The End of Lenten Hats Collection

The Great Craftdown of 2018 has been going strong so far and I am pleased to see where I am going with this.  I wish I could see a larger dent in my craft room...  But I feel like I am getting things done slowly yet surely.

This is Holy Week, so I have worked on and finished my last two hats for Clean of Heart.  Last week I added two more striped half double hats last week.  This week I made yet another Wanderlust Beanie.  The second hat I made ended up being a creation of my own.  I started a pattern but even reading, rereading and making progress though...  The pattern was horrible.  I am not sure where the pattern went sideways, but following the directions was never going to give me the texture shown.  I was too far along to want to FROG, so I did my own thing.  I am going to write this pattern down and reverse it so the hat is reversible.  I love the texture created by the front post double crochet.

Not only did I want to share with you all the last two week's worth of hats, but a finale picture.  I have all of my ends woven in and they will go to Clean of Heart next week.  I am rather pleased with the fact I was able to get these all ready to go and met my devotion goal of two a week.  I know that doesn't seem hard, but the last two months have been very busy here.

I have been working on some of my scrap projects this week.  I got 27 Granny Hexies done.  I am getting so close to having enough to start putting together my blanket.  I have half a ball of Sugarwheel from Hobby Lobby that I am working into hexies right now.  It was just taking up room upstairs and it offers some really pretty colors.  The half ball was left over from a shawl last year.



I also took my more masculine left overs from the hats and worked them into 12" granny squares for another blanket.  I think I am going to keep that one shades of blue and gray.  I already have 2 shades of gray and blue in it already.  I have some blues in my craft room to do lapghans and baby blankets with so blue scraps won't be hard to come by.

I accidentally finished the Plum Pudding baby blanket.  Last weekend while we were running errands and getting things done, I took it with me.  By the end of Saturday, I was so close to being done, I just worked it through.  It honestly confuses me every single time how long it takes me to get to the half way mark and how fast I can get it finished after that.  But I now have my second baby blanket to donate this year.

I got my Easter Cards out last week.  I shared my toppers in a previous post.  Last week I glued them onto the bases and decorated in the insides.  I started my Easter cards out with; 3 6x6 pads of Doodlebug Easter Express paper, 3 long stickers sheets and one roll of washi tape.  This is all I have left in "scraps" after decorating the insides.  I wanted to use up as much as I possibly could.  There were a lot of pieces that weren't great on their own but were perfect to add to the insides of back of the finished cards.  I am super impressed with myself over what little bit I have left over.  I have some 5x7 cards and 6x6 that didn't go out this year, so these last few scraps with find their way used for those next year.

Finally the last thing I worked on was the final pair of slippers that I sold.  I am done with the slippers for a little while.  They are really fun and easy to make but children's sizing is very hard when they are between child's and adult sized shoes.

Time has been rather short this week.  After almost exactly one year, we are finally getting our entry area into the house painted and fixed.  We are also painting the landing at the top of the front stairs.  This is the last part of the house to be done since we moved last year.  We actually closed April 1st 2017.  Troy has spent this week trying to patch holes from where we needed to remove the old 1970's key style security system panels in the foyer.  We are also having to do some clean up on the wall around our HVAC intake vent. 

I am hoping to be done with both parts of the house by next weekend.  I don't know how much we will get done the next few days, with Easter and Troy's work schedule; but I really want to have this done so we can finally decorate and be done.  Also having it half painted for the last week has been driving us both nuts!

I don't know what I will post about next week, maybe a finished foyer and landing...  But until next week, take care!

Happy Easter everyone!

Two Week Wrap Up - I am still going over here

Hey guys!  So...  Yeah, it has been two weeks since I updated you on what I am working on.  Sorry, I am sure that you were roaming your homes with glasses of wine and curlers in your hair worried that I had vanished, given up or just didn't care enough to post.  The truth is, the last two weeks have been super busy for us.  Friends, family and just work!

