to this piece today, but as you can tell on Yoshi, he's actually starting to get some color on him. It took seven months, but I imagine that he'll be filled in completely within a few more photos.

I took this picture outside of my HR Office in the car, so I had to hold it up with one hand and quickly snap  a picture with the other. The color is good, though, and so far I'm really happy with how everything is turning out. I'm starting to imagine how it will look as I begin work on the tree now. Should be awesome. =)

Total Time Through July 30, 2014: 1 day 19 hours 23 minutes

Total Stitched Through July 30, 2014: 5,428 (25.13%)

Yarn Destashing Project: Potholders & Bags

I was all ready and excited to write about this great market bag I'd made over the course of the last few days in July, but last night I decided to rip the entire bag apart and start again because I was really unhappy with how it ended up turning out. Here's what my desk looked like last night after all of the carnage. I didn't even bother rewinding all the yarn back onto the spool. There was just a pile of yarn barf all over my desk.

  

As for the double-thick potholder I made that weekend, too. It's gone missing. I think it must be packed away in my dog sitting gear still, but I've been too lazy to look for it since it's been too hot for me to make soup anyway. (It's been >80F and 50-85% humidity for the last week here.) When I find it, you have my word I'll post it along with an image of my famous Zuppa Toscana.

(Man, I'm hungry now...)

July Recap & August Goals

Well, it's hard to believe, but happy August 2014! I have no idea where summer has gone, but as of Monday it's officially ended for me. I start my new position at work come Monday, but no University until the end of the month, so summer may be winding down, but luckily it isn't over yet.

Last month I set out four goals for myself:

1. Use up remaining cotton yarn.
2. Add 2,000 stitches to HSHY.
3. Finish one Pokemon ornament.
4. Add 20 rounds to Ian's blanket. (Sort of.)

I blew my goals for Yoshi out of the water and added at least 2,000 stitches, if not closer to 3,000. I also managed to use up almost all of my remaining cotton yarn from my stash--pictures to come Wednesday. And even though I technically didn't finish my 4th goal of adding 20 rounds to Ian's blanket, I did finish up another blanket very similar to his and it's all wrapped up waiting for me to give to a good friend once I see her at work again come late August. The only goal that I didn't complete was #3. I did not work on Pokemon ornaments at all, but I did manage to get sidetracked and finish two other cross stitch ornaments for our future video game Christmas tree. I should have them posted on Monday, but I'm really happy with how they've turned out so far.

As for August goals, I'm not really sure how things with my new job are going to work out, so I'm setting the bar pretty low for this month.

1. Add 1,000 stitches to HSHY.
2. Finish one Pokemon ornament (Charmander).

Anything else that gets done next month is extra credit, in my opinion. There is going to be a lot that goes on in the next month just in terms of work and school, but SO's dad might be going back in for some elective surgery within the year, so I'm not sure what's going to happen. I'm just going to play it close to the chest for now and whatever gets done gets done. As I always try to remind myself...

Home Sweet Home Yoshi WIP 032

The magic of blogging is that my posts (typically) come out on a regular Monday/Wednesday/Friday basis and it looks like I've just been zooming along on Yoshi. The truth of the matter, however, is that I took an almost two week break on this baby to work on other pursuits between July 8th and July 20th, so I'm nearly caught up to my current WIPs for this piece.

There was a lot going on going on this month. I ran a half marathon (Remember the Batman tutu?); SO had to go to the hand surgeon; and I had to have some dentistry work done, so things were a bit hectic, but luckily HSHY is a personal pursuit and not a commission, so I can take all the time I want to on it. Unluckily, I really want to get started on some other large projects before I turn 800 years old. (And trust me, I have projects lined up...)

Here's WIP 032, though! The work is through July 20, 2014. I was able to add in just over 275 stitches over the course of the day, so I'm pretty happy. And you can actually see the work that I got done today. That's one of the huge perks of outlining. You can really see the progress that is made over the course of a day. Yoshi has officially made his appearance and so has a second tree trunk. If you ask me, that's pretty spectacular.

Total Time: 1 day 15 hours 41 minutes

Total Stitches: 4,821/21,600 (22.32%)

Home Sweet Home Yoshi WIP 030 & 031

Well, first of all, happy Tuesday and I apologize for the delay in posting. My laptop decided to throw a temper tantrum on Sunday night and I was without a computer to post from until yesterday afternoon when it decided to fix itself out of nowhere. Luckily, Lappy lives to see another day, but not without some melodrama first. (Edit: it's still acting up, but luckily I have a work around for now.)

