Blankie for Miss Olivia

So what does it mean when the kids you made baby blankets for are now starting to have kids......that you're now making baby blankets for?  I know, I know.......it means that you're getting pretty demmed old, that's what!!!  Now I didn't actually make a baby blanket for Olivia's mom - but I've known her since was about 2 years old...........soooo close enough!!

 

Used mostly Bernat Baby yarn.......aside from the solid brown -  that's called "Cuddle" and it was a Joann's brand a couple of years ago. I like it a lot because it's a deeper saturation AND it's skinny yarn (my favorite).  

 

Picot edging is my choice for baby blankets...............mostly because it's simple yet gives a finished look AND it goes pretty speedy fast - and by the time I'm at the edging point - I am done, Done, DONE with that particular blanket................whew..............

I tend to make LARGER baby blankets because.............because..............well, I think because when I'm making the squares, I KNOW they're not big enough to cover a baby.  So I make fairly large granny squares AND then once they're put together I kind of go, "Huh, guess that's big enough for a baby??!!!"....... I'm currently working on another blanket - I'm making EVERY effort to keep it baby-sized.  We'll see how it goes..............

Toodles for now...

Shamrock Garland

Green Greetings to everyone!!!

 

Here's a bit of St. Patty's Day crafting that I've been working on........a Shamrock Garland.  I've used my favorite cotton yarn, Sugar & Cream in 3 different colors.  I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned out.  The shamrocks were soooooo easy to make I ended up making quite a few so that turned into several garlands!!

 

Here are some close-ups of each colored shamrock.  I think this first one is my favorite.  It's a subtle ombre color called "Aloe Vera".

 

 

The next shamrock is a bold green called "Mod Green".........pretty traditional and the only solid yarn I used for this project.

 

The last shamrock is made from "Key Lime Pie" - Creepella's favorite!  Yarns have such fun names!!

Sorry, this photo isn't so great.....the sun was actually too bright for some of them!!  But you get the idea how the garlands look.  I'm pretty certain I found the shamrock pattern from a link on Tangled Happy. 

 

We've had corned beef & cabbage, with red potatoes and carrots - it was YUMMMM-Ooooo!!!

 

Hope you all have a Happy St. Patrick's Day - remember your GREEN!!

 

Toodles...





Abel's Gift

 

Abel always stops by for a visit during the craft fairs.  The last one was no exception.  While visiting he started fiddling with Heidi's scarf (the apple green one here).  Apparently Heidi REALLY likes her scarf - she wears it all of the time (which is good for my crochet-ego).  When she mentioned that I made it for her he was a bit shocked (which was NOT good for my crochet-ego) but then he started thinking and then asked if I could make one in "49er colors".  Welllllllll I can make one in ANY color depending upon the yarn I use.  He just GRINNED at me and wiggled his eyebrows - let me tell you, that's a look you don't soon forget!

 

Apparently Heidi caught his drift also because after he was on his merry way she asked if I would make him a scarf for his b-day if she purchased the yarn. I told her NOOOO, I could not - as I had already decided to make him a scarf as a gift and I didn't need her stinkin' money.  She took no offense, she knows me and it's our special way of communicating!!

This biggest complication?  What stitch to use?  I tried about 5 different stitches and combination of stitches and ended up with one of my favorites - the "V-Stitch".  I did switch things up a bit though - instead of crocheting from one end all the way up to the finished end, I stitched the length first and then stitched "in the round" (technically in the rectangle but you get the idea...").  I like how it turned out - of course I used my go-to scarf yarn of Home Spun and these two colors are well, red and gold.  Creepella thinks Gryffindor instead of 49ners but then again so do I (go Muggles!!). 

As long as Abel likes it, that's all that matters.  Happy, happy birthday Abel!!

Toodles...

Crochet Happy

Brrrrrr - is it cold out there or what?

 

 

Actually it's not - and sadly we've gotten little to no snow and no rain to speak of...but you didn't pop in to hear weather woes...you've probably been waiting oh-so patiently for a card posting AND once again...it's NOT happening!

 

However I do have some photos of some of the crochet goodness that I was involved in for gifties!!  I whipped these 3 scarves up for Christmas presents.  All were made with different yarn but surprisingly they all landed in the pinky/purply color family. 

