baby brother's baby blanket

ICYMI: I'm going to be an aunt! Again! My baby sister is once again expecting, and so of course, I am making baby boy #2 his own little ripple. His big brother got this one, wherein I alternated colors (lime green, aqua, and rust orange) between stripes of white.

I want baby brother to have a matching blanket, but also for it to have its own vibe. Again I'm doing light stripes interspersed with three different colors. But this time I'm using an ivory yarn instead of a brighter white, which really changes the appearance so much. And because he is due in October, I wanted it to have autumnal feel... but without it being Halloween-y. So for the colors, I am using a darker red, a milk chocolate brown, and a lighter red that is called "terra cotta." I really like the color scheme, actually!

This has been really soothing to pick up and work on, lately. It's nice to do something other than band (which is an endless hamster wheel for me). And I get peaceful vibes working on something for an anticipated family member. I try to weave in my intentions, so to speak -- my love and my hopes for this little boy. I think about baby brother lying on this ripple for baby pictures, or getting covered up with it while he's in his car seat. I think about him being a younger sibling who is probably going to come into a lot of hand-me-downs. I hope in the future he'll know I made him his very own blanket so he won't have to share it with anyone, or have something that was someone else's first. It's something his auntie made for him especially!

Of course it's a gift for him, but it's a gift for me too, because I really like to make ripple blankets.

It's exciting to think that come Christmas, baby brother will be topside; we'll know his name; we'll have a really good idea of his personality; my parents will have another grandchild to dote on. My nephews are a bright spot amidst the chaos of the world.

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craft market year 3

Saturday was the big day: the annual holiday craft market! The weather outside was frightful. By that I mean the fog was thick as peanut butter. ("You mean pea soup." "You eat what you like and I'll eat what I like!") It did end up affecting our foot traffic, I think. But I still feel like I did well for myself.

I didn't do the market last year, but in 2023 I did. Check out that table compared to this year's table! Aesthetically identical, yes -- I used the same shelves, signage, bunting -- but the table itself is longer, and my inventory freaking filled it.

In 2023 I had on offer crochet rainbow pillows, crochet mitts, crochet ear bands, barrettes with bear ears sewn on ("bear-ettes," if you will), beaded rings, and beaded bracelets. So I definitely had inventory! But I think I had maybe 25 pairs of mitts available, tops. This year, I had mitts on mitts on mitts on mitts! Over 70 pairs!

And this year, I had only crochet on offer! I didn't feel like doing other stuff. I didn't even feel like making a huge variety of crochet stuff, such as other mitt patterns, or ear bands, or charging cords -- or god forbid, scarves. (Did y'all know I'm a scarf hater?) I have plenty of rings and bracelets left over from 2023's inventory, but didn't feel like bothering with them. I could have made more "bear-ettes" but didn't feel like it. I just followed my crafting yens, basically.

I do think it would have behooved me to have ear bands or beanies in addition to just a scad of fingerless mitts. (I was asked about scarves too, but in all honesty, I don't really want to make scarves!!) At this moment in time I'm not super sure if I'll do the market again next year. But if I do, this is a note to self: maybe find a beanie pattern you don't mind making...

I also tend to forget men exist? 0:) But an old guy was like, "Oh! This stuff is perfect for this time of year. But it's all girly, huh." And I was like, "Well... yeah..." So it maybe wouldn't kill me to make some more masculine-leaning items.

ON THE OTHER HAND, I DON'T HAVE TO CATER TO BORING OLD MEN! THE WORLD ALREADY CATERS TO Y'ALL! This is for the girly-pops!!! The daughters and nieces!! The whimsical amongst us!

I want to share some more pics of some specific mitts, like I did in my last post!

I did a series of mitts with a trio of heart appliques on them. I really like these and so many people picked up the dark blue pair in particular to look at, but none of them sold! Wish I could go back in time and whisper, "Hey, don't spend so much time on these" in my ear. Because sewing on three separate appliques in a semi-neat row onto an unstable surface such as crochet was, for me, very time-consuming. I was so careful about the spacing of the hearts and sewed them on with a lot of deliberation and concentration. (But it's okay they didn't sell! No skin off my nose!)

