I believe I got my creativity from my mom, who is the most creative and talented woman I have ever met. Along with all of her craftiness, she is a wonderful author and has written many children’s books.
Her first published series is called The Forever Forest Fairies. Over the course of many years, I have created patterns for and crocheted all 10 of her fairies. They have been labors of love, and while they are not perfect, I am pretty happy with them!
Take a look below and let me know what you think!
Also, if you would like to check out her books, go to:
Every crafter has the odd project that gets started and never finished. I have quite a few of these, unfortunately, but there is one that is really bugging me.
About 2 years ago, my son was really into a TV show called Octonauts. I decided to design and crochet a rug for his room.
This was my first attempt at designing a pixel pattern in Excel and dealing with color changes and carrying along the yarn so there’s no loose strings. I thought, this should be easy, it’s just all single crochet.
Here’s what it should look like….Here’s what is currently looks like…
Here’s what I didn’t consider… since the yarn gets carried along, it never gets cut off, which means you are working with multiple colors attached at one time. This project is quite large and has lots of colors, so I found myself spending more time untangling yarn than actually crocheting.
Furthermore, since the pattern is so large, I couldn’t print it out, so I had to have my laptop open next to me every time I worked on it. I also had a huge box next to me with all my colors in it.
Eventually, my son moved on from the show and I moved on from the rug…
Now, all of a sudden, he’s back into the show and obsessed! I have actually crocheted him 4 out of the 8 main characters and feel like I should go back to the rug. Crazy how these things come full circle!
If you want to make these cute Octonauts yourself, check out the patterns on Ravelry:
So now, I need encouragement to pick it back up and actually finish it this time! To all those out there with unfinished projects, let’s unite and vow to finish what we started!
Stay tuned to see if I ever finish it!
Wish me luck! And good luck to all of you with your unfinished business.
As you can see from my galleries, I make a lot of stuffed animals, but the really special item for me is baby blankets. I have only made a few and they were only for my nieces and nephews and now my own children.
I just gave birth to my second son (I’m currently on maternity leave, which is why I have time to start a blog!) and I wanted to do something special for his baby blanket. His name is Griffin, so I decided to make a blanket with a griffin on it (a mythical creature that is half eagle and half lion).
I couldn’t find a pattern anywhere, so I made my own! It’s actually pretty easy, just find some pixel art and make a grid in Xcel. Then, it’s simple single crochet from there. The trickiest part is the color changes, carrying along the colors so there’s no loose strings and following the pattern.
This blanket took me a while, but I am so unbelievably proud of it! It is super soft and reversible and I know my Griffin will cherish it! I hope you like it too!
So if you are a crafter like me, Etsy is a dangerous place to browse. I see patterns for things and just want to make them, even if I don’t need them or have a reason.
However, usually I am pretty good and just favorite these beautiful patterns hoping for a reason to make them one day.
This pattern kept calling to me until one day I showed it to my mom and she mentioned that it would be a perfect Father’s day gift, since my dad is always cold and it would look great in their living room. Woo hoo! I had a reason to buy the pattern and get to it!
The pattern was confusing at first, but once I got the hang of it I breezed through it and am sooo happy with the result! Check it out!
If you like this pattern and want to try it out yourself, check it out here on Etsy:
I recently finished one of the largest challenges of my crochet history.
You know how certain things float around social media and if you are a known crafter, everyone and their brother tags you and says “you should totally make this” just because they know you do that craft? Well that’s exactly what happened with this life size baby dragon. I started getting tagged by tons of people saying I should make it for my son, and how cool it would be. After looking at the pattern on Etsy a million times, I finally decided to go for it!
I purchased the pattern, chose my colors and bought more yarn than I knew what to do with… then got to work!
This guy took me 9 months to complete (I say he is one of my children, because he took as long to make as they did) and I could not be more thrilled with how he turned out. My son Elliott named him Jake and he has become a part of our family. He guards the kids room and keeps them safe while they sleep and has played a role in all of our major photo shoots and events lately. Here’s a few of my favorite shots… enjoy!
If you would like to make one of your own, check out the pattern on Etsy:
Crochet Kook 