Crochet Heart Shawl Made from Alice Merlino's Heart Scarf

So I finished the Crochet Heart Scarf a couple of weeks ago and while I was working on it, I was inspired to create a fun shawl using the same motifs.  So I did!  This is how it came out.

The yarn is absolutely beautiful.  Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable in Petunia.  The color variegation is really nice and it has a cool mohair feel even though it is 100% acrylic.

After talking to Alice Merlino about using her pattern, she agreed that I could make the pattern available for everyone if I refer to her original pattern and do not rewrite her words or use her pictures.  Her words and pictures are awesome so check them out when you make my shawl.  Here's her pattern and here's my shawl pattern:

 

Yarn:  Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable
Hook:  J
Gauge:  not important

Complete foundation row and rows 1-4 of Alice Merlino’s Heart Scarf.  Finish off.

 

Ch 13, sl st into the fourth bump from your hook (makes a chain loop), ch 9, dc in last dc of completed motif, work across top of motif as in row 5, and at of row, complete foundation row again, turn. 

 

Complete rows 1-4 across to make 3 connected motifs.  Finish off. 

 

Work as established until shawl is desired size.

 

Work row 5 across all motifs to finish then cut yarn.  Weave in ends and block. 

 

Enjoy!!

Valentine's Day...The Next Big Knitting Holiday!

Ok, so when I say "knitting," (Note:  I kind of use it as a general term for "knitting" or "crocheting."  I just find "crocheting" to be an awkward kind of word.)  Anyway, I guess I was inspired this year.  Usually Valentine's Day just kind of sneaks up on me then passes without much fanfare.  My birthday was last month.  My husband's birthday was last week.  We just had our anniversary and Christmas.  I think we are usually holidayed out.  But this year is different for some reason, at least on the "Knitting Front."  (See note above).

So here are some of the projects I just finished.  A couple of hats, of course, because it is still cold up here in Montana.  Anyway, these are pretty simple and I finished them in a day or two. Theses are original designs.  I haven't written up the pattern but I will if I have requests.    

 Next was a cute heart scarf.  This is a design by Alice Merlino from Ravelry.  Also really easy and worked up super quick!  I actually had to take some motifs out because it worked up so quickly, that I had more than 8 feet of scarf before I even realized it.

While I was working on this piece, I started thinking about how to make this into a triangle shawl with the heart pattern all over it.  I pictured the back coming down in little squares. So that is what I tried next.


What do you think?!  I really like it.  I got permission from the designer of the scarf to make the pattern available.  It will be on my Ravelry site when I get it done.  The yarn is Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable.  It is 100% acrylic so it is easy care but it looks and feels like a mohair blend.  I love the color variegation.

Schwartzkatzen Sweater

It's finally finished!  My Black Cat Sweater for Lily.  I saw Annette Danielson's pattern on Ravelry and fell in love with the cute little kitties.  But the pattern was only available as a kit and isn't available at all anymore apparently.  I graphed out the kitties and put it away in my idea book for inspiration at a later date.  This last November I pulled it out again and decided to make a raglan cardigan for my niece.  She has a black cat named Riku and is absolutely crazy about anything handmade. I had hoped to have it done by Christmas.  Oh, well.  Better late than never.

It took me more than a week to graph out the raglan in such a way that the cats fit.  Many times the graph of the kitties had to be adjusted.  I have never been so frustrated with a design but finally it worked.  I started on it right away and worked diligently until the week before Christmas.  Then it became pretty clear that I was not going to finish in time.  I put it aside to work on some other items I had intended to give as gifts.  I picked it up again around the second week of January and have worked like mad to finish it today!  The clasp is the perfect finishing touch.  Tell me what you think!

DORK Virus spreading.

I need to get something off my chest.  My husband is a dork.  Not just a "Oh he wears glasses and his hair is always messy" dork but a full-blown, unapologetic, "May the force be with you," "Are we really watching 'In Search of Bigfoot' again" DORK.

Yes, that is a Goonies shirt

Sometimes this is endearing.  At other times, I get a little concerned that his dorkness is contagious and may be infecting me along with the other animals in our house.  For example, Abby, our black lab, is now a full-blown, "Daddy, everything you do is wonderful," "please pet my butt while I put my head on your shoe" dork.

"You're going to need the Force to get out of this one."

