❤ Noro ❤

My obsession love of all things Noro continues…

I love the textures, long colorways, and pure joy I derive from working with their amazing yarns. I love looking on Ravelry to see what other people are creating using Noro, I Love looking  at boards on Pinterest to see even more Noro completed projects. I love typing in the hashtag Noro Yarns on Tumblr too, to see all the colorful knit and crochet creations that have been made using Noro.

It is at the top of my list of go-to-yarns.  If you haven’t experienced Noro, I recommend picking up a skein and give it a go…Very therapeutic after a long workday. I repeat, I L-O-V-E this Yarn ❤

My latest project; Caplet, featured in Noro magazine, Spring 2013, by Designer; Kazekobo, aka Yoko Hatta is made using (3) balls of Noro Silk Garden Light in the colorway #2088 and a G size crochet hook. 

This project is intended for my dear Mother, who will turn the big eight-o this year.

She is a darling and I can’t wait to see her expression when she opens the package.

I wish her many years of enjoyment wearing this cozy, warm piece.

I’m currently working up another crochet piece from the same magazine, “Butterfly Sleeve Dress” using Noro Silk Garden Sock.  I’ve piles of crochet squares that need to be sewn together before I post pics.  Soon, I hope!

some patterns are just magic...

I recently learned some wonderful news, we have another great niece or nephew on the way.

How lucky are we that our family keeps growing!  My lovely niece Hailey is expecting her first child.  Now what is a great auntie to do when the parents to be are not going to find out if it is a boy or girl?  Why create two blankets of course.  I’m knitting a pink basket weave patterned blanket for a little girl.  I’ve knit the pattern numerous times so a pink version will be a fun easy knit.  For a baby boy? 

I found this adorable pattern ‘all star blanket’ by designer Doris Chan to crochet.

The yarn is elsebeth lavold Eucool that I've in stash.  The colors; blue, red, tan and creame for the squares and brown for the connecting rows and trim.

 The magic of this pattern is how the shapes of the individual squares change with every round; Round one a circle, round two creates the star, round three a circle again and round four the square shape that will make up the blanket. 

Magic!  

I'm thinking 30x30, so I'll need about 36 squares.  I’m loving watching it progress.  Stay tuned for the ta-da…

oh chapeau

Did you notice the change this morning?  It really felt like fall!  The outside air so crisp and clear.  The perfect time for hats...  

abbey, zoe, libby, mara and sam model their new hats

My girls insisted that I make them each a new one and with that, I worked up a crochet hat pattern using noro sock, oh how I love noro sock yarn.  So pretty, long colorways, the texture is rustic and soft at the same time…If any of your blythe girls are in need of a new hat, the pattern is below...have fun!

Blythe doll Chapeau

Construction

Crochet

Abbreviations

ss…slip stitch

sc…single crochet

hdc…half double crochet

st…stitch

sts…stitches

Gauge

7 stitches and 7 rows = 1”
Finished Size 9-1/2” circumference at hat band and 3” tall

Difficulty

Easy

Material

Sock yarn- stash is good! I used Noro silk garden sock in the color way 269

Equipment

Crochet hook size 3.5/E

Darning needle (for sewing in ends)

Pattern

Create an adjustable loop and sc 6 into the loop.

R1: 2 sc into each stitch around (12)

R2: (2 sc into the 1^st st, 1 sc into the next st) (18)

R3: (2 sc into the 1^st st, 1sc into each of the next 2 sts) (24)

R4: (2 sc into the 1^st st, 1 sc into each of the next 3 sts) (30)

R5: (2 sc into the 1^st st, 1 sc into each of the next 4 sts) (36)

R6: (2 sc into the 1^st st, 1 sc into each of the next 5 sts) (42)

R7: (2 sc into the 1^st st, 1 sc into each of the next 6 sts) (48)

R8: (2 sc into the 1^st st, 1 sc into each of the next 7 sts) (54)

R9-R16: sc into each stitch around

R17: sc around and decrease 4 stitches evenly

R18-19 sc around

R20: hdc around

R21: (2 hdc into the 1^st st, 1 hdc into the next st) around

R22-24: hdc into each st around

R25: (2 hdc into the 1^st st, 1 hdc into the next stitch) around

R26: sc around

R27: ss into each st around

Finishing

Break yarn. Use a darning needle to sew in ends.

a bit of cozy for the girls

I found an adorable little bed frame that came with a mattress and pillow inserts on the bay and I thought they’d be perfect for a makeover.

