Hats

 I've been working on some hats for the shop. I love these cute crocheted hats with flowers or other bold designs on them. I am having a hard time photographing in the new house, in the still winter-like light, so I'm not happy enough with the photographs to put these up in the shop yet. It's a lot of work to properly photograph your work to make it look professional! If you're interested in any of these, they are available, just let me know and we can talk.

This one is suuuuuuuper soft. It's like baby angora or something, such a lovely yarn. If you have trouble with sensitivities to wool, try washing it in a lanolin wash (Eucalan) and you just may find that you can wear it. This hat is newborn size. I need to measure it before I list it.

This one is acrylic and a little different with the circles instead of flowers. It has a brim and it looks better on someone than it does just sitting there by itself. Still needs to be measured for size.

 This one fits a baby with a head about the size of my baby. But his head is in the 98th percentile or something like that (Benign familial macrosephaly is what the doctor called it. :)), so it could fit your small headed two year old niece for all I know.

I Made This: Spring Bunny

So, I'm working backwards here. I just finished this painfully cute amigurumi bunny that was featured in CRAFT Magazine a few weeks ago. As I mentioned, we welcomed a new addition to our family last fall. He is also painfully cute.

 
This will be his first Easter, so I made him this.

I used some leftover, fabulously soft yarn from a shrug I made myself last year (was it just last year? I can't remember... I don't think I blogged about it since I couldn't bear to expose my back fat for a photo of the shrug), so this little guy is super soft on top of being unbearably cute. It's a pretty easy pattern to follow. I really appreciated the part where they show you how to make the nose and where to position the eyes/nose; it makes all the difference in the cuteness factor.

Fundamentals of Cuteness 1010 by WooWork Crochet

I can't rememeber if Dude Craft crochets or not, but if he doesn't, this is the only guy I "know" (and that in the Internet way of knowing) who crochets. And he's come up with this adorable study in cuteness, pertaining to the placement & size of eyes & mouth on amigurumi. You need to click through the link to see what he makes with all his samples!

Baby Gifts

Everyone is having babies! (Including me, but that's another post!) I made a couple things for the baby shower on Monday, in addition to the cookies.

I made this baby blanket. I've mentioned before I make baby blankets. Double sided flannel is my favorite to swaddle my babies in.

Here is a close up of the top stitching and a peek at the pink argyle fabric. I like the top stitching: makes it a little bit extra special.

I love the pink flamingos!
And, lucky you, if you love the pink flamingos/pink argyle combo, you will soon be able to buy one of these lovelies in my ArtFire shoppe. I'll be doing a slightly different top-stitch, so if you'd like some say into the top-stitch pattern, let me know and I can set it up as a custom listing for you.

I am trying to make two when I make things for people, so I have one for my shop. It actually cuts down on my fabric shopping time by a lot. It is so time consuming to shop for fabric! I like it, but I'm pretty fussy, and I have to shop for fabric by myself. I don't get a lot of time for fabric shopping. The other bonus of buying twice the amount of fabric I need for a project is that they usually cut a little extra in case they have cut it crooked or something, so I end up getting an extra 20+ cms of fabric, which might just be enough to make some baby bibs or burp cloths!

Oh, and if you happen to know somewhere online where they have great boy flannel fabric, I would love to know your sources. I've been really frustrated with the ugly/goofy boy fabrics at Fabricland lately. They used to have some great animal prints, but I haven't seen them there lately.

I also made these really great slippers for this baby shower. I fell in love with this pattern. Honestly, I tried to figure it out on my own before I bought the pattern, but apparently I am not that good. It's a really great pattern and they turn out super cute, so it's worth the price. I actually bought the all sizes pattern set and have made slippers for Z and myself, too.

Cute Crocheted Hats

A friend of mine on Facebook suggested I become a fan of her (I'm presuming) friend's  shop, Sparkleberry Crafts. She makes super cute crocheted hats. They're great, but I don't pay for crochet. I must say I did a pretty good job of figuring out a pattern and coming up with some knock-offs on my own. I feel a bit copy cat-ish, but whatever. I haven't been selling them... and they're my patterns anyways, even if they were inspired by someone else's work. I've made two for my daughter's friends' birthdays and two for my friends' newborn/soon to be born daughters. Soo cute. Z and her friend love their hats (we have yet to give the other hat to the other friend: party on Tuesday).

I had to look up how to make crocheted flowers. I could have figured out my own by trial and error, but why do that when there's Ravelry? I found this easy pattern on Ravelry by searching "crochet flowers." I just made up the leaf pattern myself.

Tiny Hearts

I found this great little pattern for crocheted hearts. I made a couple and put them on snappy barrettes for Z's hair. They're so cute and she loves them. I made a couple slight modifications to the pattern. I sized down the yarn & hook and instead of the half double crochet, chain 1, half double crochet to make the point of the heart, I did a little picot (chain 3, slip stitch in the first chain) instead of the chain 1. Makes a pointier end.

Super fast little project.