I am starting to see evidence that this dork virus is spreading into me as well.  For Christmas last year, I scoured the internet for the best deal on a Lego R2-D2.




This year I found a pattern for a Princess Leia baby hat and it instantly jumped to the top of my to-do list.  Here is my cat, Gypsy, modeling it.  Also poor kitty, you didn't really think you would escape the dork virus running rampant in this house did you? 

I'm on a Vest Kick!

I have been loving making vests lately.  They are perfect for baby boys in the spring and cool summer days.  I've been designing my own.  Some are in the local Blooming Bellies, soon to be Little Locals, and some are in my Etsy store.

 My recent favorite is my Little Fishes vest.  This design has been rolling around in my head for a couple of years.  I finally got it out but now I need to get it written down.  That's the not-so-fun part, at least for me.  I prefer to start my next project rather than write down my finished one. 

This one is the same pattern as the orange stripey vest in my last post.  Again I used handmade wooden buttons from my cherry tree.  The yarn is Louisa Harding Amitola, a super yummy wool/silk blend. 

 

Then I have my two little tie vests. This was a new adventure for me. I've never done intarsia in the round before and it took me a several tries and several fails to finally figure out how to make my vision work.

These two are done with Cascade Pima Cotton and Wendy Supreme Cotton DK. Very nice yarn to work with.

Tell me what you think!

 

Big News!

I have completed one of my New Year Resolutions and I can cross it off my list!  I now have some of my products in a local boutique!  Blooming Bellies Boutique in Kalispell, Montana currently has four of my children's shirts.  The patterns are my own and I have actually gotten them written down this time.  I think that is the hardest part of designing after all.  Sometimes I'm not quite sure how to put into understandable language exactly what I did to make something look a certain way.  It's tricky! 

 This one is my favorite. The yarn is Louisa Harding's Amitola in Marmalade.  It is 80% wool and 20% silk.  The buttons are hand-made.  Yes, I actually cut a branch from my cherry tree, dried it, sliced it, sanded it, drilled holes, and varnished them.  A lot of work, but you can't deny the results. 

The flowers on this little tunic turned out so cute. I love the simplicity and the femininity.  This pattern is a combination of crochet and knitting which is actually my favorite type of pattern.  The yarn is Cascade Pima.  It steams beautifully and has a nice finished look to it. 

 This one needs to be touched!  Too bad you all can just look at it.  The yarn is Cascade Pima Tencel and it is just yummy.  Very soft.  When I got it, the colors were limited so I will have to seek out more in the future.  These cute buttons were made from polymer clay to match the yellow stripes perfectly.  I love the two-tone ribbing at the bottom.  This was my first time trying this technique!

Aah, classic argyle.  Have I ever said that I love argyle?  This is again the Cascade Pima.  I struggled a lot with this vest.  I had to look up videos on YouTube and ask friends how to do intarsia in the round.  I think next time I may just go back and forth and seam the sides.  It's more work but will probably be faster in the long run.  The buttons (which you can't see from this pic) are also argyle.  I made a cane in polymer clay to match the design.  Isn't it more fun to make your own buttons? 

Let me know what you think!  I am so excited and I can't wait to do more!

'Tis the Season for Hats!

It's that time again.  Whatever that means...Winter, Holidays, Christmas, College Hoops, Football...Anyway, that means HATS!  As I've said before, I love hats.  They are so fun and easily customizable.  Here are some of the hats in my shop.  As always you can choose your size, color, and it's always free shipping.

Basketball and Football Hats - Share your passion with your little bundle of joy.

Football Hat

Cute Elf Hat - choose your color




Santa hat - baby to adult sizes

Pink Football Hat

Pink Basketball Hat

Now your little girl can cheer for her favorite sport too!

Alicia

Tunisian Lace Infinity Scarf

 

Yarn:  Bulky weight – 5

            Approx 100 g

            (Yarn shown in picture is Elle Rae Latte)

Hook:  Tunisian hook size N

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­___________________________________________________________

Row 1:  ch 12, pull up lp in 2^nd ch from hook and in each ch across.  Do not turn, work lps off hook.

Row 2:  sk 1^st vertical bar, (pull up lp in next 2 vertical bars at the same time, yo) across to last vertical bar, pull up lp in last vertical br, work lps off hook. 

