Brianna's Creative Crochet

String in My Work!

2010-08-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

I do not know if you can see the red string in the picture. ( If you cannot see the string, try clicking on the picture.) I crocheted that into my doily. I do not know where I got the string. Maybe I got it from my clothes. I do not know. I often find hairs in my doilies, too. I wish I had notice that I crocheted the string into the doily before I finished the doily!

Here is another picture of the doily:

Do you ever found hairs and strings into your projects?

Lengthening a Sewing Pattern

2010-07-11T11:49:00.000-07:00

Lengthening a pattern is really easy. I lengthened the pattern on an apron I made with my grandma. ( I will post about the apron soon.) I wanted the apron longer than the pattern was. Grandma said I could lengthen it.

This is how you lengthen a pattern:

1. Decide where you want to make the pattern longer.

For example: on a shirt, decide if you want to lengthen

the sleeves or the body.

2. Cut the pattern the section you want to cut at the

straightest spot.

3. Pin part of the fabric where you want it to be.

Move the pattern pieces until you decide that it

is the length you want it to be. Pin the second pattern

piece onto the fabric.

4. This is optional. Pin a piece(s) of paper onto the empty

space where you will cut. The paper will serve as a guild line

when you cut out the project.

Have you ever lengthened a pattern?

Sewing # 3

2010-07-08T15:42:00.000-07:00

I have been doing a sewing series. This is the third post in the series. Here are the links to posts number one and two.

My sister and I made aprons with our grandma . An apron is really quick and easy to make. My sister and I did not make pockets for our aprons, but I am sure that it does not take too long to make and put pockets on aprons.

My sister and I took pictures of our sewing projects. My sister's apron has bears, birds, moose, and wolves on it. My apron has horses on it.

Here are the pictures of our aprons:

I am cutting out the pattern.

My sister is pinning the pattern to her fabric.

This is my fabric cut out.

My sister is sewing.

I am sewing.

This is my sister's finished apron.

This is my finished apron.

Have you ever made an apron?

Guest Post

2010-06-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

I did a guest post on my mom's site last week. I am sorry that I did not post about it before now.
Mom and Joy in My Kitchen are doing a series on nut allergies. Joy in My Kitchen has had a nut allergy since she a child. She is an adult now. Mom is posting about my nut allergy which I have only had for a few months.

I hope you enjoy the post!

The Rabbit Under the Back Deck!

2010-06-19T12:35:00.001-07:00

There is a rabbit living under my family's back deck! It is really cute. The rabbit is probably about a year old. It is a cottontail rabbit. I can see why they named them "cottontail." Its tail is a white ball of fluff.

My sister and I took several pictures of it. I am surprised that it did not get scared!

Here are some of the pictures that I took.

The rabbit from a distance.

A close up of the rabbit.

Isn't it cute?

Finding Inexpensive Thread and Yarn

2010-06-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have several suggestions on finding cheap yarn or thread. I like to have a lot of yarn and thread on hand for my different projects, but I do not like spending a lot of money on it.

Yarn and thread can be very expensive. I have found several ways though, to help me save money on yarn and thread.

One way to fined cheap yarn or thread is to watch for sales in newspaper adds. I often find yarn and thread this way.

Another way to find yarn or thread is to go to garage sales. I have never found yarn or thread at a garage sale, but my friend has.

My crochet teacher often buys yarn in big bulks. It is cheaper that way. I do not make a lot of things with yarn, so I have never bought it in big bulks. However, I do not suggest buying thread by the bulk. It is cheaper, but it was difficult to use. When I used it, it got tangled.

I have also ordered crochet thread online. I have been able to find some good deals on hard to find thread this way.

This Summer

2010-05-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

I finished school this week. I am going to try to crochet, knit, and sew more. I hope that I will also be able to post more often.

Some of the projects I want to do are to crochet hats and doilies. I want to knit a blanket, scarf, and dish clothes. I also want to sew with my grandma.

What are you planning to crochet, knit, or sew this summer? Please, post a comment and, if you like my site, follow my site.

A Double Rainbow

2010-05-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago it rained. Late in the evening my sister notice a rainbow. I went to take some pictures, and then I noticed it was a double rainbow! I had not seen a double rainbow up to this point, and I doubt I will see one again.

In the Bible Noah and his family were the only ones to survive a world wide flood. The rainbow was a sign to Noah that there would not be a flood that covered the whole world again. If you see a rainbow, please remember that.

Here are some pictures I took of the rainbows:

I know the pictures are not as beautiful as seeing the rainbows in reality, but I still hope you can enjoy looking at the pictures of them. I hope you can see the second rainbow above the more obvious one. You can see the second one better in the first picture.

