Pie Afghan of many colors (crochet)

 This is one of those projects I couldn't wait to share!  I bought a Leisure Arts book called "Great Grannies: 7 scrap afghans" from Amazon.  I want to say it was around $8 or $9 but definitely worth it because all 7 of the creations are now on my to-do list.  Not like some books you buy and only want to make one or two of the things inside. 


One of the best parts, aside from the wonderful photos and unique blanket ideas that aren't in every single other crochet book... is that they are all made using only small bits of yarn for each motif.  And you don't have to be an extremely experienced crocheter to do these!!

 The blanket I chose to do first is called "Piece of the Pie" and you can probably see why.  Instead of all squares, it is all triangles!  136 to be exact!  I didn't even care about which particular colors I put together, just used up every bit of scrap I had and then started in on make dents into new skeins.  The whole project is using Red Heart Super Saver yarn. Normally it would take me a while to finish a blanket, but I was so excited to see how this one turned out that I completed it from start to finish in only 13 days!

The only problem I ran into were making the white circles that attach the points together (in the center of each hexagon).  That part is done after the whole blanket is sewn together and for some reason, the pattern wasn't telling me quite right how to do it...so I just made up my own way and it worked out just fine.  Maybe the pattern was wrong...maybe I was.   ??  Either way, you do that, then add the outside border and voila! All done. :)  

It's just over 4' by 5' or so... great throw for the couch or use as a bigger lap blanket. :)  
Haven't decided wether to sell or keep this one yet...I suppose if the right offer came along, maybe.  But for now it is living comfortably in a clear bag (so I can still admire it) next to the couch. :D

Throw rug and granny square pillow (crochet)

Good evening!! I am back from a somewhat-partial break after the holidays.  Here we are over 2 weeks into the new year already, so I figured I better make myself present! :)

 How did everyone's holiday go?  I am back into the full swing of things around here and currently working on a nifty blanket which I hope to share soon.  For now, though, I can start sharing things that were made as Christmas gifts that I couldn't share before in case anyone peeked here and saw! :D


This awesome rug started off as 16 (yes SIXTEEN!!) skeins of yarn in very, very random colors.  If you look closely you can see there are 2 different striping patterns...one with 8 colors and the other also with 8 colors.  Individually the yarns were actually rather ugly and none of them matched or coordinated.  But when you put them all together, they turned into this fabulous thing and were a great way to use up a lot of out-dated yarns! (I inherited a bunch from my grandmother and this throw rug thus became a sentimental gift for my mom!)  P.S. I used a "Q" hook and just did an oval, working extra stitches (all in SC) where needed to round out the ends and such, but there are plenty of patterns and books available, too, if you wanted to use them.

 Next up is one of my newest favorite things to work on (granny squares!).  This was also a gift for my mom, although this time I picked the colors on purpose to match ;)  No pattern was used, just bought a 14x14" pillow form (around $6 at Walmart) and started working a basic granny square (I believe with an "H" hook) until it measured big enough to fit across one side of the pillow.  Then I made an identical second one, held the two together and worked a SC border through both thicknesses on 3 sides (working in extra stitches around the corner to keep it flat and nice), stuffed the pillow into it, and finished up the 4th/final side.  Weaved in ends and voila!  :D 

Up close view of granny square pillow :)








Alrighty, I've got to get more photos downloaded to share for next time, but I hope everyone is having a wonderful start off to the new year!! :)