ArtistMum: #HatNotHate Hats

The month of October is anti bullying month and Lionbrand yarns is running a campaign for it. Make a blue hat in one of their yarns and either donate it or wear it and take a photo of it and share it on social media.

Now who hasn’t been in that kid’s shoes…..nobody wants them on their team because they’re too scrawny; they get made fun of because they’re different; people whisper about you behind your back and they’re obviously making fun of you, your clothes, your looks, your hair, your body, your everything. Yes, I have been there. Does it hurt? Of course! But I’m an adult now and I’ve grown passed all that. My husband loves me. My kids love me. My grandkids love me. And most important……I know that God loves me.

I’ve made several blue hats for this cause. I’ve donated to the Lionbrand #HatNotHate campaign. I hope whoever gets my hat knows that it’s made with much love.

How can you help with anti bullying? How do you teach your kids to be more accepting and tolerant? Spread the love! Go wear your blue hat this month!

ArtistMum: What to do with all those scraps?

I cannot believe that it’s been soooooooo long since I’ve posted. I’ve since gotten an updated iPad and that makes a huge difference!

So back on track……..I went through my scrap pile of fabrics and almost tossed them out but the prints were just so cute that I couldn’t. I had quite a pile leftover from all the bibs, blankets, and burp cloths that I made for my grand kids. Now that they’re bigger, I don’t need to make baby things anymore and decided to make some cute toys instead.

I came up with a pattern that could easily be changed from a doll to a cat or bunny. I even came up with a ‘monster’ doll that’s just too cute. Each doll is unique because I only have a scrap here and there of one pattern. I had fun coming up with different combinations.

And then I decided to make a dent in my yarn stash as well. I made each scrappy pal their own hat. It was a win/win situation!

I think they came out cute. I’ve already found homes for several of them!

What do you think about these silly scrappy dolls?

Tell me what you do with your fabric scraps and yarn stash!

ArtistMum: More Crochet Fun!

I crochet everywhere I go and always have a project or two in hand to work on. So I thought I’d share my latest projects in case anyone needed an idea for holiday gifts. It’s good to get started early!
Just finished this darling little bolero for my granddaughter! It’s made from #Caroncakes in ‘rainbow sprinkles’ color and the pattern is from a YouTube tutorial by Woolywonderscrochet.com.The second pink one is in a smaller size and is made from #SweetRoll which I bought from JoAnn’s.

These are such wonderful and fairly easy projects to make! Go try them!

Artistmum: Crocheting Doll Clothes

My little granddaughter has a very favorite doll that she loves to play with. This doll has worn the same outfit for two years and I thought it was time for a change! I searched Pinterest for some ideas and came across this adorable crocheted dress made for a premie baby but the size looked right for little ‘C’s doll.

Here’s the link to the pattern…..  Dress pattern

I made it the length I thought was right for her doll and put a button closure since little ‘C’ cannot tie yet. She also insisted on sewing on the button so I guided her oh so carefully! This brought back a memory of my grandma allowing me to choose a button from her button box and showing me how to sew it onto my doll’s dress. I picked out the biggest, most gaudiest button  there was! (black shank button with a big rhinestone on it)

Well, little ‘C’ chose several buttons and we sewed them onto the front of the dress and one on the back as a functional button.

 

So so much fun!

 

 

 

ArtistMum: More Fun Hats

 

I love to crochet because the projects are portable and I can crochet practically anywhere……in the car, at the dentist’s waiting room, while the grand babies are napping, just about any place!

So my latest projects have been some cute hats with ear flaps that keep my little grand babies warm and toasty during the winter season. My favorite ‘go to’ resource is a talented young lady who shares her patterns on Repeatcrafterme. I used her crochet pattern for the fox hat I made. It includes several sizes and the directions are very easy to follow.

I also made an ‘Elmo’ hat for two special little girls altering that same hat pattern. It came out very cute and those little lasses love their ‘Elmo’ hat! I used LionBrand Vanna’s Choice yarns because that’s my favorite yarn to use! But you can use other brands if you choose to. As long as they are the same weight as suggested in the directions.

I will add my photos when WordPress stops crashing every time I try to add the photos! But please visit Repeatcrafterme. You’ll love her crochet projects!

Looks like the photos came up! Thanks WordPress!

 

Loose Ends

Somehow things have gotten much too complicated for me and I needed to take some ‘me time’. But of course I’ve left some ‘loose ends’ and I have to rectify that……so, to wind up my monkey theme from last year…….I made a few monkey hats from a crochet pattern I found at “RepeatCrafterMe.com”. They came out so adorable and there are a few lucky recipients who are wearing them!

I used Lion brand, Vanna’s Choice yarn in cranberry, oatmeal, and barley. What I like about using Vanna’s Choice yarn is that part of the money goes to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

I hope you try out the pattern. They are fairly easy to make. I hope you like them as much as I do!

ArtistMum: Happy Mother’s Day!

To all the moms out there, wether you’re a mom to babes or a mom to animals, you are special because you put others needs above your own! God blessed me with three wonderful children who have grown into amazing adults. I treasure every moment I have with them!

 Enjoy your special day!

ArtistMum: The Year of the Monkey!

In my previous blog post, I shared my crocheted edge monkey blankets and promised to share some more ‘monkey business’!

