WIP Wednesday - 1st Whimsical Birdie Ornie Complete

Hi everyone!! Well it is Wednesday and we received over a foot and half of snow since Monday! I'm loving the white landscape!

I started working on the cute felt ornaments that I wrote about in this post. They are pretty easy and probably a breeze for you that do needle point. I am a beginner and had to look up what a blanket stitch was. I found a great video tutorial here.

Not the best stitching I have seen, but it will be adorable adorned to the stocking I am planning on making. I have two more to finish and then work up some little felt ornies that I have been spying at on Pinterest!

I haven't really worked on much these past few weeks. I need to concentrate on Christmas decorations right now so I will have something up before the big day!

Everyone have a great week! Take a moment and hop over to Tami's Amis Blogspot.

Felt Ornament Kits - Christmas Time Decorating

Hello everyone! Well, December is upon us and it is time to begin the festive decorating of the home. I do love this time of year! Not only are we celebrating Christmas, but the ski slopes are open and winter skiing is in full affect!

I have gathered many crafty items to begin my month of Christmas crafting. I have a few garland wreaths that need to be decorated and hung along with complimentary garland. It is time to begin stringing up the lights and decorating the Christmas tree. I also purchased some burlap to make my Christmas stockings. I came across some really cute felt ornament kits.

I saw these cute little whimsical bird ornaments and just had to grab them. Granted I am not the best hand seamstress and embroidery seems to elude my abilities, I just cannot wait to make these darling little birdies!! The kit comes with everything you need including a needle! I think they will be very cute adorned to the burlap stockings I am planning on making. What cute winter projects are you making? I would love to hear about them.

Warm Up America - Knit or Crochet

Happy Wednesday everyone!! I am excited to be participating in a very special charity event. It is called Warm up America and all local Michael's Craft stores are participating. The organization is asking for crocheters and knitters to make 7" x 9" rectangles in any design you like or color and in January all Michael's stores will have a joining party.

As per the organization's website: "The beauty of so many different participants is that a WUA! afghan resembles a patchwork quilt of many colors and textures, just as the participants and recipients represent the varied faces of America." 

This is such a touching charitable event. All afghans are donated to 

• Women's shelters
• Nursing homes
• Children's hospitals
• Hospitals and hospices
• Daycare centers
• Veterans' homes
• Churches
• AIDS facilities
• Homeless shelters
• American Red Cross chapters

So join me and your local Michael's Craft Store and let's "Warm up America"!!! You don't have to participate through a Michael's craft store, you can also crochet or knit up your own rectangles and just send them to the Warm Up America! Foundation and they will join yours to the many others they will receive.

This is one of the squares I am wanting to work up. I am not great at reading a chart, but hopefully I will be able to muddle through. It is also a written pattern, but sometimes I become so confused with all the abbreviations.

I also purchased a wonderful fingerless mitt pattern from Sandra Paul of Cherry Heart through Ravelry. The pattern is called Cherry Basket Mitts. They are the first crochet mitts that really call to me to hook up!

Courtesy of Cherry Heart Blogspot

I am looking forward to beginning these today!!

Everyone have a wonderful week!! I hope to have these cute and comfy looking mitts completed so maybe a FO on Friday!!

Elf Hat & Snow Hiking

Hello everyone!! Sorry for the lack of posts lately, but it has been a very busy few weeks for me and not much crafting has been happening.

Elf Hat Pattern

I am very much into the Christmas spirit! I have been perusing Pinterest and Ravelry for some Christmas ornaments and hat ideas. I found a great pattern for a pixie/elf hat on Ravelry and just had to sit down and make one. The Crochet Pixie Cap by Teresa Richardson is an easy and fun little cap to make.

I went with non-traditional colors of aqua and grey. The brim has a row of popcorn stitches that make it a little more whimsical. One great thing about this pattern is once you are at the width you want you just keep crocheting in the round until you reach your desired length. Also the pattern link has video instructions!! I find video instructions very useful when you are trying a new stitch. I had never done the popcorn stitch prior to this pattern, so having the video was great. I am now working on another cap that will be striped.

Snow Hiking!!

This weekend we had some phenomenal snow fall! Sunday was a day off for the husband and I, so we decided on a nice snow hike. Enjoy the few pics we took during our hike!

Enjoy your week!!

Pinterest Inspiration - Colorful Afghans

Happy Monday everyone! It's only a happy Monday for me because today is a holiday and I am able to enjoy a quiet Monday morning at home. And during my quiet time I was enjoying the many colorful posted afghans in Pinterest. With the temperatures dropping and the signs of snow, I am wanting to make more afghans! Here a just a few that caught my eye this morning:

Granny Square Garden by Past Perfect Patterns Etsy Shop

Lovely Stacked Afghans!! Flowers in the Snow by Sarah Dotson 

Sunny Daze by Laura Pavy

Well those are my Pinterest Inspirations today! I hope all have a great week!

I Love Yarn Day!!!

Banner courtesy of Red Heart website

Yes, today is officially I love Yarn Day! I definitely love yarn. I can just stand in a yarn store or isle for hours just admiring all the color and textures. I am notorious for picking up almost every skein and just squeezing it. Maybe my American friends and fellow bloggers remember the charmin commercial always telling the store guy not to squeeze the charmin. That's me with yarn!!

So what do you do for I love Yarn Day you may ask? Well, you can do a lot of things.

Check out the official website for I love Yarn Day Organization and check out what others are doing for this wonderful day!

What did I do for this special day? I have a WIP in my bag so I can work on it during any down time at work today. I also completed a really cute and fast project. I made myself a new crochet hook case using a pattern by Alli Hyer. You can find the pattern here. It is not only a useful project but it also taught me a new stitch, the star stitch.

 

 

A very quick stash busting project. What I love the most is that you roll it out and can easily find the correct size hook needed for the project you are working on!

 

Everyone have a great weekend! And enjoy today by making something with some of your favorite yarn!

 

WIP Wednesday - Still working with Tunisian Crochet

Happy Wednesday everyone!! I am still enjoying the Tunisian crochet technique. I started a new project that works with the Tunisian Knit and Purl stitches. The combination of stitches make a diamond pattern. This is a very intricate pattern where you must keep a good count of each stitch and row or it will turn out to be a disaster. I should know because I have already had to frog it twice so far! :( I did start out using a black yarn, but it was really hard to see the post that I needed to go into. I swapped it out to the ocean blue instead and it has been much easier to see.

I am going by the pattern Tunisian Knits and Purls are Diamond by Linda Rommerdahl. The pattern is written well in my opinion. I did re-format it so I would have each row written out. I like to be able to check off each row I have completed and the written pattern only goes to row 14 then tells you to repeat rows 4 - 14 until you reach desired length. A little copy and paste with some renumbering and I got myself a 3 page pattern! :-)

This will be a scarf once done, but will take awhile since I will need to do about 200 rows to make it the length I prefer.  I did modify row 2 and 3 from the Tunisian simple stitch to Tunisian double crochet stitch. I also found that if you do the first row in the spine of the chain stitch it doesn't roll up as much. The video below by The Crochet Crowd is a great tutorial on the different methods to begin your foundation row.

Enjoy the rest of your week! I am linking up with Tami's blog again this week. I am also linking up with Frontier Dreams. Take a moment and check out other WIPs.