baby bear hat

In my experience, there is nothing sweeter than a baby with little animal ears on his hat.  I crocheted this baby bear hat for a little man who will be making his entrance into the world shortly.  Congratulations, Holly!  I can't wait to meet Hunter.

This was a no-pattern hat ... I like to crochet on the fly.  :)

happy thanksgiving!

Today I am thankful for my family, especially healthy babies, modern medicine, and my sister-in-law's delicious chocolate pie.

Speaking of babies ... remember how I just had one?  Without further ado, I'd like to introduce Cora Margaret:

Cora is such a peaceful, sweet baby.  We just love her!  I was so worried about Ruby (a.k.a. "the brute") using her muscles on the baby, but so far it is just hugs and kisses all around.   Oscar, of course, is smitten as well  (it probably helps that she looks just like him).

We had a few hiccups in the hospital, so it has taken me longer to get back to the computer.  Between needing to recover and the holidays coming up, posting is going to be really light around here for the foreseeable future.  But can you blame me?  We are all super busy snuggling Cora.

For Thanksgiving, I crocheted Cora a silly turkey drumstick hat:

Funny, right?  After seeing it on Pinterest, I just couldn't resist!   I made up the the pattern as I went along and didn't write it down, so I don't have instructions to share with you.   You might be able to find a crochet turkey leg pattern online, and just add it to a simple hat.  After the holiday, I think I might take the drumsticks off and add some teddy bear ears for a more useful everyday hat.

At first it seemed like Cora really liked it:

But then she started making sour faces at me:

One-week-olds are so fickle.  :)

In completely unrelated news ...

I have a Black Friday Deal to share with all you Silhouette fans.  Silhouette is having a great Black Friday sale where everything in the online store (except the CAMEO, subscriptions, download cards, and gift cards) is 30% off.  You can get an extra 10% off using the online code, JILL, for a total of 40% off!

Also, the CAMEO will not be found in the regular online store, but you can find it on the "secret" Black Friday Page.  The Cameo is not 30% off, and my extra code will not apply, but it will be nicely discounted. The Black Friday Cameos are expected to sell out fast.

All shapes will be 50% off.

The Black Friday sale starts at 12:01 a.m. (MST) on Friday, November 25th.  Codes will be valid through the 28th.

Happy shopping!

crocheted lion mane hat

What do you think of my new digs?   I decided the old blog could use a spruce and decided to get professional help this time.  Kate from Smitten Blog Designs took excellent care of me and I am thrilled with the new look.  Thanks, Kate!

Last night as it was all being installed, I was poking around with things, reorganizing some labels, and editing my archives.  When I first started blogging (all the way back in 2006), I had no idea how to operate a sewing machine.   Instead, I was an avid crocheter.  In fact, my very first post ever was a crocheted bear hat.

I made a lot of animal hats that winter, but only kept one, which I realized is the perfect size for Oscar now.

This lion hat is kind of funny looking, but I love it.  As with all of my animal hats, I just made it up as I went along, so unfortunately there is no pattern to share.  But I will try to explain how I made the curly mane.

Single crochet tends to curl into itself, so I did fingers of single crochet off of a chain stitch.   Basically, you chain stitch however long you want the piece to be, then single crochet a long finger, turn and single crochet back the other direction toward your chain stitches.  Move to the next chain and do it again (repeat, repeat).  The single crochet strands will curl into twisty spirals.  I hope that makes sense to you if you are a crocheter.  There is a reason I've never tried to write down my crochet patterns!  :)

Check out my past posts to see my bear, frog, puppy, hippo, fish, pig, blue tiger (ha!), and monkey hats (but beware of the icky photography).

secret santa scarves

I crocheted two secret santa scarves this month ...

a blue one for my sister's bookclub secret santa exchange

and a red one for my own bookclub exchange

We used Elfster, so I was able to sneakily find out that red and pink are Mary's favorite colors. What a great site! It made setting up an exchange really easy.

I was lucky enough to have BreAnna as my secret santa. She made me a basket filled with a beautiful cinnamon stick candle, a bundle of bath salts, and Christmas mugs filled with hot cocoa. Thanks, BreAnna! You are the best.

Crocheted food - yum

The only thing better than felt food is crocheted food. I found an excellent pattern for crocheted cupcakes at BitterSweet (what an amazing blog - she is a crochet genius). From there, I just made the patterns up myself.

Chocolate cupcake with pink icing and sprinkles

apple

carrot

The cheeseburger is my favorite.

Two Crocheted Baby Blankets

I made these two blankets for my friend at work having twins. The first is a very pale pink blanket, made with a terrycloth yarn. Very simple - I just used a single crochet with three rows of double crochet for the edge. I really loved how soft and cuddly this little blanket was. I accidentally threw away the yarn packaging, but I think it was just Red Heart Baby Terry (also, it is machine wash and dryable - always a plus).