I have been crafting, it has just been super slow since I haven't had a lot of time to sit down and be left alone.  Almost every time I have sat down I have been too exhausted to move at the end of the day. 

I know you guys don't really want to hear about the insanity that is my daily life (let's be honest, it isn't things that we don't all experience-not juicy gossip).  So on with Carrie's progress in "The Great Craftdown of 2018".

So I did get two hats done each week and part of my Lenten devotion.  You can tell that I am still in love with the Wanderlust Beanie as it made yet another appearance!  I also tried a new for me pattern from Jenniefer Andersson called The Fisherman's Hat.  I liked the pattern, but it did need some tweaking.  I also made a striped hat from Kara Gunza called Basic Striped Crochet Hat.  I enjoyed being able to use up some more scrap yarns from previous hats.

I officially hit the 50% mark on my Dr Who scarf.  I spend one morning weaving in the ends up to a where I was 2 weeks ago, so some of the tedious finishing work is already complete.  It is already over 5 feet long.  The pattern says that it will stretch with wear so it will be almost 12 feet by the time I am wearing it!  I can't wait!



I made 6 pairs of slippers.  I made two for myself and shared them on my personal Facebook page.  I then ended up with an order for 2 pairs.  I have had to remake one of them 3 times though.  Maybe in the future I will write up a whole post about how children and toddler sizes aren't just mini adult sizes... I didn't get pictures of the ones that I sold, however here are my two pair.  The pattern is Sunday Ballet Slippers from Ashlea Konecny.


My Plum Pudding blanket is also almost to the 50% mark.  I have 3 rows before I turn the corner on it.  I didn't get a picture this week because it looks the same, a large pink and purple triangle...  I hope to have more done on it next week.

And that is all I have had a chance to work on.  It has been super slow going and very busy around here, so not much time to do anything.  I got my St. Patrick's Day cards out (the few I could stand to make), I did a lot of cleaning before my brother and sister-in-law came for a visit and I did my best to keep on top of errand running.

My goal for this week is to turn the corner on my Plum Pudding blanket, finish the insides of my Easter Cards and get those out this weekend (I want to do some minor decorating in those), I am also hoping to start something interesting to post about and maybe finish something that is still in WIP purgatory.  As it will be Holy Week next week, I can't guarantee how much I will get done though.  It is a busy week for us.

I hope that you guys are having a wonderful week so far and I can't wait to see if you are following along with me.  Hopefully you will start sharing your projects with me.  I want to see what you are working on!

The Great Craftdown is still rolling along

So guys, I really don't know what to start calling these posts.  I have so many weeks where I just post about what I am working on in the effort of getting the craft room worked into a more manageable arrangement.  I know there aren't many people who are following me (Hi Mom!) so I don't have a lot of back and forth with any of you.  If you are reading my posts, please share what you are working on as well.  Please share with me things you would like to see aside from my "Great Craftdown of 2018" posts.

But on with the one thing I know I have followers for.

So, I finally hit the quarter mark on the Doctor Who Scarf.  It has been my project while watching Youtube at the computer.  Since we got all into watching Travelers on Netflix, it has been slower going.  I haven't been sitting at the computer as much the last few weeks.  I am so excited.  It really is looking good!  I should sit down and start weaving in ends, but....  well, I hate finishing work...







I did finish off my first ball of cotton this week with these.  I got two face scrubbies, one extra large scrubbie and a wash cloth this week.  I have another wound cake of cotton up there to work with.  I think I might work more on cloths.  I know a lot of the people in my family really like them and they are practical gifts to hand out to people.  My step son is moving this Spring, maybe he needs some new wash cloths for his kitchen...  I have more than pink in my stash upstairs...


That is a cat paw in the picture-Pippin tried to claim them as his own.

Here are my hats for this week.  I did decide to knit one, however I went right back to the Wanderlust pattern afterwards...  I just really love how it works up and I adore the texture.  I want these to be simple but really nice and to me, this is a wonderful pattern for that.  The knitted one is also wonderful and soft, but very basic.  I want the men who get these to appreciate them and appreciate that someone wants them to have something nice, not just a hat.  I don't know if that makes since or
not.

