Tag: crochet

Cactus Hat

For as long as I can remember I have always been terrible at plant upkeep. I love the idea of gardens and flowers blooming in my yard and I’m amazed at the beauty of houseplants, but such never came to be for my own home due to my lack of green thumb. Everything I touch seems to die despite countless research, advice, and plant enthusiasts in my corner. However, something finally changed this year. I’m not sure why this summer has been any different, but I’ve been able to keep cacti and succulents alive! Even in the past, despite being told how easy those two types of plants were to care for, I’d never get them past a season. Maybe there is a shade of green showing on this thumb of mine after all? Whatever the change may be, I’m just happy that I can finally have a little army of succulents and cacti on my window sill to happily greet me every day. So naturally, I’ve had cacti on my mind and to celebrate, why not make a hat? I couldn’t resist!

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Theodore the Super Soft Teddy Bear

My first best friend was my beloved light brown teddy bear named Teddy, gifted to me by my late Nana. As a child I remember Teddy tagging along with me everywhere. He went on every wild adventure my little mind could come up with and protected me from all of the evil monsters under my bed every single night. There was such a deep comfort in holding Teddy in my arms, one I can still recall to this day each and every time I pick up a teddy bear. I always wonder if each bear I see will provide a child with as much happiness as my own Teddy brought me…  I feel like all teddy bears are made to have a story of their own. Being a creator of toys, I figured it was definitely time to try my hand at a good old fashioned teddy bear pattern. After all, handmade toys get to have the best stories of all!  Continue reading Theodore the Super Soft Teddy Bear

Baxter The Squirrel

Back in the days of renting my husband and I found ourselves in an older home built in the late 1800s. It was a cozy little place with all of the cute little nooks and crannies that often times bring charm to older homes. As with many rental homes, however, came quirks as well. One of those quirks were hidden holes in our walls leading to outside, as our landlord had failed to repair portions of the house before we moved in. Much to our surprise, we quickly discovered that we were not the only tenants of the house, but rather, a wild squirrel had previously claimed ownership of the place! That squirrel was quite the character with a big attitude and seemingly large annoyance with us being his new roommates. The squirrel became so much a part of living at that house that we affectionately named him “Baxter”.  Every now and then we’d hear a scurrying sound in our attic or walls. We knew it was Baxter.  Occasionally he would pop up from the outside of our house and hit our windows as if to say, “Hey! Get out! I was here first!” and always came a big startle from such occurrence! It was crazy how much this squirrel really began to test our limits. If ever I put a plant outside, he’d quickly dig it up. Every single morning while my husband left for work there would be a chatter from the trees above. My husband would look up and there Baxter would be, angrily waiting and throwing nuts at him! Sometimes he even hit him!

Despite numerous calls and complaints to our landlord, no fix ever came to keep this squirrel out of our living space. The last straw came when we arrived home and found our loyal orange tabby cat staring a hole into our kitchen cabinets. No matter what we did, he refused to leave the strange stare down he was having. Soon we figured out why. There was a crash from inside one of the cabinets and in no time it was very apparent that Baxter had found another way into our house! Luckily, we moved out a week later and gave up the house to Baxter, opting to buy and thoroughly inspect a new home instead. While at the time it was a very stressful and frustrating situation, we can now look back and it all and laugh at how ridiculous it was. Because of this outlandish tale, the inspiration of a new creation came to be. So I present to you Baxter the Squirrel.  Continue reading Baxter The Squirrel

Potted Crochet Flowers

Spring weather is finally upon us and I just can’t wait to get my hands in the dirt and plant some flowers! It’s always a favorite time of year for my family and me. We spend countless hours shopping around for the perfect plants to make our backyard colorful and full of life.  Roses, succulents, lilies, daffodils, tulips… We love them all! My personal favorite are always the lilacs filling my yard with their brilliant perfume. Oh how I can’t wait for those to bloom!

Unfortunately for me, however, I have no true green thumb. Actually, if we’re being honest, I’m pretty much the worst gardener ever. I try as hard as I can each year, but always fail. Vegetable gardens produce pathetic produce, if any. Once flourishing flower arrangements droop down into brown, dried, root-rotted sadness. My hopeful succulent gardens? Even they shrivel up and die, though I do proudly admit that I’ve had the same window sill cactus for two years now! So perhaps there is hope!

