Yarn

When I first started crocheting I had no clue about yarn, weight, fiber, etc. I just picked out what I thought the was the prettiest yarn and went on with it. Well, now that I am crocheting a ton more yarn has become an important thing for me to gain a bit of knowledge on. I get a lot of questions about yarn, so I figured a post about the yarns I use would be helpful. Below I will chat about the yarns I use and the pros and cons:

I Love This Yarn.

I really do love this yarn! This is a basic worsted weight yarn, but it has such a soft feel to it. Much less rough than the Red Heart brand. It has many colors and even some yarns with a sparkly thread running through it. I love sparkle! This yarn is great to work with and is probably my most used yarn. The downside? You can only buy it at Hobby Lobby. I LOVE Hobby Lobby, but sometimes in a pinch it's nice to run to Meijer (which is literally in my backyard) and pick some yarn up there. Not the case with this stuff.


Sugar 'n' Cream


This is my go-to yarn for anything I am going to make out of cotton. I can pretty much find this yarn anywhere. I like other cotton yarns, but I found this one to inevitably have the best price. I use this for many of my monkey hats. It gives them a bit more texture. Downside? They make a ton of colors, but sometimes I wish there was still more variety. They offer a lot of variegated skeins, but I tend to like solid colors best. I also tend to run into problems getting the colors I need. I use the brown in this yarn a lot and find that everyone else must like it too because it is often sold out when I am looking for it.

Vanna's Choice
This yarn is awesome! It is a bit thicker than I Love This Yarn, but works up very similar. I love the colors in this yarn. There is a lot of variety and they just seem to be vibrant. I am using this yarn more and more, but I still can't get better bang for my buck than I Love This Yarn.

Bernat Satin

I feel in love with this yarn when I first used it. I crocheted everything with this. It has a satin look to it that gives your project a really pretty sheen. This yarn looks beautiful! It offers some great colors too. Downside? Not overly available. I can find it an my local 5 & Dime and they carry WAY more colors than Michael's does. One other downside? I don't think this yarn wears well. Initially, projects look great, but after a lot of use they can get a bit fuzzy.

Lion Wool-Ease Thick & Quick

This is the yarn I use when I need a good chunky yarn. This stuff works up quickly and has a real early look to it. I use this for some of my baby cocoons because it looks great in pictures. The downside? Cost. This yarn isn't cheap. Regularly $6.99 a skein at Michael's, so I often wait for it to go on sale AND use a coupon.


Red Heart Soft

I have to admit, I am not a fan of many of the Red Heart yarns, but they really hit the mark with this one. This yarn is soft, shiny, and offers rich colors that make projects look awesome! This price isn't too bad either. I have been using this yarn more and more as I really like the colors that are offered


So, there are my thoughts on my favorite yarns! I am looking into how to buy yarn in bulk, but still haven't found a site that has made it worth my while. Any thoughts?

Let me know what your favorite yarns are and why? I am always curious to know what others use. I visit yarn stores, but can't bear to buy the amazing expensive yarns, but I am thinking I should splurge someday and make something sweet for Belle. We shall see! Hopefully this was helpful, otherwise, send me your questions you still might have and I will try to answer them.

IKEA and Lions

This week I took a break from my normal routine of completing orders and made a new pattern. I usually feel guilty about working on something else when I have so many people waiting on orders, but I couldn't wait to try out this new pattern AND I was dying to get my hands hookin.' I had been eyeing this lion hat pattern for a long time and I finally bought it. I am SO happy with how it turned out. Anne, the lovely photographer that takes pics for me, passed along the picture today and it turned out great!! She said that the hat had her and the mother of this adorable baby laughing the entire time! Check it out:

On another exciting note, I finally made it to IKEA and purchased my long awaited shelf for my abundance of yarn. This sucker is HUGE, but it makes me so very happy! This offers me an insane amount of storage for my crochet materials. Yarn is really an annoying object to store. It gets tangled, knotted, and takes up a lot of space when you have 100+ skeins lying around. On top of the yarn issue, my hooks were everywhere. I will be the first person to say that I lack in the area of organization. I felt that this was the key to organizing my crocheting obsession, and in turn it would make my husband MUCH happier since he wasn't finding yarn all over the house.

DON'T YOU LOVE IT?? The munchkin in front is pretty darn cute too!

Things have continued to be hectic for me, but I have managed to stay on top of my life. I took a little vacay from the crochet business to focus on other areas of my life and I am ready to dive back in! Sorry for those still waiting for orders. I am getting to them as my life allows.

Okay, next post is going to be all about yarn! Brands, weight, where to buy, and my favorite! If you have any questions about yarn that you want me to answer send me your questions!

Can't Wait!

I am so sorry that this post will have few pics. My camera battery is currently dead and we left the charger in Indiana a couple of weeks ago. I SOOO want to share a new set of booties I made last week. Soon enough! Once I get that camera back I will be posting many pics!

One item I will be sure to post is the new organizing book shelf. I am planning on purchasing my new life saver this Saturday, which means I will make Paul put it together on Sunday when I get home from my shopping extravaganza! I can't wait!! I went out today and bought many of the canvas baskets I will need. I have already started organizing my yarn and it feels SO good. However, I can't believe how many times I have bought the same skein of yarn over and over because I didn't think I had it...now I have the same color in 4 skeins! Hopefully this new shelf will alleviate the problem of buying yarn when I don't need it.

Other than that, not much is major exciting over here. I am 25% of the way through my internship. Wow, that sounds so behind on where I want to be. I am really loving it, but hate how much time it consumes within my week. I miss my girl, and my house becomes a DISASTER. Someday when my internship and my schooling is all done I won't know what it is like to have my Tuesday nights free and not have to go into "work" three days a week. Keep praying me through!

Lastly, I wanted to share a picture of one of my hats. My mom gave this hat as a gift for a couple in their church who adopted this little peanut, Alyda. Could she be any cuter?!?! Her mom, Lea, shared this picture with me and I was thrilled to show it off.


Oh, and BTW, I am hoping to write a post about yarn soon. I have had a lot of yarn questions, so I am thinking about posting about my favorite yarn, most hated yarn, where I get my yarn, etc....stay tuned!

On Your Hook This Week

Not much to report this week.....life has been busy, Belle has been sick, and my hands have been workin'!

I need to take more pictures of things I have been making, but once I finish them they are off and in the mail. Needless to say, I have been making loads of owl hats, a cocoon, some newsboy hats, flowers, and tons of monkey hats!! It is crazy how many orders have been coming in and I am surprised at how quickly I have been turning them around. It feels good!

The problem with so many orders is that I tend to have loads and loads of yarn EVERYWHERE! Paul is a saint to put up with it. Belle somehow finds it all of the time and gets herself all wrapped up in it. I am in need of an intervention! So, here is my solution:

So many cubbies just waiting for baskets of yarn! This will be upstairs in our house. I am hoping to purchase this beauty in 2 weeks....I promise to post pics when done!

Oh, and let's have a linky party! It has been awhile and I want to see what everyone else has been up to!

Christmas Cards and Crochet

This is a post a lot of Christmas cards, and a little bit about crochet:-)

Christmas really is right around the corner. I LOVE Christmas and everything about; the music, the food, the family, and I can honestly say that I love the shopping!

Now that we have our family photos complete I have been eyeing which Christmas cards to buy from Shutterfly. I love the idea of one big ole picture of Belle like this:

On the other hand, I feel that I have to get a card that shows of more of the pictures that Kate Krueger took of us. There are just too many that I love to not put more than one on our Christmas cards. So, in perusing the Shutterfly website I have decided to go with this style:
The plan is one big picture of Belle, as well as some small ones, and at least one with Paul and I. Let's be honest, most people really only want to see Belle anyway.

Find your favorite card here and here at Shutterfly.

Last year, Paul and I ordered our Christmas cards with one big picture of Mac and Belle. This year I am excited to add more of a family pic, although Mac might be sad that he is not a part of this year's card. I have used Shutterfly in the past for my Christmas cards and have always been really happy with the quality and the fast shipping. I am currently working on Belle's baby book through Shutterfly, and I will eventually get that sucker completed (maybe when she turns 5)!

On another note, I just found that Shutterfly now offers gift tags! Fabulous idea, huh? Check out there gift tags here. My favorite ones are these:

Now, being that I am a crocheter, I am often thinking of things I could crochet as gifts. One year I crocheted blankets for everyone in Paul's family. I have also done some crocheting for my nieces for their first Christmas'. Last year I actually crocheted a stocking for Belle that I LOVE!

It seems that the pattern I found online is no longer there, so I might have to do a bit of research. This is actually not my photo, but a photo from Granny-Along. I might have to hound her so see where the pattern for this went!

Anyway, what are you crocheting up for Christmas?

(FYI, if you write a blog and want 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly, click here)

Monday Monday

I can't hardly believe that I haven't posted in two weeks. I am so sorry! Things have been crazy around here, but good!

On a personal note, Belle has started to walk! Nothing is quite so adorable as a one year old trying out their legs and taking those first steps. She falls on her butt a lot, but she sure is confident!

Along with beginning to walk, Belle is talking tons! She says Mac (our dog), Mama, Dada, Uh-Oh (her favorite), No (another favorite), and Hi. She says things like "yuck" and "duck," but she has no clue what those mean really.

On a crochet note, I have been SWAMPED. I finished 8 orders this weekend, but still have 40 more to complete. 40!?!?! I sure hope that I have kept track of my orders well and haven't missed any. I feel that I have been on top of things, but every time I finish one order, I get two more :-) The upside 0f this is that my secret stash of crochet revenue is growing and Paul and I are debating where to spend the money. Not a bad problem! So far the decision is between putting it towards finishing our basement, going on a shopping spree, saving it for our trip to California next year, new couches, or just keeping it in savings and not touching it. The latter sounds way too boring!

I hope to take pics of some of the things I have made recently and post them soon. Instead, I chose to post pics of my family and my baby girl tonight....although she isn't much of a baby anymore! I hope to post some pics of new patterns I have tried out eventually, but right now there is no time to try new patterns! Duty calls :-)

Hopefully there will be a link party this week!

Ordering Freeze

I have reluctantly decided to have a two week ordering freeze. I HATE doing this, but I really feel that I have no choice. As soon as I finish up with one order, I receive another two on top of it. I never feel like I am getting ahead. I hate feeling that way. I want to feel like I am on top of things.

I am currently working on a 35 order list. I would like to get that list down to 10, which is much more manageable. I feel that in the course of two weeks I will be able to do this. So, please bare with me as I ask everyone to wait two weeks until they put their orders in. This will allow me time to catch up and get a breather!

This two week freeze means that I will not be taking any orders for any reason. I hate saying no to newborn gift orders, but I must right now so that I stay on task with my other orders.

Thank you to everyone for understanding and allowing me time to focus on the orders I have!

A Little Humor for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

For those of you who have never checked out The Inner Hooker, you HAVE to. I have purchased many of her patterns and love the things she does. I think I crochet much looser than she does, however, because I have to adjust the sizing when I make some of her patterns. Either way, they all are so adorable!

Her newest creation is just hilarious, and I HAD to share it. She has made a hat that actually looks like a boob! I know some people may take offense to this, but she has a great reasoning behind this (based on some breast feeding woes), and I really think it is great considering that this month is Breast Cancer Awareness month.

This hat is offered for free on her blog for those of you who are interested. Be sure to check out the pics because they crack me up!

FREE BOOB BEANIE CROCHET PATTERN

On My Hook Linky Party

The pictures are in! This was something I posted about last, but the professional pictures came on of my little buddy, Rory, in her new crocheted duds :-) I just LOVE HER, and she knows how to wear a hat. She was a bit of a stinker for the pictures, so the diaper cover only gets a quick shot, but she can be as naughty as she wants and still make everything look cute! So, here is what was on my hook this week:

There were two people who linked up this week. First, Diane, from Something Diane Made shows off her Adult Slippers. We gave a pair of these cuties away a couple of weeks ago and you can buy them at her Etsy shop. Love them!

Even more slippers from You, Me, & Miss E. TOO cute. I love red.

So, let me see what else those hooks are whipping up this week! For those that don't crochet feel free to link up with any of your own craft/house/etc projects! I love new ideas and love to drool over the crafty things other people do.

Baby Set

My favorite part of crocheting is creating new things and picking out the colors. I also love to try out new patterns. One of my greatest friends just had a baby--side note, it's amazing how quickly holding a newborn brings on baby fever--anyway, I wanted to make them something for her newborn pics. I have really worked hard this week on many orders and was able to catch up enough to take some time to make this cute little set.

My only instructions were to make a hat with a flower in fall colors. Thankfully, I had just bought a pile of fall-colored yarn and was DYING to use them. I knew I wanted to make a hat, but thought I might try my hand at a diaper cover. I found the greatest pattern off of Ravelry. Don't worry, I will share this at the end of the post. I bet you this entire set was complete in about an hour and a half.

The hat was something I created myself, and I think I might write down the pattern, even though it is very simple. I am constantly making newborn hats without a pattern and debating on how many increase rows to make and how long to make the hat. Once the professional pics of this set are complete I will post the pattern for the hat with it :-)

I can't wait to see this on Rory and to see those ruffles on her bootsy! Maybe I need to quick whip up a pair of booties to match! Any suggestions on what kind of booties I should make? Mary janes? Boots? Slippers?

Oh, and as I promised, the link to the diaper cover: Diaper Cover