Tag: Operation Find a Hobby

Knitting, Crochet & More

Crochet Project | Making a “Project Bag”

ClassicBhaer5 Comments

DIY12:17

If you are new to crochet or have done it for some time you may know the that having a dedicated project bag to throw everything in is a great help with organization. In the past I have used reusable shopping bags or old work bags, but my latest one was starting to break and I started looking into a way to use the materials I already have to make my own project bag.

I was googling and going on ravelry and I ended up finally settling on a pattern to work off of. I came across a post called, sadly the author does not want it posted anywhere on the internet so I can’t share it with you. I will admit this confuses me that they don’t want it shared, but put it on ravelry and other places on the internet. But, to eat their own. I had quite a lot of thick yarn laying around and I though that the thickness was very similar to Plarn, aka plastic yarn, which was used in the pattern. If you don’t know what plastic yarn is, it is when you recycle old plastic bags and you cut it down into strips and sting it together to make yarn. It is a great way to reuse materials, but I am getting off topic.

I ended up following this pattern for a majority of it, but edited to make the shape work better for fiber yarn. I am very happy with how it came out and I am also happy that this project gave me a bit of confidence in my ability to crochet and edit patterns. A few months ago I would have just followed one to a T, way too afraid to change anything and thing I would mess everything up big time. Anyway, here are a few pictures of my process and the finished product.

-In Progress-

-Finished Project- 

It took me about a total of 4 hours to make this bag, I am really happy how it came out. I have never made anything with handles before so this was a very interesting experiment when I got on to that section. I am going to add a liner in the next few weeks so my projects don’t “stick” or get caught on the wool. Also, the colors are closer to the true colors in the in progress pictures. The picture below the lighting over exposed it a bit.

-Materials Used-

  • 10 mm hook, US N15
  • 2 –  Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick Stripes, Size 6/Super Bulky  in the color Hudson Bay. 5 oz and 87 yards or 140 grams and 80 meters

Thanks for reading about my hobby, what do you think I should try to make next? I have been looking at cute cactus plants and slippers.

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Knitting, Crochet & More

Crochet Project | Baby Blanket Update

ClassicBhaer7 Comments

DIY12:17

Hello everyone, I am coming to you today with a little bit of a bonus post. A few months ago I made a post called, Operation Find a Hobby | Making a Baby Blanket, I let everyone know my most recent crochet project. I wanted to report back in and show everyone the finished project. I just couldn’t wait until my next scheduled posting day to share.

I will openly admit that this project took A LOT of time. I worked on it at least a few hours a day for a month. It took 1 hour to 45 min to do a single row of the peach colored yarn and it took about half an hour to do three of the white colored rows. While it took a great deal of time I feel really accomplished finishing this project. It is the first one I made that was not a scarf and had a stitch outside of the single and double.

Without more rambling, here is a picture of the finished project. I am really proud at the object I create with my own two hards. It truly is satisfying to create something from a pile of yarn.

Thanks for reading, what do you think of the blanket?
What colors would you have used?

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Knitting, Crochet & More

Operation Find a Hobby | Making a Baby Blanket

ClassicBhaer9 Comments

FindAHobby

Long time no talk about my other hobbies! Over the course of this series, which you can read more here: Operation Find a Hobby, I explored quite a few hobbies. Since then some have stuck and others not so much. One that I did not post in that series was crochet. The reason why I had not posted about that topic is because I have previously dabbled in it, but it never stayed with me. Most of the books I was using as a reference were either confusing and my in person resources were limited.

Over the last few months I have gotten more and more into it. I made a simple scarf in December and a couple of hats for friends and my boyfriend. Now I am taking on a much larger project and it is nothing like I have done before and I wanted to share it with all of you.

So, for months I have been loving zig zag edged blankets. Something about them being irregular in a sense really appeals to me. For a while my friend and I have tried a bunch of different methods and she even asked a few people she knew who have been doing it for YEARS, DECADES actually, and still I had no luck with being able to figure out a pattern until I came across the site called Daisy Farm Crafts. I found her post called Crochet Berry Chevron Baby Blanket.

The pattern they made was exceptionally easy once I got the hang of it and I really enjoyed that there were some videos within the pattern to help you visually see the stitches when the abbreviations, which are new to me, were confusing. I would suggest you checking out their blog and seeing the patterns they have. I plan on trying more of them in the future, that is for sure.

