The Neverending Blanket

It started in January of 2011.  Not one to follow crochet patterns, I found one in a book that I liked.  The afghan in the book was a solid color but I loved the idea of stripes in different shades of blue and gray.  I started working on it earnestly for a few weeks.  Then I stopped for a few months.  Then the cycle would ebb and flow --- determination to finish it, followed by boredom and the need for smaller projects.  Off and on, off and on...it has been an endless cycle.

Well, no more!  I will finish it in 2013 no matter what --- no matter what being that I may be finishing it up just as my friends and family are kissing and clinking glasses while the ball drops to usher us into 2014.  Finished it will be though -- I'm serious.  No really, I am.

It's kind of pretty, right?  I was very ambitious to make my first non-baby blanket a rather large one.

Initially I was going to make it as a gift for someone - maybe a friend or family member.

The longer I let this process go, I started to think, "Whoever gets this as a gift better LOVE it!"

As this continued, I started to reduce the list of giftees to the people who I think would really love it.  People who would be so touched that tears would come to their eyes and all of my work and procrastination would pay off at once.  Self-centered, I know, but a labor of love like this becomes very important to the laborer.

Now I'm thinking of just keeping it for myself.  I can wrap up in it and remember the journey to finish this mammoth thing.  My husband says I can definitely never sell it because I would have to charge too much money just to feel like my labor paid off and not end up irritated and convinced that the stranger who purchased my blanket just threw it in a closet one day and left it to wither.  I can't do that to you, Blanket.

All joking aside, I am quite proud of how it looks.  The crochet pattern is different than what I've done before and I am still in love with the stripes and colors.  It's soft and warm and will be wonderful to cuddle under before year's end.  I need to finish it this year -- for my own sense of accomplishment.  I also need it as a reminder the next time I decide to tackle a large crochet project.

My neverending blanket will have an end, darn it!  Even Bastian and Atreyu found an ending and so can I!

Crocheted Bag No. 1

Our summer has just flown by despite not having a hectic schedule.  I work full time during the week and have a family so life can be crazy during the school year with school, sports schedules, and other activities.  I love the summer because we are really lackadaisical and I have a lot more free time.  A couple of weeks ago I decided to use up some yarn that I had to make a bag.  I worked over the course of the weekend and then finished it up at night during that work week.  I love that feeling of complete obsession when I start a project and can't wait to see the finished product.  I was obsessed with this bag and love how it turned out.

One of the things I love about crochet is making up projects as I go.  I typically don't use patterns, although, I will sometimes use a pattern to get started on an idea.  I also don't write down patterns for my projects but I want to remedy that soon.  If I decide to make another item using the same pattern, I end up counting stitches on the finished piece as I'm making the new one.  Simply writing down the pattern would probably make it easier so I guess that's something to work towards.



I started with the bottom of the bag and just made a giant round.



I love blues and brown together so decided to use the tan colored yarn that I used for the bottom and then used a dark brown and light blue that I had leftover from older projects.  I'm a big fan of stripes.  I think that comes from having sons.  If you've ever shopped for baby boy clothes, it's a lot of blues, stripes, and then a mixture of trucks, cars, sports, dinosaurs, super heroes, etc.



The finished project.  It's a deep bag and I'm thinking I'll use it to carry around my crochet supplies to sports practices, on car trips, etc.  Any place where I have time on my hands and want to keep them busy.  I made the strap really long so I can wear it across my body or I can tie it up to shorten it.  Over time the strap will stretch anyway so tying it in a knot at the top is a good option.

I also have an abundance of granny squares right now.  In my attempt to use the yarn I have before buying more, I have made a lot of granny squares and have been looking for various uses.  I think I may make some mismatched granny square bags as well. 

More to come on the abundance of granny squares and what I end up doing with them (as I had discussed 

HERE

I have a sneaking suspicion that I will end up making more bags than I could ever expect to use. 

Folky Fiber Book

My mom is a quilter.  A few months ago, she came to visit and we had lunch and visited a local fabric shop.  I've always been drawn to colorful and patterned paper, beads, markers, felt, yarn, and anything else that is colorful.  Only recently have I caught the colorful fabric bug as well.  The problem is that I don't really sew and I don't quilt.  I don't have a clue how to use a sewing machine.  Regardless, I've gradually started incorporating fabric into different projects. 

This particular fabric shop was like a candy store - colors, patterns, textures - it was intoxicating.  My mom insisted on buying me some fabric (and who am I to refuse).  I brought it home and then it sat here for a bit because I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I tend to do that sometimes.  I am mostly self taught in many different arts and crafts.  I am always wanting to learn something else.  I am often envious of people who have just one passion and excel at that one thing.  Lately though, I started thinking about the different mediums and things I know how to do.  What if I started to find ways to pull it all together?  Photography, writing, crochet, embroidery, chainmaille, jewelry, recycled materials, etc.  That is what set the idea of this blog in motion.  Maybe my passion is to combine art forms into one that suits me.

As that idea came together, I started this project as a gift for my mom.  She was my inspiration.  I wanted it to be colorful, full of texture, use mediums that I know she likes, and full of positive words.



I started by crocheting the front and back cover for the book.

I then worked on each page of the book.  I'm new to embroidery and I kind of make it up as I go along.  I worked a word into each page, embroidered on fabric, and then sewed the pages onto 4x4 pieces of felt or crocheted 4x4 granny squares.

The pages started to stack up as I went.  I worked on this over the course of a couple of months.  I wasn't always consistent with how often I worked but I tend to work that way.  I would prefer to finish a project I love as it comes to me, rather than force myself to finish sooner and then not be crazy about it.

Music always helps the process flow.  I was digging Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros quite a bit during this project. 

More pages...one is a textured felt background and the other is a granny square of the same size in white acrylic yarn.

Putting it all together was the tricky part for me.  I started out by binding the pages to a sturdy piece of felt.  I figured this would be a good way to bind the pages and make sure they are secured and can still be turned easily.

Once they were bound to the brown felt, I crocheted the spine and sewed the felt with the pages to the spine.

The bound pages from the inside of the book.

The spine attached to my cover.  It must be my folk roots but I love a rustic feel to my projects.  I left the edges of the fabric on my pages frayed and I crocheted the edges of the spine to have a frayed look too.

The front cover and the finished product.

My mom loved it and I was really pleased to see my idea come to fruition.  I'm excited to try some other ideas for mixed media fiber books.  I'm thinking about incorporating some different chainmaille techniques for a more industrial look and maybe trying to incorporate fiber and paper collage art.

First blog post complete!  I have more projects, ideas, and snippets of things I'm working on in store.  Please feel free to share my blog with others.  Thanks for reading!