Crocheting Frenzie!!!

Mike and I decided to have a lazy weekend, after the jam-packed one we had last week. I was off Friday and decided to do some estate saleing. I picked 4 that looked promising, but they were all pretty much a bust. I did find a few ornaments for my vintage ornament wreath that I hope to complete by Christmas, but it was slim pickins'! Hopefully, once I find enough ornaments I will be able to make something that looks as AWESOME as this

http://retrorenovation.com/2011/09/25/vintage-christmas-ornament-wreaths-the-first-wave-of-georgia-peachez-2011-designs/

I also found a jar of marbles. Marbles? Yes, marbles. Thanks once again to Pinterest, I have found a great project. Unfortunately, this one will have to wait until next year, but I am all ready to make it happen now!

http://gardendrama.wordpress.com/2011/09/17/garden-art-on-the-cheap-diy-glass-marbles-in-your-fence/

Jar-O-Marbles

Saturday we planned to do NOTHING, we watched a bunch of movies, and I did manage to work in some crocheting. I decided to pull from my unfinished project box. Now, lets be clear, this box is not huge, but I definitely need to finish some things in it! Including my Christmas table runner. I have been working on this for about 2 1/2 years, and each year Christmas comes and goes, and the runner goes back into the unfinished box without ever seeing the table. This year though, I am determined to finish it!

I had seen different examples of Filet Crochet online, and I tried a couple of little things, and I decided that I wanted to try something bigger, but I couldn't find a pattern that I loved, so I decided to make my own. The nice thing about filet crochet is that you can basically use any cross-stitch pattern to achieve the look you want, but once again I couldn't find anything I really liked. It was Christmas time, and I decided that I wanted to make a runner. I wanted something that felt vintage, but with a modern twist. Finally, I found this website http://www.myphotostitch.com/ where you can take a picture and convert it to a pattern. BINGO! Now I just had to find a picture I liked. I played around with a few different Santa's, but finally I found this awesome clipart

http://grainedit.com/the-ghost-of-christmas-clip-art/

Next up was to decide on crochet thread, I went with a silver with a metallic thread. FYI - you need a lot of thread to make this runner. I have gone through 8 balls thus far, and will probably need 2 more.

I've found Hobby Lobby has the best selection of crochet thread

You will have to play with your pattern a little to get it the size that you want, but when you're done you will end up with something like this

As you can see, my pattern has been through the ringer!

I've found that it is easy to just cross off each row as you complete it

So I guess you might be asking "What is filet crochet?" Filet crochet gives a much more delicate look, kind of like lace. Essentially, an empty box is a post, 2 chains, and a post. An X is a post, 2 double crochets, and a post. (i.e. post = double crochet). My recommendation is to jump online and get a feel for it, but it REALLY is easy!!!

So here is what I have so far

I used the safety pins to count every 10 boxes in the beginning

I don't know when it will be done, but, doing my best Scarlett, "AS GOD AS MY WITNESS" it will be done before Christmas this year!!!

Sunday, Mike worked all day putting another tap in for our kegorator. So now our nameless bar has both domestic and import drafts ... great. Speaking of our nameless bar, anyone have any suggestions for a name? We thought Camp Ladefoged, Fort Ladefoged ... We want to keep it camp-kitchy!

While Mike was working on the taps, I decided to continue my lazy weekend. I spent the morning looking for patterns, and then I spent the afternoon making this hat for Miss Maddy

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/rose-beanie

Madeline Marie Savidge 10/06/11

I couldn't make one for Maddy without making one for Nixie ...

2 yr old vs. Newborn

Even when I think I'm going to have a lazy weekend someone goes and has a baby, causing me to go into a crocheting frenzie!!! 

So how did you spend the weekend? Any unfinished projects you're working on now? And what should we name our bar?!