The Granny Square Project

As soon as anyone finds out that you crochet, they put in a request for an afghan, like their grandma used to make.

I make a fair amount of baby blankets, but in general, I don't do many adult size blankets because I have a short attention span, and tend to lose steam about a third of the way through. I think non crocheters/knitters underestimate just how long it takes to crank out a blanket.

I have realized that folks also drastically underestimate how much the materials for such a blanket cost. Even if you use the cheapest acrylic yarn available, you're still talking about probably between $30-$50 for a blanket.

This year, I've decided to try to combine something I've been getting requests for, (lots of blankets,) with something I want, (to trim down my ginormous thrifted-clearanced-inherited yarn stash.) I'm going to spend the rest of the year making granny squares, and assemble the resulting pile into however many blankets I can come up with, to give at Christmas.

Granny Squares.

In an ideal scenario, I'd have enough to make about a half dozen blankets by Christmas. I'll let you know how it goes.

Even More Last Minute Gifts (With Pattern Links)

I'm still cranking out last minute gifts here, and thought I'd share the links to a couple of projects I've been working on.

Ridged crocheted scarf.

I saw the tutorial for this sort of faux knitted scarf on via Pinterest, and had to try it out. It's really neat and different looking. I love it, even if it did work up pretty slowly...

I made this little hat for a niece. It took a couple of hours start to finish, and it's super cute. I think I may make a couple of more for gifts, and then make myself one after the Christmas rush. (Slouchy Hat pattern here.)

Lots of Last Minute Gifts. Yikes.

I added about 15 homemade gifts to my "to do" list at the last minute. You know how it is, you keep thinking of people you sort of want to acknowledge, but for whom there's no room in the budget.

I dug through my yarn stash, determined to use up some odds and ends, and turned to one of my favorite crochet books for quick, easy, cool looking patterns.

Hats and scarves are fairly generic, I guess, but they're practical, and I'm using nice, soft, wool yarn.

Here are some hats made with the Boy Beanie pattern. (Psst...this pattern works fine for girls and women too.)

And here are a couple of scarves made using the One-Skein Scarf pattern. (These can be made start to finish in one diligent evening. They're pretty too.)

Five down, lots more to go...

What are your go-to assembly line gifts?

Quick & Easy Crocheted Hat & Scarf

My nieces, (now in their early 20's,) like to tease me about giving homemade gifts for Christmas every year. They accuse me of having a "Little House on the Prairie Christmas."

The truth is, they love it. Some years they put in specific requests, some years I surprise them. They always know they'll be getting something you can't just pick up at your nearest box store. (I think the year I tie dyed socks and underwear for everyone was probably the most unique. Yes, I know that wouldn't fly in every family, but it did in ours. LOL.)

This year one of my nieces put in a request for a loud, rainbow-y hat. Her new mohawk is leaving her with a chilly head. (No criticism here. I currently have blue streaks.) I decided to whip her up a matching scarf to go with it.

The yarn is I Love This Cotton from Hobby Lobby. I really do love it. It's super soft. The rainbow turned out a little more pastel than I had intended, but it's still a fun set.

The hat pattern was a tweaked version of the beanie from The Happy Hooker. The scarf was made with the One Warm Coat pattern from Red Heart.

Barbie Doll Makeover

V has accumulated a rather large collection of mostly nude, thrift store Barbie dolls with frizzy, tangled hair.

Yikes! Looks like Barbie got stuck in a wind tunnel...

I've been working on making them look a little more presentable. I gave this one a bob haircut, and crocheted her a dress, based loosely on this pattern. It worked up quickly and easily. If you crochet, you must check out this site for a ginormous selection of free Barbie doll patterns.

Barbie, post makeover.

Barbie's looking a little classier these days...

Crochet Slipper Tutorial

It's finally getting chilly here, and I pulled out V's old crocheted slippers, and used them as a pattern to make a new, slightly larger pair.

After I finished hers, I decided to make myself some, loosely based on hers. I love them. They're warm and soft, and fit nicely. (A side note here. I made mine out of wool yarn, which means I'll have to hand wash them. Acrylic yarn might not be as cozy , but it's machine washable. Life's full of trade offs, right? You could make them out of either.)

Crocheted slippers.

(Yes, I am as pale as that picture suggests. No, my feet are not as big as the picture suggests. In case you were wondering...)

Crochet slippers, side view.

