Crochet Max from the Wild Things

 Who doesn't love Max!!

I'm really happy with this cute little guy

Pattern by
Carla Mitrani 

You can find her on Ravelry 

Max Pattern on Ravelry

A pretty crochet soap saver

I loved making this pretty, practical soap saver.

At one point soap was hard to come by so 

it seemed sensible to make something that 

would allow me not to waste it.

So I searched Ravelry 

and found this free pattern

from the very kind and talented designer

Roseanna Murray.

If you want to make one for yourself

just search for leaf soap saver 

A doll called Sophie

A doll named Sophie

 I loved making this doll!

I made it for Ava when she was 1 1/2 years old.

She took one look at her, took off her headband

then tossed her aside. Lol!

A couple of months later she spotted her again

and held on to her as if she was 

her best friend.

 

The designer is the talented  nina.hookscreations.

You can find her pattern on Ravelry

 

Forest Animal Blanket

 This was definitely a labour of love 

and a lot more work than I thought it would be.

I made it for my sweet Elijah.

Designers

Patterns: -beaver @knot.your.nanas.crochet
-raccoon adapted from @nellascottage
-bear, wolf, fox, owl, squirrel by passionatecrafter
-moose The yarn conspiracy on Etsy
-bunny Fancy infancy crochet on Etsy

Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies

I absolutely loved making this little honey bee

and the wee snail.

The bee is actually made of three parts.

The larvae stage with her hat

and her honey bee wings and body

which she can slide on when she wants to fly.

The snail pattern was from the wonderful book

 by Lydia Tresselt called

Beetles, Bugs and Butterflies.

She also sells individual patterns which 

includes the bee.

I can't wait to make some butterflies

and catterpillars.

a little crochet manatee for a little girl

This tiny manatee measures 4 inches long.
I wanted it to be little since it is for
a wee little girl whose daddy loves manatees.
I made this from a great free pattern
here on Ravelry 

a mint and grey crochet baby blanket

This cute baby blanket is for my first grandbaby.
The ridges are formed from working single crochets
into the back loop
.
 It is made from a

 free pattern from the wonderful site daisyfarm crafts.

She has some wonderful patterns on her site

and generously shares a lot of them for free.

Crochet Dragon Scarf

I loved making this dragon scarf.

I found the pattern in a book from my local library

called Crochet Ever After

by Brenda K. B. Anderson

It introduced me to some new techniques.

The construction of the head,

particularly the nostrils

was something totally new to me.

I also loved how the scales were formed

over 4 repeating rows involving 

2 different colours.

It's nice to learn some new techniques.

This dragon will go in a tickle trunk.

Canadians will probably know what that is

but for those who don't

the term comes from a 

TV show called Mr. Dressup

(played by the talented and gentle Ernie Coombs).

The famous trunk on the show contained

 an unlimited number of costumes which, 

when worn by the host, 

carried everyone into his imaginative adventure.

So I hope that the little girl 

that just entered my life

will find joy playing with this dragon.

 

A sweet crochet Puffin

A Newfoundland Puffin 

 I made my little guy from a wonderful Puffin pattern
from the beautiful book
Animal Friends of PicaPau 
by the very talented author
Yan Schenkel
 
Here in Canada we are lucky to have a large colony
of Atlantic Puffins along the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Unfortuately, like a lot of other animals,
 Puffins are having a hard time
dealing with the warming of the earth.
Fish that they normally would eat have
been moving out of the warmer waters.

But they are tough little birds
so hopefully these beautiful animals can adapt.

Bojo Happy Baby Blanket

 

From the book Boho Crochet, 

the pattern is called Happy Blanket.
I made it for my niece's new baby Rosy.
I made it 30 by 36 inches so that
it would go in a crib and
also be the perfect size
to fit in a stroller.

The original pattern uses 2 to 3 colours
for each circle.
I had a difficult time finding yarn that had
pleasing shades of each colour
so I simplified so that
each circle would be one solid colour.

This pattern is really quite easy since it
is basically a circle in a square.
It also is great as a stash buster project.

 

A Little Panda called Lola

I am so happy with this little bear!

I made her from this wonderful book

by Yan Schenkel

She is only 6 inches tall.
The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn
which would have made her 9 1/2 inches
but I really wanted a smaller panda
so I used a sport weight.

She looked a little strange when
she was only partially made.

But she was transformed when I added her
eyes, ears and arms.
And since she was born in the winter
I decided to make her a cosy scarf.
Come summer I might have to
make her this cute little skirt.

Little crochet pup wip

Waiting

Organizing my life...a simple crochet pouch

I started 2017 off with a large basket

to help me organize my yarn.

Next I wanted a pouch to keep my 

hooks, scissors, stitch markers, etc in

so that when I'm working on a project 

I have them all together.

I've given general instructions below,
it's not complicated just a rectangle that you fold,
 and then sew up the sides..
You could make it even simpler by making it in the round.
That way.... no seams

  I decided to add a zipper and line it 
but even without these it's a lovely little pouch.
Leave it plain as I have or embellish it with whatever makes you smile.

