Crochet Me Crazy

I posted the schematics for these halters on Crochetville but decided to put them here too for anyone who wants them:

Each one is different but I can give the basic schematic for the halter. If you have the 64 squares pattern booklet, I used the Arch Stitch for the bottom of the lavender halter. I generally go through one of my books and pick out a stitch I like, then I make sure I chain the number of stitches in increments that the pattern says to use. (For instance, multiples of 4 + 2). You need to measure around the child's body to where it will tie in the back at the waist line and make your starting chain that long. Then, simply crochet your selected pattern until you get it the length you want.

To make the top front part:

your'll be starting at the top...

I measure across the child's chest right above the armpits for my starting chain. I dc across the starting chain and then I increase each row by adding a dc to the first and last dc on each row until it gets wide enough to cover the front of their body. Then I just dc in each row until I get to where I want the waist to start.

Then, I take the two pieces and I whip stitch the top portion to the center of the bottom portion. I then judge how long to make the ties and make those with a HDC instead of a sc because they seem easier to get untied to me. Sew your ties on and your done. Of course, you can let your imagination take your away with whatever motifs you want to add to them for decoration.

I'm planning on a red & black one with lady bugs on it and and one with orange and some other color with maybe some citris fruits on it. Be careful! You might get addicte to these like I am!! LOL!

Ant 

My creative side has been redirected temporarily to another project. My daughter, Alison, is going to be in a Easter parade this Sunday with her ballet dance school. Their end of year performance is "Antshilvania" and the float we are working on has the same theme. The picture is my ant I made out of poster board for a sign to go on the side of the vehicle that is pulling the float. I'll post a picture of my finished poster. I thought he turned out really cute for something I threw together in a few hours last night! Oh, and by the way...he's not completely finished yet....he is missing his gloved hands!

This is a better picture of the halter that I already posted a picture of a few days ago....

front view of multi-colored bright stripes halter 


back view of multi-colored bright stripes halter
 

I made this one to match a camoflauge skort that my daughter has that she didn't have a top to go with....


front view butterfly camo halter 


back view of butterfly camo halter 

Just finished this one tonight....

front view of lavender & varigated halter  


back view of lavender & varigated halter 

I am working on finishing up a halter dress right now. I'll post pictures of it in a few days!

My husband brought home a little surprise the other day! And boy was it! Here's what he brought us!


Misty 

Meet the newest addition to our family...."Misty". She is a real cutie. Brindy, our Rat Terrier thinks she's a new toy for her! Brindy was raised around a cat so she doesn't try to hurt cats, but she does like to annoy them! LOL!

I have been making halters again! I just can't help it! Spring is here and the weather has been so beautiful. They work up in such a jiffy and are fun to make. I don't use a pattern for these. I made these up myself. I only have one picture to show today but I have made two this week and have started on a third. I'm wondering if I could sell these? I don't know if I'll actually do it, but I think I could do these quick enough to sell. Hmmm....
Anyway, here is a picture of one of them....


halter 

chenille doll dress 

Here is a picture of a doll dress I finished awhile back. I AM still crocheting every day but I have really been falling down on the job with taking pictures and posting. There is just so much going on right now. The public school has been on spring break this past week so my house has been a "buzzing" with kids all day. I actually took 9 kids (including my 2) at a kid's play place called Jumping Jaks. Took 4 kids (including my 2) to the park and McDonald's last Friday and the same group, I took to the skating rink on Thursday night. I think there was at least one trip to Cici's Pizza in there somewhere where we had 5 kids with us. Tonight, Alison's little "boyfriend" went with us to eat chinese food. Sometimes I wonder if I'm insane! LOL! But in all honesty, I really don't mind. I would rather my kids have there friends here because I know what they are doing. I'm really glad they all like to be here.

We just bought a Legacy soft sided pool today and hopefully it will be here in the next week. It is 17x29x52 and is really huge. We have had a 12" round above ground pool for the past 2 summers that the kids have really enjoyed, however, it got a little bit crowded when friends were over. I decided we needed to get something bigger so the kids could have all their friends over to swim. I don't want to be taking all those kids to the neighborhood pool everyday so this will solve that proble. Jeff is going to build a deck around it. It should be a fun summer! The kids are VERY excited to be getting such a big pool. We decided on the soft sided pool because the liners don't need to be replaced and we can take it with us when we eventually move.

Yesterday and today, we spent the whole day raking and doing spring cleaning in the back yard. Jeff cut tons of limbs to get the yard ready for the pool. I was VERY impressed with Alison's little boy "friend" who lives next door. I offered to pay kids $5 an hour to help and of course, they all said they wanted to. All of them quit after a very short time but Santiago worked solid for 2 hours. He was actually a very big help to us! He raked and hauled literally mountains of leaves to the forest. Then he went around dragging the tree branches to the forest and stacking the bigger peices up against the fence for firewood. I'm just not used to a kid being that diligent and perserverent. The rest of the kids were jumping on the trampoline, screaming and having fun and little Santiago was just working his tail off! We paid him $20 for his work and he definately earned it! He is a real good kid.

Well, how about a few snap shots of life at the Ritz!

Just those girls! 

Backyard tea party and eating cotton candy!! 

Here we are at the Magic Time Machine Restaurant in San Antonio, Texas -- a really fun place to eat!! 

Picture from the day I took the kids to the Park 

I've been making scrunchies for Alison. I am currently working on a summer top for Alison and a giant crab for Michael. Working on those things between the other excitement going on around here.
Jeff has been out of town a lot in the past 3 weeks. I am starting to get "spring fever" because the weather has been so nice. I've already had to mow the yard once and it needs it again! I planted some flowers around the mail box yesterday.
I'm feeling a little under the weather today. My throat feels like its getting soar and my nose is running. I'm loading up on Vitamin C.
Next week we are going to San Antonio for the whole week. I'm looking forward to that....we really enjoy a trip to San Antonio. I hope the weather is nice.
I think I mentioned my 9 yo daughter has her first little "crush" and boyfriend with the boy next door. We are having to deal with the drama of the little girl across the street being jealous and rude to them about it.
We homeschool our kids but I can sure say they must not have a "socialization" problem because it seems like every kid in a nearby radius to us heads straight to our house every day after school. Michael is very confident and secure...and a born leader. He seems to draw kids to him of all ages. I'm very proud of my children and how I see them handling themselves with their friends everyday.
They are both such awesome kids!