Cradle roll booties

I was asked by our pastor to head up the 'cradle roll' for our church, and part of my job is to prepare a welcome basket for all of the new babies.

I made these little booties to go in the baskets.
It's nice because they whip up really quickly and I can get several pairs out of one skein of yarn,
(or use up some of my odd and ends.)

I hope to make more of the little headbands for the baby girls, too!

Here is the pattern that I used for the booties
http://susan.kraus.net/pages/pattern6.html

Cute cut-offs

My middle daughter, is SO rough on her pants - she is constantly wearing holes in the knees.
Rather than just toss them out, I have been saving them to turn into cut-offs for this summer - but I decided to 'dress them up' a bit.

One pair of pants...cut to the desired length


Some fabric - (This was 45" across, but for bigger kids... or bigger ruffles...you could use 60" fabric.)


I cut two 4" wide strips and folded them over into 2" strips. Then I sewed two rows of loose threads side by side and I pulled on thread to 'gather' the fabric into ruffles. (Use strong thread or it will break!)


Keep gathering until it is the same length as the opening of your pants leg.


Then sew right sides together. I used several rows of the zig-zag stitch (to prevent the fabric form unraveling.)  It isn't pretty...but this part won't be seen anyways.


Then flip this part under and top-stitch near the seam for a nicer finish

Do the other leg and ....and...

Cotton mop cover

Washable, reusable....boring but functional.

I didn't have a pattern for this one...I just measured my Swiffer and added enough length to fold over the ends.   It's basically just a long rectangle.  I made a few rows 'ribbed' by crocheting in the back loops, so that it has more scrubbing power.

 
Then I sewed 3 sides closed, and left the 3rd open so that it's easier to get on and off the mop, and added strings to tie it in place.  

I made mine with 100% cotton yarn because I plan to use it wet,
but if you just want to use it dry for dusting hardwood floors, you could also make it with acrylic.

Crowns of Glory

I made my first couple of hats for my charity...which I have named "Crowns of Glory" based on
Isaiah 62:3 You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.


A good friend of mine told me that she had a friend going through chemotherapy,  and asked me if  I could please make her something special.

This is what we came up with

A nice cream-colored homespun with several different inter-changeable options for flowers

And a Fun Fur Juliette cap.
It has a more open weave, but the 'furriness' fills in the gaps.  I figure it will be a cooler alternative for summer.

I'd like to make more hats with the Fun Fur.
It's a nice, colorful alternative for those having 'no hair days.'     ;-)

Baby, Baby

My next hats were so fun to make!

Two of my friends had darling baby girls within a couple months of each other, and so I had to send them little gifts for their new blessings.  (I have since been dubbed "Auntie Michelle" - a title I quite enjoy - LOL.)


Since I don't have a baby of my own any more - a doll has to suffice for a model.  ;-)

And possibly my favorite hat ever  ( which is why it's my header...)

 I can't think of a better reason to crochet, than to welcome a new little one into the world with something soft and warm.

My inspiration

My next hats were made under much sadder circumstances.

A good friend of mine was diagnosed with leukemia the week after Christmas. 
Knowing that she would be going through chemo I wanted to send her something that would bring her comfort and warmth, and most importantly.... let her know that she was loved.

I wanted something soft and close-fitting, so I used Lion-Brand Homespun yarn and the Amelia pattern from YarnCat, and I made them in my friend's favorite colors...purple and blue.

I have discovered that this (easy) pattern is one of my all-time favorites.  It takes less than one skein of yarn, I can make one up in a few hours. I can dress it up or leave it plain, and it is pretty and cozy. 

Here are some more 'Amelias'  - (some I made with two colors worked together.)

Sadly.... my friend never had a chance to wear her Amelia hats.
She passed away just 3 short weeks after her diagnosis.  :-(

Now, I have been pondering starting a charity of sorts in her honor, and in honor of my own mother, (who also lost her battle with cancer many years ago.)


