A Return to Painting
The first painting after my long hiatus from the art world was a seascape of Buffalo Bay, South Africa. It was a Christmas gift for my Dad.
A Return to PaintingI love to paint. However, there always seems to be an obstacle in my way preventing me from expressing my creativity in this way. I didn't paint from the time I graduated high school until nearly eight years later. When I was in college I didn't have time. When I had my son I was too tired. Then I went to work, then school again. Excuses, excuses. I finally got up the nerve to paint a couple years ago. One of my best friends likes to hike a lot and takes beautiful photographs of the trails and waterfalls along the way. I had to paint them! So, with his permission, I grabbed my paint and brushes and got to work. All of the paintings were done in acrylic and painted in the late hours of the night to the wee hours of the morning as that is the only time I can paint uninterrupted. The first painting after my long hiatus from the art world was a seascape of Buffalo Bay, South Africa. It was a Christmas gift for my Dad. Next was a gift for my Mom--a scene from Blue Ridge Parkway, Interstate 26 to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. For my nephew I painted this cool scene from the Appalachian Trail. My friend, the one who took all these beautiful photographs, was getting married and I thought it would be nice to paint them a picture as a wedding gift. I painted their favorite picture--a sunrise over Buffalo Bay, South Africa. I had so much fun painting all of these pictures. Unfortunately more excuses have crept up over time and I have two unfinished paintings in my room, begging to be completed. Hopefully after the holidays I will be able to devote more time to one of my favorite, but often neglected hobbies.
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Crochet Christmas Gifts - Rows 'o Ruffles Dress by Treva McCainWith Christmas quickly approaching, I have been crocheting my little heart out trying to get all my gifts completed. This is the first year I will be giving crochet or handmade gifts. I started out with a pretty ambitious list and have had to cut or switch some projects around in order to fit them all in before Christmas. I am really enjoying making all these gifts. I just hope those who receive them will love them as much as I have loved making them. I began my Christmas gift list with projects for the young girls in my family. I knew I wanted to crochet something for them, but I wasn't sure what they would like. I searched patterns for days trying to find the perfect pattern. I finally came across the Rows 'o Ruffles Dress pattern by Treva McCain for Caron. I wasn't thrilled with the colors, but I fell in love with the design immediately. I was especially thrilled with the pattern because the recommended yarn is one of my favorites to work with--Caron Simply Soft. The first dress I made was crocheted in Caron Simply Soft in Persimmon and Light Country Peach. I followed the pattern directly for this dress, making the body of the dress in two pieces and sewing the pieces together. I am really happy with the dress. However, I really do not enjoy sewing pieces together. So I decided to try to make the next dress all in one piece. It was not very difficult to do this after already making one and seeing how the dress was constructed. So the second dress was made in the same colors but all in one piece with a slightly larger hook. I also moved the ruffles a row closer together to give the dress more of a tutu look. I am pretty pleased with this dress also. Both dresses turned out great. I really liked the result of putting the ruffles a little closer together. For the third dress I chose different colors. I used Caron Simply Soft in Plum Perfect and Plum Wine. As purple is one of my favorite colors, this turned out to be my favorite of the three dresses. This one was made all in one piece with the ruffles closer together as well. Overall I am extremely happy with the results and I can't wait to see the girls in their adorable dresses! Sweet Little Flared DressAs mentioned in my earlier post, I was on a mission to crochet my daughter a pretty dress. Isn't that one of the main reasons one learns to crochet--to make pretty little things for girls? I had some Vanna's Choice yarn in some of my favorite colors--pink, purple, and brown--that I bought to make a top to match a pretty skirt I bought at Goodwill. I decided to make a dress with it instead. I knew I wanted this new dress to have a better shape to it than the yellow one I had made previously and figured that making it flare at the bottom would be the simplest shape to try out. The yellow dress also had a circular yoke which I didn't care for. I settled on trying a rectangular yoke for the new dress after seeing a lot of pictures of crochet dresses online with this type of top. Earlier in the week I learned the four double crochet shell stitch. I thought it was very pretty and decided to incorporate it into the design as well. After making dresses and sweaters by sewing many pieces together, I knew I didn't want to deal with that again. So I decided to try to make the dress all in one piece. When constructing the dress in my mind I began with the top and worked my way down, focusing on ways to connect pieces as I went. This was very easy to do using a rectangular yoke and so the dress was made in one piece from the top down with the trim and button added last. I did not write out a pattern before or after making this dress. I did take measurements, however, since they are the most important ingredient in a garment recipe. I made the top with single crochets to the bottom of the chest (empire waist). The skirt of the dress is the four double crochet shell stitch with increases in every third or fourth shell on each row. The dress worked up very quickly and the lightness of the yarn holds the flare shape quite well. The little belt was made with single crochets and weaved through the first row of shells to add a little contrast. I am very pleased with this dress and plan to make many more like it! Using the same techniques and different stitches, I made a top for my niece and little diaper cover to go with it. Instead of the four double crochet shell stitch I used the lacy stitch and used larger hooks on subsequent rows instead of stitch increases. Again I added a little belt for contrast. The