Row 3:  sk 1^st vertical bar, pull up lp in next vertical bar, (pull up lp in next ch sp, pull up lp in next vertical bar) across, work lps off hook. 

Repeat rows 2-3 until scarf is desired length.

Join to opposite end with a sc in both ends in each st across.  Fasten off.

 

Our House is a Very Very Very Fine House....

Ok, I did it!  I took the leap.  I bought a house!  That's my excuse for not blogging in so long.  I have been having fun arranging things how I like it and planting a garden!  I think I may have gotten a little overexcited about the garden though and tried to plant too much in too little space.  Everything is so big and I am constantly trying to trim and coax leaves away from other plants so everyone can share the sunlight and water.  Maybe it is the plants who are overexcited? 

Squash, squashing my cucumbers.

I have learned in the last month that summer squash and yellow squash really have no regard whatsoever for the happiness of cucumbers.  They don't think twice of growing all over them just because the cucumbers took a little longer to figure out what they were in dirt for.  I have also learned that peas really love to climb and if you don't give them something to climb on early enough, they will just wrap their little viney fingers around everything and strangle them. 



Yes, this is one tomato plant.

So many other lessons.  Next year, I will plant my yellow boy tomato in a big 'ole barrel pot all by himself.  He just can't play nice. My poor peppers are being knocked all around.

Oh, and one other important one....when you buy cheap seeds, what is pictured on the front of the package, is not always what is in the package.  I currently have some sort of salad mix in my garden that I just really don't like.  It is quite spicy and chewy.  Thank goodness Elvis, the guinea pig, likes it and he can just eat his fill.  I won't be replanting it next year. 


Roma tomatoes.  That's why they are funny looking...I think.



My cherry tree!

I also thoughtfully thinned my neighbors raspberries and took some for myself.  (She said I could.  I'm not in the habit of sneaking into neighbors back yards and digging up their plants for myself!)  I also planted blackberries and blueberries.  They are beautiful though I won't have fruit until hopefully next summer. 






Cherries!

Oh, and I have strawberries!  Yay strawberries!  And two cherry trees.  I was hoping, of course, that they were Flathead cherries, since I am right here, but I believe they are pie cherries of some sort.  That's fine too.  I will definitely use them!  So much fun!  So glad I have summers off! 



Ogre and Monster Hats - Hats and More Hats!

I love making hats.  They are so much fun and work up pretty quickly.  I finally got the ribbon picked out for four more cloche style hats. 

I got a ton of ribbon a few weeks ago using sales and coupons for Michaels and Joann.  Thank goodness they are accepting competitor coupons now. 

I really like the patterned ribbon for hats.  It just gives a little more....something.  I don't know but I like it!

These lovelies are now in my Etsy store!

This morning I finished my first Monster and Ogre baby hats.  They turned out so, so cute!  I wish I had a baby to wear the Ogre hat!  For now I have to settle for this (not so cute) doll.  Thanks Pam for letting me borrow him though.  He does make a better model than my balloons.  His head is a little smaller than newborn though so I end up having to roll up a bunch of the hats.  It works out pretty well though.   

I had seen pictures of the ogre hats from Dayna from On Distant Shores (http://daynasigl.blogspot.com) but her hat was knitted.  So I made up my own pattern in crochet. 
As for the Monster hat, I was inspired by Emily at The Boy Trifecta (http://www.theboytrifecta.com). but again kind of did my own thing following the pictures.  I'm finding that maybe I don't have the patience to follow patterns specifically.  I like to just create as I go.  Thank you ladies for the inspiration!

March Madness - Basketball Hats

If I had a sport, it would probably be basketball.  I like the movement.  Those guys are really working hard.  I like the excitement of the scoring.  It's not like soccer where 2-1 can be a high scoring game.  It's not like football where they play for 10 seconds then talk about it for the next 20 minutes.  And it's not like baseball where it's basically one guy against a whole team and then a different guy against the whole team again.  Basketball is fun to watch.  I don't watch so much since Jordan left the Bulls (has anyone else really moved like that guy?) but I'll still check it out sometimes if I catch it.


So in honor of March Madness coming up, I decided to show my support for the sport.  Basketball baby hats!  Now your little one can root for the sport along with you.  Aren't they cute?!

They are for sale now in my Etsy shop.  They are basically a knit hat with embroidered back stitching for the lines.   Check them out!