I'm not much of a pattern writer, but I thought I'd share my notes, in case anyone else wanted to make some. I wear a size 8 or 8 1/2. It would be easy to add or subtract rows to make them a little larger or smaller though.

I used an H hook, and a double strand of WW yarn.

Chain 4, and slip stitch to make a ring.
Row 1: Make 12 double crochets in the ring. Slip stitch to join. Chain 3.
Row 2: Make 2 double crochets in each stitch. Slip stitch to join. Chain 3.
Row 3-10: Make 1 double crochet in each stitch around. Slip Stitch to join. Chain 3.
Row 11: Make 1 double crochet in each stitch, for a total of 21 stitches. Chain 3, and turn.
Row 12-15: Repeat row 11.
At the and of row 15, you'll be done with the body of the slipper. Sew or slip stitch the heel seam together, and do one row of single crochet around the ankle opening to finish.
Weave in ends.

Trick or Treat Bag

I had a couple of odd balls of yarn lying around on the nightstand the other night, and made V a  little trick or treat bag.

She's been carrying it around the house pretending to trick or treat for a couple of days. She's going to be a little pumpkin this year, and is so excited.

What are your kiddos dressing up as? (If they are...)

Teeny Granny Square Purse

Crocheted purse.

I don't typically post much on Saturdays, but I thought I'd share a teeny little purse I made for V the other night while watching tv. It's just two small granny squares, and one triangle for the flap, single crocheted together. I didn't bother lining it, since I figured she'd just end up carrying a Pokemon figurine or something along those lines in it, but it would have been easy enough to line.

These would make a cute little gift for a little girl.

Ideas for a Frog Party, & Parties in General

The kids and I are getting ready to have a frog themed party, a LeapFrog party, in fact. (We're getting the opportunity to introduce our friends to some of our new favorite toys, namely the Tag reading system and the new, super duper cool, LeapPad learning tablet.) 

Crocheted lily pads.

We'll be having essentially a frog themed play date, and I'm having fun finding frog themed decor and activity ideas. I found this pattern for crocheted lily pads a while back, and took the opportunity to whip some up for the party.

I'm not sure how we'll be using them yet, because I can actually think of several fun ideas.
The kids could take turns hopping like frogs, flying like dragon flies, swimming like ducks, etc, from one to another.
You could play "musical lily pads," (like musical chairs.)
You could make a game out of tossing Beanie Baby frogs onto the lily pads for points.

Really you could make something similar for lots of party themes, and if you don't crochet, you could make no sew, felt versions. Using a few of our favorite themes, you could make Mario mushrooms, Pokeballs, bubbles from "Gabbaland," etc. You could then tweak the games to pretend you were Mario running, Yoshi jumping, etc, from one mushroom to another, or try throwing stuffed pokemon toys onto the Pokeballs for points...

I love themed parties...

Disclosure: We were provided with LeapFrog toys for the purpose of hosting an in home party. No other compensation was provided. We were under no obligation to review them positively. (We are however, smitten with them, and have been shouting it from the rooftops.)

Look for our party post soon.

Teeny Beanie Baby Sleeping Bag

I finished up a quick little project for V, a crocheted sleeping bag for a teeny Beanie Baby. (She adores Beanie Babies. We have a whole zoo.)

Teeny Beanie Baby sleeping bag. 

L let it be known that he'd like a sleeping bag for his Pokemon too...

Check out the pattern at Suzies Stuff. (She has lots of other great, free patterns.)

A Really Cute Craft Fail

I was browsing for gift ideas recently on Ravelry, and found a super cute Pokeball hat pattern for my Pokemon obsessed little boy.

Pokeball hat.

After he went to bed last night, I cranked out the hat in one sitting, only to realize that it was small. Very small. It barely fit V's teeny little 3 year old noggin. (The pattern was supposed to be for a teen/adult sized head. I must crochet way tighter than I thought.)

She called dibs on it, and is a happy little Pokemon trainer. I think I'm going to just to find a regular old men's hat pattern and alter it with the appropriate colors to fit L's man sized head...

That 70's Throw

I love thrift stores. And yarn. And kitschy stuff from the 60's and 70's. When I see a lonely skein of harvest gold yarn at Goodwill, I'm helpless to resist.

But um, what do you make out of a big pile of orange, and green, and brown acrylic yarn?

Granny squares, of course

I've been working on this little throw off and on for awhile. It's finally finished, and unlike most of my projects I'm going to keep  it for myself. (Honestly, I'm not sure anyone else in the whole world would want it.) 