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-My Current Progress-

While I am not very far into this project, I am very proud that I have finally mastered the zig zag pattern, but also learned how to do the berry stitch. Which, for me was very overwhelming because there seems to be about 6 or 7 steps for just one. Anyway, like I said I am not far into this project, but I wanted to share with you some of the things I am working on in my life and I thought this would be a perfect addition to the Operation Find a Hobby series.

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Do you crochet? What should I try to crochet next? What is your favorite hobby outside of reading?

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Knitting, Crochet & More

Operation Find A Hobby | Jewelry Making

ClassicBhaer9 Comments

FindAHobby

Welcome to the next installment of my journey into finding a new hobby. This time I tried my hand at jewelry making. I want to take the time to thank Ashley for giving me the idea. I also had no idea what I wanted to make so I put a poll on twitter and you guys voted fro necklaces.

https://twitter.com/BookishLuna/status/986753801356038145

So I went to my local craft supply store and got a few supplies. I really did not have a lot to go on because I have no idea what I would have actually needed. I decided since this was my first time making jewelry I would take the “easy” way.

I ended up picking up pliers, some gold colored wire, 3 pendants , some fasteners and some chain. I also ended up getting some fake leather cord to make a bracelet. This actually was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be since I picked up a lot of things that were on sale. I know when I am trying something new I don’t like investing a lot of money in it. 

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Once I had an afternoon that I could take time to create me new jewelry. I first decided it would be easier to play with the idea of making a bracelet and a necklace. I learned that making a bracelet is a lot more difficult than a necklace. You can see in the following picture the bracelet I made, you can see that the stone was way to heavy and would not play flat. I even took off extra length, but it continued to turn and move around so I ended up trying to make it into a necklace instead.  

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 The Outcome

I ended up making a total of 3 necklaces. I ended up tossing the idea of making a bracelet, I was getting a bit too frustrated. But, below you can see the three necklaces I made. They are all different lengths. The one on the left it s along necklace, I think I will get a lot of use out of, the middle is a short, almost choker length necklace and the one of the right sits right above the collar of most of my shirts.

Refections

Overall I liked the outcome of this little experiment, I walked away with 3 new necklaces that I adore. Might I add I LOVE the color of the pink stones? It is also very satisfying to make something with your own hands that you can wear out and about. The process itself had a few hiccups. The first obvious one was the bracelet, the stone would not cooperate at all. The second was the jump rings, I had so many of them bend funny and had to get new ones. It may be due to my inexperience though, I noticed after a bit of time it happened less and less.

I don’t think I will be needing to make jewelry in the near future, but when I need a new piece I think I will go to the craft-store or etsy and see if I can find a pendant or stone I really like and make something I love. I will also repair one of my favorites if they happen to break. I am not sure if I would just sit and make jewelry if that makes sense. I had a blast with this installment and I love what came out of it. I can’t wait to continue my journey. Thank you again Ashley  for the idea, I had a ton of fun.  Keep the recommendations coming!

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Did I do a good job? What should I try next?

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Knitting, Crochet & More

Operation Find A Hobby | Scrapbooking

ClassicBhaer13 Comments

FindAHobby

Welcome to the third installment of Operation Find a Hobby. This round I tried scrapbooking.  Now, I shall admit I have some limited exposure to scrapbooking. A few of my family members used to do it constantly. So I was able to get some first hand guidance. But, before I get any further if you have not see my previous posts in this series, you can find them here; Operation Find A Hobby | Introduction, Operation Find A Hobby | Embroidery, and Operation Find A Hobby | Puzzle. Now lets get into my experience trying scrapbooking!

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So first things first, I needed to figure out the actual purpose of a scrapbook. Now, this may just sound silly, but I felt like there was more to it than just taping pictures together. So, a quick google search gave me this definition thanks to Merriam-Webster.

