It's a wrap! Bringing a Year of Projects to a close...

I almost can't believe it.  This is the last post for this year's Year Of Projects.  I have to chuckle when I remember that when I started this YOP thing, I set for myself a modest goal of posting 2 times a month.   I had no idea how motivating this year-long "project" could be once I got started.  I'm amazed that I didn't miss a single week of posting.

And before someone notices that I'm not showing my finished full Mandala Madness today, I've created a post here where you can see it grow, if you like.  From beginning to end.

One of my favorite things about this Year of Projects project was taking pictures of finished objects. So it seems fitting to make my final YOP post a pictorial wrap-up of some of my favorite items made.

Items became favorites for different reasons.  Maybe they were colorful, or a bit whimsical...

Some projects I struggled through, but felt the surprising satisfaction of finally finishing.

Sometimes a simple pattern or idea produced a striking or fun project...

Some things immediately found a spot in my home, or they made gifts I was pleased to give...

When it comes right down to it, the one thing all my favorite creations have in common is they make me smile.  How happy it makes me to be able to make things.  

For anyone who may be interested, here is my formal YOP list with all the items I completed for this past year's Year of Projects.  

Next week all the participating Yoppers will be revealing their new lists for the next YOP year (which runs July, 2016 through June, 2017).  I'm already looking forward to seeing all the wonderful things returning members and new members make.  Please join in the fun if this Year of Projects blog project is appealing to you. And whether you join us or not, come check out the group and all the other YOPpers' wrap-up posts by visiting our group on Ravelry.

Loopy Love Baby Sweater

No Mandala Madness picture this week.  I'm nearly done with Part 12, but as the sun began to set on Friday evening, I knew I wasn't going to manage to get it done in time to get a picture to post today. And knew we'd be up and out too early to snap a picture in the morning light (hubs is working the computer at church and I'm running the sound board this morning).

And with it being Father's Day today and our kids coming over for a grill-out after church, I knew I wouldn't be working on it today before I wanted to post, so tune in next week!  I think it will be the grand finale.  :)

But I do have pictures!  :)  This week I crocheted a cute little Loopy Love Sweater as a baby shower gift for a young friend who's having her first baby this August.  It went over well yesterday - so well, people started clapping when they found out I made it.  And I wanted to melt into the floor.   Yes I have some wonderfully encouraging, if embarrassing friends.   This and a sweet blanket her grandmother crocheted were the only hand-made gifts she received yesterday (that I recall).  How different from the last baby shower I attended where the mother-to-be received no less than 5 hand-made baby blankets (the 5th being mine - another embarrassing moment, but for completely different reasons).

I don't know what size this really is (nor have any idea how big or small the new baby will be), but I'm confident it's not newborn size and expect it will be used in the autumn, or possibly even winter - so the dark rich colors will be more fitting than they seem here in June.

I wish you could reach through the screen and feel this yarn.  It's soooo soft.  And it machine washes and dries really nicely.  Two big pluses for a new mommy.

This was a super easy pattern.  Only made a little difficult by the varying spin of the colorful Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn.   The unevenness of the yarn made it difficult to always get straight edges, but I'm choosing to see it as making the sweater look more unique.  Authentically handcrafted. It looks a little "boho" to me, so I bought a little pair of baby yoga pant "jeans" to gift with it.  :)

By the way...  that curling bottom corner blocked out nicely with a little steam (and stayed out after washing and drying) - what a relief.

I had no idea how (relatively) easy it is to crochet a little sweater.  I'm looking forward to making more.  Crochet lends itself to making a pretty little "lacey" girly sweater, but I'm hoping to also find a little boy's sweater pattern that looks nice crocheted up.

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When I was trying to figure out how big to make my Loopy Love Sweater,  I pulled out some sweaters from my (now adult) boys' "baby boxes".  This little mint-green sweater is actually one my husband wore over 60 years ago, and each of my three boys wore it as infants:

I was sure I was told (once upon a time) that this is a sweater his grandmother made and thinking that she only crocheted, I thought for years that this was a crocheted sweater.   But as I looked at it again this week (with eyes that have been seeing a lot of crochet in recent years) I'm thinking it's actually knit.

I feel a little silly doubting my own eyes, but after originally thinking this was crocheted, I think I'm just having trouble accepting the truth.  Look close, knitting friends...   Is this knit?

Our Year of Projects year ends next week - I cannot believe how quickly this year has flown by! Check out our group on Ravelry and consider yourself invited to join along as we begin a new year on July 3rd!

Two blankets, one finish...

