Crochet Borders

While we're on the topic of crochet books, I may as well show off one of my birthday presents from back in March too. The wonderful M. who likes to spoil me endlessly picked up this book for me:

Around the Corner Crochet Borders

It has 150 different styles of crochet borders that you can put on your blankets. A few of them even incorporate some bead work. They range from simple to elaborate and any of them are perfect for dressing up a simple basic blanket. Prior to reading this book I always thought I was being fancy adding a scalloped edge to my blankets, but clearly I am wrong! I sense that if I were to do any of these borders there would be lots of frustration and ripping out, but judging from the pictures the end product is totally worth it.

Bottom line? I'm not going to create a new WIP just to do something from this book anytime soon, but this book definitely gives a lot of options and I'm glad to have it on my bookcase.

New Layout

I finally got off my butt and made myself a header and changed the layout of my blog a bit, which is surprising because I spent probably 3 hours retouching photos of my most recent vacation today. Apparently my photoshop threshold is higher than I thought it was.

The header does feature a portion of my stash from the last time I pulled it out in August. I think back then I had around 50 pounds of yarn, all of which get crammed under my desk somehow (I still have no idea how I do it, but it works out).

Someday I'd like my stash to fit inside that pink tote. I don't think I'll see that day soon.

WIP Wednesday #7

I just got another ball of yarn for another WIP I have, so naturally that means I've completely set it aside and I'm working on something else at the moment.

Can you guess what it is? Here' one piece:

It looks kind of like a flower, but it's not. Here's the other part:

Fat Shae seems to be wondering if it's some sort of new cat toy. I suppose it looks a little bit like one of her mousies.

It is neither flower nor mousie though. It's tastier than that (or would be if it was actually real!)

Ta-da! A cute little strawberry. One of many strawberries to come, because you can't just have one strawberry that would be silly. If you want to make some strawberries yourself, you can find the pattern here. The only thing I did differently was use a size E/3.50mm hook.

The strawberries are a part of my larger WIP for the rest of the year. As I mentioned yesterday, A. got a play kitchen for his birthday. For Christmas I've decided he is getting a giant box full of play food and other kitchen accessories made just for him by his Godmama, so if you're not interested in hearing about that, start running now! It's a good thing his mom and dad just bought a new and bigger house because I've got a lot of things planned for him!

It's Play Time!

I "splurged" last night and decided to treat myself. Thanks to Swagbucks I spent a whopping 65 cents on this baby. Darn that $11.70 shipping fee!

Annie's Attic It's Play Time!

Even though it only cost me 65 cents out of pocket, I still count this as a splurge because as a general rule I don't buy crochet patterns. I figure there's more than enough free patterns to keep me busy until the day I die available online for free. It's got to be good to get me to shell out the bucks and I'm really hoping that this book doesn't disappoint.

The reason I dug into my hoard of Swagbucks that I've been saving up for Christmas? Someone special got a play kitchen for his first birthday from mama and papa! I've been Googling like crazy for free play food and kitchen items that I can crochet for A. for his Christmas present this year now, and I stumbled upon a blog that mentioned this book when I was looking for a frying pan.

I'm expecting to get my $8.95 out of it based on the cover alone (on sale for $3.95 on the Annie's Attic website if you want one too!) I'll definitely be making the frying pan and spatula and egg, and will most likely do the baking set (in manlier colours naturally). And that tool belt set is just too cute!

Hopefully USPS isn't too slow getting my package to me. I personally have this theory that they have a secret room where all my packages go that I really want, until they feel that they've tortured me long enough and decide to deliver it. It's estimated to arrive between April 14 and April 21, so we shall see!

Little Miss's 1st Birthday Present

You've already seen the turtle buddy that I made for Little Miss's birthday gift. When I was making that, I was pondering making a matching sweater just because I had the yarn to do it. I did end up deciding to go for it, despite my complete lack of experience making clothes. Generally speaking I like to stick with flat things, though I do amigurumi, but the idea of sleeves and collars and what not kind of scares me. Especially since the flat things don't always come out right.

In the end, I think my first ever crochet sweater came out pretty well:

You can't see very well in that picture, but it has the most darling little buttons, perfect for a little lady. You can't see them very well in this picture either, but at least I tried:

All wrapped up and ready to be opened now!

Linking to:

A Little Knick Knack

Craft-o-Manic