Sneak Preview!

I've been keeping a secret from you, my Crochet friends!

 It was so exciting to be part of and the day to reveal it all finally came! So make sure you'll come by tomorrow to check it out!!

Lots of Love, Cata******

Bags? Yes please!

I've made 3 more bags! Hurray!! This is becoming a serious addiction! I'm loving it!!

The 1st two bags on the left are Lisa Lam patterns. Lisa is a fabulous bag designer and I'm so glad I've stumbled on her blog last week!! Besides being incredible funny, her blog is so generous, packed with free patterns, tips and inspiration. Lisa also has a Book, the Bag Making Bible and , of course, I had to buy it! It's brilliant!! Perfect for a newbie like me but also has more advance patterns and techniques. From choosing fabrics, to all types of closures, handles, straps, pockets, trimmings...it's just!.... yes, the Bible!!

I made the flowery bag 1st, where I mixed 2 of Lisa's patters. I got them both from her book.

This pattern, also from Lisa, it's called "For pleat's sake"! Genius, huh?! :D

It's my favorite bag so far!!Even if it was the hardest to make, for a newbie like me... 

I thought It would look nice to decorate the bag with some buttons! I look for any excuse to play with my buttons it just makes me sooooo deliriously happy! I picked a few vintage neutral coloured ones, and a little red heart just for fun! What you think?!

The last bag I've made this week was a yoga mat bag! So much fun and handy for the likes of me and, hopefully, my yoga buddies!

I didn't follow a  pattern, just kind of copied from my own yoga mat bag. This one closes at the top with a string but I'm making another one with a zip.

For all my crochet friends, please don't be disappointed with madebycata for all the lately frolicking with sewing... You see, madebycata is meant to be a bit like this. Attention span of a goldfish, no work sense, work criteria, or work organization! Focuses on something and then "Ohhh!! Shinny!!", and off she is, with crazy eyes and squeaky voice! And along the way, sharing whatever inspires her at that moment, and hopefully, also inspiring a few of you.

Madebycata is meant to be, for cata at least, all that real life often doesn't allow her to be+do. An outlet for creativity, random, crazy, no-major-purpose projects, experimenting, succeeding and failing, and moving on, and trying all over again! 

BUT, in saying that, specially for you, my Crochet friends, BIG surprise is on the way!! OHHHHH so exciting!!! Can't wait to share it with all of ye!! Please be patient and keep in tune!!

Lots of Love, Cata****************************

I'm in LoVe!!!

Sorry if the title is misleading but this post is really Not about Valentine. Never the less, Yes! this is a Love Story! It started 2 years ago, when we first met. She was my birthday present. One that I begged and pleaded for, in a whim of lust! But the passion fizzed away after a wile...that romance was to high maintenance and we both wanted different things in life. Me and my sewing machine. Until 2 weeks ago! When I started a dressmaking course. It was something I always wanted to do and so off I went, with my sewing machine tucked in my little purple trolley, off to school. No big expectations really, after falling out of love last time, but, surprise! I'm in Love!! The fabrics, Oh My the fabrics! I want them all! I never felt so greedy! A new world of possibilities opened up and my brain hurts with all the ideias I'm hoping to sew up! For the last 2 week very little hooky projects have been happening in my house and I feel guilty...I feel I'm cheating on my first love...Sure, we can be craft-polygamists, can't we?... I'm sure I'll be back to it's yarns and hooks. I Love crochet! What I Love more about it is the pace. Crocheting is like meditation. After a wile you turn the auto-pilot and it's just Ooooommmmm..... Sewing it's the oposite! It's fast and challenging and there is a lot of thinking and planning and a lot of different bits to it - the cutting bit, mesuring bit, pinning bit, hand sewing bit, machine bit, swearing-and-starting over bit!!

So lately, this is how my kitchen is looking like: (no, I don't have a studio/atelier/workshop/other-fancy-name place to do my stuff! I have a kitchen. I eat where I can.)

 HA!! Got'cha! Did you reeeeally think my kitchen is looking like that? Not a hope!! The neat-frick in me had to do a bit of tidying... ok, ok, a lot of tidying for the picture! The truth is not only the kitchen table looks like a war zone but the All kitchen is pure maihem! Ahh well!....

I made them first. Shopping bags. Easy and handy :) Thanks Msr. Kate's Mum for the beautiful fabrics!

Another 2 bags in project! Yes, I have a crush on bags alright! And there is so many pretty-gorgeous-sexy-handy patterns to choose from that I just skip and hop from one to another, trying them all!!

I've also tryied making Bibs! Ohhhh they were FuN to make!!!! Note the folded bits of fabric on the backround! Can't WAIT!!

                          And my very very special purchase: Heather Bailey fabric. Words for what?

Also got a few books to help out with the learning process. Cath Kidston's book was my Valentine's pressie ;)

My pressie to A. was the world map on our kitchen wall. We had one in our first house and we always said we'd get another one. We enjoy looking at it and imagining all the lifes we could be living and just be amazed at this Earth of ours.
See the litlle red card on the right upper corner? Well, there was soMe hooky happiness happening around here :)

Awwww! Can't let Valentine's pass without a bit of cheesyness ;)

(Heart inspired by Elizabeth Cat )


Lots of Love, Cata****************

GRRRRR!!!!

