Chocolatedogstudio Archives - Page 12 of 26

Posted on May 8, 2014 by admin

Scraps into Diamonds

If you follow me on facebook or instagram. You have been seeing these photos.

I spent a day combing through my scraps and cutting out diamond shapes.

It was an easy thing to do and still feel like I was accomplishing something. I cut out tons and then I put them together to get these neat little stars.

I’m so proud of the points matching in these two stars. I think I have finally figured it out.

See Â the perfect points in the middle! Can you guess what I am making in the studio these days? I have some others finished and waiting on some photos but it is too dark today. We are finally getting some rain so I am not complaining. I hope that it cuts down on the wildfires that we have had. There have been some huge wildfires in Oklahoma and many people have lost everything. So, our area has been under a red flag, which means no fire pits, no cook outs, no burning of any kind.

If you want to follow me on instagram (I am new there) you can find me with this user name: Chocodogstudio

You can also follow me on Facebook here:Â https://www.facebook.com/Chocolatedogstudio

There is too much to do today. We are in the midst of printing out 300 graduation programs and are running low on toner. One of the nice things about having your child in public or private school as there are details that you really do not have to deal with, like printing graduation programs!

I will talk to you later!

Karen

Posted on May 5, 2014 by admin

Flannel bibs and blankets!

Here are a few more gift ideas for baby showers!

Aren’t they fun bib and Â blanket sets! You can see them at www.chocolatesbabyshop.etsy.com I am listing the blankets this week so keep dropping in to the shop!

The weather here has been great and the family has been helping me get our flower beds back into order. The yard has been sadly neglected for the past several years. Over the past couple of weekends the front flower bed has gone from thisAfter they pulled all of the grass and raked it all out. You can see the rose bush, 2 crepe myrtles and then the sage that my daughter planted. There were no other plants in this flower bed at all. We stuck some iris bulbs and then also hope to grow some Russian sage near the corner. The Russian sage seems to survive very well in our very hot weather that we have. The bees love it. So I think it will be great to transplant some of the Russian sage we have growing in the front raised bed to this flower bed. It seems very hardy for our gardening abilities and neglect.

Then they added some dirt.Last they added the mulch and it looks so much better than it did. Now to take this beautiful work on around the corner of the house.

Here is the soon to be High School graduate on his way to the Senior recognition day at our church. He chose to wear the jacket and tie. Â You can see how much better the flower bed looks. I hope to have a better photo soon. I have also been working on some new crochet things for the chocolatedogstudio shop. Here is a sneak peak at one of them.

talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on April 30, 2014 by admin

Natural light vs Indoor light

I try really hard to take most of my photos with natural light. I wait for a bright day and take the photos with the sun shining. Here is a really good photo illustration why I do this.

This is the same blanket one photo taken in indoor lighting and the second photo taken in natural light.

There is a huge difference. Sometimes you can successfully edit photos and get a more natural appearance. I am truthfully not that good with photo editing software. I use Picasa, an old program that was free. It is pretty easy for me to use. Â These photos are cropped but not color edited in any way.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on April 28, 2014 by admin

Monday April 28, 2014

I had an overwhelming feeling this past weekend that I needed to buy more yarn. I have, after all, crocheted a huge amount of items. I haven’t really ordered any yarn since January when I started the 100 items in 100 days challenge. I did buy two destash orders from friends on Etsy last month but that doesn’t really count! Â Here is the yarn I bought from my friend Rose who knits wonderful blankets, scarves, and shawls.Â

IÂ am combining it with the rest of the wool yarn that I had leftover and it is in the process of being turned into a wonderful one of a kind art blanket. It is full of lovely texture and Autumn colors, but it is wool and it is HOT to sit under right now. Here is the undoctored photo of my foot in the boot. This is the other reason it is hot. This boot is heavy and like wearing an insulated blanket.

I don’t know about you but sitting around is exceedingly boring. I have run through many Netflix marathons in the afternoons and evenings. This is also the reason I have completed so many different baby items.Â So, I was thinking that I needed to buy more yarn and decided that I would first see what I have on hand.

Lovely blues, greens, white, red and navy

A nice assortment of colors from pink to bright orange back to purples, and grey.

Another tub full of neutral yarns. So, I am not ordering any yarn. I have ENOUGH yarn to keep me busy for a little while! These are all full skeins, we aren’t going to look at all the partial sets of yarn.

Actually, I did buy yarn but it isn’t for me. I am having it shipped to my cousin in Keller, Texas because she sitting a lot right now as well.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on April 24, 2014 by admin

Flower Blanket

This is a sweet little baby blanket set. The flowers are crocheted as the blanket and the hat are crocheted together.

