Yay...! Cardigan finished!...do I get a prize?...

I finally finished the cardigan last night, now I get to model it. But alas, its too big! I didnt realize it would turn out this big when all the motifs are put together. Well, I'm a small size and I think this cardigan is a large size! Anyway, here it is:

Pattern: Garnstudio designs cardigan
Materials used: 5 balls Cotton thread size 8, natural
Crochet hook size 3.5mm

More free patterns from Garnstudio!

I'm not yet near the finish line for my Garnstudio cardigan, but I'm so eager to finish it so I can start on a bolero. Just look and drool over the latest free patterns from Garnstudio:

Bikini top in cotton viscose
Bolero in Eskimo
Striped top in Paris
Shawl and Belt in Fox and Paris
Shawl with love knots in Vivaldi
Bikini top with tassels in Safran
Shawl in Vivaldi
Jacket and Bikini top in Paris, Vienna and Safran
Top in Cotton Viscose
Nostalgic poncho, necklace and bracelet in Alpaca and Cotton Viscose
Bolero in Cotton Viscose
Shawl in Alpaca and Vivaldi
Bikini top in Paris Bikini shorts in Safran
Crocheted flowers on knitted cardigan
Crocheted brooch on knitted cardigan
Crocheted edging on knitted cardigan
Crocheted flower on knitted pullover
Afghan and Pillow in Karisma Superwash
Crocheted flower on girl's knitted cardigan
Crocheted flower on knitted cardigan in Alpaca

Update: Sept. 21, 2006
Free patterns recently added:

Crochet Earflap Hat in Alaska
Crochet Cardigan in Eskimo
Cardigan in Karisma
Cardigan in INKA
Sleeveless Sweater in Eskimo
Scarf with lace border and Headband with Cable in Alpaca
Slippers in Eskimo
Spiral Scarf in Vivaldi
Long Cardigan in Ice
Girl’s Cardigan in Muskat
Cardigan in Paris
Cardigan in Alaska, Eskimo, Symphony etc..
Poncho in Muskat
Cardigan in Muskat

Update: December 9, 2006
Child's Hat in Muskat
Baby Blanket in Safran
Slippers in Eskimo
Purse in Muskat or Vienna
Purse in Bomull-lin
Mobile Pocket in Eskimo
Wide Scarf in Bomull-lin

Previous post on Garnstudio free patterns links

3 days and 11 hours to go...!

Just taking a break from crocheting like mad...hehe...

Update: I cant see the finish line yet, but I'm making a lot of progress, just a couple more motifs and one more sleeve. Then two rows of edging all around. Cant wait to try it on :D
Here I was a few hours ago, I asked my son to take some shots of me.

Half-finished cardigan...!

Hi! As of this post, the olympic timer says there's 7days 8hours 46mins 30secs before the closing ceremonies :(
Well, its late here now and I dont want to crochet tonight, got to take a rest. At least I can be proud that I finished half of it ;)

Here's my best attempt at taking my own pics...

Crochet Olympics - Day 8

I'm a bit late in the race, as half of the time is already gone and the first half of my cardigan isnt done yet :(
Anyway, maybe the next half would go faster since I had to frog the first sleeve twice, until I got the shape right. The other sleeve wont be any problem at all =)

Crochet Olympics - Day 6

I'm now beginning to see the making of a cardigan! I've finished 20 motifs and I've lined up the first 4 columns. There are 10 columns of motifs, a total of 52 motifs for the body. Here's my WIP:



Not impressive. But tomorrow I plan to make one sleeve and connect the motifs to complete half of the cardigan (hopefully!). Then I can try it on :)

More on food...

I've been inspired to write a post on my cooking when I remembered some of my friends' own "specialties". Here are some:

Tina's caramel custard:

CL's typical breakfast



Kimberly's quiche


Kimberly's Banana Cake









Tina's pumpkin pie








There could be more, but these are the ones I remembered :)

Update (Mar. 4) I just found this wonderful creation, Marzipan Torte by Nefermiw

Mushroom Omelette

I'm now going to talk about real food, not a crocheted omelette ;)
Maybe Tina can crochet an omelette if she's in the mood, she did make some cupcakes, burgers and fries from yarn :D

Well, I just want to show here one of my breakfast specialties. Its a quick omelette that my sons like and I serve it once a week. Other times we dont eat breakfast...hehe... (fried eggs and toast is our old standby)
Here it is in the pan almost done:



Now, for the all important presentation...voila!



