Earring Inspiration and Funky leg warmers

I bought an earring kit from Walmart. I kinda felt like it was cheating, but I thought I might learn something new and get new ideas. So here is the kit packaging.

Here are the earrings made from the kit:

 

My favorite:

You might see some more in the future similar to the last one. Maybe a little shorter. So I got something good out of it. It wasn't totally cheating, I still put them together, right? I made all of the earrings from the kit except for one. For some reason there wasn't enough parts to make it. Oh well, I can still use the supplies.  ...I just noticed that the pink earrings are missing from the picture. I did make them and they're cute. They are just MIA right now. 

I did a little sewing recently. Check out my funky leg warmer/ boot covers! 

I got the idea from seeing some costumes that hoop dancers wear. I was into hooping for a while and even made my own hula hoops. If you're interested there is a ton of info about hooping at www.hooping.org.

Head warmer

Here's another head warmer that I made from my pattern. I added a flower and a border of single crochet to match the flower.The pattern for the flower can be found here.

Classic Cloche Pattern

Do you remember my post about my Classic Cloche? Well, someone left a comment and asked for the pattern. Unfortunately, I did not write the pattern down as I made it. (That's not the first time for that. Maybe I'll learn my lesson this time.) I sold the hat so all I had were pictures to re-create from. I think it came out pretty close, if not the same.




Materials:

• Size I crochet hook
• 4ply worsted weight yarn

Abbreviations:

• ch = chain
• ea = each
• hdc = half double crochet
• st = stitch
• rep = repeat
• rnd = round

Instructions:

Start with a magic circle, ch 1
Rnd 1: 7 hdc in ring, join with a slip stitch(7hdc)
Rnd 2: ch 1, 2 hdc in ea st around, join (14hdc)
Rnd 3: ch 1, *1 hdc in next st, 2 hdc in next st* rep around, join (21hdc)
Rnd 4: ch 1, *1 hdc in next 2 sts, 2 hdc in next st* rep around, join (28hdc)
Rnd 5: ch 1, *1 hdc in next 3 sts, 2 hdc in next st* rep around, join (35hdc)
Rnd 6: ch 1, *1 hdc in next 4 sts, 2 hdc in next st* rep around, join (42hdc)
Rnd 7: ch 1, *1 hdc in next 5 sts, 2 hdc in next st* rep around, join (49hdc)
Rnd 8: ch 1, *1 hdc in next 6 sts, 2 hdc in next st* rep around, join (56hdc)
Rnd 9: ch 1, 1 hdc in ea st around, join (56hdc)
Rnd 10-17 : rep Rnd 9 (for a longer or shorter hat do more or less rows)
Rnd 18: ch 1, in back loops only, *1 hdc in next st, 2 hdc in next st* rep around, join
Rnd 19: ch 1, 1 hdc in ea st around, join.
Rnd 20-21: rep Rnd 19, fasten off.

Adornment:
You can adorn your cloche with strands of yarn or crocheted flowers or anything you want, really. Here are examples of how I did it with the strands.  It's actually the yarn I had left over.

Here is a picture of my first Classic Cloche if you missed that post:

I don't remember how much yarn it was, but i just folded them evenly, wrapped it around the hat and tied it in a knot. Then I twisted the yarn around itself to make the shape and I secured the yarn with fabric glue. I didn't glue it to the hat itself because I wanted the adornment to be removable.

You could also let the strands hang down for a different look. These strands came out to be about 3 feet long. I counted 8 strands, but I didn't cut the yarn, it's just folded. You can play with it and come up with something new.

 I love seeing finished products from my patterns. If you want to be featured on my blog with your finished items, just shoot me an email. If you don't want to be featured but still want to send me pics, that's great too! Just let me know in the email if you want me to post your pics or not.

daperfectmix@gmail.com

Handmade Gift Exchange

  I meant to post about this earlier, but unfortunately I didn't get a chance to. Today is the LAST DAY to sign up for the Handmade Gift Exchange that is happening on Craftaholics Anonymous blog. Basically anyone who wants to participate signs up, after sign up is over (midnight tonight), then everyone will be assigned a partner. Then you and your partner will exchange a handmade gift. Exciting, isn't it? I think it's a great idea! For details and to sign up for the US Exchange, click HERE. For the International Exchange details and sign up click HERE. Hurry and sign up before it's too late!

Hilltop Playground Fundraiser

 My first time selling in public was a great learning experience. There are quite a few things I still need to work on. Overall, I need to be a better sales person. I need to get over my shyness and just do it! I also need to display some of my work on myself! Duh!!! Well, I think my biggest fear about this was not selling anything at all. That didn't happen so I'm very grateful for that. I also had lots of compliments. I probably should have handed out my card more too. Next time will be better, I hope. I didn't get too many photos, but here are a few from the day.

This is my jewelry table:

 

Here is the hat table:

Here I am taking a break with my mother.

While getting ready to pack it all up, a few people took a last look.

Big Flowers

 Lately, I've been seeing big flowers on everything. I decided to do a search for some free crochet patterns of some flowers. I found two that I really like. What I like best about them is that they are more three dimensional instead of just a flat flower.

 The first one is this beautiful Rose Pattern. The pattern also includes leaves, but I just made the flower. I think I was actually supposed to roll it a bit tighter, but it still looks pretty to me.

 The other one is from this Peek-A-Boo Flower Hat Pattern. I also made the hat that went along with the pattern. I think this is a cute one especially for a little girl. I thought the pattern for the flower was a little confusing, but I managed to figure it out.