My beach gloves

I've always wanted to make socks and gloves! Well I went to the beach 2 weeks ago, and decided to give fingerless gloves a try. I made the first one in a couple hours while tanning on the beach! It was great! A dream come true lol! Socks will be next to conquer! I'll post pictures when I get home tonight, as well as the link to the pattern I followed :) I think I'll go ahead and attempt to make my own glove pattern soon! :)

I've been busy these past couple of days.. Studying for nursing school, working on a triangular shawl pattern using the lover's knot crochet stitch (will post it up when I get the final product and the testing goes well!) I've also been working on a Tunisian crochet baby blanket for my friend B's baby boy! (he's due to arrive to this world during the first week of August, hopefully I'll have it finished by then! Pictures to come for that as well as well as the link to the Tunisian crochet video I am using as the stitch.

Missing "Gato"-- send the search party!

My son has a special toy which he's had since he was 12 months old... His favorite stuffed animal... a TY Beanie Baby stuffed cat. They've been discontinued and quite impossible to come across. About a year and a half ago I found one on EBay, and went ahead and ordered it. It immigrated from Great Britan, and at a $40 fee to purchase the cat and transport it here, I felt like it was worth every penny since my son would have TWO of his favorite toy now... But I was wrong. My son took one look at the new cat and immediately knew the difference.. And how could he miss the HUGE difference between the cats... one was brand new, the other was not.


He brings his cat everywhere!


The grocery store


North Carolina--on our way to Florida


Disney World


To work-- his playdates


To church-- first communions

I mean EVERYWHERE! My son is always seen with his trusty companion and life-long friend, Mao (the new cat is Pao...). Imagine his sadness when he loses his dear Mao. It is very sad to seethe sadness in his eyes, and then the search begins... He lost his gato yesterday while at work, we looked EVERYWHERE. Under the beds, in the laundry room, under the toys, in the toy bins, garbage cans, toilets, in between the couch cushions, in the TV compartment... No sign of Mao! I was about to go crazy, because here I was calling out "Mao... where are you??" expecting an answer from a stuffed animal.. (Having Mao is like having a second child, except it doesn't answer back when called on...) And to make things worse, when asked where Mao was, JJ would answer "I don't know"....

Last night was torture to putting JJ to sleep since he can not sleep without Mao... He had Pao and boy it was different, but at least it was enough. This morning I decided to take another looksie around the house. 4 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 3 floors and numerous closets later, I ventured to the basement to look around, trying to think "If I were a stuffed cat where would I hide?"... (It's not as easy as they make it seem...)

Finally, about to give up, I looked in the entertainment center in the little doors (JJs in the stage where he likes to put his cat in its crate especially to sleep...) and who do I find sitting in the very back of the top shelf inside the dark little closet? MAO!!!


Moral of the story, put yourself in a stuffed animal's position and maybe you'll find that special toy! I'm off to knit it a collar and leash...
-A

knit on a purl/ purl on a knit

I know it's happened to the best of us and it's inevitable that sometimes we make the mistake and knit on a purl or purl on a knit stitch... Up until recently I would go frog it back until my mistake and then continue... I am proud to announce that I can now FINALLY make the change of this simple, silly mistake with my trusty crochet hook! It makes me happy =) NO MORE frogging!!!


I have also figured out a way to make cables much easier to knit-- I know most of you have already figured it out, but like I said before, I have never knit a cable in my life, and I am quite impatient when it comes to learning new techniques-- I have started using my crochet hook as my "cable needle" and I simply place the stitches back onto the left hand needle and then knit with my crochet hook, pull the new stitch onto the right hand needle and continue until my cable is complete! Does this make sense? Has anyone else figured this out? I'll post pictures to show what I mean.

Impeccable Sweater Wrap

Hats seem to have taken over my house!!! Seeing as how patterns seem to make it EASIER to figure a project out, I decided to take out a free pattern sheet I got from Michaels about 2 years ago. It's the Impeccable Sweater Wrap We shall see how it comes out! So far I've got about an inch and a half getting ready to go into the cable! First time making a cable!! Wish me luck!
Progress Pictures:


update: 6/12- I had to frog the original black sweater wrap 4 cables into it... ugh... i have begun a PINK version of it. =)

Sweater Wrap as of Sunday (6/13)-

Here's a picture I took just now 6/15--

Hats Hats Hats! Everywhere you look, there are HATS!

I;ve been wanting to knit/crochet for charity for the longest time ever! Given my history with hats, I could never work up the courage to persue hats for charity. Due to recent events, and figuring out the anatomy of a HAT, I found a quick and easy write up for Preemie hats! The pattern can be found here I encourage all to pick up your hooks and scrap yarn and make these quick and super cute preemie hats! Be sure to contact your local hospital and find out the requirements for donating such items to the hospital, some may want you to wash in Dreft and wrap in individual plastic baggies before handing them in. The babies will thank you!
They're so tiny!

They fit on a doll's head too!

-A

Simple Argyle Scarf

I had a request not so long ago to make a scarf using the colors pink and grey. So after many hours of looking for the PERFECT pattern.. I finally found: Simple Argyle Scarf on Ravelry. Being the type of person who doesn't like to follow patterns, I decided to give it a try freehand... and BOY did I fail miserably!!! I saw I had to make it the way they had figured out. (HEY! less work for me right?) I tried it and it came out BEAUTIFULLY!!! Once again excuse the iPhone pictures.. I will have to get a better picture with my camera. Here it is:
In Progress:
Finished:

It was absolutely EASY to follow and most importantly, it came out BEAUTIFUL! I hope the scarf owner likes it as much as I do! Will get a better picture soon. I PROMISE!

--Update: Here's the picture I promised:

-A

JJ's FUNtastic beanie part two

I attempted to make a beach scene beanie for JJ, and when I went to try it on him, it was too small... I didn't change my gauge... perhaps I missed an increase somewhere, or i was just crocheting too tight? Anyways, so I made a second version of the Broom Broom Beanie from Bugalugs Handmade for the two year old boy I sometimes babysit. Finished it last night and will give it to him on Monday. We shall see!

UPDATE: They loved it! Hope to get a picture of the cutie pie soon!
-A

JJ's FUNtastic beanie- Complete

So as a mother of a three year old boy, I find myself in a limited amount of items to be made for him using my biggest vice-- yarn. (Like someone mentioned in my local cafe-knit club last night.. "no one has ever gone to rehab for yarn addiction.." and if they did, I hope they brought their needles and yarn with them...) After countless scarves, vests, sweaters, and attempts to a hat (they always come out too big or way too small, or in the shape of a cone and even a ball at one point), I found a pattern (Now I'm not a pattern follower.. kind of a free for all crocheter/knitter) on Bugalugs Handmade that was simple to follow, cute, easy, and most importantly for someone my son's age! I decided to give it a try! Sent the link to my best friend, M, who also has a son and we decided to make it a crochet along. We had planned to crochet one color a day and take pictures along the way and encourage each other.. I went to my local crafts store, picked up my favorite yarn of all time, Caron Simply Soft, and decided to start it last night when I dropped into the knitting club. 2 hours chit chatting with the ladies, a grande soy chai latte--extra hot of course, 3 colors, and 20 rows later... I was DONE! I couldn't believe it! I had made a beanie!! and it FITS! and its so funTastic and he loves it!! I love it!!! I definitely recommend this pattern to EVERYONE!
Here are pictures of the finished product! I appologize for the craptastic iPhone pictures.


-A