Christmas brought Crochet and other goodies

It is wonderful when your husband supports your hobby. This year was no different and I got some new cool stuff to work on for both my donations and my holiday project for my relatives baby girl.

First off was the annual Crochet 2018 Day-to-Day Calendar which I already completed a doll blanket from that I'll be posting about later this week. My one disappointment is they've reprinted items from previous calendars. I did get a new doll outfit from one of my favorite doll designers so that was a plus.


I love fairy tales sets and like to make the toys and send them with the corresponding book. I was thrilled with the Three Little Pigs Playset

I have some of Amy Gaines Christmas ornaments so when I saw she had fairy tale patterns Little Red Riding Hood made it to my Christmas list.

Cradle purses were not a great success for me, but I saw Annie's Bassinet Baby and thought this might be a cute addition to the doll donation that I could actually make work for me.

The baby doll donation dolls now can have some holiday outfits 15" Christmas Outfit and Valentine's Day

There is no longer a concern about what lovey to crochet for St. Patrick's Day as I also got the Leprechaun Lovey pattern, which I will be working on for the St. Patrick's day package.

In post Christmas shopping I found a gift for my niece's bday from Herrschnerrs and they had a great shipping deal if you met their minimum. They also had a set of my Bates Bamboo hooks B-N on sale at quite a good price. After finding they'd discontinued my Bates Bamboo thread hooks I decided having a complete back up set of the regular hooks to make shipping was not a bad idea.

I also went wild at Knit Picks 40% off book sale picking up several ami titles along with a dishcloth book. Again I am a sucker for free shipping.

Amigurumi Parent and Baby Animals: Crochet soft and snuggly moms and dads with the cutest babies!


Amigurumi Winter Wonderland: 15 Original Crochet Patterns

Baby's Buddy Amigurumi | Crochet | Leisure Arts (6853)


Cute Crocheted Animals: 10 Well-Dressed Friends to Make

Leisure Arts, Dishcloths

Edward's Crochet Doll Emporium: Flip the Mix-and-Match Patterns to Make and Dress Your Favourite People

I found this book after I'd made my Christmas wishlist so it seemed like a great time to pick it up during a great book sale. Literary Yarns: Crochet Projects Inspired by Classic Books

I'm hoping to make some great stuff with all these inspiring patterns.

The Easter Bunny Brought Crochet

The Easter Bunny knows I love to crochet and once againg filled my basket with some items from my wish list of patterns.

For my doll donation project I got some new outfits to make for the 5" Itty Bitty Dolls, the 15" Baby Dolls, and the 18" Dolls.

From Maggie's Crochet I recieved:

18 Inch Doll Icelandic Ensemble

18 Inch Lindsay, Laura and Lola

Scrap Potholders and Mats I've wanted to work more in thread and these are beautiful and a great way to practice.

The bunny was feeling extra nice and also dropped off:

Pumpkin Patch People

For the 5 Inch Doll Donation Project:

Bitsy Betsy and her Blankie

For the 15 Inch Baby Doll Project

Bitty Baby Baby Bunting

Bitty Baby Sweater and Hat

I am fortunate to have such an Easter Bunny that is so supportive of all my crochet projects.

Thankful Thursday

I missed last week because I was sick. So first, I am grateful to be feeling better. I am also glad I recovered in time to have Valentine's dinner with my husband.

I am glad he is so supportive of my crocheting and of this doll charity. Only he will drive me to A.C. Moore on a Sunday before a big game because I can get one of my donation dolls for 50% off. That is love folks.

He also supports me by adding patterns to his gifts. Along with a very thoughtful Valentine's gift he added some patterns to my stash. This round I picked up a couple of doll patterns for my donation the Bitty Baby Sweater for the 15" Doll and the Burgundy Red Dress and Grey Poncho for the 18" Doll. To help me with my Easter and April birthday projects he picked up Cowboy Ducky and Marvello the Magician.

I love making crochet gifts for family and to donate. Having someone who supports me in that mission is a wonderful gift.

Birthdays Bring Crochet

My DH knows I love to crochet and always asks for a wish list to shop from for my birthday and other special occasions.