So...if and when I find the resources, (time and $ for supplies,) I hope to begin a ministry to donate these hats to those going through chemo and radiation.   
Right now it's only in the 'prayerful consideration' stage,
but I know that if the Lord wills it...it's bound to happen.

Putting my 'learning hat' on....

I have discovered that one of my very favorite things to make are hats.

When I started making hats earlier this year my first few attempts didn't quite turn out as planned.

My very first 'hat' was actually a basic 'bun cover
(The pattern came form the book Get Your Crochet On - Hip Hats and Cool Caps.

This was a FUN book, although I learned the hard way that it was mostly geared for 'ethnic' hair, 

(not thin/fine hair like mine.)   The bun cover turned out HUGE!

I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.... until my daughter offered a very creative solution.

One of my dear friends fell in love with the 'cloche' style of hats and asked if I could make her one.

I tried.

I failed

My next try = success!
(sort of ... it was still a bit too big for her)...

 

But at least it turned out the way it was supposed to, which gave me the confidence to try again.

A long time ago, in a galaxay far, far away....

For all of you Star Wars fans ...how cute are these?!!

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=43345204

I don't usually pay so much for patterns - but this one might be too hard to resist!

By far, the next little amigurami has been one of my favorite projects of all.

Not wanting to be left-out, my son wanted me to make something for him - but he said it couldn't be too 'girly.'  
I found this book - and the patterns seemed to fit the bill.

 So this little guy was a birthday present for my son.

Two button eyes

 One grey visor

and one knight in shining armor

He's a brave little soldier  :-)

Little loveys

My children loved stuffed animals. 
Despite my frequent rummage sales and Goodwill donations, we still have we have literally hundreds of them.

So why on earth would I make more?
Because they are so cute, of course! 

These little critters, as well as Ollie the Octopus,  came from the book 
Tiny Yarn Animals: Amigurumi Friends to Make and Enjoy 

I thought that the patterns in this book were easy to follow, and for a beginner like myself - that was a huge positive! 


These stuffed loveys have now found a home in the beds of my youngest daughters...along with a million other dolls and bears.  Yet my girls tell me that these ones are special because "Mommy made them."

And so I'll keep adding to the pile.

How I learned to crochet...

I learned to crochet many years ago when I was a Girl Scout.
I learned how to make chains, how to slip stitch, and I think we learned the single crochet stitch.

When I was a teenager I taught myself the double crochet, and my own version of the half-double -(I didn't get that one quite right until I looked it up in a book!) But still - I could only go in straight lines, and I knew absolutely nothing about increasing or decreasing.
So I made lots (and LOTS) of: scarves, washcloths, baby blankets, afghans - and other things that are square or rectangular.

I looked longingly at crochet patterns, (especially the ones hanging on the yarn displays,) but all of the numbers and abbreviations intimidated me tremendously:
SC, HDC, DC, SL ST, CH, RND
And then some of them had charts for patterns - Good grief...those were WORSE!

It was like some weird, secret language that I couldn't comprehend.
I got books from the library and I tried to follow along, but the pictures often just confused me more.

But this past summer, (after drooling over the gorgeous creations on Etsy,)
I made a promise to myself that I would learn!

This book helped me tremendously

But I think the thing that helped me the most was watching videos on YouTube.
(Gotta love the internet sometimes) ;-)

Actually seeing a real live person demonstrate where to put the hook and how to do increases and decreases was invaluable to me.

And then I discovered amigurami. Oh.So.Cute.
So, putting it all into practice...I made my first creation.

It started as just a group of ball shaped objects...













But it became...Ollie!




























He was well received.
















And I ....was hooked.... (pun intended.) ;-)

The reason for this blog

I have decided to start another blog for my crafts, so that I don't clutter up my homeschool blog.

It's more for me, because most of my projects I end up giving away, so I thought this would be nice to remember/document what I've made.
(And...it's fun to show & tell.) :-)