Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Snowman Jar Cozy - Crochet Version

A few weeks ago I shared a knitting project I had made called "Snowman Jar Cozy" using a free pattern from Red Heart's website.  You can read about that project here.   It was such a fun project that I thought crocheters needed their own pattern for a snowman jar cozy and I came up with this one in order to share the fun.  :)


 
Snowman Jar Cozy

Materials:
Red Heart Worsted Weight Acrylic Yarn
  - Soft White
Assorted buttons for eyes, nose and mouth (Red Heart's design uses buttons for the eyes and felt for the nose and mouth pieces)
Round Glass Jar/Vase - 5 1/2" tall & 15" around middle (I got mine at Joann's in the floral dept)
Size H (5.00mm) Crochet Hook
Hot Glue Gun

Row 1) Ch 19, sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch st across, ch 1, turn. (18 sc)

Rows 2 - 36) Sc in the back loop of each st across, ch 1, turn. (18 sc)

End off, leaving a long tail for stitching.

 Finished stitch piece will look like this:
 
Fold over and whipstitch edges together:
 
 



Face Finishing:
I found my carrot nose button at Joann's, and then just raided my button box for buttons to make the eyes and mouth features.  When I made the knitted version, I stitched all the buttons on, but found this to be difficult, especially when the cozy wasn't stretched out over the jar.  On this crocheted version, I first slipped the cozy onto the glass jar/vase.  I then put small pieces of doubled-over scotch tape on the back of each button, then I positioned all the buttons onto the cozy to form the face features, adjusting as needed, until I had them where I wanted them.  I then pulled off each button one at a time, removed the tape from the back,  then hot glued the button back into place.

Fill with Candy!  (I recommend Peppermints or Candy Canes!)  :)
 

Monday, November 26, 2012

Peppermint Snowflake Ring Ornament

Peppermint Snowflake Ring ornament is the 4th (and final) of my 2012 Ring Ornament Series. The ornament was made using Caron's Simply Soft yarn and worked by crocheting around a 2" plastic ring. You can find the links to the other ornaments in this series, and for last year's series on the right sidebar of the blog. Enjoy! :)

 CLICK HERE TO GET PATTERN 



Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Football Baby Blanket - New Pattern in Shop

Football season is in full swing.  I know this only because I have observed others watching it.  I don't really understand football, which is why I don't watch it, but I found that I do like crocheting footballs and recently came up with this cute little baby blanket.   It's done in single crochet and the finished size is about 27" wide x 38" high.  It could also be used as a lap blanket for someone who does enjoy watching football.  :)

The pattern is available in My Etsy Shop

Happy Thanksgiving!  :)





Monday, November 19, 2012

Christmas Present Ring Ornament

This week's Christmas Present Ring ornament is the 3rd in my 2012 Ring Ornament Series. The Christmas Present ornament was made using Caron's Simply Soft yarn and worked by crocheting around a 2" plastic ring. You can find the links to the other ornaments in this series, and for last year's series on the right sidebar of the blog. Enjoy! :)

 CLICK HERE TO GET PATTERN 

Monday, November 12, 2012

Star - Christmas Ring Ornament

This week's Star ornament is the 2nd in my 2012 Ring Ornament Series.  The star was made using Caron's Simply Soft yarn and worked by crocheting around a 2" plastic ring.  You can find the links to the other ornaments in this series, and for last year's series on the right sidebar of the blog.  Enjoy!  :)


 CLICK HERE FOR PATTERN 



Monday, November 5, 2012

Santa's Jolly Belly - Christmas Ring Ornament

I am doing another Christmas Ring Ornament Series this year, and Santa's Belly is the first one up. 
Ornament is made by stitching around a 2" plastic ring (see bottom photo).

This series is still a work in process, so I'm not sure how many there will be this time around.  I'm planning on releasing one each Monday, so stay tuned for the rest.  :)

 CLICK HERE FOR PATTERN 


Friday, October 26, 2012

Snowman Jar Cozy Finished

I'm still plugging away on all of my projects-in-progress and I did manage to finish one up.  This is the Snowman Jar Cozy and is a free pattern on www.redheart.com.  Very quick and easy project and a lot of fun too.  I didn't end up using any felt for the face features and used all buttons instead. 
I thought that would be more durable from year to year.  I found the glass vase at Walmart for about $1, so it's also an inexpensive project. 


