Crocheted Shopping Bag

So ages and ages ago I bought crocheting thread because I thought it was lace weight yarn. After I realized what a dumb idea that was, I just stuck the thread away thinking that someday I might come up with something to do with it. And here it is:

  A crochet grocery bag! So this is what it looks like with groceries in it.

This is what it looks like empty, and here it is:

 

 ...folded up for carrying! Cool, huh?

Fixed Tee Shirt

So my boyfriend had this tee he loved, but he only got to wear it once before it shrunk so bad he couldn't wear it. So he gave me the shrunk tee, plus a tee that he didn't wear because he didn't like the design, and I did a master re-mix, which resulted in:

At first, I just cut out the design and held it against the black shirt, but I realized I could still see the old logo behind the new design, so I cut out a separate piece of white to cover the old logo. Now, the first piece of white shows behind the main design, and even comes out from behind the patch in places, which I really like.

I used my sewing machine's stretch jearsy stitch to do this, which was kind of funny, because the progress feels so slow. You have two stitches forward, one to each side, one back; two stitches forward, one to each side, one back. It's very amusing.

Anyway, I left the edges of the patch unfinished, because I think once the shirt is washed, the edges will curl up a little, which I think will be awesome.

And: I know! Another sewing project! I'm on a roll :)

Replaced Pocket

So I know I keep saying I'm not much of a seamstress, but I've been doing lots of sewing lately! Here's what I did lately:

This thing was a bear to sew. I mean, making the pocket was easy, I just used an old cloth napkin and cut out the old one as a pattern. It was sewing it in that was the problem. It was just difficult to get the sewing machine into the pocket to sew it, and I almost sewed the pocket closed about twice.

Anyway, I'm pretty proud with how it turned out, and I think it was way smarter to replace the pocket instead of trying to patch it.

TOSS Swap

I don't want to give any full photos and give away the surprise for the friend I'm spoiling, but here's a close up teaser:

Now we all know that I'm not much of a seamstress, but I am so excited about this project. I had so much fun making it and picking out the cloth and seeing the finished project come together. The pattern came from a book my mom got me for graduation called 24 Hour Sewing Projects. However, this bag took me about 10 hours to finish (from cutting out the shapes to cutting the loose threads), and I'm considering renaming my copy of the book One-Bobbin Projects, because when I was finished I had about two feet of thread left on my bobbin-- pretty cool.

I'll update after I give my friend her gift!

Crocheted Apron

So this is another work in progress, because I ran out of crochet thread!

I wanted an apron that I could use, so I picked this pattern, but I've decided that it's a very good thing that my Aunt bought me a perfect one for graduation, because this one is going to be more of a "show" apron-- you know, where the company arrives and you put on a pretty apron to pretend like you've been working all day and didn't get even one speck of tomato sauce on you?

Anyway, here's the progress so far:

So for graduation, my boss at HUTE got me a gift certificate to a yarn shop, so I'm pretty sure I'll spend it on more crochet thread. I'm thinking chocolate brown is a must, and maybe creme? We'll see what they have, I suppose :)

Tiny Turtle

My Mom loves turtles; She's had one named Speedy (who hibernated and then did not un-hibernate afterward) and currently has one named touche. Way back when, I knitted her a miniature turtle, but more recently I found a crocheted turtle pattern and had to try it.

The head turned out kind of wonky, but I'm still pretty happy with it :)

Twisted Rib Beret

I'm a firm believer that every project has the capability to teach a lesson, and this one sure did! I chose the beret pattern ages ago for my Aunt, because she said she liked berets for working in, and if it was a nice one, she would even wear it out on walks, etc. So I made her one for working in, and then planned on making this one for other occasions.

The pattern instructed to do the four-round pattern repeat eight times, and then start the decrease row. Others who had done the pattern recommended doing a couple more pattern repeats than necessary. However, I got through five repeats, and felt that it was big enough.

Usually, I would ignore my gut instincts and follow the pattern to the T. I've never felt very comfortable with messing with instructions, and generally feel that if it's written down, it's probably right.

However, I went with my gut and started decreasing after the sixth repeat. And, as you can see, the beret is perfect. Obviously it wouldn't have been the end of the world if I had to rip out a few repeats and finish off earlier if I had gone ahead and done the full number of repeats-- but it's nice to know that I have a sense of sizing and shape!