More Beanies

I found another great beanie pattern. It's called Reversible Strands for Men by Nancy Smith. It's a free download on Ravelry. I really like how this looks and it is very warm and cozy. You can wear it with the ridge side out or the smooth side out. I like the ridge side. I made the green one with Red Heart Super Saver acrylic yarn and the blue and gray one is made with Caron's Simply Soft. I'm going to make another beanie with black and gold for my husband, a huge New Orleans Saints fan.

Lovely Yarn

I found this multicolored yarn at Big Lots this weekend! They were $1 a piece. I love the colors. What should I make with it?

Tag, I'm IT!

Ashlee from the blog of ashLeenikoL has tagged me in this challenge.

So it goes like this...

Rules:

• You must post the rules
• Answer the 11 questions that the tagger posted for you
• Create 11 questions to ask the people you will tag
• Tag 11 people and link them in your post
• Let them know you have tagged them (i'm bad at that part)

Ashlee's Questions:

1. Have you ever been to Kentucky? Yes! I was stationed at Ft Campbell which is on the border of Kentucky and Tennessee.
2. Are you chasing your dreams? I guess not. I wanted to be a singer when I was a kid.
3. What is your most hated chore? Hmm.. It's between washing dishes and folding clothes.
4. What's your favorite song? I can't choose just one, but if I had to it would be Whitney's classic "The Greatest Love of All".
5. If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? That's a tough one. I would like to learn how to surf.
6. Do you get mistaken for a celebrity? If so, who? Ha, once I was visiting my cousin in FL and we were at the mall, these girls thought I was Alicia Keys, so my cousin walks by me and says (loud enough) "C'mon Alicia!" (my hair was done in cornrows.)
7. Do you visit PerezHilton.com? I can say I've never been on that site.
8. What was the last book you read? The last one was called "Songs of Deliverance" by Marilynn Griffith it's the sequel to "Rhythms of Grace." Now I'm reading "Hunger Games"!
9. Were you named after anyone? I don't think so.
10. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? It depends on what shoes I'm wearing.
11. Where's Waldo? He is probably lost in a book somewhere.

Here are my Questions:

1. Where was the best vacation you've ever had?
2. What was the last movie you saw in a movie theater?
3. Have you ever been to DC?
4. What is your favorite ice cream?
5. Would you rather shop online or in a store?
6. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you like to go?
7. Are you a dog person or a cat person?
8. Chocolate or vanilla?
9. How often do you blog?
10. Do you have an online store?
11. Would you rather sweep or vacuum?

Here's who I'm Tagging:

• Beautiful Dee's
• Jocelin Gets Creative
• Dingus Designs
• things
• Warm 'n Fuzzies
• new day, new ideas
• therestofmylife
• Five in Training For HIM
• A Lil This, A Lil That
• 2B
• It's A Handmade World

Thanks, Ashlee, great questions! I hope my taggees will play along as well.

Beanies Made

  Here are a couple of beanies I recently whipped up. The first one is from a pattern in Ravelry called Brain Waves Beanie by Liz McQueen. I was looking at some of her other patterns and she makes some great designs. I can't figure out how to top my floppy sun hat! This beanie is a free download from Ravelry. There are really so many options when it comes to the colors you want to use. Mine is pretty simple with just two colors. I used the recommended size I hook and cotton yarn. I was thinking of making another one with different shades of blue.

  This one was made with my leftover yarn from the last floppy hat I made. I just kind of winged it and this is what I came up with. It actually happened to match the shirt that I was wearing when I made it. 

Show n Tell

  I finally finished and posted the second part of the video for the Floppy Sunhat Pattern. That one is pretty repetitive, so there are a lot of fast forward parts. I hope it is clear enough. The lighting was kind of bad. I'm still working on that. Parts of it were a little blurry too. Sorry about that. Phew, other than that, I'd say it was a success!

  Well here is another Floppy Sun Hat that was recently made by Dee with my pattern. Thanks for sending the pic Dee, it looks great!

  If you made this hat or any of my other patterns, I would love to see how it turned out. I'll only post your pics with your permission.

Floppy Sun hat Video

 I've had quite a few questions on my floppy sun hat pattern. Instead of trying to explain some things, it would be easier to show you. So I decided to do a video and hopefully that will make everything clearer. It took a while to get this done, so my apologies to anyone who has been anticipating the posting of this video. I didn't realize how much work it takes to make a video.

  I had to turn the sound off because I had a lot of interruptions along the way. I'm sure you don't want to hear screaming kids and whatever else was going on in my house. Maybe you do, but I don't want you to. ;)

  I will also put the video in the post with the pattern. If you have any questions just leave a comment. I've never done a pattern video before so I hope everything is easy to see for everyone.

  Here is part one of the Floppy Sun Hat Video. 

and here is part 2.

