Workin on the house

Here are some before pictures- some are of the old owners things (such as the first picture)

(and this picture with the checkered plate)Um can we say gross- cleaning the kitchen when we moved in was nasty!!



these are downstairs pictures

Update to Yarn Box

The box I had created to use multiple skeins of yarn at the same time, was working well... except for the yarn was snagging just a bit on the holes that were coated with hot glue. It wasn't a perfectly smooth surface, so my father suggest getting grommits to put in... he put them in for me and made me 2 extra holes in case I ever need 5 strands at one time.

Now... it works perfectly!

Now for the project I am working on as a result of the awesome yarn box...

Solution for the largest skein of yarn ever!

Here is a link to the previous post with the biggest skein ever

http://craftinessishappiness.blogspot.com/2010/02/biggest-spool-of-yarn-ive-ever-seen.html

The 3- 1lbs skeins of yarn wrapped onto a wrapping paper roll was a nightmare! It didn't wrap evenly, and in turn came off unevenly with sometimes one or two strands being longer than the other... it made making the blanket a little difficult.

Now I wanted to make a similar blanket with a large hook (not a Q this time though) I believe its an H or an I, and a different pattern but still with 3- 1lb skeins. So I thought and thought of ways I could make this work, because unraveling 3 separate skeins was a pain in the butt!

So I thought and thought... and then while flipping through an LTD catalogue while at work, I saw this ...

http://www.ltdcommodities.com/TangleFree-Yarn-Organizer/cat_item_pg.asp?G=863&P=72&Rec=4&N=37+754&Nao=0&R=479100-0YRN---1

Which gave me the idea for my creation! Obviously that little thing they have looks pretty flimsy if you look at the larger view, and there is no way my large 1 lb skeins would fit in there.

Then it came to me... make my own! And so I did... and for only $9.01!! I went to walmart and got a clear storage tub

I needed for this project 3 holes in the lid for my 3 skeins. So I got out the exacto knife and started making the holes.

After the holes were made, I needed to do something to make the edges smooth so the yarn would not snag or tear in the middle of the blanket (that would be a pain!). So I coated the edges with hot glue.

It's not the prettiest thing ever. But it sure does work perfectly!

Kelli's Bridal Shower Invites

So I am standing up in my cousins wedding and we are throwing his fiance a bridal shower! The bride does not like pink, so I got some red paper and made invites. They aren't the most professional things ever, but they are cute, and serve their purpose!
The actual invites arent blurry but addresses and phone numbers have been blurred out!

The big pink blanket is done!

I finally finished the pink blanket with the Q-sized hook! I didnt follow the pattern for the border that was printed up with the blanket pattern... i made up my own!

The Pattern for the Biggest Spool of Yarn Ever

It dawned on me, that I should include the patterns for the items I have made...
The pink blanket with the Q hook

http://happyyellowhouse.com/htm/hailey.html

although this pattern does not call for a Q size hook, I badly wanted to use the Q that my mom dug out of her crochet bag. So I improvised, and used 3 strands of yarn instead of 1. Hence the need for the ridiculous spool my family and I invented.

For the yellow baby blanket (UPDATED) try either of these 2

http://www.coatsandclark.com/cgi-bin/MsmGo.exe?grab_id=57&page_id=15206912&query=baby+blanket+and+teddy+bear&hiword=BABYS+BEARD+BEARS+BLANK+BLANKETS+BLANKS+TEDDIE+TEDDIES+and+baby+bear+blanket+teddy+

http://www.coatsandclark.com/NR/rdonlyres/00F1DF04-1F0F-4B7C-A342-9CD35730DA00/55884/LT1573F.pdf

the pattern can be found in the pdf... I would recommend using a larger hook than they say for the blanket (i have been unsuccessful at making the bear... I really want to though) but use a larger hook unless you work your patterns loosely. I do everything to tight so mine came out quite small. I also did about 140 rows instead of 100, because it was too small. I also did a border of single crochet 3 times around the perimeter in yellow before adding the white scalloped border.

For the Scarf

http://www.bernat.com/pattern.php?PID=2350

I used alpaca yarn also by Bernat for the scarf I made for my sister...it says 4 balls, you can try it if you want to use the yarn they call for, but I used probably 10 for the scarf...I dont think theres was long enough to wrap around, so I made it longer. But make sure to get all the yarn together if you can, so you dont have to worry about die lots... that was a pain!

Biggest spool of yarn I've ever seen

I am making another baby blanket, this time with a size Q hook. My mom found it in her crochet bag from years ago, and I had to make something with it. Because the hook is so big I am using 3 strands of yarn...which proved to be a big pain, unraveling 3 skeins (1 lb each) at the same time... (many tangles) So I had the great idea to put them all together on a paper towel roll. After not even half of it was rolled on there wasnt any more room.. so I thought... WRAPPING PAPER ROLL! And using a power drill to rotate the roll, we got all of the yarn on. Its still semi-tangled on the roll... so it will be challenging (next time i will roll right from the beginning and not after I already started the project... and also we will use PVC pipe instead of a flimsy wrapping paper roll! Its pretty funny looking though!