Affordable Wonders Blog Has Moved back home

Hello Everyone
I have made a change to the blog. I have moved it back home to the Affordable Wonders Website I've decided to keep all of my pages on one website figuring that it just didn't make to much sense to bounce around to different web-pages to post different things and well most importantly I had already paid for the site and figured I may as well use everything the subscription has to offer.

Things that I've done while revamping the site is I've added a Video Tutorial Section which for right now only has The Basics of Crochet but I will add and Intermediate and advanced tab as I make the videos. I will also be doing a Basics of Knitting. All of my videos will be quick, short and to the point so you can go straight to crocheting/knitting.

I've also separated my into sections Affordable Wonders News which is pretty much a catchall for what is going on in my journey, Free Patterns for my members, Photo Tutorials, and Business or product reviews

Things that I still will be adding will include a written tutorial section for those that would like to print and keep in binder or on your ebook. More products in my commercial section that will include YARN! My favorite part I plan on actually keeping the yarn in stock and selling it at bundle rates. The yarns you will find are you favorite label brands that they don't keep instock at your local craft store. And priced to where you don't have to wait for a SALE! And for those of you that would like to purchase any of my handmade goods or patterns just visit my Etsy tab.

As usual if there is a product that you would like but don't see listed just contact me. I can get a hold of just about all crafting supplies I will happily give you a quote I just can't add them all it would take an army and I own run and operate Affordable Wonders by myself while being a mom and wife.

Well I think that is all that I have for now I sure do hope that you come on by to Affordable Wonders and check out the new layout!

FO Friday Classy Cabled Guest Book

Good Morning All!

Well I'm on a roll! This is my first FO Friday post!! I'm still pumped from my first WIP Wednesday. I want to thank everyone for being so welcoming I love this community and being part of it.

Well on to my FO I designed this because I wanted to achieve a couple of things in one design.
1) I wanted it to be easy enough for a beginner
2) Interesting enough for a beginner to learn a new technique and have some instant gratification
3) Something a more seasoned knitter could whip up quickly as a unique gift.
4) To me the most important lol not use up to much yarn (since I was using Alpaca)

So the story: I had a couple of skeins of Alpaca yarn. I have been caressing this yarn for months I didn't have enough to make anything big, which trust me I would have loved to make myself a sweater or even my daughter for that matter but that would mean I'd have to purchase some more yarn and right now I just want to work with what I have to chisel down some of my stash (borderline yarn hoarder). I knew I didn't want to make a cowl, or fingerless gloves, hat all these are so common out there and I just wanted to come up with something less common yet functional. And I also wanted something that could be gifted to Men and Women alike.

Well then it hit me some friends of ours have been house hunting. So my wheels started turning for house warming gifts. My Classy Cabled Guestbook is one of a "For the Home" series that I will be releasing.


The Classy Cabled Guestbook is knit in bulky weight (5) Alpaca yarn Less than 120 yards. It is a simple knit that works up super fast and has a pretty shell crochet border.

Things I didn't think about but in the end didn't really matter. Alpaca is too soft lol as if I didn't know. It doesn't matter because this notebook isn't meant to keep in your pocket book or anything. It is meant to keep at a table or buffet and for guest to sign and leave goofy notes about your dinner party. But if firmness is something that you definitely want then you may want to use a firmer yarn with less drape. I even knit this in much smaller needles than the yarn called for and it still turned out very drapey. I suppose you could knit or crochet a pocket to fit cardboard in I didn't because it didn't matter to me it still looks great in my eyes :)

So what do you guys think?!?!? Have a wonderful weekend all and don't forget to stop by all the other Bloggers participating in FO Friday!

WIP Wednesday! Moses Basket

Good Morning Everyone!

