WIP Wednesday: Baby Bib & Amigurumi

My order from 6060.etsy.com for safety eyes got here last Friday! I was so excited because I was going to be able to finish my amigurumi! Then I ran out of stuffing so I had to go get more and I had a busy weekend so it took the whole weekend but I finally finished them up Monday. So expect pictures of those up on my blog for this weeks FO Friday! I wanted to share what I bought! I got 12mm eyes- 4 packs (25 pairs each) so I have 100 pairs of those. I bought a lot because most of Stacey's amigurumi use 12mm eyes and they were the only ones that came in packs of 25 pairs for $6 so it was cheaper than buying the packs of 5. I also got one pack of 12 mm eyes which  have white around the black that came with 5 pairs and one pack with brown around the black also12mm and 5 pairs. Those two were over $3 and I actually found the brown ones at my local craft store for cheaper so I know now if I need more brown it will be cheaper to buy them there next time. The last thing I bought were 18mm black eyes. I bought one pack that came with 10 pairs for $6. I payed $40 including the shipping cost so I thought that was pretty good but if anybody knows of come other place to buy for cheaper that would be great too! Of course I will buy from her again she was very friendly and the shipping was super fast only 3 days so I highly recommend checking out her store if your interested in buying safety eyes.

Moving on I am working on a new pattern which is Nelson the Owl also from Stacey Trock. You can find this pattern on her etsy store here. I actually decided to do the head first and sew on all the parts because I just couldn't wait to see what it looked like so I just finished that. I will be working on the body and hopefully get that done for this weeks FO Friday but if not it will be on next week for sure.


Last but not least I am working on finishing this baby bib. I got the pattern free on Down Cloverlaine's blog. She has tons of great patterns for baby bibs and washcloths. I am working on making them all. I already made three others which I talked about in my post here. This is one of her latest patterns and I just had to make it because this bunny is super cute! I used Sugar n' Cream 100% cotton yarn. I have been using I love this cotton yarn brand on the other bibs I was making and I did notice that this yarn helps the design stand out better. So I think I might start making them with this yarn more even though I already bought several balls of the other yarn so I will probably still use them anyway.



If you are interested looking at more works in Progress be sure and check out these blogs below:
Tami, Ginny, & Nicole

Ipod/Cell/Camera Cases

Okay so starting this week my blog is going to be a little different then it has been in the past. I will be posting three times a week instead of every couple of days like I have been doing. I will post on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. For the Wednesday and Friday post I got the idea from Tami's Blog. She has a post called WIP Wednesdays which stands for Work in Progress Wednesdays and people link their post to hers about projects they are working on, mostly knitting and crocheting. Then she has FO Fridays meaning Finished Object Friday where people can link up their finished projects also. I liked this idea because I feel like its more organized so I decided to start doing it last week so check them out: 

WIP Wednesday: Amigurumi 

FO Friday: Dishcloths

Monday's post will be pretty random. I might share projects that I did a while ago or maybe supplies I just bought that I was excited about or anything else that pops up on my mind. Anyway here are some knitted cases I made at the beginning of last year!

I really enjoy making these small cases. They are not complicated at all and are finished really quickly. Since they are so small its easy to take them anywhere so I can work on them when I'm not at home. I used Caron Simply Soft on all of them. The patterns are from the book The Complete Photo Guide to Knitting by Margret Hubert. The patterns are: (top left) Slip Stitch 2, (top right) Slip Stitch 1, (middle) Rib 2x2, (bottom left) Woven Ribbons, (bottom right) Garter and Rib. 

FO Friday: Dishcloths

Okay so I went a little crazy knitting dishcloths a couple weeks ago and I think its time I show them off so here they are. I started knitting about 10 years ago and just last month was the first time I knit a dishcloth. I know people have mix feelings about them. Some people don't like knitting them for whatever reason while others like them because they can try out new patterns without doing a big project. That's the reason I decided to start making them and once I started I kind of couldn't stop. Most of these are made with really simple patterns but all except for two I had never done before. So I had fun making them and thinking of future projects I would like to make using the patterns. All of the patterns are from the book 400 Knitting Stitches by Potter Craft unless otherwise noted and I used Bernat Handicrafter Cotton. I bought the 14oz ball so so its enough to try out tons of new patterns!