I also did a series of frog/lily pad mitts that I am pretty pleased with! As with the apple series, each mitt in the pair had something different on them, which keeps it fun. I got the frog applique pattern from this YouTube video. I messed around with a couple of ways to do lily pads, giving some a bit of a scalloped edge.

I gotta say that the highlight of the market for me (besides speaking to a fellow lady who is also in a band -- a heavy metal band!! -- who was my biggest buyer) was selling the green pair of froggy mitts to a gal who had SEVERAL frog tattoos! A sleeve in progress of nothing but frogs! It felt like that pair went to the perfect person! Like kismet! So that made me happy.

Another thing that made me happy was that a couple of people said variations of sentiments like, "Oh, I have mitts I bought from you last time, and I get compliments on them all the time!" and "I was hoping you would be here this year!" The craft market is a small one, but it's been going on for a really long time, so we do have regulars who come to it every year to do Christmas shopping.

In all, I think I made about the same amount of money I made in 2023? Even though my inventory was much larger, and in my estimation we had less foot traffic due to the weather. It visually looked like I hadn't sold much just because my inventory was so large, but in fact, I did make lots of sales.

I can't remember the exact total I made in 2023, but it was enough to buy a Blythe!! Which I did, right when I got home from the market! I have been saving up for an instrument for the last six months, so I think this year's profits will go into that fund.

In all, I'm glad to have this year's market in the books, and to move out of the hardcore market prep mode I've been in. My room's still a crafting disaster, and all of my inventory and tabling supplies are in piles waiting to be stored away. I'm saving the chore of cleanup and the reassembly of my living space for a future day...

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craft market prep post

I have ONE WEEK to get all my craft market stuff done!!! Well, six days, in actuality! And one of those days is a band day so it's otherwise fully booked for me. So I have been really working my butt off on my mitts. Just been in a total crochet stupor. I thought I would post some things I've made for posterity. Although I can't get decent pics for the life of me. It's too overcast and I just don't have the chutzpah to set up my filming lights. Please know these look so cute in real life/decent lighting conditions!!!

Pictured above: I made some cute freakin' teddy bear mitts! I used this pattern from Raji's Craft Hobby for the bear base and added a simple circle of 12 dc on top, embroidered lightly with a nose. I had mini pony beads on hand and was able to fish out some black beads for eyes. And as if that wasn't enough, I added bow ties (just chain stitches). I have enough black beads left over that I could make a couple more pairs of these if I have the time.

Here's a series of apple mitts! I got the pattern for the apple appliques from Raffamusa Designs, and used the apple portion of their apple granny square for the halved apples. I kind of like these because they're not entirely matchy-matchy. I decided to put different things on either glove.

Strawberry mitts! I already had several strawberries on hand from when I crocheted some last year. (This design is also from Raffamusa Designs.) It's funny because I'll make these strawberries in any color other than red... But I'm trying to have at least a few mitts with classic red strawberries on 'em.

In all I have about 60 pairs of mitts in this sort of tube style, some totally unadorned, some with just a little ruffle stitch added around the top, some embellished. (I have some with bows and hearts on them but ran out of light totally so the pics didn't turn out. Maybe next post?) I also have several pairs of flower-inspired mitts that need cuffs crocheted on, so I have the next couple of days to get those done. I am pretty much running out of time to make the vine/flower charging cords I intended to make, but that's fully fine. I don't really care. I just have been having a really great time making mitts. And if I'm not having fun, what's the point?

I'm not sure whether I'll have time to post more before the market itself, but I'll definitely try to get some pics of my table!

Wish me luck!

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lofty ambitions part 2

Well, I question myself, I truly do, because I have decided to do the holiday craft fair again this year. This is an annual market put on by my mother's church, where artisans and crafters and the like can sell their wares. It's been going on for such a long time that I recall going several times as a child and looking around at all the tables full of various things! I participated in 2022 and again in 2023, but sat out in 2024. However, I had been intending to participate in 2024, so I had made some stuff for it in advance. Lots of crochet mitts, and of course, I have plenty of rainbow-shaped pillows on hand.

