What's I've Made Lately...

It's been awhile since I posted anything I've created, but that doesn't mean I haven't! I am no longer running Etsy shops but I am still creating! Almost daily! I do indeed, knit and crochet so I don't kill people.

 David Tennant Amigurumi. Yes, I made myself a Doctor.

 This sweet cat had been in my Ravelry queue for quite a while. I finally did it with this awesome new yarn from Hobby Lobby.

I made this My Little Pony Doctor Whooves for a special guy in the community. This pattern is amazing and wonderfully written.

 I knit up some coffee up cozies to keep in the car. I'm partial to this purple one, inspired by Alice in Wonderland.

 A lot of friends are having itty bitty babies, so I worked up some cute knit hats for them :) I love knitting baby hats. Quick, easy and satisfying! Plus the pictures when they have the babies to put them in are great! :)

Made this one for my best friend's daughter. I don't get to knit for girls, so I make up for it with her!

I've got other hats done, and of course many projects in progress....I can't seem to have less than 10 projects going at once!

What are you creating?

~~Amy

Crochet Mood Blanket 2014...Are you in??

I was scrolling through Instagram a few days ago, as I often do. (I could easily give up facebook but never Instagram. I'm a visual addict.) When I happened upon several hooker friends who said they were doing a Crochet Mood Blanket 2014. Ever nosy, I had to investigate. Turns out a lovely Instagrammer http://instagram.com/mummy_stacey# was inspired to start a mood blanket. What is this trippy idea you ask? Well, apparently you choose colors and assign moods to them. Decide to do 52 or 365 squares and do one square per week/day that corresponds to your mood!! Easy as pie! Many people are doing the join as you go method from Attic 24 as her blanket was the inspiration for this project I believe.

There is now a facebook group and ravelry group for this project! I'm very excited about this as I have finally pared down my WIP box to just a few projects! I can easily knock out a square a day or a couple a day if  lose track. I'll be keeping a journal with a calendar to write down mood so I don't lose track should I not be able to join them every day.

I am looking forward to seeing how my moods play out through out the year and I hope you'll join me!





Happy Hooking!!!

~~Amy

Free Crochet Pattern: Ribbed Coffee Sleeve

Coffee Sleeve
Amy Dutsch


Materials:
G Hook
Worsted Weight Wool (or preferred yarn. I prefer wool for its ability to hold in heat.)

Terms:
Ch: chain
DC: double crochet
SS: slip stitch
ST: stitch
FPDC: front post double crochet
BPDC: back post double crochet


Round One: Chain 34
DC in 3rd ch from hook
DC across
Join with SS to form a circle. This connects the "top" of your double crochet stitches. To connect the "bottom" to make your first row sturdier, use the tail to connect the chain stitches and weave in ends.) **See Alternate Method of starting at bottom of pattern**
Round Two: Ch 2 (does NOT count as st here or throughout)
*FPDC in next 2 sts. BPDC in next 2 sts.*
Repeat from * around, making a pattern of fpdc, fpdc, bpdc, bpdc around. SS with starting ch.
Repeat Round Two until sleeve is 10 rows or so, or desired length.
Finish and weave in ends.


**ALTERNATE STARTING INSTRUCTIONS**
Ch 34
Join with ss to form a circle.
DC in the round all the way around. Proceed with Round Two of the pattern.

**TIPS AND TRICKS**
You may need to adjust your chain count based on cup sizes, how tightly you crochet, or size of the yarn. Just use an even number for your chain count.

For information on how to do the FPDC and BPDC please visit:
http://www.crochetcabana.com/html/technique_fpbp.html

Planning Projects?

Wait, people make plans before they start crocheting? They read patterns, check for correct yardage and yarn type? They purposely sit down and have a vision before they start chaining?

NO. WAY.

Okay, so I'm not a big planner of projects....I pin a ton of projects, save them on ravelry, and buy insane amounts of yarn...but generally when people ask at the checkout, "what are you going to make with that yarn?" My reply is, "You're supposed to have a plan? It's pretty..that's my plan."

I've gotten slightly better...saving color combo boards on Pinterest, experimenting with different patterns...(and I still don't gauge swatch. Sorry, I just don't.) I've been pinning color combo ideas for a year now. One of my favorite blankets is the Sunburst Granny Square I did along with InnerHooker for one of her Crochet A Longs. Well, it made it in the beginning of my hooker career (oh so long ago...in 2011....) and it was before I had learned how to secure ends, particularly the CENTERS of squares, properly. So my beloved blanket is coming undone in the centers and I feel like I want to do a new one..with better yarn.

 My beloved beginner blanket....now falling apart in some centers.

The good thing is Knit Picks has a yarn called Palette, that is, you guessed it, nearly every color you can imagine. I drool over it every time I get the catalog. I'm currently working on a Tunisian crochet blanket, but I want to think long term. (I'm also ignoring the two granny stripe blankets and one granny mandala blanket in progress in the blanket basket...all in good time, dear yarn...all in good time. I burned myself out on the Queen Size granny stripe blanket on my bed.) So I'm plotting...what colors...this is the funnest part I think..the color choosing.