For now though, I’ve found a better alternative than that of continuing to kill perfectly healthy live plants. If I have no luck growing them, why not create something on my own that can outlast any real plant? And so came forth the idea of these potted crochet flowers! Something that can keep my home cheerful and push forth celebratory feelings of the new spring season,  and also something I can’t kill! My very own potted crochet flowers.

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Dish Scrubbies

Dish scrubbies. Such a simple cleaning item, but oh so underrated. It was my first year working at our local farmer’s market that I discovered not only the convenience of being able to create my own household cleaning item, but also how absolutely AWESOME the crochet dish scrubber is. Seriously, crochet dish scrubbies are AMAZING. Not only is it something that works up insanely quickly, but it is LONG-LASTING in your kitchen, EFFECTIVE at cleaning, and totally capable of being RE-USED. If it starts to smell funky, just toss it in the dishwasher/washing machine and it’s ready to go, BRAND NEW, once again! I could go on and on about these, but how about I just pass on the knowledge someone else gave to me instead?  Continue reading Dish Scrubbies

Kisses Buddy

With Valentine’s Day just a couple of days away I couldn’t resist making up a pattern for one of my favorite Valentine’s Day treats. Whenever February comes around I can’t help but think of Hershey’s chocolate Kisses. They’re everywhere on the candy shelves and just so sweet to pass around! If you’re like me this year though and can’t really enjoy the chocolately goodness this year due to diet restrictions, why not enjoy a Kisses Buddy instead? 🙂

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Peter Pumpkinhead

Halloween is drawing nearer and nearer! All of the trees are changing to vibrant reds, oranges, and yellows finally after this extra warm fall we’ve been having. The chilly days are now here and it’s the perfect time to crochet after a day out at the pumpkin patch. And what better thing to crochet than this cute little pumpkin patch inspired toy? Meet Peter Pumpkinhead 🙂  Continue reading Peter Pumpkinhead

Witchy the Crochet Witch Doll

We’re halfway through October and Halloween enthusiasm is everywhere! I love it! As I’ve said in previous posts, my family is always BIG into Halloween and I do mean BIG. So big, in fact, that my youngest daughter Iris had an imaginary friend based off of a sweet little witch her mind came up with when she was three. She called this friend “Witchy” and oh the many stories she would tell us about her! Sometimes Witchy would fly along our car as we drove, other times she’d spend the night next to her keeping all of the monsters away. Her love of that witch knew no bounds! One day she approached begging me to create a crochet version of Witchy. She described her every detail making sure to always tell me that Witchy was a “nice” witch and a “good friend”. Of course I had to come up with this sweet little witch for her and now I have it available for you to share with any little one in your life! So… Meet Witchy the Crochet Witch Doll!  Continue reading Witchy the Crochet Witch Doll

Crochet Apple Hat

Oh fall, how I love you so! There are so many things about this season that draw me in. Falling leaves and golden sunshine. Pumpkins and pumpkin flavored everything! Pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin spice lattes. Goodness though, let’s not forget apples! For me, fall begins with apples.  My house is filled with apple scented air fresheners starting in August and stores begin to roll out a large variety of apples to choose from. Heck, my family practically lives off of apples from August to September with how much we consume them! So you get it. We love apples a lot and with this season comes the extra fun activity of apple picking! This weekend we went to a cute little farm a few miles away and did just that. Of course what’s apple picking without adding a little something to make it more fun? As a crochet mom of course I had to come up with a cute pair of hats for my girls.  Continue reading Crochet Apple Hat

Crochet Catnip Toys

Living in a house with four cats can be pretty crazy.  Add two kids and a husband to the mix and you have a full house for sure! But what can I say? I love my house full and will take the crazy that goes with it, even if it involves tons of late night meows, kids dressing the cats up (okay and mom too…), and constant dinner pleas from our furry feline friends. I’ve always been a cat lover. My whole entire life I have always owned at least one cat. And with owning cat comes the importance of understanding your cats need and along with their bottomless foot refill requirement, 18 hour nap necessity, and continual praise comes the need of toys to keep them entertained. Now if you’ve ever owned a cat you definitely know how that goes. You can find the most interesting, involved looking mouse toy equip with lazer and remote control and it won’t even be enough to get your cat’s attention! Feather toys? Forget it. The feather will be eaten and promptly thrown up. Am I wrong? I can’t tell you how many toys we’ve gone through with our kitties. Occasionally there’d be a winner amongst the dozens of store bought toys, but there was never anything that stuck with every single one of our four cats. That is… Until I decided to make my own. Continue reading Crochet Catnip Toys