I finished the bag!!

I finished the bag today. It came out very cool! I even tested it by putting 2 - 12 packs of Diet Dr. Pepper into it and it held them with no problem whatsoever. I can hardly wait to show everybody who've been waiting for the finished product!!

Recycling Revisited

So, last night I finally got enough of the "plarn" rolled up to start a project. Here's where I left off when I went to bed. The project is the Green Shopping Bag. Obviously mine's not green, because bags from Publix and Ingles are tan. :) I've finished one side and started the second. I don't know if I have enough "plarn" to finish it. I may have to cut up a few more bags. What you see is all of the tan bags I had flattened. Each of these projects takes a lot of bags. So that I would have plenty, I sent out an officewide e-mail at work requesting they bring me all of their bags, no matter the color. I've had a great turnout! DH's response has been to not look into the crafts room because he really doesn't want to know.

Yellow & White Afghan

Last Friday night I finished the yellow and white afghan I was making for my friends C & C's second baby, which was due Sunday (Mother's Day). Cut that one close didn't I? Well, even delivering the blanket on Sunday did not result in the delivery of the baby. She didn't make her entrance until Thursday night. The blanket is made out of my favorite Bernat Baby Coordinates yarn. This one is Sweet Stripes - Sunshine Stripes. I love how pretty it came out. The pattern came out of an old issue of Crochet with Red Heart Magazine. (I'll figure out which one that was again and post an update to this later.) The blanket came out huge. At the knitting group, we were joking about the fact that it was getting so big it would fit a twin bed. Naturally, C & C loved it. It'll be something they treasure I'm sure.

Recycling

I'm behind on my blogging due to computer problems, so bear with the whole bunch of posts to follow. I'll start with my "recycling". You've all seen my post about the cute little purses the lady in the waiting room was making when I was at the hospital with DH. Well, I decided that I wanted to do something with the leftover grocery sacks I had around the house, which continue to accumulate. I tried several different methods for cutting them into strips including a photographic mat cutter and folding them up and just cutting them into small chunks which I then unrolled into the loops (DH's suggestion). Nothing worked so well as the rotary cutter, mat, and straight-edge that quilters use (that I had laying around and had never used). I tried as many as 8 neatly flattened out bags without difficulty. I could get even width strips. Weaving the loops through each other and then rolling into the ball of "plarn" was not at all difficult.

The Dress We Made

This dress is one that was started a while back (I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't remember how long ago, it's been that long). Anyway, the dress is for the middle child K who is pictured (headless) wearing said dress. The youngest child A and I started working on it yesterday and it was finished tonight. We're very pleased with how it came out and the fit. Isn't it pretty?

Great Recycling Idea

While I was sitting in the waiting room at the hospital the other day during DH's wrist surgery, I was naturally crocheting. The interesting part comes in when it is noted that I could hear the woman across from me crocheting. She was making these cute little purses (which she very kindly allowed me to photograph a complete one). The cool part was her medium (which was why I could hear her crocheting). She had cut plastic grocery sacks into circular strips (about 1.5" wide, I'd guess). She would then loop the strips through each other to create a continuous strand she could roll into a ball. Then she'd crochet. She said she modified the pattern she'd found on the Web by adding the flap with a button-hole. The "frog" is the end cut off of one of the double ended hair bandies that little kids wear. She also finds large buttons or beads for the same. These little purses are machine washable and just hung to dry, as well.

While I thought these purses were just too adorable, I really thought of my previously attempted reuseable shopping bag. Wouldn't it be awesome to make my reusable shopping bag out of recycled plastic grocery sacks? I'm sure it's been done and I can do a search on the Web for patterns (I haven't yet), but I couldn't help but get excited.

Intarsia Panel 1

I've finished the first of five panels for the Intarsia Polka-Dot Baby Blanket tonight, except weaving in the ends, which are cleverly hidden for this picture. It's not perfect, but I'm pleased with how it has come out based on the fact that I'm just learning this skill. Four more panels to go. I think it's going to come out quite nice. I'll post in a few days with the second panel attached and the ends woven in. I'll attach it immediately because I won't be able to stand not knowing what it's going to look like. All in all, I'm pleased with how pretty this is, but I'm not sure this is a particular skill I will use terribly often. It is a real pain to manage all of the bobbins and goes rather slowly as a result. It might be okay for a couple of color changes in a specific item. This number of color changes though? I may stick to crocheted graph-ghans from here on out. :)