The Big Bag

You thought it read, "The Big Bang" didn't you? Nope, it's the Big Bag I'm crocheting. It's originally called, "Stylin' Tote Bag" designed by Cathy Phillips. I ran out of the purple yarn, so it's sitting waiting for me to buy another skein of it. I found this pattern on Ravelry and fell in love with the look of it. Well, here it is in progress:

I'm using Caron's Simply Soft in purple and white. I think the next one I make will be in black and white and 2/3 of the size seen above. That would be a good size to carry around. This purple tote is for something like returning library books, buying more yarn *smile* or light grocery shopping. It's pretty sturdy without a lining.

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my
Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

Watch a powerful lesson from the E.R. Show: HERE.

12" Squares for Hugs From the Heart Group

Some 12" granny squares I did recently for Hugs From the Heart:

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my
Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

Yellow Cotton Dishcloths

My first set of dishcloths I made are with Bernat's Sugar & Cream yarn. I made them both crocheting single stitches back loop only so that when they get wet, they will stretch. The smaller one measures 5" x 5" and the larger one is 7" by 7". I've since handwashed (yes, pretty old fashioned, 'eh?) a load of dishes and the 7" x 7" stretched to 7" x 10" which my husband loves! So, I'm off to buy some more cotton yarn to replace all our old ragged dishcloths! I did these in yellow though they came out in the picture much brighter:


The edging is just a sc with the corners: sc, ch2, sc.

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my
Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

Listen to John MacArthur about the "narrow" way HERE.

Ski Mask for Rick

I never thought I could make a ski mask. I mean, how do you MAKE a hole in your garment? :)

So I picked up a pattern and just followed the directions. In about 2 1/2 hours, I had a full ski mask made for my son. He came home, tried it on and it was a perfect fit! He wants it made where there is a piece going down from the brow to the nose so it is a tighter fit. I'll get to that... one day. Here's a picture of my 2 1/2 hour ski mask:



This is my dear son, Rick for whom I made the ski mask:


Why does he have a stray piece of yarn hanging down off his beanie cap I made for him? Well, my son likes to be "different." For instance, when he was in high school, he started wearing soda can tops around his neck for a necklace. That's "different" isn't it? This beanie cap I made him started to stretch where it lays on his brow so he asked if I could make it tighter. I did by making some decreases on the inside of the hat and he liked the string just hanging out instead of sewn in. He wears it everywhere like that. Boys, huh?

The pattern for this ski mask can be found HERE. Her main blog is HERE. I don't know you, but thank you Christina!

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my
Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

Take the "Good Person Test" today. I failed!

The last of the 2008 Christmas scarves

I'm a little late posting these. I mean, it is already 2009, but here's the rest of the scarves I made for Christmas presents.

Becky (Pastor's wife) likes blue, so I chose Caron's Simply Soft Country Blue and did a seed stitch back and forth. Here's a close up of her scarf:



You can see how to do a seed stitch here

Here's my pastor's scarf (made with Lion's Homespun Edwardian color yarn):

It's a terrible picture and you can't see upclose, but I did a basic V-stitch for the pastor. What else can you do for a guy, 'ya know?

My favorite scarf I crocheted is coming up. I can't believe I gave this one away! Well, maybe I'll have to make one for myself. I love, love, love this yarn. It's a brushed worsted weight variegated yarn and ohhhhh, it's so soft! I got it at JoAnne's, but I can't remember the name of it. I made a hat and scarf for my husband's daughter, Kim. You can see the scarf below in a seed stitch like Becky's above:

I started running out of yarn and so I sent hubby out on a yarn trip. Those are ALWAYS fun for husbands. You can ask mine. I'm sure he will tell you he has a blast doing it! Hehe! Well, he picked up a Lion's brand Homespun yarn that had a little pink in it and it was for his son, Jason. Jason said he liked it. We'll see if he wears it next year if we see him! I did a V-stitch (the basic man stitch):

One day, I'm telling you, I'm going to make a scarf for myself!

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my
Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

More Christmas hats!

