Chocolatedogstudio Archives - Page 18 of 26

Posted on January 17, 2014 by admin

#1 out of 100 projects from my Supply Stash!

Here is my first project for the 100 things from my stash challenge.

Honestly, I had started this before I started the challenge and I have been working on it off and on for several days. Here Â are some photos of the beginning of the project. I was inspired by different photos on Pinterest and blogs that I read. I try to decorate a little for each of the different holidays but I was wanting something new.

This vase with flowers and sticks is fromÂ http://mijnindiansummer.blogspot.nl/2013/02/vintage-altijd-bloeiende-bloemen.html.

Michaels version of sticks in a jar. Â http://www.pinterest.com/pin/364158319839146292/

So I started with the sticks in a jar.

Ok, a little reality here. The sticks are from Â my yard. The curly ones are honeysuckle vines that came down in the storm. The jar is an old spaghetti sauce jar that someone felt we needed to keep. The plaster of paris holding the sticks upright in the jar is leftover from some school or scout project. The crochet is made up from the tiny balls of yarn and some granny square extras left over from a blanket. I painted the sticks in about ten minute sessions over a couple of days. So, it wasn’t a big time waster.

The felt hearts I had made up about six years ago to put in a bowl on the same table. They simply looked awful and I put them in a zipper bag and forgot about them. Originally they were simply one color of felt on the front and looked blah. Quite frankly, the felt was collected over the years. Some of the felt, I used in grade school. My Mom gave it back to me when the girls were in scouts.

I pulled out my embroidery floss and felt bits. I Â used the floss bits that I were too short to keep. No, really I had a bunch of bits and pieces of floss that were already separated and cut from the skein.

I used my infinite supply of buttons too small to use on anything on the front and sometimes the back to add a bit of interest and sparkle. It has turned out better than I expected.

Here it is finished and ready for Valentine’s Day!

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 17, 2014 by admin

The Modern Ripple

This Modern Ripple has been a challenge. It started as Â remake of a popular style blanket and then took on a life of its own. The ripple stripes were so much fun to create and the striping pattern so unexpected. I love it’s unexpected stripes. The colors were also a bit off the beaten track of what I normally create with. Originally, I crocheted a good third of it and then (frogged) took it apart it back to the first 10 rows and started over with different color combinations. Here it is!

The lovely fold over binding that kept me from having to weave in all those yarn ends and keeps it nice and neat.

It is 50″ x 60″ long measured from a peak on one end to a valley on the other. The stripes go side to side. Â It ends and begins with a deep dark navy that looks almost black. This blanket is for sale in the shop, ready to take ship. I am also creating the pattern and it will be available via Craftsy, Zibbet and Etsy. This is an easy pattern to crochet, there are just so many color changes that you need to be comfortable changing colors and weaving in ends.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 16, 2014 by admin

Way back when…

I made these both in the 70s when I was a girl.Just a glimpse into the past. The granny square blanket I made for my Mom and the stripe I made for my Dad for Christmas. The stripe was my first original pattern and I did pretty good for a young teenager. I am trying to come up with some new patterns for the shop this week and it is a struggle.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 15, 2014 by admin

Yarn-aholic

There are different kinds of Â people out there.Â There are the knitters, non-knitters, knitter and crocheters, loom knitters, and non-crocheters. The kind of people I am going to talk about today are the different kinds of yarn people out there.

There are the Yarn Elite, Yarn Fanatic, Yarn Specific, Yarn Thrifters and the Just Give Me SomeYarn folks.

You know the Yarn Elite. They shop at the little specialty shops in your area called Ewe Need It, The Knit Shoppe, Happy Needles (not to be confused with people on the corner selling drugs) and the Hooker’s Happy Nook (also not to be confused with other people on the corner.) Yarn from these shops often comes in it’s own little plastic or paper sack. It will have the name printed on the outside and a business card on the inside. IF the Yarn Elite has been a card carrying member for very long then they SPIN their own yarn and buy fleece and roving, which is a completely different ball game.

The Yarn Fanatic, often confused with and can be seen leaving the same shops as the Yarn Elite. There is a huge difference between the two. While the Yarn Elite shops the specialty shop the Yarn Fanatic shops the specialty shops and online. Their mail carrier can tell you that they are in fact a Yarn Fanatic. Â They receive regular installments of large plastic shipping bags or boxes of yarn from completely different continents. They are known to even deconstruct sweaters to be able to use the yarn in a different project.