Beaded Rib Stitch 

Raised Diamonds Stitch

textured Stripes Stitch from book 99 Knit Stitches by Leisure Arts.

Cluster Rib Stitch from the book 99 Knit Stitches by Leisure Arts. 

Seersucker Stitch. I used Sugar n' Cream yarn. 

Star Stitch from the book The Complete Photo Guide to Knitting by Margret Hubert. I used Sugar n' Cream yarn. 

Semi-Woven Lattice Stitch from the book 99 Knit Stitches by Leisure Arts

Parallelograms Stitch

Stocking and Garter Stitch Rectangles 

Staggered Interrupted Rib Stitch

Diamond Brocade Stitch 

Bamboo Reed from the book The Complete Photo Guide to Knitting by Margret Hubert.

Moss Stitch

Check out more Finished Objects on Tami's Blog!

Check out other creations here!

Check out other Fiber Arts Here!

WIP Wednesday: Amigurumi

 This week I am working on two things for the most part. My grandmother's tatted doily which I talk about here and amigurumi. The two amigurumi from my last post are not completed yet but will be soon because I placed an order for eyes this morning. I ordered from 6060.etsy.com and should be getting them sometime next week so for now I am just going to crochet more. I can never just work on one so I have two I was doing at the same time.

  I am almost finished with M. Richard the Whale designed by Stacey Trock. This pattern was free on the martingale website here along with an interview with Stacey Trock. I need to wait for the eyes to get here so I can put them in place, add the stuffing, finish crocheting and its done. I used Caron Simply Soft in Soft Blue.
  The second one I have a little bit more work to do. Its Peanut the Elephant from Stacey Trock's book Crocheted Softies. I have all of the parts except for the eyes so I still have a lot of sewing to do. I'm so glad that I crocheted them just like Stacey through the back loop because that makes the sewing so much quicker. I again used Caron Simply Soft but this time in white and Grey Heather.
  As you can see these two are close to being finished so I did start some others. I started the shell for Milton the Slowpoke Snail and I also have some parts of Shermin the Alpaca finished. Both of these are from Stacey Trock's book Crocheted Softies.
  For more WIP Wednesdays check out Tami's Blog and for more yarn along's check out Ginny. Also check out Nicole.

Amigurumi: Woodland Animals

Ok so I get obsessed with different craft items very easily. This month had been all about tatting until I was looking online for craft books. I have been wanting to learn to do Amigurumi which is basically crocheted stuffed animals for a while now and I found a couple of books I really liked but decided to go for the Crocheted Softies by Stacey Trock because they were big stuffed animals. I decided to look her up to see what else I could find about her stuffed animals online and I found even more stuffed animals. She sells her patterns so you can make your own, she sells already made stuffed animals for those who don't crochet, and she also sells kits that include a pattern and the yarn you need to make the stuffed animal. She has a couple e-books and another book Cuddly Crochet which I will be getting very soon.
For those who don't know about Craftsy.com its a website where you can find tons of patterns and take classes for different crafts. They have classes for knitting, crocheting, quilting, sewing, and even gardening. Stacey Trock teaches two classes on that website for $14.99 which I thought was a good deal because it includes four patterns that you can only get by taking this course. She teaches how to make a blue bird, a bear, a deer, and a raccoon. The course is called Amigurumi: Woodland Animals. She also has another class in which she teaches you how to make your own creations. I started taking this class a couple days ago and have finished crocheting two of the animals, the blue bird and the bear, all that's missing is the eyes. I highly recommend anyone wanting to learn Amigurumi to take this because she teaches all the things you need to know in order to do it and she gives helpful tips. I'm glad I took this class because now that my book has arrived I am prepared to make all of the animals. I am currently working on sewing and stuffing the animals. If you are interested in learning more about Stacey Trock and her stuffed animals you can find her in all the following: On ravelry, etsy, craftsy, twitter, facebook and her website.

