In Which I May Have Lost My Mind Art Yarn

I have been wanting to spin a funky, colorful, corespun yarn with bits added into it, so today, I did!  No one in my family has seen this yarn yet, but I'm sure when they do, they will think I've lost the remainder of my sanity!  Especially since the last yarn I spun was a simple, traditional, 3-ply alpaca.

Here is the result of my insanity!  I call it, Clownfetti! (Clown + Confetti)

I corespun colors of Romney, Shetland, Alpaca, and some unknown wool on a cotton core.  As I was spinning, I added in bits of recycled cashmere from a sweater, dyed lincoln locks, and yes, that is tinsel from my neighbors Christmas tree!  I then plyed it with navy blue sewing thread.  I ended up with 14 yards.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I LOVE it!  It is so funky and fun!  I am going to wash it to set the twist and put it up for sale in my Etsy shop.  I can totaly see this yarn incorporated into a crazy hat!

Here are a couple more pictures just for a little eye candy ;)

DIY Tissue Box Toy

Does this happen to anyone else?

My 9 month old thinks that the tissue box is the BEST toy ever!  I disagree...I don't care to have to blow my nose on torn pieces of tissue, what if I miss the part that isn't torn...

Here is an easy fix to the "rip all the tissues out of the box" problem

Cut strips of fabric to various sizes.  I didn't measure, I just cut some random strips.  I used the selvage of several of the scraps I had on hand.

I think I ended up cutting about 9 strips of fabric.  Stuff strips into box and...

Tada!  Tissue box toy!

I think he approves! ;)

Giant Doily Rug

I wanted to make something special for my brother and my new sister-in-law for their wedding.  They both love to decorate with a few antique pieces that mean something to them, so I decided that I would either make them a blanket or a rug that looked like it came for the Victorian era.

I knew that I wanted to use an ivory colored yarn because it would match everything.  I searched Ravelry for granny square and doily patterns to fulfill my blanket or rug ideas.  I really liked the idea of a giant doily rug the best, so that's what I went with!

I found this pattern and thought it would be perfect as a rug!  And yes, the page is not in English.  However, if you scroll down the page, you will find the diagram pattern that can be followed.  Yay for diagrams, the universal crochet language!

I chose Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick because it is a super bulky weight yarn and it is SO soft!  It is 80% acrylic and 20% wool.  I bought 8 skeins of it because I was going to be holding 4 strands together using a size Q crochet hook.

Here is the finished result

Between you and me, even though I bought 8 skeins, I still didn't have enough yarn to finish the last row of the pattern!

If you want to make your own crocheted doily rug, I have a few suggestions...

1. Choose a doily pattern carefully.  Make sure that the stitches in the pattern are not too intricate as the intricate pattern will just get lost in bulky stitches.  Also, make sure the pattern doesn't have too many rows, or you will spend a fortune in enough yarn to crochet the whole thing, and it will be GIGANTIC!  Simple is beautiful in a rug!

2. Choosing a super bulky weight yarn (will be a 6 on the yarn label), holding 4 strands together, and a size Q crochet hook will make your rug work up REALLY fast and you will have a quick gratification project (my favorite!). I think I only spent 1-2 hours on this rug.

3. Normally I am really picky about how I join my yarn ends, but with this rug, when I got to the end of a skein and needed to start a new skein, I just tied the ends together, cut the ends of the knot and kept going.  I could do that on this rug because the knots will get hidden underneath all of those strands of yarn being held together!

If you don't want your rug to be as thick as the one I made, or if you would rather have a square rug, try using a simple granny square pattern like this one.  Use only a bulky weight yarn (5 on yarn label), hold two strands together and use a size N crochet hook.  Like this one that I made out of Lion Brand Homespun.

There is a quarter in the middle of the rug for size comparison

Etsy Shop Now Open!

I have finished the tan Pug

 and another Boxer

to sell in my Etsy shop. 
I have also completed a fuzzy Gibbon Monkey.

All of these patterns can be found at PlanetJune.com.

I am pleased to announce the official opening of my shop!  I wish I could add that my baby has arrived...but that is not the case.  It seems he is holding out as long as he can!

Preparing for Etsy shop and Baby

I have recently decided to open an Etsy shop.  I plan on selling some finished amigurumi using PlanetJune patterns (and will later include patterns that I have written).  I've been meaning to open a shop for a while now, but never got around to it.  In July, my husband and I received wonderful news that we were pregnant!  However, I learned that being pregnant is not as much fun as I thought it would be.  Morning sickness, which I should really call ALL day nausea, kept me from enjoying most things, including crochet.  I didn't pick up a hook for almost 6 months because I didn't feel good.

Now, with the arrival of Baby only days away (Tuesday is my due date), I am crocheting up a storm!  I know that I won't have much time immediately after baby.

I began preparing ami's on Friday.  So far I have completed June's Boxer pattern 

and Pug pattern in black

I am almost finished with a tan pug and will start on another boxer soon.

I joked with my husband that I will miss the convenient "shelf" that my baby bump has provided :)  But, I am looking forward to meeting our new addition!

BMW Hacky Sack

My brother-in-law's birthday is tomorrow and I asked him last month what hand-crocheted gift he would like me to make.  I didn't give him an option of a store bought one!  He quickly replied, "A BMW hacky sack".

For my first attempt at this design, I used a pattern found here and spent my time deciding how to apply the BMW logo to the finished sack.

I used some of my husband's graph paper and attempted to pixel-ate the logo and found that making a circle on graph paper was not a skill of mine.  My husband, however, is studying mechanical engineering and knew how to properly  use the graph paper to make a pixel-ated circle.  His drawing looked great on paper!  However, my stitches did not stack on top of each other as on the paper.  Here is my first attempt

 

As you can see, the stitches did not line up to make good circles.  So, I set out on my second attempt.  I decided to try embroidering the logo onto the sack.  I am not great at embroidering so this was a challenge.  I crocheted another sack in black.  I began the embroidering with the inside circle of blue and white.

 Then I added the inside black lines. 










Last was the BMW added in white.

 Like I mentioned, I am not that great at embroidery.  My husband quickly pointed out that the B looks like an e.  However, I am happy with the overall result and I think that my brother-in-law will be also!