Source: Weekend AfghansMaterials: about 5 skeins Red Heart SuperSaver
Photo and close-up
I taught myself to crochet soon after I learned to knit. Most of what I've crocheted has been afghans; but in recent years I've branched out into doilies. (News flash: blocking actually works!) I've tried the occasional toy or such, but my stitches aren't in the right proportion -- if I have the right vertical gauge, they're too long horizontally. On granny squares, this doesn't seem to matter.
Source: Weekend Afghans
Materials: about 5 skeins Red Heart SuperSaver
Photo and close-up
I liked this color so much that after making a vest I wanted to make an afghan too. This was an easy pattern and fairly quick.
Started May 2003
Finished June 2003
Source: my design
Materials: worsted-weight yarn scraps in red and blue shades
Photo
Finally, a project with a relatively simple color theme. I received a box of yarn from a church friend of my mom's, mostly in reds and blues, which are a favorite combination of mine anyway.
Finished August 1997
Source: Weekend Afghans
Materials: worsted-weight yarn, mainly Red Heart
Photo
This was a gift for my friend Michael's mother. The original pattern was called Pumpkin Shell because it was worked all in orange; I used various warm colors that I had lying around.
Started and finished March 1995
Source: Needlecraft for Today
Materials: scrap yarns, and four skeins gray DazzleAire
Photo
Thusly named because of the four-leaf clover pattern. A nice way to use up small quantities of scrap yarn, though I tremble to think what'll happen if I ever have to wash the thing....
Started April 1985
Finished February 1995
Source: my design
Materials: worsted-weight yarns
photo
Twenty different varigated yarns in colors appropriate to the seasons, with black borders.
Started August 1988
Finished July 1993
Source: Weekend Afghans
Materials: Red Heart worsted yarns
Important maxim: whenever you give someone a handmade present, take a picture first. Especially if they're going off to grad school in another state.
The original pattern was called something like "Roses in the Snow", with pink centers in white hexagons. I recall that I used "Southwest" colors -- turquoise, browns, maybe peach or orange -- but I didn't take a photo, and I still regret that.
Started March 1989
Finished May 1989
Source: Free flyer from some yarn company
Photo
The squares are supposed to be squares in this one; they ended up a bit more oblong, but it works. Anyway, the afghan's very easy and very simple.
Started May 1988
Finished November 1988
Source: Lee Wards kit
My grandmother did a great deal of crochet, among other crafts. This kit was among her possessions when she died, and I later made it up for my mom's birthday.
Started January 1988
Finished July 1988
Source: my design
Photo
This was my first really large craft project, I think. I decided to make every square in a different color combination, used some variegated yarns and some solids, and generally created a color theorist's nightmare. I like it.
Started 1980
Finished November 1984
Source: Kristofferson, 99 Little Doilies, pattern #16
Materials: SouthMaid varigated yellow thread, #7 hook
Photo
Another present for my ex-mother-in-law. So far, the doilies in this book have proven pretty quick to make, although I found the petals in this one a little tedious.
Started and finished February 2005
Source: A Year of Doilies
Materials: about 310 yards J.P. Coats Knit-Cro-Sheen
unblocked and blocked
This is the first really big doily I've made. I'd originally intended to make it all purple, but I misread the yardage on the thread, so I ended up doing the center and border in white.
Started March 2004
Finished May 2004
Source: Kristofferson, 99 Little Doilies, pattern #22
Materials: #20 DMC Cebelia
Photo
A fairly quick little doily.
Started April 2003
Finished May 2003
Source: Magic Crochet
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I had this pattern paperclipped for a good sixteen or seventeen years before I finally got around to it. Filet crochet is fairly interesting, and yes, blocking lace doilies is necessary. I used crochet thread that I inherited from my grandmother, which is kind of nice....
Started November 1999
Finished January 2002
Source: Kristofferson, 99 Little Doilies, pattern #32 if I recall correctly
Materials: SouthMaid varigated yellow thread
Photo
The first project I started in 2002, the first project I finished in 2002 (I still can't believe it took barely three days), the first doily I've ever finished. This one's a present for my mother-in-law.
Started and finished January 2002
Source: Natalie85 design
Materials: the leftovers from a skein of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, color #052, Potpourri Ombre
Photo
A bag for us to tote our swim shoes in; quick, easy, and stashbusting.
Started and finished January 2006
Source: Needlecraft for Today, March/April 1984
Materials: A couple skeins of Lustersheen
For parties... and
for weddings?
(with apologies to Chicken Run)
This was fun and fairly quick. I consider this my PDA Justification Project -- I was in Michael's when they were having a sale on Lustersheen, and I thought, "I know there's something I've wanted to make that uses it, but what?" And then I remembered that I had my trusty blue Handspring Visor with me, on which I have a database with my entire crafts wannado list. So I opened the database, searched out projects that had "Lustersheen" in the supplies field, and tada! I bought enough for the project, and knew exactly what I was buying it for, and got it done.
Finished 2001
Source: Workbasket
Materials: about 10 ounces worsted-weight yarn, if I remember correctly
Blue version and Purple version
Once in a while I do crochet something that's not an afghan. I've made this pattern three times -- once in purple yarn and once in blue yarn for myself (alas, these days it doesn't fit me), and once in camoflage yarn for my high school friend J.D. It's really easy to make, and at some point I might try to figure out how to adjust it for my, er, post-pregnancy figure.
Blue tabard done somewhere between 1988 and 1993
Purple tabard started and finished May 1988
Camo tabard started and finished summer 1988
Source: my design (come on, who else would combine these colors?)
Photo
Made using the same concept as my first afghan -- lots of colors, no two squares alike. Sixteen squares per side, stuffed with a pillow form.
Finished in the mid-1980s
Last updated 9 Febraury 2006
