Bold & Beautiful

 The Bold & Beautiful Afghan I finished last week during a mini vacation due to surgery. What better things are there to do then crochet and listen to a good audio book while I was resting and healing! The Free pattern can be found here:

Brighter Daze Square 

by Melissa Green

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/brighter-daze-square

Baby Hats and an Adorable Chicken Cosy!

I have a new grand-baby due to arrive in a couple months and I am very excited! The baby wouldn't cooperate for the ultrasound, the little darling kept turning on his/her side, facing her back and curling up to sleep despite the technicians best efforts to arouse the little one and discover the great mystery of it's gender. I mention this because I am really excited to start crocheting some of my first baby items but, I am uncertain about what colors of yarn to use. I dislike the unisex mint green color, that I have seen so overly used by others in the past for this very same reason. 

A friend, who's a professional photographer, asked if I would crochet a few baby hats to be used as props in baby photo's for her. I was actually very apprehensive about making them for her with having never made baby hats before. I didn't want to accept a commissioned job without being certain about my own abilities. This little moral dilemma has held me back before on accepting requests to make items in the past for others. I solved my problem this time by offering to make them for free for her while considering this the perfect opportunity for some practice in skill and self-awareness building for myself. We can all be our worst critics and when I'm striving towards perfection for others I have a tendency to be too harsh on my own abilities therefore, completely taking the fun out of what I consider to be an enjoyable outlet. 

Shown above is a picture of the first baby hats I have made, that I am now really excited to make more of. My six year old grand-daughter, Jade, seen this picture yesterday and called me all excited requesting that I needed to make these hats in duplicate for her soon to be brother or sister and herself. Leave it to my Jade to make me feel like Pro!

The patterns for theses hats can be found here for free:

Long Tailed Baby Elf Hat by Carrie Piper:

http://www.oodles-4-noodles.com/2011/03/long-tailed-baby-elf-hat-tutorial.html

Newborn Zebra Hat by Gwen Duhart:

http://adorablyhooked.blogspot.com/2012/03/newborn-zebra-hat-free-pattern.html

I also tried out this adorable Chicken Cosy Pattern and was really pleased with the outcome.

The free pattern for this egg cosy can be found at:

Eggstremely Cosy Set by Corinne Frieden

http://piecesofmylife-victoriag.blogspot.com/2009/04/well-after-having-spent-morning-trying.html

Owl Obsession

 Here's what I have been busy crocheting for a Christmas gift for my Granddaughter, my version of a pattern created by Marken of The Hat & I, called "Owl Obsession". I really enjoyed this pattern and the open-ended possibilities one can use in recreating this design. In my revisions, I used 2 different colors of yarn in recreating the owls, I crocheted the eyes completely instead of using a button for the iris, I joined the motifs through the front using a complimenting multi-colored yarn, and I added a border that reminded me of feathers.

The pattern can be purchased through Ravelry here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/owl-obsession and the original pattern image made by the designer is displayed below. I want to make a few more using the suggested yarn. It's so lovely!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

Banju Pillow

Nothing beats an interest outside of your work to inspire you and leave you feeling completely contented. I have been busy crocheting and painting lately, trying my hand at smaller this & that projects. I just completed this lovely Banju Pillow and really enjoyed the creative process in making it. You can find the pattern here by clicking on this link, Häkelkissen BANJU, Kreativ-Ebook .

This is one side of it. I used lots of bright, cheerful colors with a mixed style of yarn. After I completed both sides I pinned the backsides to a piece of material and sewed in a liner using my machine. I was careful not to sew on my top final row of each panel that is needed to enclose the sides and then I carefully trimmed around the edges.

And here's a side view. Instead of using a double crochet stitch (dc), I went with a tighter half double crochet (hdc) stitch to help keep its stuffing in.

 This is the flipside, I made the opposite sides different in case I liked one more than the other. Thanks for taking a look!

~sMiLeS~

Tammy in Northern Michigan



Afghan turned Sampler

I was serious on following a pattern when I first started this afghan, then I just couldn't help myself and I started playing around with some different stitches. I was really impressed with how the corner squares turned out. They are from the Forest Chain square pattern and I added little extra kick to them with some single stitch outlining and corner cross post stitches.

I really love how they turned out, pretty neat looking! 

I also wanted to show you how I organized my yarn using 12 x 12 cardboard boxes, packing tape, and a few drywall screws. I wanted a neat way to organize and show it off without being too permenate or costing too much.

The neat things about organizing it this way; are that I can change the boxes around on the wall  into different patterns to fit my mood and decor needs, and I can also add or subtract a box at anytime I want to, just depending on my yarn stash. I was even thinking about wallpapering the outside of it to make it look all copasetic for me.

Not too Shabby for Being a Newby!

Well, here it is! I didn't block it yet and I'm not sure if I will because my daughter wanted it like, yesterday and to be honest I'm not sure where to begin on something so big. It would be one daunting task, that's for sure! I started this Afghan with "me" in mind, I wanted something bright for my room. Well, I did mention "bright", didn't I? :) What do you think? Not too shabby for being a newby still. The pattern, "Realta Afghan by Olivia Rainsford from Gingerbread Lady Designs" 

can be found here:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/realta-afghan

Last week I had it spread out on my living room floor tucking ends in and my daughter happen to finally take a good look at it, you all know how teens are. She wouldn't stop telling me how much she loved it and then the girl managed to bamboozle it right off my bed and on to hers. Oooh well, c'est la vie (that's life)!  

It turned out a bit too color punchy for my room. At least this is what I kept telling myself as to why I gave it to her (I'm a schmuck when it comes to my babies)! It's okay, though, as it turns out I have been eyeing down a different pattern, that I've fallen in love with (like that was really hard to do). Here's the color palette below that I have already chosen for it; seafoam green, blue, denim, and I also plan on using a linen or light tan color to help accent the others. I first picked my Primary color, denim, when I seen it in Lion's brand, Pound of Love yarn. It's a luscious color!