Beautiful Skies & Crochet

 

 This was the view from my front porch the other morning...

Looks like sunset but it was actually around 7:00 AM.

 

I live on the side of a mountain so we have great views... 

Clearing the snow off my VERY long driveway is another story.

 

We live on the shady side of the mountain so we are in the shade for most of the day.  The sun does not really hit my porch fully until around 4:30 PM.  You can sit and enjoy the porch for most of the day.  The neighbors across the street on the down side of the mountain have full sun from sun up to sun down with no air flow.

I have been busy crocheting during my free time.  There is an abundance of patterns and ideas out there on the web.  This pretty little flower garland is from Sweet Crocheterie.  The pattern is called Rose Garland Necklace/Bracelet.  I made mine a necklace.  I love how it came out!

I made my flowers blue.  I'm not much of a pink person.

It's longer than it looks.  I smushed it up to get it all in the picture.

This was the first strand,  just the leaves.

I used embroidery floss since I could not find colors I liked in the thin crochet thread.  It worked just fine!  In fact it was much cheaper that way!  It cost under $2.00 to make!  I might add some beads to  it ... needs a little something...

 

Here's a pattern I have been looking for for quite some time!  It's called African Flower.  I found a pattern I could follow at Wonderful Hands.  She has beautiful flower patterns.  You have to read the descriptions on the pattern pages though...  Some have written/picture tutorials and some are charted patterns.  Both shops are from Etsy.  If you have never been to Etsy, I suggest you go!  There are some really great handmade items and patterns for sale!  Both shops had great customer service and I recommend them both! 

 

This is a hexagon block, so crocheting the blocks together was a bit of a learning curve for me!  I ripped it out three times before I finally got it right!  Eventually, the blocks will be crocheted together to create a version of this bag.  I found this picture over the winter on Pinterest.  It led me to discover this knitting/crocheting blog.  The blog is in Swedish,  use the translater button she has on the bottom of her blog .

My blocks are much bigger than the ones on Mia.
I won't need as many rows or blocks for my bag.
Don't know if I will add a tassel to the bottom of mine or not.

I use pencil grips on my crochet hooks to pad them.
The metal starts to hurt my hand after a while.

 

Lastly, I made this crocheted circle shawl last summer.  It was good practice, but I did not like how it looked on me.  I ended up throwing it across the back of an oatmeal colored chair that my cat Sweetie-Pie was always sleeping on.  Now I don't have to keep cleaning up cat hair off the chair!  I just throw her blanket in the wash!  Well, off to make supper and crochet a few more African Flower blocks tonight. Till next week...  (I'm going to start getting some things together for the new school year, so next week is going to be about assessment in the classroom).