Boot Fringe

  My brother asked me to make him some fringe for his boots to complete his new costume. If you didn't know, he is a professional wrestler. Not WWE, but CCW, Classic Championship Wrestling, an independent wrestling federation. If you've ever watched wrestling on TV, you know that every wrestler has some kind of gimmick and a cool costume. My bro's name is  Lobo, formally known as Lobo Loco. His colors are orange and black.

  These are the boot fringe that I whipped up for him. They are made from tee shirts from the thrift store. Unfortunately I only have pictures of the final piece, but I can give you an idea of what I did. If you really want to see step by step, just leave a comment and I'll be happy to make a tutorial for it. I cut two rectangles from one orange and one black tee, about 18 by 15 inches. I made sure to keep t-shirt's bottom seam intact. Then I used a rotary cutter to make my strips, about half an inch wide, but not cutting all the way up. Tug on the strips to make them roll up a bit. I sewed the black rectangle on top of the orange at the top, added elastic and hand sewed the circle closed for each. When that was all done I trimmed the strips at the bottom so they were all even. It was pretty easy. I'll update with a pic the next time Lobo gets his whole costume on. The fringe will start at the top of his boot to about his ankle. I had to go off of the measurements he gave me since we live in different states.

Free Money for Blogging

  Has anyone ever tried Social Spark? It's a way to make money from blogging by linking you with advertisers. I'm fairly new to it and apparently my blog does not quite qualify yet. It looks like I just need to post more and then I'll be good to go. Of course, life gets in the way of posting more. If only I could be a stay at home mom and blog all day. "Be careful what you wish for!" That's what someone just said in my head. I wouldn't want to lose my job! Anyway, if anyone has any input on your Social Spark experiences, please let me know. If you'd like to sign up for a Social Spark account or get more info just click the link below!

Tee Shirt Remixed

  I tried another pattern from Erika and Monika Simmons called Remix T-Shirt Sleeves. This pattern is published in their book called  "Double Stitch: Designs For The Crochet Fashionista." It is also free and can be found here. Don't you love free? You know I do!

So I took this plain gray tee shirt:

Then added the Remixed Sleeves:

The final piece:

Crochet Portraits

   Have you ever seen a crocheted portrait? One of my Ravelry friends is an expert at making them! His name is Todd Paschall and his website is Crochet By Numbers. You can turn your own pictures into crochet portraits! He has made portraits and sweaters of several famous people. You can find some free patterns and training tools on the site to get you started.

  I've been admiring his work for a while but haven't tried his technique yet. I will soon. It seems like it would take forever, I guess I won't know until I try. I will definitely let you know once I do and if anyone else has done it, please leave a comment.

  Here is some of his work:

Image from http://www.crochetbynumbers.com/







Image from http://www.crochetbynumbers.com/

 



The Versatile Blogger Award

  I got a blog award! I was awarded The Versatile Blogger by Lovestitch from Stitch of Love. Thank you Lovestitch! She has a craft blog full of free patterns, and her beautiful creations. Check it out sometime. The rules of this award are as follows:

1 Add the award to your blog

2 Thank the blogger who gave it to you

3 Mention 7 random things about yourself.

4 List the rules

5 Award to 15 bloggers

6 Inform each of those 15 by leaving a comment on their blog.

My 7 random things:

1. My alter ego is Lolita Loca - manager to professional wrestler Lobo Loco.
2. I was a true tomboy growing up.
3. My first real job was at Hershey's Chocolate World. I love Reese's! mmmmm
4. I graduated high school, year of 1997, and have never been to college full time.
5. I love to dance.
6. I was in the marching band in high school and was still cool. ha, glee club too!
7. I am easily distracted and get bored. Gotta have variety! 

I'll pass this award to the following blogs (in not particular order) who may or may not participate:

• LambAround
• Make The Best of Things
• Handmade by Lilacanglia
• The Craft Patch
• Strung-Out
• That's So Cugely
• Craft Envy
• Wires & Yarns
• Centsational Girl
• A girl and a glue gun
• Crochet and Other Stuff
• new day, new ideas
• Crochet Spot
• Doublewide Dreamer
• the blog of ashLeenikoL

Free Patterns Sraight to your Inbox

  I love getting free crochet patterns emailed to me, even if I don't get to try the patterns right away. I save them in a folder in my email just for crochet patterns. Sometimes I email links to myself for later use. If it's not in my email, it's in my favorites on Ravelry.com. Patterns that I've used, make it to a folder on my hard drive, unless I just didn't like it.

  If you don't know about this site already, it's a pretty good one to keep on hand or you can subscribe to their newsletter. I subscribe to get "Hooked on Crochet" in my email regularly. The website is called All Free Crochet. Not only do they have free patterns, they also have tutorials, tips, reviews and more. Check it out sometime. I enjoy it and maybe you will too!

