scarf & mitt

My very first ever official crocheted item was a light blue scarf in Red Heart's super saver yarn--all single crochet, with a fringe. Certainly not exciting. It was for my daughter, because, well, it had to have some purpose and I was growing bored this simple project and wanted to make is smaller, not longer. But my crochet world expanded rapidly after that and I became aware of the many other options available to me. Suddenly, it was not good enough!

So, in my ever-increasing list of projects I want to get done, I added "Scarf for Miss C" into it. And I let her choose a yarn. A light blue, of course. I hesitated for a while since it was a more of a chunky chenille style that intimidated me. I got it for 99 cents (well, $2.97--I indulged in three!) since it's discontinued (Patons Be Mine).


Then, she fell in love with Lion Brand's Wool-Ease in a white with a shimmery ribbon running through it. I really don't know why she's always shopping in the yarn department; I should make her stop! I only bought one of them since there was no grand 99 cent sale and I had no grand plans, either.


My mind worked around this over and over, contemplating what to do and finally I decided she'd get her scarf -- with both yarns run together. She scored a hand-warming mitt, too. I ran out of the white in the last 2 stitches, but that was just funny to me, since you can't tell. I also made the super thick scarf to short and wide and therefore, my one day project became two as I unravelled the entire thing and redid it a bit narrower, allowing for more length.


I created it myself, but it's certainly not a novel idea since I'm sure a thousand patterns follow this same stitching--2 double crochets in one stitch, skip a stitch, 2 dc in one st, etc...the rest of the rows use the space between the dc's as the spot for your 2 dc's.


The mitt is shorter and wider and stitched together to give it the roundness...that's it.


And Miss C kindly posed with her lollipop in her mouth, watching tv...

preemie things

I, too, wanted to make a hat for Laurel's friend with the newborn preemie. My first attempt did not seem to be quite what I expected from the directions and gauge (though that could just as easily be my own fault), so I tried again with bigger yarn and found a nice pattern for booties as well.

I have two pictures to share. The first is a baby doll around our house--the really small kind--trying the hat and booties on for sizing purposes.

The second is both hats and the booties with an 8.5 oz water bottle that shows the smallness of everything. ON the water bottle cap was that first, too-small attempt. Next to it you will see the matching hat and booties that will go to Henry. As I was at the pediatrician's this past week, I asked which hat would work best. Since the bigger one was not too stretchy, that one was the better choice. But the smaller one might not have been too far off--and would probably fit a 400 gram baby, I was told. Which says maybe the pattern wasn't as off as I thought.

Now I need to mail it off before he's too big...

So-Soft Baby Hat

Quick and Easy Bootie

Tapestry Crochet

Has done a probject using tapestry crochet or something similar? I am trying to do an afghan with one background color and a design in a contrasting color. The pattern isn't too hard to read, and I have figured out carrying the contrasting yarn under the main color but am wondering how to make the changes of color "neat". I have a bleed-over problem when I pick up and drop off the design color. It's only about 1/2 of a stitch, but it's driving me crazy (unless it's supposed to do that, in which case, I'm doing really well). I found an online video through You Tube, but her design is so small and it's not an up close video, so I can't tell if her stitches are doing that. Just wondering if anyone has any ideas.

Getting ready for Christmas

If you want to make handmade things for the holidays, it is not too early to start preparing. If you started a stocking now, you should have plenty of time to finish one for December 25th. Here are the four I have knitted for our family.

Snowman Pattern
(I bought this as a kit from my local yarn store so I didn't have to pick out my own yarn. It is wool so it needs to be stored properly in the summertime. It would be so sad to find a moth hole come Christmastime.)

Cabin Pattern

This pattern was found in a book from my local library. It was my first stocking and is also the easiest pattern. The snowman and snowballs are not part of the stocking but were knit afterward separately and just sewed on. It also is the only stocking that was not knit in the round (either with double pointed needles or circular needles). But it was knit flat and the seam was sewed up the side. Easier for a beginner.

Snowman Pattern

I must confess that they do not hold heavy items well, so in our house Santa takes them off the mantle and puts them on the couch or somewhere nearby the mantle after he fills them. If I try to put heavy items in (like fruit), it sags way down. I do not think this is because of something I did wrong but just a limitation of a hand knit stocking. Oh well, nobody seems to mind on Christmas morning!

Too early birthday preemie hat

My friend Nikki's son Henry Paul decided to make his appearance 14 weeks early. Now, I would supremely preferred if he could have held on for a few more weeks. But we're still glad to meet him, and his little head needs a hat even more than a full-term baby. Here's the Too Early Birthday hat pattern I followed for this hat, using Bunny hop yarn. (However, I used size 6 needles rather than the size 7 specified in the pattern since Henry is so very tiny.) The second picture is for scale with my husband's cell phone.


I really enjoyed knitting this hat for Henry because I feel so powerless to help him. I was glad to at least feel productive in making him something. When I have more time, I can see mass-producing hats like this for all those tiny infants in the NICUs who need any extra love they can receive.

teething star

I had a tiny whim on my over stretched budget one day--I wanted to buy a bit of the glow-in-the-dark yarn by Bernat for my kids. I decided if it was pricey, they'd each get to choose a color and I'd do something fun. That is exactly how it turned out, and I made small animals that were blurry in their pictures--a dragon and a "melon ball" kitty. Then, I was perusing the Bernat site looking at patterns which is a desparate addiction for me--ahem--and I found a star pattern using that yarn. Of course, I got to thinking about it and changed it up. Rather than using the glowy yarn, I used their Cottontots (something I bought that same day since I wanted to experiment with some different yarns for upcoming baby gifts).

I've decided this makes a most perfect teething toy when not stuffed. My baby boy finds it so easy to hold and chew on versus the hard platic toys or bulky washcloths or whatever else there is. I can also easily add enough yarn length to attach it to strollers or car seats--safely.

Baby blanket

Here is the baby blanket I knit for my second son.

I knit it before I knew he was a boy - we were surprised at birth - so I picked colors and a design that would work for a girl or boy. I used this lovely yarn. I don't have a link to the pattern - I found it in a library book. By the way, the library is a great source for free patterns. Yes, I'm cheap but I have yet to pay money to buy a pattern. Of course it helps that my aunt and uncle own this shop and are very generous. :)