little shorts I stitched up based on the shape and size of one of my daughter's diaper covers. I put elastic in the waist (first time I've used elastic). I was very pleased with this outfit as well! ;) Easter Dress and Matching Vest - My First DesignsAs I mentioned in my earlier post, I decided to make my daughter a dress for Easter this year. I also wanted to make my son a vest so their clothes would match. After making a dress that was too thick for a southern Easter and searching for days for a simple boy's vest pattern and not finding what I wanted, I decided to design them myself. Most importantly, I didn't want to sew a bunch of pieces together. This is what I came up with... I made the vest first. To start, I drew a simple diagram of what I wanted the front and back of the vest to look like. I took my son's measurements and calculated the measurements for the specific parts of the vest. Then I made a gauge swatch and converted all of the measurements for the pattern from inches to stitches or rows. After creating the diagram, I actually wrote out the pattern row by row. The vest was made from the bottom up in one piece to the chest. The left and right front and back pieces were then created and crocheted together at the shoulders. There was no sewing involved in the making of this vest. To finish, I crocheted a row of double crochets around the neck and slip stitched them to the chest piece. The "V" was too deep and made the vest look quite feminine (per my husband). To correct this, I slip stitched the bottom eight double crochet stitches on the left and right together. I am very happy with the way it turned out, and the finished vest even got the approval of my husband. I did type the pattern up and it is available in pdf format upon request via email. Simply send me a message via the link at the left. The dress was created basically the same way. I drew a diagram of what I wanted the dress to look like. It was less than a week before Easter so I tried to make it as simple as possible. I used the same brand of yarn and the same size hook as for the vest so the gauge swatch made previously was used to determine the number of stitches and rows needed based on my daughter's measurements. The dress was crocheted from the top down. There was no sewing needed to make this dress either. I did not type this pattern up because there were some mistakes that I did not correct as I went. I haven't made this dress again. If I do, I will correct the mistakes and type it up. While the dress turned out pretty cute, I was not very happy with the fit. (It reminded me of a night gown). So I decided to improve my crocheting skills by learning new stitches and shaping techniques. In my next post, I will share the inspiration for and process I used to create a better, much prettier dress for my daughter. Crocheted Items From PatternsFor my first blog post, I decided to talk about the items I have crocheted from patterns. I have used five patterns since I first began learning how to crochet. I have learned a lot from using patterns, especially four of them--the main thing being I do not like using patterns. The first pattern I ever used was for a hat. I followed the directions closely and ended up with a, well, hat. While not hideous, it did slightly resemble the shape of those weird red hats worn by Devo in the "Whip It" video. What I learned: I can, for the most part, read a pattern. The next pattern I used was for a toddler cardigan. The pattern was very well written and easy to follow. The finished cardigan actually looked like the picture from the pattern. The cardigan was worked up in five separate pieces and then sewn together--two front pieces, the back, and the two sleeves. Since I was just starting out I had no idea what kind of difference the type of yarn makes on a finished object. I used the cheapest yarn I could find--Red Heart Super Saver. While the cardigan is cute, it is stiff as a board. What I learned: Yarn matters, and I don't like sewing pieces together. Since I made my daughter a sweater, it was only fair to make one for my son. Again, the pattern I chose was pretty well written. Also, this time I made sure to choose a pattern that required very little sewing. The body of the sweater was made all in one piece. The only sewing required was to attach the sleeves and sew on the buttons. I skated right through this pattern...until I got to the sleeves. For some reason I just couldn't get the sleeves right. Finally I ditched the pattern and just made the sleeves using the same stitch as throughout the rest of the sweater. Attaching the sleeves wasn't too bad because I crocheted the seams instead of sewing them. I even chose the correct type of yarn this time--I used the same brand and type of yarn given by the pattern. The sweater came out really cute. The only thing that irked me was that the sweater I made (I made the correct size for my son) didn't fit my son the same way as the boy in the photo. Also, my sleeves came out really long since I didn't measure how long his arms were before making them. What I learned: It is possible to crochet clothes without sewing a lot of pieces together, sewing on appliques is really annoying, pattern photos can be deceiving, and measurements are extremely helpful. For Easter, I decided to make my daughter a dress. I found a pattern for a really cute dress, bought some pretty yarn, and got to work. The pattern was very easy to follow and there were pictures of each step along the way. I used the smallest hook I had but my gauge was still bigger than needed so I had to adjust the number of stitches and rows so it would fit correctly. I used a different yarn for this so it came out thicker than the original. However, it is still really cute and my daughter will be able to wear it in the fall. The dress was constructed in one piece with only the shoulder seams to sew together. I crocheted them together instead. What I learned: Garments can be crocheted with no sewing at all, and creating a pattern is just a matter of mathematics. So I have used a few patterns, made some cute stuff from them, and learned a lot in the process. The main thing I learned is that if I can "fix" a pattern to fit my daughter, I can make my own patterns. Since my daughter couldn't wear the dress for Easter, I decided to try just that. But that will have to wait until the next post. ;P
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