 

 

I "found" this oh-so cool pattern ("Aligned Shells") in a book I've had for YEARS ("63 Easy-To-Crochet Pattern Stitches" by Darla Sims).  Not really sure why it took so long to apply yarn to hook, but at long last it happened.  This little purple beauty was made for Heidi (who dropped a few not-too-subtle hints about NOT having any purple or pink scarves in her collection).  Love the softness in feel and in the color variegation of this beautiful yarn  ("Unforgettable" Boutique by Red Heart) - this is "Petunia" (there are several other colors and they're all oh-so gorgeous...).  One skein is 280 yards and is lovely to work with and is more than enough to complete a scarf.

 

Scarf #2 is made with the Shocking Pink "Chick" yarn (Bernat's Boa) and it's just double crochet - there's about 129 yards in a ball and since it's been a while since I've worked with it I couldn't quite recall how many balls I would need for a scarf.  To be safe, I purchased 2 balls and much to my delight, I discovered 1 ball was enough for the length of scar I wanted.  After my retinas recovered, I tucked the second ball of "Chick" safely away for another day AND I already know who'll be getting that second scarf! 

 

Jilean  was shocked and delighted with her gift and she rather insulted me with the question, "Did you actually make this yourself????" - why yes indeedy chili beanie, I most certainly DID!!!

The final scarf was made for Lorra - I was pretty torn because she's a total Disney Fan and I like to make things that really reflect the recipient's personalities and interests...but let's be honest - I was on a tight schedule and I really didn't have time to do a lot of color changes (let alone any cool Disney motifs) and I absolutely detest weaving ends....ick, ick, ick!!  So I decided to select a color that I thought she might like in a yarn that would be oh-so cozy (and warm since the woman is ALWAYS freezing - when she's not burning up with a hot flash...) so of course what did I select?  Well hello - that would be Lyon Brand's Homespun of course, of course.  I don't recall the color name but one skein (185 yards) is more than enough to make a great scarf - generally I do a V-stitch with Homespun, it works up fast & easy and looks good with the chunkiness of the yarn.  And there's enough left over to add to my stash of left-over yarns....I've used/will be using enough Homespun to make a 1-granny square lap blanket...which is of course ANOTHER project!

 

Oh shoot - completely forgot to snap a photo of the scarf I made for Creepella - will have to do that soon - it turned out lovely but I hated the yarn...snagged on my too-dry fingers and just waited to knot up the moment I let my guard down....sigh.....

 

I've got a couple of other scarf projects in the works and I'm now kitting up some of the next stitching projects I plan to work on.  Work is busy, busy, busy and school started a couple of weeks ago and I'm enjoying my second floral class (corsages & wedding flowers) and with the new scrapbook line of CTMH, I'm trying to get the hang of that and as always there are sooooo many card ideas and not nearly enough time.  Retirement can't come soon enough for my Life Of Crafting!

 

I hope you all have had some Crafty Time!

 

Toodles...

A Banner Year

On our red wall, we did a smidge of decoration with a b-day banner.......

The "50th" was specifically made for Gail (when we celebrated her half-Century celebration).  I love making banners but whoa are they time-consuming (or is it just me???).  I was able to cross-craft.....stamping AND a bit of crochet (a chain stitch to hang the letters).

This year I plan on making a bright (and generic) b-day banner that we can use repeatedly AND that can be used for both girls and boys......this one is a bit frou-frou I know...  Bright colors against the red wall will be oh-so festive.....now I just need to get hopping!

B&T papers - CTMH
CS - CTMH and Stardream
Stamps - CTMH
Inks - Memento & CTMH
Stickles
Punches & dies - Marvy, Martha Stewart and Paper Smooches
Vine ribbon - PTI
Twine - A Muse
Paper Flowers - Recollections
Mini gemstones & pearls - Hero Arts & A Muse
Mini clothespins - Michaels
Cotton crochet thread

Thanksgiving

Sparkly leaves..................................

And yarn pumpkins......................

 

 

 

It must be Thanksgiving.........................!!  Stamps by CTMH, leaf border & glitter by Martha, Ribbon - Michaels? and twine from A Muse.  Yarn is inexpensive Red Heart (I used "carrot" and "bone") - and the instructions for the yarn pumpkins can be found here.  They'd make a cute garland but since I had extra I just sort of tossed them about AND I made mini-pumpkins.  Of course at Creepella's request I also made some white pumpkins.  Super simple - a good "watching T.V." sort of craft.

