Monkey tree mobile progress

I am changing gears and putting a hold on my tote bag for now. I have to finish the monkey mobile before my daughters baby shower in February.
I will note my progress as I go.
So far I took 3 metal rings, extra small, small, medium and large. I single crocheted tan yarn onto the 3 larger rings. I left the extra small ring plain and will use that at the top to hang the mobile.

I used dark brown yarn and chained 75 stiches and attached them to the rings making a tree (small at top, medium, then the large at the bottom) with the chains hanging below the bottom ring.
I crocheted 150 leaves in different shades of green and I am sewing each leaf on separately. Doing it this way gives me a little more freedom with placement. I can see easier where there are spaces that need to be filled.
I used yellow embroidery floss and crocheted little bananas to place around the tree. I will place the monkeys on the rings after I have the leaves in place and straightened out. I am having a problem with the leaves folding up. I am going to use spray starch and an iron to flatten them out after I sew them all on.
These are pictures of my progress so far. My helpers name is "Puppy".

 

I love having a craft room where I can leave everything right where I am working on it. It is so much easier than trying to put everything away each time I work on it. I just go in, sit down and I can go right to work.

Remnants, remnants and more remnants

This is just one plastic bin filled with yarn remnants! I have a 3 drawer organizer that has 2 drawers full as well as a basket. I have been trying to figure out what to do with all of it. I decided how I am going to use some of it at least.
I need a new tote bag. So I decided I will use my yarn to make a colorful, granny square tote. This will be the first project that I post my progress as I go. I've chosen a few bright colors, blue, yellow, mint green, rose and pink. I may end up throwing a few other colors in as I go, but that's it for now.
If anyone has any ideas for projects for my remnants, please post them.

Yesterday, the zipper on my crochet hook caddy broke,. I decided instead of buying a new one, I would just make one myself. I went through my remnant bin and pulled out a blue/brown variegated yarn and a bright blue that matches it. I used the 'afghan' stitch for the body and the pockets and a single crochet to make the border and button holes.

I made a pocket for my hooks (obviously), a pocket to put my scissors, measuring tape and pen. I also hung safety pins from this pocket. And a pocket for stitch markers, needle threaders and sewing needles. I put 2 buttons on the outside to hold it closed.
I ran into a problem that I need to resolve,. Because the sides are open, my hooks keep sliding out. I am going to go in and add cloth to the hook pocket and the sides to help keep everything inside. If that doesn't work, I am going to scrap the entire idea and break out the sewing machine and make a new one.
Creating something new is always trial and error

Monkey Mobile

This is currently a work in progress. I am making a monkey Mobile for my grandson. I hope to have it done before the shower in February.

I was making this little monkey from an Amigurumi book that I have, He is so cute!

After making the momkey I was playing around (being goofy) and I hung him from the vine that I made. I have the vine across the edge of a shelf like a garland. And he looked great hanging there and that gave me the idea to make a mobile.

I am going to take 2 rings, 1 large, 1 small, and make vines to hang from it, 1 vine down the middle and 4 down the sides. I will place vines around each ring also. I will hang a monkey on each vine to make the mobile. Simple and easy! I can't wait til it's all finished so I can post a pic!

Vine Lariat with Berries and Tiny Ladybird

I had a wonderful opportunity to test a pattern today. It is a Vine Lariat with Berries and Tiny Ladybird. The pattern is available at http://www.etsy.com/shop/BerthasBizarreBazaar.

I had a lot of fun crocheting this piece. I chose to do the vine in a chocolate brown, with a green/tan variegated mix for the leaves, I also added a few solid green leaves in the mix. I love the Little Ladybird (I call them Ladybugs) that accents the Lariate on one of the leaves.

I have a shop on etsy.com it's http://www.etsy.com/shop/crochetbyladyday. Etsy encourages you to join a team and I was lucky enough to find a team that brings designers and testers together. I spent today working on this piece and I can't wait to receive feedback from the designer.

The pic below is just the end of the Lariat with the Ladybug on the last leaf. I am going to use this as garland for a shelf I have in my livingroom. The original design is a scarf or necklace.

If you have the opportunity to try this pattern, go for it, it is a lot of fun!

Happy Hooking

Crocheted high top sneaker pattern

Special notes: Join at the end of each round with a slip stich
Abbreviations:
CH= chain, HDC= half double crochet, SC= single crochet, SC2TOG= single crochet 2 together,  MC=Magic Circle,  SLST= slip stitch, st(s)=stitch(es), TN=tapestry needle

Materials, 4 weight yarn, white, black & color of your choice (for this pattern I will use green)
Size F crochet hook, tapestry needle

Sole (white)
CH 2,
Round 1- 8 HDC foundation CH sts, 3 HDC in last foundation CH, work down opposite side, 6 HDC in next 6 foundation CHs, 3 HDC in beginning foundation CH, Join with SLST to first HDC

Round 2- CH 1,  1 HDC in same as CH space, HDC in next 6, 2 HDC in next 4 STS, HDC in next 7 STS, 2 HDC in next 3 STS, Join

Round 3- CH 1, 1 SC in same as CH space,  SC in next 9 STS, 2 SC in next 5 STS, SC in next 10 STS, 2 SC in next 5 STS, Join

Round 4- Pull up loop of white and set aside *DO NOT CUT OFF WHITE*
SLST black in last ST made, CH 1, SC in same as SLST and in each ST around, Join and finish

Round 5- Pick up white loop, CH 1, SC in each ST around, join and finish

*With TN sew all ends in and snip off extra

Toe (white)
Magic Circle, 8 HDC in magic circle, Pull end of MC to form 1/2 circle,
Ch1, turn, 2 HDC in each st around, (16) sts
Ch1, turn, SC across flat edge of 1/2 circle 6 SC, (6 sts)  finish off leaving long tail for sewing.

