May Projects

Well, here it is, the middle of June, and I bet you thought I forgot this post, didn't you?

Nope, just had more pressing things to share with you, but here it is, the May Projects post!

First up, the counted cross stitch picture that I made for Don:

This was supposed to be for our anniversary, which was on Easter Sunday.  For obvious reasons, I didn't finish on time, but this was the first project I worked on post Easter dresses.  I haven't ironed or framed it yet, however.

After spending 3 months on Easter dresses, the month of May was all about instant gratification type projects.  Here is a picture of almost everything finished:

See?  All things finished in a few days or less.  You remember that I've said I don't crochet, right?  Well, apparently, now I can crochet, at least a little bit.  It's still not my favorite, but I'm at least able to move a hook around and complete something.  I decided that dishcloths were the perfect thing to practice on.

These are all crocheted.  The dark blue hex in the back came from Lion Brand website.  The fish cloth came from here.  The red heart dishcloth I made up to test a technique I read about.  The red and white stripe "flag" sort of one came from another website, (and my apologies that I can't find it now), and the rest came from various booklets that I've picked up in the last few years. 

Here are the knit cloths I did in May:

See the cloth in the middle?  That is an optical illusion cloth, and I found the pattern here.  The cloth on the right is just a simple cloth, like the kind my mom taught me years ago.  The one on the left is my favorite, though.  Here is a picture of it by itself:

If you look at it from above, it looks like a striped cloth, but look at it from an angle and you see:

flowers!  Isn't that cool?  It's all done using strategically placed knits and purls.  If you like it, you can find the pattern for this one, plus a lot more like it, here.  This is the vintage flowers cloth.  By the way, all 12 dishcloths were made from stash yarn.

But, I did not stop at dishcloths.  No, not me!  I also made a handful of:

cat toys, for my Secret Sister at church.  Well, not for her, exactly, but for her 2 furry children.  These were made with 100% wool yarn, then, before completing the ball, a giant jingle bell was put inside, then the whole thing was felted.  When I revealed to her that I was her Sister last week, she said that her cats loved them!  Silly, but hey, it was stash yarn!
I also learned how to make market bags, but market bags with a twist.  These, when turned inside out, can be tucked into themselves, and become just right for keeping in a purse (if your purse is large, like mine) or stowing under the seat in the car, just in case.

Three marekt bags, folded up.

Three market bags, ready for shopping!

The bag in the center was made from stash yarn, the bag on the left was from yarn that my mom gave me, and the bag on the right, I bought new, specifically to match a beach towel I was giving as a gift:

I also made 3 pairs of children's ladybug slippers, which of course I forgot to take pictures of before I gave them to the person that requested them.  I do have an order for 3 more pair, so I will be sure to take pictures of those to show you.

So it was a rather productive month, using mostly what I had in house.  And I have a box full of goodies to show for it.  Might be time to take on some larger projects again soon, though.  I've already finished a couple of things this month...can't wait to show them to you!