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Christmas in July

Just finishing up my Christmas in July mini stockings for this years’ Warmth for Warriors drive. Here are my last two stockings for the month.

I wanted to do a little experiment using the BLO mini Christmas stocking pattern. The stocking on the left was crocheted in back loops only (BLO). The one on the right was crocheted through both loops using the same pattern. They are both 6 inches long but the one crocheted through both loops is a bit wider.

Here is the link to the free crochet pattern for the

Tie-Dye T-Shirt

This is my first time tie-dyeing a t-shirt. This was a backyard fun event that our Women’s Bible study held for a summer get-together. You need a 100% cotton t-shirt and tie-dye paints. One of the ladies provided the paints, rubberbands, plastic bags and racks to do the dyeing.

You pinch and rolled up the creased shirt from the middle at the center. Here is the rolled up t-shirt with rubberbands around it to hold in place. I used different colors of paint to decorate my t-shirt. I just followed directions and didn’t really know how it would turn out.

After painting the rolled shirt, you put it into a sealed plastic bag for 2 days. Here is my shirt inside my bag.

After 2 days, I put rubber gloves on and did the cold water rinse, followed by a hot water rinse in a big pot in the kitchen sink. Then I took off the rubberbands and opened up the t-shirt. Wow is an understatement when I saw it revealed. It turned out so cool! After more rinsing and once the water ran clearish, I hung up my t-shirt to dry.

Here is a photo of the finished product.

Star Kitchen Crocheted Set

I crocheted this cotton star kitchen set as part of a bridal shower gift. The star dishcloth is one of my original free dishcloth patterns found here. I created this dishcloth pattern back in the summer of 2008. I can’t believe it was already 17 years ago!

I added a diagonal potholder to match the dishcloth. I used the double-thick diagonal hotpad free pattern that is a wonderful classic pattern found here. I like to chain 34 stitches to start to crochet a hotpad that is just over 6 inches wide.

Below is a closeup photo of the star dishcloth.

Bunny Round Ripple Lovey

I crocheted another round ripple lovey for the local hospital. This lovey is crocheted by chaining 24 single crochet stitches around a ponytail tie to start. This creates the hole for inserting a store bought animal.

I generally follow the round ripple pattern written by Aggie May to crochet the lovey. I crocheted 3 rounds in pink and then white yarn for 11 rounds. At round 12, I crocheted 2 rounds in pink, then one more double crochet (DC) round

Easy-Peasy Teddy Bear

Here is a cute new teddy bear pattern I crocheted. It’s a free pattern at Blumenbunt blogspot. The pattern is available in English and German. Here is the direct link for the English version of the Easy-Peasy Teddy Bear pattern.

Here is the first one-piece bear I crocheted using the pattern as written.

I found my edges difficult to keep straight but you really can’t tell once it is stitched together and turned inside out. So next I crocheted the pattern a second time but in two pieces. I didn’t leave the arms connected on this one as shown in the photo below.

Here is the final product of the 2 piece teddy bear.

Mandala Cotton Dishcloths

I had a yearning to crochet some cotton dishcloths the last few days. I have a big bag of cotton scraps and the Magnolia Mandala crochet pattern is just perfect for using some of it.

I only crocheted through round 8 as I wanted smaller dishcloths. These can also be used as pretty hotpads too. For these first two, I used a G (4 mm) crochet hook which resulted in a 8.5 inch wide dishcloth.

Here is the second crocheted Mandala scrappy dishcloth in teals.

Pink Birdie Baby Lovey

Here is a granny stitch baby lovey that I crocheted for the local Hospital. This will be given to a child who may be in need of a lovey for comfort while they are in the Hospital.

This lovey is crocheted with a center hole that has a store-bought stuffed animal toy placed in the middle. They are handy as you can pulled out the stuffed animal and the lovey blanket portion can be washed when needed.

The pattern is based upon this video link of the Zee’s lovey pattern.

Using a H ( 5 mm) crochet hook, I chained 36 SC around ponytail hair band with Red Heart raspberry (pink) yarn. Then 3 rows in raspberry in granny stitches as shown in the video. Then 3 rows of white yarn, 3 rows raspberry, 5 rows of white, the 1 row of raspberry. To finish with white yarn, 1 row of white grannies, the 1 row on Scs with 2 SC in corners.

Here is a closeup photo showing the Birdie Lovey.

Crocheted Baby Hats

Here are my latest baby hats that I crocheted for the local hospital nursery. This will probably be my last batch as the weather is warming up and I will be doing other items for them.

First are two newborn baby hats that feature a scalloped edging. This edging is easy and fun to add to any baby hat. Here is the free crochet pattern for the scalloped baby hat.

Next are some ribbed band baby hats. First is the single post newborn hat pattern.

I thing that I did do differently than the original pattern as written is that I crocheted them seamless. I have been playing around with this idea for awhile. I begin the hat by

Crocheted Sampler Blanket

I crocheted a new pattern for a blanket for the Veteran’s Outreach Program. It is a stitch sampler pattern that uses a different stitch every row. I really love the center panel as it just has such a pretty design.

I did do some light blocking on the center panel to get it to lay down flat. It wanted to cup at the center but now as shown in the photo, it blocked out nicely.

The free crochet pattern for the stitch sampler blanket is found here at Canoe Mtn Designs. It is a pretty pattern that is written well and has good resources to show the different unique stitches used in the pattern.

Here is a photo of my completed blanket which I was only able to crochet through row 47 as I ran out of yarn.