 

Hope your Thanksgiving is wonderfully filling.................

 

Toodles,

Kathy

Pumpkin Head

So Creepella has been browsing around and she found a hat, a little pumpkin beanie - made for an infant....and she comes up with this brilliant idea, "Mom, can you make this for me?  Then I can be a "ruddy big pumpkin head" for Halloween!!".  Ruddy big pumpkin head as in Harry Potter 4 - when Ron is sooooo peeved about Victor Krum.....we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE that line in the movie.  And well, Creepella DOES have a rather large noggin.......

So here's the first-go.  It worked and now I just need to fiddle around with increasing the size to actually FIT her ruddy big pumpkin head!!  Start to finish (including re-working the curly vines about 3 times and the stem portion once), it took about 3 hours to complete.  It was fun, fun, fun and now the wheels are spinning for all sorts of fruit beanies!

To everyone - Happy Hooking!!

Toodles for now...

Neck-slinging or Wringing

 

 

 

Well, I guess I wouldn't be actually SLINGING or WRINGING any one's neck, just warming it up a bit!  Here's some of the craftiness that I've been busy with between Finals and Christmas.....oh, and I actually did TWO of the apple green scarves (one for Creepella and one for Heidi).  Used that chunky Homespun yarn and a K-sized hook (feels kind of like Kindergarten crochet).  

 

I edged the scarves with a weird 4-chain scallop stitch.  I like it and so did Gail - I made her the first scarf (very Autumn-y colored and of course I completely forgot to snap a photo) for her b-day in November.  She's a fellow-crocheter and she liked the edging so I took that as a good sign and RAN with it........

 

I'm happy that I've warmed up at least 7 necks (make that 8 including Gail's).......now they'll just need to watch out for those pesky vampires...............!!!

Yes, MORE Flowers!



Ok, this will be the last of the crochet flowers for now.  Too much of anything is just too much!!

Paper flowers, crochet flowers and a wee bit of stamping........always fun, right?  The original design concept included a ribbon going along the fold-side but when I started to experiment with the ribbons I decided the card was becoming too busy AND I really wanted attention focused on those crochet flower so the stamped vine-y border was perfect (I also stamped that on the envelopes - so it was great tie-in for the card).

Stamps - PTI & CTMH

Inks - Memento

CS - CTMH

Martha Stewart Grass border punch

Cloud Die - A Muse



How About This?

Remember all of those mini-crochet flowers I made in a fit of furious crochet-frenzy?  Wellllll, here's a little something you can do with them.  Just perfect!!  Once the flowers are finished, they can be used as all sorts of embellishments.

I grabbed a couple of Marvy scalloped-circle punches and a plain circle punch, a bit of B&T paper and some coordinating CS, a circle stamp and some ink.  Oh and the cute mini heart brad too!! 

I made quite a few of these for Mother's day (little gift enclosures for little treat bags of chocolates because EVERY Mom needs a bit o' chocolate, right??).

I love it when something stitchy or hooky can be incorporated into my cards.......it's really like the planets aligning and all is right in the Universe........aaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!

Stamp - PTI
Inks - Memento & Colorbox chalks
B&T - PTI
CS - CTMH
Mini heart brad - Making Memories
Punches - Marvy

Flowers, Flowers, Everywhere.....

Greetings to the 6 followers of Kabobbing Cards.  Been away for a good long while - but I've been stamping.....a stamping fool.  Haven't taken many photos because it feels like I have to jump through about 17 hoops to set up my "studio" (aka my desk...) and I'm a lazy gal and when I'm not busy being lazy I'm t i r e d as in I don't get enough sleep because I'm busy stamping or stitching so I don't get the proper amount of sleep and then I start off in a pretty groggy state and then I spend 9 hours in front of dual monitors doing absolutely mind-numbing work and then I stumble off to class a couple of times a week to get a Major Math (a 4-letter word) headache and then finally get home to start the whole process again!

But the cool thing is whilst doing all of these little crafty things.......I do make stuff like the mini-flowers above.....AND I actually DO something with said flowers (aside from just plain admiring them in the cool little tin I received during this year's b-day week).  Alas I have no photos of the card that I made......but I will - and very soon too!!