It needs no introduction, so I present Part 11 of my Mandala Madness:

And, just for Marsha...   Here I am (not exactly) hanging out the window snapping the picture above:

I remember my overriding thought at this moment was, "I must not drop the camera."

It didn't occur to me until I went to open the window and remove the screen that because the window moves over to the middle as it opens, there is no way I could actually "hang out" of it.  But still...  I couldn't help but think, the things we do for our fellow Yoppers.   But it's great, as I discovered a way to take pictures of really large, round blankets. :)   As long as the weather allows, anyway.

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And this weekend I finished the Spring into Summer baby blanket:

Made with Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in the colorway, Candied.  This is a self-striping yarn and the idea behind using it in a pattern like this is that there should be very few ends to weave in. Unfortunately, I found a particular color run to be pretty seriously unattractive (so muted and almost a non-color that it looked dirty), so I did a fair amount of snipping out those sections of yarn. And once in a while I'd end up with three rows, one after the other, where one color dominated.  I couldn't have that, so I'd cut and restart in a different place in the skein in those places.  While I suppose I had fewer ends to sew in than if every single row was started with a new skein/color of yarn, it was a bit mind boggling to see all the ends I did have to sew in.

It turned out very pretty though.  And it's oh so soft  - perfect for a baby.  While it was more work than a self-striping yarn should be to work with, I'm really happy with the finished project.

Check out what other Yoppers are up to by visiting this week's thread on Ravelry.

The madness got even crazier this week...

Finally!   I managed to get Part 10 finished of my Mandala Madness.  It may not look crazy, but this part was the craziest (most intricate) part to date.

I think (after this week) it will be too large for me to get the whole thing in a picture shooting straight on - unless I lay it outside in the grass and hang out of an upstairs window to snap a picture.   I'm tempted...

Truth be told, I'm not real crazy about all that white in this last part, but I'm hoping it feels less...I don't know...white, I guess, when I do the next sections where I'll be using blues and green for Parts 11 & 12.   I'm ready to be finished with this thing - I think it's about 58 inches across now - but it needs something beyond that last pink and white part to anchor it (both color-wise and stitch-wise).  I know part 11 won't be enough to finish on, but I'm hoping by the end of Part 12 I'll be happy enough with it to call it a wrap, and that it will be perfect for a child or maybe a pre-teen to wrap up in it.

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Yesterday I attended the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival in our little town.  I guess it's held here at our county fairgrounds every year (I know it was here last year, but I heard about it too late to attend).

Anyway, it's the first of its kind I've ever been to.  It was interesting seeing everything from raw fleece to cleaned and carded fleece, to roving fibers, to undyed yarn, to beautiful colors of hand-dyed, hand-spun yarn, to commercially dyed and spun yarns.  There were booths where crafts persons sold beautifully carved drop spindles, ceramic and wooden yarn bowls, shawl pins, yarn soaps and soaks, and there was even a booth that sold homemade fudge.  Mmmm...   I almost forgot I'm foregoing candy and sugar right now - it smelled so good it almost pulled me in like a magnet.

In the end, though, after walking around for an hour (and 10-15 minutes of that were talking with a friend I ran into) I decided there was nothing there I wanted badly enough to part with my cash for.  Which surprised me.  I had hoped to find a pretty yarn bowl, and would have bought a hank or two of hand-spun yarn if it begged me to.  But there was nothing I felt compelled to buy.  It was both a relief and a disappointment.

Ah well...  I do think I'll go back again next year.  It won't all be new to me and maybe I'll have a better sense of what, specifically, I'd be interested in buying, rather than just hoping something "calls out" to me.

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On another note...  I've been enjoying using my newly made stitch markers this week, but I've learned an important lesson.  These really need to open wide to make it easy to attach to a stitch.  I've concluded I much prefer the lever back earring fasteners, and following after that the large lobster claw fasteners.  The smaller lobster claws work, but they're small enough that it's a bit too fiddly for me to be completely happy with them as stitch markers.  I may remake those some day.  They're usable.  Just not preferred.

So note to myself...   buy more lever backs:

And as my fellow Yoppers have been mentioning for a month or so, we're getting ready to wrap up this Year Of Projects year.  A YOP year runs from July through June and that means we've only got three more Sunday's worth of YOP posts!  On July 3rd we should be posting our first post of the next YOP year.  It is in this first post where we reveal our personal goals regarding what we hope to accomplish with the fiber arts - though I've also loved reading about non-fiber creative pursuits fellow Yoppers have posted about from time to time.