I have been super busy sewing up a few sock monkeys, which I think turned out so adorable! I found the socks on Amazon and later, when I decided to make a few more, found them in a mail order catalog called Home Sew. They happened to have two other colors available besides the oatmeal color and also had a smaller size. I ordered the baby blue and am debating whether to get the pink as well. I have to make up the blue one still. They come in a package of two pairs. One pair of socks will make one monkey and the directions are on the packaging, although I’ve found directions on Pinterest and Youtube!

ArtistMum: No More Monkeys Jumping On The Bed!

It happens to be the year of the monkey! I’ve seen so many cute monkey printed fabrics at JoAnn’s that I just HAD to buy some to make a few cute blankets for my new grandson and another to come! I bought both a fleece and a flannel monkey patterned fabric and hurried home, eager to get started. I cut each blanket 31″ X 31″. The finished size after folding the edge would make it 30″ X 30″, which is a standard size for a receiving blanket.

Most fleece blankets have a blanket stitch around the edge onto which you can then add a crocheted border. I attempted to make the blanket stitch with my yarn, only to be totally frustrated. It took me a half hour to stitch only about 15″ when I decided to give up. I looked up how to make a border on these blankets and accidently found that some people were using a gadget that made stitching a whole new ballgame. 

Well……I just had to give it a try! So I ordered one of them with the indicated ‘skip stitch’ rotary blade as shown below. Here is the link to Amazon where I ordered it from, however I did notice that JoAnn’s does carry them…..they were just sold out!

http://www.amazon.com/Kays-Crochet-Fleece-Perfect-Projects/dp/B00LMGMOE6/ref=sr_1_2?s=arts-crafts&ie=UTF8&qid=1460063745&sr=1-2&keywords=skip+a+stitch+rotary+cutter
 

 

This device made my endeavor so much easier. I changed the original round blade for cutting to the ‘skip stitch’ rotary blade, purchased separately. Then I rolled the blade along a ruler, held 1/2 inch from the edge, all around the blanket. Okay……so now I was all set to start!

I found that it was so very easy to crochet a ‘ blanket stitch’ all around the blanket ( single crochet loosely in each space followed with a chain one) I used a size H 5mm crochet hook and Lionbrand, Lionbrand.com, Vanna’s Choice yarn for all of the fleece blankets I worked on. There are also many great colors to choose from that coordinate easily with the fleece prints. For the monkey blanket, I used the colors  ‘Oatmeal’ and ‘Cranberry’.   On another, I used just ‘Barley’. 

   
 
Then I found a cute little monkey print on flannel and thought….why not try the rotary cutter skip stitch blade on that as well? It actually worked, however I had to use a thinner yarn and a smaller crochet hook. I used Bernat ‘baby’ yarn in ‘antique white’ and ‘baby blue’ and a size F 3.75mm. You could use a size G 4.00mm too. For this blanket, I did my initial single crochet all around, then a double crochet all around, and lastly, a single crochet row in the baby blue. In the corners, I crocheted four stitches in end hole to make the curve. Also, I forgot to mention that you have to curl the edges as you’re crocheting so that you get a clean edge.

  

I really got excited about this method, so I made a few more blankets! Might make some more and donate them to ‘Project Linus’! https://www.projectlinus.org.   

  

There’s one more project I’m looking forward to making for my little grand babies is a ‘ sock monkey’. It is the year of the monkey, right? Let’s celebrate! 

Hope this encourages you to try crocheting with fleece and flannel. Wouldn’t it be cute to edge a pair of flannel pajamas with a little crochet trim? Hmmmmm……….another project!

ArtistMum: Discovering A New Yarn

I love to paint with both watercolor and oil paints but they are not easily carried around and you cannot work on a painting while waiting at the doctors office, or while recuperating from injuries or illnesses………or so I’ve found! So I discovered awhile back that I can bring along my crochet projects almost anywhere and be productive at the same time……a win, win situation!

My latest crochet related discovery was a yarn from Red Heart yarns called “Reflective”. I found it through a mail order catalog called Herrschner’s. ( Herrschner’s.com )

  
This yarn reflects light, making it ideal for headbands for runners that run in the evening or very early morning. It’s like having a reflective armband on your head so cars can see you! 

It comes in many wonderful colors……neon pink, neon orange, purple, Aran, black, neon yellow, neon green……but I ordered olive, grey, and peacock……..all great!

There’s a crochet pattern on the label for an adorable headband. It requires two skeins of yarn but I found a crochet pattern from………..     Nikki in Stitches    ……………. 

http://www.nikkiinstitches.com/crochet-flower-and-head-warmer-free-pattern/

……….that required less than one skein and by adjusting stitches and crochet hooks, I found I could make it work for a few other different yarns, including Charisma. The number of chains you start out with can be different for each yarn. I made sure it fit around my head before I started the second row. I would measure if it’s for a child or anyone else. 
Here are my reflective yarn headbands in peacock, grey, and olive……. I also started and ended with a border of another color……..in this case, some leftover black yarn.

  
And I made a few others from leftover yarns…….a great way to make your yarn stash shrink! The turquoise one has a grey border. The bottom one is all grey.

  
Have fun experimenting with Red Heart’s new yarn for a useful and good looking gift for your favorite runner or maybe even for yourself!