flower stitch sampler granny square tutorial!

flower stitch sampler granny square

While noodling around last night I came up with a granny square variation which, to my knowledge (and according to the current Ravelry database) has not been published before, so I thought I’d share it with you guys!  I think it’s pretty fun — it uses a few special stitches (hence the “stitch sampler” in the name) such as the 2-dc cluster, the puff stitch, & the popcorn stitch, all of which are explained in the tutorial.  It would make a fun blanket, scarf, hat, or whatever else you’d use a normal granny square for!

The above examples were worked using Stylecraft Special DK scraps.  The bright one used a G/6 hook, the purple-y one used an H/8 hook.

Click here for the free tutorial!

I hope you like it.  🙂  Let me know if you use this for anything — I’d love to see what you make!

new beginner’s guide!

Have friends or family members that are interested in crocheting but don’t know where to start?  Send them here!  This new page will explain everything they need to know to get started successfully with thought-out steps, tips, & resources.

so you want to learn to crochet 2

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!

hats for clients

My boss also crochets and had the great idea that we use some of our easy-care stash yarn to make hats for our clients, who often don’t have the money to buy themselves things like that for the winter.  We both got really busy though, and didn’t get to make as many as we would have liked.  I’ve made 13 and my goal was about 30 or so.  Fortunately, one of our interns also crochets and she attends a church that has a knitting/crocheting group, and they all pitched in to help, too.  Now we have enough hats and scarves for all of the clients!  Here are the 13 I made:

IMG_4658

I’ve actually got a couple more hats for them that I’d knitted previously and just don’t want (I mean, how many hats can I really make for myself?), but these are the ones I made specifically for this purpose.  I’m glad there will be enough for everybody!

Well that’s all for today.  I need to get crackin’ on my last Christmas gift.  See you soon, and thanks for stopping by!  Oh and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

Yoshi’s Woolly World amiibo

If the title sounds like a foreign language, let me explain.  Yoshi’s Woolly World is a video game recently released by Nintendo for the Wii U console.  Like the Kirby’s Epic Yarn game, everything is made out of knitted, crocheted, or sewed items in the game.  Bridges and jump pads are made out of granny squares, and the grass is made out of garter stitch fabric.  It’s super colorful, adorable, and it looks really fun (and needless to say I am THRILLED to see knitting and crochet in a popular form like this, and they seemed to have done some research for it)!

The game is about $50, so I haven’t got that yet (although I’d like it, and it’ll be the first game I’ve bought for myself in years), but the amiibos are around $14.

Amiibos are little figurines of game characters made by Nintendo (ranging from old to new characters, and originating from various companies) that have a chip in the base that your current generation Nintendo consoles can read when you put the amiibo on top of the controller.  They allow you to get extra characters or abilities, etc. in a variety of Nintendo games, and some of them have become highly collectible, going for $100 or more on Ebay (or even so collectible that you can’t find them at all).

Most of the amiibos are made from plastic, but the ones that go with Yoshi’s Woolly World are actually made of yarn, and Chris managed to find one for me before they all sold out!  Check him out:

Yoshi's Woolly World amiibo

Isn’t he cute?!?!  The only color available was pink but I love it.  Some of them I believe look like little crocheted amigurumi dolls but this is the only one I’ve seen in real life so far.  He doesn’t come with a plastic base like most other amiibos but he connects with the controllers like all the others!

Yoshi's Woolly World amiibo

So I know this might seem silly if you aren’t a video game fan, but ya gotta admit that’s the cutest yarn-y baby dinosaur you’ve ever seen, right?  😀

Well that’s all for today, thanks for stopping by!  When I eventually get the game, I’ll post some screen shots so you can see. 🙂

honeymoon yarn haul!

yarn shop happiness!

My husband Chris and I honeymooned in Asheville, NC.  It’s a beautiful mountain town with lots of great shopping and dining and sightseeing, and we went right as the leaves were turning colors on the Blue Ridge Parkway (a very scenic drive).

Of course I saw a yarn store and we HAD to go in and buy celebratory yarn:

malabrigo yarn

The yarn winder in the store got clogged with lint so we left before they wound the last ball of the Malabrigo Sock (100% Merino) in colorway 121 Marte.  The bright yarn to the right is Malabrigo Rios (a worsted yarn that’s also 100% Merino) in colorway 850 Archangel.  Below that is more Rios in colorway 043 Plomo.

Malabrigo yarn is great, and I don’t get a chance to buy it in person very often, so I was very happy to find this store!  I have plans for the worsted already but the sock was an impulse buy.  Fortunately I’ve already made a Christmas gift out of it (which I can’t share yet) and am also working on a cowl with the leftovers.

The yarn shop also had Mirasol Yarns, and I REALLY wanted to buy some Nuna and Llama Una, but I figured I’d spent enough on the 9 Malabrigo skeins, so I’ll save those for another time (but by golly were they SUPER DUPER soft)!

Well, that’s all for today, I’ll show more about what these yarns turn into soon. Thanks so much for stopping by!  Let me know if you’ve tried Malabrigo before, and what you think!