Monsoon Day Beanie

Summers in Phoenix are .... toasty.

It puts me in quite the conundrum because so many crochets items are thought of as traditionally Autumn and Winter. Any summer day I will challenge that! Starting with my Pokemon Squirtle project I completed recently.

Buuut, truly deep in my heart I long for cool breezes and crunchy leaves. Lucky for me- Arizona monsoon season is in full effect.Storms blow through so quickly. Barely enough time to, say, whip up a child's beanie! But that did stop me from trying today!

Hello you beautiful 70 degrees. Stay a while won't you?

For this child's beanie I used Whistle & Ivy's Puppy Love pattern. I love this little heart stitch! I wanted an ombre effect so I used pink, variegated, and white yarn.

As if kiddos in beanies isn't hip enough, I made an oversized pom pom for the top.

Thank you pom pom maker!

Boom!

This hat will be up for sale in my Etsy shop. Check it out! 

I was also thinking of doing a sort of "mommy & me" set and adding an adult sized hat. What do you think?

Giraffe Themed Newborn Set

I love customer orders. It is so much fun to work the the customer and create something unique! Sometimes the customer has a very specific request, other times it starts as just the beginning of an idea and I can take it and run with it. Remember guys, I am a professional... I know what I am doing (despite the huge mess this appears to be!).

Back in February my friend approached me and requested that I make an afghan for her friend's baby due in April. Very excited at the opportunity to broaden my horizons, we threw around some ideas before she decided that she would like a giraffe themed gift set. I sent her some examples and got to work.

The first product, as posted on my social media pages, are these adorable little Ugg-style baby booties. I decided to make them larger than newborn so they were more versatile size-wise. With summer being right around the corner, I would hate to make a product that the baby could hardly wear! I used this pattern from Jinty Lyons. The pattern was a little finicky and I decided to change the hook size so I could get nice tight stitches. I measured and compared with size charts online to make sure I was on the right track. Although the booties are not specifically "giraffe" themed, I love the color combo and thought it complimented the other pieces well.

Second, this lovely little giraffe hat. I used this pattern from Repeat Crafter Me. It is one of many animal themed hats that are all adorable. I used an amazingly soft pastel yellow for the body that worked up nicely. This hat definitely required more work than I bargained! Lots of sewing and securing and weaving in ends.



But it was totally worth it because I cannot get over how cute it turned out. The back has just as much character as the front!

Lastly, this giraffe lovey is the best of both worlds! A blankie and a stuffed animal, loveys are really popular right now. I feel in some regions and cultures new families are overwhelmed with handmade blankets. So much love and time goes into making them, I think this smaller piece is a great alternative. The pattern is from LuLu's Crafts . Fantastic pattern and I just added a decorative row and scalloped border. I used the pattern for spots from the Repeat Crafter Me hat.

I love the way everything came together. Working on so many different pieces of varying sizes and colors and yarn types provided a fun challenge. I hope you enjoyed my post and let me know what you think in the comments below!

Pip's Hat

I suppose I have been in a hat-making mood! I have lots of friends living in the Land of Frost and I think hats make a perfect handmade and practical gift for giving. My cute friend Pip hails from the land of Minnesota so she is no stranger to cold. She has a perfectly adorable style so I thought this cabled beanie from All About Ami would be perfect for her.



I went with a rather neutral gray. I wanted something that would match lots of her outfits without detracting from them. Buut I also know that gray is just way too much NOT Pip, so I jazzed it up with a multicolor pom pom in her favorite colors.

Oh wait...did someone say pom pom?! Oh! Better use that pom pom maker! *fist pump* 

I rather like the combination and balance between practical and fun in this hat. It was the perfect opportunity to practice cables, which I originally embarked on for the Zucchini Cable Scarf. Cables are definitely trendy right now, but also very classic.

The only modification I would consider for the pattern would be to maybe do the band a hook size down, just so it fits nice and snug. But it is a great pattern and All About Ami's patterns are all amazing. They are so easy and enjoyable to make. Look how cute she is hiking in Arches National Park!

Festive Little Bow

If I think the holidays sneak up on me.... holiday parties are even worse. Just meaning that they always come even before the holidays and before you know it you need 3 gifts for a gift exchange, cans of food to donate, toys to donate, and so much more. Well you get all that purchased then you realize that the gifts that need wrapping have none.

You know you're not going back to the store. But you don't wanna be a Grinch. So you do what you are at least semi-good at, and get creative! 

I had this pretty standard gift bag but I wanted to spice it up a little. Enter: festive bow embellishment. 

It is a simple enough idea that I created mis-mashing two ideas that are fairly commonplace.

Bow from: Things to Make and Do 

The curled ribbon ends: Maz Kwok's Designs

I made the bow first (but stop before you wrap around the center), then the tails, slip stitch, second tail, slipstitch, then use yarn to wrap around the center. Simple! 

Small embellishments like this are great because they are so versatile and quick.

C2C Christmas Character Graphghan

Ahh, the blogosphere! The biggest small corner of the world wide web. It is so fun to always be able to stumble upon new blogs. Just like I did with Sarah Zimmerman's blog Repeat Crafter Me. The blog is truly wonderful and she has spectacular free patterns. She recently released 9 blocks for a Christmas Character Afghan.

And as with most projects made with yarn- I couldn't wait to get started. The only things was... I had no idea how to do the technique it utilized- "Corner to Corner" (or c2c) crochet. Well! That has never stopped me before, so why would it now?

