reading in 2011

This year at goodreads, I entered the reading challenge, I challenged myself to read 30 books. As of yesterday, I have finished 30 books! You can see all the books I read in 2011 right here. My favorites this year were The Birth House, Still Alice, Something Borrowed, The Mortal Instruments series, and the one I just finished last night in a few hours, If I Stay.

I plan to read quite a few books this upcoming year too, maybe not challenge myself to as many though. I received a few books for Christmas, so I've got a good start for the year. And I also got an iPad, so I'm downloading books through iBooks.

As for my crochet right now,

I started another crochet project, I bought that tag blanket from a craft show (polka dot piggy designs) earlier this month and am making a toy to go along with it. I think I found some good matching blues, I'm hoping it will be a cute set for a new baby born the other day.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year!

Don't forget to check out my crochet of 2011 wrap up post!

crochet of 2011

Can you believe that 2011 is almost over? I feel like this year just flew by, I think it feels like that every year though, I'll probably be thinking the same thing at the end of 2012.

I managed to get a lot of crochet projects done this year, my favorite by far had to have been my babette. It was so much fun to work on and it was so satisfying to watch it grow. I really want to make another one someday.


Since, I did so many projects this year, I decided to make a video of it all instead of trying to fit a bunch of pictures into one post. I used this fun tool to make this video. Enjoy my look back at the crochet of 2011!

crochet of 2011 from Casey on Vimeo.

Merry Christmas!

Every year I give my kids a new Christmas ornament, they open it Christmas Eve before going to bed and hang it on the tree. I've done this every year for them since they were born, last year I decided to start making handmade ornaments, I made cute gingerbread men last year.


This year, I made cute little snowmen (pattern is here). They turned out pretty cute, I decided not to embroider arms on them. They are very easy and fast to make, so if you wanted to make some of your own, you definitely still have time!

Merry Christmas to everyone, I hope your holiday is great!

noel

Another Christmas cross stitch is finished. I used a letter chart in the Christmas 2011 Issue 244 of Cross Stitcher. I used evenweave to stitch on again, I really like the evenweave now.

I was going to paint the hoop red but I kept forgetting to buy some red paint and now I don't want to deal with that Christmas crowd, so I wrapped some red ribbon around the hoop instead.

This is most likely the last cross stitch for the year, I'm so glad that I discovered my love for cross stitch again, I hope to do more next year!

daydream dory

Almost two weeks since my last post, yikes! I guess I kind of got burnt out after finally finishing my daughter's birthday blanket, which I did finish the night before! I will get pictures of it as soon as I can manage it.

I have another finish to share today though, I made my first shawl! I used Lisa's pattern called Dory to make it, along with my size 5.5 hook. I accidently made a few extra rows than what the pattern called for, I blame my sickness on that, but I like the size.


It turned out very pretty I think. I've worn it once since I finished it, I'm not entirely sure if I'll be a shawl wearer yet or not but I'm trying! I used Lisa's photo idea to take pictures of my shawl, any way to not have to take a picture of myself is a great idea.

I used Bernat Mosaic yarn in daydream for the body of the shawl and for the pretty border, I used Loops & Threads Impeccable Solids in aran.

Christmas chair socks

So, did you figure out what they were? Not an octopus or gloveless fingers, which was my favorite guess by the way! After all the octopus guesses, I really want to make one. They were actually chair socks!


I've seen these on pinterest a lot and decided to make myself a crocheted version. I think they are so fun and cute! I'm even going to make some for after the Christmas season. They're a much cuter alternative to those ugly things you stick to the bottoms of the chairs.

For mine I used Bernat Handicrafter cottons in red sparkle, mod green and white.


Want to make some? They're actually super easy to make, this is how I did it;

materials needed: 3.75mm (F)
worsted cotton yarn in 2 colors (about 50g of each color for a set of 4 socks)

Take your first color and make a magic circle
Round 1: sc 6 times into circle, join to the first sc (6)
Round 2: ch1, 2sc in each stitch, join to the first sc (12)
Round 3: ch1, *1sc in the first stitch, 2sc in the next* repeat until you reach the first sc and join (18)
Round 4: ch1, 1sc in each stitch, join to the first sc (18)
Round 5: switch colors and repeat round 4 (18)
Round 6-22: repeat round 5 (18)
Round 23-25: repeat last 3 rounds with just one color. Join last stitch to the first sc, fasten off and weave in your ends.

If you need help with making a magic circle, there's a really cute illustration that can help right here.
To get a clean color change, this tutorial is very helpful.

I hope I wrote out the pattern clearly, let me know if any of it doesn't make sense. If you make some of your own chair socks, I'd love to see them!

holiday swap potholders

Last month, I joined a holiday swap at Freshly Picked. I decided to make potholders to send to my partners. I made them all the same, so it was some assembly line crochet! I made six hexagon potholders.

I used Bernat Handicrafter cotton in country red and off white. I decided to go with the less bright colors to make them, I think they look a bit more vintage with the toned down red.

I will be sharing what these are in a couple days! I am camera-less right now, thanks to my forgetfulness. I shared another color of them on my facebook page this weekend, go on over there if you want to see more!

Christmas finishing

I showed you this in progress weeks ago but never got around to sharing it finished. I painted an embroidery hoop white before I put this cross-stitch in and then added some red ribbon. Maybe not the prettiest finish ever but I like it.

I found this pattern in The Cross Stitcher, Issue 244. This magazine is becoming a new favorite of mine, I've got 3 issues so far and I love pretty much every pattern in each issue.

I've got another Christmas cross-stitch in need of being framed, I really like it and will hopefully get it done and shared soon!

my creative space...

Happy December! Seriously, where did this year go? Christmas is coming up fast, so I've still got Christmas crafts happening. Here's the latest:


I don't think this really tells you what it is I'm working on exactly but I'm hoping to be all finished by next week! It's nothing dirty, like someone in this house believed... It's actually something so, so cute! Can you guess what it is? (remember not dirty!) I'm working with some green now too. I'm going to try very hard to have it ready to share next week.

See more creative spaces over here.