Definition of scrapbook : a blank book in which various items (such as newspaper clippings or pictures) are collected and preserved

For me this still did not seem right. So I decided to actually go to some family members who used to/still scrapbook. I liked their definition a bit better.
Without rambling to much they pretty much told it is a way to celebrate and remember memories, milestones, and  events. Creating a scrapbook was a celebration, anyone can just put their photos and such in an album. But, creating a scrapbook and taking the time to create a page from nothing is giving value to the memory and honoring it. That seemed a bit more appropriate to me. Mainly because of the effort that people put into scrapbooks. When I was searching for some ideas/inspiration and from previous layout there were some detailed layouts. It seemed more than just “preserving items”.
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Now with scrapbooking you need supplies and some of these can get expensive. Let’s just say I used quite a bit of coupons and waited for the supplies to go on sale. I also raided the closets of loved ones. While I was confident I would like this hobby, I was not comfortable with investing a lot of money in a maybe.
I also felt that this hobby needed a but more planning than the previous ones I have tried. Completing a puzzle, all I needed to do was buy one. With Embroidery I was able to buy just one kit and complete it. These were more or less already set up for me where scrapbooking is something I would have to come up with from nothing. So I decided I needed a focus before I went and bought everything.
I ended up deciding that I would use my book to highlight a year and each layout would focus on a month. I then expanded on this and came up with a color pallet;  yellow, green, pink, gray, and off white.  With this I was able to get the creative supplies and the practical ones. Once I collected them from either the store or from others I got to work making my March pages for my scrapbook.
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My Book

My Supplies

Images, scissors, and paper cutter.
Paper backgrounds, stickers, and letters.
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 The Outcome


On this page I wanted to highlight the books I read this past month. So I printed out each of the covers and then decided to highlight my top three, which you can see at the center. I also wanted to remember that I got a new netgalley badge so I added those images to this page as well. I thought the pattern change at the center and the leaf stamps made the page pop a bit more. I will be keeping this method in mind for the future.

On this page I made it a bit more personal. I highlighted a conversation with an author I adore, even though it was totally not substancial in the eyes of some. For me I never thought I would have the guts to talk and ask one of my fav. authors a questions and actually hear back from them. I also added the description of my new netgalley badge on this page. Another things I added that I love is the buddy reads I did this month and who I was reading them with. Just a heads up if you ever want to buddy read a book you can always tweet or message me. If I can chances are I will buddy read a book with you. I find them so much fun!

Refections

Okay, I have to say that I really enjoyed this. It was a lot of fun to just take the time and make this. While it did take time. It took a lot less than putting a puzzle together, thats for sure. I enjoyed picking through my memories and deciding which bookish ones I wanted to remember and honor. I really just enjoyed the entire process, for me this was almost therapeutic. It is very rare that I truly take “me time”, so doing this was almost like meditating and made me more mindful and reflective on the things I have done over the past month.

I also loved that this was create and I was able to make something with my own hands. I enjoyed the fact that I was able to talk to my family members about something I had never talked to them about before. It was nice having a new topic to discuss. Overall, I have to say that this hobby is a winner and I am going to be doing it again in the future. Divider

Well, I am going to continue on my quest to find a new hobby!

Which hobby should I try next?

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Knitting, Crochet & More

Operation Find A Hobby | Introduction

ClassicBhaer20 Comments

FindAHobby

So you know how everyone says, “New year, new me” in January? Well, this series is along those lines. In December I decided to take part in the Reddit Secret Santa and Holiday Card Exchange, it was so much fun! Well, if you are unfamiliar with this it is a gift exchange  through a website called reddit.com. If you have never looked into, I suggest you do. Anyway, to take part in this Secret Santa you need to fill out a questionnaire and about things you enjoy, organizations you like, and a question that asked about my hobbies.

This question took me such a long time because the only thing I could come up with is reading. I am not saying that reading is not a good hobby, I was just surprised I could not even come up with a second one. I ended up asking my boyfriend and my best friend for help. They too could not name anything other than reading. I’m not sure exactly why, but this really hit me.

I think it really bothered me because I realized I did not have time to try new things. I think it bothered me because I thought I was defined by more than just reading. I think it bothered me because I seemed so one dimensional. Now I want to be clear, there is nothing wrong with just having reading as a hobby, reading is a great hobby! I just realized I want to have more. I want to spend my time doing multiple things I love doing. I want to grow.

So, if you could not tell by the name this series is going to be about me trying a new hobby every month. I think it will be a lot of fun taking a month to learn something new and maybe even learn more about myself.

I know this is not book related, but I hope you will all join me on this little adventure. And, who knows maybe I can do some of these new hobbies while I listen to a good ol’ audiobook.

If you have any suggestions for hobbies, I would love to hear them.

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