And on a whole different topic, I had to make some changes to the comment section.  I have been getting dozens of spam comments every day, which means dozens of spam emails in my inbox too.  I also discovered that if anyone had left a comment and chose to have follow-up comments emailed to them, they ended up getting copies of all those spam comments too.  I changed the comment section to require a google or open id account.  So far that seems to have solved the problem and I haven't received a single spam since.  Keeping my fingers crossed on that!  Spammers need to get a real life!  :)
 

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

So Many Projects.....So Little Progress

My blogging has been a bit sparse lately, mostly because not much has been going on, and I don't have any finished projects to show.  I've been busy though.  I am working on a new pattern, and I'm getting geared up for a new ring ornament series for Christmas.  I also have several personal projects in the works.  Since I rarely make anything for myself, I was suprised when I realized that all of my projects in process are for me!  It was a happy suprise though, and I am looking forward to getting all of these finished up so I can enjoy them.  My progress seems to be going slowly, but I think that's because I am trying to work on so many at the same time.  :)

First up is the The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief by Orange Flower, and is a free pattern on Ravelry.  You can't really tell by the picture (below), but it's almost finished.  I think I have just a few more rows to go.  I'm loving the yarn, it is Tosh DK by Madelinetosh and is SO nice to work with.  Hopefully I will get this finished up this week sometime.  Getting around to blocking it is a whole other story.  :)
 


Next is a fun little project I found on www.redheart,com, called a  Snowman Jar Cozy.  It's a quick, easy project to make.  You just work ribbing in the round for about 5 inches, then use felt and buttons to make a snowman's face.  It slides over a round glass vase and can be used as a candy dish.  I picked up a vase the other day, and once I get this finished, I will fill it up with peppermints.  :)




This next project is a kit I bought at Mary Maxim for an afghan called"Marcelle Afghan".  I don't usually buy kits, but this one is only available as a kit. I have had my eye on it for quite some time, and when Mary Maxim had a free shipping offer I took advantage of it and ordered it.
I'm making it using the yarn provided, which I'm not crazy about, but I am enjoying the pattern.  It's not a mindless project though, you really have to stay focused. I can't wait to see it finished, but this one will probably take a while to get done.




This project is called the Alpine Frost Scarf by Amy O'Neill Houck and is available for purchase on Ravelry.  I was looking through all the projects made from the pattern and I fell in love with this gorgeous project.  She made the scarf using Lace Lux yarn, which I found at Jimmy Beans Wool.  This yarn is to die for, it is so soft!  I just started this, so I haven't gotten very far, and the full effect of this scarf isn't seen until it's finished and blocked.  But it is a very easy, mindless project, perfect for working on while watching TV. 



The last project is a sewing project.  I was in my local fabric store, and they had gotten in some really nice dishtowels, and had decorated them by stitching fabric along the bottom and adding some rick rack for decoration.  So I picked up supplies to make two towels.  Once I take the time to haul out the sewing machine, this project should only take a few hours.  I bought fall fabric though, so I guess I better get going on it.  :)


So that's my list of projects and I hope to have some finished pictures to share soon!  :)
 

Monday, October 1, 2012

Winter Penguin Potholder - New Pattern In Shop



Winter will be here soon (darn it!), and this cute little penguin is all ready for the snow to fall! 

Pattern is worked in single crochet by following a color chart. The beak, earmuffs and scarf's fringe are crocheted separately and stitched on. The eyes are small black buttons.

Potholder is made using worsted weight cotton yarn, and has front and back pieces stitched together for double thickness.

Finished size is 8 3/4" wide x 8" high (not including ring at top)
Pattern is available in my etsy shop

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Red Bird in the Snow Potholder - New Pattern in Shop




I am not normally a fan of snow, but after this long, hot summer I am actually looking forward to it a little bit (not a lot, but a little bit).  :)  We have lots of pine trees around our house and there is nothing prettier than seeing a beautiful red cardinal sitting on a snow-filled branch.  So that was my inspiration when I came up with this sweet little red bird, working on it in 90+ degree temps, while daydreaming about the upcoming cooler weather.  :)

The front piece of the potholder is worked in single crochet by following a color chart.  The beak is crocheted separately, then stitched on, and the eye is a small black button.  The snowflakes are small white beads stitched randomly around. The back piece is done single crochet, then the two pieces are stitched together for double thickness.

