I did it

Remember this post, from a couple days ago?  Well I couldn't resist.  We were going to be in the mountains and snow all day today, and I had to make my man a better hat, one I was more proud of, before we headed out.  I am quite satisfied with the results.  The reports are that it is very warm (possibly too warm, I did use wool for the hat).  the Face fur is nice and soft, I used that hairy yarn, and I must add, it is very difficult to crochet with, because it is almost impossible to find the hole to stick your needle in.  I wanted to make one, to say I could do it.  However, I will probably not do it again with the hairy yarn, because it was a pain.


For the hat, I pretty much just did continuous rounds of half double crochets (I did not even do a slip stitch to join the rounds, because my seams are always so obvious, so I decided to bypass them).  I started with 8 hdc in a loop, then did 16 hdc, followed by 24, 32, 40, 48, and 56.  Then i did the rest 54.  until I felt it was long enough.  I don't even know how many rows I did.  and the yarn was really really thick, because I originally followed a pattern for worsted weight yarn, and I was supposed to go all the way up to 72 hdc, and it was huge! I had to unravel it and just figure out how many worked for me.

for the beard, I bought the $1.99 pattern I previously linked to on Etsy

another crochet hat

My girl LOVES hats.  The first thing she does when she wakes up, is finds a hat to wear.  Then she will giggle and laugh when she puts it on, and say "hat" while patting her head, over and over again.  So I could not resist making her one, and you know what? She has not taken it off since I gave it to her three hours ago.

I basically followed the hat pattern here, minus the ears and face.  I used a size k hook, instead of a J, and I followed her instructions for a bigger hat.  then I used instructions from this hat to do the flaps and the tie's
finally, I followed instructions here for the bow, and sewed it to the hat.  You could also do a flower, or a ribbon.

I only had one problem.  I really like textured yarn lately, so I used this yarn that I got for only $1 in the clearance bin (that is right, this hat cost me $1 and about and hour and a half of my time, while I watched a movie).  Since this yarn is thick in some places and thin in others (not the recommended worsted weight, for the pattern) I had to make adjustments for the size.  In fact, the directions I just gave you ended up making a small hat, too small for my 18 month old.  But it fit my 9 month old niece great.  So I made a second one for my 18 month old, making it bigger this time.

I know the texture may look sloppy, but I like how it turned out.

fleece scarf tutorial

okay, so I cannot take credit for this cute scarf, but I can tell you how to make one.  My mom made two of these for my girls for Christmas, and my girls love them (so do I).  They are so warm, but have charm too.  They would be so easy to make too.

see what I mean, this is all it is.

Materials: 1/3 yard fleece fabric
thread
scissors

cut two rectangles of fleece, measuring 6"x"45 inches each
lay them on top of each other and sew one seam down the center (attaching them together)
cut fringe, measuring 1" between cuts.  Fleece wont fray, so that is it, you are done!

thanks mom for the great idea! (oh and for the cute scarves)

beard hat

so I saw this and knew I needed to make one for my husband.  I emailed the seller and asked if she would sell me the pattern for just the beard, and she respectfully declined.  so I searched and searched for a pattern, and I could only find one on etsy (I am not linking it, because I do not recommend it).
  It was very different from other patterns and hard to follow.  i also did not really like the end result, and I ended up having to do a lot of altering to like it.

 so then I decided to make up my own.  Although i really like how this one looks, I do not recommend it, it took me so long.

I have since searched etsy again, and there are now multiple beard hat patterns.  I think if I were going to do it again I would buy this one. and maybe I would use some "hairy yarn" and make it look like this

I am definitely going to have to make a new one, a much better one.  I will show you the end result when I finally get around to it 

Flower Pillows

So I saw this awesome tutorial and I knew I just had to make some of these pillows.  I obviously don't need multiple felt flower pillows at my house, so I did what any girl would do, I made some for my sisters (but don't think I am that generous, it was their birthdays)

