Sunday, August 18, 2013

Railway Ties Scarf and other things

I still exist I promise. This month has been crazy. My husband and I were having really bad luck finding a place to move in to in Toronto, so on the forth we packed a U haul truck and moved all of our stuff to Toronto, and put it into storage. On our way across the Border we picked up our visas. We stayed at different friends houses for  the next four days while we ran around the city looking for a place to live in our budget, and without needing a cosigner. It was crazy. It seemed like all the places we could look at my husband was to tall to live in them. He is only 6 ft.

We did find a place. It is a basement apartment with 7 ft ceilings. The land lords are an older lady and her daughter. It took seven hours all together to get the contract all together, because of translation and different customs. It is in North York.

During this time my Grandma passed away so we then had to go back to the states for the funeral. We also had to wait for the different banks to transfer our money to pay for the rent. But now we are finally moved. Boxes are every where, but we will get there.



Also during this time I had a new pattern published with Crochetvolution. It is a very simple scarf pattern. Rail way Ties Scarf . It is a free pattern so go take a look.

Sunday, July 21, 2013

The things we do for yarn.


I had to go to Wal-mart the other day. My family and I were helping at summer camp and we needed to pick up a couple of things. We needed new toothbrushes, extra toothpaste (since we would be separated), hand sanitizer, and some pens. We got the dental items and the next item on our list was pens.

If your wal-mart is like ours you know that the pen aisle is right next to the yarn aisle. I told my husband, "I'm just going to look." And look I did. Only to find that they had their cotton yarn on sale for a DOLLAR A SKEIN. I can't pass that up. I should tell you now that I did not have a cart with me. We were just going in for 3 things. Also as usual all the yarn was mixed up and the colors were all in the wrong spots so the ones that were only a dollar were actually sitting somewhere else. So I had to go through all of them and readjust them into their right spots to read the bar codes, so that I could get the right ones on sale.

I was able to find seven skeins that were on sale for a dollar each. I grabbed them up, only to have half of them fall, because I did not have a cart. One of the skeins fell and landed under the aisle. I couldn't reach it! I had to have that skein! I remembered the toothbrush in my hand. I got on my hands and knees and swiped the toothbrush under the aisle and the skein came up. At this point I finally thought to myself, "I really hope I don't end up on the Wal-mart People page."

So if you ever see a video surveillance tape of a crazy lady wielding a toothbrush to claim her cotton skein...it's just me. 

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Copycat Striped Bag

 A Free Crochet Pattern


I was looking at Pintrest and I came across this bag. Don't all crafting stories start like that.

It is sold for 138.00. I knew I could get a similar look for a lot cheaper. I had some Red heart: Lustersheen lying around and I thought the colors would work for what I was wanting. Now I have come to find out that these colors are discontinued, but they have other great colors to choose from. Also you could substitute any fingering size yarn for this project. I used stuff that I already had so this bag was free for me. 

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copy cat stripped bag

Designer: Julia Schwartz
Yarn: Red heart: Lustersheen I used one ball for each color
Hook: E/ 4-3.50mm
Notions: embroidery needle, thread, straight pins, handles, fabric. 
Size:12 in by 10 in
Gauge:  11 hdc = 2 in, 4 rows = 1 in
Copyright:

Julia Schwartz. Do not reproduce, copy, distribute, or sell this pattern without permission of the designer. This pattern must not be translated, reproduced, or circulated in another language without prior consent. If you have questions about this pattern please contact Julia.diligence@gmail.com.

Where can I get this pattern


This is a free Pattern right here on the blog. Just keep scrolling down to find the pattern. If you would like an ads free, printer friendly PDF version I have them for sale in my Ravelry Shop for $1.00.

<------------>buy now<------------>

Instructions Copy Cat Bag

Front and back panel

Row 1: Ch 113, hdc in 2nd ch from hook, hdc in each ch across for 112 hdc
Row 2: Ch 1 (does not count as stitch), turn, hdc in each ch across 
Repeat row 2 for 20 more rows. Switch colors at row 6, 10, 14, 18. 

Side panel (make 2)

Note: Row 1 starts the bottom of the side panel. 
Row 1:  Ch 31, hdc in 2nd ch from hook, hdc in each ch across for 30 hdc
Row 2: Ch 1(does not count as a st here and throughout), turn,  hdc in next 14 hdc, 2 hdc in the next two hdc, hdc in the last 14 hdc. 32 hdc
Row 3: Ch 1, turn, hdc in the next 15 hdc, 2 hdc in the next two hdc, hdc in the last 15 hdc. 34 hdc
Row 4: Ch 1, turn, hdc in the next 16 hdc, 2 hdc in the next 2 hdc, hdc in the last 16 hdc. 36 hdc
Change color
Row 5: Ch 1, turn, hdc in each of the 36 hdc
Repeat row 5 for  36 more rows for a total of 40 rows. Change colors every 4 rows. 

Assembly of the bag

Take 1 side panel and fold it in half so the bottom is folded in half.  wip stitch the bottom so that there are 15 hdc touching 15 hdc. Repeat this with the second side. 

Then wip stitch the side panels with the front and back panel. It may help to pin the pieces together so that they will meet up evenly together at the end. 

Add lining and handles to the bag.

This bag has been featured on All Free Crochet; Go check out other great bags and purses there: 
https://www.allfreecrochet.com/Crochet-Bag-Patterns/Prettiest-Crochet-Purse-Patterns




More Patterns You Will Love:  

Garden Party Clutch

Lacey Shells Fingerless Gloves

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