Double Layered Braided Cowl

If you haven't seen yet, the Double Layered Braided Cowl is all the rage (self explanatory once you see it). I just finished mine yesterday and I love it! This can actually be made from start to finish in just a few hours. I made one braid before bed one night and made the other one in the morning. I wore it out that evening! Another great thing is that it is a free pattern!

I used yarn from my stash for this,YAY! I ordered a bag of ten, Wool of the Andes in Brass Heather from Knit Picks on a Cyber Monday sale in 2014. They are just 50g skeins and it took less that two. Not bad at all, I still have tons of yarn for who knows what else!

Completed Cowl Neck Baby Sweater!

I finished! The bottom edging was quite simple. Attach your contrast color the the bottom edge of the sweater with a ss, ch2,dc in next stitch and in each st around. ss into first st, ch2 and turn.Work 1dc in same st, 2 dc in each st around, ss to first st to join.Ch2, 1 dc in each st around. ss to join and finish off. I just love the ruffles!

Textured Cowl Neck Baby Sweater

I've been working on the Textured Cowl Neck Baby Sweater by Amanda Chapman. It is a quick little sweater to work up. I am changing the sleeve and bottom edging to ruffles for mine. I am on the sleeves now. Just in case someone else would like to do the same with the pattern I will post what I have done. I changed to the edging color and just followed the sleeve pattern for three more rows. After joining with a ss, I worked a ch2, turned (begin in next stitch) then did 1 dc in each stitch around. I joined with ss, ch2 and turned. Then I worked 2 dc in each stitch around joining with ss, ch2 and turn. I then worked 1 dc in each st around, ss in last st and finished. Once I finish the bottom edging I will post my alterations for it as well. Here is a picture of the progress so far.

New Yarn!

I just finished up another great Woolfest in Wamego Kansas last Saturday! I have also just opened up a new Etsy shop and placed my first eight skeins in. More yarn and antler buttons are coming this weekend. Some more exciting news is that I plan on starting a crochet/knit podcast that will be posted on the blog within the next few weeks. It will be audio and I am really looking forward to this! I plan to discuss patterns, yarn, review books and magazines and of course some fun crochet and/or knit alongs with prizes. How about a yarn picture for this one?

When Crocheting Attacks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are a listener of the Knitmore Girls podcast, you know that they have a segment called "When Knitting Attacks". That is the inspiration for the title of today's post. I was crocheting Allison a little summer dress designed by one of my favorites, Holland Designs. It is a wonderful pattern but the day I went to buy yarn for this (a couple of months ago) something just went wrong. I completely miscalculated. Completely, not even just a little bit. Not just one skein. It was more like half of the dress. Don't ask, I don't know. She used sport weight but doesn't give the yardage. She usually does though. I changed the weight of yarn to worsted and something went awry from there. I have never blundered this big before. I need one of those handy cards that lets you know common amounts of yarn needed for crochet projects. Last week, oblivious to my lack of yarn, I was happily crocheting along for this dress, and thought I was coming to the end. It was one long piece that was to be pleated. I thought the construction was a little odd with the one seam, but I assumed it just went down the back. Then I looked at the pleating instructions. You did pleats the entire way across the fabric. I think the last time that I apparently looked at the pattern was back when I went yarn shopping. (Hmmm, discovering why this went so wrong as I write.) Well, if I did that, this was not going to wrap around her. I then took a good look at the directions. This was the FRONT! Ugh. I was supposed to have made two. That made more sense. I could have set the project down until I got more yarn but I got this yarn from a shop that was 1 and 1/2 hours away. I am also far out in the country so my closest yarn shop is about 40 min. away. I took a look at what I had and if I only did a few pleats in the center of the fabric, it would still wrap around her nicely. So, I carried on making adjustments and put the seam down the back. She loves it and I felt like it was a pretty good save. But, from now on I am triple checking yarn amounts and reading through the pattern sections before I begin! And, maybe another moral to this could be to buy lots and lots of yarn, you know, to be safe! Ah well, here she is wearing it, after a long day out mind you,

Houndstooth Handbag

This past weekend I made this Houndstooth Handbag. It is a great pattern using Lilly's Sugar and Cream. This yarn is excellent for this purse pattern because it is so durable.  And with no stretch to the cotton, along with the dense fabric of the hounds tooth design, you don't need a liner! It is a well written pattern. I love her designs. She has a great deal under the sale section of her shop. You can get three patterns for $9.99. I took advantage of this and purchased a boy's vest pattern and a Christmas stocking pattern with my purse!  So here is the purse one day.........

 And here it is the next! (Please excuse the purple/blue line. I only have my phone camera right now, the kids messed with the settings and I can't get that line off!)

My Crochet Doll Review

Today I want to share with you the doll I made for my daughter from My Crochet Doll by Isabelle Kessedjian.

She is an adorable doll and at 13" the perfect size for a little girl to play with. You can leave them like a rag doll or put wiring inside for posing. My daughter wanted her's soft the whole way through so, ours is without wires.

The book is full of adorable pictures. The author came up with so many cute themes for the doll. She can be Little Red Riding, a super hero, country bumpkin, go for a swim, the list goes on and on. It isn't just outfits but accessories as well,over 50 of them!

It is written in European crochet terms. The hook sizes are a little different than ones that Americans commonly have although they are available. I used a 3.25 mm hook for the doll instead of 3 mm like the book called for and I used a 2.75 mm for the clothes instead of a 2.5 mm. I used worsted weight yarn for both.

My only issue with the book is that the directions are not the clearest. This will take crochet experience and previous doll making experience is helpful but not necessary. There are just some areas you have to figure out a little bit. The doll making experience is helpful for areas such as the hair. The directions for this were minimal. I have made a number of dolls over the years and I knew what she was talking about, but if it was my first time, I may have been lost with the limited instructions. You could easily figure out your own thing and I am sure a quick google search would help you out plenty. I am not saying this part of the review to discourage you from getting the book and making your own doll. It is so cute and tasteful it is absolutely worth it. This is just to prepare you. All in all this is simply adorable and worth a little extra effort.