handmade Archives - Page 5 of 21

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Karen Stewart

4 Blocks a Week – Week 2

Here are my four blocks for this week.

This one desperately needs blocking.

Â Here we go with number three. I am using a different book for the squares this week. Leonie Morgan does a great job showing the different rows in different colors. I hope they look great in one shade of yarn.

This one also needs blocking. I will have to steam block them and see if they improve.

The week is proving to be a challenge in many ways. I keep skipping around on different projects and it seems like my progress on one any of them is slow. I have a Minion hat to get out in the mail and then two or three projects that I seem to be working on more seriously than the others. I hope to get them finished pretty quickly as well. Â I am also working on some organizing.I have been sorting through Christmas ornaments and decorations. It appears that we have a bunch that are old and not used. The cleaning and organizing progress in the studio has also slowed down as I am waiting on some parts for some shelving. The parts should come in the mail this week. Then I can get more work done. My studio is up under the eaves and I am putting up shelving so that I can stack my tubs on them. I think it will help me get to them more easily.

The quilting class that I am taking with friends is starting in March instead of this week. I am going to try to get the fabrics gathered together for that class this week. We are making a log cabin quilt and I hope to sew it entirely out of stash fabrics. I also start my Use My Stash Challenge next Monday. I have been thinking about different projects to start and WIPS that need to be finished up. These will all be part of the Use Your Stash Challenge. I am also thinking about my rules for the challenge.

Our daughter heads back to school this week and the rest of us will try to get into a schedule of sorts. I just feel really scattered in my thinking and that time to think is in extremely short supply.

Talk to you later,

karen

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Tuesday’s Project Progress – week one

It has been such a long time since I told you Â my project progress and list of things to doÂ for the week. I hope to keep this up over the year. It is so hard to do.
Here is my list of works in progress with photos whenever possible.

Yarny things:

Granny circle thing

Crochet shawl

Â I love the colors in the scarf/shawl. It will be big enough to be a shawl Â and yet small enough to wear with a coat. It matches my winter coat and most of my clothes so when I take off the coat I can still wear it.

Crochet shawl/scarf

I am making another one of these scarf/shawls. This one is out of sock yarn. I finally decided that I am never knitting socks. The double point needles keep slipping out of the yarn and I would drop stitches because of it. I have had the yarn for ages. It is a Â lovely, grey, red, and blue self striping yarn. It is washable and will make a great scarf.

greyÂ diagonal

I have had this in a partial state for at least a year. It is time to finish it but I just don’t like what it is turning into. So, I need to either frog it or finish it. What do you think?

blue and whiteÂ Stripe

This I will finish as it is for ChocolatesBabyShop. I love the combination of colors and it will make a beautiful baby blanket.

multicolor granny stripe

crochet hats of various kinds

Sewn things:

Various cup cozies
coffee press cozies
hot pads or pot holders
2-3 aprons
a quilt that needs the machine quilting

I am also in the middle of cleaning/de-cluttering/ organizing the studio. (I am rearranging the furniture to make it more useable.)

That is a huge list and doesn’t include my home school mom duties, my housewife chores or just daily life. I am overwhelmed with everything that is on my plate right now. I need to take it one thing at a time. I know that I can get the important things done and the little things will melt away. I can also delegate some of the daily chores. Three things in my favor this week.

I have a menu for the week.
I have a calendar with appointments listed on them
The post office will pick up from my mail box!

Well, I should let you go as I am needing to get on with my list for today.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Karen Stewart

Some New Crochet Square Circles

My newest yarn order was delivered in the midst of crocheting hats for Christmas orders. It sat unopened for a week. Which I know is the wrong thing to do, as I should have checked to see it it was all there. Then I Â opened it and let it sit on the crocheting couch for a week. It didn’t even make it to a basket! I was wondering what it would be needing to be crocheted into. Then last week, I knew. It was the day or two before Christmas and a quiet moment of tv watching turned into this compulsive crochet-a-thon. I created these little beautiful crocheted square circles.

You can tell that this photo is from before Christmas as there is a Christmas ball cap thing in the middle of the pretty crochet square circles. They remind me of this blanket that I crocheted a year or two ago.Â Then they morphed into the squared circles. Little small square circles that look like little jewels. These squares are about 4 inches square. I have about 100 of them crocheted now. I have only been crocheting them and it has been a compulsion as not one of them is like another. I have started the blocking process and it is coming along great. Except that I do not have 400 pins to block them with so this is going to take awhile.