If this sounds like something you'd enjoy doing, I invite you to join us.  It's pretty low-key, but at the same time hugely encouraging.  Each person decides what kind of goals s/he wants to set and then just gets on with it and blogging about it.  Some people are very specific about what projects they want to finish, others (like me) use their goals list as an idea generator.  I am motivated better with a list of ideas rather than a list of specific projects.  There is no pressure if a week (or a month, or more) is missed.  But I'll be honest.  I set for myself the modest goal of posting once or maybe twice a month and once I started I managed to not miss a single week!  I've really surprised myself at that.

Sooo...come check us out!  And please consider joining us.  The more the merrier, and the more creative we all are!  Click on the graphic below to visit the Year of Projects group on Ravelry.

Small things...

I couldn't manage to finish Part 10 of my Mandala Madness this week, but hopefully next week I'll get this challenging round completed.  It appears to be a doozy!

With the knowledge that I wouldn't be able to post a progress picture of the Mandala Madness I set to work finishing a project for the Weekly & Washcloth CAL on Ravelry.   After looking at several tutorials on crocheting a simple wrap bracelet, I put this one together with some wooden and glass beads, some shell beads, and some fun dangles that were retrieved from no longer worn jewelry.

The anchor charm is new, but it works really well as a clasp hooked onto the old oval-shaped reclaimed jewelry part.  This isn't how I anticipated holding the bracelet together, but I like it!

And while I had my beads out I decided to finally make me some stitch markers.    I thought I had more earring parts, but with just two of the ones pictured below I could only put together two mushroom stitch markers.   I really need to get more earring wires at the earliest opportunity, 'cuz these mushroom stitch markers are begging for some buddies to hang with.

With plenty of lobster claw clasps, I was able to put together some other sets.  I think these funky beads make cute stitch markers:

And these mis-matched "jewels" make a fun eclectic set below, I think.  I don't know why, but they remind me of a tea table set with a varied assortment of china.  Is that weird?  I actually like that they're not matchy-matchy.

I'm probably way too enamored with my own handiwork, but I'm so very excited to finally have some cute stitch markers.  I have some plastic non-closing ones that are useful at times, but when I've needed something that closes I've resorted to paper clips or safety pins, or pulling an earring out of an ear to use in a pinch, even.  Don't laugh!  Okay...go ahead and laugh.  It's not that I don't value being enterprising and using what is readily available, but there's something to be said for using attractive tools.

And with these pretties at my disposal I will happily get back to work on my Mandala Madness and other projects.  To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit our thread this week on Ravelry.

The Madness Continues...

Keeping my Year of Projects post really short this week, I give you Part 9 of my Mandala Madness.

The waviness of the edges is supposed to settle down with Part 10.  I have no idea how or why, but I've learned to trust the designer.  When she says something will happen, it tends to happen.  I tried to be proactive and measure this thing before posting, but I got a rough measurement of 43 inches across, which is the same measurement I got last week.  Hmmm....  Clearly, I'm going to have to wait 'till the waves are calm before I can manage to measure accurately.

And that's all from me on this beautiful fourth Sunday in May.  :)  Check out what other Yoppers are up to by visiting our Ravelry thread this week!

Loving the lavender...

First up, week 8 of my Mandala Madness:

I admit - I love the light lavender!

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And yippee skippee -- I finally finished the Diamond Stitch Baby Blanket, which ended up being too large for a baby blanket.   I'm thinking it's perfect for a young child, though.  Or maybe a large lap blanket for someone older?  This first picture shows just a little over half of the finished blanket - made with Deborah Norville's Everyday, yarn in the color, orchid (which, in my mind, translates to lavender :^).

While I love the diamond pattern for its simple elegance, I'm wondering if it needs something - like maybe some crocheted flower appliques - like in the bottom right-hand corner.   But if I do that, how many and what size?  Truthfully, I'm not sure I even want to do anything more, but I'm open to at least hearing ideas.  Please weigh in below if you have an opinion.

Finishing up the Diamond Stitch blanket I immediately began on the Spring Into Summer Blanket using Red Heart Boutique yarn in the the colorway Candied:

I've always thought the original of this blanket is pretty, so I decided while I'm in a small blanket kind of mood, now's a good time to make one.

To see what other Yoppers are up to visit our thread this week on Ravelry.  And consider joining us come the first Sunday in July for a new Year of Projects year.  Come check out the group and see if this sounds like fun.  We'd all love to see new folks join us!

Mostly small things...

First up - Part 7 of my not-so-small Mandala Madness:

While I think it looks better in the picture than it does in real life, this last round kind of works for me with that splash of bright pink and bright green and going a little easier on the dark purple. So what's next?  Back to the pink and white for the next few rounds...