Zoe and middie girl hanging out

After a good cleaning and light sanding, I spray painted the bed frame off-white.

Then once I had the dimensions, I made a dust ruffle out of a bit of stash cotton fabric.

The mattress and 2 pillow covers are sewn from a set of cloth napkins I purchased from the Rachel Ashwell collection (love the little flowers). The accent pillows are knit with crochet trim out of bits of Noro left over from the bedspread.  

The bedspread is crochet, single crochet using Noro silk garden sock yarn.  The fringe was added for a bit of whimsy. 

 Zoe seems to like sleeping on her new bed way more than the box she was put away in. haha… Such a fun little project and I’m glad to see that she is willing to share too! 

crochet for my girls

Hi, say hello to Abbey, Zoe and Libby, my sweet little Blythe girls.

I have to tell you that making things for them to wear is so much fun!

With the weather here in sunny So. Cal so fine, I thought they each could use

a new dress, so I headed over to ravelry and found a versatile pattern that I really like. Amanda Carey wrote the pattern and it is available for free, with my modifications here.  Enjoy your weekend! 

❤ finally it's fall ❤

Finally, it feels like the season has changed from summer to fall here in Sunny So Cal.  When I woke up to rain on Friday, and gusty winds on Saturday, I knew it was ok to bring out the cozy warm garments from storage and I couldn’t be happier.  I love the beautiful fall colors, the smell of clean crisp air and the sound of crunchy leaves as I take my daily walk.

In celebration I decided I needed to make a new hat and chose to make a beret. I found this cute, easy to follow crochet pattern; Dynamite Beret by Jaime Eads Maraia from her e-book; Fancy-Schmancy (available on Amazon) or her website.

Dynamite Beret

Made with Madelinetosh DK (My favorite yarn) in the color Wicked (hehe).

                                       

                                                            ❤ Enjoy your weekend ❤

Wrap me up in Maddie

I know, I know I’m forever talking about Madelinetosh yarns.

So soft, cushy and just plain fun to work with.  Oh, and the colors, absolutely gorgeous! I just can’t seem to get enough. This crochet wrap used three skeins of the dk weight in the color maple leaf. 

Pattern from Red Boot Yarn Works shop on etsy.

The buttons are vintage from my stash.

It worked up so quickly that I’d like to make another! 

Model; Daughter Kristi

8.14 Seeing stars

Starfish dishcloths that is...Love making these.

Feeling like doing a bit of crochet?

If so, here is a super fun project.  The Starfish dishcloth, Pattern by May Ann Fritz.

I used Lily Sugar n Cream in the Colors Aqua and Cream.

Size I crochet hook.

Fun,

Easy,

Quick,

Satisfying and oh so useful too!

Play it again

If you love a pattern and how it turns out, make it again, right?
I was curious how a pair of toast would knit up using lace weight yarn. Pattern by Leslie. I cast 30 stitches of Malabrigo lace onto my size  3 square dp needles.  I had so much fun watching as the knit fabric unfolded to reveal its silky soft texture.  And I do mean soft.  This pair of toast should have no problem doing as the name implies, keeping the wearer nice and warm.  I’m almost done and plan to gift to my daughter Kristi.  Hope she likes them.

