Little Crochet Hearts...Make some and Spread Love

Pinterest is a wonderful place to  get inspiration.  Recently I pinned the mini crochet heart bobby pins. from this inspirational blog.  What a fun way to embellish anything you make.  So I decided to incorporate the little crochet hearts to my snug mug cozies. 

 I made some changes and came up with this pattern which can be buttoned.

Little Crochet Hearts [To be Buttoned]

Yarn: Worsted Weight

Crochet hook: H

Chain 5 and join with a slip stitch to first chain.

 Chain 3, work 4 double crochet, work 1 treble crochet, chain 1, work 1 treble crochet, work 4 double crochet, chain 3, join with a slip stitch to the center.

Fasten off and weave in tails.

Done!!

Use this heart anywhere to spread some love!!

Here's how I used mine:

 I love making cozies....can you tell?

I decided to decorate the fingerless mitts I made for one of the volunteer ladies at the Library.

Warmly.......Lovingly.....

Single Crochet Beanie Suitable for 3 to 5 year Olds.

I have completed the pattern for this single crochet beanie which will fit children ages 3 to 5.  This beanie is worked from the top to the lower edge using single crochets.  This is the beanie that I use to make the Angry Bird hats I've been making lately.  My favorite yarn to use is by I Love this Yarn available from Hobby Lobby.

I went online to find instructions on making crochet ribbing.

Classic Elite Yarns has a fairly  good tutorial to add  this finishing touch.

Here

The first time I followed these instructions, I found that I was not achieving the snug result I was after so I simply skipped 1 stitch when working the single crochet decrease.

Today I worked on two Angry Bird Hats which I'll be shipping next week and took a few more pictures of how I sew the pupil to the eyebrows: Turn the eye brow so the wrong side is facing you and join the pupil making sure that the right side of the pupil is away from you.  Work two slip stitches to attach the pupil.

1

2

3

Join the white of the eye by whip stitching catching loops on the back of they eye brow.

Begin:

 Finish

 Now sew the pupil to the front of the white section:

The beanie pattern is....

Crochet Beanie Single Crochet

 Black Bird will be finished tomorrow.....

Good night to all.

Angry Bird Mania Craze

Every year I make hats for my grand kids.  I heard about the popular Angry Birds game sometime last year.  When you have grand kids you find out about these things.  So my daughter hinted that they would be thrilled if I made Angry Bird hats. 

I followed the instructions from Teresa.  Her crochet video tutorials are very helpful.  I do usually end up making changes.  Her hat pattern turned very large so I did make some modifications.  I also thought the beak was too large so I simply decreased  the amount of rounds.  I found a crochet beanie pattern for kids that worked out well using worsted weight acrylic yarn I Love This Yarn and hook H.

I also changed this pattern by adding ribbing which I  think provides a good fit for kids.

Let me mention that Angry Blue Bird from the game looks different.  I tried to make his with the red part under the eyes.  My daughter and the lady who ordered this Blue Bird did not like it either....so I made him with gray angry eye brows.  Daughter said that the bird with the red under the eyes looked like he was on drugs.  

 I just finished these two yesterday and they will be shipped soon to another contact from my daughter's photography clients.  I have already made changes to the eyebrows so the birds don't look as super super angry..  These two are for 4 year old boys so I decreased the beak size and......

added a little fiberfill stuffing to the beak.

Sewing the beak is a bit tricky and it helps to get up close to the eyes.

Angry Black bird was received with much happiness by Laurie's kids.  Glad the boys liked them.

This is one of the first Angry bird hats I made for my grandson Taite.  Notice the beak is a bit larger and also flat.  Do add some fiberfill if you make one...L O L...Taite also got excited and stretched his hat.  He really wants to be an Angry Bird.

Angel Card using a very old stamp, Old book print....

I found all the supplies I needed to make this year's Christmas Card at home. I really like the look of old book print so I stamped the angel image using Stazon, which is a permanent ink.  I noticed my pad was dry so I re-inked with regular water base ink refill.  It worked fine.  These water colors go back a few years.

Once again I'm incorporating the use of manila  tags.  Plain tags just look too PLAIN....so with the use of the close to cocoa stamp pad, I burnished the edges.