The Yarn Specific knitter or crocheter only works with a specific brand of yarn. They may in fact only work with Elite yarns or Yarn Fanatic yarns, or super big skeins from the neighborhood department store, or just simply a particular fiber such as wool. People that are Yarn Specific can tell you exactly why their yarn is SO much better than other yarns. In fact they might also be a Yarn Elitist or Yarn Fanatic.

Yarn Thrifters are also a great group of knitters to get to know. IF you ever need to make a granny square scrap blanket, or the sock yarn Â blanketÂ http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sock-yarn-blanket, they are the people to know. They will have saved every single piece of yarn from every project they have ever made. They will in fact have saved every piece of yarn too short to save and have it squirreled away in case of the world wide yarn shortage. They will also buy every ball of yarn they ever come across that is on sale, in a yard or garage sale, or in a thrift shop. They may hate the color but they have it ….just in case and it is after all a really good value.

You must not confuse the Yarn Thrifter with the Just Give me Some Yarn people. The Just Give Me Some Yarn will shop anywhere at any time. The prime difference being that they will actually finish their projects and actually be needing some more. They often start scrap yarn projects in an effort to use up their current stash. They often run out of yarn five inches or 10 squares from being completed, and they will not have enough yarn to finish the scrap project. So they will often HAVE to BUY more. You can find them roaming their house in search of yarn, “Just give me some Yarn!” they say. They may in fact post about needing specific yarns on the internet. They will spend their time scouring the internet for that particular yarn on E-bay, Amazon, Etsy and Ravelry.

There you go the four different types of yarn a holics! Which am I most certainly the last one and probably also Yarn Specific at this point in time. I have also been the Yarn Thrifter. I would love to be the Yarn Elitist but due to budget constraints will probably never make it there for very long. Which are you?

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 9, 2014 by admin

Crochet Project Life Cycles

This is meant to be funny but often times hits closer to home than I intended it to. I hope you can enjoy the spirit in which it is meant.

The life cycle of a large crochet project.

Personal experience tells me that there are at least 5 distinct phases of a project. There is the Â dream phase, the beginning phase, the please let me finish this phase or Mount Everest, the I can’t wait to finish this or the downhill phase/ dreaming of a new project, and finally the I can’t believe that it is finished phase and I can’t wait to start the new project.

The dream phase is incredible fun. I tend to surf the internet looking for patterns, styles, colors or just plain inspiration. I will pull out all of my yarns and make a huge mess while I play with it. I have been known to start and stop, frogging the trial swatch several times before I hit on the perfect project. Pinterest is huge fun at this point. Dreaming about all of the projects, colors, styles and incredible possibilities. Â I am full of enthusiasm, excitement, and a bit obsessive.

The dream phase has enough enthusiasm and excitement to carry me through the beginning phases of a project. I am thrilled and happy. I am brilliant person for picking that particular color combination or pattern. How wonderful it is to be working on this project. Look the colors just sing! This Â phase is accompanied by Â stretching out the blanket and showing how beautiful all the colors are and much required admiring remarks from the family. This all sounds like bliss, until we hit the dreaded middle of the project or Mount Everest.

Mount Everest is the middle of the project where you aren’t quite half way. I have committed a fortune to the supplies for this monster. Yes, monster of a project and I am just not- Going- To – Quit. This is often muttered under your breath while your family sits on the opposite side of the room and says things like “Would you like chocolate while you work on this? Would you like to watch a movie and eat chocolate? How about some chocolate? Yes, frequently chocolate does help, but the bigger the project the larger and longer this Mount Everest feels. Quite frequently this is also where a project can become a WIP (work in progress) or PIG (project in grocery bag) and quietly put aside. My final thoughts on a big project are “please,please, just let me finish this before I die.” Which is silly since I am not on the brink of death and I will finish this project. Great background music is Night on Bald Mountain from Fantasia (the original production). Followed by the Ava Maria as you pass over the middle of the project and slide down the back half of the project.

The last half of the project or down hill from Mount Everest is filled with anticipation of the next project. My thought processes are filled with dreamy thoughts about how wonderfully the next project will go and how happy I will be to complete it. Â It will go so quickly and be so completely fabulous that I will finish it in no time…etc… Â I may even order the yarn or spend time flirting with the yarn stores on line by putting items in my shopping cart one day and removing them the next or even a week later. Finally, good sense will take hold and the $30 per skein specialty yarn will get evicted from the shopping cart and I will decide to work with what I have on hand already. My husband will give me the look by which he means… “You already have five laundry baskets of yarn downstairs and two upstairs and you mean to say that you can’t use what you already have?” All the while I crochet happily away thinking and saying to myself “I am SO DONE with this project. Why did I pick such a large size blanket? What was I thinking about making so many color changes and look at all the ends I am going to have to weave in at the end?” Â About 25 rows from the end I start estimating how many rows it will take to finish it and how many more nights I am going to spend crocheting. It looks like this.Â “Ohhhh, look I only have 15 rows left, surely I can get this done tonight. Surely I can just crochet faster and get it done by 9 tonight.”