We eat it with garlic fried rice (leftover rice from dinner, fried with minced garlic).

And while I'm on the topic of breakfast, here's what my younger son made one Saturday morning when I was too lazy to prepare anything. He is so happy with his "creation" he asked me to take a photo. (But he doesnt know I'm showing it here now :)


Its a crepe, filled with sliced peaches from a can. The syrup is Hershey's lite syrup (I didnt like its taste, so I put jam on top of my crepe).

Oh, and on the crocheting news... I'm still joining the two columns of the cardigan, or the first 10 motifs, so 42 more to go :O

Crochet Olympics - Day 4

Before anything else, you may want to grab Annie's Attic free pattern today a beautiful rose doily.

Thanks so much for the get well wishes for my crocheting hand, its now back to normal =) I think I'm off to a good start today. I plan to make 6 more motifs of the cardigan , so I will have a total of 10 and that makes 2 columns of it or half of the front. It has a total of 10 columns for the body. Its a lot of work still, but I like the pattern, just make 52 motifs, join and do the edging. Can I finish it in time?...I hope so ;)



It's a little smaller than the gauge of 12cm square.

My hand is aching :(

I was starting to crochet this morning since I was all in the mood for it, but then I felt something hurts in my wrist when I'm crocheting. When I'm typing it doesnt hurt. My hand never ached even if I crochet the whole day, except if I'm working on a thick and tight piece. But I've only been working with thread lately. Then I remembered what I did yesterday to take a break from crochet. I was crafting something (sort of a secret project), I was enjoying it but, I had to use a cutter to cut a thick piece of cardboard, and I labored on it until it was cut properly. Now, that is why my hand is aching :( (Tina, pls. dont try to guess out loud what I've been doing coz its a secret - you've seen one of it and now I'm doing another one =)

Day 3 - Crochet...

Ok, I might be disqualified for this, but I have to change the pattern I'm going to work on. I dont really feel like doing the other one because when I came to the increase and decrease part, I just didnt like how it turned out. The pattern is good, its just that I didnt want to have to do some "thinking", I just wanted to crochet quite mindlessly.
Anyway, I'm still doing a cardigan from garnstudio designs. I think I wont show a photo yet until I have crocheted about a quarter of it...
Meanwhile, I went over my old crochet books to find some inspiration and I picked out this old Japanese book (1986), Pretty Lace.


There were a lot of lovely designs in that book, but I'm always after the nice and easy ones so here is what I made yesterday from one of its motifs.

Day 2 - Crochet...

This really isn't turning out well. I've frogged twice already, and now I'm going to start over again, and do a longer starting chain, or make it into a small bolero instead...? I still have many projects and work to do, I cant seem to decide what I'll do with it. I better leave this first, so I can refresh my mind.
Meanwhile...

I went to Kimberly's site and saw her word cloud. Very nice, I had to get one myself:

Go to this site if you want your own word cloud ;)

Ready... Set...Crochet!!!

I was already thinking of this title for my post upon waking up, when I looked at Anna's site, there it is!...hehe... of course, that is what we participants ought to do now, start crocheting! Here's my first shot at it, not a good pic as I'm in a hurry to go on and make something. I guess looking at the pattern now, I would sacrifice the fit of this garment just so I will be able to finish it on time. Good luck to me and to all participants!

Flower Doily (another one for Valentine)

I was inspired upon getting several compliments on my rose doily, so I made another flowery doily for this valentine season. I chose a lovely variegated pink thread, and a very light pink to match, both Cannon thread size 8. Other details can be viewed on my post here.

Crochet Olympics

I recently signed up for the crochet olympics organized by jingles96 (Anna) at crochetville. She even set up a site for this fun event. Thanks Anna! There were also some nice people who made cute buttons for this and I found it hard to pick one but I had to choose.

It was also hard to pick a project for this but I decided to make a cardigan from Garnstudio designs. The most challenging part would be to be able to use my cotton thread size 8 as a substitute for the material used in the model, and to be able to get a well-fitting cardigan that I can actually wear...
I'm glad they came up with this activity, as it is the closest I can get to being a participant to anything olympic...hehe....
Anybody who wants to join is welcome. I saw my name listed on the website just now so I wrote this post. Maybe some of you, are interested, then just go to the site and see :)