I am so thrilled to have new projects to work on:

For my 18" Doll projects:

Bobby Socks and Polka Dots

I had the Crochet Calendar version of the Bobby Socks, but the printed version is easier to read and I love the Skirt pattern.

Anastasia’s Ready for Spring

This one's been on my wish list for a while. It is a beautiful outfit.

Summer Styles for 18” Dolls

I have been afraid Annie's would retire this one before I got to it. I love the summer designs.

Barnyard Set

Mom and I are working on a farm yard set for a little one for Christmas so this is a great addition

Gnomes

I've been collecting garden gnomes for years, now I can make a crocheted family

Pilgrim Lovie Blanket
I'm looking forward to making a couple of these for the holidays

Halloween Cupcakes

These of course are for my Halloween box

I have several projects to post, but I keep getting behind with other things. Hopefully I'll find a better way to manage it all.

My Ami Swap Package Arrived

I have been posting pictures of the ami's I sent for the Crochetville Ami swap, but my package arrived and it was wonderful. I love holiday ami's, but I am generally too busy making them to send to get any finished for our house. When I have the chance to request one, I always ask for holiday themed ones. The only holiday I exclude is Christmas. I have inherited and acquired so much Christmas stuff that I am actually reaching the point I may need to decrease. I want the ami's to get the maximum attention. This witch will have a prominent place in my Halloween decorations.



My partner also sent some wonderful extras. She sent two beautiful dishcloths. I got a bag of buttons for my doll making. A box of cinnamon stick tea and three bags of flavored cocoa were a great added bonus. My dish cloth cotton is running low so I was thrilled with the 4 skeins of crochet cotton. I also received a pattern holder and three crochet leaflets. She sent Fashion Doll Tooth Fairies, Annie's Ultimate Book of Pot Holders, Old Timey Scrap Afghans.

The Easter Bunny Brought Crochet Patterns

I love that the Easter Bunny knows I crochet. It’s wonderful he knows about online patterns and downloading them to leave in my Easter basket. He even seems to know which patterns are on my wish list.

This year the Easter Bunny brought the Animal Amigurumi to Crochet and he is such an amazing bunny that he even printed the corrections and slid them inside the book.

Like Santa the Easter Bunny knows I love to make the AG/18" doll clothes so he swung by Maggie's crochet and picked up some doll's clothes and some toy patterns for me. I got Betty the Barbeque Chef and Winter Fun for the 18" dolls. I love the make your own snowman. I have been eyeing that pattern for a while now. I wonder who told the bunny.

While at Maggie's the bunny picked up some toy patterns. I got the new Cinderella Flip Doll pattern. I also got two activity sets: Cooking Katie and Handy Andy.

I send a big thank you to the Easter Bunny. He is keeping me plenty busy with projects for relatives and my Christmas donations.

Happy Valentine's Day

I feel very blessed to have a husband who supports my crochet habit. Along with flowers and a beautiful Valentine's bear, I got a folder full of doll crochet patterns he bought for me to celebrate Valentine's Day. The flowers were beautiful and he knows how I love bears, but there is something amazing about the idea that he will go online, purchase, download, and print patterns for me. He supports not only my habit, but my doll charity work. I just feel really loved today.

I have lots of new stuff to explore in the months ahead. From Treasured Heirlooms I got two 18" doll pattern sets, Holly and Ivy and Back to Kansas. At Maggie's Crochet he added Penelope Visits Picadilly Circus, At the Hop, and Weekend Fun Sports. Last for my baby doll donation he picked up a diaper bag patternI requested.

Of course, this is going to destroy my stash busting score as I have to get specific yarns and threads to complete many of these projects. However, knowing the joy it will bring to the girls who get to play with the dresses, I'm willing to go for it.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Acts of Kindness

I received this beautiful thread crocheted witch cookie cutter doll as part of the Crochetville Wish List and it could not have come at a better time. I lost a family member at the beginning of September. It was not unexpected, but it hit me harder than I expected.

