One gift for Gramma, one scarf missing

Well, I decided to try my hand at fingerless mittens.  Not being one who ever has cold hands, I was skeptical about their effectiveness, but I have been assured by cold handed moms in my "focus group" that these are awesome!   So with my daughters speech therapist and my mother in law in mid, I went to trying out a pattern.   It's a great, easy pattern that crochets up fast, as long as you get a handle on the front/back post stitch.  It's actually a fun stitch!   I wanted to make a matching hat for my MIL but didnt have enough pink yarn and wanted to use only from existing stash, so I made a white/pink stripey hat from this basic pattern, with a ribbed brim to match the mitts.   I added the flowers to the hat and the mitts just to spruce it all up.  I hope she likes them!

For a swap I was in,  I made this fabulous broomstick lace scarf and a matching hat.  The hat was a bit wonky, but the scarf was so pretty with the stitch and the fall colors, I had hoped it would make up for the hats' shortcomings.   Alas, by the time I finished the hat, the scarf went missing.  Gone.  Nowhere to be found.  I have torn every inch of this house apart and cannot find that scarf.   All I can think is that it ended up in a goodwill box and some lucky stiff is running around with my swap partners intended scarf for the low, low price of $2.92 (or half off on Wednesdays).   Sigh.   But here she is for posterity.

So for my ever patient swap partner, I decided to finish up the baby shells ear warmer.  I also love these colors and while its small and not as impressive as a scarf, it probably took me longer to make it, since it has so many color changes and eleventymillion ends to weave.   I hope she likes it. 

I'm also throwing in one of my snow dudes and a turkey butt for her.   :)

5 down, 15 to go!

After the Turkey Butt diversion, I got back into Christms ornaments.  I took another crack at a snowman ornament and, while this one is cute too, neither are ornament sized.  (I started with the Bo the Snowman pattern, but ended up going my own way again.)  One of these days I will make a snowman small enough to hang from a tree.   I used safety eyes instead of buttons and added a flower to his hat.  Not sure which eyes I like better.  Here are both snowdudes side by side for comparision.

Below the snowmen, is Fancy Ornament in Blue.   I added bells for a little flair because I wasn't sure Fancy Ornament was fancy enough.   But my daughter was thrilled with Fancy Ornament and declared that she wants it for her teacher and 2 more Fancy Ornaments for her other teachers.   Luckily, Fancy Ornament crochets up in record time, so I think I will knock one child's teachers' gifts out before the weekend!  

Finally, I made a gingerbread house ornament.  It wasn't too time consuming, I got the bulk of it done during our nightly pre-bed Little Bill episode, but its a bit picky with all of the small parts and the sewing.  I may do one more of these and attach all of the "candy" before I sew the two pieces of the house together.  I think that will make it go much smoother. 



What, what, Turkey Butt???

I stumbled across the Turkey Butt pattern early on in my crocheting "career" (like in March LOL) and knew I would be making them come November.   But much to my dismay, the link to the original pattern was broken everywhere I looked.   Thanks to the wonders of the Way Back Machine, I was able to find a cached version and voila...turkey butt magnets.  

I whipped up 4 during naptime and added the magnets with a glue gun after the kids were in bed.  Easy peasy!   I love these guys! 

Christmas: 2 of 20

My goal is to create 20 different small ornaments/figures for Christmas to use as gifts for teachers, therapists, bus drivers, friends, etc.   Maybe coupled with some homemade treats.    Since I love small quick projects and variety, this should be right up my alley. 

The poinsettia was deceptively long and tedious.  I wanted to make the second row of red petals but I couldnt stomach the thought of 6 more repetitions, so I assembled.   Its still pretty cute.  

The snowman, I love!   He is so cute, I just want to snuggle him and keep him myself.   I started following this pattern, but their head was about the size of what I wanted for the body, so I just pretty much worked the rest of it out myself.    (The red on both looks a bit orange, but they are bright red.)

18 to go!

Why hello, Kitty!

Is this purse adorable or what?  I needed something cute, simple and quick for Elly's pre-K BFF's birthday party this Saturday.  Quick being the operative word because I have a killer test this Friday.  This fit the bill, with the minor exception of the lining that was kind of a PITB since I hate hand stitching, but in the end, even that only took 30-40 mins for both sides, including cutting and looking for fabric.

I have a few trinkets to fill it with (lip gloss, hair ties, etc) and voila...perfect gift for a 5yo to be! Made mostly from current stash (I could not find the hot pink in cotton, so the strap & bow are acrylic).

Tis the season for...Pumpkins!

As soon as I saw it, I just had to make this adorable pumpkin hat!  Then of course I went crazy and made 4 - two for my girls, two for my friend's little girls.   The "toddler" size ended up being perfect for the bigger girls, ages 4 and almost 5, as well as for my younger munchkin, age 2.5.   This pattern is super easy and I love the ridges/texture.

(If you wonder why my children are not wearing clothing, you are obviously childless and I envy your ability to sleep in)

Ben didnt want a pumpkin hat, so I decided to make him something to coordinate with the girls for pumpkin patch pictures.  I whipped up this scarf (basic HDC, 12 across) and used up the last of my orange yarn on pumpkin appliques.  I based those loosely on this pattern. 

I'm not 100% thrilled with the scarf, but he likes it (even if I made him crazy trying it on him 1000x to get the length right...yeah, I lost my measuring tape) so I guess we'll give it a whirl for fall pics. 

Finally, now that it's been gifted, I can show off one of my favorite sets:  The Giraffe.

Baby tee by Target.   Hat design my own.   Giraffe pattern here.  

15 min snake

It would have been 10, but my white yarn was hopelessly tangled. 

The girls were fighting over our one remaining crocheted snake (we lost one to our wool-eating dog) so I decided to whip up a new snake.   Found this pattern and it was done in no time.  

Next time I might use a less obnoxious color to make it look more snake like, but this is what happens when you let the 2 yr old choose the palatte.

He is quite cute all twisty like that.  Even when he's nom-noming the teddy grahams and terrorizing the Polly Pocket picnic.