Mike Wazowski!

(any similarities between this oversized coffee cozy and a trademarked Disney/Pixar character is purely accidental and should not warrent legal action)

It needed to be made. 

The double stranded cotton made it a bit ginormous, but now I have a cozy for my reusable coffee cup.

Another of my own designs, the owl coffee cozy.  This one didnt taper at the bottom like I was hoping, but the yarn was just screaming to be made into an owl cozy.

  
Now if I ever think i am going to sell anything I make, I really need to work on sizing.   Apparently, cozy's are as tricky as hats in this regard.  

But don't worry, Disney lawyers, I am not selling the coffee cozy that might happen to bear a likeness to a trademarked character.  (At least until I get the sizing right)

A strong desire to make something totally frivolous

I have had a hellacious week of school and after what felt like an endless cycle of read, listen, cram, regurgitate, lather, rinse repeat....I got a slight respite in the urgency of my To Do list.   So I had this strong desire to make something.  Something totally frivolous.  Not the squares for the afghan that I am working on in my few spare minutes.    Nothing tedious.   Nothing that requires a lot of thought.   But something that makes me smile.

Enter the Sock Monkey Coffee Cozy.

Now I must spring for a celebratory latte at Starbucks tomorrow to give her a true test drive.

Here she is in her more "portable/purse-friendly" form:

She needs a name...
...and perhaps a bow.

The next three installments in the Square of The Month Club

I lost interest in my son's 12 Months of the Year lapghan project because I got utterly bogged down by May & June and had no idea what to do for those nondescript months.   I recently dug out my first 4 months of squares and remembered how much I liked 3 of them, so I buckled down and knocked out the next 2 months.   I decided to go with a mother's day and father's day theme.   May flowers and June baseball.  Not that *this* mother loves flowers very much, but it was a better symbol than trying to crochet "sleeping in" or "a clean house" or "take my van to get detailed" which are much better Mother's Day gifts than flowers.   Blooming Granny Pattern.

For the baseball square, I used this pattern, but just made a solid circle in the middle (18dc, 36dc, 54dc, 72dc) so I ended up with the 72 needed to pick up row 5.  I wanted to use navy for the blue, but finding navy cotton is much harder than it should be.   I think the denim looks ok.  I really like the overall look of this square (except my uneven ball stitching) and maybe one day, I will attempt a multi-sports blankie. 

For April, which I think I actually completed back in April, I was going for an "easter eggs in a basket" look but I don't love it.  I may re-do it.  I may not.   All I can say about that is the pattern writer made a blanket from that Yo Yo Square pattern with like 750 of these Yo-Yo's.  That's lunacy!   I mean, it looks awesome...but dude...that's a lotta repetition.

Here's the link to the first 3 months of squares.

Bunches of Baby Blankets

I've been crocheting, even if I am not posting.    Been having fun with testing a pattern for a cute baby blanket.  Here is my finished product as per the pattern instructions.  

Close up of corner:

I really enjoyed this.  The "pineapple" part in the middle provided enough challenge to keep me from being bored, but enough repetition to be able to work on it with all of the distractions in my life.   In fact, I loved it so much, I wanted to make one for a friend who was expecting a baby boy.  But the pastels I chose for the test pattern weren't "her" so I tried with some blues and browns but the yarn and colors just werent coming together.   So I thought...maybe I can add my own word....

Which led me to create this blanket for this friend who founded our local ICAN chapter and continues to be an amazing source of inspiration and support for birthing women all over, not just locally.   I love how it turned out, even with the upside-down awareness ribbons which represent cesarean awareness.   I think it makes a statement while if you dont look close enough, its just a crocheted baby blanket.   I like functional gifts.  Better than a yarn uterus, right?

And here is a blanket I made awhile back from the Waldo's Puzzle square that I liked.  I added the loops on the corners so that paci's or toys can be attached.    I love the color scheme, too. 

It still amazes me that I am cranking out baby blankets like they are nothing when I swore to myself I would never complete a blanket after my first failed attempt.  Apparently, the key is just not working in rows.   Around and around in a square keeps my interest enough.   Go figure. 

Teacher gifts (and a pattern!)

So the end of the school year is nigh and I feel this compulsion to make something handmade for my kid's teachers as a Thank You for putting up with them all year.  Which doesnt exactly jive with my complete lack of free time...

My son has 3 teachers, a bus driver, a bus aide and 2 therapists.  There are probably at least 6-8 others who interact with him at school regularly, but I had to draw a line somewhere (the joys of special ed!)  My daughter is actually in an integrated pre-K classroom, so they have an extra teacher, bringing it to 3.   Ten handmade, not too expensive gifts needed to be thrown together in <4 days.
 
So I decided on $5 Starbucks gift cards and thought it would be cute to whip up a little pouch for each of the gift cards.   I also picked up some handmade beeswax lip balms from a local farm at the Dunwoody Green Market and added some chocolates to fill the pouches.   I couldnt find a pattern that met my needs, so I did a little trial and error and came up with something workable, that I will share, but just so you know...I am not a pattern maker!   Mine are all different sizes and shapes and I do a lot by eyeballing.  So follow if you dare....

In the end, they were super quick and a great stash buster!  It took approx 10 mins to make the pouch and maybe another 5 for the drawstring and 5 for weaving in the 2 ends and assembly.    The kids enjoyed decorating the cards and picking the color combinations for each recipient.   

And if I was smart...I would get started on Christmas presents yesterday, but I am not.  So expect a frantic blog post of a similar nature in 6.5 months.  







The Easy-Peasy Gift Card Pouch
Hook:  H
Yarn:  Peaches and Creme cotton

Ch 9
SC in 2nd ch from hook and the 7 more times.   (8sc)
2 sc in last ch.  
working around other side, SC 8
join with first sc and from here, work in the round.

18 HDC around for 9 rows.
1 sc, 1 slip stitch

Ch 4 (equals 1 DC + 1 ch)
sk 1 stich, DC (reapeat around and slip stich to 3rd ch of first ch 4)

Then ch 60 or so for the drawstring.  Weave drawstring into the top row between DCs and weave in ends.  

Commissioned work!

A photographer friend asked me to make her an owl baby hat.  So we looked around and found a pattern for something close to what she wanted.   She did not want sleepy eyes, so I winged it on the open eyes.  

Visually, its super cute.   But I think the hat may be a bit too tall?  Or I just need a real 0-6m baby to test it on.   Not sure about the two-tone look.   And the cheap bulky yarn I picked up at Walmart today for my test run crocheted up a bit stiff.  I think I will take the hat to the local yarn store and ask them to help me pick a natural fiber yarn that will crochet up soft and fluffy, since I kinda have Teh Yarn Dumb.  

Now to see if the friend who commissioned the work likes it. 

Something cute

I'm making a concerted effort this month to use only on-hand yarn.  It's been a bit of a challenge - of all things white has been my nemesis and I have been untangling errant piles of white yarn just to complete projects.  But it feels good to see some space developing in my yarn drawers.  Will the day come when I am not stuffing yarn in between my table and the couch when guests come over just to get it out of sight?  Perhaps. 

So in the spirit of stash-busting, I wanted to make a little something to throw in a package for our friend in the Netherlands.   I had this lovely blue yarn that was nice and soft.  I found a pattern that was lightweight and spring-y and added a flower for pizazz. 

Unfortunately, this lovely hat fits my 3 yr old perfectly.   So no matter how much experience I get with crochet, I still cannot seem to size a hat to save my life.