The second blanket was lavender with a white satin ribbon trim. I used the basket weave stitch, which is quickly becoming my favorite stitch for blankets. It makes them nice and thick, and the texture is quite pretty.

Truck Blanket

Ta-da! My first custom order.



Five points to anyone who can tell me what kind of truck this is.

checkerboard blanket

This is my first attempt at a patchwork blanket. The green squares are made with Red Heart "Hunny" yarn. It is a combination of chenille, baby fur and eyelash yarn which is incredibly soft. It is a small blanket, but I really like the way it turned out.

waffle-edge blanket

I made this baby blanket for a very good friend who is due in May. Yesterday was the shower I co-threw for her, and everything turned out really great (phew). Her friends and family came from all over - Connecticut, Utah, Boston, Chicago, D.C. and of course New York - so you can tell this girl is pretty special. Now that it is over, I finally have a chance to blog about the stuff I've been working on.

Although this blanket is really simple, I love the edging. I was planning to decorate one of the corners, but I thought it looked just right as is. Plus, it is in my very favorite shade of blue.



Only 2 showers to go ... it has been a busy spring.

I am also excited to announce that I got my very first order recently. It is from my sister, but you have to start somewhere, right?

Airplane hat

I brought a small skein of yarn for our flight to Germany, thinking it would keep me entertained for at least the first few hours. We were delayed on the runway and I actually finished this hat before we took off. Good times. This hat is made with a Peter Pan brand yarn, which is unbelievably soft. I have two more skeins of it at home, and I think it would make a cute baby hoodie.

blue stripe blanket

I made this blanket for a bookclub baby shower. I used a boucle yarn that faded from baby blue to white, so it had a wide-striped look overall.

lamb blanket

Today was the first of 4 baby showers that I will attend in the next 6 weeks. I gave this green lamb blanket to fellow book-clubber Alicia along with some burp cloths that I'll post on tomorrow. I used the basket weave stitch again for this blanket. It turned out to be quite thick, but I think it will be great to use in the stroller to protect against the freezing NYC weather.

ribbon hat

I crocheted this ribbon hat on my return flight from St. Louis. It matches the gray cardigan I made last month. I think it will look really sweet on a baby girl.

basket weave scarf

I went on a business trip this weekend to St. Louis, Missouri. It was an interesting conference and I'm glad I went, but it was especially convenient because my family lives there. I like to keep myself occupied on the plane, so on the flight there I made my mom a scarf for her birthday. Since one of her hobbies is weaving baskets, I used a basket weave stitch and love the way the fabric turned out.





I also finished a project on the return trip, but I'll save that post for tomorrow.

bribes and pocket pets

The more fun toys you have in your purse, the more cute little babies at church will want to be your friend. This is my plan for cute baby monopolization.

my husband, the gangster

Jared asked me to make him a plain black hat because it is getting quite cold here and he needed something to keep his wee ears warm. I tried to get a good photo of him wearing it, but all I got were outrageous facial expressions.



I showed him this picture and said this is what I planned to post, hoping he would want to retake it. He said, "Awesome. I look like a gangster."

A gangster? Really?

I love you, Jared.

It was a busy weekend

This weekend, I also finished a pink hat using some leftover yarn. It should come in handy for the incoming winter weather.

hand crocheted baby cardigan

I've recently acquired some new crochet books which gave me great ideas for some new projects. Today I finished a crocheted baby cardigan. I made up the pattern for the cardigan and used a pattern from one of the new books for the flower detail. I like the look of the hook and eye closures down the front.



One of my goals this year is to design a line of baby items (hats, sweaters, blankets, etc.) and open a store on Etsy by December 2007.

The last of the hats

Here are the last of my Christmas hats. If I'm smart (and a good aunt) I will start making them now for next Christmas. I have 13 nieces and nephews on the Green side. Yikes.

A puppy for Sam (I like this one a lot):

A hippo for Josh:

But the question is, does it really look like a hippo? Jared thinks it looks like a blue shrek ... or a walrus. I say, close enough.

Done!

I finally finished the animal hats for this Christmas. Some of them were pretty tricky, but they came together in the end.

A fish hat for Natalie:

I couldn't decide on what kind of mouth to give the fish - the round one (top) looks most fish-like to me, but also a bit grumpy (or shocked?). I decided to go with a more baby-friendly smile.


A bear for Brent - look familiar? I hope he enjoys wearing it as much as I do. I get so many compliments on the street when I wear mine. :)

A pink piggie for Claire:

I love the curly tail.

And the grand finale, a blue and black tiger for Nile:

I have two more hats to post after Christmas!