Are you tired of baby blankets yet?

I completed another baby blanket for humanitarian aid this week. This time I did a baby boy afghan. It was fun to work on but I confess I'm glad that I'm done with it. This is the third Sideways Shell blanket I've made in the past two months. I've started another blanket using a free pattern called First Love from Red Heart. It's essentially a continuous granny square type pattern. Although the pattern calls for a specific type of Red Heart yarn, I am just using regular worsted weight acrylic yarn in white and a jewel tone multi. I think it will turn out fabulous. I guess we'll see in a couple more weeks. :)



I've also started a couple more headbands (that I posted previously), and I will be taking another class from The Yarn Connection in November. I'll be doing a cabled neckwarmer class. The neckwarmer is pretty cool, but I confess I'm more interested in learning the cable stitch than anything. I also stopped in there yesterday (big mistake) and picked up a lovely pattern for a lace knit scarf and a couple of balls of Cascade 220 wool to make said scarf. Now to get busy before I start collecting patterns and yarn the way I already collect paper & ink. LOL

St. Nick "Magic" Cards

For card club this month we made "Magic" cards. I learned this technique last month at hostess club thanks to Meranda (my SU demo). Yeah, I know, it's kinda funny/weird that I am a consultant for CTMH, yet I have an SU demo. Go ahead and laugh...get it out of your system...after all, my friends do. :) Like I've always said, I'm an equal opportunity shopper. LOL

Okay, back to the topic at hand. You can find the directions for the "magic" card here on SCS. I hope you have as much fun making them as I did. I used the Mistletoe Creative Basics paper pack and the St. Nick stamp set along with Olive & Cranberry Cardstock (all from CTMH). The ribbon I used for the pull tab didn't show up too well in the pictures...imagine that...the sun going right through the sheer ribbon...anyways, it's a cream color. Also hard to see in the pics is that on St. Nick's hat I used Prismaglitter on the band and ball to add a little sparkle. Enjoy!

Knitted Wristlets Pattern

I had a request for the pattern for these and figured I'd just post it here just in case anyone else wants it too. :)

The basic pattern can be found here. The "lace" edge and flower were not part of the pattern. I just felt I needed to add a little bling to them. After all, you know how I am about the bling. ;)

For the lace edge:

Complete pattern according to directions. Using a crochet hook that is suitable for the weight of the yarn you are using, you are going to single crochet, chain two, double crochet, double crochet into every 3rd stitch on the arm end of the wristlet.

For the flower:

Round 1: Chain 5, join into a ring with a slip stitch in first stitch of chain.

Round 2: Chain 3 (counts as first DC), work 9 double crochet in ring, join to top of chain w/slip stitch -- 10 double crochet total

Round 3: **Chain 2, work 3 double crochet in next stitch, chain 2, slip stitch in next stitch** Repeat 5 times (for 5 petals). Fasten off.

I added a button to the center of my flower before stitching it to my wristlets. The flower pattern is also the same one I use when making flowers out of the really thin cotton yarn for my cards and scrapbook pages.

Enjoy!!!

Knitted Wristlets

I made these wristlets or fingerless gloves if you will, so that I could have warm hands AND papercraft this winter. My scraproom is in the basement and even with a space heater keeping my tootsies nice and cozy, my hands often get quite cold. It's thrilling to have completed a project that I get to keep that is just for me. WooHoo!!! I always end up giving away my finished projects. :)

Knitted Headband

Here are the pics of the headband I made in the knitting class that I mentioned previously. I was excited to learn about how to make knitted flowers, but wasn't happy with how it turned out. I'll either try again another time or I will simply stick with crocheted flowers which take a matter of minutes compared to these! Nothing like trying to keep your count when you are casting on 101 stitches. LOL









The headband itself is made using Lion Brand Homespun. The flower is made out of wool. I found the oversized button at Wal-Mart. It was the perfect color of blue to match the blue in the multi-color wool. :)

Christmas Notebooks 2

Here are the final 2 Christmas notebooks. After I prep for tomorrow night's card class I'll move onto making cards that a friend has asked me to make for her booth in an upcoming craft show. I apologize for the bad photo of the ornament one and that the Stickles is still wet....I figured if I didn't get a pic taken and posted, it might not happen for several more days with how busy my week is going to get. Enjoy!

More Baby Blankets

I've really been enjoying playing with my yarn stash and creating baby blankets for our church's humanitarian efforts. It's really been relaxing and fun. I also took part one of a knitting class last week and take part two tomorrow. The class is for making knitted headbands with flowers - you know, the kind that keep your ears warm in the winter. I'll post a pic when I am done with it. :) Anyways, Here are 2 blankets that I have finished and a 3rd that is in progress still.

I created this one for humanitarian and fell in love with the pattern. The pattern is a Project Linus pattern and works up really quick & easy.




I like how well the pattern worked up for the humanitarian blanket that I used the same pattern to make a blanket for my cousin's soon to arrive baby girl. She specifically asked me to use colors that would go in the nursery (red, pink, & brown, with a ladybug theme). I'm not thrilled with the color pooling this yarn did, but it does look rather cool. The picture just doesn't quite do it justice.


This is my blanket that is in progress. It will be another one to be donated. I'm using the same pattern again, but striping the yarn. I find it interesting that even though I am using another multicolor yarn, that I did not get the pooling like I did with the previous blanket. Hmmm. Very interesting.


I also have a pair of wristlets cast on my knitting needles at the moment so that my hands and wrists can stay warm while paper crafting in my basement this winter. Meanwhile, I am having to force myself to stay away from the yarn and play with paper in order to get ready for the craft show next month. *sigh* So many projects and oh so little time!

Christmas Notebooks

I am gearing up for a craft show that is the weekend before Thanksgiving, therefore I have already began to dive into Christmas papers & stamps. I admit it's kinda fun to do Christmas stuff, very festive to say the least. As usual I have altered notebooks purchased in the dollar spot at Michael's. I used CTMH's Mistletoe & Evensong Creative Basics kits for these, along with St. Nick & All The Best Stamp Sets. I really had fun glittering St. Nick! ;)









Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the St. Nick notebook is my favorite. Not sure if I'll be able to sell it or not. I love how it turned out. :)