Saturday, January 9, 2010

baby blanket gifts

i started another baby blanket, this one for jason's sister who is having a little girl in may. shes not a big fan of girly colors, so i tried to avoid pink. it was hard, but i managed. :)



this blanket was made for one of jason's coworkers whose daughter was having a little girl (born jan 1!). she wanted earthy colors. this was a new stitch, cluster stitches in a round shape, then i crocheted the rounds together. the pattern said to stitch them, but i didnt like the look of that as well. i crocheted all the white rounds with a white edge, and the verigated with the verigated. i wanted to white to stay nice and bright. it isnt my favorite blanket, but i think the texture is nice, and it is definitly something different.



hats, scarves, sweaters oh my

youve seen this hat pattern before. i made one for jason, and one for my brother for christmas. but now, emma has a little white one. i love it. it is simply a half double crochet, with three rows of cluster stitches spread out on the hat. a cluster stitch is like hdc, but you yarn over and pull through until there are 5 loops on the hook instead of only 3. then pull through all 5 loops at once to complete the stitch. the brim is made of triple crochets, with double and hdc on the ends to blend it into the sides of the hat.



i found this pink/white blend from lion brand, vanna's choice, and had to make something for myself out of it. here is the same hat, with a white stripe, and a scarf. the scarf is double layered crochet. i have heard it called "thermal" but i learned it from my mom, who learned it from her stepmother's mom. if you want to know how its done, i can work on that. its not really that hard, just hard to explain in words. :) also, it is crazy warm, and makes great blankets.



i love the hat. in this picture it looks tiny on my big head, but in real life it really is cute.



for emma, i wanted try my hand at crocheting a sweater. i found a pattern from lion brand, and just started. i dont have a picture of her wearing it, but it is so cute on. the sleeves are 3/4 length, and it has a bit of swing around the waist. she seems comfortable in it too. i made her a hat to match, with hdc for most of the hat, then three rows of cluster stitch and spaces for a little checker board window effect, and its finished with a couple rows of hdc.

white fluffy jacket

before it started getting really cold here in idaho, i made emma a fluffy fuzzy white jacket out of a towel wrap that i had. i use the knit pajama top patter but made it a little larger because the white doesnt stretch. then i added a ruffle, and snap at the collar. i think it is adorable, and she gets lots of comments from people when she wears it. if i make it again, i will give a little more room in the sleeves and body, and maybe use a light corduroy? ooh, or put in a lining? so cute.





emma's christmas goodies

emma didnt get a lot of gifts from us this year because shes only 1, and doesnt really care. (or maybe i should say she doesnt mind? eh.) but i did want to get her a baby doll, and she LOVES it. (see third photo) but the jammies that it was wearing were very blah. i had seen a tute for making little kid jammies into doll jammies and just used the same general idea. i put the doll in a pair of emmas gerber jammies and pinned all around her. then cut them out and turned right sides together and sewed. so so quick, and now baby (as she is named) has cute little footie jammies just like emma.



and did i mention that she loves her? this was just after opening the baby on christmas morning.



before emma got her doll, i had given her my old baby doll to play with. she is pretty big, and hard bodied (emmas is a bean bag with arms and legs). but, she does have some great clothes. my mom made these and a green sweatsuit that is probably floating in the toy bin, for my doll when i was little. (so have you guys figured out yet that i come from a kind of crafty family? i guess ive just always been surrounded by home made things.)



and for the holidays in general, emma needed a dress. i didnt see one in stores that i loved, so i spent 23$ on fabric and notions (which i have extra) and made her one. if we had a toddler as our flower girl at our wedding 4 years ago, this would have been her dress. so so cute. the lining is gold taffeta, and i dont remember what the red is. the ribbon is a sheer gold, with a pleated red grosgrain over the top.







and to go with the dress, she needed ruffle butt bloomers. it was a need. and they turned out darling.







one of the great things about this dress, is that it has enough room in it that it fit her for pictures in november, and it will still fit really well for valentines day. :) and i just love this pattern. its the same one i used for the green wish puff dress, and about a million others that i made for a holiday bazaar that you will see later.

christmas decorations

i did a bit of christmas crocheting this year. (there is more than what is in this post too!) and had a lot of fun. i kept some and gave some away.

the day after christmas i finally had time to make a christmas angel for our tree! we have been married 4 years now, and still didnt have a tree topper. my family has one that my aunt made for us years and years ago, and o love that angel, so i decided to make one up for our family.



her body is made of bernat white baby yarn and red heart white used as one strand together, and her wings are a fluffy fuzzy novelty yarn. her halo has a piece of wire through it that keeps it round, and floating above her little angelic head.

before christmas, jason and i went to an ornament exchange party, and my ornament was this little faceless frosty. he isnt stuffed yet here, and i tied the scarf around his neck after he was stuffed. i liked it better that way. he is about five ish inches tall.



my grandma usually crochets little snowflakes from crochet thread for us each year, and this year (after i saw these patterns from lion brand) i decided to make a snowflake for her. the other ornament is called a "fancy ornament" and turned out okay. they are both MUCH larger than i expected them to be, and maybe would be better in a thin thin yarn with an itsy bitsy hook. but im sending the snowflake to gram anyways.



when i was growing up, we used these hand made stockings that my mom croched for us. mine was a red maryjane with a white stocking. i remember wearing it after i emptied it each year. jasons family uses red felt stockings (also handmade) so i decided i will make one of each for our kids, and we can switch back and forth. this is mine from my childhood.



and here are my brother's stockings. they are soccer cleats. and so so cute. i have the patterns for all these now, my mom brought over the magazine, dated 1977 i think.



before i had the pattern, i started this one for emma. its just a plain stocking, but i think it turned out cute.



and here it is hanging up.



so those were my contributions to christmas related things this year. i am pretty happy with them all.

kid christmas presents

kids love dress up, right? and whats the best thing about it? getting to wear it in public. so this year i made imagination clothes for the niece and two nephews that were cleverly disguised as sweaters so they could be worn outside the house! oh, and the little princess got a tutu.









the hoodies came from target, and i just attached pieces. i used fleece and felt for everything. the princess has pink cutouts in her crown, and hot pink thread and buttons for some washer/dryer safe bling. and the flowers on the hoodie are attached to large safety pins with some sewn on felt so they can be worn anywhere. they are crocheted flowers. the tutu is the popular "ten minute" style, where you just tie tulle onto an elastic waist. i added hot pink ribbon, and hot glued sequins all over the tulle for a little more sparkle. :)

did i mention that these three kids refuse to take them off, and wear them everywhere? i love them. :) the hoodies and the kiddos.