Victorian Texting Mitts, and a Vest for a baby boy

Good Morning! After a lovely rainy Sunday spent on the couch with my hubby I have a new project to present. These took me about three days to work on. It could have taken about a day to complete, but I had to take breaks. I came across this pattern on Ravelry and thought they would be perfect for my sister. My sister is a little visually impaired and growing up she hated wearing gloves and arm warmers with the frilly piece that covered her fingers. These Victorian texting mitts seemed perfect, and met all the "Corttani" check points! They are tight around the knuckles, but decorative enough to not look like she's wearing fingerless oven mitts while still keeping her warm. The ribbon and button accent give it a nice touch, but it's mostly for contrast and so she can tell the left one from the right.

 Last night I came across the very thing I've been looking for! For months I've had luck making things for little girls, but crochet clothing for baby boys are not easy to find. I tried making a button up vest, but it was a little off. The pattern was in UK terms so after translating it (and pulling out a lot of hair in frustration!), and ripping out half the project twice I finished the core vest part only to have it come out looking like it would fit a mutant toddler (pattern says 0-3 months). The width would fit a toddler but the length went from the top of my jeans to my shoulder, and I'm a 23 year old girl! I followed the pattern exactly as she wrote it, and I even tried it with shorter stitches i.e. a single crochet instead of a double. After scrapping it, and chalking it up to a learning experience you can imagine my excitement when I came across this little thing! It's crochet, but looks kind of knitted in the pictures on the blog. So that's my new project right now...even though I was burned by the other vest I will try again! So I'm gonna watch last nights episode of Vikings and try this out. Hopefully this goes well...wish me luck! Ta for now!

A Very Chilly Day

Good Morning! Today is a beautiful, but chilly day in North Carolina! It was close to 25 degrees Fahrenheit when we woke up at 5am. On the bright side it is Friday so that means I get two whole days with hubby home :)  It's the perfect kind of day to curl up on the couch with my kitties and get some crocheting done. So with my nice warm cup of coffee, and Supernatural reruns on TV I think I'll crochet my sister a pair of Victorian style arm warmers. Pics to come! Ta for now!

Ta-Da! Crocheted shoes!

 I was looking to make some crochet slippers for an adult, but I didn't find any good ones on the internet. I decided to design my own, and being that this is my first pair I will tweak it a bit and post the pattern here when I'm happy with it. I came across some $2.00 flip flops at Walmart, and thought  instead of crocheting a sole I could use the sole of these and that way the people I'm giving them to could wear em outside if desired as well as the added perk of a semi non-slip sole. Using a yarn needle that is a little bit sharp I made 2 foundation rows threaded  through the sole so it didn't pull and tear when I started to crochet. The soles below with the butterflies are actually re-purposed tops of soles ripped from old flip flops (incidentally they broke the day before I made these) covered in scrap fabric I got for 97 cents! Ta for now!

A gift for Hubby!

How cute is this little guy?! He's the Black Mage from Final Fantasy for those of you who don't know. My hubby really likes video games, and I wanted to make him something that he could enjoy without it being like a sweater or a hat. I came across this little guy here, and knew it would be perfect. My version is a little shorter, and I know his arms are a little low, but I think it gives him character! :)

Pink Blankie

 Hello there! As you may have figured out already I tend to make two of everything if I can...one for each gender that way I'll have both for our future babies. I made this pink baby blanket from this tutorial to go with my nautical blanket for a baby boy. It took a bit of time to complete as the stitches don't build height very fast, and every other row is a chain. The flower is also one of the tutorials on the same channel as the blanket. I believe she calls it a Briar Rose, and it kinda reminds me of the flower in Tangled. I didn't follow the stitch for the edge and instead just used one row of the peek-a-boo cream color and then added the picot edge. The soft rose color is one of my favorites, but sadly I can't remember the type of yarn or it's maker. If I had to give my best guess I would say it is Loops & Threads brand and the color is soft rose. Ta for now!

Boots and Bibs

 Hey there blog world! Thursday is as good as any day to whip out a few posts so I can catch up. The good new is I'm almost there! Bad news is I'm starting a very time consuming project which I will make a new post on today as well. To start I made a few sets of baby boots (Above) from this tutorial that I absolutely love!  I loved them so much I wanted to make a set of clothes to go with them. My attempts at a button up vest for a little boy came out very poor so I tried to think of what else besides hats (I have a ton made for babies) could go with these tiny boots. Then it came to me! Bibs! I found a beautiful pattern for here on Ravelry and adapted it to fit both genders by adding a different edge than what the author offers in her pattern. Ta for now!

