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Easter Purse

I looked high & low for an Easter Pocketbook, and at the last minute decided to make my own out of some leftover yarn. I was pleased with the look, and filled with a bag of cheerio's this little angel loved it! I used red heart lustersheen and an E hook. I sc 4 rows for the base, then alternated sc & front post dc around. This created a nice thick pocket book that is soft, yet won't let little treasures fall through. I usually make these in all cotton yarn, but the acrylic lustersheen did not stretch as much, so the "pocket", as she calls it, kept it's shape.

Toddler Bed Throw

I made this quick blanket for a friend's little girl. She had gotten a princess toddler bed and just moved into a new home. She still drags around the pink & blue blanket I made before she was born, so I decided to step up to some "big girl" colors. Now she drags around both of them! Such a sweetheart. The pattern was quick and easy and FREE from the Bernat website: http://www.bernat.com/pattern.php?PID=2301 (Double Diamond Blanket). I crocheted the squares together with a sc, instead of sewing them together. It made a nice ridge that made the squares stand out. The sc can also withstand the tugging & pulling better than sewn squares.

Easter Doily

This is a quick and easy doily from the magazine Crochet World, April 2010. There is a coaster pattern that goes with it, but with a #10 thread, the doily could pass for a coaster too. I love the over / under affect of the colored thread. I think it would look equally good in red / green for Christmas. I used #10 DMC Cebelia instead of the recommended Aunt Lydia's. I won't use anything else for thread work. It slides easily without tangling, and has a classy-looking sheen to the finished product. I also understand that it holds up well over time, for anything you want to be an heirloom. The balls look small, but there is thread packed on there. I can't believe how long one ball lasts!

The larger doily was made using DMC Senso Microfiber. It didn't come out as pretty, but then again the detail is lost by using a larger (#3) thread.

Toddler Bibs

Even toddlers need bibs sometimes, that is if you don't want them staining their good clothes learning to feed themselves. Those little infant bibs won't do the job. I crocheted these just for that reason, with Bernat Cottontots--the softest cotton yarn on the market! I have not washed them, and I suspect they will shrink as most all cotton fabrics do. They were made similar to the baby bib pattern you can download for free on the Bernat website. I just increased the starting width, and the length. I also used the "seed stitch", (sc, ch-1, skip next st; sc, ch-1, skip next st...) I like this stitch better than sc in each sc because it makes for a less bulky bib.

The heart, is "tapestry crochet" of which I am terrible at! I was using scrap yarn, and running out, so I gave it a go with this heart. After all, bibs eventually end up stained and in the trash anyway--so what if it isn't perfect? The flower is just your standard 5 petal flower, with a little embroidery (embroidery is also not a talent of mine). I used velcro for closure. On the last bibs I made I used huge snaps, so the velcro wouldn't cling to everything in the wash. Trouble was they were so secure it was hard to get the bib off the baby's neck.

If you want to make a useful baby gift, go for the all-cotton bibs!

Snow Bunny

Recently, I was stuck in the house for about a week, while my family and I recovered from a respiratory bug. Nothing to do but crochet and watch TCM (hubby was out of town the whole week), but I didn't feel up to going out and buying new yarn. With such a stash of scrap yarn collecting dust, I searched Ravelry for some free patterns. It lead me to this cute bunny on this blog:

http://www.darncatcrochet.blogspot.com/

The instructions were a little tricky, but I got through it using some Peter Pan by Wendy and an E hook. Turned out to be perfect yarn for a bunny!

State Fair 2009

Yes, a little behind on my blogging, but still reeling from the excitement of the State Fair! Here are the results:

7 1st Place Ribbons (blue) & 3 2nd Place (red)

Blue: Baby Bonnet, Baby Sweater, Amigurumi Monkey, Purple Doll Dress, Peach & White Baby Dress, (what my family affectionately calls) The Ugly Doll, and the one I am most pleased with, my Lady Bug Dress won First Place in the Crochet Designer's division!

Red: Outfit on Doll, Booties, Baby Afghan

In our fair, the judges don't give a lot of feedback. So you can imagine how tickled I was to get a comment written on the tag of my thread crochet baby bonnet-- one word, "fabulous".

Everything was my own design except the monkey and the star blanket.