Tiny Turtles

The week before spring break is always rough. Deadlines and exams seem to be coming at you from all directions! That was two weeks ago for me, and I had the most difficult exam I have ever taken. (found out I did well though!) After five hours of hardcore studying one night I decided I needed a crochet break. I'm still working on my blanket, but I want to make a quick project; something I could make in under an hour. While searching on Ravelry I found a pattern for little turtles, and so I made a couple!

Adorable. As you can see, they are very teeny. Each one took me between 25 and 30 minutes with distractions (Pirates of the Caribbean). The pattern is easy to follow and I learned a couple new stitches (popcorn and spike), which I enjoyed.

I apologize for the not-so-high-quality pictures. My digital camera is about 5 or 6 years old now.

I have plans to make more for the other women in my small group, so there will probably be an update with more later!

Water Tribe

Because this blanket project is going to take awhile I plan on giving updates as I finish things like...I finished my first square!

It only took me three weeks! Which is pretty good because I calculated that each of the four squares as 8,836 stitches in it! Holy crap! That's not even including the three rows of dark border. Completing this square means I am approximately 20% of the way through this project.

Appa modeling

I made a few adjustments to this square. First off, there are only supposed to be 94 columns, but the water motif pdf has 95, so I scratched the 95th column (the rightmost column). The pattern also calls for cluster stitch for the dark blue but I changed to half-double crochet because the cluster stitch was not working out for me.

 Swirlies!

This is not my pattern, I found it online and I am so glad I did because I am seriously in love with Avatar: The Last Airbender, on which this blanket is based. Feeling confident? Want to try to make your own blanket? Here's the link to the pattern!

ATLA Blanket Pattern: http://kimby77.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/avatar-the-four-elements/

Chevron Infinity Scarf & News

I've got a couple large projects I'm working on now, but I just finished up a smaller project! I had some gray and white yarn just sitting in my pile for some time now and I decided that I wanted to make an infinity scarf but didn't want to do normal stripes anymore. While flipping through a small booklet of patterns that I have I found a pattern for a ripple baby blanket. With a little tweaking I was able to make this chevron infinity scarf!

I am pretty happy about how it came out! It's a little longer than I'd like, but other than that it's great. I just used Red Heart Super Saver yarn.

The pattern has a slight ribbed effect created by working in back loops only. Unfortunately I can't share this pattern with y'all because it was a purchased pattern and so is not mine, but if you find a ripple pattern you should be able to recreate it!

In other news, I finally got a Ravelry! And I am completely addicted. There's so many things that I want to make now! Also, this past weekend I got started on an Avatar blanket, which I am pretty freaking excited about! Here's what I've got so far:

Pattern Testing

I was scrolling through Facebook one day when I came upon a post from a crafting blog I follow. Julie, the author of Gleeful Things, was looking for pattern testers for the new skully hat she designed. I thought, hey this looks like fun, why not. I didn't at all expect to be one of the six or so picked but I was!

This gives you an idea of what the pattern of the hat looks like.

Pre-pompom

This is my completed hat! I chose to make the extra long skully so that there would be a slight slouch in the back, and the pompom made it look even better. I really enjoyed making this hat. The pattern is very unique and it only uses basic stitches.

Now that she's gotten all of our feedback, Julie has her Heartbeat Skully Hat pattern available at her Ravelry store for $4.

A Commission

Over break I was hanging out with one of my best friends. We were spending the evening by introducing her to Firefly, and naturally I brought my crochet bag with me (because I bring it everywhere). Here mom came in and was talking to us and saw that I was working on a hat and commented how cool it was that I knew how to crochet and she wished she had learned. She then went to her room and grabbed a bag of yarn that she had bought at a garage sale and asked if I would make something for her. I showed her this blog with the things that I had made and so we decided upon an infinity scarf and a hat!

This is the 5th infinity scarf that I've made with this shell stitch pattern! Gotta say it has become a favorite.

The yarn that I used was really cool. It was spiral shaped and had a silver strand with all the blues (and purple). Also, it was at least ten years old.

My friend was even kind enough to let me take a picture of the back of her head!

Infinity scarf pattern: http://yarnchick.blogspot.com/2011/10/simple-shell-stitch-infinity-scarf-free.html
Beanie pattern: http://linz-craftingadventures.blogspot.com/2012/10/neon-green-beanie.html

School Spirit Earflap Hat - Crochet Pattern

The end of winter break came too quickly, but now that I'm back in the swing of things, I've got a new hat pattern! This pattern is somewhat of a combination of my beanie pattern and my Jayne hat pattern. Although it doesn't necessarily look like it, I created this hat with only one skein of Red Heart School Spirit yarn.

