Our exciting announcement

This pic debuted on my Facebook page a few weeks ago.

Yep! We're expecting our own little baby to dress from head to toe in crochet and other craftiness.

He's coming in early October.  He'll be in good company:
-both sisters are expecting (due June and July 2014)
-my sister in law is expecting (due November 2014)
-I have 3 coworkers expecting (all due August 2014)
-our neighbour friends just had a baby this week
-just heard via email that long-distance friends of ours have another baby on the way (November 2014)

Boom, baby boom, eh?

I wonder how many baby crafts I can make between now and then.  Hmm?

p.s. The pattern for the baby booties is "Easy Booties" from the Lion Brand website.  It's a free pattern if you register for a free account.  I used Bernat Mosiac yarn and a G hook (the pattern recommends a much larger size) to work up this funky mismatched pair in about 2 hours.  One ball would probably make 3 itty bitty pairs like this.

Look What I'm Making Now!

Here's my latest work in progress. It's report card time, so I needed something repetitive and mindless to get my hands busy when my brain starts to slow down. Nothing like a few rows of crochet to make you feel like:
(a) you're accomplishing something and
(b) there's a steady rhythm to life

Both if these are great feelings when report cards begin to feel like a never-ending job that's taking way longer than you thought it should!  (Side note:  It always takes longer than I think it should.  About twice as long, in fact.  But there is comfort in the fact that I won't be writing these again for a while.)

This is a return to an old pattern. It's not my pattern, but you can find it online for free. You can also check out my previous adventures with this pattern from June 2013 and December 2012 in my blog archives. And, hey, if you're lucky, you can come back and view the finished product on my blog in a couple of weeks...or maybe less. Crochet progress is typically inversely proportional to progress with everything else in life.

A day of crochet

Okay, so this is an old post.  And it's kind of unfinished.  But I'm going to post it anyway.... So there. ;)  From skeins of yarn to a blanket in about 7.5 hours. :)

Today is a crochet day. (Technically, it's crochet and laundry, but nobody wants to see pictures if the latter!)

6:49 a.m: Up and awake, despite my best efforts to sleep in! Curled up on the couch to work on a bright purple baby blanket and catch up on "The Next Chapter" podcasts.

Blanket is 11 rows long at this point.

7:40 a.m: My first Russian join. Looks messy. Let's see if it holds up!

9:30 a.m: Third skein of yarn and second Russian join. (The first one was rough. The second was a lot easier!)

11:20 a.m: Blanket is now a square. Added one round of sc as a border to give the blanket some shape. Now to think about a fun border...and sort laundry as I do so.

1:15 p.m: Picot border added in black. Ends worked in. Finished!

How many stitches are in this thing? 36 ch and 67 dc in each row, plus a ch 101 to start.

Pinned it, made it: tea wreath

I love giving presents. I especially love giving homemade ones. The challenge of what to give/make for the person who has everything can be a fun one.  This is especially true when it comes to grandmas.  I mean, they are old enough to have everything they need and more and yet we don't want to overlook them at Christmas.  I found a tea wreath on Pinterest (from Kojo Designs).  I thought the wreath was a good fit because it's consumable, so it doesn't sit on a shelf and take up space. Practical, pretty, crafty...everything I look for in a simple gift. :)

Here is the version from Pinterest...

...and here is my interpretation!

The photo is a little blurry.  It was a quick snap with my iphone before we headed out the door to family Christmas.

I used two file folders wrapped in washi tape as the base of my wreath.  It has 16 clothespins holding in the tea bags (2 bags per clothespin) and I wrapped a bit of Christmas tree tinsel in and around them for colour, texture and sparkle.  The snowman is an oversized gift tag that I found in my Christmas giftwrap bin. :)

What the photo doesn't share is just how great this project smells.  A multisensory gift for sure.

Hand-crafted gift in an hour or less!

Check out this beautiful brooch!

I found the pattern for the Ruffled Rose Pin in Redheart Yarn's "In The St-Nick of Time" post of quick gift ideas.  Not only is it quick, but it's fun and doesn't look anything like your typical crocheted craft.

Working with a new kind of fibre is always a challenge.  The Sassy Fabric yarn is actually a slightly gauzy, slightly crepe-y fabric that comes pre-cut with a ruffled edge and evenly punched holes.  It kind of looks like little café curtains.


I did find some challenges with the pattern, but I had already sunk $40 into the materials, so I didn't turn back!  (Crafters are so cheap!  Frugal.  Crafters are frugal.  It sounds much classier that way.)

Perhaps it's because I crochet left-handed, but I had some trouble with the special stitch for this project (the "ruffled single crochet").  The instructions in the Red Heart pattern would not work for me, so I modified the "ruffled single crochet" like this:

(modified) Ruffled Single Crochet:  Insert hook into the desired stitch of yarn A.  The insert hook from back to front through 4 of the holes in yarn B.  (Yarn B will naturally pleat and bunch together as you go.)  Draw Yarn A over the hook and pull through all of the loops of Yarn B.  When all you have left on the hook is your 2 loops of Yarn A, then yarn over again with Yarn A and pull through both loops on the hook.

I wouldn't go so far as to call this an easy pattern.  In fact, the title of this post might be a bit misleading.  This craft can be completed in 45 minutes or less, once you work all the kinks out.  I think it might have taken me 2 hours to complete the first one.  Once I had a method that worked for me, I was sailing through.

I also think there's an error in the posted pattern.  The pattern states that you'll need 1/2 a skein to complete one flower (15 yards).  I think it's actually much less than that.  Maybe 15 feet?  You should be able to get 5 to 6 flower pins out of one skein of fabric.

Holiday Crochet

We're iced in today after a pretty harsh ice storm.  Luckily, we're iced in with power.  We've been warm, cozy and pretty much in hibernation since we woke up.  It's been a great day for lounging, crafting, and organizing photos off my camera.

This basket is one of my recent crochet projects.

I used leftover yarn and followed the same basic pattern I guessed at for a previous set of baskets.  These stretchy and soft-sided baskets are great for stashing craft projects.  The turquoise project inside is a lacy beanie I'm working at making without a pattern.   ("Without a pattern" seems to be a theme, lately!)

If the bad weather continues tomorrow, hopefully I have some more time to post some more photos of the day's accomplishments.  I do love holidays!

Holiday Blanket Complete!

A sick day on the couch gave me time to finish up our Christmas afghan.  A Digital Photography 101 course on the weekend gave me time to learn how to use some of the settings on my camera.  Here are the Holly Jolly results:

Now that this bit of selfish crochet is done, I just need to get started on (or get back to) all the stuff I planned as Christmas presents this year!