Handmade Christmas Tree #1

I've decided to make a "handmade Christmas tree" this year! All the decorations will be homemade by me and I can't wait to see it all put together!

I wanted a really organic natural feel to everything, especially the tree topper.

This star turned out more perfectly than I could have hoped for, though it doesn't look like the pattern depicted at all!

This is the original...

Image Source

And here's mine...

This isn't my first go-round at the crochet hook and I do know how to read a pattern, but for some reason, mine looks nothing like the original!

The original pattern is here and the finished size is listed as 5 1/4 inches finished... I used the indicated hook size and thread size and it ended up being 12 inches across!

No idea what happened, but I love it!

To keep it on the tree, I placed a loop of elastic from one side of the center hole to the other. It makes a wonderful holder without distracting from the beauty of this piece.

I did starch the finished piece as part of the blocking process so that it will stand up as the tree topper.

I can't wait to see it all together as we get closer to Christmas and I'm looking forward to you seeing the rest of the decorations!

Crochet (Knitting really...) by Numbers!

I decided to really really take the plunge and generate a knitting pattern a la www.Totallee.net. It's worth a visit, click to be amazed!

She creates the most amazing crocheted masterpieces from images! I've known her for a year and have finally plucked up the courage to try it...

I could have gone for something small, easy... manageable. But heck, where would the fun be in that?

Here is the photo I created and will be turning into an afghan...



How much fun will it be to snuggle up with this! I'll be starting *soon* and I'll post updates as it progresses. The pattern alone is 63 pages long... so... it may take awhile!

Prayer Shawl

I was recently asked to make a prayer shawl for a friend. I found this really great, quick pattern for free on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/all-shawl

It includes 4 or so variations on the pattern; this shawl was made using the Long Pattern version and I Love This Cotton yarn.

The only thing that I changed about the pattern was I just used a regular DC stitch instead of the extended version that the pattern called for. It was a bit cumbersome and I found that it looked essentially the same with the regular DC!

Be careful to look at the chart provided for the pattern; the instruction can be confusing if you're not paying close attention!

The lace edging turned out beautifully after blocking. Originally the shawl was cream, however, the requested color was periwinkle. Sooo... I got to dye something for the very first time! I hopped over to JoAnn's and grabbed one of their powered dye packs of "deep purple".

I only used about a teaspoon of powder in 4 gallons of water and the color turned out perfectly!

Here is the finished product...

Getting to Give Away The Gifts

This past weekend my husband Jason and I drove to Austin, Texas to see some friends and while we were there our friends Jeni and Andrew (the a fore mentioned friends who are having a "little geeky baby") were able to meet up with us.

There was delicious pizza and a tour of their new house and then... GIFTS! I had been making tons of things for them every since we had found out about their baby (all of these things have been featured on this very blog even) and I was finally able to give the gifts to them!



































































































Jeni and Andrew are the perfect people to give gifts to; they squeal and exclaim awesomeness at all the right moments :-)

We <3 you Jeni and Andrew... you geeky, geeky parents-to-be you!

Molly Weasley Sweater Update #2

I've been working on the body of the sweater for awhile now, in between Christmas projects and whatnot, and I've finally finished the first half which I attached to the sleeves and thought I would share!

I woke my mom up to have her model for y'all... she asked to remain faceless and I obliged :-)





















What do you think? I'd love to here your comments! Hopefully I will get the other half done soon and I'll have a full completed costume update for the next one :-D

Lace!

Well, not real lace, but teeny tiny crochet that looks like lace.

It's made with mercerized cotton and the tiniest hook I have ever seen. This one took me about an hour and a half the first time I made one. The second took about 45 minutes. I've made 4 so far and hope to get the time down with each one that I make. So far it's working :-)

















So there you go. I love it! I'm thinking of making a pillow and having the lace over a solid color. I really like the way the color shows through! We'll see... a tablecloth would be nice too, but I'm not sure I could make 250 of them and maintain my sanity!

Pattern: Here is the pattern if you would like to attempt one for your very own!

Happy crafting!

Update on the Molly Weasley Sweater

Hey all!

I have an update on the Molly Weasley Sweater! Here are the finished sleeves!!

































Currently they are just pinned to a regular shirt, but I have started making the sweater part and am almost done with the first half of the front! I'm making it in the dark purple color that you see in the sleeves. The original one is pink, but mom wanted purple so that she could wear it all the time instead of just to the movie!

Anyway, that's all the update I have for now. :-)

Happy Crafting!!

Just in time for the 4th

One of the many things I'm making for friends and family this year for Christmas was an American flag afghan (which is sooooo soft, I love it!)
















This little beauty only took about 10 hours total and the finished size is 6ft by 4ft. The pattern is one that I made myself and is not really anything special in and of itself, but I wanted a little variation to give the strips some depth.

Rows 1-2: DC across all stitches
Rows 3-5: SC across all stitches
Rows 6-7: DC across all stitches
Change colors and repeat rows 1-7

For the stars I followed a pattern that I found online and then sewed them on top of the blue with a quick whip stitch. I can't find the pattern for the stars again, but it was so easy that I still remember it.

Stars -
Row 1: ch 3. 9 dc in 3rd ch from hook, join round with a slip stitch.
Row 2: ch 5. Slip stitch in first ch from hook, SC in next ch, HDC in next chain, DC in next ch. Skip 1 DC and slip stitch in next.
Repeat row 2 until all 5 points are created.

















Like I said, this was a very quick and fun project and I would highly recommend making your own this year! Happy early 4th of July to all! :-D

Baby Blanket

With pretty much everyone I know having babies I've been making a TON of these lately. Generally I make the same one, it's so cute and so easy that it's been my long time favorite. I'll post about that one next time I make it.