Rain, Rain, Rain and more Rain!! And wind too! So no pictures and my Internet connection keeps failing so I can't upload my tutorial video! Grrrr!! I hope that's the problem and I'm able to do it once the weather improves!OR!....Grrrrr!! Anyone knows anything about uploading videos on youtube or blogspot? Yes! it's less them 15 min! Yes! it's smaller then 2G! What's it's problem like?? Grrrrr! And then the couch is broken and went to be fixed and the garden chair I was using in it's place ripped and I fell trough! Grrrrr!! And then it's Sunday and I had to work! Grrrrr and more Grrrrr!! Sorry now about all this ranting....that's the thing about cata, you see....dwelling on it...a bit of a drama queen really!.... Do you ever get like that? But then, in moments like this, it comes handy having someone around with a more "cool-out" way of thinking and in my house that's A's job: "Don't feed the monster" he tells me. Isn't that so clever? So, a wile ago, I made this little monster as a presents for him and a reminder to myself: Let it go girl, let it go!

I might have a video tutorial for you, I mightn't. End of.

PS: Today is Monday (yes, this post was delayed because of internet connection VS bad weather!) and the Sun is out! Yey! The video uploading business is still mocking me but what can we do? We can only try hard and then let it go, knowing we did our best.

Note how the little monster has a leg longer then the other? It always makes me laugh imagining him going around with his wonky walk! :)

Lots of Love, cata****************

How to make a Granny Square?

Granny Square Tutorial for beginners!

Because of Sarah London's Crochet a Rainbow project, I have decided to put together a tutorial for a granny square. Check out Sarah's heart warming iniciative and if you always wanted to learn how to crochet, this is the perfect excuse ;)

I used 5 different colours of DK weight wool  and a  size 4mm crochet hook. This size hook and yarn weight is required for the project so that all squares will be the same size. 

The Granny-Square is the most traditional and possible the easiest crochet patter. Very quickly you’ll realise how the pattern repeats itself and it’s really easy to count the stitches and to look back and find mistakes straight away.

This pattern is made by chains (ch), slip stitches (slst) and trebles (tr).

I’ll explain how to make those as we go!

To start: Yarn the wool twice around your index finger 

Pass over the loop on the left over the one on the right but keep them both on your index finger.

Again pass over the loop on the left over the one on the right but this time over your nail. Now there is only 1 loop on your finger. Put your hook there and tight the knot.

                  Chain 6 (ch6): Yarn over once, pull trough the loop. Repeat six times.

Join with slip stitch (slst) to form a ring:  Insert your hook on the 1^st loop of your chain. Yarn over. Pull trough booth loops. Tip: Keep holding your ring with thumb and 2nd finger!

 ch3 (counts as 1 tr),

At this point you have to do your 1st treble (tr) and this is how it goes:

Yarn over

                                              Insert the hook into the ring and yarn over

Pull trough (you now have 3 loops on hook)

Yarn over (4 loops on hook)

Pull trough just 2 of the 4 loops! (2 loops left on  hook)

Yarn over

Pull trough the 2 loops left

Yarn over and do another tr:

Insert into ring, yarn over and pull trough the ring (3loops on the hook)

Yarn over

Pull trough 2 loops, yarn over and pull trough last 2 loops

Chain 3 (ch3)

Ok, lets recap! Your 1st round went like this: Ch6,slst to make a ring, ch3 (counts as 1 tr), 2tr into the ring, ch3. You just made ch3. You are here!! Deep breath and keep going, it will all make sense, I promise! Now,  3tr into the ring,ch3, repeat yellow twice more, join with slst into top of your first tr (or 3^rd chain of your first ch3) (next pic).

Insert your hook on top of your 1st tr (or 3rd chain of your 1st ch3), under the 2 arms of that loop! (very important). Yarn over, pull trough the 2arms and trough the loop on your hook.

At the end of this 1^st round you should have a cross made of 4 clusters of 3tr each. Each cluster is separate by ch3.  Ch3  is the corners of pink round.

Now, do 3slst, one on top of each of your next 2tr and 1slst in the 3ch space (corner). As follow:

This way the end of your yarn will be were your next yarn needs to start and you can just knot them together.

Ch3 (works as your 1st tr)

As previous round: [2tr, ch3]

[ch3, 3tr] still in the same space (corner)

So in the same space you have [ch3,2tr,ch3,3tr].  Ch3  is the corner for the blue round

chain 1 and jump to the next space. Crochet in the same space [3tr,3ch,3tr] chain 1. Repeat the same on the the next 2 spaces. Don't forget the ch1 every time you jump.

 Slst on top of the first 3tr

slst also on your 1st ch3 space

Cut off your yarn

 Join your new yarn

Hold your 2 ends of yarn (yarn you finished and the one you just started) together with the ch3 corner and crochet over them all so your ends will be hidden.

ch3 (counts as 1tr)

[2tr,ch3,3tr] all in the same space and all over your yarn ends

See how your ends come trough ?

Cut them off

Ch1 before jumping to next space. This space is on the side of the square and you don't need to do a corner in here. All side spaces are: ch1,[3tr],ch1

Jump to the next space and crochet your corner: [3tr,ch3,3tr]

See the pattern emerging? From here is all repeat, repeat, repeat!

        Repeat to crochet your 5th and last round! Wepeeeee!!!

 I hope this was useful! I did this tutorial keeping in mind my friends that never crochet before but would like to participate on the "Crochet a Rainbow" project.

I'll also be posting about how to block your square and other surprises so keep checking and let me know how you getting on!

Lots of Love, Cata***********