Here are the beautiful edges of the square circles and you can see the beauty of them. Some have bright centers and some don’t. I love the randomness of each square. The yarn is a soft lightweight wool/nylon blend. Â I haven’t decided whether to crochet a blanket or not. Â 100 squares at 4 inches is only a 40 inch blanket unless I put an edging around it and I am not sure if I want to do that.

Anyway, this is what I have been doing besides crocheting Tardis hats or Dr. Who inspired scarves. I am keeping really busy, when I’m not cleaning and organizing. I have to admit that the organizing bug has hit pretty seriously. I am determined to get things a little more orderly before I start my Use Your Stash Challenge on January 12! I haven’t even been thinking of the rules yet!

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Karen Stewart

4 Blocks a Week – Week 1

I am starting a new project this year. I am going to crochet 4 blocks a week from some Granny square books that I have here at home. I will need at least 200 blocks to create a useable sized blanket. I wantÂ this blanket to a samplerÂ blanket. All the squares will be crocheted in a cream yarn and at the end of the program I will put them all together and have a nice sampler blanket.

Here is block number one!

Block number 2

Block number 3

I left off the picot edge on this block above as I want to join them all together with relatively flat edges.

Block number 4

These are all taken from the same book 100 Colorful Granny Squares to Crochet and are crocheted out of Stylecraft DK yarn. The color is cream. Joining them all might take some fancy stitch work but I think it will all work out. I really want a blanket that shows off the stitches in each square. The texture should be simply gorgeous! This is also a step out in a different direction for me as it will require me to do two things. Stretch out my work over a long period of time and work in one color. As you can tell I prefer to work with a wide variety of colors and to stick to one color is sometimes just a bit boring. These squares are all un-blocked as you can tell by the curvy edges. I will block them and see if that improves. These blocks are from the book Beyond the Square. I found mine on Amazon.com.

I have included affiliate links to Amazon. I will receive a small percentage from each purchase.

This project might fit in the Use Your Stash challenge as I am using yarn that I already have on hand. The yarn stash seems endless right now. I think this is going to be a great project and I can’t wait to keep it going. Join in with your own Beyond the Square book.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Karen Stewart

The Shop is on Sale!

Everything in the shop is 30% off. I really want to start the year off with a clean slate in the shop! WooHoo! So, my desire to start with a clean slate is your opportunity and when opportunity knocks you really should answer! All this to say…shop to your hearts content!

Everything, absolutely everything in the shop, including aprons, hats, scarves, infinity scarves, blankets, cozies, ornaments, and crystal, is all 30% off! It will never ALL be this low again. I may put bits and pieces of the shop on sale but not ALL of it.

I did some organizing and cleaning yesterday and I will do more today in preparation for the new year. I can’t wait to get started on the Use Your Stash Challenge. It starts pretty soon… so figure out the rules for your challenge. It can be a short and sweet WIPS challenge or a giant 300 items in 300 days Challenge. It can be make 20 items in 50 days or you can simply finish that One thing that is driving you nuts. I am gathering my items together and planning out how it is all going to happen! This is why I am having the huge sale. I do so want to add new things to the shop this Spring! We are not going to start on January 1st. I am giving myself some time off. I have my daughter home from college and I want to enjoy her visit. I have some cleaning to do in the studio. I also need to get youngest Â daughter started with her schooling before I jump in with both feet to create anything new. The anticipation is growing and I can hardly wait to get started.

The Use Your Stash challenge is the 12 of January. You can read more about my rules for my Challenge last year here:Â http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/01/17/1-thing-for-100-days-challenge/Â You can see most of the completed items here:Â http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/04/14/100-items-in-100-days/

Thanks,
Karen

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Karen Stewart

Looking Back at 2014 and Looking Forward to The New Year

I get a little introspective as the New Year approaches. I have just spent the last twelve months zooming through the days to this day.

Then there are the many photos of our yard and landscape. We had snow and ice, beautiful daffodils, tulips and irises all in succession.

Then the beautiful summer flowers in the front flower bed, from gladiolus to Russian sage to Purple coneflowers and daisies.The many pictures of yarn and projects in process including the craft fair.