My Husband finally looks over at me after ten and says… “Aren’t you going to sleep tonight”. Â So I grudgingly put it away and finally finish it up the next night.

The next night will show me doing a happy dance. As I show off the beautiful finished creation full of beauty and Â of course loose ends that aren’t completely woven in. So, I sit down for the next two or three nights weaving in the ends of the project as I struggle to really finish it off right! Enthusiasm for the next project might shorten this weaving in phase or it might eclipse it altogether as I head off in the blissful beginnings of a new crochet blanket, or the middle of Mount Everest. Which is exactly where I am right now on this project.

Happy and obsessed is the crocheter that never runs out of yarn, because there is always a little bit left over to crochet with!

talk to you later,

Karen

So sorry about the bad photo at the end but I am a bit obsessed with finishing this one. I have another project on my mind that I already have yarn for, and the yarn for the project after this one is on it’s way in the mail! :0)

Posted on January 8, 2014 by admin

Basket Liner Tutorial

This isn’t a step by step How-To with pattern pieces. I will show you how to measure your basket to get some approximate measurements so you can make a basket liner for your baskets at home.

I have a large wicker basket that I dearly love. It holds my yarn quite nicely. It holds a bunch of yarn and then fits under my coffee table, but it snags my yarn. I received my Michael’s sales flier by e-mail today and noticed the lovely things for organizing your home. It is January and I do have the organizing bug. So, making use of what I have and improving something I already own is a huge money saver.IÂ have some beautiful fabric that my Mom gave me. In fact I recovered my ironing board with it. I love it. It is bright and cheerful without being in your face.

I cut this pattern from a left over piece of wrapping paper. I put the basket down and drew around it. This is the bottom.

Then I placed the base of the basket liner in the bottom of the basket and did some trimming to make it fit a little better.Â

Here you can see that it fits better but seems to not be the same shape. So I folded the bottom in half and trimmed the extra off.

Here you can see that I am getting ready to cut out the base piece out of fabric. I left 1/4 inch seam allowance all the way around the base.

I laid the basket on its side and rolled it from one side to the other as I drew the pattern of the side.Â

Then I placed it up against the inside of the basket. I left extra at either end but trimmed the side a little bit.

I cut the fold over cuff. I didn’t measure and I didn’t have a pattern piece for this part. I did lay one piece on top of the other and cut the three of them all the same size. I know that I probably won’t need that much extra but you never know.

I sewed one side seam of the basket sides and then matched up the sides to the bottom part of the liner. I sewed them right sides together.

I placed the liner in the basket to see if it fit. It does

There is a pleat at one of the ends of the basket liner and I left one side seam unsewn.Â I then folded the cuff in two and sewed two of the pieces together. I then matched up the edges and sewed the sides of the basket and the cuff together. It wasn’t too difficult and yes, I did not use pins!

When I was finished one side seam of the basket liner wasn’t completed. I placed the liner in the basket to see if it would fit. It didn’t quite fit. It needs another two to three inches. So, I added a Gusset!

Here is the definition of a gusset from the free online dictionary.

gusÂ·setÂ Â (gst)

1.Â A triangular insert, as in the seam of a garment, for added strength or expansion.

2.Â A triangular metal bracket used to strengthen a joist.

3.Â A piece of mail or plate armor protecting the joints in a suit of armor.

[Middle English, from Old FrenchÂ gousset, perhaps diminutive ofÂ gousse,Â pod, husk.]

I could see that I would need to add a triangular piece of fabric into the side or gusset and that it needed to have the cuff on the top as well.

I added the gusset in and the basket liner fits pretty good.

The photo directly above shows you the gusset.Â I like it and it works great! Â I saved money and used what I had on hand to improve my organization in my house. Actually, to make it easier to crochet or knit. The basket holds about 20 balls of yarn and fits under my coffee table which makes it easier for people to walk around when I am not using the yarn (which is hardly ever)!

Thanks,

Karen

Posted on January 7, 2014 by admin

January 7, 2014

The weather was bitterly cold for our part of the world. Oklahoma is not known for the temperatures in the teens. The snow is pretty but under the snow is a nice coating of ice.