Halloween Costume

I made a couple things for my daughter's Halloween costume this year. Only one of them was made specifically for Halloween and that's this lovely tutu.

Such a sassy little pose.

I made it using this tutorial from Grosgrain. It required almost no sewing. I made it using an Ikea Lill Curtains. The beauty of these curtains is that there is 5 square metres of fabric for only $7! Super sweet deal. I even left the little hem on the bottom since I thought it gave an interesting look to it. You'll notice that Z is indeed dressed for a Canadian Halloween, wearing multiple layers and warmness. It is definitely difficult to do cute girly costumes that are warm enough to wear outside. We had a relatively mild Halloween again this year, but you just never know what the weather is going to be like when you're planning. And now with class dress up parties, you almost need 2 separate costumes: one for wearing to school and one for going out in.

So, the one of the other things I made was the sweater (though not originally intending it for a costume), made from this pattern. I am kicking myself now for not printing this pattern out when I made it for my daughter (I'd just refer to the pattern on the computer). It was free then. It wasn't in Z's size, so I did have to re-size it which, now that she is selling it, the pattern creator has done. I'm pretty sure I could figure out what I did from examining the garment and from memory.

The striping was created from this random stripe generator which is SOOO sweet. The geek in me is kind of excited by the math and programming involved in this. I don't indulge my inner math/programming geek much, instead I just enjoy this little tool and play with all the different possibilities.

The last thing I made was this crown, made from this pattern by Midknight Knitter. I made it with a slight variation, sewing elastic in at the back and crocheting over it, so it would fit a bit better. I had also made this earlier, after one too many cheap plastic crowns broke from being stepped on or otherwise misused. I decided a crocheted crown would solve the broken crown problem, and it has. I made this one in January and it has lasted us until now, it pretty good condition, other than some stretching in the elastic.

Amigurumi Food

This is another re-post from my personal blog, from last year.

I made some play food for the kids. It's really fast to make. Some have called them amigurumi, but it's not quite accurate because amigurumi are anthropomorphic and I didn't put any faces or other human-like features on the food. I might get around to putting up patterns for these, though I just worked them out as I made them, but I'll just share pictures for now.

The first thing I made was a cupcake. I was inspired and used the pattern from Nimoe's Blog, but I omitted the cherry on top, the face and added the chocolate sprinkles.

It is a slightly left-leaning cupcake... ha ha... liberal cupcake

Next, I made a carrot. After I made the carrot, I found other carrots on Etsy, but I was proud to say that mine came entirely from my experience with real live carrots, my own head and my children's love of carrots.

A friend asked me if it was a throw pillow for the couch.

Next came the corn and the tomato. The colour in the picture is a little bit off. The ends of the corn are cream coloured, not white, like they look in the picture. I'm pretty proud of the corn. It's my favorite, I think.

Mmmm... Taber corn. I didn't get any this year.

Last, the humble potato, in honour of 2008 (remember I made these last year), the International Year of the Potato.

Here's to you, potato.

Crocheted Stockings

So, there was no plane crash, and I made it to and from Abbotsford to visit my friend and take a weekend away. I had a really great time. We shopped on Saturday for longer than I have shopped since I bought maternity clothes when I was pregnant with Z. So... just about 5 years ago. I bought myself some new clothes and I was even kind enough to remember to pick up small gifts for the kids and D. And now I'm back at regular life. Absence does really make the heart grow fonder and it was nice to get a bit of a breather from everyone to remind myself how much I really do love them all. And if was fabulous to spend so much good time with C.

I have not started my Sew Something in November pants or anything else for that matter. I am still working on the Racetrack Rug for my son. It was really slow going, as far as seeing any progress, even though I kept making single crochet after single crochet and seeming to get nowhere. But now I am at the end of my black yarn, so I decided that's the end of the road (haha, pun intended) and I'll be switching to the green to finish the outside edge. I may even be able to finish it tonight.

I had a friend ask me if I made stockings, so I took a picture of the one I made for S. I meant to have them finished by Christmas last year, but alas, it did not come to pass. I finally got it finished a month or so ago. Here it is. The one I made for Z is similar, but with different colours.

Of course, I had to take the picture after the sun had gone down and so the lighting is atrocious, but you sort of get the idea. I used different weights of yarn for a homely look, I thought it would be cute if we all had homely, non-traditional Christmas colour stockings to differentiate them from one another.

Here is a picture my sister sent me of the stockings I made for her family. They're all stuffed here.

They're nice and stretchy for stuffing with whatever your heart desires.

I'm hoping this post will help me get back into the swing of things and you will see me in this place more regularly again.

What I'm Working On

Well, hello dear readers. I was doing so well for the last week or so, wasn't I? And then I kind of fell off the wagon for a couple days.

I didn't post anything about actual Halloween here, though most of you are probably my friends on Facebook, so you saw the pictures I posted there of my kids in their costumes. I tried my best to make one of these as my costume.

