Tag: tocraftahome

Crochet Acorns

It’s September and that means it’s the non-official official start of fall for me as well as many other fall lovers out there! Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love everything from fall festivals to pumpkin spice to Halloween and pumpkin farms galore! The beautiful color changing leaves and cooler weather are also part of the amazing package deal that is this lovely season. I could spend hours in any craft store just smelling all the different fall scented candles and eyeing up newly added seasonal decor. As much as I say I won’t buy something, I always do because there are so many cute pieces that will add that perfect fall flare to my home…

This year I decided to be a bit more creative and avoid too many outings, as I’m home most of the time with my brand new baby. Obviously since I’m a crocheter I wanted to make something out of yarn, but what? I found myself inspired by my husband’s love for oak trees and acorns. I recall many early Octobers when he would obsessively seek out the perfect oak tree for us to gather acorns from in hopes of growing our very own white oak tree. A few years ago we actually did grow quite a few seedlings and upon moving into our new home, planted the perfect oak tree in our yard which has done quite nicely with growing this past year! And so obviously with his love for oak trees I thought that making something out of actual real acorns would be fantastic and a great touch of fall in our home. These crocheted acorns are perfect for center pieces or accents and work up so fast you wouldn’t believe it!

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Sunflower Baby Hat

It’s August and that means it’s officially sunflower time! This hat in particular came to light when I found out I was having another little girl, and not just any little girl, but a little girl expected in August! Every August I associate seeing sunflowers everywhere, as well as visiting mammoth sunflower fields. They’re so sunshiney and happy. Who can resist them?  Naturally I linked my little one to these beautiful flowers and wanted to make her first hat something special so the sunflower baby hat came to be!  Continue reading Sunflower Baby Hat

Bee and Sunflower Mobile

As the days dwindle down in my pregnancy I’m putting together the last pieces to our baby’s nursery. All must be in its rightful place, organized, and completely ready for baby. I’ve been reflecting back to the whole process of putting together this living space. So much work went into it and I’m very excited to start using it with our baby. Everything came together relatively fast once our theme was chosen and one could argue that was the most difficult part about assembling said nursery! My husband and I figured it out quite quickly when we discovered we were having another baby girl a couple months back. An August baby certainly called for sunflowers and bees. Then came the idea to make her a mobile inspired by the decor of her nursery. If anyone else is expecting a summer baby like me, or just loves everything to do with sunflowers and bees, this might be the pattern for you!

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Bath Pouf

One of the things I love the most about crocheting is the fact that it goes beyond cute hats and doilies, but also can be a very useful skill for the home! From toy making for the kiddos to assorted clothing pieces, crochet is valuable in so many places! And I absolutely love making useful household items! Dish scrubbies are always a big hit, or even dish and wash cloths. So simple and always a necessity! One thing I have always struggled with, however, is finding the exact right way to make a bath pouf. In the past I’ve tried cotton and while it works up nicely and has a wonderfully soft texture, I have found that crocheted cotton bath poufs just don’t hold up well over time and very quickly absorb a mildew scent. I’ve been on the search for the perfect way to make bath poufs for awhile now and am happy to report that Hobby Lobby’s Scrub-Ology yarn fits the bill perfectly! It’s absorbent, great for scrubbing, and dries fast! No mildew smell leftover at all! What’s even better? These bath poufs work up super fast! So if you’re in the market for a nice bath pouf, give this one a try and let me know what you think!

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The Easy Peasy Basic Baby Blanket

With a baby on the way and multiple friends also pregnant alongside me, as a crocheter, I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me! Baby blankets are always a common request and truthfully, one I love to give as gifts at showers. Surprisingly to some though, blankets aren’t my strong suit, and I find it very hard to stay motivated and focused on each one. When it comes to making a blanket, I find the simpler, the better.

I love this pattern because it’s only really two stitches that you need to remember. No change each row, no huge pattern to memorize or take with you, no color changes, etc. Just two simple stitches and a couple of skeins of yarn! This is the perfect blanket to make while watching your favorite show or movie, or just sitting to pass the time.

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Knotted Baby Hat

Hello readers! It’s been quite some time. With last year’s busy holiday season and all the crazy life happenings of my household (yes, even during a pandemic things get busy here!), I’ve hardly had a second to sit down and work up patterns and focus on this blog. I do have some fun patterns coming up though and all of them have a theme. They’ll be baby patterns! Why you might ask? It’s a very exciting time in my family and we’ll be introducing our third child later this year! Yep! I’m pregnant! And so what does a pregnant crocheter do? Come up with patterns for their new addition of course! Over the next few blog entries I’ll be sharing what I come up with.

The first thing I worked up was this universal knotted baby hat. I’ve seen a few versions here and there, but this one I’ve come up with uses an assortment of stitches to give it a truly unique look and great texture. What I love about this hat style is that it is truly gender neutral and if you’re like me, the minute you find out you’re pregnant, you just want to create, create, create! By the time the gender reveal comes around, I’ve already had several projects made up and waiting for baby so the more things I can make in a gender neutral way, the better! But really, any color looks wonderful! I have included sizes from newborn to 12 months in here so you can make any amount in any color you choose!

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The Ollie Hat

My friend recently had a baby and as any good crocheter friend will do, I opted to make her little guy a hat for the cooler days that have now arrived. I found Lion Brand’s Touch of Alpaca and just knew I needed to make a fun pom pom hat. This yarn is so soft and perfect for tiny heads! If you can’t find it though, any worsted weight yarn will do.

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Cozy Bear Hat

Now that the cooler fall days are here I find myself wanting to use the heavier, warmer yarns and one of my favorites is always Bernat’s Blanket Yarn. I love this yarn because not only does it feel extra soft and cozy in my hands as I’m working it up, but also it makes for fast projects.

The Cozy Bear Hat came to life when I realized I had made everything with Bernat Blanket Yarn except for a hat. I know it’s not the most traditional type of yarn so a hat needed to have a little creativity to it and instantly I thought of a bear hat. With this yarn’s texture and warmth, it just works! The ears stick straight up and its form never collapses making it an ideal addition to any bear costume you might be dreaming up this Halloween! It’s also great for little ones who need to stay cozy in the cooler months. But I opted not to just limit it to babies and children because honestly it’s just so cute who wouldn’t want one for themselves?

Enjoy!
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Pumpkin Applique

September is one of my favorite months, not only because it’s my birthday month, but also because it’s the month we begin to see pumpkins everywhere! If you’re a crazy fall fanatic like myself, you cannot wait to dive into Halloween and fall decorating. A big part of that is pumpkins, of course. Over the years I’ve designed various crocheted pumpkins. Velvet pumpkins, a pumpkin doll, pumpkin hats, but this year I thought I’d keep it simple and straight to the point. A pumpkin applique. Perfect for clothing pieces, hats, scarves, you name it! And right in time for fall.

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Fall Leaf Appliqués

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.

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