Simple Drawstring Bag Pattern

I decided to share a pattern I made up when I was re-learning how to crochet in high school. It's a really simple pattern for a drawstring bag, but it's a good project for someone learning how to crochet (as I was).

The pattern will be available for download from my Ravelry site as a free PDF file. Find it at this link: http://www.ravelry.com/stores/stephanie-lee-designs.

Here's another version of the bag:

My Biggest Project To Date

It's been a while - but there is a reason!

I made a crochet quilt for a Christmas present for my boyfriend, but I am sad to say it was a gift for LAST Christmas ('08), and I didn't finish it until just before this past December! *is ashamed*

In my defense, I had never made a blanket before, and I really only followed the color placement of the pattern I was using; I made the sizes up myself as I went along, resulting in having to make more squares than I thought at first. I grossly underestimated the amount of time it would take, but finally, just before winter break from school, I finished it! And now I'm finally posting the pictures.

Here it is:

And here's another shot, where you can see the back. I sewed black fleece onto it with upholstery thread.

The colors are a little off in the second one. The red is much more the shade it looks in the first one.

Here's a close up of the squares. The color's a little better in this one, to.

This blanket has temporarily made me swear off EVER making another crochet quilt ever again - the time it took to stitch all those little squares together was mind numbing! I'm very happy with the finished project, though - after I added the fleece it became the single warmest blanket on the planet!

If you're at all interested, here is the link to the pattern for the blanket shown above. I used Caron Simply Soft yarn - it's my favorite yarn for almost anything, plus it's pretty commonly carried.

I'm currently working on three projects - a pair of fingerless mittens, a black and white blanket for myself, and a dark blue-light blue ripple baby blanket for Project Linus. I taught several friends to crochet recently, too, so one of them has made a similar ripple blanket to donate as well. I'll post pictures as I have them!

New Website!

I just launched a new website on a free hosting service called Crochet Archives. It's going to be a collection of as many valuable free resources as I can collect from the internet, including patterns, blogs, message boards, how to articles, book reviews, and more. I want it to be a kind of one-stop shop that points to all the resources a crocheter could need.

The website is here. If you have any content that you would like to add, including original patterns or a link to your own crochet-centric blog or website, please post it in the comments here or use the contact form on the website.

Happy hooking!

Future project book: Cabin Fever Afghan

This is the next project I want to try, after I finish the quilt I'm making for Matt. I like the colors, but I'd like to try it in something else...some combination of white, black, and maybe purple. I do like the pattern of colors, though, and it looks like a fun project.

In other news, I am over halfway finished with the quilt, according to the original pattern instructions. I may end up making it slightly larger, depending on how big it turns out when I'm finished. I'll try to take some pictures this weekend while I'm working on it and post them, as it's finally beginning to look like a blanket!

Welcome

Hi! As my blog title hopefully indicates, I am a left-handed crochet enthusiast. I learned how to crochet from my grandmother when I was a kid, and I picked it up again in February of 2008. Hats are my favorite quick project, although I also really love creative amigarumi and well-constructed patterns in general. Right now I'm working on my first blanket, a red-and-black Granny square quilt. This blog will be dedicated to crochet projects with a sprinkling of websites or patterns I like.

The pictures above are my first amigurumi project, a dragon for my best friend for graduation last year. Hopefully I'll have more time to try another amigurumi soon, he was fun to make!