Miley's Starghan

So it has been awhile since I've posted anything new.  It is in the middle of summer here so it has been hot and humid - too much so to crochet with yarn heating up my lap.

But, I do have a new niece scheduled to make her arrival in August, so this doting Auntie had no choice but to pick up her hook and make some baby blankets for this pending bundle of joy.

My sister found a wall decal that served as the springboard to the nursery theme.

  She decided that purple would be a nice neutral wall colour (since at that point, Miley was a mystery.)  Having seen a star-shaped afghan on my crochet pins on Pinterest, she made her request for a star afghan to grace the rocking chair.

Since two shades of purple were being used on the nursery walls, I decided to continue this for the afghan as well.

The yarns I used for this afghan are Red Heart Baby Clouds in white and orchid, Red Heart Soft in white (4600) and Bernat Baby Coordinates in Soft Lilac, and Bernat Baby Coordinates Chunky in Plushy Purple.

Looking online for starghan patterns, I feared that I was biting off more than I was accustomed to chewing!  The patterns seemed so complex somehow!

In the end I did what I typically do and came up with my own pattern (basically a single crochet decrease in the valleys and a 2 DC, ch, 2 DC cluster at the star points.)

I really like the way it turned out and I think it will make a great addition for the new addition in our family.

Here are some detail pics:

Migraine Minnie Mouse Hat

I have been suffering from frequent migraines for the last few months.  It's ridiculous and very frustrating.  *sigh*  Invariably I end up taking the heavy duty meds, passing out for hours, and then when I wake up and the migraine is gone, I get a buzz of creativity and inspiration.  Since this is usually in the wee hours of the morning, it ends up being a good time for crochet.

One night I made a hat, mittens and scarf set.  I think it was also in a post migraine early morning stint when I created Kaylin's flower purse.

Last night was a similar post migraine creative output.

Apparently my niece may have a Minnie Mouse themed birthday party.  My sister had posted a few Minnie Mouse themed pins on Pinterest.  One pin of a toddler in a Minnie Mouse hat and pink tutu and that's all I needed for inspiration.

Here's what I came up with...

It was really quite simple.  Here's how I made it...

I crocheted a toddler size beanie with black worsted weight yarn.  (You can find a great resource for calculating crocheted hat sizes here.)  You can't tell by this picture, but I actually created a bit of a peak at the front of the hat to more closely resemble Minnie's head.  I'll have to update a picture once this is on Kaylin's head.

Then I crocheted 4 circles for Minnie's ears.  I whipstitched two of the circles together (back sides facing in) leaving about a two inch space unsewn.  This allowed me to put the gap against the hat and sew the ears on in two seams.  The ears stay up nice and straight this way.  Can't have a Minnie Mouse with floppy ears, after all.

To make the puffy crocheted bow, I started with 5 chains (middle of the bow), and increased at the beginning and end of the row every third row until my bow was wide enough.  This ended up being 11 sc wide.  Then I started decreasing until I was back at  5 chains.  Continued to crochet with increases and decreases to make the other side.  Ended with the 5 stitch row and whipstitched this to the beginning.  (To get an idea, think of what an untied bowtie looks like and you'll get the idea of what the crocheted bow looked like before I sewed it together.)  To make the center of the bow, I crocheted a little 3-row sc rectangle and sewed it together at the back.  I used a safety pin to pin it to the hat.  I think eventually I'll use a ribbon bow but yarn is what I had on hand.

Came together very quickly and simply.

A Flower Purse for Kaylin

So I was having a hard time with a pair of unruly bunnies (slippers) last night, which caused me to put down the bunnies and whip up this cute little flower purse for my niece, Kaylin.

Now, I should explain that Kaylin is almost 2 and lately she's had a fascination with pockets.  Even if she is wearing a pair of leggings or pull on pants, she'll pretend she has pockets.  This, invariably, results in her walking around with her hands in her pants.  Who knows what kinds of things my sister has found in her pants at the end of the day!

