The Shtick I Do!

So, I thought that I would use this blog post (assuming mother dearest approves ^_~ ) to rant about something that I think most  dog owners go through. At least those of us that want our dogs to behave the way I want my dog to behave. And I will go ahead and apologize in advance to anyone that I may offend. I really, truly don't mean to. My mother has told you all before that I am strong-headed and opinionated, so here it goes. This is my dog, Jezzibelle. Say, "Hi, Jezzibelle!" "Ah! Bright light! Something on my face? Where?" You should totally  say "Hi" here, but this spring whenever I'm out walking my dog and there are a bunch of other people walking their dogs and my dog is really excited about how her day is going so she isn't really listening when I'm saying, "Jezzibelle! Heel! Jezzibelle!! Heel!! JEZZIBELLE!!" don't choose then to give her a merry hello! I'm going to go ahead and speak for all of the afor...

Just when I thought Spring was here . . . it snows 3" and we're left with a sloshy slippery mess. Luckily it only lasted a couple of days. While it still isn't all that warm, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and the roads are once again clear! (Which means the kids can go to school!) I have a friend named Phillip that met some lovely ladies that make dresses and donate them to impoverished villages in third world countries. Their organization is called Sewing 4 Souls .  You see that little green flower? The reason Phillip thought of me is because I crochet and apparently the lovely ladies (and possibly gentlemen) like to use hand crafted items for their ministry. He asked me if I could make this. Of course I said yes.  He brought the one you see above to me as an example and after looking it over I thought I'd see if I could find a pattern so I could make it exact. I didn't find a pattern, even after using the image search function in Google...

So, I'll explain this first since it was the first question that I got from my mother when I told her what this was. What's a "texture toy"? I don't know if the term has already been coined or not, so if I'm stepping on toes by calling it that, my bad. I call it that because that's exactly what it is. It's a toy that a baby can touch and feel and experience different textures. It's important for a baby's development to be able to feel different sensations of touch. Another note, I know it's a bit plain. I'm adding some different things before I call this a finished product. The pattern I'm giving you will get you to this point, and from there you can customize. It's just like the New Born Beanie Pattern  I did a couple of weeks ago. Materials : 2 colors of ww yarn Size 7/4.5mm hook Scissors Yarn needle for weaving in ends Stitch markers (optional) Abbreviations Used : sc - Single Crochet st - Stitch sl st -...

Have I mentioned that there are a LOT of new babies coming into the world around me? Well, if not, now you know. I wanted to make something a bit different this time around. It's not THAT different I mean it's still a blanket, but instead of a square, I made the Super Star Afghan from Mikey and the guys over at The Crochet Crowd! Here's my score for the pattern overall: Written Pattern Score : 4.5 out of 5 due to a mistake in Row 3. Video Pattern Score : 5 out of 5 - This one is a home run! I used Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton yarn in White, Pink Sparkle and Cotton Candy. My thoughts: I went to The Crochet Crowd site and easily located the blanket pattern. I'm happy they revised their site to make finding the patterns easier. It works up quickly! Easy to understand. The pattern is easily followed from memory once you get past the first 3 or 4 Rows. Since I'm a fairly seasoned crocheter, I thought I'd just use the wri...

I'll start this with the same question everyone else does: "Ever find a knitting pattern that you love , but you crochet?" This is the part where they tell you to pretty much just play with it. How irritating, right? Well, I am here to help! I'm going to give you a knitting pattern, convert it to a crochet pattern, and... and tell you why it works. Before we start, a disclaimer: This will not   be an exact replica . This is simply because these are two VERY different crafts. You can replicate knitting closely, and to the untrained eye, there is no difference. However, to someone familiar with both crafts the difference is very obvious. So let's train your eye. The first thing I learned to knit was a potholder from my 8th grade teacher. I'm actually one of the founding members of my middle school's Knitting and Crochet Club. It's not much, but I'm proud. Anyway! Ms. Jones taught me this pattern, so any similarities to another pattern...

My youngest daughter is involved in theater at her high school and this Spring they're performing Shrek, The Musical . While my baby isn't in a starring role, she is a cast member and very involved in the production. Which is why she volunteers my crochet craftiness for props. For their last performance ( Into the Woods ) I did a quick strip of crochet, left it attached to a skein of yarn and put in a pair of chopsticks so it would resemble "knitting" for Grandma's bedside table. That was easy! I had it finished in under 15 mins, which included hunting for the pair of chopsticks! This time, however, she has me against the ropes and is challenging my creativeness. This time she needs a doll. Something that Fiona can sing to during one of the scenes. So, I'm making a doll inspired by Fiona ... as a human. Right now I've got the head. She still needs a crown (and a body, lol) but I've already fallen in love with it! She's so stinking C U T E !!...

Guess what? I have an announcement from Kat @KatKnapCrafts. She just opened her Etsy shop! So now you can browse handmade items crafted with love. Patterns will be available soon! Isn't that exciting?!?!? Click the link below to start browsing! Kat Knap Crafts on Etsy!  

So I failed once again to do this last week. I know, I suck. Eventually, I will get this mommy/blogger/crocheter/knitter/business owner/homemaker/home educator thing down. If I'm wrong, don't tell me! Anyway! One of the many, many, many, many (MANYMANYMANYMANY) things I've been working on lately has been a stitch sampler blanket. Different crochet stitches all worked into one afghan that will eventually be a plethura of beautiful weavings for a lucky someone's Christmas present. Now, I say this is a pattern, but what I'm really doing is a brief overview of each stitch I've done so far. So you can replicate the blanket if you like, but mainly I would love to hear about your favorite stitches, how you use them, if you've used THESE stitches, if so for what? You see where I'm going with this? Good, let's do this: Each stitch is a link to a video on how to do the stitch, and you can also sign up for the New Stitch A Day Newsletter, which I HIGH...

Way back in 1994 (like that was a long time ago, lol) a group of people got together and declared March as National Craft Month. This blog and this site both credit the origins of National Craft Month to the Craft and Hobby Association. I'm not entirely sure it's accurate because according to their own website, the Craft and Hobby Association didn't come to fruition until 2004. Two different groups got together to form the Craft and Hobby Association: the Hobby Industry Association (HIA) and the Association of Crafts and Creative Industries (ACCI). Maybe I'm a purist, but personally I like to know which one actually started it. Maybe someone out there can let me know? =D Since it IS National Craft Month, I decided it was right for me to learn a new craft. So I'm giving knitting another try. I have a wonderful aunt in Florida that read my post about the frustration I was having. Being the wonderful aunt that she is, she had pity on me (and I'm sure a few la...