The finished size is 9 1/4" wide x 8 1/2" high (not including the ring at the top)

Pattern is available in my etsy shop

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Blog Makeover!

Hello All!  How do you like the new look of my blog?   This poor little blog has needed a facelift for a long time now.  I used to use an online freebie background, but someone let me know that their antivirus system notified them there was malware attached to it.  Now I don't exactly know what malware is, but it did not sound like a good thing.  :)  So I removed the freebie background, and began using one of the backgrounds provided on blogger.  I chose one that I sort of liked, but didn't really love and then I was contacted by someone saying it was too busy and made it difficult to read the items listed on the sidebar.  That wasn't good either!  Next I tried a few very boring and plain backgrounds, which I was not happy with.  Then a few weeks ago I was perusing thru etsy and found that there were blog packages available to purchase.  I had no idea!  :)  There were a lot of great designs to choose from and I got mine from Simply Creative.  Magaly from Simply Creative was so nice to work with.  I had several questions beforehand and she was very helpful.  She also has some great etsy banner designs, so next up will be a makeover for my etsy shop.  :)

Another new thing on the blog is the option to follow by email. I've been asked about this before, but being the low-tech person that I am, had no idea how to set it up.  Then I got an email the other day asking about it (thanks Kathi!) and decided to see if I could figure it out.  So if you are interested in following by email, that option is now on the right sidebar.  :)

And I had to share this funny picture that my dad took the other day.  My nephew Eli is completely obessed with any and all vehicles.  His first word was car.  One of his favorite things to do is to sit in my dad's truck and "drive".  His little sidekick in the picture is my parent's cat Symon.  Symon loves to go for car rides and he even has his own little perch on the passenger seat of my dad's truck where he sits.  He's sitting there so patiently and I'm sure he's probably wondering why the heck the truck is not going anywhere.  :)


 

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Flower Power Dishcloth - Free Pattern



These dishcloths work up quickly!  They are made using Sugar 'n Cream worsted weight 100% cotton yarn, and a size H (5.00mm) crochet hook.

Finished size is about 9" across.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Thank you!!



A big Thank You to everyone who left me a comment on the washing machine question!   You were all very helpful!  I have decided that I am going to go with a top loader, and hope to get one purchased this week. 

We got another hard rain yesterday afternoon.  Having such a hot, dry summer has made us get excited anytime it rains.  It rained so hard that it did actually show up a bit in the picture this time.  And afterwards, it turned a weird orange outside.  Thing are finally getting green again and we're sure happy about that!  :)

Thanks again everyone, and I hope you all have a great week!  :)

Friday, August 3, 2012

Washing Machines...Front Loader vs.Top Loader

Sorry for the boring topic!  :)  But my washing machine is on it's last legs and I have been shopping around for a new one, and I'm having trouble deciding what to get.  It seems that the front loaders are very popular now, but I just can't seem to work up any excitement for one.  It might be because I have this irrational fear that water will leak out the door at some point.  Yeah, I'm weird that way. :)

And the new top loaders sort of intrigued me, because I notice that some of them don't have the agitator thing in the middle of the drum anymore.   I kind of liked that, but wonder if that makes them any better.

So if there are any of you out there that have one of these and if you would leave me a comment and let me know pros or cons of either type, I would really appreciate it.  :) 

Thank you!  And I'll try and come up with something more interesting for the next post.  :)






Monday, July 30, 2012

2013 Crochet Calendar


The new 2013 Crochet Calendar is out and one of my patterns made it!

Last summer I was thrilled to be asked if I would like to submit my Easter Marshmallow Bunnies for consideration for the 2013 Crochet Calendar.  I entered my submission and didn't hear whether it had been accepted or not, but a few weeks ago I received a package in the mail and in it was a copy of the calendar.   And I was very excited to see my little Easter Marshmallow Bunnies featured on the weekend page for March 29th, 30th and 31st!   I'm also having a great time looking at all the great projects and trying to decide what to make first.  :)

***Edited to Add***
Calendars are available here at Amazon.com

Friday, July 20, 2012

Rain!!!.....and a Few Finished Projects!

