Thursday, June 26, 2008

Chic cell phone purses

I love making cell phone purses...so I came up with another design of my own ;)
Here I used 3 different shades of cotton thread, but one is actually the other two colors combined for a tweed effect. Crocheted with two strands of thread held together, or may be substituted with one strand of DK weight yarn such as Catania. (See project below)



Pattern is available for purchase, here.
The pattern includes options for crocheting a necklace strap, a loop for the metal attachment, or a handle. It also has instructions for optional button closure and crocheted button cover.


My project using Catania yarn.
I used dark brown as color A, and beige as color B. For the tweed effect on the flap, I separated the strands of about 4 meters each color of the 4-ply Catania. Then I crocheted the flap using two ply of each color.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Traffic, typhoon and crochet...

Almost three weeks since my last post and what have I been up to? Not much, really.
However, school officially started here last June 10, and with it comes a lot of other chores to do - mostly driving. And I mean driving in bumper to bumper traffic, or watch out for motorcycles, tricycles, pedestrians, trucks, buses, jeeps, unruly and arrogant drivers kind of driving. Though my younger son is old enough to learn to drive, he's still psyching himself up for it...

The picture shows the main street in front of the University campus - looks very pleasant. But just before and after school hours - bumper to bumper traffic, and drivers becoming villains :p



Regarding the typhoon you've probably seen on the news, we're safe here in Quezon City. It badly hit the provinces though. Some experienced flooding like never before - and some, the tragic loss of lives at the sea...

Now on with some crochet WIP report. I think I will have to do this on the next post. I'm working on a purse pattern that I will have available for sale soon, and another pattern for free.
I did finish a bolero, one of my new designs, though I have yet to make some improvements on it. Here's a sneak peek:


Monday, June 09, 2008

Crochet Bolero/shrug FO


Here it is, another crochet bolero/shrug, a japanese design.
I used 5 balls of Cannon crochet thread, size 8, and a size 2mm Tulip aluminum hook.
I modified the pattern only at the beginning, I started off with 22 chs less, thereby decreasing two motif patterns in the vertical row. I thought it was going to get too big. But now that its finished, I realized I should have followed the pattern exactly.



It looks perfectly fine looking at the front, but the style of this bolero is supposed to be a loose fit. The sleeves should be a little loose. And looking at the back, it would have been more flattering if the ruffles rested lower on the hips.
Or, I could have shortened it sideways, so the back would be slimmer and be consistent with the sleeves...oh well...I still like it so much, and might make another one ;)

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Garnstudio free patterns update

Now Garnstudio Drops Designs can be seen in one page on Ravelry. These includes both knit and crochet designs.

Here in my blog, you'll see a directory of Garnstudio designs for crochet. Just click on the label garnstudio.

Another new page I've seen is an overview of patterns with crochet, where they have more detailed photos of the crochet pattern.

And here's an update on free crochet patterns:
Easter basket in ”Muskat” and ”Glitter”
Easter egg warmer in ”Eskimo” with pompon
Easter napkin decoration in ”Eskimo”
Easter basket in ”Eskimo”
Easter egg and Easter basket in ”Muskat” and ”Glitter”
Hair band with beads in “Symphony”
Necklace and bracelet in “Muskat”
Mittens in ”Alaska” with edge in ”Puddel”
Slippers in Eskimo
Beret in "Alaska"
Top in “Paris” and “Cotton Viscose”
Shawl in Cotton Viscose
Throw pillow case with granny squares in Muskat

Sunday, June 01, 2008

Current WIP

Another bolero/shrug. Its from a japanese crochet book. I liked it so much when I first saw it on this blog.


I'm now on my 2nd ball of thread and can't wait to try it on when I get to the sleeve part. This is the back. Work begins in the middle of back, worked vertically towards sleeve.

RAOK - late TY post

Just would like to say thanks to two ladies who've sent me an RAOK gift many weeks ago. One sent me some cotton yarns, and one sent a graduation gift for my son. I know you both didn't want me to put it here on my blog. But just so you know how much I appreciate it and can't thank you enough :)