FO ALERT: Guilt-free Chocolate Beret

I finished the beret that I was making for Lady C, who if you remember, brought me back an awesome gift back from Germany: an awesome bag o' yarn!

This beret is based on the one from Crochet Today magazine that I made for my cousin.
(and the one for my sis.) I made a few changes ... but it is basically the same hat.

Here are some close-up shots of the yarn... this is a wool that i picked up in Carrollton, Ga at Ewe Knit ... love that shop! I saw it and just fell in yarn love with it... I knew it would make something wonderful!

I certainly hope that she likes it; and knows how much I appreciated her gift!
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And now for something entirely different! Here is a picture of Jubal in his "bunny disguise"... i guess he is getting ready for spring! lol

He is such a cutie!

OUCH! I HAVE A BRUISED EGO...

i don't think of myself as an overly sensitive person, but i have to say that i got my feathers ruffled just a tad last night... ok, more than a tad.

i am going to vent a little now... and i would appreciate your views on this... maybe i am over reacting:

our weekly knit\crochet group decided to make a group collaborative afghan. so members turned in squares that would be combined in strips and then the strips connected to make the afghan.

well, when the time came to connect the squares into strips, most of the folks, for whatever reason, didn't volunteer ... so out of a seven strip afghan... i ended up putting together 5 of the 7 strips. i asked whether the joining colors were important... i asked if there were special conditions to how i should do this... i was told that anything was fine...

so the squares were supposed to be 10 x 10...but, and this is mine included, they were ALL different sizes... so there was a certain amount of extra rows put here and there to make the strips equal width... so i decided to forgo the grid square aspect... the individual squares are in the strips ... but not in the "grid formation"... practically impossible in a timely manner.

i used colors... if you look at my work, you know i am into color...

i thought the effect was like an "arty throw" ... not bad, i was fairly pleased with it.

so last week, i gave the strips to the lady who is going to connect the strips and bind to make the afghan complete.

i showed pics (and here and here) of the strips to a couple of other members (didnt want to get the strips out because afghan recipient was there), and got very favorable comments. One member even said that while she was sorry that i had ended up having to do all of that; that she was glad because she liked my style of crochet.

last night when i asked how the strips were coming, i was told that most of it would have to be undone... that the squares "were getting lost ... they didn't match up"... my work was ""appreciated", but that it was "just impossible" like it was ... and the kicker, "it wont look anything like what you did." ---she and another member decided this.

WOW! i have to admit, i took it a little hard. i vented to the ever patient Sugar Daddy, who consoled me.

It was really a good thing that i went to a "heavy metal" rock concert (Slipknot) after leaving the meeting... i got to work out some frustration by headbanging...lol

i do not believe that i will be volunteering to help out in that way again... i dont mind doing the individual piece... but i certainly wouldnt take on the piecing part again... i spent over 15 hours on this project, time that i could have spent on my own works... i am still a little bitter about that!

i decided to sleep on it before blogging about it... to make sure that i was looking at it objectively.

i dont think that the comments were meant to hurt my feelings... maybe it is just a difference in vision and style?

what do you think? i would appreciate different perspectives on this... something similar happen to you?

THERAPUTIC STITCHERY (starting a new piece for fun and relaxation!)

Before, during and even after the holidays, I was involved in very functional items...most were gifts: scarves, hats, bags, afghans, etc. One of my resolutions for 2009 was to "finish up loose ends"... figuratively, as in straightening out some personal issues... but also literally, as in finishing up some hibernating fiber projects.

I got a good many of the fiber projects finished; and so I decided to to start a strictly non-functional freeform project. For me, it is so enjoyable not knowing how a project is going to end up! I can just add on what and where I feel like. It is a very relaxing... almost meditative quality, for me, in just mixing up colors, stitches and types of yarns ...i get so in the zone that i have been told my mantra should be "loop...loop... stitch." (are they making fun of me?)

Here are pics of the new piece, a Day of the Dead inspired piece. I love all of the bright colors associated with the festival; and I love the appreciation of ancestors ... and really the appreciation of life and its cycle. So far,this has been a fun piece to work on!

SUPPER REVIEW

Chili with pinto & kidney beans
topped with sour cream, cheese & green onions
bleu cheese corn salad w\onions & bell pepper

A MINI LADYBUG BACKPACK

ok... i admit that i am such a slacker when it comes to finishing projects! i can't help it! i am fairly certain that i suffer from undiagnosed attention deficit disorder... lol.

i start a project... full of ideas... and then either i think of something else and want to start on the new project or a hit a "roadblock" on how construction (a pitfall because i am not a pattern person! lol)... this trait of mine is a bad thing when you undertake to make something for someone else...

i have been working on a lady bug backpack for my cousin... it is all done except for a closure and some embellishments.

well, one of my new year's resolutions has been to clear out my hibernating projects; so i hope to be finishing it this week. but first i made her the snazzy beret below!

and then thought that i would make a little mini-backpack for her daughter too!

so here is a little something that i whipped up for Baby D!

i didn't use any pattern... just went "on the fly".

i used d rings to make adjustable straps.

here is the inside.

here is a close up of the ladybug!

and here is a close up of the bobbles on the front.

I sure hope that D and her Mom like these bags! (and forgive my slowness!)