Fairy House For a Friend

I have the most amazing woman as one of my best friends.  I have no idea how I would have survived this past year without her.  She and her husband have become an important part of our family.  This past mothers day I wanted to do something special for her because she has helped me to become a better mother.  A while back she had tagged me on Facebook with a link to another page with the most darling fairy teapot that had been crochet.  ( what is the past tense for crochet?  anyone know?)  Here is the link:  adorable crochet fairy teapot.

I decided to make one for her.  The only problem was that the website was completely in Russian.  Now, while I do know a few Russian words, none of them helped me with this pattern.  Google translate was no help either.  So I decided to wing it.

I learned a lot about what to do and what not to do for next time.  And there will be a next time since my daughter really wants one now.  My favorite part was making the teeny tiny flowers.  They are no bigger than a dime!

Aren't they adorable!!

Unfortunately I was in a time crunch and didn't take the time to write down what I was doing.  This week I am going to take a bit of time and make a few more and write down the pattern so I can share it here.  I'm trying to think up another use for them besides decorating teapots. But,  the good news is that I was able to deliver the gift to my friend in time for Mother's Day, and she loved it!

Sometimes the best part of crafting is the giving of it to others,  Have you gifted any special projects recently?

You can follow me on Bloglovin' and I am linking up with Crafting On at Frontier Dreams and Yarning Along at Little Room of Rachel.

Hotel of Bees Crochet Along

 I finally participated in my very first crochet along, or CAL for short.  If you have never heard of one of these, they are very fun.  Usually a person or group of people decide to host the CAL ( there are also KAL for knitters).  The host chooses a pattern, then sets beginning and ending dates and invites others to join them.. Thanks to the wonders of the internet people from all over the world can be crocheting the same pattern at the same exact time.  There is usually a space to share pictures, ask questions, and basically interact with each other if you want.

I recently stumbled on to Cherry Hearts blog and her podcast.  It was there that I heard about the CAL.  She chose to do the Hotel of Bees pattern by Christina Hadderingh.  The shawl is based upon a setting from the book All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr.  She explains more about the shawl on her blog A Spoon Full of Yarn.

 The pattern is very enjoyable to to do.  It has different stitches and colors involved.  The stitches all reference bees in some way.  In the above picture you can see I started with "wings" followed by small honeycomb.  Then there's "bees" made out of puff stitches followed by more honeycomb in filet crochet.

 Here's a much better picture while I was blocking it.

 It was fun to interact with others from different parts of the world.  It was also fun to see peoples different choices in colors and how they would do the pattern.  I definitely want to do another CAL again.  I probably will do this pattern again as well.  I did really enjoy it.  I will try to find a softer yarn for next time.  You can find the info on my shawl on my ravelry page.

Linking with Frontier Dreams for Crafting On

The Little Sweater

I decided that my daughter needed a sweater to go with her dress since it was still pretty cool outside.  I made it a short sweater, which I am sure has a special name for it.  Sweaterette?  Shrug?  I'll have to think on that a bit more. I was going to make it quick and simple but then I thought it needed a bit more pretty, so I added scallops.

 I placed them along the bottom hem as well as for the button holes.  I even added teeny tiny ones along the cuffs of the sleeve.

 I really like how it turned out so I think I am going to try to write the pattern out and share it here.  I'm pretty sure Elowyn  approves.

Puzzle Yarn Shawl

This was a impromptu type of project.  I was in JoAnn Fabrics and I had a coupon.  I saw the yarn and I bought it.  It is called puzzle yarn by Premiere Yarns.  I had no plan, and had no idea what I was going to make, but I liked the yarn.  Thankfully, Moogly had just posted about a pattern called, the Amara shawl, which seemed perfect.

I really enjoyed working the pattern and the yarn was easy to work with and moved quite quickly.  The whole project was finished in a weekend.  I love the pineapple pattern.  I want to use this pattern again, maybe in a lighter weight yarn. But even thought the Puzzle yarn was a heavier weight the airiness of the pattern makes the shawl seem lighter.  I would definitely use the yarn and the pattern again.

My model was my daughter.  She did a great job, despite the wind.

My Little Baker

I received quite the surprise today......

While I was busy focused on taxes (oh the joy).....

My bright little girl decided she would try to make some bread....

All by herself....

And you know what....she did an awesome job!

On The Craft Table - January 31st

I have been busy, busy, busy crafting.  Since my last craft post, I was invited to be a part of a craft show....in 3 weeks.  Yikes!!  This is my first craft show ever.  I am excited and nervous all at the same time.  I have been spending every possible moment I can adding to my stock pile of crochet goodies.

Since this will be right before valentines day, I have been making lots of hearts and red flowers.  I have been so busy making, that I keep forgetting to take pictures.  Honestly my house has just been filled with various piles of yarn and finished projects.

Not even my bed has been safe from the madness.  Here I am looking through one of my favorite books, 100 flowers to Knit & Crochet.  I love this book for inspiration.  I am not too good at following the patterns in the book, but it has given me some great ideas.

I may start out with a particular pattern and somewhere along the way, I change it.  Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.  Like this flower below which was supposed to be a "six petaled cornflower", but is now a "three petaled I have no idea what it is, but I really like it" flower.  Mainly I love the techniques she teaches, like how to make the loop stitch in the middle of the flower.  That was a new one for me this week.

I am sure there are many others out there who have the same issues as me with following patterns.  With only one week away, I am certainly not trying anything new.  Right now, I am finishing everything that I have been madly making over the past two weeks.  Lots of buttons to sew on, ends to clip and leaves to attach.

I will be posting pictures from the craft show along with everything I made next week.

Farmer For a Week

One bright but frigid morning, I rose myself out of bed and donned my "barn clothes" as I had been calling them.  At this point they had a bit of an "earthy" smell to them and a few strands of hay clung to the outsides. I don't mind, I wear it kind of like a badge of honor.  I called for the children to grab their coats and as soon as the car windshield was defrosted we were off to carry out my job as farmer of the week.

Upon entering the barn, I was quickly greeted by the mammoth of a dog named Henry.  His usual greeting of course is jumping up and laying his front paws on my shoulder and smothering my face and coat in drool.  "Good Morning to you too, Henry."

In the background I hear the mewing of a cat.  I like to think that he is crying out in excitement over seeing me again here, and maybe even asking for a few warm pats of the hand.  But I'm pretty sure it was the cat food in my hands that he was most concerned about.  I'm sure I will get my official kitty greeting later, after breakfast.

The ladies of course are waiting patiently for their food, which I oblige.  I need to keep a careful lookout to make sure the ladies don't get to interested in the cats food.  All it takes is one look from the chicken and the cat runs away.

On to the baby of the barn.  This little fellow literally runs through the barn while kicking his heals up in the air.  The other alpacas completely ignore him, being way more focused on the food in front of them.

That is of course until the food is all gone, at which point mama gets real curious about this strange creature all dressed in blue, and standing in her barn.  Luckily, my son seems to have gotten over his fear of larger animals and lets her get real close.  The rabbits look on in approval.

Everyone is fed and watered as well as sufficiently petted.  Off to home I go, knowing I'll be back again tonight.  How my friend does this every day, I don't know, but it may just be worth it for having such loving creatures in ones life.