It was on meekssandygirl's flickr stream. It wasn't a pattern or anything, so I just did my best by looking at it. It wasn't that complicated, but I didn't have a deeper shade of red or purple, so I just ended up going with one red. It looks ok, but not good enough to bother taking a picture of mine and posting it for you to compare with this lovely one, that probably (hopefully?) took a lot longer than mine. I wore it to our little Halloween get together until one of my friends noticed me constantly fussing with it (it was a little on the tight side) and told me to take it off.

I am also working on this project for S. It is going well, except that every round takes longer than the one before because the pattern increases every round. So, now that I am into the black road part, it is very slow going.

The loopy grass part was time-consuming, but fun to do because it was neat to see it come together.

I have also been trying to stay off the computer in the afternoons this week, trying to give more of myself to my children while they are awake and saving computer time for after they go to bed. I have been busy getting ready for a trip (ALONE!) this weekend, preparing the house, so that the laundry is done and the clutter is under control before I leave. I have thought of cleaning out my purse at least 5 times since thinking of preparing for the trip. I really need to do that since I know for a fact that there is a pumpkin carving kit in there that I'd like to keep and I'm sure won't make it through security.

I still can't decide whether I should try to knit or crochet on the plane. I've heard of people losing their supplies and I don't know if I want to make my husband park and wait for me to see if I get through security with my knitting needles or just send me off. It's not THAT long of a flight. I'm sure I can entertain myself with podcasts and books for an hour or so. If you have any experience with knitting or crocheting on a flight and getting successfully through security with your stuff, I'd love to hear what you did (bamboo needles/hooks?) just in case I change my mind.

I made this: Olivia's Butterfly

I made this super cute and super easy and super fast crocheted butterfly hat. I'm all about free patterns and Vallieskids has them in spades. She's also got a super generous policy with her patterns, which I love. The true spirit of craft generosity. I made this in about an hour (? I don't usually look at the clock while I crochet). Her instructions are really simple to follow and the simply beautiful design is just lovely. I increased to a chunky yarn and kept the hook size the same, which increased the size enough to fit my big-headed daughter without modifying the pattern.

That's my beautiful girl up there. Wow. I still can't get over how gorgeous she is.

I'm also going to take this opportunity to tell you about Ravelry, which is all kinds of awesome. "Ravelry is a place for knitters, crocheters, designers, spinners, and dyers to keep track of their yarn, tools, and pattern information, and look to others for ideas and inspiration." I mostly use it for searching for patterns and to keep track of the patterns that I want to make or look at again. I think you still need to request an invitation and it takes a day or two to get your invitation, but it's free and it's a great resource. I recommend it.

I made this: Bird appliqued camera case

I made this camera case earlier this year. It was pretty easy. I came up with the design on my own and it came together on the first try.

 
I'm most pleased with myself for using a leaf pattern that I found as a template, or rather inspiration? for this cute little bird that I came up with. I was also pleased that I was able to use up the very last bits of this brown wool to make a functional camera pouch. This came together in an evening. I'm thinking I might make more and add them to my Artfire shop. Thoughts?

Here's the other side. I was happy to find buttons we were no longer using that worked well for this project. I used to keep buttons and wondered why I did because I almost never used them for anything. Now I find uses for buttons all the time.

To make list: Crocheted Racetrack Rug

I found this great pattern a little while ago for a Crocheted Race Track. It's super sweet. I think my boy is getting old enough to be interested in it and I think it will make a good Christmas gift. It's hard to find good handmade ideas for boys! And I know: I have 7 nephews (and no nieces) and trying to keep costs down by going handmade is always a challenge.

I made this: Robot

I borrowed this book by Christen Haden of Needle Noodles from the library last week. It's not new on the market, but its copyright is just last year, so that's not so bad, right? I really enjoyed the book. After listening to a podcast about traditional book publishing and e-book publishing, I feel a little guilty borrowing it from the library instead of buying it. Oh well. Maybe I will still buy it. The first thing I remember seeing from Christen was a pattern for a cute Santa, Mrs Claus, Elf and Snowman set (the pattern seems to be missing from her etsy shop right now), which inspired the nativity creatures I created last Christmas for the children.

I made a donkey and Jesus, too, but they were galavanting somewhere around the house at the time of this picture (⁴⁹"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" Luke 2:49)

I made this cute robot from the Creepy Cute Crochet.


The kids like him too, but he mostly just gets thrown around like a ball. Just what I was going for.

Spring Chickens - Free Pattern from roman sock

I'm very eager for spring to arrive. There have been far too many cold winter days in March for my liking. I realize most of March is technically winter anyway, but it's supposed to be the end of winter and I'm just not prepared for such cold temperatures prevailing the whole month.


When I saw these cute crocheted chicks on roman sock, I thought they looked super easy and cute. They promise to stitch up quickly, just in time for Easter.

Spring. Good news indeed. Link.

Edit to add: I made a couple of these, too!  Here is my version. I thought he looked cute with a little tuft of hair on the top of his cube head.

Here he is with his buddy and the egg bunnies I made, all posing in front of the children's Easter baskets.

He looks a lot greener under the late night lights.