Thank God for rain! An email went around our community the other day urging everyone to pray for rain. We prayed, and that evening it rained, and then it rained all night, and it continued to rain until late morning the next day. So I am thanking God for the rain! We sure needed it. I stood on my front porch when it was raining very steadily to try and catch a picture of it. But the rain just didn't really show up in the photo. You can see though, that our grass is so fried that it is about the same color of the mulch around the bushes in front.




The first project I have to share is actually a project completed by my husband.  I kept seeing kiddie carwashes on Pinterest, which are made using pcv pipe and I thought they were very cool.  I knew my little nephew Eli would love it, so I made a mental note to ask my husband to make one sometime.  Then I saw a step by step tutorial on The Scrap Shoppe Blog, and I knew the time had come.  She did a great job putting together this tutorial and actually suggests inserting misters in the drilled holes, and that way the water just mists out instead of squirting out.  Very cool!  So I printed out all the information for hubby and he put it together.  We invited Eli to come and try it out, and you can see he was a very happy camper.  This kid seriously loves getting wet, he even loves baths!  :)

You can't really see the water very well, because it's misty.  :)

We even caught a Rainbow!

Our niece and her husband are expecting a baby girl in Sept.  I am going to the baby shower this weekend and made a newsboy beanie cap and a pair of matching shoes.  These were seriously fun to make!  The newsboy cap is a pattern by Jocelyn Sass, who is one of my all time  favorite crochet designers.  I love her patterns and this one was just wonderful, and so easy to follow.  You can find the pattern in her etsy shop.

The shoes were made using the pattern "Double Strap Booties" from this etsy shop.  This was a very quick and fun project and I love how they turned out.  I just happened to have in my button stash, exactly 2 large daisy buttons and 4 small daisy buttons, so it worked out perfectly.  :)  And it was a lot of fun to make some baby girl things, I haven't gotten to do that in a while. 



I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Flower Ring Decoration - Free Pattern




This heat wave seems like it will never end!  It's been so hot lately that I haven't felt like doing much crafting.  Mostly I have been hanging out, reading on my Kindle Fire (my favorite possession!) and churning out slushies on my margarita machine (another favorite possession)  :).

But I did manage to blow the dust off the crochet hook long enough to make up some flower ring decorations/ornaments.  Last fall when I did the "Ringing in Christmas" ornament series (links to those patterns can be found on the sidebar of the blog), I received some requests to design ring decoration for other seasons of the year. 

Flowers are stitched around a 2" plastic ring.  They can be strung together to make a bunting, or connected vertically to make a wall hanging. 

Finished size of each flower is 4" across.

Hope everyone is staying cool!  :)

Friday, June 15, 2012

Patriotic Bunting - Free Pattern




I love the 4th of July holiday and have been looking for red, white and blue decorations.  We had bought some large buntings to hang on the outside of the house, and I liked them so much I wanted to create some smaller crochet ones for the inside. 

These work up really quick  Make up as many as you need, then use ribbon to tie together at the corners to connect the pieces.  Each piece is 7 1/2" wide x 3 1/2" high.

Click here to download the pattern



Wednesday, May 30, 2012

A Few Finished Projects

I've been working on several projects lately, and here are a few of the finished ones. I still have a few more on the hook (and needles).  :) 

Eli and I did our first craft project together.  We used fingerpaints and made a handprint picture for his mommy for Mother's Day.  Big suprise, he really likes using fingerpaints!  It was a very messy project, so we were lucky to have Grandma on hand to help, because it took our four hands to keep up with his two hands.  It was worth it though, because his mommy loved it!  :)


I made a pair of Turkish Bed Socks from a pattern purchased off of Ravelry.  I gave this pair as a gift, but I liked them so much that I have another pair on the needles for me.  :)



These deer hats have been very popular with my husband's family, and I keep getting requests for them.  I think so far I've made about 10 of them.  I have never made so many of one thing before, and hopefully this is it for a while.  :)  It's a basic hat pattern and uses a free chart on Ravelry called Fornicating Deer



And I had to throw in this picture of Olivia that I took the other day.  She was so conked out, and the way she was sleeping just made me laugh.  I believe she must have wore herself out from all the mischief she had been in.  Being ornery all day long can be exhausting work!  :)

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Simple Stripes Coasters - Free Pattern

Happy Saturday Everyone!

The other day I was working up a batch of my Simple Stripes Dishcloths and it occurred to me that a smaller version of these might make a nice coaster.  They are thick and absorbent, which makes them great for all those cold summer drinks.

This is a very quick and easy project and a great way to use up all those leftover scraps.

Each coaster takes 15 yards of white and 4 yards for the stripe color.

Finished size is 4 1/4" x 4 1/4"

Click here to get the pattern pdf


4 coasters together look like 1 dishcloth  :)


Friday, May 4, 2012

Monkey Onesie Baby Blanket - New Pattern In Shop


Since little Eli is such a monkey fan, I designed this monkey onesie baby blanket with him in mind. :)

The blanket is made of 4 blocks that are made by working color changes to stitch the onesie design into the block. The monkey face and other appliques are made separately and stitched to the onesies.
The onesie blocks are stitched in single crochet, and the borders use half double crochet and double crochet.

Blanket can be made for a boy or a girl. The boy blanket includes a star applique in addition to the monkey face, and the girl blanket includes a flower applique.

Finished size is 33” wide x 35” tall
.
Blanket is made with Red Heart worsted weight acrylic yarn, and uses the following colors and amounts:
Cafe Latte - 11 oz.
Light Blue or Baby Pink - 6.5 oz.
Soft White - 3.5 oz.

Pattern is $4.25 and is available in my etsy shop









Wednesday, May 2, 2012

A Couple of Goofy Cats and a Close Encounter

Guarding the Pet String

About a year and a half ago, Gus dug around in some of my husband's things stored in our basement, and found a parachute string (I have no idea why my husband has parachute string).  This string became his constant companion and favorite toy, and I posted about it here.  We dubbed it his pet string, because he was obsessed with it, and was either dragging it along with him everywhere he went or he was sitting by it, patiently waiting for someone to make it move so he could chase it.  As time went on, he still carried it around a lot,  but he didn't seem as into it as he used to be.  We thought he was growing up.  :)  But nope, that wasn't it.  Turns out the old string wasn't as much fun because it was getting a bit ragged and had also gotten much shorter because he likes to chew on the ends.  A few weeks ago, my husband gave him a brand new, identical string and he's like a kitten again.  And he's driving us crazy all over again, constantly wanting us to play with that darn string with him.  If we are sitting in a chair, he'll stand up on his back legs and reach up and tap us on the leg and meow.  If that doesn't work, then he'll jump up on our lap and then jump down real quick and run over to his string hoping we'll take the hint.  And heaven forbid if you even glance his way when you walk by.  We play with him a lot, but he just never tires of it. I think we may need to sign him up for a support group.  :)

"Pul-leeze won't you play string with me?"
Even Eli gets roped into playing the string game!
And as if one goofy cat wasn't enough, there's Olivia.  And she has her own obsession.  I have a large size Vera Bradley bag that I use to haul my laptop around.  Every single time she sees that bag, she is compelled to get inside of it.  The other day I had it hanging over the back of a chair, and I noticed when I walked by that the bag was moving.  Sure enough, even hanging from a chair, she had managed to get inside of it. 

"Hello?  Do you mind?  I'm  trying to take a nap here!

"You interrupt my nap......then I chews on your bag!"

We have a little fox family in our neighborhood and the mama fox has been visiting our yard occasionally.  I haven't seen any little ones, but some neighbors say she has a litter.  She's a pretty little thing, and very skittish.  One of the neighborhood cats was taking a nap in our our yard one day when she stopped by.    As I watched out the window, she just walked up to him  and sat down.  He was not a happy camper and was very tense.  She, on the other hand seemed quite relaxed....a little too relaxed.  So just in case she was sizing him up for dinner, I walked outside and she ran away.  :)
She still shows up every now and again, and I hope one of these days she'll have those babies along with her.  :)


A close encounter of the furry kind.