There are many photos of family and trips to museums and lovely memories to share but I will not bore you with all of these photos. I have been graced with a very full year. We moved one person twice and three people once, if that makes any sense. We moved our daughter home from college at the beginning of the summer. Our son and his wife moved into their new apartment. We moved two of our kids back to college and finally we moved my mom to her new apartment. So those were huge moves and took time and attention. I just cleared out the last box of sewing materials from my Mom, yesterday. I am working on cleaning up in the studio after all of the busy time this Christmas season.

Things I am looking forward to this year include the Use Your Stash Challenge, doing a craft fair or two, some time spent fluffing the inside of the house. Here is my list for the future.

Prepping for a craft fair this June
Creating some new products for both shops
De-cluttering my house and studio
Finishing up about ten works in progress
Finishing up the tree skirt. I want to add some trim to the edging and possibly a decoration or two.
Clean out Christmas decorations that we haven’t used in years
Do some dog training. We have four in the back yard right now as we are watching my brother’s dog.
Make a menu and grocery list every week
Our oldest daughter is scheduled to graduate from college this next school year. So while it she officially doesn’t graduate until 2016. I know the year will be full of getting her prepared.

This is fairly busy list. I know that we will be driving Â our daughter back to college, and also bringing her home. She has a wedding this summer to go to and we might take a vacation. I would like to work in the yard and get some things cleared up. All of this in addition to living life and home schooling our youngest. The days and years just seem to get shorter and time seems to be a more precious commodity.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Karen Stewart — 1 Comment

It is my Etsy Anniversary Sale month!

Hi all,

This month is the month of my Etsy Anniversary sale. The exact date is November 18 but I like to celebrate all month long! Â It has been 6 years since I opened the ChocolateDogStudio. What a lovely time it has been. I have met wonderful people, businesses and learned an incredible amount.

Etsy Anniversary Sale 20% off — https://www.etsy.com/listing/207854377/sale-crochet-blanketgiant-crochet

ChocolateDogStudio Etsy Anniversary Sale! — https://www.etsy.com/listing/205644134/sale-crochet-blanket-crochet-afghan

Etsy Anniversary Sale at ChocolateDogStudio! — https://www.etsy.com/listing/205276236/sale-crochet-blanket-afghan-autumn

The Etsy Anniversary Sale at ChocolateDogStudio — https://www.etsy.com/listing/206242819/sale-crochet-blanket-granny-square

.So, as it is also blanket weather here, cool, rainy and overcast. I am having a blanket sale. Lovely, perfect weather for cuddling up under a nice warm crocheted blanket. All of the blankets and ponchos are 20% off! They are only on sale two times a year, so shop while you have a chance! You can find them at www.ChocolateDogStudio.etsy.com. There aren’t very many and they are all one of a kinds!

Have a great week and celebrate this season of the year! We celebrated the beginning of the Thanksgiving season with a fire pit. It was great except for the smoke! :0) It was crisp and cold outside so we had warm bowls of soup and then roasted marshmallows for dessert It was a lovely time to just slow down and enjoy each other’s company. Our oldest son had helped to take down and dead tree in the yard. We had also had several branches downed in the storm last year so they were also removed. He is excited because he now has firewood for their small apartment fireplace. We are excited because the eye sore tree is now gone! It was a very spontaneous thing. Our yard needs some work and we need to fill holes in the yard as one of the dogs has gone wild with her digging.

talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on October 20, 2014 by admin

Giant Crochet Blanket

I call it a giant crochet blanket but not because the blanket itself is huge but the hook and yarn are. Here is my newest ta dah! I love this blanket! It is huge, soft and dramatically striped in cream and black. The stripes run lengthwise and make a beautiful dramatic statement. It is a bit like the Â huge gigantic knit blankets that are now all over the internet and Etsy. I have been dying to crochet a huge one as well. It is a work out as the yarn is heavy, the hook is huge and the bigger the blanket gets the heavier everything is.

Here is it in its beginnings. The giant hook lying next to my sewing shears.

Here is a photo to give you an idea of the scale of the crochet and the hook!

This blanket is crocheted out of acrylic yarn and not wool roving like so many of the giant blankets. It is crocheted and not knitted. This is the first wooden hook I have ever used and I am starting to like the feeling of it. The wood warms up in your hands. The thing I didn’t like is that it is thicker than a broom handle and felt clumsy in my hand. I chose a simple pattern since I wasn’t used to working with such large scale yarn or hook. Each stripe is about 1 skein of yarn. The yarn is super soft and not itchy since it is crocheted out of any acrylic. The yarn was a bit slippery and wanted to slip off the hook. Here is the blanket in all of its glory.