As I mentioned, my little sister has recently moved out of state. She always shared a table with my mother, both of them being fine artists in addition to crafty gals. This left my mother to table by herself, which is honestly pretty demanding a task. Not only are you interacting with people who have questions for you and want to chit-chat about this-n-that, but you have to do the checkout process (math, ugh!!!) and also, if the customer so desires, pack things up into gift bags. So I told her, "I'll help you. I'll bring those things I meant to sell last year and help out with all that."

So, I have been pouring my limited free time (the time not sapped by band stuff) into crocheting and market prep. I already had plenty of things either totally finished or 90% finished or 50% finished, so I have been working on finishing WIPs.

I have several pairs of these tulip-inspired mitts to crochet a cuff onto. In terms of the other mitts I want to applique or decorate about half of them, and leave the other half pretty plain. I want to add bows made with my french knitter, some strawberry and heart appliques I have crocheted, and maybe other stuff too.

As you can see, I have quite the pile already.

I have a couple of rainbow pillows where I have completed the fronts and backs but just not sewn them together or stuffed them, so I'll finish those. I am going to make a few vine/flower charging cords because those are pretty fun for me, and I'll see if those sell. And I'd like to make two or three of a different style of mitts, if I can find a pattern I like but also doesn't kill my wrists. More complicated mitts tend to be labors of love.

In years past I've sold beaded rings and bracelets, and one year it sold a ton and the next year it didn't sell much at all! Since I'm not super into doing that right now, I probably won't even take any of my leftover stuff to sell.

I am definitely filling my plate overly full. And to be honest, I am incredibly, incredibly sick to my stomach at the idea of having to check people out at my table without the help of my younger sister. I'm terrible at math and also terrible at personal interactions, haha. But I'll try not to think about any of that at all until December, at least.

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scattershot October

Happy October! Best month! I am still extremely embroiled in jam band stuff and have nothing interesting to report because of it! Like, I barely feel like a real person right now. So this is going to be a post about some small stuff, such as the matching Snoopy mugs my mom and I got. We had to throw away some older mugs lately that had cracked and just been hanging around for years. We have been the lookout for good replacements but are both picky about mugs (a thin lip is preferred). We saw these and got autumnal jibblies, so we got them to match. We have been saying to each other with much satisfaction, "I drank out of my Snoopy mug this morning," and the like.

It's crochet pumpkin season. Back in 2023 I made some and my mom has ended up using them as decor at her church. So we have made some more! Also, my grandma decorated her porch for fall the other day, planting some yellow mums. My mom wanted to take a picture. I said, "Get in a picture with me, Grandma!" I don't like it in terms of it being a picture of me but love it in terms of being a picture of me and my grandma! She's my bestie!

I have been really into wearing plaid shirts this fall, all of which I have acquired from the men's rack at the thrift store for 5-8 bucks each. I got one (1) that fits me so perfectly and is not overly warm, not being flannel, that it triggered a bit of a plaid rush for me. My ideal outfit right now is a pair of black leggings, a tank top, a plaid shirt, and a ball cap.

In fact, I have been wearing my fave cap a lot and finally was like, "I should buy another one that is this exact brand and fit." And I saw that a lot of Etsy shops offer those specific caps with custom embroidery, and I saw one listing that was $8 or something ridiculous like that? So I was like, "Oh, well then!" And I got myself one that says "EAT THE MIC." I have been reminded to do that during band practice because my voice is tiny and I need to basically put my mouth as close to the microphone as humanly possible. Or, "eat the mic."

I'm really trying to remind myself to get right up on the mic when I sing, even though it's against my every instinct, haha. So this cap is a good reminder.

My band mate -- the guy that gifted me the wireless setup that I mentioned in a post a couple months ago -- who told me to eat the mic initially also needs to do that, now that we have a drummer. We'll be drowned out if we don't eat the mic. So I got him a matching one, and he seemed really tickled by it! Here's a screencap from a rehearsal video. It's grainy, but as you can see, we're wearing our matching caps.

