Engineer Blanket

This is an afghan I'm making for Joe. It is in the colors of his old unit, the 82nd US Army combat engineers. I'm doing 8 rows of crimson and 2 rows of white.

I do need more red yarn, however. I'm getting low.

3 New Scarves

I completed two new scarves this week. One was for a Chicago Bears fan. Here is a photo of it before I put the last row of blue yarn on:

This one was done in rows of crossed double crochet. I finished off at the end of each row and left long tails which became fringe.

And I did a Joseph's Coat scarf in some very wintry colors:

And of course, my diabetes awareness scarf:

Funny that I make many scarves but I live in Florida and can't wear them very often. Well, it's just what I do.

Now, I also have this:

...and I'm considering making a scarf out of a bunch of them. Hmmm. It's pretty involved, but imagine what it'd look like in the end.

Ergonomic Hook Handles

Today, I went to Joann's and got some clay and made some ergonomic handles for crochet hooks.

I think I like the way they came out!

I think the top photo shows best the silver sparkles that are part of the white clay I used.

Now....to figure out sanding and polishing....or even if I want to do that to them....

Update!

I'm working on some other projects that I'm going to post photos of here.

First, here's two really good shots I got of a blue and white afghan I'm making. I got this in early morning sunlight on the back of my car.

Here's a granny scrap afghan I'm working on:

I like the random colors of the granny scrap afghan.

Here's some squares I'm making:

Those squares came from this blanket:

I thought better of doing this pattern - something about it wasn't singing to me, not for an afghan - so I'm reworking it into squares, to stitch together to make an afghan.

I'm also doing this scrappy steps afghan:

Yarn! Yarn happiness!!

My Scrappy Steps Afghan!

I finally completed this!

I brought it to photograph in the lobby at work, as the light is much better there.

I also got a few shots of this in the leasing office of the apartments where I live....

OK so that last one isn't as well lit as the others, but it emphasizes the warmth of the colors.

It is a warm and cozy afghan. Yes, there's a pucker in it at the bottom corner, but for the very first real complete afghan I've ever made, it's not bad at all! I like this pattern A LOT.

Road Trip Shawl

I decided to chew up some of this Mexicana yarn I had, and make a larger version of the Road Trip Scarf. So this is the Road Trip Shawl. I have been considering adding long, graceful black fringe to this....but I'm not 100% sure. I used 3 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver in Mexicana colorway for this shawl.

My Road Trip Scarf

OK I just completed this road trip scarf. It is named that because the woman who designed it did so while on a road trip with her husband.

I gotta say this: given the yarn I used (Red Heart Super Saver) and the fact that I did not change hooks as I was supposed to do (oops), it does fit me sort of funny. It's like a big old bib. What I think I'm going to do with the next one I make of this pattern is a big shawl, not a scarf. In fact, I've already started it and I'm using this yarn:

This is Red Heart Super Saver in Mexicana colorway. It's BRIGHT!!! We'll see how this goes!

New Jewelry!

OK so I got to making jewelry this weekend, using some of the paper beads I'd made.

First, my "Miami Fiesta" earrings:

I also have a Miami Fiesta bracelet:

This bracelet also happens to match a pair of earrings I made from a Fanta soda can:

These are my AZ Heat earrings:

And there's my Mermaid Dream bracelet:

I do have earrings to go with it but I haven't photos of them just yet.

I also made some music note earrings, and I have an idea for a matching bracelet:

I think I'm having entirely too much fun with this.

Paper Bead Jewelry

Well, I made some more paper bead jewelry over the weekend. It's fairly simple but nice. Have a look....

First is the bracelet with the "bacon beads." LOL! My friend Shannon thought the hand painted paper beads looked like bacon.

Then there's this blue one...I kinda like the colors on it, and I have to admit I was a bit hesitant about including the little white howlite beads...but maybe it actually works...

Then I took these beads and made cluster earrings with them...I was going to try and do a ladder bracelet with them but I haven't yet worked out how to do that...

And there's this fairly simple monochromatic bracelet...

And of course there's my nice pastel bracelet:

I rather like doing jewelry with paper beads. Especially when you paint your own paper and can choose whatever color you want on the beads.

One thing I learned when putting these together - USE WHAT YOU HAVE. I'm not wealthy and buying things like Beadalon and toggle clasps is a rare thing for me, so I have to improvise and use whatever materials I have on hand to put it all together. And sometimes it works out quite well! Don't be afraid to improvise. As Mike Sellick of the Crochet Crowd put it: "It's YOUR art!" Make it your own - your own look, your own style. There is no other style in the world like it, so let it shine!

Flower Power Valance

I just found THIS and I think I might try to make it. :)