Texas Fall and French Crochet

We are enjoying some occasional cooler weather here lately. I say occasional because one day (or three days - or more) it is 100F and then the next it is somewhere in the upper 80s with a breeze. Gotta love those breezes.

Is it really October? It doesn't feel like it. The baby is in size 6 months clothes (he is 2 months old), and all the 6 month stuff has long sleeves. Poor baby. He wishes it would cool down as much as I do, or that his Momma would run out and buy him some more appropriate clothing.





I have been working on a custom baby blanket for a friend. I am calling it the "Bouquet Baby Blanket" because the pretty colors were inspired by this bouquet inspiration from The Knot.




The pattern is a free pdf on Ravelry: Berce par les Vagues. It's a French crochet pattern, but there is a diagram of the stitch pattern and one of the other ravelers kindly put an English translation up in the comments section of her project page.

This has been a fun, quick project, but I am ready to get back to some regularly scheduled knitting.

Crochet: Aunt Tillie's Flower Garden

Last winter I inherited 70lbs of yarn and fabric from my great-aunt Tillie. 

She was a sewer, crafter, knitter, and collector at heart. She loved bright colors, and all of her yarns are the bright polyester and acrylic of the late seventies and eighties. I wanted to make something special out of these yarns to remember her, her love of color, and her love of crafting in general.

Many of the things she made were practical - clothing, pajamas, sweaters. I wanted to make something that we could use and love daily.

While browsing through the the thousands of patterns and projects on Ravelry, my sister-in-law and I stumbled upon a crocheted bedspread project entitled "Summer Flowers". Elisa, Evoke on Ravelry, designed the blanket using the Summer Garden Granny Square, a free crochet pattern available on the Attic24 blog. I love Elisa's combitation of the popping bright colors and the neutal base. This afgan looks as though it belongs in Helen's English Garden themed nursery... and she will soon be moved from crib to twin bed in anticipation of the arrival of her baby sister, so what better project for Aunt Tillie's yarn than a coverlet for her great-great niece's bed!

So, now I crochet. Hundreds of little flowers that form into squares. Bright golds and greens, blues, purples, and pinks. And tan. Lots of tan.

All these little squares and color changes remind me of how I despise sewing in ends. We may need to host a little sewing up party to finish the job :)

Last Night of Crochet Awareness Month

The last night finds me sewing in ends.

On My Needles: March

Get ready to be overwhelmed... I am.



First, Off My Needles:

Jelly Bean Socks to match baby's teal diaper wrap.
Made from the free pattern available on Spud Say's the Blog (a blog of Spud & Cloe Yarn).

On My Needles:


A baby blanket, in the round, Round or Pinwheel Baby Blanket.


Helen's Blue Sweater, still a work in progress, but big enough to fit her next year.


A hat, for the high school student at work who plans to attend a school that loves purple.
The Brambles Beret from Knitty.


My Sweater, is that an inch or two of lacework??


Mom's Shrug, just hanging out.


Group project cowl, almost done.


And something crochet, in honor of Crochet Appreciation Month.

In the Works:


A bonnet for baby, made with yarn chosen by a friend.


More diaper covers - longies & shorties too?

In My Dreams:

A Knit & Run

Photo by: Vania

Let's kick this crochet party off with a splash: a fun combination of knit and crochet + friendly "graffiti" = a good time had by all! Vania, the leader of our "Knit While They Nap" group on Ravelry organized a yarn bomb in which she beautified the streets of St. Louis with knit and crocheted flowers. Check out her blog post and join in the fun by crocheting flowers to beautify March!

Here are some free crochet flower patterns to get you started:
Flower Appliques from Donna's Crochet Designs
Sunflower Bookmark from Close to My Heart
Pretty Crochet Flowers from Faeryfay's Flowers & Knits
Headband with Flower from CreativeYarn

and there are many many more when you search for "flower" on Ravelry!

National Crochet Month!

Did you know that March is officially "National Crochet Month"?  I am not sure who assigned it as such, but I am all for celebrating crochet!

Ravelry has a fun group dedicated to a month of partying in honor of National Crochet Month (International too!) My ravelry friends are celebrating by (a) learning a new crochet technique, (b) teaching someone else how to crochet, or (c) doing anything else crochet related!

I have big plans for a couple of projects... coming soon. 

What are you going to do to celebrate?

A Stocking for Helen

It is getting to be that time of year again, and I am planning Christmas!  The crafts, foods, and activities of the Christmas season are some of my favorites... especially the ones that involve cocoa and a warm fire.

This year my Knit While They Nap group on Ravelry decided to do a Christmas stocking KAL/CAL (knit-a-long/ crochet-a-long) and it was just the prefect thing for me because I have been wanting to make Helen her very own stocking.

I used the pattern for the Starflower-Hexagon motif by Julie Mnemosyne.  If interested you can view the details of the construction on my Ravelry project page.

Of Christmas Stockings and Bite Marks

I have decided on a pattern for Helen's stocking and have begun the process of crocheting the motifs.  The pattern is Starflower Hexagon a free Ravelry download.  With four colors in each motif, that means 8 ends to sew-in  per hexagon.  Oh! How I hate sewing in ends!!  But, I do love this pattern and think that it is going to make a beautiful stocking.

We are at home this morning, I think Helen has a sinus infection and to top it all off she was bit at daycare yesterday - on the cheek!  So, we have an appointment with our pediatrician to hopefully sort things out.  

On my needles

Das Monster - Every toddler needs a pair of monster pants.

Turtle Back Sweater - At the request of my mother... though, I have somehow lost the pattern and am now trying to read my own stitches to re-create it.

Baby Shrug - For a friend's sweet little girl, just need to sew in ends.

Pink Pullover - no ravelry link, for my little girl - not pink.

While reviewing my current projects, I noticed something- I am seeing a lot of brown.  The one thing all of these have in common is that they are all using stash yarn... I guess that says something about the state of my stash.  Suddenly I have the desire to add another project to my queue... in turquoise perhaps.

Baby Booties

Here are the granny square slippers my sister-in-law was sweet enough to share.

Add here is my sweet little sleeping model... note have not made a second bootie...

This Year's Completed Christmas Gifts

We are expecting Baby Fulton sometime in January, and I thought it was only right for him to have a beautiful blanket waiting to welcome him. This was Crocheted, and was a fairly quick project - 12 total hours or so - plus another hour to sew in ends.

Bernadette is Fulton's big sis, and she always wears my handmade gifts with pride. Upon opening this gift, she exclaimed, "It's a spring sweater!" This girly vest is knitted.

The Christmas present that took the most time this year was the cross stitch sampler for my big sis. Last year, after completing a sampler for myself, she immeadiatly requested one of her own... who am I to say no to a personal request for a handmade gift! I began working on this sampler in December of 2007, and completed it just in time for Christmas this year.

Falling in Love with Crochet... Again.

After a long absence, a slight hiatus in the knitting realm, and desperation to re motivate to complete many different handmade gifts, I have started another project. It began as a knit project, but soon was torn out and started anew as a crochet project.

I had forgotten how quickly a crochet project forms. How it turns into what you hope it will be so much more swiftly than knits. Granted, I LOVE the smoothness of a knit project and how much for professional my knit projects appear than my crochet, but there is just nothing like seeing the progress of a project develop over a short amount of time. Ah, crochet.