On a roll with hats

 Today I'm posting a lot of my past projects, so I can catch up with some new things I'm working on. Hubby has Duty today for 24 hours so what better time to update the blogs, and get some crocheting done :)

 Above is a hat I made for my sister with some leftover yarn to kind of get some practice in.

 Above is a modified hat from a pattern I found on Ravelry.com. This hat is for my mom, but she's not a brimmed hat kind of girl so I omitted that part.

 This last all blue hat is for my Nana. She requested one, but she really isn't a hat person. I searched for one that would flatter her head, and found one at Caron.com (the yarn brand) which was surprising because normally I cannot follow those little paper loop patterns that come around skeins of yarn to save my life! Ta for now!

My lovely little dresses

I scoured the internet for cute crochet patterns for baby dresses, but all I came up with was frilly things that looked like they belonged on creepy dolls from decades ago not actual babies. That's why I was so happy when I cam across this tutorial by Crochetgeek. The pink and cream one is to go with the little pink ballet slippers from my previous post, and the sea foam one is to go with the other little slippers of the same color. The pink on came out a little heavy feeling due to the yarn I used, but the second one is way lighter!

Something Green

 In honor of St. Patrick's Day I decided to post my only green project ever from two days ago...presenting my something green tissue cover. So a few days ago I got it in my head that I wanted to try my hand at what is called Tunisian Crochet. It uses a crochet hook but looks a bit like knitting. It seems really complicated at first, but once you get how it works it's lovely! I enjoy it because all the loops stay on the hook and you work without turning (for me that means less turning chains and more yarn to work with) :) The picture above was attempt # 4 out of 6. My edges got a little screwy because I was still unsure of what loops to work and which to leave. After ripping out the project a lot and redoing it a bunch of times I ended up with a presentable square! What to make with my prize? I wondered. Then it came to me! My Nana had seen a crochet travel tissue cover on Pinterest so ta-da...my version! I made it a bright spring color, and gave it a picot edge, but not too much cause Nana doesn't like overly frilly things.

Best baby slipper/bootie tutorial ever

One day I was looking to get away from making square things like blankets and scarves and I came across a video tutorial (http://www.youtube.com/user/cakesbysabrina) for baby ballet slippers. It is so easy, and I love how she explains everything. It was very easy to follow, and so far I've adapted 2 sets from her pattern. The first were the pink one's with a cream bottom and pink silky ribbons, and the second were the sea foam one's with a backing and a tan flower made from crochet thread. On her channel Sabrina says that you may sell finished products but not the pattern itself. I may adapt more slippers and sell them individually or as part of a set with a dress or hat later on. If anyone is interested send me an email :)

Nautical Blankie Set

 

 

(Top: Blue and Cream blanket with Anchor applique Bottom:  Spit Up Cloth and Beanie)

So this blanket was made while I was waiting in an empty apartment for the movers to bring my stuff. The idea came from the fact that i always have made things for other people, but I don't have a single thing I have made and kept for myself. We had no TV or internet so I decided to design a blanket and keep my hands busy to distract myself from hubby being in training. The spit up cloth and hat were extras made from the leftover yarn I had after the blanket was finished. Originally I had no idea what I was going to put on the blanket, but after scouring the internet for an anchor applique and coming up empty handed I decided to make my own. I might write a pattern if anyone would like it, but I didn't count stitches or measure the yarn so I would have to estimate.

Mostly Square Things

Hello there! Welcome to my other little corner of the internet. This blog is gonna be about all my other things not related to cooking. I decided I needed somewhere to put things about my life, and crochet. We are a Navy family so I have a lot of "Hurry up and wait" time on my hands.  I originally learned to crochet from a friend's grandmother when I was 11. Saturdays in between dance classes she sat with me in the family waiting area and taught me to crochet mostly square things with a double crochet in the back loops only. When we lived in Maryland I had a decent amount of free time. When we received orders to be stationed in North Carolina, and while my hubby was in training for two months I realized I hadn't crocheted anything in a few years let alone during all my free time back in Maryland. For years I only made baby blankets and scarves, and they were plain just with one or two skeins of yarn. So once I stumbled upon a few awesome Youtube tutorials I decided I should learn some new stitches and patterns to add to my skills. Ravelry.com is my current obsession, and in a few months I have become a crocheting machine. We got our tax return back in the beginning of February, and decided to split a portion of it. Hubby bought video games and what did I spend it on? Yarn of course :) (That would be lovely title picture at the top of this page).