Shhh...it's an affaire!

A CRAFTY AFFAIRE!!!

My mommy and I are taking the trip out to the West Coast in a couple of weeks to help my sister out with her booth at the holiday market!

If you don't know, my sister is the wonderful mastermind over at Try to Keep Up!  She's been putting a whole bunch of news up on her facebook page, so follow along there for the most up to date news!

She's been working hard crocheting her fingers to the bone to get ready for this show, and set up some online shops! Wanna see what kind of goodies she has?

Lots and lots of combinations of infinity scarves and headbands, as well as beautiful snowflake Christmas tree ornaments! Click here to check out more of her goodies!  Here's a secret - I totally made some of those scarves for her! (Sisterly slave labour!!!) So you should definitely buy one because I might have made it :P

If you are in the BC lower main land area, come stop by and visit us!! Look for the West Coast Leslie Designs booth ... we'll look something like this:

If you say you stopped by because you saw this on Envirocraftiness, you'll get a free gift...and by free gift, I mean a high five. 

Not in the lower mainland area? 

If you're in the Edmonton area, check out Modern Sole in Sherwood Park for some of the sweet boot cuffs made by Leslie!

Alright, not in either of those places?! I have good news for you too!  Leslie just opened up an online store at StoreEnvy!! Check out all her goodies here!

Thanks for checking it out! Hope to see you in December for your free high fives!!

Crochet Coffee Cozy - with free pattern

The following is a post that I originally created for Kimberly's "Gift It Good" series over at Bugaboo, Mini, Mr. & Me - to check out more gift ideas, head over there!
 

The Super Simple Coffee Press Cozy

Now you're going to have to be patient with me as I'm not exactly a pro crocheter.  It is pretty easy and super cute, and definitely worth sharing.  And gifting!

Supplies:

Worsted weight yarn of your choice - sorry I didn't measure how much, I made 2 out of a brand new skein that was maybe 146 yards and there was plenty left over!

Size I (5.5mm) or if you have the Susan Bates set they sell at Michael's...the pink one.

Terminology:

Ch - chain

SC - single crochet

Sl - slip stitch

SP - space

Let's go!

Chain 46.  Without twisting the chain, join with Sl in first chain.

Row 1 - *SC in first Ch, Ch skipping next Ch*  repeat * to * and join with Sl in first SC.

Row 2 - Ch 1. *SC in SP, Ch skipping SC* repeat * to * and join with Sl in first SC.

Row 3 - Repeat row 2.

Row 4-20 - *SC in SP, Ch skipping SC* repeat * to * at end of row, Ch 1 and turn work.

Row 21 - Chain 7  (beginning of tab) Turn and SC in Ch, Ch skipping next Ch over length of the tab. *SC in SP, Ch skipping SC* for the remainder of the row.

Row 22-23 - *SC in SP, Ch skipping SC* repeat * to * at end of row, Ch 1 and turn work. (if you lost count...or if I did...you should finish row 23 at the end of the "tab" portion.  If not, add one more row)

Row 24 - 1 SC, Ch 3, Skip 1 SP. *SC in SP, Ch skipping SC* repeat * to * at end of row, Ch 1 and turn work.

Row 25 & 26 - *SC in SP, Ch skipping SC* repeat * to * at end of row, Ch 1 and turn work.

Row 27 - *SC in SP, Ch skipping SC* repeat * to *

Finish & weave in ends.  Slide on coffee press and see where the hole in the tab lines up with the rest of the cozy & sew button on accordingly.

Pattern can be made larger or smaller by chaining more or less stitches to start and by adjusting the number of rows in section 4-20.

This would make a great gift to go along with a coffee cozy and for a personal touch, throw in a couple monogrammed mugs! Check out my super simple tutorial for that with pro-tip here.

   

Crochet FAIL!!

When I saw this little cat house on Pinterest and found out it was made of t-shirt yarn I thought I'd try making one for Amy's cats. (source)

Here's mine:

Looks identical right?

Right?!

LOL.  So much for that! I did need to get rid of the tee-shirts, but I can think of much less labor intensive ways to get rid of a ton of volunteer shirts!

    

Bearded Toque {Movember Hat}

As another Movember fundraiser I made bearded toques (or stocking hats? for you Americans)

I used this pattern, from Ravelry.com.

And then this pattern for the beard - made them in both black and brown!

The biggest difference was that instead of attaching the beard to the toque, I made loops on each side, like Kimberly's mustache post!  This way it's removable and then you just have a nice hat too! 

Thanks for stopping by again! 