I am so excited! This is my 1st EVER WIP Wednesday Post!! I feel like I am more a part of a community now instead of just a SAHM that loves to crochet/knit. I don't have ANY friends that like to and my area I haven't gotten to know anyone that does. The LYS here isn't really a friendly place to people that like to "dress" as casual as I do (I swear when I walked in everyone stopped what they were doing to look at me)

So anyway I'm excited to meet everyone! If even in just a Cyber atmosphere I feel like I belong! So on to my WIP

What is this you ask? Well it's a Moses Basket. :) I have been working on this for months! Lots of frogging to get it to where it's at. I'm writing this pattern up as I go. It was inspired by My very good friend Jennifer. She is pregnant with her  3rd baby! A BOY finally. I knew that I wanted to make her this basket immediately. I normally write up patterns for photo props but I wanted it to be more than that for her. If all goes the way I have it envisioned in my head this basket will be used by her for at least the first 3 months of her babies life! I picture her going to her friends house to visit and breaking out her Moses Basket and having baby comfortably laying in it for the duration of her visits instead of having to sit in a car seat/carrier. I will also be adding a pillow and blanket I can't wait to finish this set. I just hope it turns out the way I see it in my head.

Have a great day all! Now I'm off to hop around and see everyone's WIPs!!!!

Hookin' Up & Affordable Wonders Introduces the Fabulous Cult Grrrl

In a place far far away in a Country named Romania there is a province called Transylvania where the local Vampires Ghosts & Werewolves are joining together for the 1st time EVER to discuss their sudden loss of Food... I mean Tourists. Vampires have no fresh humans Ghosts have no one to scare and Werewolves are left with nothing but desire and leftover bones. Why you ask?!?! Well the answer is simple enough....

Thousands of miles away in the Great State of Texas there is definitely more to see but more importantly the city of Houston is now home to the New Age Ghouls, Goblins, Witches, Vampires, Zombunnies. The word has spread and for those that don't believe just follow this link to the fortress that keeps them all safe but not hidden CULT GRRRL!!!! <lightning strikes! Thunder Rolls!!>

Good Morning Everyone I sure do hope you enjoyed my opening! As I mentioned before I am participating in Hookin' Up which in short is a sort of pay-it-forward or should I say Blog-it-forward and each of us will blog about the person after us on the calendar. And I've loved jumping around thru the other blogs that are also participating. But most of all I have enjoyed Cult Grrrl's Blog!

Cult Grrrl was taught to crochet by her Grandmother and continues to crochet in her honor. Jess's (aka: Cult Grrrl) Blog is a wonderful Portfolio of her work. In it you will find her projects as she works on them her thoughts along the way and yes what all of us Crocheters LOVE to hear FREE patterns.  Cult Grrrl's Creations are the cutest SPOOKY things I've ever seen. Sorry Jess if your goal was scary you didn't quite meet your goal yet. I absolutely love her creations especially her Zom-Bunny!! Which is a Zombified Bunny rabbit. My suggestion to all of you would be to visit her Etsy Shop and secure your orders right away as you will have no problem finding something for you to display for Halloween. Decorate your bathroom Desk at work Kitchen. YES I can see her Amigurumi just about anywhere. She also makes the cutest little owls. Her prices are very reasonable and even though I crochet myself I would much rather purchase something like this from her where you can tell the amount of Love that goes into each creation.

But there is even more to Cult Grrrl the more I researched her Blog and Shop to more I learned about her. She is very active in charity. Namely Searching for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. 20% of ALL her sales go to Avon Walk for Breast Cancer and occasionally she will list a few items where 100% of the sale is donated!

Jess is also having a Contest Giveaway to celebrate her 200th fan so don't forget to jump on over there and enter for your chance to win!

Well I hope you enjoyed this entry and we welcome and appreciate all comments! If you enjoyed this post and would like to be introduce to other great bloggers please visit Crochet Concupiscence for a calendar of postings! Have a wonderful day.CONTEST CELEBRATION

Hookin' Up Project Please Show Support! :)

Good Morning Everyone,

There are a lot of Bloggers that are like myself in that no we don't use the big words and probably don't have the  best tags. But what we do have is a very serious passion for what we blog about. The World Wide Web is a huge place and it is easy to disappear in it. Some of the best blogs that I've read are blogs that I've found just blog hoppin around. Blogs that little to no followers.