This woman was a mentor. In fact, she introduced me to crochet and knitting. She patiently worked through my challenges, although I never really did move beyond dishcloths with knitting. However, her mentoring went beyond crafts and while I knew the time was coming that we would part, it did not make the parting easier. Having experienced other partings, even closer in relation, I thought I was prepared I was not.

With Halloween and all the other fall holidays coming, I'm working my way back into crocheting again. I have boxes to mail and kids waiting for toys.

When the package arrived with my witch in it, I was so pleased. It was something I never could have made myself. As I have blogged about on numerous occasions, thread is beyond my talents. It kicked started me into continuing a project that I had put aside in frustration.

I have some Halloween projects to post this week and I hope to get back into regular blogging again as I work on fall and Christmas holiday projects.

This gift was a reminder that acts of kindness do matter. We can reach people at times we may not even know the person is in need of a kind act.

Birthday Presents

I read about some husbands displeasure of their wives hobbies and I realize how blessed I am to have a supportive husband. As part of my birthday presents I got some items off my wish list for crochet and looming books/patterns.

I got one of the two loom knitting books on my wish list, Loom Knitting Scarves, Hats, Bags & More: 40 Simple and Snuggly No-Needle Designs for All Loom Knitters that I had borrowed from the library. I plan to review this book later, but I was very pleased to find it had made the cut.

The second book helped me decide on my Crochetville Olympic challenge. Tasty Cute: 25 Amigurumi Gourmet Treats has some adorable food crochet patterns I do not currently have in my collection. I decided my project is going to be a play food theme to donate along with the doll donation. I have to work out the details, but this book was the inspiration for the choice.

As for e-patterns, this year I got two that will be fun to work on for Christmas or birthday projects depending on my schedule. They also would be cute donation projects. I got the Fox in the Car pattern that I have looked at for a while. I waited to purchase it until I completed the bear in the plane pattern. Her work is challenging, but within my range to finish. The second pattern was a Hello Kitty in a plane. I am always looking for new ideas for the Kitty as I have family members who love the toys.

KISS Dishcloth Swap

I recently participated in a dishcloth swap at Crochetville and mine arrived Friday. In the rush of Easter boxes I forgot to take a picture of the one I sent. However, I did get a beautiful one in return.

The Easter Bunny Brought Crochet

Who knew the Easter Bunny shopped at Etsy, but he left me some wonderful patterns to play with in the coming days.

Mysterious Cat's Airplane and Cat has been on my wish list for a while. Sadly, at one point when I could have bought it she had stopped selling it, only selling the finished items. When I saw it was back up for sale, this was the top item on the Easter Bunny's list. I have seen other animal and plane patterns, but this is the only one I have encountered where the child can remove the animal from the plane. I can easily adapt the cat to be whatever animal I want as long as the body size remains the same. If I can master this pattern, I want to put her Fox in the Race Car on my birthday list.

Another item that has been on my list for a long time is the Liberty Dragon of the Month-July from Hands of Hope. I had been looking for Dragon patterns when I stumbled across Hands of Hopes Dragon of the month and decided the July one had to make it here. It took me a while, but the Easter Bunny came through.

It is hard to find St. Patrick's day items to keep my holiday boxes new each year, but the Bunny located Liam the Leprechaun from Crochet Spot. This gives me two Leprechaun patterns I have not tried out yet to use for next year.

The last two patterns came as a set and will help me with another hard to find holiday, Thanksgiving. The Easter Bunny brought me the Thanksgiving Turkey pattern which provided me with an adorable Mr. and Mrs. Turkey to make for the holiday. Mrs. Turkey even has a delightful pumpkin pie.

I have some birthday gifts to finish up. However, I am excited about getting started on my Easter gifts. Hope all of you had a wonderful Easter holiday.

Cardinal

As I mentioned in a previous post, I finished an amigurumi swap and my partner has received her package. I can post pictures and discuss the items I made. She wanted a bird, so I used the free pattern for a cardinal found here to make one.

While I have made ducks, turkey, geese and farm birds, I have never attempted something that looked as realistic as this pattern. Most of the bird ami's I have made are simple toys designed to provide kids with representations of the animals to play with or decorations for holiday entertainment. The cardinal pattern was supposed to provide a realistic rendition of its counterpart in nature.