So I've created a Pinterest board of course...just for this afghan color choosing. Yes I'm THAT serious. (and I'm also very happy this is my most pressing current decision. I am blessed.)

You can see the contenders here: http://pinterest.com/mamaslilmonkeys/sunburst-granny-afghan-color-ideas/ but here are a few...I'm sure I'll be adding more.

Please feel free to hop on the board and "like" your favorites, as I am curious on what color combo's others find appealing.

Again....I am blessed. Those of you with the yarn and fabric addiction like me know how this feels though and can appreciate the indecision. Plus aren't the colors just FUN!?

~~Create On~~
Amy

WIP Wednesday

I finally picked back up this Mario blanket. I started it a year ago, and am finally picking it back up, as much as I now dislike Red Heart yarn, that's what I started it with.

This is what 142 granny squares looks like. Only blue and yellow is left. Hopefully I can actually finish it before winter....

as Mario says... "here we go!"

Letting Go.....of the yarn

I suspect I'm not alone in this. You know who you are....my friends. The crafters. The hobbyists. The handmade artisans. Whatever you want to call yourself. You can often be found with yarn/fabric scraps/glitter/hotglue/paint or any other medium stuck to various body parts. The people at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, Hancocks, Joanns, AC Moore all know your name. You chat about life. You go to their children's bar mitvahs. 

You are a craft addict. You love it. You can not STOP it. You have told your family to go eat cereal for dinner so you can finish the scarf. You have occasionally lost track of the baby only to find her under a table on the fabric piles. Your children refer to the UPS truck as the fabric truck. You bribe your children with the promise of toys if they'll just be good while you look for yarn. (These are purely imaginative ideas, not reflections of my own home. Ahem. Right.)

You invest in your projects. You love them. Sometimes you mourn them being sold or given away. You are willing to buy cheaper food and give up wine if it means you can buy designer fabric. Okay, maybe not wine, but brand name products, hair cuts or sodas are all up for budget cuts if it means more supplies.

We love our supplies, our projects, our crafty friends, the websites that allow us to pretend we are being productive (Pinterest I'm talking to you.). 

But sometimes....sometimes...there are projects you just fall out of love with. Sometimes there are reasons why, sometimes there aren't. 

My current 'faded' project is a Mario Bros. Granny Square blanket. It's awesome, obviously because A) it's yarn and B) its Mario. However, it keeps getting bumped down the to-do list. Why?

1.) My child is no longer obsessed with Mario. He's on a Star Wars kick. As this makes his father incredibly happy, we're cultivating it.

2.) I'm easily distractable and need to have 4-5 projects at once. I just keep finding ones I want to do more.

3.) I don't like the yarn I'm using. This is probably the most pressing issue. Because it's a blanket for my child, I was using Red Heart yarn, the herpes of yarns. (Sorry if you love Red Heart..other than Red Heart Soft I find it all to be too hard, sticky, and not smooth to work with.) I started it before I learned more about yarn. My general "budget" yarn of choice is "I Love This Yarn" from Hobby Lobby. It's soft, workable, doesn't split and is reasonably priced for those 'going to beat the hell out of it' projects. 

So now that I've already done over 100 4 inch red granny squares and over 50 4 inch brown granny squares for Mario out of Red Heart yarn, I'm invested. I can't suddenly switch to ILTY, because then the blanket will feel weird. I've got to finish it out in RH yarn. But because I don't like the feel of the yarn in my fingers....I keep putting it off.

I suspect I'm not alone, as I said. I bet many of you start projects with grandiose visions and for whatever reason, cannot finish it. Or don't want to finish it. This makes me feel better, that I'm not alone.

I will probably finish Mario one day. My best friend's sons love Mario. My dilemma then is, two boys..one blanket..they're going to want another one....shudder.

So what do you have half done, frogged, put aside that you cannot seem to complete? And why??

You're not alone...it's okay...we're all craft addicts here, we can talk about it... share.

~~Amy

Year Long Crochet a Long and Knit a Long

Heylo all! In case you've missed it, roughly 6 months ago I started learning how to crochet and knit. I am loving it. If I'd known I could craft while sitting on my butt watching Big Bang Theory, I'd have never learned to sew! (But then, I probably wouldn't have ever learned how to make fabric buttons, so I'm glad I did!)

But I digress, as usual....

Anyhoo, I participated in a fun Crochet a Long (CAL) where I ended up with a beautiful sunburst granny square afghan. I truly enjoyed it and now it's time to take my turn hosting!!

You need to be on ravelry to truly participate, so hop on over and join! It's free and a great place for patterns and showing off your work!

It will be a MONTHLY project that goes on ALL YEAR. Each month we will do a new dishcloth/towel/washcloth. Crochet AND knit patterns will be available, so you can do one, some, all or none!! If you do each month, in the end you'll have 12 handmade washcloths!!

Patterns will be posted and all I ask is you share your progress, pics and lessons learned in the Ravelry group!

