Gigi the Giraffe

Ok, so among all of the other works-in-progress, I DID manage to find time to make this adorable little critter for baby Enora's first birthday present!

The Gigi Pattern is a free download on Ravelry, so sign up if you haven't already!

Ok, so I was very bad about it, and I didn't write down the yarn, the hook, or ANYTHING! I think that I ended up using a 4.5mm hook, because I have NO idea where half of my hooks went! What is going on in the world?!

You came for the pictures of Gigi, so here they are!

I struggled a bit with attaching the head to the body. I really could not find an angle or arrangement that made me happy. I kinda went with it, and in the end, I added the mane to help hide the crazy neck angle thing (that you can sorta see from the side angle). I think it did the trick, though I wish I had decided to add a brown strand or two into the tail now.

Anyways, it seemed that Enora loves Gigi!

P.S.: Yes, I am still working away on my veil. I thought I had finally got to the point where I had the circumference done - so I pinned it on to a scrap piece of tulle to measure. And I discovered that after almost 18 FEET of lace still wasn't enough, I pretty much put it down. I still have to finish another 1.5 feet of lace for the first round, go over all 20 FEET of lace with a (simpler) round 2 of stitches, dye it to match the ivory of my dress, and sew it onto a final piece of ivory tulle. Hooooo Boy.

Pretty Little Sunhat

So, I recently did a few projects with lace, and became completely obsessed with it. I love the way it looks when I finish a piece, like something you would easily find with a high price tag at a boutique. No, I still haven't started that veil, and yes, the projects take about 10 times longer than their worsted weight counterparts. That said, I love the fact that a ball of crochet thread (along with the accompanying project) fits in my everyday purse instead of a separate yarn bag. That said, I managed to lose the 1.5mm crochet hook frequently. So I now carry a hook case with me as well, instead of just tucking it into the skein.

Anyways, this beautiful little Sunhat Pattern is one that I found through Ravelry. It was very accurate as far as sizing went. I used a larger hook, so I omitted one round of the center hat circle. It is sized for 1.5-3 year olds, but since it was a gift for Scarlett's first birthday I wanted to keep as close to that sizing as possible.

Yarn: Aunt Lydia's Classic Cotton Crochet  Thread (size 10) in Orchid Pink
Hook: 1.5mm metal lace hook
Pattern Link: Sunhat PDF
Modifications: I omitted one row of the center circle, and I don't recall which one. I also finished it off early, since I made the shell pattern rows longer than required. I don't think I deliberately planned any of that, I think my fingers were killing me and I just gave up. I worked on it for about 4 hours straight while on a flight layover in Atlanta. Besided, the little flowers on the edge look so cute the way they are!

The Verdict: I love it! Can't wait for Jennifer to get some nice pix of Scarlett wearing it!

And here it is!!! So CUTE!!!

Flower-Pen Centerpiece

So last weekend we threw a big birthday party for my step-mom, Donna. We rented out the banquet room at the restaurant where my sister works, and decorate it in purple, because that's Donna's absolute favorite color.

I was tasked with doing centerpieces, favors, and that sort of thing.

Because it was Mothers' Day weekend as well, I was able to pick up some pots of mums that were purple and very inexpensive. I also made a centerpiece out of "Flower Pens".

These were so much fun! I bought $1-each10-packs of pens at Meijer, several bunches of clearance flowers from Joann's, along with the glass vase, the ribbon, florist tape and, yup, a bag of rice.

So forgive me for feeling like a genius here, but I think the rice looked really nice for the whole $1.50 it cost to fill the entire jar (with some left over). I was actually going to use white beans, but I thought the rice would hold the pens better. I thought this would be a great idea for you girls planning a budget wedding.

Anyways, I plucked the flower and leaf off the wire stem, and I cut it so that the little loop part cam off the leaf, and the bottom of the flower was as flat as possible. Hot glued flowers to all my pens, and leaves to about half. Once the glue set, I wrapped the pen in florist tape and stuffed them into the vase. It took some time but was ridiculously simple.

Guests were each given a card that had 2 holes punched in the top, and asked to share their favorite memory of Donna. After that, they could take the pen home if they wanted. At the end of the night, Donna read all the memory cards, and we strung ribbon through the holes so that they made a memory book for her to keep.