It's quirky. Like me.

Crocheted Star Garland for Christmas

I know, you're rolling your eyes, right? More Christmas stuff? In August?

Crocheted star garland.

What can I say? I love Christmas. And I'm sick of August....

I found this tutorial for crocheted stars at Jellywares, and whipped up this little garland in less than 24 hours. (That's my kind of project...) It's made of sport weight cotton, and destined to go across the doorway to the dining room.

Each star uses only a tiny bit of yarn, so they're a great way to use up leftovers. The resulting Christmas ornaments would be a cute little added gift, when tied onto a package.

Prayer Shawl for a Friend

I sort of dropped everything I was going to do last week in favor a new project.

A sweet lady from church lost her son several months back, and I decided to try to whip her up a prayer shawl, to let her know I was thinking about her and praying for her.

It's still well over 100 degrees here every day, so I can't imagine she'll actually be using it anytime soon, but maybe in a few months...

On my ever growing to do list,  I'd love to eventually make up a pile of these to take to the local Children's hospital where I used to work.  My heart always went out to the poor new mommies camped out at the NICU...

Yep, Another Blanket

I finally finished another crochet project. I've probably got a dozen things started, but I'm having trouble finishing anything. I usually only crochet at night, after the kids are asleep, and by then I'm too frazzled to do anything that requires lots of counting or complicated patterns. As a result, I've got lots of half finished gloves and blankets, but I keep going back to granny squares.

This is another simple little baby blanket, made entirely out of odd little balls of leftover baby yarn. It's sort of eclectic looking, but it's soft and warm, and that's what counts, right? I'm packing it away to send on the church mission trip to Mexico this winter.

Granny Square Toddler Blanket

I've been forcing myself to finish some of the partially completed projects lying around before allowing myself to start any new crocheting. This blanket has been in my nightstand for literally months.

It's finally finished though. It's toddler sized, and will be going to Mexico this year at Christmas time, with our church mission trip.

Cool, Easy Wrist Warmers

The temps are nearly in the triple digits here, so it only makes since that I've been crocheting wrist warmers, right?

These worked up quickly, in worsted weight cotton yarn. The pattern is the Parisian Mitts Pattern, from Red Heart. I rarely end up keeping the things I make, but I think I'm going to keep these. I love them.

Christmas in May? Why not?

My crocheting has been fairly limited lately. This time of year it seems like there's just too much going on to get much done.

What I have been working on here and there are a pile of crocheted dishcloths. They're a no brainer project, and coincidentally, that seems to be all the brains I have to spare at the present time.

I'll be giving them out as Christmas gifts. Folks love 'em, and ask for them. They wear well, and they're a little scrubbier than their store bought counterparts, which makes them great for hand washing.

My mom and step dad live in a teeny little house from the 40's, with no dishwasher, and they love them.

Anyone else making stuff for Christmas already, or am I the only crazy one?

(I think I'm going to have to buy a new camera. The flash in my trusty old Easy Share seems to be going out. Sorry.)

Late Birthday Gift, Nay, it's an Early Christmas Present

After I made the blue poncho for V some time ago, she let it be known that she needed a pink one. I dutifully started a pink one, thinking I'd have it done in time for her birthday.
Her birthday came and went, and now that I've finally finished it, our temps are in the 80-90 degree range. There's no danger of being chilly here until next fall. I'm just going to put it away, and give it to her for Christmas.

Instead of considering myself behind, I'm just going to pretend I'm really ahead this year...

Get Hooked Again (Book Review)

I haven't been doing much crafting the last couple of weeks, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. One exception is crocheting, which I do in the car, at the doctor's office, and in bed at night. I've been simultaneously working on several patterns from Get Hooked Again.



I've checked and rechecked it from the library over the last couple of years, and made many, many incarnations of the Workin'-for-You-Scarf. It's easy enough to do while watching tv or whatever, and is a pretty, feminine alternative to what most people think of when they think of a crocheted scarf.

Latest version of the Workin'-for-You Scarf, in Kool Aid dyed yarn.

I'm also working on a pair of Fingerless Street Mitts for my Sunday School teacher, and a Gidget Bucket Hat for V. (Pictures to come, as I finish them.)

In spite of what would appear to be a book aimed at really young girls, I found several really solid patterns in this one. If you're looking for cute easy projects, I'd recommend it.

Disclosure: I received nothing from the author, or publisher, or anyone else, in exchange for this review. I'm recommending it based on my own positive experience.