Taa daa for my hottie!

Yay for me, that's what I'm feeling today! Yep, I am feeling very proud of myself! 

I finished my hottie for the #hottiechallenge2013.  

Some hooky flowers

I hooked up a few quick flowers on the weekend to finish off a project.

Do you like them, aren't they cute!
I am feeling the need to make more but have no real reason too ... but then I thought of you, my followers, perhaps I could make a pile more & join them into a garland as a giveaway - what do you think, would you like to win a pretty floral crochet garland for your wall or window? 

Almost giving up....

This is the post where I want to give up knitting, in fact, I am so frustrated and annoyed with myself that I want to give up all craft..  but I won't, I hate giving up, I'd rather suffer through multiple failures until I find something that I can achieve that I am proud of.  Do you ever feel like that?

 

a hooky update

I'm really loving the progress of this new crochet pattern for The Hottie Challenge.
What do you think, do the colours work?  And ugh, can you see all those ends that I'll have to sew in!!

A hottie challenge

Ok firstly, before I start on about The Hottie Challenge, let me just tell you that a hottie is a hot water bottle (took me about a month to figure this out!!!)

And with that out of the way, have you signed up for The Hottie Challenge via Curlypops?
I did, this is my first year - the deadline is mid June & there is still time to sign up now - so why don't you? The money raised goes to a worthwhile cause. So go on. Do a hottie with me!

Above is a sneek peak of what I am making for my hottie cover - I chose bold autumn colours & a new crochet pattern .... I hope it turns out like I have pictured it in my head!

Eeks, the deadline is near

Oh em Geeeee, the birthday is this weekend - this dress/tunic needs to be finished for it as it is the birthday gift.

Quick, knit knit knit knit.  Stop procrastinating, put down the e-reader Rie & knit!

Knitty knit knit knitting

 I've been clickety clacking my knitting needles this week. I working hard on the dress for bubba Joe's "girlfriend" (in his mind she is!).

Recipe: Toasted muesli aka Granola

Giving gifts that are handmade - gifts that will be useful or eaten are certainly the way to go.
If you agree, then read on as I have an awesome, tasty gift for you to make & then give!

Here is a quick, last minute gift of Granola to make for someone special. 

It just aint right

 

Nah, there is something wrong with this pattern, it's just not right.  I've done something wrong. After several days of debating this with myself (& sometimes with a two year old boy), I've decided that I read the pattern wrong but HEY, it's not my fault, the pattern doesn't read smoothly!  
You see, one of the problems with getting patterns off Ravelry is that that normally aren't written by professionals and have unclear instructions in them. Where I went wrong in this pattern is that I turned the project & knitted back down as that is what made sense in the way the pattern was written, in fact, if they had taken their time to write DO NOT TURN - that would have saved me heaps of stress & time!

Do you find this too, that sometimes the patterns from Ravelry are always that clear or is that my muddled head?

Taa Daa

 Above is the image of the cushion before it was sewn together and stuffed with a cushion insert.

 What do you think of the colours, do they work?

 I like it & bubba Joe loves it, he uses it as a jumping board from the floor to the bean bag!

On Ravelry here.

A new little project

I picked up the sticks again today & started a new project.
What pattern am I using? --- it's one I made up!

 

....I'll let you know how & if it works!

A little hooky business

I itched to pick up the crochet hook again and not wanting to follow a project pattern, I opened up the stitchy book & learnt a new stitch. This stitch has many names ...and if I could find where bubba has hidden the book I would gladly tell you it, but until then lets just call it a stitchy circle!

I have something to tell you.

 

Hello!  How are you?  Me, I'm good, really good!  You may have noticed (or not but that's ok) that I haven't really been here at my blog this year but I have a reason, so let me tell you why.
... but before I go any further, this blog post contains a discussion of a sensitive nature, and if you are offended by such things, please do not read on.

Taa Daaa

This is a very belated Taa Daaa!  I finished this at the start of February but my life has been really screwey lately so I'm lucky to get this taa daaa up on my blog at all!

Good bye Mr Reader

Did you see the latest happening in Google world?  They are shutting down Google Reader - yep, as of June there will be no more reader to read your fav blogs in!
Bummer!   What a pain in the whatsit, cos now I have to go through my entire subscription list to see who I can subscribe to in another way!

So that means two things..
a)  how do you subscribe/follow my blog?  I know I haven't been around much lately but I don't want to loose you.  Perhaps you might like to Subscribe to CraftyRie by Email
b) can you recommend any blogs for me to follow?  Do you have a fav blog that makes your day, that makes you laugh, think or create? Or perhaps you'd like to tell me if you have a blog too.