jiffy bear

I've been wanting to do this for forever. Working with chenille was... interesting. It's almost like crocheting blind. The stitches instantly diappear in all that fluff and you just have to put it where you know it should be. I'm sure it would look less than stellar if you could see where the stitches landed but oh well. Now he just needs a bow.

mermaid purse

Considering how fast I whipped this puppy up, it sure made me nuts. It FELT like it took forever but it was more like 5 days. Later I'll add photos showing the pattern on the bottom and the pocket inside. Seriously cute.

I call it the Mermaid Purse because of the scale-like pattern in the sides and the colors. I used the same yarn as I did for Emma's Bag of Horses.

I finally lined this crazy thing!

& it was crazy.

loving the skull-bandana fabric...

call me 'square'

I've done something I thought I would never, ever do. I ordered "200 Crochet Blocks" which is a book dedicated to square motifs, aka "grannies." I loath granny-squares but I'm really fascinated by this book because it has such a contemporary spin. I could see actually attempting a blanket using a combination of these patterns.

The other possibility I see for this book involves the Haekelbeutel pattern I've used twice recently (see previous posts.) On ravelry a lot of people use the basic construction and assembly of the pattern but use alternate types of squares to make their haekelbeutels. Some of my favorites have been the mitered squares, linear patterns arranged in criss-crosses to simulate a woven effect, variegated color changes and so on. One of my favorite things to do on Ravelry is to just look at the new possibilities everyone has come up with for this single pattern. It's really beautiful and amazing!

So anyway, I'm on the verge of plunging myself into the world of squares.