So little time, so little fingers!

I have been terrible about crafting this year.  I have been so busy with many major changes lately, that I have let the crochet slip away.  Last month, we had a new addition to the family.  I am now a proud aunt of 3!  We gained a nephew and he is as cute as can be!  I made this baby blanket for him within a week!  I make all the baby blankets I've made to have more of a couch throw size.  I feel they can get more from their blankets if they can use them a little longer.  There's no fancy stitches with this blanket as it is made with single stitches.  I didn't count rows as I was just eyeballing what pattern looked good.  This blanket is super soft!  Maybe when things get a little less hectic, I can craft more.  Most of what I've been creating lately is food.  You can keep checking back on my other page:  www.callistobugfood.blogspot.com.  Thanks for stopping by!

Headbands and Flowers are in!

I apologize I have been off for a while everyone.  I've just been too busy with a new job lately to keep up.  Here we have a stylish adjustable headband.  You can see my future sister in law showing it off here.  I came across a funky headband tutorial on youtube done by OneVirtousWoman.  The headband part was so easy and it didn't take long at all.  I had no idea what a cluster stitch was until I saw her video.  The headband looked neat but I thought I would try and make some kind of neat flower on the headband to bring it out a little.  I really wanted to make something that looked like a hibiscus but nothing looked good from the tutorials.  So then I found a video on how to make the flowers used in this picture.  I made two flowers much like what bobwilson123 did.  I think I made an extra petal on each though.  She put hers on a headband so I thought it would be the right size.  I then attached the two flowers by stitching a button to the headband.

And here are the videos to help you make the same headband I did:

How to Crochet Headband by OneVirtuousWoman on youtube.com

How to Crochet the Flower for the Headband by bobwilson123 on youtube.com

Spring is in the air!

Happy Spring to you all!  The weather up North here has been wonderful.  It's nice and warm just like summer and we keep breaking the record highs.  Many people quit crocheting by this time since they don't feel like making nice warm blankets when it's hot outside.  I don't blame them since it's easy to overheat when making those around this time.  Let's stick with fast and easy things today.  I now have a new job that allows me to create.  I thought I would spruce up my workplace with these little butterflies.  They look so neat and add just the right touch!  I followed a 4 part tutorial on YouTube from syvannah101.  Two things I would like to let you know about her videos: 1. She will show you how to do the color changes 2. The one time she says to chain 2 , I would chain 3 to keep it consistent.  Each butterfly takes about 30-45 minutes once you get situated.

Crochet Butterflies Part 1 of 4 by savannah101 on YouTube

Crochet Butterflies Part 2 of 4 by savannah101 on YouTube 

Crochet Butterflies Part 3 of 4 by savannah101 on YouTube 

Crochet Butterflies Part 4 of 4 by savannah101 on YouTube 

Let the snow melt but continue to crochet snowflakes!

It's a gorgeous day outside for those of us in the midwest.  The sun is shining and the snow is melting away.  Most of us have spring on our mind and are anxious to go out and get our snapdragons and geraniums.  I felt it would be good to share with you all this snowflake I made.  It was my first crochet tatting project I've ever done.  Honestly, I thought I'd never do tatting.  I saw one old lady tatting at the pool when I was a kid and thought she was crazy for working with such tiny thread.  Now I guess I'm crazy too!  I came across the video on how to make this lovely snowflake by tjw1963, aka the crochet geek on YouTube.  I usually look at her videos on how to do the more challenging things.  Now I know what you're thinking, why would you want to crochet a snowflake at this time of year.  This snowflake took me at least 2 hours to learn how to make.  I'm sure it would take less time the more I make of these.  I would like to make a whole bunch of these snowflakes to use as ornaments on my Christmas tree.  In order to give myself plenty of time to work on these as well as other projects in between, I'd be happier to do them now than to do nothing but snowflakes during crunch time.  Crochet shouldn't have to feel like a chore when it's your hobby.  This project may have taken a while but it surely isn't hard to learn.  I urge you to at least give this one a try!

