Another crochet round-up.

"Hmmm...addicted to crochet you are." Stop being so judgey, Crochet Yoda.

Hi, all!

So, here we are again with yet another bunch of things I crocheted. Yup. No shame here. There will be another one coming as soon as I get a chance to take some photos.

First up is this koala bear I made for my daughter for Valentine's Day. She's a bit koala obsessed. This pattern from Stitch-Em was easy to follow. The only change I made was to use large button eyes instead of embroidering them. The puffy tail is too cute!

I also made this little heart shaped basket for my daughter. Petals & Picots has an adorable pattern. Instead of doing the X shapes on the sides, I kept mine pretty plain with a double crochet and added a ribbon woven through the spaces. Since I made mine taller I needed more definition in the shape, so I sewed the points at the top and the bottom.

Just purely by happy accident the box of candy hearts I bought for her fits perfectly inside the basket. I couldn't have done that on purpose if I tried!

The next one is near and dear to my little nerdy heart. Lucy Collin has a fabulous Star Wars crochet kit out that's jam-packed with so many fun amigurumi versions of all the best characters from the older films. She's currently working on another Star Wars book and I sooooo cannot wait to get my hands on it.

Of course my first one was Yoda, but he needed a buddy. Lucy has her Salacious Crumb pattern up for free on her blog. I think if I had it to do over again, I would have used safety eyes rather than embroidering them. I'm really terrible at embroidery. Obviously.

This next one is the first big project I've tackled. My daughter wanted me to make her a sweater, so I let her pick out the colors she wanted. I had some issues with this pattern. I ended up making so many changes. The original pattern is Lion Brand Yarns Next Generation Crewneck Pullover. I'm sure the problems happened because I'm new at this. I'm still trying to figure a lot of stuff out.

One thing I did differently was to stop sewing before I reached the end of the sleeves. Even though I measured everything carefully, the sleeve's end was too tight for my daughter to put her hand through it.

She is able to roll it up and it stays cuffed.

The neck hole ended up being way too big, so I went around it a few times with a double crochet stitch and just for fun I chain stitched a ribbon that I wove through and made a bow. I definitely wouldn't put a drawstring on a small child's sweater though. That seems like it could be dangerous. Right?!?

Sewing the sleeves into the body was a bit tricky for me. I had to make adjustments to that, as well. I also had to add on to the bottom of the sweater. I guess she grew a lot from the time I originally measured her to the time I finished it. Random growth spurts are fun!

Have you given crochet a try? If so, I'd love to see what you've done.

Love,

Heart on a StringMommy-Daughter Necklace Set

You've got my heart on a string!

Hearts and Flowers was the theme for Iron Craft's second challenge of the year. I did a simple Mommy-Daughter necklace set out of shrink plastic, some cord, a couple of jump rings, and a few self-adhesive rhinestones. It was so Super Simple! The smaller heart is made from the inside of the larger heart and the three sparklies represent the three members of our family. Just cut the shapes out with scissors and a craft knife, make the holes with a hole punch, and bake according to directions. After they've cooled, add the rhinestones and jump rings and string it onto some cord. And then give one to your little Valentine. Or keep it for yourself and layer them. Whatever.

Valentine's Pop-Up Card

Of course there's someone I love more than cupcakes!

Pop-up cards are a lot of fun. For me, anyway. Iron Craft's first challenge of the year, Paper, is because this is also Iron Craft's first anniversary. (By the way, happy anniversary!!!) For the first challenge of the year, I decided to step out of my comfort zone a little. For the first time ever, I embossed. With embossing powder. And a heat tool. Yeah...I'm a bit behind of the crafting curve...by a good fifteen years or so.

Happy Valentine's Day! - hair clips & a card

Zara's getting new hairbows for Valentine's Day. Shh! Don't tell!

So, somewhere around noon yesterday I remembered that tomorrow (today) is Valentine's Day! Eeep! I had so much to do and very little time left. My utter lack of reality bit me in the tushy. It's so hard keeping track of time when every day is pretty much the same. That's my excuse, anyway.

Valentine's Day - Free Printables

Valentine's Day is coming up. I'm sure you haven't been able to step foot into a store lately without being hit in the face with that fact. And since Valentine's Day is all about love, I thought I'd spread a little love around. I made a few gifts for you. The images are 8x10 and they print on 8 1/2x11 paper at 100%.  They are for personal use only. Enjoy!

Click on the images to download.

I Heart Valentine's Day: a wreath with a lotta heart.

Happy Valentine's Day! Love, My Front Door

Well, not so much the day itself. But I love, love, love all things pink and over-the-top girly. Valentine's Day is one of those days where I can cover everything in glittery hearts and no one will raise an eyebrow. It's kind of Liberace meets Glinda the Good Witch. Gotta love that. My first project to actually be finished for Valentine's Day is the wreath for my front door. The hook over the door was getting lonely hanging there on it's own since Christmas.