Well, I was going to do the Diva Challenge today but I don’t really care for Gourdgeous, which happens to be the featured tangle this week. I participated with it last year and just did not feel inspired to do so today.

Soooo, I’m sharing some pictures of the needlework I have done over the last several months. As you may recall, crocheting a few items for my grandson at my daughter-in-love’s request kickstarted me back into doing something productive with my hands once again. My next project after the items for Lauren, for Liam, was to knit some dishcloths. I have since purchased more yarn and made even more wonderful dishcloths.

As it turns out, the pattern I got from my friend at church happens to be a very popular pattern online (and I would guess, offline as well). I found it here and here. The only differences are that my directions say to use number nine needles instead of six or seven and knit up to forty-five stitches.

I bought some fallish colors but will need to attempt to make the purples colorfast before washing it with other towels and such.

The variegated orange ones are already in use. Tiffany cleaned up some extra dark cocoa powder with it; I hope it comes clean.

Tiffany saw some fingerless mitts that she wanted. As an author, she is on her computer quite a bit and her wrists get sore. So we found a few free patterns online that she liked. The first is a fitted one with a bow. I attached the bow in a slightly different place but we like it. I am thinking of making her another pair but not sewing the bow on, so that we can attach different shapes each month.

The other pair we did in a lovely blue. It has a crocheted cable on the top. We had planned to do the cable in white but I completely forgot. The pattern is extremely thorough, complete with pictures and everything. The only problem I had with the pattern was that it took me twenty-two rows before I had the required seven-inch width. She loves these though, because they are very soft.

Well, that’s what I’ve been up to. I did doodle with Dreamcatcher during service Sunday, on my sermon notes, so I have done some art with pen and paper.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

This is a deviation from my usual Wonder Wednesday post. Usually I post some pen and ink artwork-Zentangle. But as of the posting of this ‘article,’ I have yet to do any in the last week. I may yet get a tile done and if so, will attach it to the bottom of this post but if you’ve visited here very often, you probably already know that the odds of that actually happening are slim.

This past week I had my love of crochet renewed. Lauren, my daughter-in-love, asked me to make her a crocheted diaper cover for her to take newborn pictures of Liam in it. She also asked for some crocheted sneakers.

When they came over last week, Lauren and I looked through pinterest for her to pick the ones she liked the most. We both liked that this pattern that has a ribbed upper section that makes it look quite nice.

It’s soooo tiny! I put my glasses by it so you could get an idea of just how small it is.Little Liam is almost here; so close it’s hard to stand it. But wait patiently I shall.

The blue is unrealistically bright in this picture because of the flash but without the flash, it looked gray. This really is a nice warm blue. I used a dark blue button because I thought the contrast would be better than a button that might clash, since I didn’t have the yarn with me when I bought the button. (The button just slips between the double crochet stitches on the flaps to secure it closed; no buttonhole needed.)

The top is where the nice ribbed pattern is. Unfortunately you cannot see it very clearly here. But, if you go over to the creator’s website, you can see how nicely it looks because she took some really good pictures. The pattern is at her website and very easy to follow. She also has matching booties and hat that you can make as well.

My mom made a cute pair of converse sneaker booties in orange and with OSU badge on the sides. Really cute! I wish I’d have gotten a picture of them, but alas, I did not.

I’ve started the Nike booties she wants but not far enough into it that I have anything worthwhile to share yet.

I also crocheted a soap saver. Mike uses bars and bars of soap and it has frustrated me for quite some time that we waste so much in bits left over.

While I was searching the internet for the diaper cover pattern and booties pattern, I stumbled upon this soap saver pattern. I just used some leftover yarn I had here but will make it again with some of the recommended cotton yarn because I used it in the shower and it was a bit rough. Now it works just fine on those knees, elbows, and the bottoms of the feet, but it doesn’t feel so good on the softer parts of the body.

Once again I photographed it beside my eyeglasses for size comparison. I did add two rows to the length because I was concerned that a full bar wouldn’t fit inside it and that the smaller size might be cumbersome to Mike’s large hands.

Well, that about does it for me for today.

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº