A couple of my work projects:

The jacket is from this pattern, from Bev's Country Cottage. You really can't beat Bev's patterns for instant gratification and newbie-friendliness. (I have a shirt from one of her patterns as well, just not with me to photograph at the moment.)

The dress uses the same neckline-shaping technique as the sweater (and a handful of other patterns). It is my own pattern, though. I'll put it up on my site shortly, as soon as I figure out the button issue. I'm calling it the Fiesta baby dress, as it reminds me strongly of the Mexican dresses for sale hereabouts.

Since it's sized for a newborn, the ruffle on the front does not go completely around. There's no ruffle on the back, in other words. It has always struck me that ruffles on the back cannot be comfortable for newborns to lay on. It will need a flat button for the same reason (comfort).

I have made both of these this week. In the past two days, in fact. I probably won't have this temp job for very long, but man it's good for my crocheting.

I love my job.

I am working outside the home again, temping in customer service. I'm working for Frost Bank, a big Texas bank, taking calls for commercial customers dealing with a new security system they've put in place starting Monday.

I didn't take anything to do last Thursday, which was my first day. I remedied that the next day. Friday, yesterday, & today, I made a baby blanket, a baby shirt, and half a baby sweater. The last two today. We are live, and we are taking calls, but we've got a decent amount of down-time in there. As I told Emile, one of my coworkers today, I have finally found a way to get paid for crocheting! I'll be crocheting tomorrow, & I'll remember this time to put a pair of scissors in my purse. It was heck sawing yarn off with a key.

Life is good. I might buy some yarn this payday.

New Blog/Site in the Links

My Recycled Bags.com

Wanna guess what it is? Bags of all type, crocheted from recycled materials. The front page right now has a VHS tape/ribbon yarn tote bag, plastic bag pot scrubbers, a granny square tote again out of plastic bags, & a recycled plastic grocery tote bag.

There are also tutorials (like on how to use VHS tape for yarn) and patterns--for the aforementioned grocery tote bag, for starters. Many of the projects are also for sale.

You can't go wrong with DIY recycling. (OK, ok, you can, but there's no fire involved in this, at least.)

Three for the price of one.

Remember this yarn? I finally used one of the skeins:
First, I made this shirt for Bobbie, using the aforementioned easiest sweater pattern. I used a K hook & a simple DC to keep it nice & airy for summer wear.

Then, I made this halter top for Linda:


I used one size hook (don't remember the size) for the bodice and a P hook for the bottom part. Again, just a simple double crochet for a lacy look.

Esther's was last, done while she was asleep. Which meant that I didn't get to fit it on her as well as I'd have liked. But it still fits quite well. Her halter is very, very simple. I just started out with 5 dc and increased at the beginning & end of every row for about five or six rows until it was wide enough & then went straight down until it was long enough. The whole thing was actually made in one piece, including the ruffles on the sides and the ties at top & bottom. I hate weaving in ends, which is why I did it that way. Esther's:



This is pretty much backless, which keeps it cool and makes nibbling on the adorable back a very easy thing. Oh, I used a K hook for the center part & an I for the ruffles & ties.

The girls wore their new tops to the Folklife Festival yesterday (one of Robert's customers gave him wristbands for us & under six was free). Well-slathered in sunscreen, they stayed relatively comfortable.

I still have some of the first skein of yarn left, and one more large skein as well. This is what I have planned for it:
It's a granny pentagon baby blanket. I was planning on a hexagon, but I couldn't get it to sit flat, so I switched to a pentagon. I plan on using up all the rest of the multicolored yarn and perhaps some white cotton yarn I have as well, if the multi doesn't get me a big enough blanket, though it probably will.

I'm also planning on giving in, joining the herd, & making the Baby It's Cold Outside jacket. My cousin Becky is pregnant yet again, & that gives me an excuse to make baby stuff.

Instant Gratification #2--Esther's Going to be so Happy

I made this a couple of nights ago & hid it in my closet until I could get batteries for my camera to take pictures.

It's obviously just a simple Barbie outfit. I like this type of Barbie because of the feet, which are natural looking. But that has nothing to do with crochet, so now I'll talk about the clothes.

The skirt...No clue what the yarn is. Some sort of cotton that was given to my mother & then to me. It's 20 stitches long, 8 hdcs followed by 12 dcs, which gave it the shaping; it's obviously worked sideways.

The shirt is a version of what I belive to be called "The Simplest Sweater in the World" or something of the sort. I cannot find the link to it right now, which is upsetting as I seriously want to give credit where it is due. It's the only truly one-piece sweater pattern I know of, and as is obvious from this picture it is adaptable to any size. I'll keep looking and give the sweater its own post--which it well deserves--as soon as I find it.

To let you know how much I love this sweater pattern, I am making a shirt for my eldest based off of it.

The reasoning behind this project, by the way, was simply to see what I could come up with in only about two hours' time. Usually I take a very long time to make anything, because I constantly frog it and start over. I am proud to say that I only frogged each of these pieces once. I undoubtedly would have messed around more without the self-imposed deadline. I'm going to do this more often, as the very pretty Flanders Poppy from my Memorial Day entry was also a spur-of-the-moment creation.

Overthinking is bad.

Cafe Press Store Now Open

I've opened a Crochet & Breastmilk Cafe Press store.

I have lots of advocacy stuff, mostly breastfeeding, but in my own special way there's plenty of stuff about crocheting as well. I spent tonight working on it. Everything there is 100% my own design, from the graphics to the words to how it's all put together.

Some examples:








The first one is my favorite. It's nearly impossible to read there, so here's a bigger version:
I actually did more calculations than that, but I had to cut it down so it would show up better on the products. That figure for formula is actually a lowball one. The brand-name stuff the hospitals get you hooked on costs more (I was thankfully only given formula for one kid, but it was the $20 a can stuff--not that I used it).

I like to put the cost equation in easy-to-understand terms. It came up at Mothering one time that a woman was trying to convince her husband it was a good idea to breastfeed, and that's when I did a little sleuthing & discovered you can buy a big-screen HDTV for the cost of a year's worth of formula (again, with that lowball figure).

But I don't care about televisions. I care about yarn.

Have you linked to me?

I want to beef up my blog roll. If by chance you have a link to my blog on yours & I don't have a link back, let me know & I'll add you in. For that matter, even if you're not linked to me, use the comments section to let me know about your blog & I'll check it out and see about adding it in.