True to form, I forgot to take a picture between WIP 030 and 031, so this is a double post, but I'm almost caught up in terms of WIP photos for July, so these posts shouldn't be so backlogged in the near future. Also, before I forget to mention this, please excuse me for taking such blurry photos of my work through July 7 & 8. Apparently I am an incredible lightweight when it comes to drinking. I can sew in stitches like a mad woman, but ask me to take a photograph after I've had two beers and this is what you're going to get.

Overall, I have to say that my profession and my hobbies go well together. I get to spend quality time with my clients' animals and practice productive hobbies that benefit others and bring happiness to my life. I feel very lucky to have such a symbiotic work life, not many people get to have that in their lives.

Total Stitches through July 8, 2014: 4,534/21,600 (20.99%)
Total Time through July 8, 2014: 1 day 13 hours 28 minutes

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Batman! (Tutu)

Most of my readers don't know that I'm a double agent who not only maintains Bob Crochets Craft Down, but also a second blog called #RunTylerRun. There I keep track of my running races and training. Rarely do the two subjects mix, but sometimes my crafting and running can become one and the same topic.

Since May 2013 I have run five half marathons, two of which have been the Costume Party Half Marathon*. For the 2013 race, I was still new to the whole idea of running, so I decided not to dress up. It was too intimidating to me, but for 2014 I knew what expect and I was ready. Three of us were running: Claudia, my mom TJ, and me.

A few weeks prior to our race, Claudia found superhero technical tees at her local Target and texted me saying that she'd purchased our race shirts for us. I was going to be Batman, Claudia was going to be Superman, and my mom was going to be Spiderman, because it was that or nothing. TJ was too petite for anything but a men's small, so shopping for her was...difficult.

We made it happen, though, and as soon as the shirts were purchased, I began work on the rest of my costume for the race. All it took was a trip on Wednesday to Old Navy to buy the pants I wanted and a second stop to JoAnn's for tutu material and I was off.

This is what my poor client's dining room table looked like for three days. I'm sure it looks clean, but as soon as tulle strips started to pile up, it became a total mess. In all, I think I used about twelve yards of tulle, but if I had been feeling really determined, I know that I could have used up all fifteen yards that I had purchased.

I alternated cutting and tying tulle as much as possible since both have a tendency to be tedious. In total the project took me three days and a boatload of Netflix episodes to get, through, but I ended up very happy with the fruits of my labor.

End of Work Day #1

 I have to admit that the photograph from Night #1 don't seem to show a lot of progress, but off camera there were a lot of piled up tulle strips ready to go for the next day. I also try and make my tutus as stretched out as possible, with just a little bit of overall give to them, so even though I cut a strip of elastic that was about eighteen inches long, by the end of the first night My elastic had already become about twenty to twenty-two inches in circumference.

End of Work Day #2, Front View

End of Work Day #2, Top View

At the end of Day #2 I had gotten to the point where I was headed around the back of the chair, a huge feat in any tulle tutu making process. From the top down, it doesn't look like much, but from the front, this Bat-tutu was starting to come together. I figured that if I got all the rest of my cutting done on Night #2, that I could spend my last day of work, Friday, just knotting on tulle.

And that's what I did. My Batman tutu was done after roughly 3:00 in the afternoon on Friday, a healthy two and a half days before CPR. Here's my horrible mirror picture that I sent to TJ and Claudia that afternoon.

 

And even better, here's our picture from race day!

See you all with a new post soon!

* For more information regarding CPR 2014, please click here.

July Goals: The Stash Down Month

Well, it's finally July. I can barely believe it. Where has summer gone? How have I gained so much weight? And most importantly, how is my house such a disaster?

In doing some spring summer cleaning this morning, I realized that I have just too much going on in my realm of crafting. Most of these projects are blankets that I need to finish crocheting, but there are other projects, too, like my cross stitching and scrap booking. So, to follow in the footsteps of another craft blog that I was recently reading, I'm setting out with my goals for the month!

1. Use up all of the remaining cotton yarn in my stash, roughly one cone. (I see a lot of dishcloths and hot pads in my future.)
2. Add 2,000+ stitches to Home Sweet Home Yoshi.
3. Finish one pokemon ornament, most likely Ivysaur.
4. Add at least 20 rounds to Ian's blanket.

Ambitious, but doable if I put my mind to it. Now I just need to learn how to crochet and run. Have you ever seen the marathoners that knit scarves while they run? It's incredible.