Baby Overlay Dress

The Inspiration:

My friend at work, Jonell, had a baby about 5 months ago. I wasn't confident enough in my crochet skills to make her something until now.

The Yarn:

I found some yarn at goodwill, Lily Sugar 'n Cream Baby and Fingering Yarn. It is 100% Pure, Soft Spun Cotton, 3-Ply, Pre-Shrunk, in #11 Yellow.

The Pattern:

Pattern can be found here.

The pattern was pretty easy to work as long as you have a basic knowledge of crochet.
I used 2 strands of the yarn with an H hook.

There is a slight variance from her pattern to my dress, as I didn't add the sleeves. I just preferred the shorter sleeved look.

Close up.

Click to enlarge.

And an action shot.



Thanks for looking, I so hope Jonell likes it, and now I definitely feel more comfortable making clothing and baby items.

Fluffy Autumn Wreath

The halloween exchange for The Happy Hooker group also had the option to exchange autumn crafts. The girl I was making for said she had no preference, halloween or autumn, so I decided to make both, I made the spiderweb table topper, featured in the previous post, and I made this wreath.

And a close up.


I used Red Heart ww yarn in "fall".
This was my own design and I will be posting a pattern as soon as I write one up. I will probably make a whole line of them.

Thanks for looking!!

Spider Table Topper

Well I was so excited when The Happy Hooker group included a halloween category with this months exchanges. I love halloween and I definitely couldn't wait to start creating for it.

I came across a pattern for a spiderweb table topper and loved it.
You can find the pattern here.

And here is mine.



I used Bernat Ping Pong in Brilliant Black. It is a bulky weight yarn with flecks of shiny black which makes it very glittery, like a spiderweb is in the sun.

This was a fun and easy pattern to follow, and I am pleased with the results. I hope my exchange partner is pleased as well!!

Thanks for looking!!

Lime Sleep Mask

So today I made a sleep mask.

The inspiration:

I work nights, that means I sleep during the day... or at least I try. We only have mini blinds in the bedroom, no dark curtains or anything, so at noon when I am trying to sleep the sun is coming right in through the window and filling the room with light.

I couldn't sleep... I tried crocheting the afghan I am working on, but my arm soon hurt from crocheting while laying down.

I laid there a while... still couldn't sleep...
I tossed and turned, tried covering my face with the blanket, or the pillow, or my arm... nothing worked...

So I thought to myself, I need a sleep mask...
WAIT!! I could crochet a sleep mask!!

I decided I needed to use a soft yarn, it will be on my face after all. Then I remembered I had some Lion Brand Micro Spun in Lime.



Click to enlarge.

I grabbed my g hook and started crocheting.
About an hour or two later, after I got the front done, I finally fell asleep.
When I was able to work on it again, I finished it in another couple hours. It shouldn't have taken me that long, but I had several rows of single crochets and border and weaving to do.

Anyway, here is how it turned out!


Click to enlarge.


And a back view:


Click to enlarge.

I know, the lighting is horrible in my computer/craft room. I need to find a better place to take the pictures!!

Anyway, hope you like!!
Thanks for looking!!

~Jenn~

Men's ZigZag Back Scrubber

I really wanted to make my boyfriend something, since he has been so supportive of my new hobby, but it is hard to find something to make for a guy.

Anyway, I was lucky to come across this pattern for a zig zag bath set.

So I asked Jeff if he would use the back scrubber if i made it for him, and it promised he would, so I dug through my scraps till I found some olive green and navy blue. The scanned image for some reason kept coming out black and tan, so I adjusted the color as best I could to blue and green, but it is still not quite right. the picture is pretty close to the exact colors though.

Pictures are clickable.




Thanks for looking!!

6" Square Exchange

For the August Exchange at the Happy Hooker Paradise, I decided to do the 6" squares.

I love making squares because they are simple, and quick.
So I started my search for the perfect square on the internet.
I looked and looked, and all the ones I found that I really liked, were so very hard, or wouldn't have turned out good with the colors I already have. So after about an hour or two of searching I realized that I had just bought 4 new books from crafter's choice. So I opened up 201 crochet motifs, blocks, projects, and ideas. I looked through twice before I decided on the diagonal sqare.

What a simple design!! It was so easy, and went so quick, but came out pretty nicely I think.


(click to enlarge)

I was so inspired that I used the pattern, but with different colors and striping, to start on an afghan. So far I have about 14" done on it, a far cry from the 60 or so inches it will end up being, but it's getting there. I can't wait to get it done so I can post it on here!!

Thanks for looking!!

Creepy Gingerbread Man

Ok, so the July Exchange at the Happy Hooker's Paradise was themed Christmas in July. I decided to enter the toy exchange. I thought, I want to try making a stuffed animal, everyone is making them nowadays, it is my turn now.

That was a mistake.

I made the gingerbread man the first time and it came out ok, except that the cotton showed too much, so I wanted to make it again, but with a smaller hook, but I also wanted it a little bigger, so I had to adjust the pattern a little. I am still pretty new to crochet, and pretty bad at math, so that proved to be a challenge. But I managed it somehow.
The biggest challenge with this project however, was figuring out how to do the details. I was going to embroider everything, but soon realized I cannot embroider worth a crap. So with some trial and error, and lots of support from my wonderful boyfriend, I decided to glue on some googly eyes, use some pipe cleaner for the mouth, and pom poms for the buttons.

I thought it came out terrible, my boyfriend said it came out fine, a coworker said it 'wasn't that bad', and my exchange partner said she loved it and not so to sell myself short (after I promised to send her something else soon).

So over all I give myself a C+, but an A for effort. I worked so hard on this stupid thing, LOL
Anyway, here it is, the infamous gingerbread man.
(all pics are clickable)







Please don't laugh too hard, I am still learning!!

"Painted Desert Tote" Now in Banana Berry!!

When my sister saw the painted desert tote I made for myself, she loved it and wanted one for her. So I took her to the store to pick out the yarn she wanted. She picked banana berry.

Basically I made hers just like mine, but I added a pocket to the inside for her pens for school.

Here is the bag.
(all pics are clickable to enlarge)


And the inside.


And a close up of the pocket.


And finally, a close up of the stitch.



Thanks for looking!!
(These will be for sale shortly.)

Clorox Ready Mop Pad

Ok, so I am super cheap, especially when it comes to things I don't need, but would make my life easier. Luckily I am not as lazy as I am cheap or this project wouldn't have happened. I stumbled across a pattern for a swiffer wet jet pad on the internet, and at first I laughed and kept browsing. But about an hour later I thought, maybe she was on to something... So I broke out my favorite hook (H) and some yarn that I had plenty of, but had no plan for just yet, and started crocheting.

I basically made a chain till it was about 13" long, then started to single crochet. When I got to the second row, I decided to crochet in the back loops only to give it a little traction. I crocheted till it was long enough to wrap around the ready mop and finished it off.

This was such a simple project that took no time at all.
Here is a close up of the stich.

Click to enlarge.

And an action shot:

Click to enlarge.


Now whenever I am done mopping, I just through the pad in the washer, and reuse!!