This is the view off of my front porch.

Here is the back deck and yard. The ice isn’t as bad as it was last time but it is colder.

I stayed in and thought about goals, deadlines, chores and menus. Then I thought of this!

Yes, I am procrastinating on my cleaning! A basket liner for my favorite large yarn basket. It has turned out better than I thought. Â Why is it that the New Year starts and we all get the organizing bug! Anyway this isn’t much of a tutorial more of a how to do it Â yourself for your basket. The tutorial will come tomorrow.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 3, 2014 by admin

Computer Challenge!

As I look at my computer/internet. I find myself being challenged to change, to remember and to continue marching forward. I don’t know about you but as a stay home mom, I have struggled with isolation. I have struggled with loneliness and feeling like the only one home in this huge neighborhood. This was never so true as when the kids were babies. I am old enough to have experienced life before the internet and cell phones. Life is is better with both.

Allow me to explain…

Pinterest allows me to indulge my need for new information in bite sized pieces. I can be challenged to remember to exercise, to restart that old habit, to find a new way of doing things. Just this week I remembered how easy it was to freezer cook. I simply cooked twice as much and then froze the extra.

http://joyful-mommas-kitchen.blogspot.ca/2012/04/top-5-freezer-meals.html

Strange that I had forgotten how easy it was. I have tried new ways of doing things. Flylady.com keeps nudging me and reminding me how easy it is to clean/home repair in little easy baby steps.

http://www.flylady.net/d/br/2013/02/27/you-have-made-me-a-better-mommy/

I also have to confess that I am a visual person so, I tend to keep projects out where I can see them, along with lists, books to read, papers to deal with. That tends to keep things very disorganized. So, once again baby steps on the cleaning. I can fold one load of laundry. Run one load of dishes, wash three pots, sweep the floor and wipe down the bathroom. Â Even if I am still not into routines, I do have things cleaner than they were. JUST remember, that if you drop by the house was clean until it sensed you coming and then it self destructs.

Facebook keeps me plugged in with friends and family. I see faces of friends and get encouraged to keep plugging ahead in this life. Heartwarming stories scroll down the screen and Â remind me that the world is not always a cold place. It isn’t an answer to everything but it does help keep the odd lonelies away. The ones that come on is a rush when things are quiet. Which seems to be happening more and more these days as the kids are growing up and away.

I get blog updates from different folks that remind me to stretch, to achieve, to reach out and grow. I get tidbits of information on all kinds of different topics from new craft ideas, to organizing, to parenting andÂ marriageÂ and tips on managing our family finances. I love having lots of resources to pull from. These little gadgets will make my life so much easier. Everyone has cords and what to do to keep themÂ separated….now I can color code the kids’ charging cords. Incredible idea!

http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/american/catalog/dotz-identifiers-computer-office-p-2586.php

Yes, the internet has changed our lives for the better or worse, it depends on how you use it. How does the computer challenge you?

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on December 29, 2013 by admin

2013 in Review

Looking back at 2013 so many things were accomplished and marked off my list. I feel so incredibly productive. I keep a running list on my computer of what has been completed and what is left to finish. The list is enormous, but here are some photos of the year.

These are some of the blankets that I crocheted this year. Some are not in the collage and the other items from the shop are not shown at all.

We drove to our daughter’s college in Texas and back – 5 times. We had one trip to Kansas, and one trip to Houston, Tx, and one trip to the Waco, Tx area.

We had one wedding, one wedding shower, one major surgery, 3 months in a boot or cast, one set of wisdom teeth removed, and all the love and laughter that comes from living in a family of six.

It has been a spectacular year and I have loved almost every moment of it. There were some hard times but there are always some hard times in every year.

Thanks for sharing it with me,

Karen

Posted on December 26, 2013 by admin

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

It has been a Â Merry Christmas at our house! I hope it has been so at yours as well. I always have mixed feelings about the Holidays. It is a time when I remember my Dad and now my Mother in Law. So, it is hard as I grieve but it is also a great time for family, fun and a chance to build new memories. We have been fortunate this year to have some time together with much of our immediate family.

These are our outside lights that were covered in the ice from the storm. The ice is almost gone by now as it was warm yesterday but they were so pretty covered in ice that I had to include this photo. We have neighborhood Â free range Guinea hens that come by the house Â nearly every day. They tend to get on the front porch and I have been wanting to take some close up photos of them but this is the best I have done so far. They can get loud and we have watched the flock grow from four to about 20 or more.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all,

Karen