I am over 28 inches and almost two skeins into my baby blanket.  I did pull this out the other night while watching Travelers (seriously, go and check it out!) so there was progress worth taking a picture of.  I am about to hit the point to start the decreasing.  From there I will work on it harder because it always seems to go so fast!

That is really it you guys!  I didn't have a lot of free time last week.  We had some yard work and home repair we worked on all weekend, so I didn't get to just spend a day vegging and working on things.  I do have some super cute ideas for the Spring (I am working on getting some decorating done in the background) and I hope to spend some time with those this weekend.

I hope you all have a wonderful week and I hope to see some comments back about what you are working on or if you want to see something from me.

Easter is around the corner!

Sorry guys, my post is way late this week.  I have been feeling under the weather, so everything has taken twice as long to get done.  I have also been working on finishing up my Easter Cards since I was working on them in the living room not my craft room.  This post is going to be very picture heavy and no nearly as much writing as normal.

So, lets see what I got done this last week.  First the Easter Cards.  I worked on these for 4 days in my free time.  I wanted to see how far to could take 3 6x6 pads, 2 12x12 sheets, 1 roll of washi tape, and 2 sticker Icon sheets.  I have to say, I am rather impressed at how far things went.  I haven't attached the card tops to the cards yet, but that takes relatively no time compared to design.  Total, I ended up with 90 cards.  The "leftovers" I will use on the insides of the cards when I attach them to the card bases.  So I will come back and update you guys on what really was left over in the end.

I had a number of unique cards this time around.  So this section will be very picture heavy!

A2 landscape playing with the washi

All of the 6x6

A2 landscape cards

A2 mostly using sketches

A7 cards from 12x12 paper

A2 using scrap paper bases

A2 landscape

Work in progress

Left over washi and stickers

Leftover papers

I did get two hats done for Clean of Heart this last week.  I am still in love with the Wanderlust Beanie pattern.  I used Red Heart With Love for these.  If you are looking for a hat pattern that is just lush and soft, I recommend this pattern.  Kristen Halloway really made a pattern that is interesting to work and results in a very neutral texture design.  The "Designer's Witchcraft" is strong with this one!  I haven't seen a crochet pattern that works like this one in a long time.






I did spend some time on working through some cotton yarn.  I got two face "scrubbies" done.  I think these might get given out as gifts later this year.  I don't know.  I might try to sell them on social media/Craigslist as well.  I don't like working with cotton that much or at least worsted weight cotton.  It is too rough and hurts my hands to work with.  These small projects are perfect way to just run through my left overs.  I used the Cotton Face Scrubby pattern.  Very easy to memorize and also would be a great on the go project.

I did have some leftover yarn for 10 hexies to add to my stash.  I am still surprised it is taking me so long to have enough to make a blanket with.  I am not ending up with the normal amount or expected amount of left overs at the end of projects.  I suppose that is a good thing, but just unexpected.

I did start another scrapghan on the side the last two weeks.  This one has more masculine colors that don't work for my hexies.  These use much larger scraps than I would normally break down into hexies.  There will be some cross over but not much.  These granny squares are almost 12 inches finished.  So far the hats for donations scraps is the only thing I have used.  I have some other half balls floating around that I might add in from the craft room.

There was a little progress made on the C2C baby blanket.  This is in my travel bag, so it goes with me when Troy is driving, I know there will be a waiting room or just pull it out when I  have a minute.  These kinds of projects are very slow going, however, I always have something to take when I am running out the door.

I didn't get much work done on the Doctor Who Scarf this week as I moved my personal projects over to the Easter Cards.  I am not going to show a picture because it would look the same as last week's.

Projects done

Money spent

That about wraps up what I did this week!  I did want to end with a picture of my list of things I have worked on this year.  I am keeping track as I go.  I also have a picture of what I have spent this year total.  So far so good on the costs.