What are you doing?

Found this book at the library.  Some of the techniques I'm familiar with (beaded, Tunisian, hairpin lace),  but there are a few new things I want to try out.  

First I'm trying entrelac.  This was chosen first, cause the other project i want to try requires multiple colors.   I've seen entrelac in knitting, but have never tried it before.  The whole squares are pretty easy once you figure out what's happening, but I'm struggling a bit figuring out the edge triangles.  

I really want to try the overlay crochet shown on the cover, so pretty!  Anyways, the book has lots of neat projects in it, check it out!

I'm trying this new thing. Actually doing some of the cool patterns I have pinned on Pinterest. :)  The winner this week is this cute little owl purse pattern at Maggie Makes Stuff  and had to try it out. I still need to add the zipper and lining. But isn't she cute!! I might add a little strap too, but haven't decided yet.

Lastly,  I joined The Crochet Crowd Amazing Shawl challenge this month.  It was a lot of fun to work on.  Once I got used to the pattern it was easy to work on while sitting with the kids at bedtime.  The nice thing is this pattern is a "join as you go" which means no sewing when you finish crocheting everything. Just hiding your tails, which you should be doing as finish each element anyways. But sometimes we get lazy and just want to finish the project already!! Yes I spent a couple days of just weaving in ends, Blah!

Close up of the design.  Can you tell I'm on a purple kick this month?

Finished shawl!  It's huge, about 6 1/2 ft long!  So proud of myself for finishing the whole thing!!

So that's what I've been working on.  How about you?  What projects do you have in the works?

Baby Showers

We have lots of baby and wedding showers coming up soon, and me with no money to spend. I like to give handmade gifts anyways! I just have to be a bit more creative in using supplies I already have or find a nice upcycling project.  

I have plenty of yarn, especially cotton and I love baby shoes. There are so many amazing free patterns on the internet.  These are the ones I liked.
Some really cute loafers (with video tutorial) from Crochet Hooks You for the boys and some adorable slippers for the girls from Moira Crochets.

I have been working on thinning out my fabric stash, but still have enough for some baby footwear. They use such small pieces. I also think denim for baby shoes is super cute & and great way to re-use worn out jeans.  Again, some nice free patterns. I love the pinstripes on these little man shoes from Schwin & Schwin or these nice basic baby shoes from Stardust Shoes to personalize with fabric or embellishments.

For friends I know are going the cloth diaper route, and if I have appropriate fabrics, I can do some diaper covers or inserts.  But, that'll have to be another post. I don't have pictures ready.

For weddings I like to do nice napkins.  I am striving for a greener lifestyle and cloth napkins help to cut back on paper use and they're nice for fancy dinners too.  There are lots of ways to finish the edges on napkins, I like the mitered corners shown nicely by Skip to my Lou, they look extra fancy.


PS. Need to get someone to teach me how to do picture links!!

Baby Hats

Since I'm due in October, have several friends due in October or November and a couple cousins due this winter also I was looking for quick & cute baby gifts. Came across a bunch of cute crochet patterns for newborn hats. I posted pictures of the hats I've done already on facebook, but thought I should put them on here with links to the patterns for other hookers.

We'll start with my personal favorite. Allicrafts provided the pattern for the earflap newborn hat .  I used a variegated cotton yarn in white, light blue & lime green. Instead of doing the braided strings on the earflaps I just did a chain and went over it with single crochet as I went around the edge of the hat. I think I'm keeping this one for myself.

Next up is the deeply textured hat also from Allicrafts. This is also done in cotton yarn - bright red this time. The texture doesn't show up as nicely in the picture as in real life. You can see the texture of the stitch on the pattern website. It's really a beautiful looking hat. This was one of the smaller newborn hats. I chose not to finish the edge with the crabstitch as it isn't very stretchy. I just did a final round of single crochet around the bottom.

Number three hat is the fuzzy bear hat , again from Allicrafts. She has some very nice patterns. She has also included the pattern for 3 and 6 months size.  I used some leftover homespun yarn in brown & blue. I didn't quite have enough brown for the hat and ears, so made the ears in blue and then added a blue stripe to tie into the ears color. I think it turned out extremely cute.  This is my 2nd favorite hat.

Now a pattern from a different site. "The blue crab stitches at midnight" offers this cute pattern for the sweet and simple newborn hat . This was done in a purple cotton yarn. It's a very simple pattern, good for beginners. The scallops going around the bottom make the edge a little less stretchy but this hat is a little larger. I think you could fold up the bottom edge a bit for the newborn and let it down as baby gets a bit bigger. I left this one plain, but may add a flower later in a complimentary color. It also might look nice with the scallops done in a different color.

I did another hat from this same pattern. This one is done in "I love this wool" I think. I can't find the remnant that had the label on it. It 's a nice soft yard in a very soft pink color. I added a couple of simple 5 petal flowers in the same yarn and edged one in purple with sc.

Next, back to Allicrafts for the bobbolicious newborn hat . I found this hat to come out a little small so I took it apart and added a round before starting the bobbles to give just a little more head room. This was done in a light, creamy yellow cotton. It makes a cute little bobbly hat. Sorry the picture came out blurry. I couldn't get the camera to focus.

Our model is a baby doll we've had for several years. My 7 yr old got this baby when her brother was born and since it was bigger than all her other baby dolls, it earned the name "Bigger" and the name has stuck. Bigger is very close to newborn size so he's good for trying on patterns. Hope you enjoy the patterns as much as I did!