Braids and Twists

   I haven't had a hair post in a super long time. Newer followers probably have never even seen my hair posts. Not only can I manipulate fiber, but I can manipulate hair a little bit as well. So I'll leave you with some images of my cosmetology skills and my precious hair models.

Two-Tone Shrug Pattern

  I found another free pattern to try out, the Two-Tone Shrug, designed by Erika and Monika Simmons.  This is a pretty quick shrug to whip up. I can see it over a summer dress or something like that. I used a multicolor yarn instead of two different colors like the pattern suggests. So I guess mine is a multi-toned shrug. I used Hobby Lobby's "I love this Yarn!" The color is called Blue Camo.

  I really need to check the gauge when I do projects. I don't know why it's such a problem for me. Maybe because I just want to jump right into the project. I must crochet a little tighter than the twins do because it's just a bit small. It didn't come out too much smaller, but I will definitely use a larger hook next time. I used the suggested size H crochet hook. This will probably look better on my daughter than on me.

  My big lesson from this project is learning how important gauge really is. Does anyone else skip checking your gauge, or is it just me?

Halter Top

  If you've been following my blog for a while you might remember my unfinished halter top. Here's a pic if you haven't seen it.

  I finally picked it up and decided to work on it again. I wanted to undo the bottom part because I thought it was a little too ruffly. I think I'll keep it as it is and make it into a dress instead of a shirt. Hopefully it will come out the way I imagine it in my head.
  So here's what I'm working with so far:

  Anyone have any suggestions? Is it too ruffly? Should I keep going? What do you think? Thanks for any input.

V-Topper Completed

  My V Topper is complete! The pattern was very easy to follow and well written. If you'd like to try it, you can find the free pattern here. I haven't blocked the sweater yet, so I think it will look better after I do that. The bottom kind of rolls up a bit, so blocking will eleminate that. The only thing I might do different next time is to make the sleeves a little longer and maybe not as wide. So here is the final product and a sneak peek at the 3d wall art in my new craft room. (The room is still not done yet.)

Stitch Markers Tutorial

  This pattern that I am working on called for some stitch markers. Usually I would just use a paperclip or another color of yarn or anything that will work. I had nothing on hand at the moment and decided that maybe it's time I had some real stitch markers. So I made some, and this is how I did it:

Start with some materials:

• findings
• beads
• tools

Thread some beads onto a headpin.

Bend the pin as close as possible to the last bead so the pin is at a 90 degree angle.

Cut off the access leaving about 1/4 of an inch. I just eyeballed it.

Using round nose pliers, bend the pin back towards itself to make a loop.

Now add the jump ring and the clasp.

Another variation would be to have the beads on separate headpins or eyepins so the piece will be more dangly. You can go as long or short as you'd like. There are so many possibilities.

Work in Progress - A Garment

  I think garment patterns intimidate me. I don't know if it's because I think they will take forever or because I think they will be too difficult, or because I might get bored and never finish. I've only made one garment. It was decent, but could definitely use some improvements. If you'd like to see my purple cable jacket, click here.

  I think I should do more garments this year. I would learn a lot more and it will surely make me a better crocheter. I was looking through some books that I have for something that I can see myself wearing. I started making a gypsy duster. That pattern was made by the Double Stitch Twins, Erika and Monika Simmons. I'm not sure if I was doing it right or what, but I'll have to come back to that one another time.

  I found this free pattern on Ravelry and decided to give it a try. It's called V Topper by Renee Barnes and can be found here on the Caron International Yarns website. So far so good. I haven't had any problems yet. Hopefully I won't, and it will be a smooth ride the whole way. I even learned something new, this pattern features a double slip stitch (dsst), which makes the textured stripes going across. This is the back side, so far. The pattern goes up the back then will continue around the shoulder area and down the front.

Happy Three Kings Day!

image from http://www.sundayeducation.com/

My Gift from the Gift Exchange

  I'm really late with this one, but I wanted to show you what I got for the gift exchange that I was a part of recently. I was partnered up with Holly. She was really nice and sweet. You can check out her blog here and she has a tutorial on how she made my gift. She made a wreath for my front door! It matches perfectly. The hubby made a face when I took it out of the box, but after I put it on the door he said it looks good. (That's a huge compliment coming from him.) I love it and think it looks great! I probably should have put it a little higher, but it still looks good.

Zeke wanted to get in the picture

  I wasn't sure what to make Holly. I decided to be safe and made her a headwarmer. Then I thought that wasn't enough, so I made a scarf to match.. and while I was at it, I threw in some earrings. Hopefully they get some good use. It's actually starting to feel like winter these past couple days. I'd rather have the heat, but at least my crocheted stuff will come in handy now.