One week left until Christmas!

Only one more week left to Christmas! I've been busy trying to get ready, and I still have some shopping to do. I got a few handmade gifts done. Here's what I've done.

A hat and scarf set made with super bulky Hometown USA Lion Brand Yarn in Billings Chocolate. I used the galaxy stitch to make the scarf.

Here is another scarf I made with Red Heart acrylic yarn in violet and lavender. I used the  Mile a Minute Scarf pattern by Mary Jane Protus.

Here is a handmade, custom Yankee's Beanie requested by a friend.

I also made some jewelry. I used silver beads and  Beyond Beautiful crackle lime and metallic green beads.

Are you ready for Christmas?  I hope everyone has a happy, merry Christmas!

My brother, the Professional Wrestler

Remember the post where I showed you my funky boot covers?

There was actually a reason that I made them. I don't think I would just wear them casually. I wore them on Black Friday for a show. My brother is a professional wrestler and guess who his lovely manager is? That's right, I have many faces. My stage name is Lolita Loca and my brother is Lobo Loco. He wrestles for Classic Championship Wrestling (CCW). Here is a pic of the whole outfit:

So, what do you think? If you want to see more pictures and the videos from the main event, you can go to my brother's website, here.

Handmade Gift Exchange Gift

 I had a great time making a gift for my new friend Savannah! I forgot to take pictures of the scarf and earrings I made for her, but I did get a chance to get a picture of the hat I couldn't resist making for her baby girl.

Ok, now check out the cute new bag she made for me!

Isn't it lovely? Thank you Savannah! She even put some peppermint kisses inside the bag. Sweet! I love seeing other people's crafts and what people can do with their own hands and creativity. I think it makes a gift worth so much more.

I also want to thank Linda at Craftaholics Anonymous for hosting the Handmade Gift Exchange. You can go to her link party to see all the handmade gifts people have given and received.

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.

More Bead Earrings

Here's a few more earrings that I recently made. Most of the beads that I used came from Michael's or Hobby Lobby. They were all made with sterling silver ear wires except for the gold colored ones, which are gold plated ear wires and the rest of the wire for those earrings is brass. I'm still learning, so I didn't want to use up my gold filled wire just yet.

Here are some close ups of the earrings. Some did not want to cooperate with the camera which explains the blurry ones. I just couldn't get it right.

Classy Mulberry Cloche

This classy cloche was crocheted with super soft Andes Alpaca yarn in Mulberry. I really like the color and how nice it feels.  Like the other cloche, the adornment is removable for a different look. The brim on this one didn't turn out like the last one. Maybe I should have written down the pattern. I have a hard time doing the same thing twice unless I take notes or something. I think it still came out nice. Which cloche do you like better, the mulberry or this one?

Poetry Blog

 If anyone is interested, I decided to start another blog where I will put my poetry and random thoughts. I figured they would be out of place here, so if you'd like to see, it can be found HERE. All comments are welcome. I was also thinking of adding poetry of anyone else who would like to participate.

Easy Head Warmer Pattern

My husband's aunt was telling me about these head warmers that she has been seeing people wear up north. She tried to explain it to me, saying that it was wide on top, tapered toward the back, and closed with a button. Then she looked online and found a picture. So after seeing the pic, I decided to try to make one. It didn't look that hard. So this is what I came up with.

Materials:

• Worsted Weight Yarn
•  Size I Crochet Hook
•  A button that will fit in between your double crochet stitches
• Thread and needle

Abbreviations:
ch = chain
st = stitch
dc = double crochet
ea = each

Note:  First ch 2 counts as dc. 
   
Instructions:

Row 1: ch 6, dc in first 3 chs made, making 4 dc total

Row 2: ch 2, turn. dc in 2nd st from hook and each stitch across, including very last st (5 dc)

Row 3-13: repeat row 2. This will make an increase per row and you will end up with 16 dc total in last row
Row 14: ch 2, turn. dc in each stitch across, but NOT the very last stitch to maintain 16 dc
Row 15-31: repeat row 14 (16 dc)
Row 32: ch 2, turn. skip first st, dc in ea st across (15 dc)

Row 33-42: repeat row 32 to continue with a decrease per row until you end up with 4 dc in last row
Fasten off, weave in ends.

It should look like this:

Add your button to one side.

Now you have an adjustable head warmer! You can adorn the top with a crochet flower(s) or whatever you like. I found a leaf pattern that I will try, for a fall look. 

*Update: For Video Tutorial, CLICK HERE!*

 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

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