This pattern presented more challenges than I expected. I had to try the face several times before I achieved the black pattern the picture promised. The wings required using two strands of worsted weight yarn on a fairly small hook to obtain the color pattern for the wing. Getting the wings to balance so they could be attached correctly had its own special joys.

I learned some new strategies working on this project that will help me in the future. I do not know if I will return to this project to make another one. However, if not for this swap, I likely would not have explored this pattern at all. You never know what you will find on your hooks.

If you arrived here looking for free toy patterns please see the following pages:

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

Crochet and Knit Puppets

Crochet Amigurumi Animals and Stuffed Animal Free Patterns

Knit Amigurumi and Stuffed Toys

Crochet and Knit Amigurumi and Other Dolls

Knit and Crochet Toys

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Pictures may not be used without permission.

Penguin Caddy

My swap partner received her package so I can start posting about the projects I made for the swap this week. The required item for this swap was one amigurumi. However, we like to add in extra items that the person might enjoy. I saw this caddy while searching through old Annie's Attic magazines looking for bird patterns. This pattern came from Annie's Pattern Club Magazine, issue #43 Feb-Mar 1987. I thought this would make a fun desk item to hold sticky notes and hooks or pencils.

While I have made lots of ami's I have never made a project that required a Styrofoam base and chenille stems. The stems were easy to find, but the bases available have changed just a bit since the pattern was published in the 80's. I found one that worked, with a little adaptation though.

If you arrived here looking for free toy patterns please see the following pages:

Dinosaurs and Dragons

Knit and Crochet Food Patterns Great for Play Food

Hello Kitty

Crochet and Knit Puppets

Crochet Amigurumi Animals and Stuffed Animal Free Patterns

Knit Amigurumi and Stuffed Toys

Crochet and Knit Amigurumi and Other Dolls

Knit and Crochet Toys

Teddy Bear Patterns and Clothes

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas

Valentines

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Pictures may not be used without permission.

I Won a Valentine Heart Bear Pattern

I was very fortunate to win a Valentine Heart Bear pattern from a blog contest at Jamigurumiworld.

I am excited as this gives me new material for my Valentine's box next year. I found a free pattern for a Sweetheart Bunny so I now have two new patterns filed in the Valentine's section of my holiday binders for next year.

Last night I started on the rooster from Crochet Village's Egghead's pattern. These work up quickly and my goal is to have a tiny village of them to put in the Easter box that will be heading out in the not too distant future. I can work on these in between other larger projects I need to finish for birthdays, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter.

Free Holiday Patterns Available on the Following Blog Pages:

Valentines

St. Patrick's Day

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas


Pictures may not be used without written permission.

Valentine's Day Was Fun

I am one of those fortunate crochet lovers who have a supportive husband. Along with a Jazz brunch on Sunday, dinner at one of our favorite restaurants last night, he did not forget my crochet habit.

He braved Barnes and Noble to pick up The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs: 500 Classic & Original Patterns knowing I've been going online to try to figure out ways to make the math work for patterns that are not quite the right size for my needs. I had no idea this was on his radar.

Then he headed off to shop at Crochet Village where he proceeded to pick up a few of the items on my wish list from there. I got the Halloween Goblins set, which will be perfect for my Halloween box. My favorite pattern in this set is the boy in the ghost costume with the high top sneakers. There is something about this pattern that reminds me of the costumes in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and I really want to make it for next year's box. The Dracula and the bat are adorable as well and I need multiple projects to make sure there is enough for all the kids.

He also picked up North Pole Residents from Crochet Village. While I fell in love with the pattern for the Rudolph and Polar Bear pattern, I have been informed DH expects a penguin for his troubles.

Lastly, I got their Christmas Card Gift Holder Set 2. What I love about these sets is they make adorable ami gift hard holders, but they also make great smaller stuffed animals for gifts or donation packages. They can easily be made without the gift bags. I asked DH how he picked between the three gift holder sets and sure enough, it was the penguin. I will have to make the little guy for his office next year. I still owe him a Candy Kiss and a Leprechaun for next month.

