Paper Tape & Pins

Cheery Crochet Spring Daisy Blanket

2016-10-25T14:33:00.000-07:00

This was a long project. I started at the end of May but with moving to a new city and summer I didn't finish until October. I found this flower square on Dada’s Place and when I looked through the projects on Ravelry I came across bedcrafter’s daisy square (http://www.ravelry.com/projects/bedcrafter/flower-square-...). I loved bedcrafter's colours and I really appreciate the breakdown she gives on the differences between the original flower square and Dada’s daisy square.

I used Loops & Threads Snuggly Wuggly which is a DK weight yarn. Loops & Threads (Michaels store brand) is my go to acrylic yarn. I find it holds up well and has a nicer feel than a lot of other cheap acrylics.

I have never felt very confident about my granny square layouts, and this time I used this very useful granny squares pattern randomizer for my layout: http://granny-square-colors.com/.

The border I used is from the crochet "I love you" blanket by Repeat Crafter Me.

This is the only picture I have of the entire blanket - it's hard to get a good one!

Initially I was disappointed with the length of the blanket. I had planned to make it a row or two longer, but once I finished the border it was the perfect size for a cozy couch blanket.

Sweetie Pie the Crochet Rhino Lovey

2016-04-27T08:54:00.006-07:00

Meet Sweetie Pie, the "rhino-saurous", according to the 4 year old. She saw the one I made for a baby and pestered me until I made her one.

This is the second Riley Rhino I’ve made. I found the 3.5 mm hook works better with the Loops & Threads Impeccable as it’s quite thick. I love how big the blanket is.
I used the Riley Rhino the Rhinoceros Snuggle Blankey pattern by Ira Rott. I want to make this moose as well.

This is the first Riley Rhinoceros I made for my cousin's baby. Unfortunately I took these 2 pictures immediately finishing it but forgot to take better ones before giving it away.

Crochet Owl Earflap Hats

2016-04-17T12:25:00.000-07:00

These were the first hats I crocheted for my kids for this winter. These two are for the girls, oldest and youngest, and thankfully the older was glad to match the younger. Whew!

I used the Little Hoot Owl Hat Pattern from Ravelry. It was easy to follow. And no, that's not a funny dress the little one is wearing, she was still in her nightie. :)

I made the 1 - 4 year size first intending it to be for the 3 year old, but because my yarn is quite thick (Loops & Threads Impeccable) the first hat came out too big for the 3 yr old. I made both 1 - 4 size, the smaller one made with a 5 mm hook and the bigger one made with a 5.5 mm hook. Next time I would use a 5 mm hook and go up a size for the bigger hat with this yarn.

The eyes on the bigger one are exactly as called for in the pattern but for the smaller hat I played around with them and like the result better. I did 2 rounds hdc in black instead of one, and continued in hdc. I used the Alice Owl Hat pattern on Ravelry as inspiration for these eyes.

The ears took me a while, I did the harder version but once you get the hang of the first two rows it’s not hard. I think it was well worth the result.

The pattern is easy to follow and I am happy with the result. I will use this as the basis for further earflap hats.

Pretty Primavera Flower Baby Blanket

2015-08-18T13:31:00.000-07:00

My sister is having her third baby very soon and with my newly gained confidence in regards to crochet squares from the doll blankets I made my daughters this spring (here and here) I decided to do a slightly larger blanket (ha! so I thought! Try multiple times bigger!) for my soon to be born niece. It was a lot more work than I expected but the yarn I used and the pattern for the squares were a very enjoyable mix. It took me two months, but that was through the summer so sometimes it was just way to hot to crochet in the evenings. Please pardon the ugly carpet in these photos!

I used DK yarn, Sirdar Snuggly Bamboo for the flowers and Berocco Vintage DK for the green and grey. It gave the flowers a nice sheen that made them pop out a bit more from the matte green and grey. I joined them all with a single crochet join.

The only thing that bothered me with the free tutorial on the squares was that while the squares are free, and she tells you that she joined with single crochet I would have had to buy an $8 pattern to do the same border as she did. The pattern is so much because it's for a cushion cover, including a fabric backing that she made with these flowers. I didn't want to pay that just for a border though. I also would have had to buy more yard because I was running low so I just kept it simple with single crochet in grey and then one more single crochet with the pink bamboo.

The blanket is 8 squares by 10 so it's a good size, but that means it can be used on a toddler bed and then as a lap blanket after that so I'm glad it should grow with the child for quite a while.

The tutorial for the Primavera Flowers Granny Square by Dragana Savkov can be found here.