My rectangle ended up being 9 by 5 1/2 ( inches)or 23 by 14 (centimetres)
I used aran weight yarn and each row consists of 33 Hdc.



There is a total of 35 Hdc rows as follows
I made 2 rows of brown,
3 rows of red,
12 rows of white,
1 row of white worked in backloops only just for this row,
12 rows of white,
3 rows of red,
and 2 rows of brown.

The beauty of it is you can adjust it to make it any size.

Here is a shot of the lining.

A new year...a new stitch

Diamond crochet basket

While wandering through a thrift store a while back

I came across a giant ball of grey yarn for $4.

Way too hard to resist even though I 

was already in danger of being buried under my stash yarn.

But I had the perfect pattern in mind since

it not only eats yarn but also it uses a stitch which

I've never tried before.

And as a bonus it also stores some of my yarn stash.

It's from a free pattern by Esther Chandler on Ravelry 

Diamond Trellis Basket 

 

It did take me awhile to get the hang of the new (to me) stitch.

As you can see my lines on the basket aren't perfect

 but I'm still happy with it.

This video by moogly was really helpful to me.

It explains the  

front post triple crochet 2 together stitch.

 fptrc2tog

 My cat Mew on the other hand wasn't particularly helpful

although she was nice company.

Happy 2016!

Mr. Postmouse's Round

I bought 2 of these books for my nieces. 

Mr. Postmouse's Rounds by Marianne Dubuc

It is about a Postmouse who delivers packages

to different animals.

The houses that each animal lives in are adorable.

And if you look closely at each page then

you can spot hidden references to fairy tales.

I chose this book, not only because was interesting,

but also because it gave me an excuse to make

the main character.

An Austin bunny

This little bunny will soon be flying
to her new home in Austin, Texas.
I'm not sure how she'll like the blazing hot summers
that they get there.
After all she was born here in Ontario where
our summers are nowhere as hot.
And she did enjoy hanging out and smelling the flowers.

But I'm pretty sure she has dual citizenship and
her new owner will help her explore her wonderful new home.

a little bunny for a little girl

I've been wanting to make this little bunny

for such a long time.

I found the free pattern from 

my favourite yarn site..Ravelry.

 free bunny pattern 

Over 600 people have already

made this adorable creature

so, as usual, I'm late to the party.

Here she is waiting to get her act together.

I think I might have to make another one.

Mollie flowers dancing in a hoop

I have a 5 year old niece who lives in Texas which

is over 2000 km away from me.

So you can probably guess that I don't see her very often.

But the last time I did I discovered that she loves

making things so I promised that I'd crochet her something.

So I decided to combine a 6 inch embroidery hoop

with crocheted flowers.

I thought that this would look nice

hanging on her wall.

The flowers themselves are from a wonderful

free pattern made by Brigitte Read

mollie flowers

The embroidery stitches in the centre
are simple french knots...
not difficult even for a beginner.

The only problem I had was how to make

the back look presentable.

I tried pleating it with the idea of

sewing them in place but

the centre part looked frayed and messy.

So I searched Pinterest to see how others 

have finished their hoops
and ended up using this one.

hoop tutorial

 I would suggest that you look over
her tutorial first to see what steps are involved.
She explains them in detail.

For my backing I picked a purple floral fabric.
I wanted to stick with a flower theme.

First I put my embroidery piece
and my piece of fabric wrong sides together.
I inserted them into the embroidery hoop
making sure everything
 was nice and tight.
As you can see in this pic of the back
I also trimmed the fabric material to about
3 inches just to make the next step easier.



 Next I folded the fabric layer
over the hoop and using a pen I marked
 where the fabric hit the base of the hoop.
Do this all the way around the hoop.
Then cut along this line.

 

Next put glue (I used Aleene's fast grab tacky glue)
 on the edges and inside wall of the hoop,
then carefully pressed the fabric onto the hoop.
I let it dry well for a couple of hours
before starting on the embroidery layer.



I repeated the same steps for the embroidery layer
Here is a pic of it ready to be cut.



And here is a pic of it cut and glued.
 I did end up putting on a little extra glue
for this final layer.



Not exactly perfect but good enough
for a first time and for something that
will be against the wall.
Any thoughts?

Foxy crochet slippers

It's officially fall here in Canada.

The leaves are starting to turn colours and it's time to pull out

the thick comforters and to snuggle in front of the fireplace.

It's also time to pull out my yarn and make myself some slippers.




Fox Slippers!

I haven't worn them in front of my family yet but I know the reaction I'll get.
Rolled eyes....shaking of their heads, etc.
But I ignore them...life has too many stupid rules.
And, to me, almost nothing is cuter than fox slippers.

If you want to know where to buy the pattern
(by Tara Murray)
and what yarn I used check out my Ravelry link below
Ravelry link to fox slippers

Here is a pic of the foxes in progress: