Cheery Crochet Spring Daisy Blanket

This was a long project. I started at the end of May but with moving to a new city and summer I didn't finish until October. I found this flower square on Dada’s Place and when I looked through the projects on Ravelry I came across bedcrafter’s daisy square (http://www.ravelry.com/projects/bedcrafter/flower-square-...). I loved bedcrafter's colours and I really appreciate the breakdown she gives on the differences between the original flower square and Dada’s daisy square.

I used Loops & Threads Snuggly Wuggly which is a DK weight yarn. Loops & Threads (Michaels store brand) is my go to acrylic yarn. I find it holds up well and has a nicer feel than a lot of other cheap acrylics. 

I have never felt very confident about my granny square layouts, and this time I used this very useful granny squares pattern randomizer for my layout: http://granny-square-colors.com/. 

The border I used is from the crochet "I love you" blanket by Repeat Crafter Me.

This is the only picture I have of the entire blanket - it's hard to get a good one!

Initially I was disappointed with the length of the blanket. I had planned to make it a row or two longer, but once I finished the border it was the perfect size for a cozy couch blanket. 

Sweetie Pie the Crochet Rhino Lovey

Meet Sweetie Pie, the "rhino-saurous", according to the 4 year old. She saw the one I made for a baby and pestered me until I made her one.

This is the second Riley Rhino I’ve made. I found the 3.5 mm hook works better with the Loops & Threads Impeccable as it’s quite thick. I love how big the blanket is.
I used the Riley Rhino the Rhinoceros Snuggle Blankey pattern by Ira Rott. I want to make this moose as well.

This is the first Riley Rhinoceros I made for my cousin's baby. Unfortunately I took these 2 pictures immediately finishing it but forgot to take better ones before giving it away. 

Crochet Owl Earflap Hats

These were the first hats I crocheted for my kids for this winter. These two are for the girls, oldest and youngest, and thankfully the older was glad to match the younger. Whew!

I used the Little Hoot Owl Hat Pattern from Ravelry. It was easy to follow. And no, that's not a funny dress the little one is wearing, she was still in her nightie. :)

I made the 1 - 4 year size first intending it to be for the 3 year old, but because my yarn is quite thick (Loops & Threads Impeccable) the first hat came out too big for the 3 yr old. I made both 1 - 4 size, the smaller one made with a 5 mm hook and the bigger one made with a 5.5 mm hook. Next time I would use a 5 mm hook and go up a size for the bigger hat with this yarn. 

The eyes on the bigger one are exactly as called for in the pattern but for the smaller hat I played around with them and like the result better. I did 2 rounds hdc in black instead of one, and continued in hdc. I used the Alice Owl Hat pattern on Ravelry as inspiration for these eyes.

The ears took me a while, I did the harder version but once you get the hang of the first two rows it’s not hard. I think it was well worth the result.

The pattern is easy to follow and I am happy with the result. I will use this as the basis for further earflap hats.

Pretty Primavera Flower Baby Blanket

My sister is having her third baby very soon and with my newly gained confidence in regards to crochet squares from the doll blankets I made my daughters this spring (here and here) I decided to do a slightly larger blanket (ha! so I thought! Try multiple times bigger!) for my soon to be born niece. It was a lot more work than I expected but the yarn I used and the pattern for the squares were a very enjoyable mix. It took me two months, but that was through the summer so sometimes it was just way to hot to crochet in the evenings. Please pardon the ugly carpet in these photos!

I used DK yarn, Sirdar Snuggly Bamboo for the flowers and Berocco Vintage DK for the green and grey. It gave the flowers a nice sheen that made them pop out a bit more from the matte green and grey. I joined them all with a single crochet join.

The only thing that bothered me with the free tutorial on the squares was that while the squares are free, and she tells you that she joined with single crochet I would have had to buy an $8 pattern to do the same border as she did. The pattern is so much because it's for a cushion cover, including a fabric backing that she made with these flowers. I didn't want to pay that just for a border though. I also would have had to buy more yard because I was running low so I just kept it simple with single crochet in grey and then one more single crochet with the pink bamboo.

The blanket is 8 squares by 10 so it's a good size, but that means it can be used on a toddler bed and then as a lap blanket after that so I'm glad it should grow with the child for quite a while.

The tutorial for the Primavera Flowers Granny Square by Dragana Savkov can be found here.

How I Limit Screen Time - A Free Printable List

I have a daily struggle in my house to balance time on screens with the rest of life. We are a family fond of electronic devices of any kind. My kids do not own phones, but we have tablets and computers and tvs and an iPod. I came across this post about the Momentum Optimization Project by Narrowback Slacker. Yes! This is what I need. I implemented it recently with tears from one kids and enthusiasm from the other. I plan to tweak this as needed, and keep it going year round. I think it will be less important to limit screen time because they will not be asking so early in the day, and hopefully this will help them find other things to do before jumping straight to computer games or tv however screen time will never be truly unlimited. Bedtime is also enforced here, even in the summer although it is generally later than through the school year.

I used the Momentum Optimization Project as a springboard but made it my own. I have two printable versions below. In the second one I took out the two things that are more likely to not apply to other families. 

Just click on the one you want for a larger graphic and right click or (CTRL + click) to save and print.

My kids have certain chores they do every morning and I'm adding on a small one: tidying the main bathroom every day. It's not my mess in there. I've made a list for tidying their rooms and for the new bathroom job loosely based again on the lists Narrowback Slacker posted regarding the Momentum Optimization Project.

Again, just click on the black and white lists below and save or print. I also printed them out on coloured paper just for fun.

I love the idea behind this and I'm hoping it sticks in our house.

What are your requirements for screen time for your kids?

A Crocheted Monster Hanging Basket

I found the pattern for this Hanging Monster Basket by Crochet Ever After on Ravelry. It's a really easy pattern to follow. I didn't have super chunky yarn so I used 2 strands of worsted weight yarn with a 6 mm hook for the body and 1 strand of worsted weight with a 4 mm hook for the eyes. It was surprisingly huge!

Check out Crochet Ever After's patterns on Ravelry. Are you working on a crochet project over the summer?

Something Pretty Doll Blanket/Toddler Lap Blanket

Ever since I made this doll blanket for my older daughter, Sweet Pea has been asking what I'm making and if it's for her. This is the Something Pretty pattern by Mille Makes found here on Ravelry for free. 

It was very inexpensive because the pink and grey were yarn I bought on clearance at Michaels. I don't usually buy yarn without a specific project in mind but they really caught my eye. 

This is a doll blanket/toddler lap blanket for my 3 yr old.

I joined the squares using the completely flat zipper method from Look At What I Made.

The edging is the bobble shell edging by Attic24. It made the blanket a bit wavy, but I’m still glad I did it.

I love this pattern! The squares work up quickly and are so pretty and fun. I will do this again for sure! 

DVD Player Carrying Case

I saw this tutorial for a portable DVD player tote by Make It - Love It a couple years ago but never had either the batting or material to make it. We were using the box the DVD players came in for years until it completely fell apart and then we went to a reuseable grocery bag. We were always very careful with them but it was certainly not ideal. Someone was bound to drop the bag or step on it or such eventually.

I think this bag is a major upgrade! I just wish I'd made it a long time ago. It's all lined with quilt batting, and there's room for 2 DVD players inside with a divider in between.

I like the nice roomy pleated pocket on the back for cords, etc.

The tutorial on Make It - Love It was a little intimidating to me at first because she doesn't give you any measurements, only instructions, but if you measure your DVD players, add seam allowance, plus a little for the quilt batting you'll be fine. It was actually pretty easy to put together. I didn't have enough fabric for a strap so I just got a metre of nylon webbing and attached that.