Crochet Snowflake Tutorial on YouTube by tjw1963

As far as getting your snowflake to be stiff, you can do a couple of things.  Most people just starch them and iron over while laid out in a towel.  Others will mix equal parts of crafting glue and water.  Then they will dunk their projects in the solution, get rid of the excess and lay out to dry flat on some old towels.

Asymmetrical Shell Crochet Tutorial by Bethintx1

Asymmetrical Shell Crochet Tutorial from Bethintx1 on YouTube

Under the Sea (of yarn, that is!)

Asymmetrical Shell Scarf in Purple

My most favorite places I've been to involve a beach.  I love everything that has to do with water and the beach.  During family vacations, I would literally swim all day long.  I would only come back inside to eat, sleep or go to the bathroom.  That was unless there was some kind of storm or no one wanted to be out on the beach to watch me as a kid.  I remember one time I got burned so bad from the sun from swimming all day.  I remember putting on a lot of sunscreen that day but I must have forgotten to put it on early enough from the last application.  I was burned so bad that my skin turned brown and crispy.  It was so tight that it would split.  It was worth it to me at the time.  I still love swimming but don't often get to go.

Today I'd like to share with you the asymmetrical shell stitch.  It looks wonderful and is a breeze to make a scarf using the pattern.  I came across a neat video from Bethintx1 on YouTube.  She's the one who taught me how to make this beautiful scarf.  Even though I want to keep this scarf for myself, I think I should donate it.  I'll make a few more scarves so I can donate several at one time.  I'm not sure yet who to donate but I think someone else would love this.  I will post the tutorial I followed to make this in another post.

Asymmetrical Shell Scarf in Brown

The brown scarf is the first asymmetrical shell project I've done.  I used up a partial skein of some yarn someone gave to me.  The purple one I made on the way down to Kansas City.  My family, friends and I were all headed down to the Chiefs Packers game when I made it.  Too bad the Packers lost.  It was a lot of fun seeing part of downtown Kansas City at night.  It was almost like summer when we had made it down.  50 degrees f is almost shorts weather if you come down from the North!  

Simple Shawls

Winter Shawl

I have a very low tolerance for cold temperatures.  When I visit other people's places, I almost always am freezing.  I don't have the heart to tell them though since it's something out of the norm.  My mother taught me how to crochet originally and she taught me how to do the single crochet stitch.  She only showed me how to make that ribbing effect which I thought was normal.  I now know you don't have to have ribbing if you don't want to.  My knowledge of crochet was very basic and beginner like for over 10 years.  I have been a "beginner" up until a few months ago when I started following YouTube tutorials.  The shawl up above is very special to me.  It may look ugly to some, but I love it.  I got some expensive wool yarn someone made by hand at a specialty yarn shop with my mother.  I had never worked with some expensive yarn before but I thought I would give it a shot.  I just fell in love with this wool yarn as it was kind of squishy.  This shawl is so warm and I love it! In the picture below I show you a shawl I've done for a dance.  My husband had a special homecoming dance every year at his college.  I wanted to make a shawl that would look very elegant and still sort of keep me warm for when we went out to dinner.  I also made a hat using a knifty knitter loom.  I really liked the yarn I used for the fancy shawl.  The yarn reminded me of snow.  I had gotten that yarn at Hobby Lobby for a ridiculous price.  It's very funky yarn to deal with so if you haven't crocheted much before, I'd suggest using a more plain yarn until you get the hang of it.  I'm hoping to make another shawl soon but with a nice fancy pattern.

Dancing Shawl

To be honest, I don't really have much of a pattern for making these shawls.  I just chained up until the size I wanted and then single crocheted down the row, chained one, turned and single crocheted in the back loop for each row.  When I did the fringe, I just cut a lot of small pieces and tied them on to the edges of the shawl.