Rugs #8 and #9 Complete!

I'm on a rug making spree this past week, mostly because I need to get several made up to put in a store to sell.  I just finished rugs #8 and #9 and feeling awfully proud of myself.   I seem to have the hardest time getting a rug project started - I think because it can be so time consuming.

Before you can even pick up your jumbo hook you have to find sheets that will work for your project.  100% cotton is the best, but a lot of sheets have a cotton/polyester blend which I find to be too thin and stringy.  And then once you've found a set of sheets that will work, you have to tediously rip it into "yarn" and then wind it up into a ball.  That part alone can easily take 1-2 hours.

But once I get started and make it past the first few rounds I am always pleasantly surprised.  It's a very easy project worked with a jumbo hook.  You crochet in the round using single crochet only and you just increase as needed.  Usually each rug will follow a slightly different pattern.

I like to put a crab stitch as the border, as you can see in the photo above, but sometimes I run out before I can do that.

Overall each rug can take anywhere from 5 hours and up.  Not too bad, I guess.   I have 4 in my house that are getting used and after a year they've held up thus far.  

I really love seeing the way that different patterns will translate into a finished rug.  I really enjoy the look on people's faces when they pick one up to take a look at it, and perhaps purchase it to put into their home.  That's really the most satisfying part of all - the end result.

I Am My Beloved's & He Is Mine

A few things about me, if you do not know me.  I crochet a lot - not as much as I would like to, because it's so time consuming.  I make soap and other bath and body products.  I like to dabble with making jewelry.  And I love photography.

Here's a photo that I took the day of my wedding - these were my bridesmaids bouquets.  My wedding was pretty much all DIY, down to the invitations, and these bouquets were done by a lady from my church.  They're extremely simple and romantic, just some baby's breath tied together with a big pink satin ribbon.  I took a photo of them while they were resting on top of a piano.  It may not be the most glorious photo, as it certainly is not, but I still like it.  I decided to throw one of my favorite romantic Bible verses on there to add something special to it.

Song of Solomon 6:3

This photo is available as an instant download.  It is for personal use only, but could be used for..well, whatever you would like it to be really.  Have it printed at a lab and framed.  Turn it into a note card, a thank you card.  Open it up in Photoshop and add some text and turn it into a wedding announcement or whatever.

Work In Progress: Elliott's 4th Birthday Blanket

I've decided to start a new tradition for my children.  For each birthday, I would like to make them a special blanket.  It may be a little over-ambitious, so it may not happen exactly as I plan.  But the thought is nice, correct?

My oldest, sweet 3-year old Elliott, will be turning 4 towards the end of this month.  Back in January I got on Ravelry to pick out a pattern - or 50 patterns - and decided on this very simple, classic shell stitch pattern called the Beachcomber Baby Blanket.

He's not a baby, so I'm making his much larger.  I will go into more details later, but for now here is a preview of how it's turning out - enjoy!

The decided to go with blues and a tan that reminds me of the color of sand.  In 2013 we took him to the beach for the first time and this blanket is going to serve as a memory of that.

The biggest booger about this blanket is that you change colors every row - oh man, do you see all those loose ends to weave in?  That's going to take me a week at least.

At this point I'm only about 25% of the way done.  Moving into our brand new home AND having a new baby has really put a damper on my crochet time.  Oh well - one of these days I will be an old woman sitting in my rocking chair every morning and then, yes then, I will have plenty of time to crochet.