Locate center front of SOLE, count back 9 sts on each side, (turn sole inside out) attach toe to either side with long tail and sew along front of sole., finish off, sew in ends with TN

TONGUE (green)
SLST green to toe, SC 6 across, repeat to make 6 rows, finish off, sew in ends with TN. (6 sts)

SIDES (green)
Row 1- SLST green to left side closest to toe, SC in each st around (24 sts)
Row 2- CH 1, turn, SC in each st around (24 sts)
Row 3-CH 1, turn, skip 1st st, SC in each st around to last 2 sts, SC2TOG in last 2 sts (22 sts)
Row 4-CH 1, turn skip 1st st, SC in each st around to last 2 sts, SC2TOG in last 2 sts (20 sts)
Row 5- CH 1, turn, skip 1st st, SC in each st around to last 2 sts, SC2TOG in last 2 sts (18 sts)
Row 6- CH 1, turn, SC in each st around, (18 sts) do not finish off, (continue down edge)

EDGE(green)
CH1, SC in top of edge, CH2, SC, CH 2, SC, CH2, SC, CH 2, SC, continue to SC evenly spaced around tongue, at next edge, SC, CH 2, SC, CH 2, SC, CH 2, SC, CH 2, SC at top and finish
(4 holes for laces)

Laces
CH 100, (Or 30 inches long)
Lace through holes as you would a regular sneaker.

Logo on side (white)
CH 3 Join to form circle, SC 6 times in circle, join with SLST
round 2- 2 SC in each st around, join,  finish. leave long tail for sewing.

Embroider star to circle with green yarn, Finish off, sew onto side of bootie with long tail.

Monday

Well, Happy Monday! I have found that trying to get time on the computer over the weekend is close to impossible. My husband and my son usually tie up the laptop. So I have to be content with blogging during the week.
I am finally going to have a craft room, I have always wanted one. We cleared out the small bedroom that we were using just for storage. We went through the boxes we had stored in there and got rid of ALOT of crap. We managed to condense it down to about 5 boxes. We have to empty or restore these boxes before we can really finish up.
My husband replaced the window yesterday, no more draft! We put together our desk. We have a beautiful marble top office desk that we had set up in our old house. We haven't been using it since we got the laptop, but we found the need to have the desktop running as well. Bring us to the computer. Again, my husband, got out the old desk top computer and cleared the hard drive. We are now up and running on both the desk top and the laptop now.
My husband and I are going to share the room. He ties his own flies for fishing. We are setting up a table on one wall for him and another table along the other wall for me. We also have overhead lighting that we were going to put in our old house, but we decided to move before it was installed. We are going to put one fixture above each work area to give us plenty of light.
I am going shopping today to price storage boxes and organizers.
I am so excited to get this finished I can barely stand myself! It will make a great place for me to be creative and to get my business, "Crochet by LadyDay" off the ground.
Happy Hooking!

My high top sneaker adventure

I have been trying for some time now to find a pattern for  the crochet baby high top sneaker booties, the ones that look like converse sneakers. I have tried a few patterns, tried to follow a few tutorials on youtube, but they all came out weird looking.
Last night I went on an adventure. I sat down and using my knowledge of how stitches work, along with the techniques from the patterns I tried to follow, I finally came up with something that works for me. I also need to give some of the credit to my husband, who has been very helpful, he gave me some ideas on what needs to be larger, smaller, move this here, that there, and other suggestions.
I finally came up with a sneaker that I am happy with.
I don't have the time to type out the pattern right now, however I will sit down and post a pic and the pattern tomorrow.
I'm so pleased!
Happy Hooking

Ice skate ornament pattern

I want to share with you what is truly my 1st pattern. My mother and grandmother taught me how to crochet when I was very young. I remember we would do a lot of crafting, especially around the holidays.  I first made one of these when I was 10, I still have the 40 year old ornament hanging on my tree! It is a wonderful memory from my childhood. I hope you can pass this onto your children or just make a memory for yourself.

Materials: 4 weight yarn (2 colors), Size F hook, Large paperclips (2), sequins, fabric glue, tapestry needle

With primary color Ch 2
1) DC in 2nd ch from hook onto large loop of paperclip, DC 4 more times onto large loop, then DC 2 times onto smaller loop (7sts) ch 2, turn
2) DC in 1st DC, then DC in next 3 sts (4 sts), ch 1, turn
3) SC in 1st st, then SC in next 3 sts, at end ch 10 to 12 times, fasten off leaving a long tail for tying together
4) Sl st secondary color into 1st st from chain, holding a long tail of yarn across top of sts, SC in same st as joining sl st, then SC in next 3 sts (make sure you crochet tail under each st.
5) with both tails at front of skate, tie into a bow and adjust loops to desired size, trim off ends to desired length
6) with tapestry needle work beginning tail of yarn into piece and snip off.
7) with fabric glue, glue sequin to top of skate at the base of the long chain on both sides.
 or you can glue 3 sequins down the front of skate on both sides to represent laces. Use your imagination and decorate as you like!
Make 2 skates and tie the end of the 2 long chains into a bow making bow desired size, cut off excess tail yarn

These are great to keep a bunch in your purse to hand out as quick little "Merry Christmas" notions.

I hope you enjoy making these fun little ice skates.
Happy Hooking!