But this time I have a new blanket. This one features 'popcorn hearts' offset by granny squares. I used a green and cream colorway (the green isn't really that dark in real life). Never having attempted popcorns before, because I was a little afraid of them, assuming that they were very difficult, I was a little skeptical about how this blanket would turn out. But, I went for it and much to my surprise, popcorn crochet stitch is unbelievably simple!

Look at how fun they are! (Sorry it's so blurry!)

















I'm sure everyone in the world knew how simple this stitch was, but in case there are some like me who had no clue, I'll give you a super quick rundown.

Working on the wrong side - SC in stitch before the stitch where the popcorn will go. *Working in back loop only, YO pull up loop, pull stitch through 2 loops, YO pull up loop, pull stitch through 2 loops leaving 3 loops on needle. Repeat from * until there are 5 loops on hook, pull stitch through all 5 loops. SC in stitch right after popcorn.

Super easy, super cute!

Here is the finished product! I love it!

Success!

Well, I guess the old adage "wash your car and it will start raining" works for blogs too. As soon as I complained about it, I found the cords I was looking for :-)

I was a so annoyed with losing the cords that I started a new project right after posting about it... Molly Weasley's sweater from the 2nd movie. For the release of the 7th movie my mom decided she would be Mrs. Weasley... and for those of you who know of Mrs. Weasley and who know my mom know that this is a perfect fit! I actually made ridiculous headway while fuming about the lost cords. In just an hour I got this much done...

















Here is a picture of the original for those who haven't seen the movie.


















The yarn I have is pretty cheapo stuff, so I'm going to go and grab some nice soft cotton tomorrow so that the piece will flow right. But for now I just wanted to try out my pattern. Since the only ones I could find where either not faithful to the movie or you had to pay for them, I just decided to make up my own. We'll see how it goes, but I like it so far!

Will update on the sweater with a pattern once it's finished!

First Knitted Sweater

Well, here it is! My first attempt at knitting...















No, one sleeve it not shorter than the other, it just kinda looks that way from the way I folded it!

I used a very loose version of this pattern. I made it with 3/4 length sleeves and with a standard v-neck instead of that in the actual pattern. I also used a garter stitch instead of the stockinette. So basically, I just used this patten to know when to narrow in for the sleeves!

I thought a little crochet edging might look nice as well, so I used this pattern for the edge of the sleeves and around the bottom edge of the sweater and it turned out really well!















The fit is perfect and all I have to do is tuck in all the loose ends. I love how soft this sweater turned out. The I love this cotton! yarn from Hobby Lobby is excellent and very soft!

That's all for now, I'm starting my portrait crochet project this week and will update as soon as it starts to look like anything recognizable! :-)

Happy Crafting!

Dragon!!

Update: Click here for the pattern! I just realized the link was a little too embedded to see well :-)

Hello all!

I know it's been awhile so I thought I would whip up something extra special to try and make up for it.

I saw this adorable pattern about a month ago and have been dying to make it every since. But with one project or another in the works, I didn't want to have too many things going at once and therefore refrained from making one.

However! I finished the sweater I had been working on this Friday and decided to take the weekend off to make something really fun! So here it is... my dragon!












































I know, I know... it's almost too cute for words, but I'll try :-D

I used Little Britches yarn in Baby Camo with a 5.5mm crochet hook which, looking back, was a little too big. I had never made a crochet stuffed animal before so this was a completely new crocheting experience for me!

Much to my surprise however, it was relatively simple and quick! In total the entire project took about 6 hours. Which I think is pretty darn good for a first time dragon maker!

I still need to embroider the eyes and talons onto the finished dragon, but I was just too excited to show everyone that I couldn't wait to post!

Anyway, I love it and I hope you do too! If you would like to try your hand at making your very own dragon, you can find the pattern that I used here.

Next up: The sweater...
As I mentioned above, I finished my first hand knitted sweater this week! Post and pictures soon to follow :-)

Happy Crafting!

Harry Potter Sweater and Pattern

For Christmas this year I decided to make my two younger brothers a Harry Potter inspired Weasley sweater. Instead of a W for Weasley I decided to put an M for Moore.

I had never tried color changing with crochet before, and it was a bit tricky, but it worked out really well in the end. I'll talk more about that a little later.

I used this pattern that I found online. It has a really great ribbing technique that turned out amazingly well. After finding the pattern, I used a piece of graph paper to chart out the big M for the middle.

Just recently I found a really great website that will chart an image for you at a 1 square to 1 stitch ratio... it's pretty awesome. knitPro is a great way to chart your pattern without much effort.

The yarn that I used felt very soft when I picked it out... buuuuut, it wasn't for the final product. One yarn that I have fallen in love with is I Love This Cotton yarn brand. It comes in many colors, is available at most hobby and craft stores and is lightweight and very comfortable when crocheted or knitting into a final product.

Anyway, I mentioned changing colors earlier so here is the technique I used with the double crochet stitch for the pattern.



It took about 18 hours per sweater for the entire process, including sewing it together, which I did with a whip stitch on the backloop of each stitch while the pieces were facing each other right side to right side.

All in all I think the sweaters turned out really well, especially for a first attempt! Next time (and yes, I'm sure there will be a next time) I will use the I love this cotton yarn for an even better result!

If you use this pattern to make your own Harry Potter inspired sweater send me a picture here and I will post it! :-)

Happy crafting!

Sneak peek... Portrait Crocheting!












My friend Lee over at Totallee.net got me interested in the idea with her amazing creations shown above. So I have started my first attempt! Which I will show you soon...