[Source]

Crafting and creating are made so much easier by the aforementioned internet. I hoped on over to The Crochet Crowd website to find a wonderful tutorial for c2c, commonly used for "graphghan" projects like this. After some trial runs I decided there was no time like the present and I got to work. 

Between my lovely 1990s floral couch and (never-ending) quilted headboard fabric (finished! Read about it here), there is a lot going on in this picture. Over half-way done with the square and you can see my method for keeping track of my rows. I printed the pattern and slipped it in a sheet protector so I could use a dry-erase marker to denote progress and direction. Much more difficult than I originally thought.

And... just like that! The Santa square is complete. It needs a little blocking for sure. It isn't perfect but for my first try it's not too bad. I will just have to keep at it. But for now: 

Merry Christmas in October!

Cube Infinity Scarf

In crochet, it doesn't take long before you are itching to zoom past the basics of single crochet, double crochet, etc. You want to grow your skills and really "wow" people. This free pattern, coincidentally from a blog titled Grow Creative, does just that.

"Cube Infinity Scarf"

Each row is a different pattern but before long you get the hang of it and it is so interesting to see it coming together so fast. The pictures did not turn out great because I cranked out this project as a birthday present for a friend. But the blue color of the scarf is absolutely breathtaking.

Sometimes I see yarn and it "speaks" to me. Well, this yarn immediately reminded me of my good friend from Grenada, maybe because it matches her perfect blue eyes?! 

I hope she enjoys the scarf, and her happy birthday!

Lite Brite Scarf: Faux Broomstick Lace

When I look for patterns online I try to find a balance between challenging and do-able. I had seen and saved this broomstick lace pattern, but it looked a little tricky. Then one day I rolled past a "Faux Broomstick Lace." And since "faux" often = easier, I knew I had to check it out.

Still, I put it off. Then, with trepidation, I approached.

Pattern: Faux Broomstick Lace by: A Southern Lady's Ramblings

I did a double take.
       Only 250 yards?!

Triple take.
            Only 2 rows and second repeats?!

Quadruple take. 
                  ONLY ONE STITCH = single crochet?!

The pattern truly was a simple as it sounds. The trick is to use an over-sized crochet hook (check!). Then you stretch and the loose stitches pull tight so you get the faux lace effect! Pretty neat. You can see my during and after pictures below.



The scarf was about 9" wide and shrunk down to 4" wide while it was only 50" long and stretched out to a whole 90" long!! It was like magic, and an absolutely dreamy way to use this ahh-maazing yarn I got that is softer than a baby cherub's locks.



I have named it the Lite Brite scarf because when I modeled it with my black t-shirt it totally reminds me of afternoons spent playing with the Lite Brite with my siblings.

Because the scarf stretches so nicely you can wear it a few different ways.

Like two loops:



or three!:

Now comes the hardest part.... listing it in my shop! I am having a hard time letting this one go!

Lover's Knot Infinity Scarf

Am I the only one who saw this pin running rampant on Pinterest awhile back?

[Source]

And am I the only one who was disappointed when I (finally) opened it up and found it was in some language I can't even identify?

Just means more of a mystery to be solved and another stitch to be conquered!

After some digging I found a great blog with a blogger who felt the same. Turns out she is pretty smart and did all the work to create a perfect tutorial for the Lover's Knot stitch. Thank you Amelia is Rabbit!

I went the Michael's Joann's Lobby, conveniently located in my living room, and found the perfect yarn. Yarn doesn't always speak to me. But this yarn spoke and screamed.

I love this stitch because it looks Celtic, so what better yarn then a bright green yarn with the tiniest hint of glitter (which is difficult to capture in the photos).

It reminds me of Merida from Disney's Brave.

My biggest hesitation was getting each loop exactly the right length. I loved the way it turned out. It is nice and light so it is perfect for us Southern California residents who are still wishfully dreaming of Fall.



I wanted to follow the trend of infinity scarfs so I went ahead and made it happen by crocheting a row and using it to join it all together.

Crazy Shell Infinity Scarf

I dove head-first into this whole selling crochet madness. I got to work making up products to list. And I kept making, and making, until I realized I had a sufficient amount of products to at least try out this whole thing.

I don't know if I will sell anything, but I am trying my best to give the people what they want. My sister is an avid scarf wearer and so I roped her in to giving me input on the products I was making. I kept the mantra,

"Is this what the people want?!" 

Truth be told, there is no way to know. But I think this may be the biggest crowd pleaser of the scarves I have made so far. The pattern is simple but not boring. Fun, but not crazy. I'm not a huge pink fan, but even the color definitely grew on me.

Guess I will have to save this one for October- Breast Cancer Awareness month!

"Crazy Shell Infinity Scarf" pattern courtesy of The Batter's Box. It was a new but simple stitch that moved along quite nicely. Lastly I just had to include this picture I have titled:

"Pure Exhaustion: Or, time to put down the hook and go to Bed"



So I will, for now! 

Towel Holder

I have a few different rolls of cotton yarn that have sat for quite some time in my stash. I work mostly with acrylic yarn so I always feel like cotton yarn is this unknown and special realm. It's not really. It's just more expensive so I reserve it for projects that are more essentially benefited from the use of cotton yarn. Like projects that you will wash and dry.

Hobbies turn into skills which although primarily for fun, can come in handy.

My apartment has this odd oven with like a 1/4 inch gap between the oven door and the handle (really just a towel holder, right?). Pretty much it is impossible to fit a towel through that little crack. Especially if it is being used often.

Well, I found a solution! A bright and fun towel holder that fits nice and snug on the handle and holds dish towels wonderfully!



I got the {Free} pattern from Little Birdie Secrets here. Simple and effective!