Thanks for stopping by............catch you in a couple of days!!

More Hearts......

I can be a bit obsessive...........but only a bit. Got a little side-ways making those cute little crochet hearts - but Valentine's Day only happens once a year, what to do with even more crochet hearts??



Why make shamrocks of course, of course!!




Keep them all secured with a green rhinestone brad...

Just a little tweaking needed to make it look nice & tidy....and isn't that shamrock embossed cardstock panel just perfect to show-case the cute little green hearts??

Add a green rbbon "stem" and bit o' grass and......................

Ta-Dahhhhhhhh...........you've got yourself a rather spiffy St. Patty's Day card!!

Stamp - Stampendous

Cardstock and B&T - A Muse, CTMH, Cosmo Cricket

Ink - Momento

Shamrock embossing folder - Cuttlebug

Gemstone Brad - Making Memories

Grass Border Punch - Martha Stewart

Misc: cotton crochet thread; scrap of green ribbon

Heart on a String

YOU MADE THIS FOR KARLA??????

That's what I heard from Creepella when she saw the one that I DID make for Karla. Dejection and just a tinge of green had me punching MORE and LARGER hearts to make this one.

It's not that it's difficult to make, it's just time-consuming. I tell you I nearly poked my eye out while making the crochet mini-heart (found it and the pattern on the Attic24 blog - lovely stuff!!). Granted I was using cotton thread (the stuff you make doilies and table cloths with....) and a #10 hook (really can't see the hook part) - so basically I was crocheting by FEEL. Even under two Ott lites I really couldn't SEE what the heck I was doing.

Bottom line, Creepella was happy, Karla was happy and I was able to continue on with my V-day cards.

NO stamps!!

B&T Paper - CTMH

Marvy Heart Punch

Ink - Colorbox Chalk Ink

Happy Hooking

Now how's that for a post title??? But come on, it's meeeeee - Ms. Booooooring........I'm talking about crochet here!!

I've had this yarn for a while (picked it up at Michaels when it was as such a great price, I couldn't pass it up). Very, very soft, pretty pastel colors and I always like to the have a couple of baby blankets handy (while I can't seem to conquer my procrastinating ways, I try to work around them as much as I can - having items "on hand" helps a lot).

Mostly I'm a granny-square fan. Quick and easy and while a pain to put together, even that can be fun once you get into it....... But let's face it, sometimes you just want to do something different.....enter Leisure Arts crochet leaflets. I have one that I've had for years. I take it out every few years, admire the various crochet squares (there's 64 of them in this leaflet), look at the written directions, sigh and then put it back on the bookshelf. I am a complete idiot when it comes to reading instructions/directions.....well, I'm a complete idiot when it comes to reading written CROCHET instructions/directions. But one night, I had had enough!!! I would NOT let a few weird abbreviations and symbols block my path in learning a new pattern - I was made of stronger stuff and I would prevail!!!! After getting fired up, telling my family to go to bed (well, it was nearly bedtime anyway) and making the cats promise to leave me alone (they tend to sit/lie on ANY type of paper IF they think you'll need it...), I grabbed my crochet hook, some oh-so pretty yarn (figured the pastel colors would help to take the edge off the whole "trying to follow written directions" tension that was already mounting) and I......STARTED.

After a few stops and starts and yesssssss, I did have to rip out stitches on more than one occasion and there may have been a bit of "colorful" vocabulary being muttered - but I finished a square and then another one and then another one until I had completed 6 - a good start to a new baby blanket!!

That was a couple of months ago but the taste of Victory was so sweet, I decided I wanted MORE - so I grabbed the handy-dandy Leisure Arts Leaflet (now considered a long-lost friend) and at midnight of a very long and busy day, decided it was time to learn another pattern AND try to figure out "multiples" (which I did out-loud with lots of muttering and sarcasm, apparently I was louder than I thought -- Creepella suggested I go to bed and "give it a rest Mom....."). But NO!! It was imperative that I learn this new pattern (including the multiples part) and that I learn it now!! I was not to be denied in my quest for new patterns and stitches - I was forging a new path of Crochet.....I was unstoppable. Well, I was unstoppable until about 2:00am - Star Trek was over, my hands were freezing and my eyes kept closing.

.......but I knew I had won, I had nearly 3 inches of a NEWLY-learned pattern crocheted - I was victorious!!