Kit Kat purse

My latest crochet project is the Kit Kat purse.  My friend's daughter is a huge Hello Kitty fan so when I came across this free pattern a few months ago, I knew I had to make it for her sometime.  Finally, I was able to start on the project this week.  Ï just need to run downtown and pick up some more pink yarn so the strap of the purse will be long enough and buy some pink fabric to line the purse.  This will be my first time lining a purse.  Hopefully, I can dig deep and remember some of my junior high Home Economic skills. 

I have to say maybe it's because it's been a mentally draining month or something, but working on this project has brought a smile to my face. I'm anxiously awaiting the completion of the purse.  I know that the 3 year old that I'm making this for will absolutely love it, and that warms my heart. 

Completed Scrap Afghan

I am finally done putting together my Scrap Afghan.  Not 100% satisfied with the end result but I am pleased for branching out and doing something different.   Some of the squares bunched up a bit so it has a puffy kind of look to it and the border is slightly wonky looking.  Maybe someone with more crochet experience could weigh in with why this happened.  I'm guessing my tension wasn't even throughout and plus all the different yarns I used probably didn't help.  I still need to wash it and I'll try blocking it, which is something new to me.  I always thought you block with cotton yarn but I read all the time people do it with acrylic afghans so I will give it a shot.  Any tips or suggestions?

While my Scrap Afghan may not be perfect, I sure hope when I donate this to a charity (most likely Bridge and Beyond ) that the effort I put into this blanket is appreciated.  Even with the imperfections I still think it's a neat looking blanket. 

And on a final note, sometimes it's hard not to be frustrated when you are going through a rough patch.  In the last month, the military messed up our orders so we will probably not be making it home for Christmas this year.  It was something I was looking forward to since I haven't been in the States to celebrate since 2008.  I normally understand and accept that your plans can change at the drop of a hat with the military but this was the one thing I was really looking forward to and now it most likely won't happen due to a mistake by someone else.  But at the end of the day if this and having to shell out money to get a new computer and fix our car are my biggest problems, then life is pretty good. 

Back burner

The last few months I've been making 5 inch and 10 inch squares and 5 x 10 inch and 5 x 15 inch rectangles.  I was going to donate them to a charity that provides afghans to a military hospital.  However, the need for blankets isn't as strong ( Yay!  That's a good thing!)  as it has been in the past few years so it looks like this particular charity group is winding down.  So,  it looks like I have a couple of options.  I can  stitch up this blanket and send the completed afghan to Bridge and Beyond.  Or I can continue looking for some type of military charity that would accept completed afghans.  Ideally, I would love to donate to a military hospital in my area but with us moving to Hawaii I'm guessing warm afghans aren't a necessity. Either way I have a few other projects that need my attention right now this will be put on the back burner.

Scrap Afghan Part 5

I finally got enough squares finished to start putting together my Scrap yarn afghan.  Normally I just whip stitch squares together but I thought I would try something new this time and am using this method which I found on the Attic 24 blog.  I have completed the horizontal rows and am about halfway thru the vertical columns.  Then I just need to add a border and sew in all of those pesky ends.  At least it is mindless work which I'm pretty sure is all my brain can handle these days.  Can't wait to finish this afghan!

Scrap Afghan Part 4

I was hoping that I had enough squares for my Scrap Afghan but after putting the first two rows together it looks like I will need to make about 50 more squares.  Not sure if I have enough scrap yarn right now so this project might be put on hold for awhile.  Part of the problem is I'm trying to avoid putting the same exact color in the same row or column so it limits where I can put squares and I can only make so many of each color.   Since this is the way I want it done, this project will remain in our spare bedroom because it took forever to lay out all those squares in the correct order.  Good thing we won't have any more visitors staying with us this year.

100 Hats

If I counted correctly, here are 33 hats which is the exact amount needed to complete my goal of 100 hats donated to charity this year.  Now I just need to find a box to send them to Bridge and Beyond.  I'm glad I was able to finish the hats because life is just going to get busier and busier until the end of the year.

So that's one crochet goal completed.  Next I am going to start putting together my scrap afghan.  That's right, I do believe I have enough squares to complete a child- sized afghan.  This should be interesting putting together all theses squares.  Usually I just whip stitch together squares but I'm going to try a different technique this time.