Author: Kate

Velvet Rabbit

It’s been awhile since I posted and I do apologize! Since the beginning of the year my house has been in a constant state of chaos in preparation for moving. This includes all sorts of fun home repair projects, packing up house, realtor visits, the works! I was also presented with an amazing opportunity that I’ll expand upon next post with a specifically inspired project! So stay tuned… Still though, with Easter around the corner, I did find time to make up this adorable velvet rabbit pattern and I wanted to share it with all of you!

I had in the past made up a bunny pattern from the thicker blanket yarn, but since seeing velvet yarns all around craft stores, I couldn’t resist the opportunity to make up a new pattern featuring this perfect yarn. Thoughts of the old childhood story Velveteen Rabbit came to mind while making her up and of course I just had to share it!

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Rudy Reindeer

It’s Christmastime and I’m absolutely feeling the holiday upon us this year! Maybe it’s from the baked cookie scent in my house or the presents already wrapped under my tree… Or the fact that I just got done creating and sending out over 200 crocheted holiday orders from my Etsy . The holiday craft fairs, the holiday train rides, Christmas stockings, Christmas music… It’s all in the season and each year I fall in love with the holiday all over again.

Speaking of holiday craft fairs, I participated in a great big one in town a couple weeks ago and displayed quite a few of my finished products including this sweet little Rudy Reindeer, which was quite the hit! He ended up going home with a happy mom and child receiving hugs the entire time they walked around the fair. It definitely warmed my heart! And as I always say, the blanket yarn is always the best for hugging, as it makes each toy so soft and squishy! Since it’s Christmastime, enjoy making your own Rudy Reindeer with this totally free pattern!  Continue reading Rudy Reindeer

The Jon Hat

Recently my husband started a new job in the city. Being in Chicago and right off the lake, I knew that he’d be needing something extra warm this fall and winter for the daily walking he does downtown. With this came the creation of the Jon Hat.  Continue reading The Jon Hat

Skelly Beanie

I am loving this fall weather! It’s the perfect time to crochet and with Halloween being around the corner, my absolute favorite time to create patterns! I love everything spooky and each year I try to come up with some new fun designs. This year my kids requested new Halloween hats. In my previous post I talked about my youngest daughter’s Frankenstein Hat. This time it was my oldest daughter’s turn to pick a hat and she chose a skeleton beanie! I thought long and hard about a way to design one wanting to skip the traditional Jack Skellington style and maybe take on a more comical variety of skeleton. And here’s what I came up with!

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Frankenstein Season!

Now that fall weather is FINALLY upon us, I couldn’t resist the urge to dive into more spooky creations! Each and every year, the cooler months begin my busy season for Etsy orders and craft fairs. I find myself with very little time to sit down and design patterns, which is shame because Halloween-Christmas are also the times I feel most inspired to design things! I promised myself that each and every year I’d at least make time to design one fun Halloween toy and I’ve been true to that promise for the past three years now! My first year was Peter Pumpkinhead inspired by my oldest daughter’s love of pumpkins. Last year was Witchy the Witch created entirely off of a description my youngest daughter gave to me of her favorite imaginary friend, a little magical, friendly witch. And this year? Meet Frankie Frankenstein!

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Dish Scrubbie (New Version)

It’s that time of year when craft fairs are popping up left and right. As posted in the past, I’ve mentioned my dish scrubbies and even offered a free pattern found here: Dish Scrubbies These dish scrubbies always go fast at any farmers market or craft fair I participate it. So many people tie memories to these scrubbies from their own past, often times citing older family members having had made them and long since past. They’re always delighted to see them pop up and often times I’ll find repeat customers! So this year, as craft fair season is upon us, I find myself busy working up many more dish scrubbies to sell at my booths. While the old version using tulle is fantastic and something I still highly recommend, I couldn’t help but fall in love with Yarn Bee’s Scrub-Ology Scrub It! yarn (found here:Yarn Bee Scrub-Ology Scrub It! ) the first time I saw it at Hobby Lobby a few weeks back. I’ve admittedly been avoiding the scrubbie yarns, as I feel that nylon tulle is the best texture for dish scrubbers and most are made of cotton and thinner in appearance. This yarn was way different than most you’ll find, however. The moment I saw this new yarn I just had to give it a try! The texture was perfect and even better, it was made of nylon. So I rushed home with a couple of skeins and tried my hand at it. My findings were quite pleasant and so great that I decided to rework my dish scrubbie pattern entirely!
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Tiffany Turtle

This fun project is brought to you by my newest discovery of Bernat’s Velvet yarn line. Oh my goodness, I can’t resist a soft yarn (as you probably noted from prior posts!) and this yarn line is irresistible! I had bought some originally for velvet pumpkins (check out my real stem pumpkin post to try your hand at some: Real Stem Pumpkins ) and had a bit leftover. I immediately thought of a turtle shell due to the natural green color. I’m always a fan of something huggable, and while turtles themselves aren’t very huggable, this one sure is! Meet Tiffany the turtle. She’ll make the perfect best friend for anyone you know who loves turtles!

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Face Scrubbies/Pads

Need a quick gift idea and want to keep it handmade? Face scrubbies are perfect! These work up so fast and are a great addition to any gift bag or basket. All it takes is a few minutes and 100% cotton yarn!

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The Super Soft Pumpkin

I am a sucker for Halloween. I’m that person who is obsessively scouring the store aisles in August, waiting for school supplies to vanish from the shelves and Halloween decor items to take their place. I’m yearning for pumpkin spice lattes in July, practically beating down Starbucks’s door come September when they finally roll out. Once even a hint of Halloween rolls up into town I am in constant ghoulish party mode!

Sadly though, it’s still only August and fall is a ways away. People around me are telling me to cool it and let summer live out its final days. I can’t seem to find my balance with waiting out those long, hot days when my mind is constantly playing Halloween tunes and my house is already giving off the scents of cinnamon and pumpkin though. So what to do? Well, make a pumpkin pattern, of course!  Continue reading The Super Soft Pumpkin

Mermaid Doll

As a fellow crocheter I’m sure any one of you reading this can certainly relate to the dreaded yarn overflow problem. If you’re anything like me, you collect yarn compulsively. Currently I have at least five bins of yarn in my basement. I use yarn out of each bin, but always there’s that one dedicated bin for novelty yarns that I admittedly do not use as much as I should. I fall in love with a color/color combo of yarn, find endless amounts of clearance yarn, or am gifted yarn by someone else with good intentions. I swear to myself I’ll eventually get to using those beautiful yarns, but always they end up in the novelty yarn bin. As I was going through my yarn the other day I came across many types of yarns I oooohed and ahhhhhed over, swearing yet again that I would pick them up and find purpose for them. This project was meant to be exactly that. A purpose for at least one skein of the forgotten novelty yarn.

This beautiful rainbow yarn was meant to be mermaid hair. Am I wrong?

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