It's always nice to get a little outside validation, you know?

A friend of mine just texted me this (names have been changed for the sake of privacy on this big ole world wide web of ours):

So, John had the girls over at the park and Bella was in her knit dress. John said he overheard a group of moms talking about how much they loved her dress and trying to get one of them to ask him where it came from. I guess they didn't dare, but it was a hit.

How cool is that?

Wanna see the "knit" (actually crochet) dress that Bella was wearing, that I made, that was such a hit?

Well no, maybe you don't really care. But, I'm totally stoked about the whole thing, so I'm gonna show you.

Dress Twins

It's just so fun when your work is appreciated, you know? As is always the case with this dress, special thanks to Janelle at PontePretties for the pattern.

Spring, Spring, Spring

I've finished a new hat, and I have to admit, I'm quite pleased with how it all turned out.

Do you blame me?

Melon shirt, purple floral skirt, imitation pearl necklace, and brown leggings.
Yes, this girl is three years old, and insists on dressing herself.
Choosing my battles friends, I'm choosing my battles.  

As I mentioned earlier, I used this pattern as my jumping off point.  I had to adjust the brim from what the pattern gave, because when I followed the pattern exactly, the brim was waaay too wide and floppy for my taste.  Also, the pattern (for which I didn't check my gauge) gave me this size hat, instead of a hat sized for an adult woman.  This was fine with me, since I was shooting for a hat that would fit a "tween-ish" girl.  More on that later.

I used a creme cotton/ramie blend that I had reclaimed from a thrift store sweater sometime last year.  I definitely wanted to use cotton yarn, as I felt that acrylic or wool would add a lot of insulation to the hat, which would entirely defeat the purpose of making a spring sun hat in the first place.

I added a green adjustable crochet ribbon around the brim, to make it easier to change the hat size as necessary.  I also added the flower, being careful that when I sewed it on, I kept the ribbon free from any stitching (so that it would still be adjustable).

I also tried something a little new for me.  Following the instructions on the video below, I added some wire to the brim of the hat, giving it more form, and more adjustability.  

This is my first experience with the tutorials made by this woman, and I am really impressed and very appreciative of her taking the time to make such a helpful, quality tutorial.

If I get more involved in making hats that require wire, I might go ahead and invest in some millinery wire.  In the meantime though, I found a spool of red and white electrical wire at Lowes that seemed to be about the right consistency for me, once I had unbraided the white wire from the red, that is.  

At the moment, I'm working on another prototype of the same hat, but in my size.  If that goes well, I'll probably put some of them up for sale in the etsy shop, and I'll post the patterns (or at least my own adjustments from the Lion Brand pattern) here on the blog.  With any luck, that will be happening in the next week or so.

And that pretty much sums it all up.  Before I close this post, I just have to put up another picture of that hat (and Her Little Highness).  This shot is definitely an out-take of the little impromptu photo shoot we had yesterday afternoon, but it cracks me up enough that I feel it must be shared.

Goofy girl!

       

Finished!

So, I recently made these three hats with the flowers to go with them.  The hats are infant size, and I sewed a button on the side of each one, so that the flowers could be changed out at random whim.



This collection is going to the daughter of a friend of a friend of mine (follow that?), but they turned out so cute that I'm tempted to make a few more for baby shower gifts.  We'll see.  (You've seen my WIP list.  Do I really want to add to that right now?)

As far as how to make the hats, I'm not all that excited about taking the time to write out a proper pattern, but here are the quick & dirty instructions:  Basically, I did a magic circle and then 6 sc in the circle.  The next row I did 12 sc, the next 18, the next 24, etc., etc., until I had 42 total stitched in a round (so, 6 sc between each set of two sc).  Then I stopped increasing, and just went round and round until it was of the length that I thought was good.  I finished it off with a very loose trinity stitch to make a brim.

