Down and dirty, time to distress!

After waiting 12 hours or so for the glue on the armrest to dry I finally found one of my DH's chains so I could beat the chair....seriously!

It really gives the chair an aged used look, and is fun!  But it is also dirty because the chain I grabbed had a bit of rust on it.

Don't worry, I didn't smash my shin, or fingers and the rust washed off!  I still have to go get a dowel to replace the funky buttons that used to be on the chair.

Update on projects past

Well it's been a busy week.  I started on the new project as posted yesterday.  It has taken off, and it crocheting up nicely!

I am down to only two rows of the Do it your way Afghan to connect then I can start connecting the rows

I can't wait to get this afghan done, I'm definately going to finish this one before starting on the ripple afghan I have planned for my living room.  For today I'm going to take a small break and go have fun with my mom.  I may do some more tonight when I get home!

My CADD strikes again!

© Lion Brand Yarn

I am a day or so away from completing my second Ami-gurumi project (post on first Ami-gurumi to follow soon), and here I am starting a baby afghan for my new niece, she is due in October.  I chose what I thought was a simple baby ripple pattern.  (click here, or on the picture)



It really is simple, and once you get the pattern down it goes quickly.  The part that I found to be super hard is the foundation row...after you make the ump-teen chains...I also used a different yarn that what is called for in the pattern.  I used Baby Bee Little Britches, in the colorway Charming.  I highly recommend using a site like Ravelry to "stash" your yarn collection, and to keep record of the projects you want to do, and the projects you have in progress.  Great for any yarn project!

I started with my 131 chain stitches

Then had to kick my dog off of my directions

And then spent considerable time growling, grumbling and crying trying to get my 2nd row done, after a while I got the hang of it, and it came out right!!!  No need to undo most of the row to start over, or heaven forbid the entire thing and re-chain to start over! And they say that crochet and knitting is supposed to be calming!  Well it is, once you get past the first row.

The blanket should crochet up quickly after this point...unless I get distracted by another project that is!

One man's trash is this woman's new project!

Yes the title is true.  Memorial weekend we were headed out to go camping, as we were leaving the neighborhood I spotted a wood frame chair sitting on the side of the road.  In just a glimpse I knew that if I could get my hands on it, what a project it would be!  So I called my neighbor and partner in crime.  She and her husband wrestled it into their car, and down to my house and into my garage so it wouldn't get taken by someone else, or soaked by the storms that descended upon KC before we got home from camping.  My poor DH, he's none too happy.  But I can understand why, we are trying to paint the garage and clean the house out so we can sell it and move...tee hee...

He must love me because instead of insisting that I get rid of the chair, he's letting me keep it, and refinish it!  It's pretty rough right now, and will need a lot of work before it takes it's place in our home.  But this chair has great bones, and with a little elbow grease and some TLC this is going to be an awesome addition to our living room!

I had to rip out the bottom, and take out the springs, it's pretty much wasted.  Someone must have used this chair as a trampoline.

Once that is out I need to go get some jute, or other suitable fabric to create a woven base instead of a metal and spring base.

After I finally manhandled the old spring system out I popped the few wood button covers off and put them to the side.  I have decided to simply plug the holes with a wood dowel and sand it smooth, I like that look better.  I did start sanding the arms and discovered that the bottom of one of the arms was loose, so I glued and clamped which ended my work on the chair for tonight.

Tomorrow is a new day!  I did notice that this poor chair has been used and abused, so it will take a lot of sanding and shaping to get the arms to look like new again...but it was a free chair...so I'm game!

The importance of checking gauge

Well I finally finished my first hat project...its a tad small...honestly it's child sized!  Oops.  Guess skipping the first step of checking gauge was not that smart.  I just assumed that the gauge shown on the skein was what I needed to use.

I am a tight hooker.  So in reality I will have to use a larger hook to create the hat in adult size.

I also changed up the directions from the original pattern to use a contrasting color for the finishing band, and I added a flower (pattern here) because the child recipient of this hat loves pink!

Now I know to check gauge before I start a project like this...ready for the next project!

Happy Hooking!

A hat...even though it's spring

My crochet afghan sits unfinished...but closer to done.  I have been working on joining the squares

Once the rows are all joined I can join the rows and do an edge all the way around.  

So yes it is taking me a while. Partly because I've been sitting on that bed so I don't disturb my pattern that I have laid out.  And the other part because I have C.A.D.D. (Crochet Attention Deficit Disorder) and want to start and do other projects!!!  :) especially ones that work up faster than the afghan...mercy.

So I have completed a prayer shawl for a friend.  The pattern can be found here.  It took several days, mostly crocheting while watching TV at night.  But here it is!

I can't wait to give it to her.  I'm sure she will be surprised!

I have also decided to go ahead and make a hat.  I know that it's the middle of May, but feels like July already.  But hey, I have the yarn, I have the time, and I have someone to give it to!  Bah ha! 

So here I sit, at the computer so I can see the pattern...saves trees this way.  Although it does confuse my dog a bit.

"Wha'cha doin Mom?"

I worked on the new project till about 230am, and was still not quite done,  it's going to take another few uninterrupted hours of crochet time.

Two years later...

Ah I love completing a project...of course it's better when the project is completed in a "decent" time frame. Our kitchen project from start to finish took 753 days from the start date (April 23, 2011) to the end date (May 14, 2013), end date included.  Or 2 years, 22 days...
Alternative time units

• 65,059,200 seconds

• 1,084,320 minutes

• 18,072 hours

• 107 weeks (rounded down)

 That is a long time to wait for something as spectacular as the finished kitchen.  Of course "finished" is not loaded...I still have to load the cabinets. 

The custom cabinets were created by my DH and are very NICE.  This will be a wonderful selling feature for our house. 

The rest of the kitchen remains the same.