Sewing 18" Doll Clothes - the Liberty Jane Harajuku Skirt

Here's a couple of doll skirts I made for my daughter. This skirt is so cute, especially the jean one with the little bow I found in my sewing bin. Not totally sure where it came from, I was just saving it for a someday project. The second layer in the skirt is tulle. No problem right? Hah! That's a trick to sew with. It took a lot and the tulle for the jean skirt ended up a fair bit shorter than it was meant to be but at least I got it in the end. The pink skirt went together easier but that tulle is tricky.

The pattern is, you guessed it - yet another Liberty Jane one. I love those patterns. They are easy to follow and always fit well. The Liberty Jane Harajuku Skirt from Pixie Faire is a fairly strait forward pattern, but if you haven't sewn much with tulle, take it from me and buy extra. At least it's cheap!

My daughter has a Newberry Doll (blonde) and a Journey Girl and when I made these clothes originally it was for the Journey Girl. I find that if I'm using a pattern for American Girls I can check off 'shrink to fit' when I print the pattern and add a little length and it's just about perfect. The clothes fit the Newberry doll as well, but some are a bit tight because she is closer in size to the American Girls.

The t-shirt below is inspired by the Peek-a-boo lace tutorial on Pixie Faire, but I didn't cut out the t-shirt fabric underneath. My daughter has a similar shirt so she is really happy with this one. I used my absolute favourite 18" doll t-shirt pattern that I posted about here.

Liberty Jane Harajuku Skirt from Pixie Faire

Did you know? Pixie Faire gives a pattern away for FREE every Friday. Awesome, right? They also have free tutorials and patterns, so go take a look!

http://www.pixiefaire.com/blogs/freebies-and-giveaways

A Crocheted Basket

This is the first basket I've crocheted but it won't be the last. I used the free tutorial from Crochet In Color. I had first tried one that used single crochet for the entire basket, but I like the half double crochet for the base much better. 

The yarn I used is a Marble Chunky which turned out to be more textured than thick so I started off using 3 strands. I got as far as the base and the first two side rows but they were quite floppy so I frogged it and started over using 4 strands. It's nice and sturdy now. I used 2 large skeins and I had hoped to add handles but I ran out of yarn and rather than buy another large skein I stopped. I'm very happy with the sturdiness of the basket.

I expected to use an 8 mm hook but after experimenting I used a 6 mm. It was easier to make than I expected, but tiring on the hands so I couldn't do much at one time.

I did the whole basket in spiral instead of joining my rounds. I would do that again for the sides but not the base of the basket.  A seam underneath wouldn't be visible and I don't like the jog on the side of the base.

The free tutorial is here: http://crochetincolor.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/ombre-basket-pattern.html

Crochet Heart Bobble Stitch Doll Afghan

This is my first attempt at an afghan. I decided to make a doll blanket size and this is a nice roomy one. This is the bobble heart blanket from All Crochet Patterns. It's free, and it's a pretty straightforward pattern, once I realized it was in UK terms. :) There's only two stitches involved, so as long as you can do a single crochet and double crochet you can make it. I loved taking the squares along to work on wherever I was. I think I'll probably keep working on squares along with whatever else I have on the go because they are so portable. 

I joined them with the sc, ch 1, skip 1 join from this tutorial by Look At What I Made. I had done a sc border on each square first and had I been more careful about making sure they all had exactly the same number of stitches on each side it would have been a little easier but I really like this join. It's quick and looks pretty.

The border is from this tutorial by Lucy from Attic24 - the interlocking colour ripple. I love it and it also is quick and easy. It's in UK terms as well so if you are used to US terms, knock that double crochet back to a single crochet.

Overall I've very happy with it. I will probably do some other kind of bobble stitch pattern squares again because I love the texture, and I like the non-holey fabric the single crochet creates. 

I've started a doll afghan for my younger daughter which I'll post when I'm done. It's going much quicker than this one because it's not single crochet. Something much fluffier. With yarn that was on clearance. Score!