You can find the group here:
Mama's Monthly Dishcloth KAL and CAL

The January project is listed so hop to it!! :)

~Enjoy!~
Amy

Crochet Kindle Cover--Free Tutorial

Hey all! This is my FIRST EVER crochet pattern! So, please, be kind! And PLEASE, PLEASE feel free to leave any comments, suggestions, corrections, etc! I will be doing this again with a different yarn to make sure it doesn't make a tremendous difference. Keep in mind, I've only been hooking since the summer.. :)

Basically the stitch is from Coats and Clark pattern found HERE. If you can do this stitch, you can alter this anyway you need for your E-Reader, Tablet, etc.

I chose to line this with some scrap felt because even though it was a gift for a friend who rarely takes her Kindle away from home, this stitch does leave little 'holes' in it, and I thought the felt would be an extra touch of protection. The stitch itself is quite fluffy so that helps a lot. Again, the lining is optional.

This is intended for the original keyboard style Kindle, I do not know the dimensions of the other kindles, nooks, etc. But you can easily adjust the pattern for your item.

This pattern is free, and please feel free to share (and correct if it's wrong.) And by golly if you can make some money selling these bad boys are a derivative there of, go for it. A link back would be nice yarn karma for you though :)

Let's Get Hookin!!

Yarn: Vanna's Choice from Lion Brand. Any Worsted Weight should do fine.
Hook: US Size H
Gauge: I admit, I never look at, read, or care about gauge. I'm crazy like that. My Kindle was my gauge. According to the original pattern I based this on:
GAUGE: In pattern, 5 puff sts = 5”; 9 rows = 4”. CHECK YOUR
GAUGE. Use any size hook to obtain the gauge.

*Special Stitch Notes:
Puff Stitch: Puff: Work (sc, 2 dc) in same st.

Chain 17. (this is based on MY original Kindle. If you have a larger or smaller device, you should do a few rows and hold it up to your device to check gauge.)

ROW ONE: 2dc in the 2nd ch from hook.
*skip next 2 ch, puff stitch in next ch;* repeat from *across to the last 3 ch, sk 2 ch, sc in last ch, turn.

ROW TWO: ch 1, 2 dc in 1st st. *skip 2 dc, puff st in next sc.* Repeat from * across, skip last 2 dc, sc in turning ch, turn.

Repeat row two until you reach Row 36 OR your desired height.

You are making one solid piece of 'fabric' that you will fold up and 'around' the kindle, allowing for a flap. For my Kindle, yarn, hook, and crochet style, I did a total of 36 ROWS. Please check this against your kindle, you may need to add or take away a few rows.

Fasten off and weave in ends.

At this point you can decide if you want your side seams showing, or on the inside. I wanted mine in the inside.

Lay your piece flat down and make a 'pocket' for the Kindle by folding the bottom up to about Row 14 or 15. You can adjust this for your preference, you are merely deciding how far down you want your flap to go. By "folding" on Row 15 or so, that leaves you about 6 rows as your "flap".

SS or SC the side to close your pocket on one side, about 30 rows. I did the SC. Fasten off and weave in.
Repeat on the other side to make a pocket for your kindle to slide into. (do not fasten off yet)

I wanted my SC seams to be on the inside, so I then turned it all rightside out. (this stitch looks pretty from both sides).

Since you didn't fasten off, you can now SC along the edge of the flap (OPTIONAL). If not, you can fasten off and weave in here.

OPTIONAL LINING:

I chose to insert a felt lining because this was for a friend, and this puff stitch is beautiful, but does leave little gaps. Should she spill something on the kindle, I wanted that little extra protection. I used felt because A) it was easily available in my home B) it doesn't fray much C) I could hand sew it all and didn't have to drag myself off the sofa.

Cut a piece of felt or similar fabric to fit inside your new crochet cover.

I folded mine and hand sewed a blanket stitch along the long side and bottom. Use any hand stitch you feel comfortable with.

Insert the felt lining directly into your crochet cover. Using a blanket stitch or similar hand stitch, hand sew the lining in the crochet cover. You can sew all the way down the sides and bottom, I did not, I only sewed the 'top' portion around the flap.

Secure the ends of your thread, and you're almost done!

Decide the placement of your button the OUTSIDE of the cover. Thanks to the stretchiness of this yarn and the looseness of this stitch, you have buttonholes inherently in your yarn! Find a good place for the button and hand sew it on! (Tip, when hand sewing shankless buttons, place a pin in between the two holes as you sew the button on. Remove the pin when you're finished sewing the button and you now have a little more 'room' for the button to move, without making it unsecure.)

Weave in any yarn, insert your kindle and go!! :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PLEASE feel free to leave any corrections, comments, oopsys, "you're totally wrong" comments!! If I did something wrong in the pattern, I really do want to fix it. Like I said above, it is based solely on the scarf pattern by Coats and Clark. I merely adjusted it to fit a kindle. This is a beautiful stitch pattern and can be used in a variety of ways!

Find me on Ravelry!

Happy Hooking!! :)
~~Amy

What I Made...

This week I finished up a pillow cover I'd been working on. It was an experiment to see if I could wing the basic stitch and make my own pattern. Turns out I could :)

The details of the makings of it are on Ravelry if you are interested. Basically its rows of single crochet and a double crochet circle for the ends :)

I made it to match my fun new sock monkey sheets!