Grandma's Dish Clothes

2010-05-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

Several months ago, my grandma came to visit my family. I made her some dish clothes. She loves the way they wring out. It was an easy present to prepare, plus I was running out of projects to do.

For all but one of these I used the pattern I posted here. The tan and white dish cloth is the one from a different dish cloth pattern.

Here are some pictures:

Here are all the dish clothes (except for one blue one I did not take a picture of).

This is the one that is different from the others.

Here are all of the similar ones (but the blue one).

Here is one alone.

This is a dishcloth my sister knitted. It is only her second dish cloth!

My First Hat

2010-05-01T08:11:00.000-07:00

I finished my first crocheted hat this week. My family got me a hat book for my birthday. I have never made a hat before, and I really enjoyed making it.

I finished the hat Wednesday. I am going to make another hat for my brother and sister. They wanted a hat, too. I have started on my brother's, but my sister has not decided what kind of hat she wants. I will post pictures of their hats when I finish them.

Here are some pictures of me with my hat on.

A close up.

A back view.

A side view.

My Allergy

2010-04-24T09:30:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I found out I have a peanut, tree nut, and sesame allergy. I am not glad, but the Lord was merciful and let it only be mild. My mom posted about it here.

In January I had my first reaction. My throat started to itch and I was having trouble breathing. I told mom about it and she said that I was probably getting a cold. Eventually she called my aunt. (My aunt has two daughters with tree nut allergies.) They agreed to give me benadryl. Then they discussed what the allergy could be. I had another reaction the a few days later and we tracked it down to peanuts.

I went to an allergist. I had to have blood drawn. When we received the results, I found out I was allergic to sesame. We were surprised. I do not eat a lot of sesame. (And now I eat none.) I then had skin testing which showed I showed I was allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and sesame. We were surprised that it was both peanuts and tree nuts.

It was an adjustment, but God was with me all the way.

Sewing #2

2010-04-14T03:15:00.000-07:00

I was asked by a friend to post pictures of my skirt when I finished it. I finished it a few weeks ago. I will also post a picture of my pajamas that I forgot to post a picture of on my last post with sewing project pictures. I also have a few pictures of my sister's skirt and pajamas.

Here are some pictures.

My sister's pajamas:

My pajamas:

My sister's skirt:

My skirt:

Starching Doilies

2010-03-20T14:18:00.000-07:00

I starch my doilies to make them lay right. It also makes them look stiff. But the starch eventually will wear off, so you might have to starch it again in a few years. Here the information on how to starch a doily:

First you will need a starching board, ( I will post how to make one when my dad figures out how to make one. Right now I am using the one my teacher's husband made me.) pins, and starch.

1. First wet the doily, so it is dripping wet and wring it out.

2. Put the doily into a few teaspoons of starch. Make sure to get all of the doily into some starch. Then you wring out the starch.

3. Pin the doily with pins onto the starching board and let it dry.

4. Unpin the doily and give it to who ever you are giving to.

Sewing

2010-03-10T11:07:00.000-08:00

My grandma is teaching me to sew. I am really enjoying it and I have learned how to make several things. Today I want to post pictures of my projects.

This is a picture of one of the napkins that my sister and I made.

This is another napkin that we made.

This is a Kleenex holder.

This is Kleenex box holder I made. This one is a bigger size, though.

This is another Kleenex box holder. ( It is for my brother if you can not already tell that.) :-)

I hope you have enjoyed these pictures. If you want me to post how to make one or more of these projects, please leave a comment. You leave a comment by clicking on the button below this post that says how many comments I have received. If I have received four comments and it will look like this:

4 comments.

Please, do not be afraid to ask me to post about a certain object. Thank you.

Winter is Over!

2010-02-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Winter is finally over! My family and I have survived with out losing electricity through five winter storms. ( One of the storms was on the first day of spring!) It was an unusual winter in the United States.

The snow was gorgeous, but I do feel sorry for those who had to go driving in and after the winter storms. I had fun playing in the snow. At least there is some positives about it, right?

Here are some pictures I took of the winter weather. ( I don't have pictures of every storm.)

My Family's Dogs

2010-02-09T15:28:00.000-08:00

Today I wanted to post about my family's dogs. We have three of them, which my mom thinks is a lot.

Boomer is the oldest of the three dogs. He is about six or seven years old. A friend of ours found Boomer digging in their flower bed. They checked around to see whose dog it was. Most neighbors said he was a stray. Our friend knew that my family wanted a guard dog, because our other dog at the time, wasn't a guard dog. They asked us if we wanted him. (I am not posting about Betsy, the dog just mentioned.) My parents said yes. I still remember waking up in the morning and finding who I thought was our neighbor's dog!

Dale is the other dog. We got her after Betsy died. She is about three years old. We also thought she would be a good guard dog. The pound said she was part German Sheppard, but we now think she is part English Sheppard instead. She is very cute. I started training her, then my sister picked it up when I started training Roy.