I got the fabric for this one at Jo-Anne's (although I don't always love their fabric or their selection, I do like their selection of Home Dec. Fabric, plus they have coupons) I got the felt at Ben Franklin Crafts (and they had a measly selection, but it was the only place of three I found the mustard yellow color I was looking for.  They told me in a month or two they will have a whole wall of wool felt, with every color)

This picture is not good, but the only one I have of this pillow.  I also got the fabric at Jo-Ann's and the felt at Ben Franklin

I like this one the best, mostly because I did the best job sewing it (it was my third time afterall) and because I used a much fluffier pillow on this one, I recommend using a fluffy pillow, sorry to the sisters that got the limp pillows.  I got the fabric at Jo-Ann's and the felt at Jo-Ann's

Tablecloth

Remember this post? Well, I made another one.  The picture is with the table cloth on my table, but the table cloth was a gift to my sister, so it was actually made for her table, a smaller table.  It looked better on hers.  I actually wanted to sew a third row of ruffles, but My machine was a little overworked on this tablecloth, and it might have been its last straw.  It wasn't the tablecloths fault really, it was my back-up machine, and I should have stopped when could tell it was needing a break, but I was so close to finishing, I just wanted to finish.  Plus I procrastinated and her birthday was that day, and I didn't have time to wait.  It may just need to be oiled, but that is another story.

This is the tutorial I followed for the jumbo rosette.
I am happy with how the tablecloth turned out.

I am currently saving up for a new machine, and I have already arranged with my sewing machine guy (that is right, I have a guy, and he is GREAT! I totally recommend him to anyone in the area, even if your sewing machine problem is small.) to get one in a couple months.  (He has fixed my machine's a few times, but specializes in rebuilding old Bernina's. I talked to him yesterday and he has ordered a Bernina to get ready for me, wahoo!  He also has a patent on a Long arm quilting machine he makes and sells).  Anyway, when I get my new machine, I am definitely going to make one of these tablecloths with at least three rows of ruffles, maybe four or five, can you have too many row of ruffles?

Shout out to Chef Tess

I just want to give a shout out to a blog that I have loved for a long time, but now I love the blog writer too.
Chef Tess Bakeresse not only has great recipes, and a great blog, but she is just a nice person.  So I have not actually met her in person, but  she really helped me out, and I appreciated that she was so willing to help a perfect stranger.

You see, my little sister is really sick.  She has Lyme's Disease.  She has been sick for eight months, and although that seems like forever to someone like me, she is really lucky that they were able to diagnose it within the first year.  Some people with Lyme's are not correctly diagnosed for years.  Although the treatment is antibiotics, it is not that easy, your first get really sick, more sick, before you can get better.  The antibiotics have to kill the antibodies, creating Toxins in your body, your body doesn't like Toxins and they make you real sick. And there is no knowing how long it will take to get better. Among multiple debilitating symptoms, Lyme's is know to make people Lactose and Gluten intolerant.  My sister has already lost a lot of weight (and she did not have a lot to lose) because of the disease, and her appetite has been really affected, along with Nausea and inflammation of intestines Etc, but now she has to avoid a huge group of food.  So, since my family is new to food allergies, I wanted to help out my sister, but did not know how.  I saw a gluten free/dairy free recipe on Tess' blog, so I thought I would shoot her an email (I figured I had nothing to lose).  I explained my sisters' situation to her and asked if she had any advice.  She emailed me back, within half and hour, can you believe she did it that fast? And she was helpful, she sent me ten freezer meal recipes, gave me advice, told me where she likes to buy her ingredients, sent me links to websites, and offered to mail me a package if I needed it, and gave me her phone number for questions (who does that to a perfect stranger).  I had a few questions, so I emailed her back, and she emailed me back promptly, again, with great ideas.  I could not believe how she dropped everything on the spot to respond to a perfect stranger.  And she was so helpful with all her information!  When I told her how much I appreciated her help, she simply said "that is what I am hear for."

so, if you feel like browsing some new recipes, hop on over to her blog and check her out.  She doesn't know I have a blog, and may not even remember who I am, but go ahead an tell her I sent you anyway.