LITTLE EXTRAS:

• Looove Taylor Swift's new album. I prefer her pop stuff so this one was made for me. "Opalite" might knock "State of Grace" from my personal number one TS song bracket
• I'm wearing this old Target dress from 2011 today after having it out of my rotation for a few years. So fun to rediscover old favorites
• also broke out the fox hat for the first time this season today. Got in 2011 and wear it every year
• beret season is SO SOON
• been taking 8pm walks around the neighborhood and last night it felt cool outside...

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ripple throw progress report(s)

Blanket drive ripple: dunzo! It's been finished for more than a month now, but I was dealing with some meds side effects at about the time I finished it and could barely sit upright there for a while, so I only just now got some pictures taken.

I like this blanket a lot. Choosing each color spontaneously as I made it definitely made the process more interesting -- not that I at all mind repetitive tasks. I kind of thrive doing repetitive tasks. But something about juggling colors I had a lot of versus colors I was running low on and getting to make color choices every time I worked on it was fun. The loosey-goosey approach -- whilst still sticking to a "palette" -- was something I hadn't done since my very first ripple throw.

Because I finished this, I have since picked up another ripple WIP that I may or may not donate to that same blanket drive, depending on a) the progress I make with it, and b) how ugly it turns out.

I've been calling this the "ugly ripple." As in, I started making it intending for it to be ugly, using dingy colors. Browns, beiges, mustards. Note the swath of gray. I have sort of mentally updated to calling it the "spices ripple," because it puts me in the mind of cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, basil leaves! It sort of reminds me of a certain soup I like to make with a Mexican flavor profile, which has a lot of vegetables in it. Makes me hungry just looking at it, to be honest...

We'll just see how this comes along in the coming weeks -- whether it stays ugly or becomes more of a cohesive vintage cabin vibe. I'd really prefer to use only yarn I already have to progress on this, but I will probably end up depleting myself of the required palette and buying more yarn anyway. Many of the yarns are Big Twist, a Jo-Ann brand, and I'm not sure about whether I can replace the precise colors. Hopefully that won't matter too much.

Another ripple WIP in my near future is making one in shades of purple for my bestie K! She asked for one and I need to confer with her about what sort of style to go for. Color block? Random? Some particular repeating pattern of stripes? It will be really fun to work on something for someone specific again.

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small projects: flowery mini amp handle

I don't believe I've ever posted about my mini amp here, except for the Christmas where it was on my wish list! (Wow, did I really get this thing in 2014??) As you can see, I ended up getting it, and I have had it since! For almost eleven years!

As I've mentioned before, I haven't used it much, although I like it. One reason is that dealing with the thick, lengthy, tangly, heavy black guitar cable is a pain, especially for such a little teensy amp. Another reason is that I had a different electric guitar for a long time -- this one -- and I didn't enjoy playing it to the same extent as I enjoy my current electric guitar. But I've been trying to use the amp more lately, since I want to become more accustomed to hearing myself play electric. I'm still getting used to being plugged in and on mic.

As though Karma is working her magic, one of my new jam band buddies has recently changed my game by giving me a little wireless system! It basically removes the need for that thick cord. Pop one dongle in the guitar and one dongle in the amp, and there you go! It transmits what you play wirelessly to the amp!

What a gift, I know!!! He said he got static interference with it and didn't like it, and if I wanted to use it, I could have it. It's actually perfect for me. I have limited space, and removing the guitar cable from the situation is a huge advantage for me. And it sounds really great on my teensy amp, imo. I recorded this little clip on my phone for the guy who gave me the wireless system so I could show him it worked, and so I could thank him for it:

As you can see, I was on the verge of watching Drawfee.

Also as you can see, the wireless dongle is there on the corner of it, where the jack is.

And also also as you can see, in this video, the little black handle that ought to be on the top of the amp is missing. Said handle recently broke into several pieces. I guess it was brittle from age? Again, "pleather" is the worst. But I soon decided, "I bet I can crochet myself a handle." And thus I arrive at the actual reason for this post.

I wanted to crochet around something that would provide the handle with some shape and resilience, and landed on a pipe cleaner. I bent the pipe cleaner in two so it would be doubled up, inserted each end into the metal tabs where the old handle had been attached, and crocheted around the whole biz. Worked perfectly.