School Spirit Earflap Hat

Materials:
I hook
1 skein Red Heart Team Spirit (or a worsted weight yarn)
Stitch marker
Scissors

DIRECTIONS:

Note: Mark the last stitch in a round with a stitch marker or piece of yarn to hold your place, as this pattern is worked continuously.

Hat
Rnd 1: 10 sc in magic ring (10)
Rnd 2: 2 dc in each sc around (20)
Rnd 3: *2 dc in next stitch, 1 dc in next stitch* repeat around (30)
Rnd 4: *2 dc in next stitch, 1 dc in next two stitches* repeat around (40)
Rnd 5: *2 dc in next stitch, 1 dc in next three stitches* repeat around (50)
Rnd 6: *2 dc in next stitch, 1 dc in next four stitches* repeat around (60)
Rnd 7: *2 dc in next stitch, 1 dc in next five stitches* repeat around (70)
Rnd 8 - 14: 1 dc in each stitch around (70) If longer hat desired continue these rounds.
To Finish: 1 hdc in next two stitches, 1 sc in next two stitches, slip stitch in next stitch. Fasten off.

Note: Earflaps should be spaced 18 stitches apart

Earflaps (make 2)

Row 1. Make loop on hook and insert into correct orange stitch on base of hat and make a sc stitch. Continue along base until you have 14 sc (14)

Row 2-7. Ch 1, sc across (14)

Row 8. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 10, sc2tog (12)

Row 9. Ch 1, sc across (12)

Row 10. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 8, sc2tog (10)

Row 11. Ch 1, sc across (10)

Row 12. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 6, sc2tog (8)

Row 13. Ch 1, sc across (8)

Row 14. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 4, sc2tog (6)

Row 15. Ch 1, sc across (6)

Row 16. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 2, sc2tog (4)

Row 17. Ch 1, sc across (4)

Row 18. Ch 1, sc2tog twice (2)

Row 19. Ch 1, sc across (2)

Row 20. Ch 1, sc2tog (1)

Fasten off leaving long tail. Cut another long piece of yarn, fold in half, slip knot through the last stitch, and braid with the tail. Knot the end when at desired length.

Now I can finally brave cold football games in style! Maybe.

Jayne Cobb Hat - Crochet Pattern

Think Geek recently released an officially licensed Jayne Cobb hat from the TV show Firefly. I love this show. I really really wanted to buy one but decided they were too expensive for my budget and thought that I could maybe make one for myself. So I tried searching for a pattern but only found one that I liked that used super chunky weight yarn. Problem is the Hobby Lobby and JoAnn's in my town were fresh out of the colors I needed. With my boyfriend's encouragement I decided to try to write my own pattern, and I would like to share with you the final product!

Jayne Cobb Hat

Supplies:

A little less than half a skein each of medium (4) weight yellow, orange, and red

I hook

Tapestry needle

Scissors

Instructions:

HAT

With yellow

Rnd 1. Make a magic ring with 10 hdc, slip stitch to join (10)

Rnd 2. Ch 2, 2 hdc in each st around, sl st to join (20)

Rnd 3. Ch 2, *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next st* repeat around, sl st to join (30)

Rnd 4. Ch 2, *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next 2 sts* repeat around, sl st to join (40)

Rnd 5. Ch 2, *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next 3 sts* repeat around, sl st to join (50)

Rnd 6. Ch 2, *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next 4 sts* repeat around, sl st to join (60)

Rnd 7. Ch 2, *2 hdc in next st, 1 hdc in next 5 sts* repeat around, sl st to join (70)

Rnd 8-13. Ch 2, I hdc in each st around, sl st to join (70)

Change to orange

Rnd 14-20. Ch 2, 1 hdc in each st around, sl st to join (70)

Fasten off and weave in loose ends.

EARFLAPS (2)

Right earflap start 10 stitches from seam in back, left earflap start 8 stitches from seam in back

With red

Row 1. Make loop on hook and insert into correct orange stitch on base of hat and make a sc stitch. Continue along base until you have 14 sc (14)

Row 2-7. Ch 1, sc across (14)

Row 8. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 10, sc2tog (12)

Row 9. Ch 1, sc across (12)

Row 10. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 8, sc2tog (10)

Row 11. Ch 1, sc across (10)

Row 12. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 6, sc2tog (8)

Row 13. Ch 1, sc across (8)

Row 14. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 4, sc2tog (6)

Row 15. Ch 1, sc across (6)

Row 16. Ch 1, sc2tog, sc 2, sc2tog (4)

Row 17. Ch 1, sc across (4)

Row 18. Ch 1, sc2tog twice (2)

Row 19. Ch 1, sc across (2)

Row 20. Ch 1, sc2tog (1)

Fasten off, leaving long tail. Cut another long red string, fold in half, knot through last stitch and braid with the tail.

Add pompom and go be a Big Damn Hero.

If you have questions or notice mistakes, let me know in the comments! Enjoy! :)