crochet — Page 19

On the Docket for Today

December 17, 2011 at 1:28 pm by Claudia

Well, I made it through 2 out of 3 movies last night – The Bishop’s Wife and Christmas in Connecticut. I succumbed to my need for sleep and didn’t see The Shop Around the Corner – but we own a copy, so I can watch it any old time I want to. There’s even more yet to see – White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Story and A Christmas Carol (the one with Alastair Sim as Scrooge – the best, in my opinion.) And, of course, It’s a Wonderful Life. I consider all of these to be essential viewing for my particular Christmas season.

I managed to find our Christmas records (actually, CDs) yesterday. Since we keep them in a closet in the den, a dimly lit one at that, this requires a flashlight and my reading glasses. Maybe even a magnifying glass. But found they were.

Today I’m planning to:

:: Start reading this mystery by Rashad Harrison. I will be reviewing it in early January.

:: Play Mah Jongg on my iPhone. I bought a hard case for it yesterday. I’ve already dropped it once in this house and I know I can be clumsy and distracted at times. The front and back of an iPhone are made of glass. Dropping it on pavement or cement equals a recipe for disaster. You’ll notice I’ve chosen a case in my favorite color.

:: Start crocheting one of the Obsession Scarves. My wonderful sister sent me some yarn the other day, thinking I might want to crochet some scarves for my Etsy Shop. I can’t wait to get started.

In the same box with the yarn were these adorable yarn ornaments. Aren’t they cute? They make me smile.

So, to wrap up my incredibly complex list of things to do today: Crochet, read, eat, make my bed, maybe throw in a load of laundry, perhaps dry the laundry, swiffer, vacuum, eat, read, crochet, play a game or two of Mah Jongg. Watch Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story on TCM. And eat again. Then read in bed.

Over and out.

Craft/DIY: Crochet Snowflake Garland

December 1, 2011 at 11:00 am by Claudia

Last year I shared a pattern for a crochet garland. Whenever you see a photo of the white cabinet in the living room you see the garland, which is hanging on the cabinet door.

That was right around the holidays and I remarked how much like snowflakes these little flowers looked. So yesterday I played around a bit with yarn and hook.

Sweet little yarn snowflakes. As I begin this post on Wednesday evening, I’ve made about 9 or 10 or them. By the time I post tomorrow, I’ll have made more.

I’m back on a sunny Thursday morning. I did indeed make more snowflakes, while watching Dial M for Murder on TCM. Alfred Hitchcock and crochet = perfect evening.

I count 14 snowflakes. But you can make as many as you want. Lots more and you’d have tree garland. Or you could hang each snowflake separately, with different lengths of ribbon, and place them in a window. If you have some butcher’s twine in that yummy red and white combination, you could use that as the base for your garland. It would look very Christmas-y.

Simple. And sweet. The birds approve.

I used Sugar ‘n Cream yarn in white. You can find it at Michael’s and most likely Hobby Lobby and Joann’s. I chose it because it’s the next best thing to Peaches n’ Cream. I used Peaches n’ Cream for the aqua garland because I had a lot on hand and the yarn itself is rather stiff which makes it perfect for this kind of thing. Sugar n’ Cream is less stiff, but still works. It’s also very inexpensive.

If you’re interested in trying this, here’s the link for the pattern (which is based on this pattern.) You can make your snowflakes any size you want – I ended up making 7 loops on these. The snowflakes should look folky and handmade, so have fun!

And by the way, I’m not ‘officially’ decorating yet. Just playing. Decorating will not begin for at least a week!