I love this giant crochet blanket! It was fun to crochet and I love trying something new. It will be for sale in the Etsy shop, soon. I am offering the ability to crochet this blanket in a variety of colors and sizes for a wonderful custom gift. It all depends on the availability of the yarn. I did have to pry this blanket out of the hands of my family as they thought it wonderful and soft.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Posted on October 17, 2014 by admin

I’m Hyper – Procrastinating This Morning.

Today: quite frankly I am procrastinating, I am hyper – procrastinating! I’m not even sure if that is a word. According to Merriam Webster’s online dictionary this is the definition of Hyper

Full Definition of HYPER

1Â :Â high-strung, excitable; also :Â highly excited

2Â :Â extremely active

and this is the definition of Procrastinating.

proÂ·crasÂ·tiÂ·nate

verb \prÉ™-Ëˆkras-tÉ™-ËŒnÄt, prÅ-\

: to be slow or late about doing something that should be done : to delay doing something until a later time because you do not want to do it, because you are lazy,

Ouch, that hurt! It is how I feel though. I am intentionally lazing around and resting. The weeks have been filled with RUN..Run… Do this and do that! I need down time, my body craves it like I used to crave quiet (when I had four little people in the house.) I have done some of the chores that were screaming for attention yesterday; laundry and some picking up. I have some unpacking to do and some dishes to do. I have yarn I bought yesterday that I can’t wait to get my hands on. I have a bunch of photography for the Etsy shops and then some Christmas gift creating to do.

I have tons of things that have to be done, some errands and so forth but I am being a procrastinator on purpose. I’m not thinking or planning or scheduling. I am not considering the clutter in my house. Well, yes I am but I am ignoring it willfully. I am doing something incredibly difficult for me to do; sitting. I know that I will have to jump up and go and do before long. Chores, errands, Â sewing, crochet and life calls, but for this little while I am going to sit and rest. I am adding white space or margin to my life. I have not had a chance to do this since our vacation in August, or at least it feels that long ago. Do you remember when I talked about margin? I have had two cups of coffee in bed and then some poking about on the internet with no specific purpose, a little thinking about this or that, and I ordered a music book for my daughter.

I have been taking stock of my life. Looking at what is truly important and while I haven’t reached any conclusions I do have some renewed purpose. I think I am back on track and headed several degrees into a better direction. You remember geometry class where you learned that a degree off of the right direction would put you miles away from your destination. Life is like that as well. So I am puttering into the right direction again. The photos are from our vacation this past summer. The last time I got to sit and just be. I am ready for a bit more of that time off.

Talk to you later,

Karen

Â Well, if you want to read what I wrote about Margin you can find it here:Â http://www.chocolatedogstudio.com/2014/02/04/margin/

PS. It is now Friday and I wrote this on Thursday. I am still procrastinating. I guess rest is what I need to do right now in between life as wife, daughter, mom and chauffeur.

Posted on October 14, 2014 by admin

Crochet Ribbon Blanket

Here it is, the Crochet Ribbon blanket. It is a true scrap blanket. I started this blanket over a year ago. I just wasnâ€™t sure if it was turning out right or if I wanted even to make a ribbon blanket. So I put it on hold when it was just a long string of crochet. It sat there there glaring at me. Every time I reached into the yarn basket it was there taunting me. Reminding me that I had failed to finish it or frog it. Finally, in August I started to work on it in earnest. Here it is in all its glory!

This crochet ribbon blanket contains bits of yarn too short to save and too long to throw away. The colors rise and fall through the whole color spectrum, from bright yellow-golds, through red, pink, green, blue and variegated bits of yarn to small stripes of white and black. It is glorious and bright in all its lovely ribbon stripes. I did my best to repeat colors from the beginning to the end so that it doesnâ€™t get dull and boring at one end. The crochet ribbon blanket is available for purchase at the Chocolate Dog Studio shop on Etsy. It is beautiful and bright which makes it perfect for so many people. Use it at the end of the bed to add a bright touch of color. Throw it over the back of a couch or sofa to be handy on cold winter nights.

I have been helping a family member get their house ready for moving, so I have been in and out quickly the past several weeks. I hope to be here more in the future as today is the actual moving day. So, I must run as I get to let the movers into the new apartment and tell them where to put everything!

talk to you later,

Karen