FO Friday

In past few weeks, I have finished 2 projects. I finished this hat and this wrap. I made the hat to match the scarf in the picture. It was one of my first knitting projects that turned out OK.

I didn’t have a hat that went with the scarf so I bought more yarn to make a hat to match. Even thought the yarn is a different dye lot from the yarn used in the scarf, they match pretty well. The hat is a little too long. I can fold up the edge and it still looks decent though.

I made this wrap to use up some yarn I had in my yarn stash for a long time. I had bought 4 skeins of Caron Country to make a tank top. That project didn’t work out and I unraveled it. I liked the yarn a lot but I had a hard time finding a project to make with it. I saw this wrap and liked it. It is a good project for the yarn. I like how it turned out. It is too cold to wear it right now. It should be nice to wear when spring comes.

My Granny Square Progress and Links

For a while, I didn’t work on this afghan. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it. When I started it, I didn’t have a set pattern in mind. I have been making each square different colors. Many of the afghan patterns I look at online are very uniform. I wasn’t sure how to join squares of two different colors. I keep thinking one of the squares will have a seam or yarn that doesn’t match and doesn’t look right. But when I thought about it, the thought of making the same square over and over again bored me.

I decided to vary the size of the squares. That added a lot to the design of the blanket. In the process of making this, I have found a lot of helpful links on making blankets. Once I looked at the different ways to join the squares, I felt better about the project. I am feeling more confident that I will be able to join the various types of squares together and that it will look good.

A list of afghan sizes

Here is a braid join

Here is way to join squares that uses a granny square stitch

More Ways to join in squares at Crochet Cabana

A Random Stripe Generator

Help with color themes

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Feeling Blocked?

Many times in the past, I have come up with a lot of ideas but have not been so consistent on putting them into practice. One of my goals this year is to get more creative projects done and procrastinate a lot less. Along those lines, I found some websites for creative entrepreneurs that have a lot of helpful advice. I also found a very interesting podcast from the website lateral action. It features Steven Pressfield the author of the book, The War of Art.

Here are the links I found.

Lateral Action

The 99 Percent

The podcast

Universal Craft Blog Directory

The author of the blog, CraftyRie has started a Universal Craft Blog Directory. On the page you will find a huge list of craft blogs to read for inspiration. I have decided to add my name to the list. If you write a crafty blog, feel free to add your name. You just need to add your link to the list, blog about it, and add the button for the craft blog directory to your blog. Here are instructions on how to add you name to the directory and a list of the other blogs.

New Bracelet Project

One of my big resolutions for 2012 was to do more beading and jewelry making. One of my first goals was to finish the projects that have been sitting on my desk unfinished for months. This bracelet I recently finished is one of those projects.

I used a pattern from the book, Adorned Wrists by Monica Katz. I used a technique called brick stitch. To make the bracelet, I used size 11 triangle beads. I have mixed feelings about the finished product. I loved how the squares looked linked together and I like the colors. However, the clasp just isn’t strong enough to make the bracelet wearable. I may redo the clasp. However, I am glad I finished it.

Great Video on Creativity

Lately, I have been fighting procrastination and feeling very blocked on my creative projects. I have been reading motivational stuff on creativity to get inspiration. I also have been looking for pointers from other successful creative people on how to set up a good creative practice for myself and regularly getting work done toward my goals I came across this video on my Facebook page. It was posted by a Facebook friend who is a talented artist. I also saw it on the site Lateral Action. I watched it and found it so inspirational. Here is a link to her speech. I was never a huge fan of her book, Eat Pray Love but I think she is great speaker and makes some very good points here.