Work in Progress: Tatted Motif Doily

In another post I talked about a purple doily I was making for my grandmother. I realized that I would probably only complete one of them so I thought about making a simpler one that I could make set of at least six of them. I was looking at my mothers tatted doilies that she bought years ago in Mexico and saw that they were made with small motifs that were attached. So I thought that would be a lot faster to make. 

I looked through a lot of books looking for a simple one or two row motif that would work. Looking through the book Tatting theory and patterns by Jan Stawasz, which is the same book I got the purple doily from, I found this motif above. It was actually part of a larger doily that had 19 of these attached to make the center of the doily. I liked how it was only one row but it was a big enough size that if I made it using only nine motifs it wouldn't be too small. Each motif is about two inches. 

After working on it for about 2 days I have five motifs done and am working on the sixth of the first doily. This is so far about 7 inches across . After completing the sixth motif I will add two more to make it into a diamond shape. At least that's the plan so far. I tend to change my mind a lot so you never know what it will end up looking like. I have also considered doing an edging on it but I'm not sure about that either. 

Besides this being my first motifs tatted doily. I am also using a new thread and thread size. I had only worked with Aunt Lydia's crochet thread and Lizbeth thread when tatting and only in size's 10 and 20. But while at my local craft store I saw this above which is DMC Cebelia in size 30. They also carry size 10 and 20 but since I am making several doilies I thought it would be less expensive to buy this in a smaller size since that also means it has more yards per ball. Each of these is $5.99 and the size 30 has 563 yards plus I used a coupon so it was cheaper. If I got the size 20 that has 415 yards which is still pretty good and my only other option was Lizbeth which they only have size 20 at my local store and those have only 210 yards per ball for $3.99 each so I would have to buy more of those and spend more money and they didn't have any white which is what I wanted. It might not be the same and I'm new to tatting so I can't really tell a lot of difference but I like how it looks and feels so far I haven't had any problems so I'm glad I got it. I saw online that they have other colors so I might end up getting some of those since my local store only has it in white. 

Happy Mother's Day!

I've been tatting a lot lately so I thought since I didn't have enough time to finish my cross stitch Mother's day gift I would make her a tatted bookmark. She had also been asking for one so it was a fast replacement gift. I did show her the towel so she knows she will be getting that also as soon as its finished. Here is the tatted bookmark I made her using Lizbeth thread in this new color I got which is Dusty Rose Lt. Pink is her favorite color so it was perfect. The pattern I got from the book A new twist on tatting by Catherine Austin. I did mine a little different because the outer edge of my bookmark was actually the inner part on hers and hers was more of an edging which I made into a bookmark. I still need to block it but after that its finished. 

Works in Progress: Cross Stitch Towel

I recently started getting interested in learning how to cross stitch. My mother doesn't know how so I had to find out another way. I remember a couple of months ago my mother's friend tried teaching her how to do it and I was there paying some attention so I knew how to do the basic stitches but I needed to know how to start and finish. I found some videos on YouTube which somewhat helped me so I was ready to get started. But like everything else I started a couple of different projects and haven't really worked on any of them so I didn't have any to show on here. I know its a bad habit but I can't help it. 

This time I started yet another project. It was supposed to be my mother's day present for my mom but its taking me a long time to complete especially because I can only work on it for a while in the afternoons. Its a towel and picture above shows the design that will be on the towel. My mom has been asking me to make her one so I know she will really like it. In the picture below you can see how much I have done so far after a couple of days of work. I was getting tired of working with the blues because some are so light they blend in with the towel so I started one of the flowers and only finished half of the butterfly. I hope to finish it in about two weeks even though it will probably take longer.

