Something else for me..... is this a trend??

Nah - it's not a trend - I'm sure it's not...... ;) And, so what if it is a bit of a trend ... I'm always making for others, but rarely for me... so - I don't apologize ;-)

Anyway - my hands get cold - I mean, really cold, when I'm on the computer or knitting or crocheting at night during the winter. Obviously, one does not want to wear gloves while doing these things.... so, I had seen lots of 'fingerless gloves' or 'wrist warmers' online - and, I thought that I would make some of my own. And, I'm so glad that I did. My little hands are so warm and toasty as I'm typing this post.

Here is a picture of them (or one of them) - as I took the picture myself, I could only get one. As good as I am - try as I may - I couldn't get a picture of both while still holding the camera. So - you'll just have to trust me that I have 2. Trust me that I'm not going all Michael Jackson with crocheted fingerless gloves... ;-)

Now, I've got several more pairs to make - as I've gotten several requests since showing mine off. Luckily - I have a bit of a ride tomorrow (to go to a football game out of town) - so I think that I can knock out several pairs then!

This is how these (to fit my hands) are made. This is CERTAINLY not to be confused with a proper crochet pattern - but, it is instructions for those that might be interested....

1. chain 32 (30 for length - 2 for turning)

2. 1/2 dc across length (start in 3rd ch from hook)

3. ch 3

4. dc across length

5. ch 2

6. repeat steps 2 - 5, until you have 7 rows of 1/2 dc and 7 rows of dc

7. fold your rectangle in half

8. whip stitch from top for 3/4 inch9. leave approx 1 1/2 inch for thumb hole

10. whip stitch rest of length

11. Turn right side out

12. place on your super cool - uber hip little wrist

13. admire your awesome creativeness and oh-so-coolness (b/c everyone else will )

In addition to keeping my hands warm, I figured I'd keep my husband's head warm at the game tomorrow. Here are a few pictures of his crocheted hat that he'll be sporting at the game! I have still not taken a picture of me in my hat! But, I will - I promise!

Now that everything is done to keep us both warm and cozy at the ball game - guess I need to get back on Christmas stuff, huh?

Another hat.... this time, for me....

I rarely make things for myself - but, today, I've made two hats - JUST FOR ME! I've only got pictures of one. The other is to be worn on Saturday - as I attend the Carolina/Clemson game! Go cocks! I'll take a picture of that one sometime to post.

In the meantime - here is one of the hats (beanie style) that I made for myself today. Don't mind the crazy looking pictures of me... I'm just not a very photogenic person... but, since it is for me, I figured I should 'model' it. So ... here it is.......

I think that I like this one better than the other one that I made. This one was made using thick chenille yarn by Lions Brand. I made a scarf using this yarn last year - and, I had some left over - enough to make this hat, so that worked out great! This hat went quickly. I loosely used this pattern. The change that I made, to allow for my smaller than average head (please, no jokes or comments ... lol), was to have fewer increase rows. It seems to fit great with these adjustments!

But, I will be wearing the other one (again, I will post pictures later - I've only just finished it - and it's 1am... LOL) on Saturday - since it is (almost) in the school colors. The USC (University of South Carolina) colors are Garnet and Black - and the other hat is Raspberry and Black - not exact - but, it's what I had on hand.

More hats....

Well, I finally have pictures of the hat from the previous post, on my daughter - Hannah. This picture was taking at 6:30 in the morning (hence her looking 1/2 asleep). I think that it turned out cute - given no pattern - but there are things that I would have changed.

In addition to the little beret type hat for Hannah - I made a beanie for my oldest, Sarah. I really like how it turned out - and she LOVES it. I want to make one for myself - tho, I know that I won't look nearly as cute as she does in hers!

I really liked the idea of the beret that I made for Hannah and tried to make another one (again, no pattern - just *hopefully* using what I learned with the first one, to improve). I'm not sure that it turned out much better - but, here is the 3rd hat that I've made. This one is for the girls' cousin for Christmas - hopefully, she will like it!

I've, in addition to the hats, made several Christmas presents lately. Several people are getting new scarves for Christmas - and various other things. I've got several bags in the works, as well as a few pieces of jewelry.

Is it wrong that I want to take a break from making things for others - and make some fingerless gloves for myself? Yes, it is - I know this - yet I still want to. But, I won't! I'll be strong!

There are so many things that I want to make for Christmas this year - looks like most of the gifts we give this year, will be homemade. That is normally true - but, even moreso this year. Usually, for my girls, I make PJs/gown and a toy - but, normally not more than that. This year, however, they are each getting PJs, at least 1 toy (one is already made for each - but there are several other things that I have my eye on - just looking for the time), scarves and a purse. So - looks like they will have a very 'homemade' Christmas this year.

While discussing homemade Christmas - I thought that I'd mention that Sarah has decided to do a painting on canvas for everyone for Christmas - she's already finished the painting for her Daddy - and, it turned out great - if I do say so. It's great having such a talented daughter!!! :-)

Pretty Little Beret for Hannah

I was making slippers for Hannah (clearly, I still think she is 2 years old - judging from the extremely small size they were!) - and, she decided that she wanted a 'hat'. So, I'm a terrible one to not follow a pattern, but I thought - hmmm, I think that I crochet her a hat. While I don't think that Crochet magazine is going to be knocking on my door looking for the pattern (and, thank God, since I didn't write it down... lol), I think that it turned out pretty darn cute.