I also worked on a bit of crochet using Madeline tosh DK yarn and a size I hook. This is my second Calm Cowl. Pattern by Suzana.  Such a quick satisfying project. My niece Nicole liked the first one so much I happily let her have it.

check out some amazing Creativity over here

As snug as a

Why as snug as an iPad2 in its very own cozy cover.  Just finished sewing on the button closure and wanted to share how happy I am with the results of this project.  After making up 34 crochet squares and 2 of the odd shaped ones I sewed them together in strips of six and then attached the strips to each other.  I blocked the piece and once dried, I added two rows of single crochet around the edge with the 2^nd row having a button loop at one corner.  I can now slide the iPad into my purse without worrying about it being banged around with all the other stuff I carry on any given day.   Thank you Olivia for such a great pattern.

Sweet...

A new gadget and I have to wonder how it will change and/or improve my current process of knitting/crochet, photography and blogging. Getting what I asked for on my B’day was very exciting and yes, I’ve wanted the IPad for sometime now, and now that I have it, I’ve a learning curve to climb.  Like all of the new tech items I’ve added to my bag of tools, the time it takes to research and learn the ‘how tos’ seems to take eons.  And then, tada, I get it and think how did I ever live without… Since I’m in the infancy stage of learning how the IPad will be of benefit, I thought why not create a cute cozy for it? 

I found this great crochet pattern from Olivia over on gingerschatz. I pulled out a skein of RDWD, Oleander base in the color Time for tea. I'll need to crochet 34 of these little squares.  I'm at about the half way mark. Once finished, I can safely tuck away my IPad and slide it into my purse.  

Stay tuned as I learn more about apps, etc. I’ll share. One quick Google search landed me at Anotherlongyarn, where Zina has done a bit of research on the topic. How about you?  Do you use an iPad? I'd love to hear your thoughts.  Have a great weekend.

A Wedding...

My sister Kathleen's Wedding is but a mere two weeks away from today.  So exciting! I’ve been busy putting the final touches to the ring bearers’ pillow and the flower girls basket that I made for this special event. Tommy, my grand nephew will carry the knit pillow. It is made up using two 8x8 stockinette squares that are sewn together and then a scalloped crochet edging was added.

Madeline, my grand niece will carry the flower girl basket. I crocheted the basket using a pattern sent to me by the lovely Maaike, She had showcased the basket she made for her Wedding on her blog Crejjtion a while ago and I wrote and asked her for the pattern.  She graciously wrote it down and sent it to me.  Thank you and hugs Maaike!  I can’t wait to see the little ones carrying these down the isle.

Both items were made using Rowan Siena 4-ply cotton yarn.

❤ ❤ ❤

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤    

It was a beautiful morning for a beach walk.  November finds little in the way of crowds, unless you count these guys.

The storm has passed and the fresh sea air was invigorating. I always feel so much better once I’ve been.

Earlier this week, I was over visiting one of my favorite crochet blogs, Le monde de Sucrette and enjoyed reading Angies post and tutorial about how to create these adorable little Christmas stockings.

I’ve had great fun whipping up a few using a bit of stash yarn. The instructions are well written and very easy to follow.  Thank you Angie, once again, for your generosity in sharing the ‘how to’ for yet another awesome crochet project.  I’m off to look for embellishments. ❤ ❤ ❤

GGS - FO

My Giant granny square is officially a finished object, Hooray!
It seems like this project was on the hook forever.  Little did I know, when I joined Le Monde de Sucrette’s CAL, that I’d be staying a while.  All in all, I enjoyed the time invested in this project and it was very easy on the brain. While working on the edge I’d have it on my lap/legs and enjoy the warmth.

Stats;
45 rounds
5 colors of Vanna’s Choice yarn; white, dusty series- green, purple, cream and taupe using a size J hook.
1 round of single crochet prior to adding the Chain stitch loop edging,

I learned how to work the Loop Edging from the tutorial posted on Crochetspot, thank you Robin.

Be sure to check out the other finished Giants over on Flickr,
and a big shout out; Thank you Angie for a great CAL!

Nap Time...