Ah… Fall is in the air. As I sit beside my open window during this cooler September evening, I smell the crispness of the season entering my home. Leaves. It’s the smell of the season. They’ll be dropping soon and while many loathe the idea of cleaning gutters and raking up leaf piles, I simply cannot wait! Our last home never really had enough tall trees to necessitate raking. It’ll be the first fall where our whole family can have fun and fill those silly pumpkin shaped plastic bags and line our yard. I used to love those as a kid and find it so endearing that my own kids now become excited by the idea of using them for our own yard. We moved to an area with an abundance of giant oaks and maples and I look forward to all the Autumn colors that will soon surround us. Oh so many happy memories involve falling leaves. Memories of the crunching sound under my tiny feet as I trick or treated at a much younger age. Memories of the giant maple leaf piles I fell asleep in at my grandpa’s so long ago. Memories of the sun shining through the trees onto my new babies as we visited our beloved pumpkin farms and again, that same golden sunlight shining through onto them as they grew and climbed pumpkins in later years at those same farms. I’m a fall fanatic and oh how I wish the season could last all year! For now though, I’ll leave you with a couple of fall leaf appliques that can last a little bit longer than the actual season.
Tag: free crochet
Mermaid and Lightsaber Ice Pop Holders
Ah… Summer. A time of sunshine, swimming, relaxation, and vacation. It was my absolute favorite time as a kid and as I watch my kids grow I can see it’s a time that they look forward to each year as well. One thing that always stands out about summer are those extra hot days. The 90+ degree days. The eternal heatwave stretch of summer. I’ve found that the best solution for those days is the classic ice pop. Not just any popsicle, but the ice pop aka freeze pop aka otter pop style. I can still recall those moments of coming into the house after a long day of running and playing in my grandpa’s backyard feeling as though I’d never cool down. Not even the coldest a/c could put a dent in summertime overheating! But always my grandpa would find the solution with that glorious ice pop and within seconds I’d feel better than ever. There’s just something about overly sugary flavored ice. It just hits the spot (especially the red and green ones, my favorite!).
As I mentioned in the previous posts, I’ve recently gone through a move. Currently I’m setting up my office and trying to get my work space in order and throughout all of my organizing I’ve come across many old photos and patterns. I happened upon a couple of ice pop holder patterns from when my kids were a lot smaller and it just warmed my heart looking back at the photos. Back in the days when their little hands became too cold holding their ice pops. They loved them so much, but it always sent such a chill to their tiny little bodies! I knew then I needed to come up with a solution for them to have a better, more comfortable grip of the popsicles because I wanted them to be able to enjoy them as much as I did when I was little! My solution was a popsicle holder. Of course, my girls being entirely opposite of one another, I had to make them in a way to appeal to each child. My oldest was huge into Star Wars at the time so I treated her to a lightsaber holder style. My youngest was into everything princess and mermaids so we settled on a mermaid fin style. It was great fun coming up with the designs and they were well loved that whole entire summer! So loved, in fact, that I ended up selling more of them at my local farmers market for all the other kids in town to enjoy as well. They were a hit!
And so, let me share with you, my two ice pop holder patterns.
Basic Bear Security Blanket
Is there anything better than crocheting a gift for a soon to be born baby? One of my very good friends is due to have her very first child this September and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on some new crochet projects for the occasion! Of course I bookmarked dozens of cute baby patterns I found online and I scoured my crochet books repeatedly for the exact right idea. Nothing felt right though. I really wanted to make her baby something special with a nice classic feel. I thought of my own two children and those early baby years, drawing on experience to bring back memories of what their little hands and hearts cherished in those days. Then it hit me. A security blanket! My oldest daughter could not leave the house without her beloved pink crochet blanket. For years and years we traveled with this mangled, falling apart, shredded crocheted blanket. God forbid we forget it! Tears fell like waterfalls from her eyes in those instances. A great amount of comfort came upon her every time she snuggled or wrapped herself up in the blanket. Instant soothing. It always warmed my heart to see how much joy that blanket gave to her, but sadly because of how large it was and all the years of extra love, it eventually succumbed to its wounds and could not be saved. I remember thinking then that I wished her baby blanket would have been smaller and more easily transportable. It would have avoided us a great amount of sadness. These days, of course, she is just fine and the days of longing for her beloved pink blanket are far gone and out of the mind of a big 10 year old, but the sentimental side of me really would have loved to have been able to keep that blanket for her.
And so I opted to design a security blanket pattern to make up a gift for my friend. I designed the blanket portion of this pattern off of the exact cluster stitch that my daughter’s blanket used to have (again, the sentimental side of me is showing), and off of a classic teddy bear for easy cuddles and gripping. With cotton yarn, you can’t go wrong, and with the finished size of this piece, it’ll be sure to have many years of love ahead of it! Little hands are going to love this one!
Velvet Hair Scrunchies
Can anyone feel that? It’s the 90s and they’re back full speed in the fashion world. Seriously!!! I’m seeing remnants of my childhood all over the place. Movie reboots, Planter’s cheese balls, choker necklaces, mom jeans, denim everything… And then there are scrunchies. I never thought I’d see the day and there’s a part of me screaming in glee over this. I LOVED scrunchies! They were so comfortable to wear and I couldn’t get enough of all of the styles. I’ll never forget the day one of the girls in my class told me that “scrunchies are out” and the dismay I felt. But here we are and they’ve come back in full swing, and what better way to celebrate this moment than to share a pattern?
Velvet hair scrunchies are especially popular right now and with all of the velvet-textured yarns out there, I couldn’t resist trying my hand at it! This pattern is so quick to work up and will make a great gift for any other scrunchie enthusiast in your life. Seriously guys, this is a 20 minute at most project! You could make a set of these in an hour if you wanted to. So what are you waiting for? Keep the 90s alive with this velvet scrunchie pattern!
Continue reading Velvet Hair Scrunchies
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!
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
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!
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!
Continue reading Dish Scrubbie (New Version)
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!
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!