Yarntastic February (held over) Fun Twist on Granny Square

Does anyone else have that problem of leftover yarn that you really don't know what to do with? It's not enough to make a new project, but you can't *gasp* throw it out!

Granny square blankets are usually a great way to use up the extra yarn.  However I didn't want to make just any granny square.  So I searched ravelry.com  and found a pattern I loved.  It's called the garden granny square.

And I eventually will make millions of these and then join them into a blanket!

My crocheting really isn't that crooked! I just have to do that blocking thing or whatever it's called to make them lay nice & flat!

Yarntastic February (held over) Baby Blanket!

Alright, so I did do a lot of yarn-y things in February, I just didn't get them done quite early enough to blog about them.  Life has been crazy, and there doesn't seem to be any signs of it slowing down.  This month I teach 14 Zumba classes (including a Zumbathon that I'm planning), 3 muscle sculpt classes, I get to go to Vancouver for my birthday for 5 days to see my sister! AND I cheerleading provincials takes over my life for one weekend (I'm on the provincial board's executive committee).  So that's my excuse for being a terrible blogger!

So here we go with projects!

I made another cro-hooked baby blanket for another co-worker.  (check out the first ones I made here)

I'm not sure how I feel about the colors.  I don't LOVE it, but it's nice enough.

What do you think?  Would you want this for your little baby boy?

Yarntastic February (held over) Baby Hat with Ears

If you're Canadian like me, you might recognize this as a toque!

It's heck-a-cute!

Love it!!

I made it from this pattern on Ravelry

The only thing was that I found the gauge wonky.  I made the smallest size and it turned out pretty big.  Which worked out okay because I have a cute little girl to give it to, but still!  

I will definitely be making more of these!

   

Twin Dragonfly Designs - Self Taught!

Today's featured blogger is Heather from Twin Dragon Fly Designs.  

(is this beanie not the cutest?!)

She decided to teach herself to crochet and clearly has done a wonderful job of it!!

Check out the amazing mug cozies she made! 

And if you really like them, but don't want to learn to crochet, you can buy them in her shop here! (and check out what those cozies are lying on...yup, dragonfly fabric!)

I want to teach myself how to knit one day, and Heather has proven that it is possible to be successful on your own!

Now head over there and show her some love!

Crocheted headbands - Try To Keep Up!

Today's featured yarn-y item comes to us from Leslie at Try to Keep Up!

Leslie made a ton of these adorable headbands! Perfect for winter - and those of us who like to sport a ponytail!

Check her out for more great projects!

February is Yarntastic!!!

As part of my dedication to stashbusting (remember my new years inspiration desktop background) I intend to focus on one different medium a month.  Because I've been a little crochet obsessed lately, February is YARNTASTIC!

This month I'll be sharing a lot of yarn-y ideas with you, both my own projects & those of others!  

If you have any yarn projects you'd like featured, send me an email!

First, a recap of projects I've made in the past!

Brown crocheted scarf!

Baby dress and headband - this one is saved for a sweet little girl that a friend is expecting this summer! 

Crocheted hat & scarf!

Using that leftover yarn...I made these potholders!

Cro-hooked blanket! I'm working on a couple more of these, stay tuned this month to check out the colors!

I'm really looking forward to this and busting some stash! If you have any favorite yarn ideas, let me know!

Knocking things off the Pinterest List!

If you've ever checked out my pin boards, you'll notice that I have one called "Things to make someday."  Pretty self explanatory.

I'm still trying to bust some stash, and with the coming of winter, I'm compelled to play with yarn and crochet.  So with some of the yarn I had left over from making my sister this hat and scarf for Christmas a couple years ago (for pattern & yarn details, click on the link to go to that post!)

And also leftovers from this project from my Craftster days before I had a blog!!

My inspiration were these GORGEOUS hot mats from OneFlewOver's Ravelry project

The colors are great, and even better together! 

The pattern comes from Free Craft Unlimited and can be found here. 

Ready to see mine??

I think I might add little loops on them for hanging...

Unfortunately I made them out of acrylic yarn, so I won't be putting anything too hot on them (ie. Melting = bad)  but they should do.  

The hardest part is folding all the "petals" over.  

I did it wrong the first time, took it apart, and decided to pin it for the second try, which worked well!

I'll definitely be buying some cotton yarn to make more of these - they're really easy and look great!  Maybe once I get rid of most of the yarn I have now (mostly acrylic!)

Thanks for checking it out! If you're interested in more of the things I plan to eventually make, check out my pin board.