Work in Progress: Tatted Doily 2

I am going to be visiting my grandmother this summer. She loves crocheting doilies and she gives my mother and I some every time we go visit. So I thought it would be nice to make her something. Instead of making her a crochet doily which she could make herself I decided it would be a better idea to make her a tatted doily. She doesn't know how to tat so I know she will really like it. 

I looked online and in books to find a doily that looked really pretty and wasn't to complicated since I'm not an expert at tatting. I found one which I liked a lot and its 11 rows so its a good size. Its from the book Tatting theory and patterns by Jan Stawasz. I have done 3 rows so far. I just started working on it and I think it wont take me too long to finish which is good because it needs to be completely finished in less than two months. I'm using Lizbeth thread in Antique Violet Medium which I just bought two balls of and I couldn't resist and got another color which is Ocean turquoise dk. 

First Finished Tatted Doily!

I have been crocheting a lot recently which is somewhat surprising to me because even though I know how to crochet very well I usually don't do a lot of it. I am more into knitting. I have a couple of crochet projects to show but haven't gotten around to photographing them yet because I want to block them first. Its going to be my first time trying to block them so I hope it goes well. 

But I do have something to show right now that I completed last night and its my first completely finished tatted doily! I know I showed a different doily I was working on in another post which by the way I haven't worked on since but like I showed in another post I have new Lizbeth thread and couldn't help but start another project. I was so excited with it that I actually completed this one first. Mostly because it was only four rows. The pattern is from The Ultimate Book of Tatted Doilies by Annie's Attic. It's Square Doily #4 designed by Denise Giles. Its very small but very pretty. I already have my eye on a couple others from this same book so hopefully I will have those to show soon. I used Lizbeth thread in dark sea green which is number 688 and its needle tatted. Now that its finished it measures 4 inches across so you can imagine how small it really is so I am actually thinking of adding a couple of more rows. I am thinking at least 4 more in order to make it a nice size but I haven't decided if I will or not. 

Finished Baby Bib

Some time ago I found a blog with lots of baby bibs which you can find here. I just love all the patterns. As some of you might know I love knitting baby items but I haven't really gotten into baby bibs until now even though I did a different one before which I showed in my post here. I have completely finished three of the patterns and am working on making more. They are so much easier to knit that the one I did before. The pattern includes two different ways to begin. One is the traditional way in which you cast on stitches for the first couple of rows to make it the size it needs to be. The second way is knitting in short rows and is the one I like best because it give a nice round look at the bottom of the bib. For this method you cast on all the stitches at the beginning but only work some of the stitches and turn until you have all of them knitted.  

This first bib is the Baby Starfish. I used the brand I love this cotton sold at Hobby Lobby. Its much softer than the sugar n cream and since I needed to use cotton I went for the softer choice. I made this one using the color Aqua. I used a size 5 needle on this one for the bib and size 7 double pointed needles for the i-cord. It was also my first time making the i-cord. I like how she didn't just make it with the starfish but also added a nice border to make it look like water. This one has a garter stitch border and its one of the few because most of the ones I have seen are using moss stitch. The color choice is good for both girl or boy. 

This second one is the pattern Hippity Hop. The first of three bunny patterns that she has. This one also uses the garter stitch border. I used the I love this cotton brand again but this time in the color Rosy. For this one instead of using a size 5 needle I used size 4 to make the stitches tighter. The i-cord is also made using the size 4 needle. This one if for a girl obviously because of the color but I think the pattern also works better for girls. 

This last one is the cupcake pattern. I  used the I love this cotton brand again in color aqua. One ball is enough for two bibs and there is even some left over. This one also has a nice border. Here the moss stitch border is used instead of the garter stitch. I really like this one for the baby's first birthday. I would use it for a boy but the color would be good for a girl as well. I used a size 5 needle for the bib and size 7 for the i-cord the same as the first bib.