The JOY word was made with a Dymo Label maker.  The button Spare Parts Fasteners are neat but you could also use buttons.  It's all about saving time around Christmas because there is just too much to do.

And you are done.  I did use wrinkled ribbon, also purchased on Etsy a while back. Finally the tag was glued to the card itself and a sentiment stamped on the bottom.  Super easy and quick.

May this Christmas season fill your heart with JOY.

Fall Crochet Projects

 I have been quite busy as I expected to be at this time of the year.  Shortly after I started working at my new location my coworkers fell in love with the Crocodile stitch neck warmer I made so the orders started pouring in.  I first saw this neat crochet stitch while browsing and pinning on Pinterest.  I was determined to learn and after watching a You Tube video over and over I succeeded.  The pattern itself is not hard to make but it is complicated to write...LOL.  I have made so many of these Crocodile stitch neck warmers that the pattern is in my head.

I made my neck warmers with the super soft acrylic yarn I Love this Yarn available from Hobby Lobby.  It's available in quite a variety of colors.  The wooden button came all the way from Singapore, purchased through an Etsy seller.

I learned the crocodile stitch by watching the Yarn Muse.  As I said I watched and watched so don't give up.  It is a very rewarding stitch to learn and works super fast!

I have also made quite a few fingerless mitts.  I did come up with the pattern myself which is in draft form. If you are fortunate to own a smart phone, these work great as they keep your finger exposed!  This was my first pair.  I did not work these using the single crochet chainless foundation which creates a better finish. The Zinnias I grew from the seeds a coworker gave me did wonderful.  I have already collected buds to save some seeds for next year.

The crochet flower is removable and it indicates which is the left and right mitt.  I have already changed the flower which is now smaller.

Some work in progress.  I got a request to make fingerless mitts for a young person who likes skulls.

We are enjoying  a wonderful Fall with mild temperatures here in Charlotte. Today I did noticed that quite a few of the leaves are gone signaling much cold weather is on its way. Speaking of fall I've also enjoyed cooking and baking with pumpkin.  I picked up a new [to me] and wonderful product from Trader Joe's which I tried this morning with some Neufchatel cheese. If you like Apple butter, you will like this one too.

Well, back to the works in progress and perhaps an episode of Dead Zone on NetFlix.

My First Pair of Toms Shoes

I have fallen in love with Toms shoes and really like their part in the mission to provide shoes for needy children around the world..  I was delighted that the Corduroy style did fit my narrow foot.  Some of Toms shoes are a little loose on me.  I think one of those Dr Scholl soles might help me with some of the styles that are loose.  I wear size 6-1/2 and these fit me perfectly.  I can also wear them with socks.  I was surprised that even though it is a flat shoe it still provided some support.

My Toms are black so I thought I could add a little something by crocheting something cute.  What could be cuter than a little Owl.  I used 100% cotton yarn.  I have lots of remnants left over from other projects ( lol. Owl Cell Phone cozies)

 The crochet applique is secured by using a very small alligator clip I purchased from an Etsy seller. As you can see the white alligator clips measure around 5/8".

The Finished Owls:

Even though this is a very small and quick project, you will need to know how to make a single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet, slip stitch and also how to make a picot stitch.

The pattern is here.

Paper Yoyos

Making Yoyos using paper is quite simple.  Cut out a circle shape.  Place a smaller circular shape inside the circle.  I used a glass pebble [not perfectly circular]  Make folds to cover up the smaller circular shape.  I made a smaller yoyo and glued a button to the center.  Glue the small yoyo to the larger yoyo using glue.

I used the yoyos to decorate my favorite Manila tags.  I am fascinated by the look achieved using graph and yellow notebook paper.  I used the zig zag stitch on my sewing machine to secure the first layer of paper, the ribbon and lace.  Just use what you like [no rules here].  Amazing things happen when you get paper wet.  I sprayed with water the leaf shape, wrinkled and after it dries you can glue to the tag.

Recognize the business reply postcard which can be found in magazines.  

You can't go wrong using stuff you already have around your house.

Lace and fabric go really well together.  This yoyo was made from scrapbook paper.  Make small pleats as you sew the lace to the tag.  A stapler is also very helpful to secure other layers.

Have fun creating from materials you already have in hand.