New projects are being lined up but for right now...

I am working to finish a cross-stitch that I have had in progress for the last (almost) 5 years. It's a bigger one, yes, but it's one of those Dimensions Gold Collection ones, which means a LOT of detail, a LOT of shading (which is hard to do in cross-stitch and means a lot of combining strands of similar colors to get the effect), and so a LOT of work. I've made some mean progress over the past week or so though. Which is encouraging. I'm actually probably about 75-80% done. That's an encouraging thought!

I should take a picture and put it up in here. Maybe I will get to that tomorrow.

The projects being lined up are clear back from this post here, and so it is just taking a while to get things moving. I've made some modifications - instead of choosing for the 5 people who got selected, I am letting them choose. I want some challenges of completely customizing a project for someone else; I dislike putting effort into something for someone else that they are not going to appreciate. I want whatever I make to be something that they actually want...hahaha!

I know that for sure I will be making the following:



This last one is a pair of fingerless gloves/armwarmer type dealios.

I'm pretty excited for the two clothing pieces. I have not, as of yet, really made the effort to crochet to someone else's body measurements/shape, so this will be great practice. And, in spite of their somewhat complicated appearance, they're all actually pretty easy pieces. :) Yay!

Sam's baby blanket = done

I didn't do the full border because I didn't have enough in the solid pink and purple to finish that way. I did however have an entire skein of the variegated left over and so that is what I used for one row around the edge. Not much of a border, but it still works. Besides, it is plenty big as is!

sorry for the flash washing out the colors...

Deesha (my aunt's kitty) enjoying a snuggle with it when it was still a WIP. <3

Pictures...FINALLY!!

I know I've been promising pictures and I finally made myself snap some the other day.

Here are the photos of the baby blanket I am currently crocheting for my cousin, who is due to have a little girl. Details can be found here. It's pretty fun to make, actually, and the yarn really is dreamy. I've found my new favorite acrylic. Red Heart is too stiff and prickly, Caron Simply Soft is to slippery. I Love This Yarn is a happy medium - it's soft but not slick.

One of my aunt's cats, sleeping on my WIP. As usual. What is it about crochet that makes a cat want to sleep on it?

Close ups of the two color schemes. I <3>

Aaaaaand here is my first project completed without a pattern! Well, the band of shells across the bottom was from a stitch pattern book, and I considered doing the whole wrap in it, but then I thought I was going to run out of yarn and switched over to the mesh in an effort to do it with the remainder of the skein I had. I ended up having to buy another skein anyway, *lol*.

Close-up of the shell pattern. It's actually quite lovely.

Here I am, modeling the finished product! I like the length for sure. But if I were ever to make another one, I would make ties at both ends instead of just the one (honestly, I don't know what I was thinking that I didn't in the first place!), and I would probably try to do some gradual increases so that the edges would meet instead of opening so widely down the thigh. I won't be wearing it, but perhaps one of my sisters will want it, and if not, I might post it as my first item on my Etsy!