Here I am!

Ok, I know it's been a LONG time since I have updated here!

There has been a lot going on here in the last few months. The biggest news happens to be this...

I'm getting married!

My Fiance proposed to me on April 9th in front of our parents at Wrigley Field in Chicago! We our planning for our big day on September 1st, 2012 :)

Naturally, I am doing most of the things for the wedding myself. I'm making all of my silk flowers from scratch, designing and printing invitations, and all of the like on a budget of $1500! I've been blogging a lot on my wedding blog called The True Confessions of a DIY Bride. If wedding planning interests you (or seeing if I can pull off a beautiful affordable wedding in a $28,000 average-cost wedding world), be sure to follow my blog!

There are a few new things going on in my Crochet world as well with one big surprise I can't wait to share! I'm going to try and keep things up to date, but naturally crocheting is a bit on the back burner.

Til the next time!
Chelsea

Happy New Year!

Hey Crochet Friends!

It's been a long while since I've posted. I suppose I could blame the holiday's for keeping me busy, but I'll just blame myself for being too lazy to write anything.

My family had a fantastic Christmas! The girls (My mom and my 9 year old sister) and I made many gifts to give to our family and friends! Personally, I received a scarf from Ellie, a scarf from Mom, Slippers from Mom, and a little headband that Ellie designed!
Mom was definitely the most ambitious of us and made everyone 2 things!
I wasn't quite as ambitious, making only 2 scarves. One for my boyfriend (This is a new development since late November!), and one for his mom. I designed both of them, and they are on my list of item to publish :)

Dustin (the boyfriend!) and I. This is the scarf my sister made me.
I was very impressed with her skills, especially since she is only 9 years old!

Like everyone else, I have made some New Years Resolutions I will share with everyone. I'm hoping this will help keep me accountable throughout the year! I've kept them a bit loose to allow for my always changing schedule...but they are guidelines!
1. Crochet Daily (so far so good!)
2. Blog Weekly (Check!)
3. Procrastinate Less (Check...I think...Oh wait, I really should be doing something other than blogging.)
4. Become more Organized and Orderly - This is a work in progress. I'm still working on turning my bedroom into a studio/office/workspace.
5. Learn how to work from a schedule stress-free - I can work from to-do lists, but they stress me out!

What New Years resolutions has everyone else made?

A project I am also considering doing over 2012 is having an on and off continuation of NaMoCroMo. One month I'd make new motifs daily and blog, and the next month I'd take a break. Opinions?

I have a lot of designs that I'm looking forward to releasing this year. I think it will be one of my most productive years yet!

Happy Crocheting, and Happy 2012!
Chelsea

What a break!

Well, that was a bit longer of a break than I anticipated enjoying!

I have been feeling guilty the last few days because of my lack of posting. I figured it was time to ease my conscience today! I have been enjoying a lot more crochet time since the end of the NaMoCroMo project. I have had a lot of design ideas spring from it, as well! Maybe someday I'll be very well known for my motif patterns :) (a girl can dream, can't she?)

Today I delivered a 3 scarves and 2 hats to one of my friends who I used to work with. I designed all of the scarves, and used other patterns for the hats. She is planning on giving them as gifts to her family (and a hat/scarf set to herself). Which reminds me that I have a sad lack of crocheted gifts for my own family this year!  I might try and change this with the 2 weeks I still have before Christmas :) I finished one of the scarves while I was babysitting my cousins the last week in November.

My little cousin is a natural model!

The scarf patterns are currently en queue to be written up for the enjoyment of my blog readers! I think you all will like them very much (as well as the other patterns that are ahead of these in the line of waiting to be written!).

Happy Crocheting!

Chelsea

NaMoCroMo - Day 30 - I DID IT!

I'm celebrating everyone!! I managed to crochet motifs and blog every day for the last 30 days! I've decided that I'm not a fan of blogging every day. A lot does happen in my life, but I feel that blogging 2 or 3 times a week about these things is more effective. Blogging daily can easily turn into a ranting spree about very petty things.

I've been feeling very guilty because I have made virtually nothing in the way of Christmas presents for my family yet! I've been thinking about just designing everyone something. Doing that, I'll cross off my list of designing I want to get done, AND have Christmas presents! Sounds like a good deal to me ;) Although, I'll be honest and tell you I have some UFO's that are hanging around my room in the form of afghans. I should finish them up!

Now, I'm going to reward myself for finishing this challenge by taking a few days off. I'm babysitting my cousin's 3 kids til Sunday, so I'll check in with project reports and some good writing on Monday!

Happy Crocheting (And Happy December!)
Chelsea

NaMoCroMo - Day 29

Wow, I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day! Part of me is screaming HURRAY! While another part of me is saying, crap, where is all of my motivation going to come from?! I have been able to prove to myself through this project that I can get into a habit of crocheting daily. And not only that, but be able to take photographs and blog every day! I'm not sure I shared this in another post or not, but I chose to crochet motifs for this challenge because I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it. I admire a lot of designers who do absolutely incredible motif work. Like Ellen Gormley and Robyn Chachula. I never thought I'd be capable of coming up with 30 motif ideas. Granted, I did use a pattern or two and repeat my own designs a few times, but I came up with over 25 motifs! Hopefully this gives me a kick in my design pants. There are so many things I can do with the motifs I created throughout this project. And, I started scratching the surface of a few places I want to go with my future motif designing career.

Today's motif was pretty fun to make. I think it would look a lot cooler in 2 or 3 colors of yarn. You can kind of see that the first row looks a bit like a flower. It might make a really cool floral summer afghan, or a wrap, or something! It would be perfect for a super scrappy project.

Til tomorrow!
Chelsea