Roy is the third dog. This time we made sure he was a guard dog! He is one and a half years old. We bought him from a breeder when he was a puppy. He is a full blood German Shepard. He is the dog that I am training. He is so cute, friendly, and adorable. But he is always fighting with the other dogs. Here, here, and here are some pictures of him that my mom posted. (There is at least one picture of Dale and Boomer.) He is my favorite of the three dogs.

An Oval Doily I Sold

2010-02-01T17:41:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I sold an oval doily. I sold it to a lady who works with the lady that cuts our hair. I have made one that is similar to this one but it is bigger. The lady wanted an oval doily, but the one I made before was to big. This one was using the same techniques but smaller, in fact, it was on the same page. It was a lot easier than the one I had made before.

This is the doily:

A Dish Cloth Pattern

2010-02-01T16:03:00.000-08:00

I was asked about three months ago to post a dishcloth pattern. I have finally gotten around to posting this pattern. It is an easy pattern using only single crochets and chains.

Materials:

100% cotton worsted weight yarn: 1 3\4 ounces

Size I

Pattern:

Chain 40

Row 1: Working on the right side , sc (single crochet) second ch (chain) from your hook. Ch one, skip next ch and repeat across the row. You should have 20 sc.

Rows 2-28: Ch 1 and turn. Sc in first sc, ch one, sc crochet. Repeat across the row. DO NOT FINISH OF!

Edging:

Round 1:Ch 1 and turn. WORKING IN BACK LOOPS ONLY sc in first sc, ch one. ( You get the idea.) End the row with a slip stitch.

Round 2:Ch 1, DO NOT TURN, sc in same stitch, ch one, etc. Join with slip stitch to first sc, finish off.

Here is a picture.

I hope you will use this pattern and find it to be a good pattern.

My Goals for This Year

2010-02-01T15:34:00.000-08:00

I have a friend who posted on her crochet, knitting, and sewing goals for this year. I decided I would post some goals I have for this year.

Crocheting

Learn how to make the doily my teacher is known for making

Start selling doilies on Etsy( I have an account, but I don't have anything on it.)

Make a hat for my sister, brother, and myself

Knitting

Learn how to knit the European way

Work on my blanket

Sewing

Sew at least 15 things

Make a dress that fits me

I hope this will inspire you to make a list of things you want to do this year.

Thank you Sarah for the idea.

Two Ways To Knit

2010-01-19T16:52:00.000-08:00

I recently learned that there are two types of knitting: American knitting and European knitting.

American knitting is the way I learned at the library class. (I posted about the library class in a earlier post.)You put a thread of yarn from the ball of yarn around your right finger and you have to through it over the hook. My crochet teacher started to learn this way at a class, but her mother then taught my crochet teacher how to knit the European way.

In European knitting you place a thread of yarn on your left finger and you just have to grab the thread of yarn with your needle. My sister learned from my crochet teacher how to do it this way. I think this way is easier but I have not tried it yet.

If you knit, which way do you knit?

What Christmas Is all About

2009-12-22T05:27:00.000-08:00

The meaning of Christmas has gone backwards. Most people think Christmas is about receiving present and not giving presents. Here is a post about a true Christmas.

This post teaches a lot about what Christmas really is. Christ was born to give His life for us. We as Christians should be willing to give up something for others pleasure. Reading this post really makes me appreciate what I have and realize what Christmas is really about. I hope this post makes you to have the same feeling.

This Christmas remember to give. I am sure you will be rewarded.

An Unique Crochet Hook

2009-12-07T16:04:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago I posted about a three in one crochet hook. When I posted about it I didn't know how it was used. After I posted about it I decided to show my hooks to my crochet teacher. It didn't take very long for my her to figure out how the hook is used.

First you choose the hook you are going to use. Then you put the two hooks you are not going to use away.

After that stick all the hooks in the holder. The hook that you want to use will stick through a hole at the bottom of the holder.

That is pretty smart in my opinion!

My Favorite Crochet Magazine

2009-11-22T10:01:00.000-08:00

I have a crochet magazine I love. It is called Magic Crochet. I love this magazine because it makes crocheting much easier. Unlike most crochet books or magazines Crochet Magic has diagrams.

It makes it easier for you to see what you are supposed to do. This way it is a lot easier to comprehend the instructions. The instructions are written in two different ways. First they have directions in words. They also have a diagram with symbols for each pattern. When you come across a symbol that is rarely used they have a definition at the bottom of the page.

It is hard to get this magazine any more. They stopped publishing this magazine several years ago. The only place that I have found them is Ebay. I was given quite a few issues for presents last year for my birthday and Christmas.

Now I have enough patterns to last me a long time.