And OF COURSE I put some matching icy blue-green flowers onto the handle!

It's actually very secure and sturdy-feeling, but not to the extent where it would be difficult for me to snip the handle right off again, if desired. The amp is very small and light -- I tend to plug it in rather than use batteries, so I'm not worried at all about toting it with this handle. I think it'd be fun to make a variety of handles, perhaps beaded or braided or embroidered ones. But for now I'm really pleased with its new flowery handle, and really pleased I have been using the amp more in general the last month.

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small projects: flowery charging cable covers

Just wanted to post the result of a little endeavor that's been in the pipes for a while: sewing little crochet flowers onto phone charging cables that I've crocheted to look sort of like leafy vines. I first did this in early 2024 and used that cable -- which was already on its way out -- until it finally died several months later. Then I missed it, because it was very easy to spot amongst other cables in my room, so I decided to crochet around another. ... And then another. ... And then another! So in total I have made four of these now. And I finally decided to add some flowers onto a couple of them.

(I've linked this before, but here's the pattern I used for the flowers!)

Above is just a regular little iPhone lightning cord with some flowers done in a couple of different shades of pink. It makes me sooo happy when I see it! I use it a lot in conjunction with a pastel green external battery that I carry around in my bag, and the whole look is basically too presh. Sometimes this flowery cord is spilling out of my bag and it just tickles me. It adds some whimsy and softness to something that's otherwise irritating and techy to be carrying around.

I have some six-foot long braided charging cords too, so I vined up a couple of them in different greens. To one I added some blue and white flowers:

It was fun to use a couple of different yellows for the center of the flowers.

I gotta say that it takes longer than you'd think to crochet all around a charging cable, especially because I don't want the cover to be too gappy. So I really pile a lot of stitches on there. I also do the leaves as I go. The six-foot ones take me several sessions of working my way along. Hours, I wanna say! But it's just really fun to take something from being a bit of an eyesore to something cute. It's also easier to tell what cord is what at my charging stations; it's easier to spot amongst other cords. I don't have to verify whether the cord I'm picking up is the right one with the right dongles; I know what I am reaching for.

I also crocheted a small handle for something using this method/aesthetic lately. Post upcoming!

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now i'm your daisy

Happy July. No sense in not mentioning it: I've started a new med (ya girl takes like a dozen pills every day) and it's made me feel real wonk in a startlingly wide variety of ways. So this post, while it does have a running theme, is not going to be my most coherent. Just a small collection of different Things Of Late. Whee!

As pictured above, I recently got some daisy knobs for my guitar! Y'all remember Karma, surely! Well, Pinterest totally got my ass. That's where I saw them. They were cheap enough to seem like a fun purchase, and it was definitely an impulse purchase on my part! I rarely actually plug in my guitar to my mini amp, so I don't use the knobs frequently. That's good, because I don't think these knobs are super functional. One of them doesn't seem to turn the dial it's supposedly gripping onto. However, these are just a little something that makes my guitar look and feel cheery and me-ish, so I really like them nevertheless. They make me happy whenever I pick up my guitar.

I've been making these crochet flowers the past couple of days. Another throwback to an older post: I crocheted around a phone charging cord to give it a vine-y appearance. It is just to cute-ify things, you know! A whimsical touch to an otherwise boring and ugly thing. I always thought, "It'd be even cuter with flowers." Since that post, the cord pictured has met its final end, so I've crocheted two more cords, and may well do even more, if I need things to do during knitting club. And I have decided to go ahead and experiment with sewing flowers onto the cord. I'm still in the flower creation stage right now. I'm using this pattern for these flowers. But I'd like to find a few more so I can get in some variation.

Just for fun: Olive in a drawstring dress printed with daisies! I'm gonna freakin' squee just looking at her!! I have yet to dress her in anything other than green. Maybe someday.