While the gifts are wonderful and I am already anticipating getting started on these fun projects, what is such a gift is that he supports what I do and why I do it.

Gingerbread Tissue Box

This was my first attempt at a tissue box and I was pleased with it. I learned a good deal and will know more for my next effort. I found the pattern in a library book Annie's Favorite Christmas Projects. I have been searching for this book for a while to add to my collection. I learned the pattern is also available in Issue 90 (Nov-Dec 1997) of Annie's Crochet Newsletter. Sadly, that is one of the ones I still have to collect.

Free Holiday Patterns Available on the Following Blog Pages:

Valentines

St. Patrick's Day

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas


Pictures may not be used without written permission.

Gingerbread Girl

I decided to have a theme for the extras I included in my last swap and I was amazed at how many wonderful patterns are available for gingerbread items. This gingerbread girl was made adapting a free pattern found here. I changed the color of the dress and used a bow pattern found from free Hello Kitty Patterns.

This pattern works up quickly and is an adorable decoration or Christmas ornament.

Free Holiday Patterns Available on the Following Blog Pages:

Valentines

St. Patrick's Day

Easter

Graduation

Patriotic

Halloween Page

Thanksgiving

Christmas


Pictures may not be used without written permission.

Gingerbread Scarf

I was looking for some creative ideas to add to a swap box and had settled on gingerbread since my partner collected gingerbread items. I thought I was finished when I came across a free pattern for a child's gingerbread boy scarf. I could not resist. I adjusted my hook size to get it to the width I wanted and then added rows to the body to get it to the scarf length I wanted and I had my gingerbread man scarf.

What I love about this pattern is you can make it into just about any kind of creature you want. With the head and legs established, you can add ears and any other character traits to make create a variety of scarves for children or adults. I plan to experiment with this idea for Christmas next year.

Thankful for Thoughtfulness

I am always touched by the thoughtfulness of the members at Crochetville. The wish lists have changed to quarterly offerings and I have had some very wonderful fairy godmothers grant some of my wishes. While I said my thank you comments on Crochetville I also wanted to take time here to again comment on the generosity of the members.

I want to thank all of them for making me feel so special.

Through Ravelry I got a Red Riding Hood/Granny pattern, a Leprechaun, and a ducky pattern that I plan on posting about in the future. Another thoughtful fairy godmother made me dishcloths for Valentine’s Day, Halloween, and Christmas.

I already have plans of my own to play fairy godmother, which is all part of the fun.

Pictures may not be used without written permission.

When Sales and Coupons Align

I am doing another swap on Crochetville and was out shopping for it over the long weekend. Swaps present unique shopping challenges. When I shop for craft items for myself, I can wait until I get the right combination of sale or coupons to get the price I want. The time limits of swaps create a challenge of getting the items I want for my swap partner at the best price I can find in the time allotted. With this challenge, I often find I have coupons for items that are sale items, thus making the coupons useless, or a previous sale has often cleaned out the items I wanted to use my coupons for leaving me with limited options. Sometimes I think the companies do plan for this when they issue their best coupons. They place certain items off limits or have them, as sale items for a price that is higher than a coupon would have made it if used. When I have time to shop, this is not an issue because I can usually find the deal and wait until I get it before purchasing. The challenge with a deadline is to find the deal in a short time allotted for the swap.

This week was different. I must have been out of their shopping cycle because I managed to get sales on some of the lower end items I needed and was able to use my 50% coupons for the higher priced items on my list, which at one point brought me to getting two items for the price of one. This means more items for my swap partner. My husband picked up one item on my list that was the last one on the shelf. I have heard that it can be challenging to find at this store so I was thrilled when he told me he found it as they have the best non-sale price for the item.

I also got lucky finding Lily Sugar & Cream brown cotton yarn at AC Moore. I had planned to order it online because I have never been able to find brown locally. Sure enough, I checked at Joann’s and Michaels while we were out and they had no brown. I am hoping because I cleaned out their supply that AC Moore will order more due to demand.

Even online, I hit sales at Knitting Warehouse and was able to use online coupons at Joann’s. It does not often happen this way, so it is important to celebrate when it does.