I Interviewed My Crochet Teacher

2009-10-12T10:49:00.000-07:00

I asked my crochet teacher recently if I could interview her. My mom suggested the idea and I was excited to ask my teacher about it. When I asked my teacher if she would like to be interviewed, she seemed excited and agreed to the idea. I thought of a few questions to ask her. Here they are:

Me: What age were you when you began to crochet?

Mrs. Bedard: 11

Me: How many years have you crocheted?

Mrs. Bedard: 63

Me: Who taught you to crochet?

Mrs. Bedard: Helen Earncent and my mom Lily Lawrence.

Me: Have you taught very many people to crochet?

Mrs. Bedard: 8 or so.

Me: How many projects do you think you have crocheted?

Mrs. Bedard: Dozens (she actually has probably crocheted hundreds of things)

Me: What is your favorite thing to crochet?

Mrs. Bedard: Heart doilies for wedding maybe several dozen since 1st one in 1979! (again I think she is being modest with the number here, she has given a lot away)

Me: Can you do any other things like knitting ?

Mrs. Bedard: Yes, knitting and clothes sewing!

As you can see she has crocheted many years and still enjoys it. I am sure she has worked diligently and has tried her best. She also has tried to do her best for God. She keeps very few things that she makes. She is always giving her projects away. She loves to hand out things like knitted dish clothes to everyone she knows. There is a lot to learn from her life.

Thank you Mrs. Bedard for teaching me to crochet and sharing your love of it with me.

I Got Interviewed!

2009-08-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks I was interviewed for a series about young entrepreneurs that Kathy at Teaching Good Things is doing. She has interviewed several people that started a business at a young age.

I thought it would be fun to be interviewed. She sent me several questions such as do you take extra lessons and did your parents encourage you.

Once I had answered the questions my mom sent the answers to her. After a couple of days she posted the interview. She also made several comments about my answers.

If you would like to read the whole interview you can read it here. If you found my site from Kathy's, I am glad you found me.

Kathy also has some great teaching DVD's on her site. My sister and I just finished watching her cake decorating DVD and we really learned a lot.

My Great Grandmothers Crocheting Hooks

2009-07-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

For my 11 birthday, one of my aunts, my mom's sister, sent me their grandmother's crochet hooks. She said received them after her grandmother had passed away. She does not crochet, so she did not have need for them. They had just been siting in a closet. She knew how much I loved to crochet so she gave them to me as a birthday present. I loved them. It is so neat to have crochet hooks that are so unique and so old.

Some I can tell are very old and have been used a lot. On some I can't read the size on them. Of the hooks I can read the size I have 0's, 5's,11's, 14's, and others.

I have some that where the size should be, there is a hole. I wonder how they use to tell the size of a hook!

I have one crochet hook that I especially like that my mom gave me. It has three hooks hooked together. A three in one crochet hook! I don't think there are many of those any more, it looks very old.

Learning How To Knit

2009-07-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

Last school year I took a knitting class at our library. I have made several scarfs including one for my older cousin, one for myself, and a miniature one for my two year old cousin. I am now working on a blanket. Not a huge one, though. I also have a hat I am knitting.

The reason I have not finished it is because my teacher is working at other library's. As far as I know there have not been any more classes.

I am having a lot of fun knitting. I am not sure whether I like crocheting or knitting more. That means you can probably guess I like knitting quite a bit. It is also a nice change and what I have been doing doesn't take much paying attention to, that might be why I like it so much.

It Has Been A Long Time

2009-07-29T12:43:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time since I posted. I have been busy crocheting, knitting, playing the piano, school, vacation and more. I hope to start posting again.

Doilies For Overseas

2008-09-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

When I visited Oregon in July I got orders for twenty-four doilies. Most of those were for a friend of my Grandmas. She works in another country and wanted twenty to take back with her to use as gifts. She needed them by the middle of September, so I had to work quickly. She said that my crochet teacher could help me a little with the work. I was able to finish twelve and my teacher did eight.

Here are some pictures of our work.

These are mine.

These are the ones my teacher did.

Here are some close ups.

I hope you enjoyed seeing some more of my work.

My Work

2008-06-23T14:20:00.000-07:00

This is the first doily I ever made. I finished it when I was eight years old. I finished it the summer of 2006. My parents had it framed for me and it is now hanging on my bedroom wall.

This is the same pattern but I made it smaller by not crocheting the last few rows of chains and the last row of fans. I have made at least nine of this pattern to give as gifts and to sell.

I have made two of these table centers. One was for my mom for Mother's Day. The other one I sold to a friend.

These are some smaller ones that I have made. These take me about two days to make. I have made more of them then I can remember. I make this same basic size, which is about six inches, in six different patterns. I have given these as gifts and also sold them.

I have made several other patterns but we do not have pictures of them.