And Now For Something Completely Different.....Recycled Pop Top Necklace

A crocheted pop top necklace!  This was so much fun to make.  Once I finally got enough pop tabs - I had to ask around at work.  Someone generously donated these to me!  50 pop tabs went into making this fun necklace.  Recycling at its best! The finished project is definitely classier than you would expect from the sum of its parts!  I wore it to work a couple of times and I get a ton of compliments.  The kids are really interested in trying it too.  I guess I'm going to have to teach them to crochet!

Queen of Sunflowers Shawl

So I finished this shawl and finally got it sent off today.  It is headed to Sweden!  Yay, I'm international!  Anyway, I really love the way it turned out.  It was really simple and this time I added a scallop border to kind of pull it all together. 










This is the second shawl I have made in this pattern but I do prefer the yellow and brown one. I'm glad it was suggested to me! I hope to get the pattern written up and maybe post it for sale on Etsy. 

Rest in Peace my Friend

Remy the Rat passed away early this morning.  He was just short of his third birthday.  He was a happy little guy who enjoyed human company and the occasional spat with his big sister, Gypsy.  He was healthy right up until his death, and passed in his sleep.  Rest in peace my friend. 

Remy as a baby.  He had the sweetest little face. 

Remy looks like a drowned rat....literally.

Poor Remy.  He is getting really old.  He's almost three years old.  He's getting really clumsy and his back feet don't work really well for him.  I need to clip his toenails now and because he is so clumsy, he can't clean himself as well as he used to. 











He gets a bath now periodically when he starts to look scruffy.  He doesn't like it but he tolerates it.  What he really likes is the cuddling afterwards and the toweling off.  He looks so fluffy afterwards.  When he is dry, he begs for treats, eats them, then takes a nap....such a rough life.  My poor boy.  He's so sweet. 

Look at that face!

Christmastime Means Too Little Time to Do Too Many Things!

Yay!  Christmas is almost here.  I love Christmas.  I love the food, the music, the wrapping paper, watching my niece open presents, everything.  Well, not everything.  I hate the traveling.  Why can't my whole family just move to my town?!  It would be so much more convenient.  I also hate the way I never get the things done that I set out to do.  I'm in the middle of 7 or 8 different projects that all have the same deadline looming over me.  And I don't really want to work on any of them. 

I did get one done today though.  This was a special order through Etsy.  I love the way it turned out and hopefully she will too.  It is an original pattern based loosely on another sweater I did a couple of years ago.  I think the color she selected looks beautiful. 











I also finished a sweater for me a few weeks ago.  I am pleased with how it turned out too.  The pattern is from Interweave Crochet Spring 2010.  It's called New Town Swing Sweater.  I get tons of compliments everytime I wear it and I wear it a lot! 

Oh My Gosh! I have to work for a living!

I started back to work today. So much new stuff to learn.  I think it is going to be a good year though.  The school I am working for has great administration and everyone seems to be pretty positive about this year.  Now that I am working again after having the whole summer off, it is going to be harder to find time to crochet and knit.  Oh well, I guess that means my time will be more precious and I'll have to choose patterns that mean more to me! 

I just finished this beautiful baby blanket.  I seem to have a hard time keeping boys blankets on hand.  I really like this pattern.  I kind of took parts from a pattern on Lionbrand.com then changed it up and added a different border.  I like the twisted border that incorporates both colors of the blanket.

I was thinking about trying some lace shawls.  They seem to be gaining popularity and might be a good transition back to more wintery items.  Plus I haven't done lace in awhile and I kind of miss the complexity. 

I Take on the "5-hour Baby Sweater" on Ravelry

I have a new favorite pattern - The 5-hour baby sweater.  It is very cute, simple, and gender neutral.  I have tried it in variety of mohair blend yarns and a couple of acrylics.  I also added a hood to one and gave it bear ears.  Now I have turned it from a cardigan style into a pullover.  So versatile!  Here are some pics. 

Above is the hood with bear ears.  Very cute but kind of tricky to take a picture of.     

Above is my favorite.  The rainbow color scheme is so cute and the yarn is really cuddly.  To the left is the sweater in an acrylic yarn.  Still beautiful but now machine washable!

This is the pullover style one.  I made it a v-neck so it isn't too tight around the babies neck and will easily slip over the head.  The sizes range from newborn to 24 months.  I had so much fun making these!