I know that it would look WAY, WAY more cute if it were on Hannah, instead of this bear - but, I think that it might be a bit un-motherly for me to wake here just for the purposes of making this posting better - so, for now - we'll just have to see it on the bear! ;-)

I plan to revisit the slippers - just not tonight. So, here is yet another picture of the cute little (I think) hat...

The pictures really don't do the colors justice! It is actually HOT pink! Just like a 4 year old's cool little beret should be! ;-)

On other fronts - I've now finished 4 handmade Christmas gifts - this is extremely unusual for me! I'm very excited about that!!! I hope to be sharing some more later. I've got a project that is currently being blocked that I hope I can take pictures of later and post here. I've got several other items cut out and ready to hit the sewing machine - so, yeah - I'm happy about my progress thus far!! And, in addition to the current momentum on hand made gifts - I'm also getting my girls' Christmas pictures made much earlier this year! Normally I'm like a week or two from Christmas - this year, they will be done the day before Thanksgiving - can you imagine??

Crochet and Felting.... and, yes, I'm still alive! ;-)

Okay - so, I haven't been blogging for a few weeks, but I've been steady creating! I'm diligently at work on my Christmas list already!

I'm currently have a torrid love affair with wool yarn, my size I crochet hook and the processing of felting. I've made the cutest little purses for my girls for Christmas. A little more than 1 skein of yarn, a couple of hours of crocheting - then a bit of time in a steamy hot washing machine - and, you get lovely, lovely purses! The felted purse in this picture is Sarah's - the unfelted (picture taken, to show the difference pre and post felting) is Hannah's. I'm going to add some cute buttons to add to the design.

And, I know that I should be just worrying with making Christmas gifts, but I also made a cute little bag for me! It's a clutch purse that was, gasp, also crocheted with wool yarn and felted. I simply LOVE the autumn colors in this yarn. It has a button hole and vintage buttons for closure. I've not yet used it - but, I can't wait to! I think that I'm going to put one (or more) of these felted goodies in my etsy shop!

Don't mind the terrible picture - it doesn't nearly do justice to these bags! They are so, so pretty in person. The clutch was felted with only 1 washing in hot water. The girls' bags were run through 2 cycles (hot wash/cold rinse). I also, probably after Christmas, plan to make myself a (much larger) bag like the girls' bags.

I hope that I'm going to be able to be on here posting a lot of the projects that I'm making for Christmas! I've found lots of great projects that I'm eager to make and give to folks for Christmas - and, I hope to share them here!

Another 'project to try' has been checked off of my list...

I have a list a mile long, I admit it - of all of the projects that I want to try. Many of which are found, here, on the internet - on many of the blogs that I visit daily. I have to keep a list, because I know that I'll eventually forget.

Anyway - I've, this weekend, marked one off of my list! Yay, me! ;-)

The project that I've completed this weekend (and, plan to make many more of) is a project that I saw on one of my favorite blogs. Check out the original tutorial here!

And, here are mine! My little girls are going to be so happy to get these tomorrow! I think that they'll really like them!!!



The only thing that I did differently from the tutorial is the following. In the tutorial, Amy, traces her clip onto the felt using a water soluable marker. Since I was using a dark felt, I found that to be a bit problematic - so, what I did was trace my clip onto paper - therby making a pattern. Then I just attached the pattern to the felt, using double sided tape and sewed around the edge. Everything else is pretty much the same as the tutorial (so, I won't rehash that here!).

I've also been making a lot of crochet wrist cuffs. I've listed several on etsy. Here are a few pictures of them, as well. My oldest is in love with these - and, has asked me to make her a matching 'choker' necklace to go with several of the cuffs that she's sporting these days.

Check out some of the other cuffs on etsy! I'm hoping to make some quilted ones, sometime soon, as well!

On the agenda for tomorrow is making the girls' Halloween costumes! I hope to get that finished and out of the way this weekend! They wanted super easy costumes this year - but, I'm still making them (Yay!! they had originally said that they didn't want me to make them and I was bummed). Truly, their costumes are taking little effort - but, it still beats store bought to me! :)

Additional project on the agenda for this weekend is the making of a birthday present for my mother in law. The intention is to make a cute tote bag (for groceries or other stuff that one might need to cart to and fro) and a simple apron (I bought the most lovely fabric for the apron - and I want to make one for myself with that fabric also!!). I can't wait to get those items made, and I'll off course share them here as well.

It's so cozy.....

I know, I've been gone for a few - but, I'm still around, I swear. Just extremely busy. It's very hard to find 'free' time between being a Mommy to a 7 year old and a 4 year old, working full time outside the home, trying to stay in somewhat decent shape and all the various other things that we 'modern' women do ... but, I've been doing some 'yarn' things (both knitting and crochet) while watching my 1 hour of TV each night. So, I thought that I'd share a few!


The first one is a little cell phone cozy that is to be added to etsy! I think that I'm going to make myself one as well! My cell phone is so scratched up from it just being thrown into my purse. Maybe something like this will help a bit! Yes, I know that I can buy one of those cell phone cases, but I so hate them ... this I like.




The second thing is a crocheted coffee cup cozy. I think that I'm going to do some of these for etsy too - but, this one is being used daily by yours truly. Note: please forgive the hideous picture - it was taken with my cell phone!



So - as you can see, it's getting 'cozy' around here .... ;-)