Also just because I think it's fun/cute: I got this pink and daisy-print heating pad last month. I'm super rough on heating pads. I use them all the time. And of course eventually they give up on me. I've gotten the same plain gray heating pad the last three times I've had to replace my heating pad, and this time I decided to switch it up. Maybe this one will last longer than a couple of years. Or maybe it won't. But I'll find out! It's very cushy and fuzzy, which I'm not used to. But I gotta say it goes better in my room than the plain gray one I keep replacing over and over.

To be honest this is not even the only daisy-ish stuff I could have added into this post. But like I said, I'm feeling pretty wonky right now, so getting pictures of things is a challenge for me. Just sitting here at my desk, I feel like keeling over and yartzing.

Hopefully these side effects will ease up soon.

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wip: blanket drive ripple

Something I've been working on in my knitting club for the last couple of months is this ripple throw. It's for a blanket drive at my mom's church. I'm using leftover random yarn from prior projects, such as these rainbow pillows and this rainbow ripple. I have so many pinks, peaches, blushes, et cetera! I'm also using some cool tones -- some baby blue, some periwinkle purple, some lavender. Nothing too bright and saturated and nothing primary. It's sort of got a pastel twilight vibe, if that makes sense! Like the sky when the sunset is more springy and blue-gray, rather than golden and orangey.

I'm using a lot of variegated yarns, too, as long as they fit with the tones I'm using. There's a variegated yarn that's got pinks and blues and tan in it, and when crocheted together it looks GREEN, so that's why it appears that there's green stripes in here. A couple of the yarns have spots of yellow in the variegation, too. Keeps it from being too boring and samey, I guess!

It's been a long time since I did a ripple with random stripes like this! In fact, the last one I did was my first ever ripple, in 2012. Ever since then, I've done more purposeful patterns or color blocks. Doing random stripes is really, really fun, though. Deciding what comes next, pairing together colors... a lot of it can depend on how much yarn I have left over in a certain color, et cetera.

Not gonna lie, I have gotten like six skeins of yarn for this, because blankets take up a lot more yarn than you would think. I am using up all my pinks and peaches: a feat I thought impossible. So it's not entirely scrap or leftover yarn. But a lot of it is!!

And watch me like this too much to be happy about donating it. -_-

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baby sister's baby blanket

Big news: my baby sister's expecting!!!

Well, it's old news around here. Big news! But my family's known since Christmas Eve, very very early on in her pregnancy, and we're only about a month out from the due date now. I haven't said anything because it ain't really my news, and I live in fear of stepping on toes or stealing thunder or something. But it's tremendously exciting because it's the first grandchild for my parents. And of course, my first little niece or nephew! (In this case, it happens to be a nephew!)

You know I went into baby blanket mode this spring, with the fave ol' ripple pattern!

The colors were inspired by my sister's pregnancy announcement -- there was a cute jungle animal print with blue, green, and orange.

This was my first time putting a border on a ripple blanket, and I really like how it turned out! I decided to only do the sides instead of a full border. I imagine next time I do a ripple I'll try out a full border, which means compensating for the ripple on either end. I'm sure I can do it, but... baby steps! Right, my quickly arriving nephew?

Anyway, the border's just treble crochet! I like the way they worked out because they look chonky but are decidedly not frilly or fussy.

Last summer I joined a knitting club (I don't think I've mentioned... it's just me, my mom, and some little old ladies at my mom's church) and I worked on this blanket during many a knitting club meeting. Another woman in the club also crocheted a blanket for my sister, or I might have made another one, myself. But I thought there might be such a thing as too many crochet blankets for an infant. I guess. Her blanket was pastel yellow, so at least they have super different vibes.

My sister's baby shower was today, so now I'm in the clear to post these pics without her seeing! (She follows this blog!)

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Froggy, you weren't such a bad guy, either.

The other day I was possessed by the urge to crochet a froggy headband for my girls. This is not an original design or concept, really! Just my take on it! There are lots of cute frog-inspired helmets and stuff for Blythe out there.

I'm kinda tickled with the way it turned out! I used a yellow-green yarn (it looks greener IRL than in these particular pics, but it's definitely not lime green), plus some white and chunky black, all of which I already had on-hand, and had myself a nice little time figuring out how I wanted to do the eyes.

