Sunday, January 26, 2014

Crochet Necklaces

Crochet Necklace


I think the crochet necklaces are very interesting, although a little drab. This is my first attempt at making one on my own. Next time I'll try a smaller hook and a daintier pattern, but I'm pleased with my first necklace. What do you think? I didn't write down the pattern for this one. It's a simple shell pattern punched up with some beads and jewelry findings. I'll be sure to write down the pattern next time!

Happy Hippos!


During the end of the summer last year I discovered the Happypotamas crochet pattern by Heidi Bears and fell in love with the idea of making my own Happy Hippo. I bought the pattern and was quickly overwhelmed by the amount of hexagons and pentagons that were needed, but I picked up my hook-n-yarn and decided I was going to crochet on! I tried out some different color combinations, but found it difficult to get it just right and so I had to put my Happypotamus pattern away for awhile. Sad, I know... But as it happens I have a beautiful niece who is a talented little dancer and for their final number in her Christmas recital they danced to Gayla Peevey's version of "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" and guess who wanted a happy hippo of her own. So I raced back to my pattern and pumped out all the many hexagons and pentagons I needed and then came the daunting task of putting them all together. Even though the directions were well written, I still managed to put them together wrong a couple of times and had to take it apart. After rereading the directions I finally got it all put together, stuffed, added eyes and put in a box just hours before it was time for her to open it..
Whew! Talk about last minute gifts. :)

My hippo is very large; she almost took up the whole table!




My niece riding her Happy Hippo :)

This pattern can be purchased from Heidi Bears' website here. She also gives great tutorials on how to achieve success with the many versions of the african flower motif. 


Saturday, January 25, 2014

Stylish and Funny Hats!

Who doesn't love crochet hats? They are fun and fast projects that get lots of use during the cold winter months, and recently crafters have been very creative and keep coming up with the cutest designs. I am very fond of all the owl hats, however I haven't made any yet. I'm leaving that all up to my dear friend April, who makes beautiful owlies.
This one is my favorite!

A favorite beanie I've made for myself in the last year is from the Cross-over Long DC pattern. I added some rows of single crochet to break up the overall pattern and added a fun flower to the side.



The yarn also has some sparkle to it, because girls love a little sparkle. Its almost too cute to wear. I made a second mini-one too worn by little miss Jaelyn.
Such a cutie!
The Cross-over Long DC Hat is a free pattern from CrochetN'Crafts available here.


Elm Leaves Scarf

                         

 This is one of my favorite knits. Its great for the fall months when its a bit chilly outside! The leafs knit up fast and fun to arrange together. 

After making about 30 of these leaves (10 in each color) I played around with them and found many ways to make it into a scarf. The picture above displays the one I chose, but I've included pictures of a couple different ways you could sew them together.






The pattern is the Veined Leaf by Cynthia Combs and is available for free here.

Everything Great starts out Scary

                    So it is with Life, Love, and Blogging



 I've always been creative girl and loved making things. I 
learned how to knit from my Grandma Bradley, who is an 
amazing woman with endless patience. I treasure those memories now, and smile at the frustrated teenager that watched in agony as my grandma would take rows and rows out of my never ending first afghan. I made it through that first big project and my love affair with everything yarn began. I taught myself to crochet and embroider. I learned how to create and write patterns of my own and shared them with close family and friends. I'm branching out and sharing them with you now, I hope you enjoy everything I have to offer. 

I love comments so please contribute! I just ask to keep it clean and classy.

You can also email me: blairbradley07@gmail.com is my spot on the web!