The flower purse was created really quickly.  I just started with yellow circles (3 rows, ending up with 30 hdc.)  Next I made some light pink petals (clusters of sc, hdc, dc + dc, hdc, sc) around the yellow circle.  Finally the last row fuschia row added depth and division to the petals.  They were created in clusters of sl st, hdc, dc and tc.

I made two identical flowers, whipstitched them together, leaving an opening of a petal and a half for her little hands to tuck treasures inside.  I finished it off with a foundation chain handle.  Voila!  Perfect little flower purse for Kaylin!

Bunnies and Froggies and Elmos, Oh My!

So, as I said in my previous post, I've made some plain Jane (or Jack, as the case may be) slippers, but I've also snazzed them up a bit and made some other varieties. Here they are....

Bunnies....
This was my first attempt at a less than basic slipper. They will fit a 3 yr old.
My second pair, and the smallest slippers I've made to date. For tiny 6 month old feet. These also have two-tone ears.  The face was made using puffy fabric paint. I'm in the process of making her mother a matching pair. (Although, the thought of how dirty a pair of white slippers are probably going to get makes me pause.)   Sorry for the fuzzy photo quality.

And women's size M/L bunnies. (Once I posted my smaller bunny slippers on Facebook, the requests came in for women's sizes.)

Froggies.... Only one pair so far, for a 1 yr old. That is puffy fabric paint on the eyes, mouth and nostrils.

And Elmo slippers.
 The idea for these came from a slipper request from a friend of mine, who is halfway around the world stationed in Korea. Apparently, one's feet get cold in Korea too! Who knew? He requested a pair of slippers and knowing his love of Elmo, I wondered if I could make a pair of slippers in the furry monster's likeness. I decided that a smaller pair for my 2 yr old niece, Kaylin, who is also an Elmo fan, would be a bite-sized attempt. Here are her finished slippers. And since she recognizes that they are Elmo, Auntie thinks she did a good job!

And here are the larger, men's size slippers that are headed to Korea to my friend who is stationed there.

Cozy Slippers

Lately I've been crocheting up a lot of slippers - bunnies, Elmo, frogs, and just regular comfy slippers. I'll show you the fancy ones later, but here are my basic slippers.

These slippers were created using worsted weight yarn, using two strands at a time. Using two strands makes a nice thick, cozy slipper.
I've hunted on the web for a great slipper pattern for what seems like hours! (In fact, if you know of a good one-piece slipper pattern with a thick sole without being too bulky on the top, please let me know!) Since I couldn't find anything that really suited my needs, I came up with my own.

If there is interest in the pattern, I'll try to explain it in a further post. For now, here are more slippers I've made.
His and Hers...

Little Red Slippers....

These red slippers were made for a friend's children, one pair for a 2 yr old, and one pair for a 4 yr old. I couldn't decide if I should add ties or pompoms so in the end, they had both. Pompoms for fun, and ties to keep them on their feet.


Next time, the bunnies, frogs, and Elmo slippers! Be sure to subscribe to my blog because they are really cute and you won't want to miss them. K

And so it begins...

I figured it was time to create a spot where I can showcase my crochet projects. A blog seemed like a good idea.

So, let me tell you about myself (well, at least as it relates to crochet) for starters....

I have crocheted for years.  My mom taught me how to crochet when I was a girl.  I also learned how to knit then too, but I could never get the tension right for knitting.  One of these days I'll attempt knitting again.  Maybe when I don't have a whole host of crochet projects on my lap.  :)

I have made a variety of crocheted items - baby blankets, afghans, scarves, slippers, sweaters, hats and more.  You'll see these in subsequent posts.

I'm left-handed, and a bit of a creative free-spirit.  When making a project, I'll consult a pattern for inspiration, but often I'll incorporate my own modifications.  I hate counting stitches.

I'm looking forward to showing off my projects as well as explaining how I created them.