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And looking for a smaller, lighter weight project I whipped up one of these Kaldred Bracelets:

This is an easy project - and easy to adapt to different weight threads and yarns.   While I added a clasp, it's unnecessary.  Even with cotton thread, this bracelet stretches just enough to ease this right over my hand.    

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Saturday morning I attended an event called "Garden Celebration" here in our town (at the county fairgrounds).  There were vendors of all sorts selling a variety of things from antiques, soaps and essential oils, honey, outdoor furniture, crafty items, and of course plants.  There were several seminars throughout the day, and I chose to attend one about the need for establishing Monarch butterfly way stations between Mexico and Canada - for Monarchs to stop, mate, and lay their eggs on their annual migration north.  Long story short, I'm now contemplating where might be the perfect spot for planting Milkweed in our backyard.  Very interesting information shared in this seminar.

And, of course I bought a few plants - a Chocolate Cherry Tomato plant (the ripe tomatoes are supposed to be purple, and no, they won't taste like chocolate ;^), and a sweet red pepper plant along with various decorative plants to go with my flowers I'll be potting this week.  

My favorite purchase, though was this little felted bowl:

I have no clue what I'm going to put in it, but it is so adorable I decided I didn't care. I know I'll figure out some use for this pretty little bowl.   I want to give felting a try, but I'm not sure I can do it in my high efficiency washing machine that has no agitator.  So, until I do decide to try felting I'll just admire my little bowl and think about pretty colors I could blend together into a felted something. ;^)

To top off the day, on Saturday evening we visited with my husband's parents to wish my mother-in-law an early Happy Mother's Day. Since gardening is on my brain, I took her a pretty potted Dahlia plant.  It was a nice, quiet visit with just the parents-in-law and my sister-in-law.  And while we were there, we watched the Kentucky Derby. Evidently it's an annual tradition for my in-laws to watch the Kentucky Derby on TV.   In all the years I've lived within 2 hours of Louisville, Kentucky, I've never even been curious enough to watch this race on TV.  Now that I have seen it, I can only say... Wow - such a lot of hoopla over a race that lasts maybe two minutes?!?!  While I have to say I really don't get it, I will admit...  it was an exciting two minutes.  :^)

After a Mother's Day lunch today, the family decided at the last minute to go watch The Jungle Book movie.  Now, not being a big fan of talking animals, and understanding that most of the movie is computer generated I originally didn't have much interest in seeing this movie.  But when everyone said they'd like to go, and it being a rainy day, I decided it was as good a thing to do as anything.  OH MY!!!    What a good movie it is!   The CG is amazing.  Even knowing most of the movie was computer generated I had to keep reminding myself that the animals weren't real.  That the scenes were not real.  The voices were perfect, and the emotion shown in the animals' faces and movements made me a believer in CG.  Honestly, I felt like I could watch it again - just to be amazed all over again by the creativity of the computer artists.  Sigh.

And that wraps up the week.  While we've had a fair amount of rain and it's been chilly this weekend in Indiana, it has been a lovely Mothers' Day weekend.  

Come see what other Yoppers are up to, visit this week's thread on Ravelry.

May Day Mandala

On this beautiful first day of May, I offer this week's installment of my Mandala Madness:

I kind of like how Part 6 turned out.  Continuing with the blues and green makes this soften right up. But of course, thinking it's time to add back in the bright pink (it's actually called Shocking Pink) and purple, I'm already starting to worry it's going to go all gaudy again.  Seriously wishing I'd never used those colors to begin with.  Oh well, I bravely crochet on...

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The only other crocheting that got any attention this week was my Diamond Stitch Baby Blanket:

It's about half way finished now, but progress seems slow.  For such an easy pattern, it has been ripped back an awful lot.  The concept of the pattern isn't hard at all, but it's very easy to lose track and make mistakes, I'm finding.

And that's all there is to mention on the crochet front.  To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit this week's thread on Ravelry.

The madness continues...

Well, I'm glad to be committed (for the time being) to completing a round every week of the Mandala Madness CAL or else I'd have nothing  to show.    It's been a busy time here recently, and while some crocheting is happening in moments here and there, I've not been able to get much traction toward completing the couple of other projects I currently have on my hooks.