Well Kathryn Vercillo from Crochet Concupiscence has organized a wonderful project for us Crochet Bloggers. It's project Hookin' Up. It is a form of "Blogging Forward". Where each person picks a date on the calendar. Each person will blog on the date that they picked about the Blog that follows their date.  I blog  because I like to and it's like my "Diary" when it comes to my crafts mainly Crocheting and Knitting. But also in hopes to start conversations as well I can't exactly speak to my husband about these topic before I see that far away look in his eyes where I know I've lost him lol! So what I'd like to get out of this project is new friends to interact with.

Kathryn has a wonderful blog I really can't say enough about. She not only blogs about her own projects but she also blogs about crochet news reviews books and featured projects of other crafters. Her blog is also so educational so if you are new to crocheting Crochet Concupiscence is a wonderful place to start. She is great at replying to questions fairly quickly. I know I've gone to some of the bigger sites and though they are friendly they have soooo many things going on that you kinda have to count on the followers to answer questions. On Crochet Concupiscence Kathryn does such a great job at making her followers feel like they are her number one priority.

So I humbly ask you all to show support and drop a comment or two to the people participating in Hookin Up in hopes that Kathryn will continue to host this project! Here is a link that will take you straight to the Hookin' up participants as well as taking you straight to Crochet Concupiscence.  Next to each day there is a Blog name which is hyper-linked to their blogs. Thanks for reading have a wonderful day!! http://www.crochetconcupiscence.com/2011/07/hookin-up-project-kicks-off/

July’s Sponsor: The Awesome Affordable Wonders

Just a quick note from a very EXCITED CRISTINA!!! Kathryn form Crochet Concupiscence has written such a wonderful review about me and Affordable Wonders. Please jump on over to her site and check out the review!! We absolutely love and appreciate the comments. But not only that if you are not familiar with Crochet Concupiscence now is a great time to spend some time on her blog. (I will give a more detailed post on the next post) Believe me if you are a Crocheter you will absolutely love to hang out on her site (the 1st time I stumbled on her site I did not close out my window until after I read all of her posts. She makes her blog fun and informative. Well hope to see you guys over there! Have a great weekend!

July’s Sponsor: The Awesome Affordable Wonders

Shell Tank Just for me....

Last week I started a super cute Tank that I decided I would make just for myself. The thought itself made me feel guilty because since I had the time to crochet something for myself in between orders I figured that time should surely be used to get started on my Christmas list. Well it started off way bad. I had purchased quite bit of bamboo/wool yarn that had just been sitting there I bought it on clearance so I figured now was time to use it. I guess that was mistake number one. Though the yarn met the weight requirement I didn't realize until much later (since I crocheted a good majority in the comfort of my Air-conditioned House) that the whole WOOL part of the blend would definitely make it to warm to wear in the summer here in very hot and humid North Carolina.

So then I checked my gauge all was good. I continued to work on the tank :) happy as can be I made the two triangles for the bra portion. According to the measurements on the pattern I was a size Large. The triangles were pretty big (for me anyway) but I thought it was just a conservative top which I liked. So I continued on the pattern. I join the triangles and was now working in the round. I got to the 3rd round and just thought it was looking fishy. So I tried it on (I was wearing a large t-shirt as I did this) It was HUGE!! So the frogging started. I started working the pattern in size small. It was a pretty easy shell and the set worked up quickly within 3 evening I was done (lots of interruptions from my three kids).  Ok no not done that leads me to the next paragraph. lol

Remember that clearance sale I got the yarn at?! Yeah well I fell short on yarn by 1 yes 1 shoulder strap!!! FRUSTRATIONS!! As the only other colors that I had in the same yarn were blue and grey. Well just to measure the set I made the other strap in Grey. Yup just to find out that even that was exaggerated in the pattern. Straps were way to long but not long enough for me to split it to make 2 straps. Well I've decided grey straps doesn't look to bad. I will just have to make some flowers or something to tie the grey into the tank. Well I will add photos later as I have to figure out how to get them off my phone or just take new photos with my camera.

All in all I am happy that for once I was able to make myself something guilt and all. I have a tank now that I can proudly wear and if asked where I got I can say I made it :) for myself. How about you guys I'm sure you have similar stories I'd love to hear them.