I considered using elastic along the back to make it particularly accommodating, but I've done this on other headbands and it's some extra labor, and if you don't get the dimensions of the elastic exactly right, then the headband can be too large or too small, and either slouch or be so tight it slides up and off the doll's head. I did a couple of ties made up of single crochet, and quite simply tying them around the doll's chin before moving them behind her hair works so great!

I also added these heart beads on to the end of the ties, just for a cute touch! (I should probably trim these long draggly bits, huh.)

Honestly, making this gave me so much serotonin. I've been pretty bummed the last couple of months, and this did me soooo much good. I love spending time with my girls, and dressing Mallow in this green drawstring dress I've had in my dolly wardrobe since 2010 inspired me even further, so I made something else too! Stay tuned!

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strawberry skirt + strawberry pixie hat

Here's my second attempt at making a gathered skirt! I used this cute strawberry fabric (which happened to match Phoebe Maybe's stock blouse pretty well) and Winny is deigning to model it for me, even though it's not really her strawberry jam.

This time, on a tip given to me by the wonderful Anne, I lightly ironed the gathers and found it a lot easier to deal with them afterwards! I feel like it turned out minorly better than the toadstool skirt. It looks a lot like a skirt a petticoat should go beneath, but I tried that out and don't love the look.

As you know, I've got strawberry appliques hanging around, so I decided to whip up a pixie hat and slap a strawberry on it.

I usually do pixie hats in single crochet, but I automatically started doing this one in HDC ribbing because I've been doing soooo much HDC ribbing lately -- many of the mitts I've made are ribbed HDC worked in the back loop -- and I kind of like the texture with this gnarled yarn.

Again, this look isn't Winny to a tee, but I think she looks really sweet in it nevertheless. And she was very kind to offer herself as a model.

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small projects: vine charging cable cover

First thing's first... Be honest... Am I posting... TOO MUCH? I just feel more in-tune with my hobby self than I have in quite some time and it's making me want to post whenever I make something.

Now! Yesterday I up and decided to do this project: crocheting around a lightning cable to make it look like a vine. I've seen this everywhere for at least a few years, and found many really gorgeous flowery examples on Etsy. I made a relatively plain one, as just crocheting the leaves was a new thing for me!

These leaves are not perfect, and I would not recommend the tutorial I used to make them. It didn't have the clearest instructions, so I feel like I ended up not following the directions -- but not on purpose! But crochet is pretty forgiving in that way, so I feel like whatever I did still worked to make leaf shapes. I will say that it was a really fun escalation of stitches to make the curved shape! Going all the way from a slip stitch to a treble and down again!

I also think the leaves would benefit from some blocking, as they are very curly, but I never freaking block crochet. I'll have to think about that.

Another thing to consider: Should I maybe add some flowers to this thing? I don't know how people add flowers to theirs but I'd assume they're crocheted separately and then sewn on... I'd have to find a flower pattern I like to do.

Anyway, this lightning cable was in the process of turning a charming yellow-green, and the plastic casing on the lightning side is cracked. If this was fraying in any way I wouldn't have crocheted around it, but the wire itself is intact.

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small projects: crochet strawberries and hearts

Still feeling really crochet-y, by some miracle! Been working up some small items, like this strawberry applique (which I made by following this video). Last year at this time I made these crochet strawberry bags... been really into the strawberry thing for a while now, I think! I want to turn these into mitts, either by granny square-ifying them or perhaps just having them be appliques.

I also made some more hearts. I still have about half of the ones I made several years ago (almost ten years, in fact). I even reminded myself how to do them via the same video tutorial. And used the same sheet of scrapbook paper for a background!

As you can imagine, the strawberries and hearts are made quite similarly, but the strawberry has a lot more steps. The heart is incredibly easy to memorize. Do it once and you'll not need the tutorial again! But I can't seem to memorize the strawberry part of the strawberry, haha. The stem and leaves, I don't need the tutorial for, but I keep having to refer back for the actual fruit part! Stitching on the seeds also makes a strawberry take longer than one of these little two-minute hearts.

This is really really pleasing to me right now, filling up a little bag with hearts and berries!

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