Okay, so I went a little crazy doing hats and scarves for Christmas. That's how it goes though. But, I'm now moving onto a handbag, making squares for a charity thing, and an afghan. (The afghan is for ME! I've never kept any of my work and I'm so excited to have one of my own afghans!)

These are some children's hats I did for my grandson. He didn't like them though! He didn't want anything on his head. So, he's hatless :)



Really, the one on the left turned out to be for maybe a one-year old. Zach is three, so stuffing his head into it wasn't working anyway.

I made the same hat for my son, Rick and my husband's son, Jason. They turned out great! I used the basic beanie pattern that Teresa put together on YouTube that I did for the one above in grey and black, but I used Lion's brand HOMESPUN YARN and I love the look! Check it out:


The picture doesn't look so great, but it looks great in person and my son is using it today as he goes snowboarding. It's a really warm cap. I just used a "J" hook instead of what the pattern calls for and made a few increases here and there, lengthening the hat so that it would fold up on itself. It looks like the basic wool cap. The color of the Lion yarn is called "Edwardian."

And then there's the neighbor's son's hat I made. Same basic beanie style, but I used red and black. I initially made it for Eric, but it came out too small and Mindy said he likes more black than red. UGH! So I had to make another one just for him (see below this picture for Eric's hat).

Kylian's Christmas hat (made with Caron's Simply Soft yarn):


Eric's Christmas hat (made with Lion's Edwardian Homespun yarn and the red is a thin boucle):

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my
Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all." - Psalm 34:19

Christmas Hats 2008

Hats I made for Christmas:

This moss green hat below was the very first hat I've made.
I messed up a tad. The green and red one below that was not from a pattern. I just played around with some stitches. I kept these two:

This pink hat was for Carol (a neighbor). Free instructions for the pink and green ones are here:
http://crochetuncut.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=56&Itemid=

My first attempt at a beanie cap with two colors (black and grey). I used Caron Simply Soft. It didn't come out bad, but way too small. I was making it for my son, Rick, but it turned out the size for a child. So, I'll be passing this one onto my friend Dana for one of her little ones.

The seam:

Free video tutorial for this one is here:

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my
Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

Christmas Scarves 2008

I decided to go a little overboard on making scarves for Christmas this year. I gave myself three weeks to complete NINE scarves (and a few hats). Never, never, never do this. It's insane! Here's the pictures of the scarves for Christmas 2008:

For Chris (step-daughter)
Used Cello Eyelash Yarn (Green/Brown Multi) with a Rainbow Boucle (Green):

For Sarah
Used Sensations Angel Hair with Rainbow Boucle (Red):

For Mindy
Used Cello Eyelash Yarn (Green/Brown Multi) with a Lion Homespun Boucle (Dark Green):

For Dana (who is learning to loom - check out the link on the side for looming) and Carol next door
Used Caron Simply Soft (Plum Wine). This was originally an afghan pattern, but I cut it short to make scarves for them:

For Tom (step-dad), Mom, Mindy, and Chris
The one in the middle was for my mom. The one for my step-dad is at the top of the picture. It's made from Lion's Homespun yarn. I did a simple V-Stitch back and forth. It makes a nice man's scarf:

For Mom
I used Caron Simply Soft Country Blue yarn with an edging of Caron Simply Soft Moss Green:

These aren't all the scarf pictures. I still have to enter Becky's, Pastor Tim's, Jason, and Kim's scarves.

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my
Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com

Close Fans Afghan for Kim

Close Fans Afghan

November 2008
Made for Kim (step-daughter) for her birthday

This took about 10 days. I used Caron Simply Soft Plum Wine colored, worsted weight yarn. The pattern comes from "A Year of Afghans Book Eleven."

Here's a close-up picture of the stitches:

And here's a picture of my wonderful husband putting on the many, many tassels for his daughter's afghan. He's not the crocheting type, but he wanted to help me :)

To order handcrafted crocheted items from my
Etsy store, visit http://www.Hesed.Etsy.com or click HERE
You can also email me at YarnDesigns@gmail.com