Thursday, June 3, 2010

Crochet skirts!!

I have some images from my childhood that are burnt into my memory... the time we went camping in a pimp van, and my 6'1" dad slept down the middle of the floor while my mom drove around the campground so she could run the A/C at 3 in the morning... the time we went to a 7-11in California and saw a microwave for the 1st time... the time I smashed my finger in the hatchback of a Pinto... but perhaps one of the most memorable memories is a pair of baby blue crochet pants.  I'm happy to report that I was NOT the one wearing them, nor was anyone in my family.  My best friend and I were in girl scouts, it was an eclectic bunch to say the least (and be the nicest).  I don't want to be cruel, so I'll go easy on my story.  Our leader, though wonderfully nice, really was quite tacky.  We made quilts of old polyester pants, no lie!  One evening as we were wrapping up another night in the moldy basement of the local library, our moms started filing in to pick us up.  Now, we had 2 of the sweetest girls ever in our troop, sisters in fact, and they were 2 of the 3 kids from a local family.  Let's just leave it at - they were the family everyone in town knew, perhaps missing a couple sandwiches from their picnic, if you know what i'm sayin'?!... So their mom shows up and is sporting some BABY BLUE crocheted pants.  Now remember gals, I was born in 1969 and was in 5th grade at this time- WAY before Madonna, Brittany and Christina were shakin' their money makers and showin everyone what their Mama gave 'em.  Sooooo, when this Mom shows up in her baby blue's and her big ol' white granny panty's are showing between the stitches, I thought I was gonna DIE!  That mental picture is stamped so strongly in my brain it's like it was yesterday!  The granny pantie's scarred me and that's why I will only be wearing a thong under my crocheted skirt when I pick Darling up from social activities!!
This is from: Stitch'n Bitch Crochet The Happy Hooker  by Debbie Stoller.
When I saw this skirt, "Violet Beauregard" by Heather Dixon;  I knew I HAD to make it!!  
When she mentioned it was only the 3rd project she had attempted, I KNEW I could do it too!
I started searching for this exact yarn, but wasn't having any luck.  It's cotton and I could only find these colors in acrylic....Ewww!  I'm somewhat of a fiber snob- the thought of wearing a plastic/acrylic skirt gave me the creeps!
I found some cotton yarn at Hobby Lobby, not the exact colors, which makes me sad, but if you know me at all, you know I want to dive straight in and am not going to look for months.
I know it looks black in my picture, but the main part of the skirt is going to be deep plum.
The accent colors are the light plum and lavender.
Last night I got the 1st round down, which was a beast!  I know, I know... my life is so hard working on this skirt... but speaking crochet, it WAS a rough round.  Now that I have that 1st row, the rest will go easy (thankfully, because I probably would just give up if it was all that hard, sad, but true.).
THEN, I got online to check out the "Crochet Today" site (cause I'm officially a crochet nerd!).
Oh, who is in LOVE with this "Boardwalk Skirt?!?
So now I am stalking Joann's till the magazine comes in!!  The Mister was nice enough to sign me up for 2 years of this magazine, after I sold him on the benefits of subscribing instead of paying rack price for magazines!!
Any other crochet or knit geeks out there? (and I say that in the NICEST way possible!)  I'd love to hear what you're working on!!
I haven't forgotten about the chandelier, but this is the week before the last week of school and it's full of game days and picnics and field days and stuff that cuts into my craft time, so... it's in the studio and it's being worked on, but, of course, it's not done...
Happy Day gals! and don't forget....
a little plug about my BABY HAT DRIVE 
As most of you know, my daughter was adopted from China and I left a little piece of my heart there.  I'm collecting hats to keep the children and babies warm in the winter.  Many live in orphanages that are without heat.
1. make a baby hat, toddler hat, or kid sized hat (you can take the non-crafty way out and buy one if you must)
2. email me at: chinamommy_04@yahoo.com for my address.
3. I'll take care of shipping them to CHINA next fall.
any questions- please feel free to email me!!

6 comments:

Melanie said...

Oh, I lovelovelove those skirts, and would gladly pay you tomorrow for a nice, new skirt today. I prefer mine in black and gray, and in XL, so take yours and triple it and it will fit me. Those are so not what I normally would wear, but I love to be the first to start a trend. Now, I'm off to get me a new thong!

Amber Zimmerman said...

Love that skirt pattern! Maybe you could bug your brother about visiting the yarn shop down the road from the Firefly. They have "fancy" yarn, for you yarn snobs. :) My mom knits and gets all of her yarn from there. I crochet, but sadly enough can only do a scarf or flowers. One day I will move on to greater things, but no time. Sigh.

Angela said...

I can't wait to see your skirt!!!

LuLu Kellogg said...

Those skirts are wonderful but they would make my backside look like two pigs fighting under a blanket! I can't wait to see yours finished. I know it will be fab :)

Love,
LuLu

chinamommy said...

thankfully, i won't need that skirt till the end of summer when it's cool in the evening... ya'all know i have a hard time staying on task!

chinamommy said...

Amber: i can't even get my brother to txt me, i'm quite sure i can't get him to go down the road for anything.. so wish i had sisters!!

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