What I'm Working On

I don't know about other crafters, but I tend to be working on several projects at once.  I find that if I'm working on a long project, like an afghan, I have to break up the work with smaller projects.  This way I don't get bored with the long project. 

Right now I'm crocheting my first ripple pattern afghan for a family friend.  I work full time, so I don't actually have a lot of time to crochet.  (I'm also a very slow crocheter.) I usually crochet while I'm watching TV and movies, because I can't stand doing nothing.  Watching TV feels like doing nothing, so I crochet to be productive in my down time.  You know how it is. 

I've been working on this afghan for about 3 months.  (To be fair, I was much further along a month ago, but I found a HUGE mistake, so I had to rip it out to the first variegated row.  What a pain.)  I've never done a ripple pattern before because it seemed like such a blah pattern.  Ever since I finished my first afghan, done in a straight double crochet stitch, I've wanted to challenge myself.  I've wanted to learn new stitches.  (Below is one of my favorite afghans, made for my best friend, who still doesn't have it in his possession because we live so far away from each other.)

Anyway, I was teaching a friend how to crochet, and she wanted to learn the ripple pattern, so I decided to just crochet a ripple afghan.  I like how it's turning out.

But I digress.  I was talking about the small projects I work on while crocheting afghans.  This Christmas, my most fabulous family bought me a bicycle that I love, love, love.

It's just perfect for tooling around the small town I live in.  However, it wasn't quite kooky enough for me.  It needed a basket on the front.  I started looking around town and online for the perfect basket.  Needless to say, I never found it.  I did, however, find a wire mesh bicycle basket at Walmart.  It was ugly, but inexpensive, so I decided to buy it and pretty it up.  I got some black and white yarn and started working a faux weave pattern through the mesh. 

My beautiful 9-month-old kitty, Castiel, put his stamp of approval on the basket when I took a break last Sunday.  (If I could only train him to stay in it while riding on the bicycle, I think it would add that extra kookiness that would make my rides around town unforgettable to bystanders.  Don'tcha think?)

I've finished the weave, and I've found and sewed the perfect crocheted flower to it, but I haven't yet finished the liner, so I don't have a "completed" photo to post.  Once I've figured out how to sew the liner, I'll post a picture of how it came out.  In the mean time, anyone have any ideas how to sew the liner?

With Love,

The Crocheting Cat Lady