The flowers are just a little ditty that I can't remember where I picked up.  You chain 4, into a circle.  Then chain 2, and do 2 dc, and chain 2 more.  Slip stitch that into your original circle and you've made your first petal.  Do this four more times, so you have five petals.  Then (and this is probably the most tricky part), move your yarn to the back of those petals, and slip stitch into the back part of on of your chains or dcs.  then chain 4.  Slip stitch again into the back part of the next petal.  Chain 4 again.  Do this all again three more times so you have 5 little chain four  sections.  Then, using the chains and your base, slip stitch into one of them, chain two, work dc, 3 trebles, another double, and a chain two all in the chain four space.  Slip stitch back into your original chain 4 space, and then slip stitch into the next one.  Repeat that four more times, and then you should have 5 big petals.  Then fasten off.

If you try these and want more detailed instructions or answers to specific questions, please feel free to e-mail me, or leave a comment here.  I'm happy to help as much as I can.

Trying New Things--a teaser

Once again, I'm participating in a Trying New Things Thursdays party over at Happy Quilting.  Yes, it's likely that I will be the only non-quilter participating today.  To that I say, Huzzah!  You quilters don't intimidate me!!!

(Well, actually they do a little bit.  Lets just keep that between us though, K?)

Here are some pictures of the baby blankets I've been working on.  Sometimes, having new nieces and nephews born at record rate (four since May, two more expected before April), can have some less-than-obvious benefits.

(Like the benefit of creating and mastering a brand new pattern!)

I have a few more to make, during which I'll be fine-tuning the pattern ('cuz I made it up out of my brain, with a whole lot of help from this tutorial).

When I've got the pattern so I'm reasonably sure it can be understood by people that aren't me, I'll post it here.




  

reward

I've been working on dishcloths, washcloths, and scrubbies lately.  Basically, I decided that it was time to consolidate all my cotton yarn (right now one tote, one large box, and two grocery bag's worth) into one tote and to do that by crocheting the additional into projects.  At this point I estimate that I'm about half-way done, and it's been so satisfying to see the nice stacks of dishcloths and scrubbies where there used to be bags of yarn overflowing.

As if that wasn't enough satisfaction, I woke up today to find myself in this perky summer treasury.  Sweet!

'Summer Daze' by novelessentials

Liquid Sunshine Gold Ba... KelleyGirls $495.00	Modern Summer Door Wrea... HeartfeltYarnW... $39.50	Summer at the Cottage -... StoriesDivinat... $13.50	Handmade Face Scrubbies... salutationscro... $13.50
Green Parasol 8 x 8 Pri... LolasRoom $20.00	Through the Grass-- Ori... MyCameraBag $14.99	Small Mermaid Purse ... saltybags $60.00	Spring Sunshine (Hand p... JessicaDoyle $175.00
Yellow Seersucker Fabri... knotandbow $8.00	sunshine lightofsomekin... $25.00	Little Sunny Earrings tamar $16.00	Sunshine Blossoming Flo... rubypress $10.00
Sunshine- A Beautiful B... fairladyfashio... $18.00	8 oz. Soy Mason Jar Can... MakingPerfectS... $8.00	TANGO - Authentic Beach... StoneAlone $16.50	Bright Sunshiny Day farouche $30.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

a gorgeous etsy treasury

I'm just tickled pink to have one of my scarves featured among all this beauty.  Wow! 

(Check out that Embroidery Hoop Art with the Stacked Houses!  Isn't that amazing?)

 

'~ whisper of eternity ~' by Ki3m

760x100 banner logo f... simplydoodles $6.00	Handmade Chunky Scarf i... salutationscro... $43.00	Three Soda and Wood Fir... khphillips $91.00	Sheets 8 X 10 inch Sign... gildinglilies $20.00
Decorative Damask Throw... DelindaBoutiqu... $19.00	Stacked Houses - Origin... saysthetree $50.00	dreamy song sparrow, a ... ORphotography $23.00	Upcycled Chunky Frames ... cottagehomedec... $25.00
Softly - 8x12 Fine Art ... Lori411 $27.00	Single Freshwater Pearl... LexiandGem $26.00	Brooch Felted white ros... Baymut $24.00	Set of 20 - Butterfly -... MamaTita $30.00
Coconut Craze Olive Oil... dennisanderson $5.50	Custom Monograms FineEmbroidery $30.00	Berry Bowl - Linen - La... vesselsandware... $56.00	Japan Relief Efforts - ... HoneysHive $15.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.