Little Backpacks

A few months ago, my daughter (the middle one) asked me to make her a little doll-size backpack. She drew me a picture to explain her specifications.

It took me a while to get to this project but she persevered all along, reminding me of the promise that I would make it "some day, soon". Impressed by her tenacity,  I finally made the four-inch backpacks. Notice the plural, as her youger sister has to have everything that she has. Also, I made three as the prototype needed a few improvements.

Here are all three backpacks, complete with zippers, glue on pearls and all. The green prototype was gifted to a friend while my girls claimed the other two.

By the time of this post, it has been several weeks since the completion of the backpacks and the girls have moved onto newer toys. But they had a good run and are still intact, just hibernating for now. 

Petite Pineapples

As things continue to heat up here in Islamabad, my apathy towards my cardigan-in-progress persists. My creative urges are finding new, weather-friendly avenues like handlettering and art. ( You can find my beginner's attempts at handlettering on my instagram account). Yarnwise, I decided to switch to thread and crochet a new doily for my dresser. The last one was made about four year ago and has been out of use for a while.

      

 The pattern was straight forward enough, till the edging. The edging isn't charted. And trying to work through rows of instruction, with a toddler tugging at my shirt and another child jumping on the sofa, and someone else wanting a response from me, every other minute, was hard. Very hard indeed. My eyes and brain nearly gave out by the end of it.

In the end, it turned out just the right size and looks good as well.

 Surprisingly, the younger girls had no interest in the fare now on display on the dreser, unlike the last time, when my oldest daughter was  very keen on them. Perhaps because they already had access, however reluctant it might have been, to these things when they were stored in the cabinet. As for my oldest, she arranged the dresser this time around and half the stuff on it is hers anyway.

Smaller Things

With our temperatures rapidly climbing and the weather turing unusually hot for this time of the year, I have quite lost the will to work on my cardigan. Instead, I did reorganisation of my yarn stash and decided to knit up some cotton yarns to free up some space. Two potholders and two dischcloths later, I had managed to use an equivalent of only two balls of yarn.

The potholders are crocheted while the dishcloths are knit.

Anyway, the potholders are pretty awesome and performing very well in the kitchen. The dishcloths have not been used as of now, but I can foresee their use in the near future.

I am already looking for some other small knitting or crochet project. Any ideas? 

Crocheted Moccasin: Toddler Version

This winter, I had multiple requests for knitted/crocheted slippers from my kids. I had planned to make three pairs but due to the relative shortness of our winter coupled with my relative lack of free time, I only managed to make one pair. I finished these in December, well before our floors got really cold. Not that it mattered much, my toddler would not wear them for more than half an hour at a time. So, basically these are more to be looked at and played with, than be worn.

Still, they do prove one point. That is, my Crocheted Moccasin pattern can be successfully  downsized to toddler size, with thinner yarn and hook. So they still might be worth something. Also, I made them to be a generous size and a four-year-old just might be more inclined to wear them than a three-year-old. We will know the answer next winter, in sha Allah.

Little Craft Projects

While the inspiration for my next major knitting project still eludes me, I tried my hand at a couple of smaller projects. The first one is a bit different from my usual ones and I made it earlier this summer. It is a macrame belt for my daughter.

I used some colored beads from her stash to embellish it.

Macrame is fun but I ran into difficulty when the cord lengths I cut initially, turned out to be quite short and I had to add length. That is why the end section is a bit lumpy.

As for the second project, I wanted to do this for a long time and had saved a stone just for it. It is a crocheted stone.

 

 You probably have seen many gorgeous versions of this around the net. (Here is a google search). They look quite striking in a group. I found some patterns on ravelry too, but in the end, I just picked out the central part of a doily pattern from one of my crochet magazines and improvised the rest of it. Can you guess what it is for?...

 

I mean to use it as a doorstop. In fact, it is already in use and is performing its function beautifully!

A Blast From The Past: Crocheted Moccasin

 

This week, I took up crochet for a change and made a pair of moccasin out of the old patttern of mine. Even if I say so myself, the pattern was easy and fast. However these slippers are much heavier than the pair I recently wore out (I loved those), which demonstrates the difference between knitted and crocheted fabric.

 

The yarn was some Red Heart acrylic languishing in my stash I am so glad I found a way to use it up. I might experiment and get our local cobbler to apply a sole, if such a thing is possible. Maybe.

 

Crocheted Brooches

My SIL (sister-in-Law) recently asked me to make a couple of brooches for her, to accessorize her stoles. She mentioned the specific colors and kind of designs she wanted. Here are what I came up with:

pattern here

Masa Bag

 

This large, rectangle, crocheted piece which I also showed in the last post, got all folded and stitched together into this:

 Of course, it also got a handle added to it, and a lining with a zipper. The pattern basically explains the folding technique that turns a rectangle (3:1) into a bag form.

 

I used a larger hook and a longer foundation chain to make a bigger bag. And in doing so, I successfully used up one of the two 12 oz (552 m) balls of Sugar'n Cream Naturals that had been languishing in my stash for the last five years. Hopefully, I will find a way to use up the remaining ball in a suitable way, sooner than the next five years.

As for the bag, I think it is nicely sized, sturdy and useful bag. Nothing spectacular but quite practical.

Jar Lid Cover Turned Doily

 Now that the life is busy and bigger projects take ages to get done, I find myself drawn to smaller projects. Also crochet had been calling me for sometime now so I decided to hook up a small doily last week. I took the pattern out of a crochet magazine and as I wanted to use it as a jar lid cover, I added a dangling edging to it. And a drawstring.
   Next up is a baby project and possibly a free pattern.