Â Only one side has the lovely white flowers with the yellow centers.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on April 22, 2014 by admin

Springtime!

Life seems a huge blur right now as we finish up the school work. I am spending great huge amounts of time with my right foot up on a chair, foot stool, or couch. I seem to have torn some tendons or something along that line. Â It is a huge frustration to me. I seem to make plans only to have them changed mid-stream.

I recently opened the new shop ChocolatesBabyShop which is keeping me busy crocheting. I love crocheting little baby hats as they are just so cute and it is fun to think of the sweet little babies that will get to wear them.

We seem to be sitting on the the thresh hold of so many Â different experiences in the next two – three weeks. Our oldest daughter comes home from college. Our youngest son gets ready to graduate. Then we spend the summer preparing them both for the journey back to college and we will be left with one little bird still in the nest.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/101448416/she-sat-on-a-creative-nest-8-x-8-small

This is a wonderful time and I am so looking forward to all of the exciting changes that are happening. I will continue to rest my foot and hope to see you soon!

What is happening at your house this spring?

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on April 18, 2014 by admin

Chocolate’s Baby Shop

Introducing Chocolate’s Baby shop! You can find it here: www.chocolatesbabyshop.etsy.com I started it to put all the baby items in since I had so many. Now I am adding these super cute baby hats and blankets to the shop in the week ahead.

I also have some cute baby bibs and will be adding some taggies and possibly some baby shoes as well.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on April 17, 2014 by admin

Monday’s News

It appears that my plans can change in 5 minutes or the length of time it takes the Dr. to say you may have torn your tendon. So, I am no longer looking forward to sewing for the comic con as I was thinking of doing. I can always do the comic con later. The good news is that I will get a lot of time sitting with my foot up which is always good for the crocheted items in the shop! I have been working on some little things but I will surprise you with them next week.

My family cleaned the flower beds out for me this past week. They worked hard as the beds had been neglected over the past year.

Here you can see the rose bush and the sage that grow by the front door. We need to put some weed blocker down and then cover it in mulch in an effort to cut down on the grass growing back. I had a lovely package yesterday that was exciting and cheerful at the same time. I received these beautiful yarns in the mail from my friend Rose. Rose does lots of fancy knitting and these are (probably) a small part of her destash. They are all shades of brown and orange and I can hardly wait to get started on them. I have some ideas and they are percolating while I work on some other little things.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on April 14, 2014 by admin

Challenge Blanket and instructions!

Here it is in all of its glory, the challenge blanket and the instructions! I started this in the 100 items in 100 days challenge Â and I meant for it to be the very last entry but I just couldn’t wait to get this finished.

I love granny square blankets, but this one is great too! It has one thing going for it that the Granny Square blankets don’t. Can you guess what it is?

It has no holes! That is right, absolutely no holes for the air to get through. So, if you want to crochet a blanket for a non-Granny Square lover this is the one to use!Â Â I used DK weight yarn for this blanket as it was what I had on hand and a G sized hook.

This is a super simple pattern and I am going to share it with you right now! If you need a more complete pattern, I am pretty sure that there is already one on Ravelry.com.

Chain the length you want the blanket to be as a multiple of four. Half double crochet in each chain across.

2nd row.

chain five, skip the first two half double crochets and half Â double crochet in the third, half double crochet in the fourth chain two and skip the next two half doubles, half double in the next two and continue in this pattern across the blanket.

3rd row.

Chain two and turn. You will have a funny loopy thing there at the start. Double crochet down into the 2nd row into the first half double that you skipped and then double crochet again into the second half double that you skipped in the row previously.
Chain two and continue in this pattern across the blanket.

This is the basic pattern if you have any problems just let me know.

The last row in the blanket you double crochet into the spaces and half double into the tops of the double crochets of the previous row.

To finish it out I simply crocheted a simple grey Â border around all the edges of the blanket with two chains in each corner stitch.

Let me know if you make one! I would love to see it.

Talk to you later,

Karen

P.S. This one is for sale in the ChocolateDogStudio.etsy.com shop!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/186196415/hand-crochet-blanket-afghan-multicolor

Posted on April 14, 2014 by admin

Finally completely done! 100 items in 100 days

This is the final post of 100 items in 100 days!

I finally caught up with myself and I finished these items for the 100 items in 100 days.

Lavender and rice pocket warmers or relaxation hearts, or hot or cold pads. These are pretty much for whatever you need them to be. They are filled with rice and lavender buds. You could also put the in the dryer for freshly scented clothes.

I finally finished up these non paper paper towels. I have had them cut out for ages and they just needed to be sewn.

So there you go the last two items that I needed to post to really be officially finished.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Here is the previous post on this challenge:Â http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/04/01/april-fools/

and the post before that:Â http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/02/05/progress/