So today, I will show you Part 5 of my Mandala Madness:

While I still wish I had picked different colors (something more subdued, or at least cohesive) I just can't get over how each new round of different colors transforms the whole thing.   I know I said something similar last week, but it's true!  It's such a surprise every week.   A little exciting, and a little scary at the same time, but I've finally decided I'm having fun with it.  :^)

And that's all I've got for today. After church we're heading to the north side of Indy to visit with extended family and to celebrate three April birthdays.  Oldest son's was a week and a half ago, mine was last Monday, and DH's is today.  And it's supposed to be a beautiful, sunny, mid-70 degree day today. Whoo Hoo!  Can't ask for more. :^)

To see what other Yoppers are up to, visit our thread on Ravelry.  It's not too early to consider joining us for next year's Year of Projects.  I think we begin our new year on the first Sunday of July.  I (and others) will, no doubt, write more in the coming months, but for now you can come check us out and see what you think.

Have a good week, everybody!

Spring is in the air...

A short, but sweet post this week - full of the colors of spring time.

First, this week's Mandala Madness:

It brightened right up with pink and white in this last part.  It's amazing how each new layer totally transforms the layers preceding it.

~~~

And this week I'm hosting a CAL on Ravelry with this little Doily Purse:

It was a cute and fairly quick project.  Perfect for a little girl (probably preschool age) to use for her small treasures.  I adapted the pattern by simply crocheting my bag in the round (spiraling up until it was the size I wanted it to be.  The handle is crocheted from where the bag ended and attached on the other side.  It's a super simple little bag and my notes can be found on my Ravelry project page.

And that's really all the crocheting I did this week.  It's been glorious weather-wise and my attention has been turned to the outdoors.  I picked my last pretty tulip for the picture above and got the flower beds weeded, mulched and even planted some zinnia seeds.  It's a little early for planting, but it's so warm I think I'm safe.  I can't wait until I have zinnias in bloom again.  They are a feast for the eyes!

The weekend has been filled with good things - beginning with a high school drama (featuring some young friends) on Friday night and culminating with dinner at Barcelona Tapas in Indy to celebrate oldest son's 27th birthday.   It's a new restaurant for us - it ought be fun trying out and sharing the different tapas - all of which are foreign to us.  =^)

I look forward to another promising week weather-wise and more gardening to freshen up the place.   I do love this time of year...

To see what other Yoppers have been up to recently, check out our thread on Ravelry!

No method to my madness...

No finished objects, but here's what I'm working on...

First, my progress in the Mandala Madness CAL:

I think I mentioned before that I feel a bit ambivalent about this thing, but this week I think I crossed over and have now embraced the madness.  To tell you the truth, a couple of weeks ago I saw someone else's mandala that was. I think, maybe only as far along as the star shape, and I thought it looked pretty.  So I took a leap and decided to give it a try.  I think if it had been labeled a Mystery CAL I would have remembered that I don't do mystery CALs.   But my brain did not register "mystery" when I checked it out, and only seeing fun colors and neat shapes I somehow thought "Hey that looks like fun!"

And just like that I signed up and began, every week, to torture myself over what colors I'm going to use in a project that I have no idea of what's coming next.  My hope was I  could keep it lively and bold, but not push it over the line into garish.  I torture myself no more.  Clearly, that line is behind me and there's no going back.

So I've embraced the madness.  The unpredictability of what's coming next.  My limitations at understanding color theory.  When all is said and done, I am learning some interesting stitches and the other peeps in the CAL are a friendly bunch.  So I'll continue until I decide I'm done.  And I will bravely show my progress here for next few weeks.

~~~

My Diamond Stitch Baby Blanket is coming along slowly.  Not because it's a hard pattern, but I tend to get distracted and have to rip out to correct mistakes.  I'm only a little further than this picture shows.   I really like this pattern and I imagine doing more blankets using it - maybe even an adult sized blanket.

~~~

And yesterday I started making an April Showers Doily.  It's being made in another CAL on Ravelry, but this time I knew what I was getting into.   Well...except that I've never made a doily before and I had no idea how hard it is to crochet with thread and a teeny tiny crochet hook.    While it's not the tiniest crochet hook made, this 1.5 mm crochet hook is super little for my middle-aged eyes.

To make it even more challenging I decided to add beads.  And to my dismay, the beads appear green when they're all congregated together.  When I threaded them on, they looked to be the same color as the thread so I'm hoping as I spread them out at the end of this doily they will not look so green, but will somehow take on the color of the thread (or something that goes with the thread).   And while I'm questioning my sanity I can't help but wonder already what my next crocheted thread project might be.  :^)

Visit the Year of Projects group on Ravelry to see what other Yoppers are up to this week.  You'll need a free Ravelry membership to take a look.  Come join the fun!