Diamonds Bangle

 I tried something new this week. I recently got hold of a book on beadwork and wanted to give beaded crochet a try. So I got some beads and made this bangle. Stringing up the beads is the real hard work, the crochet part goes relatively quickly. 

 

Like most small projects, this one is quite addictive. I have already started a second one and maybe, I can get more beads in other colors.
In other news, our water crises is resolved and we even had some rain which has brought down the temperature a bit, alhamdolillah.

Summer Crochet Bag

Not so long ago, I saw this lovely bag on Pinterest. It looked like a great accessory for the Summer. And I had just the right cotton thread at hand to crochet it. The pattern is in Russian but there are some charts too. So armed with a Google translation and the charts, I set about making one for myself. There were a few ambiguous areas where I had to improvise and try out various options, until I got the right results, but it was totally doable.

 I used white cotton thread size 8, held doubled, on an unknown hook size. Again, our thread balls do not have yardage printed, but I used about 12 balls of local Coats Anchor Cotton Thread balls.

I did not have large enough beads for the handles, so I only dangled some smaller ones at the sides.

The lining is double, solid white cotton, with interfacing with a magnetic closure.

Thus, my quest for the right bag is finally over. I love this bag and can't wait to use it!

What's Up

I am done with the crochet part of the second bag in the last one month. I am pleased to report that this bag is turning out much closer to my expectations than the last one. I am working on the lining now and should have photos of the finished bag in a few days. Meanwhile, I am having a mild flare-up of an old eye inflammation. That means headaches if I do a lot of near work, causing me to slow down with my crafting activities. I also have a building pile of books I want to read. And rest of my summer sewing is also on the hold. Hopefully, I will be back in the thick of things in a few days, inshaAllah. For now, I have some free time to plan ahead for my future projects.

Rose Garden Tote

I do not know why I picked out this pattern. Maybe because it was crochet and felted, both techniques that I had not done in a long while. Or maybe it were the roses, which I love. Anyway, I was quite excited when I started and it being crochet, worked fast through the project. But around completion, doubts began to creep in. Nice though it maybe, it was not quite something that would suit me. My husband confirmed these doubts, but it was quite late in the day, so I went ahead and felted it anyway. And hoping to make it grow on me, I took it on my last shopping trip. I can't say it worked though, it has taken me a whole week to get the courage to blog about it. 

before felting

after felting

And in my determination to get a right kind of crochet bag, I have started another one. I am hoping this one will work for me, inshaAllah.

Basket Bag

Now that I find hard to come by some free time, crochet has renewed charm for me. A crochet project gets done so much faster. Like this bag which took me only two days to crochet and another to line and sew on the handles. This bag uses crochet in worsted acrylic yarn worked around a jute rope. I love the texture of jute and am a huge admirer of basket bags. So I am quite happy with this one and it will probably be one of those of my handmade bags which actually get used. (Yes, I have a number of rarely used bags, either because they are impractical, don't match anything in my wardrobe or because I no longer fancy them).

A Bigger Crochet Project

So I have started a new crochet project and is bigger than the ones I've done for sometime. It will take many days or even a couple of months to get done as I will be working on my other WIPs at the same time. This is going to be a curtain for our little bathroom window.

Can you see the lilac sequins? The curtain will be worked up in panels, each getting joined to the previous on the last row. I think I will need about ten panels to cover the window. I am at the first one right now and even that is not done yet :)

Rose Sachet

I have had a quirky wish to make one of these for a long time. The pattern(rav link) was a free pattern for the day at AnniesAttic last year.I could not decipher the instructions regarding the flower, so it does not look much like a rose. Still, it is a pretty flower.
It was a quick and fun thing to make, one reason I love crochet. Why is it that I want to do more projects in this vein and not get back to my lace and sweater WIPs. Anyway, this one has a scented polyfill filling and is going to live in my clothes closet.

New Fridge Handle Cover

Hoping the improve on my previous fridge handle cover, I made a new one. This one is secured in ties instead of the buttons which were on the last one. This prevents the cover from sliding down the handle.

It was a quick a simple project. First I crocheted a background piece to go around the handle, in dark green. Then I made some crochet roses ( There are many free patterns out there) and sewed then onto the background. Then I made a few leaves in different shades of green and incorporated them along the length of a chain stem. This stem serves to tie up the cover with very nice results.

Fan Bookmarks

This was a fun and quick project to do during a busy weekend. And it is crochet. Here is to hoping these will spur my reading.

Spiderman Afghan

It is finally done. I kept going until I ran out of red and blue yarn. It is good-sized at 62 inches diameter even though I could not put as many color repeats as I had originally planned. The pattern goes quite fast and I enjoyed it enormously. I did many modifications, like using a larger hook, different color sequence and slightly different way of doing the ribbing. I started with black yarn instead of red, so the ribbing ends at the edge of that central black circle and there is no bunching at the center. My son is very happy with his afghan and the weather has turned just right for it to be useful!

Superhero Dreamcatcher

Nobody might like spiders but kids sure do love spiderman and my son is no exception. I had promised my son a spiderman afghan for a long time and with the winter drawing closer (or is it?? It's so very hot here!!), I have started working on it.

I am using this pattern but changing the color sequence a bit and using 5.5mm hook instead of recommended 5 mm one. It is working up quite fast even though I had to frog twice because I failed to correctly read a pattern line. However, crochet is hard on my wrists and I have to take frequent breaks. (With knitting, it is mainly my shoulders which bear the brunt).
The kids of course are pretty excited about this project, pulling it up to measure against themselves to see how it has "grown".