January 12, 2014 by Stephanie

Crochet Boot Cuffs

I really tried pushing myself with my crochet abilities for Christmas gifts. It is about time too. There areso many things beyond blankets that I want to do, but I have some big blanket projects I need to finish first before the semester is over.

This project was fairly simple. I wanted to make boot cuffs for my sister in law since she wears boots all the time. This pattern was a good one to follow.

My one recommendation is to make sure you don’t make it too tight. Measure your leg with jeans on to make sure they will go over your pants.

I crocheted the bodies first like this.

Then I used a needle to sew the ends smoothly.

There you can see the ruffle.

I didn’t get a final picture of them. Apparently in my haste to get all the gifts done, I took this one above and forgot a nice finish photo. Whoops.

This is what they look like with boots from the site.

ravelry.com

I made a scarf that matched, and I will be showing that later this week.

I hope that you had a great weekend.

The Whitener household definitely is ready to put this last week behind us. (We are lovingly referring to it as the week we would like to forget.)

It is a new week though, and honestly it can only go up.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

January 6, 2014 by Stephanie

Crochet Headbands

I have an announcement.

I have succeeded in crocheting something that wasn’t just a straight line!

I crocheted headbands for my adorable little nieces. I did several variations of them.

For all of them, I crocheted just straight rectangle strips. I either did the whole thing in single stitch or double crochet. It just depended on the type of yarn I used.

Then I used a large darning needle to sew the ends together. This is a first for me in my crocheting experience, so I say that is a win for trying something new.

Then for two of the headbands I did flowers. YES to learning beyond the straight line! I used this pattern. It was really easy to do, or I am just getting much better at this crochet thing.

The pieces before.

Then you just sew the flower onto the headband strip.

The finished pieces.

She didn’t realize that it goes over your ears. She also did not want to be my model anymore.

With the other two, I just wrapped yarn over several times to scrunch a piece of it. This is great to cover the seam and the ending stitches, which I always seem to make a mess of. This way is much easier than the patch I made for my first headband attempt.

See how it is just wrapped around there?

I made all of these in about an hour.

Addison wanted to use it as a blindfold.

Since they are for kids, you do not need a lot of yarn. Although, I had to redo one because I misjudged how large my nieces heads are. They are still babies to me!

I happened to use left over yarn from other projects for all of these. Score!

They turned out really well. And since they don’t take up much yarn, I think I have found an easy thing to do with that yarn that I can’t use for blankets. Anyone want one?

I hope you all have a great first Monday of 2014!

December 4, 2013 by Stephanie

Crocheting Props

A couple weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to photograph some friends of ours and their sweet family. I made this blanket/throw in a few days for the family shoot. With all the military families around here, I felt that I could use this as a prop for various shoots.

I ended up using the family’s blankets more than this one, but I am glad that I have it now for the future.

Hobby Lobby had this “Old Glory” yarn which made it really easy to make an American blanket without switching skeins. I am all about convenience.

I did break my rule of not trying a new stitch or pattern, but I was trying to make it simple so it wasn’t the main part of the photo. I also needed to make it quick, so I alternated a single stitch row and a treble stitch row for the entire blanket. With the color switching yarn, you don’t want a lot of details anyway because it can get lost lost.

And per usual, when I try to take my blanket photos, Grace feels the need to be a model. She is pretty cute.

This is the only time I can get her to sit for photos. Crosby was no where to be found, or really just taking advantage of having the couch to himself.

To end, I leave you with some crafty videos from Ellen. These are my two all time favorite segments from the show!

Happy Hump Day!

November 5, 2013 by Stephanie

Crochet for the Ears

One of my crafting goals is to crochet something that is not a straight line. You would think after 20 years of crocheting I would move past blankets and scarves, but sadly, I have never made anything else.

I tried to make a hat once and it turned into this…

But I am determined. Every blanket I have done over the past few years has had a new type of stitch that I had to learn in order to challenge my crochet skills. I think I am finally ready to move on to shapes.

As I mentioned in the last post, I participated in the Cara Box exchange. Stephanie lives in Colorado and has made comments about the cooler weather. So I thought an ear-warmer headband would be appropriate.

This pattern is still just straight lines, but I had to also sew a little bit.

You double crochet however many rows until you get to your desired width. You will also need to make sure the length is a little shorter than the circumference of your head because it will stretch as you make it. I just used my own head as a guide, so I don’t want to give exact numbers because it may vary. The good thing about this pattern is it is so quick to make that if you need to start over, it really isn’t a big deal.

You will make the long headpiece and a separate rectangle piece.

First sew the ends together of the headband.

Then you will sew the smaller piece around the headband by connecting it’s ends. I sewed it over the seam of the headband just so that was covered. You do want to make it small enough that it will scrunch the headband together to create a ripple effect.

And there you have it a simple cute headband ear warmer.

I will say that this took me two tries. The first one looked like I was a rhinoceros because the bump was so enormous when I tried sewing it with the yarn I used for the previous parts. Lesson learned, use actually thread…

You could probably do this with many different kinds of crocheting, but I was going for a simple effect.

Christmas is fast approaching, so we’ll see if I can make a flower applique by then. I can only hope!

September 19, 2013 by Stephanie

Autumn on my Mind-Fall Creation

Today is another day for Autumn fun!

“An Autumn Creation”

With the changing colors and impending holidays, do you have some inspiration to make something? Link up here to release some creative juices and share some autumn inspiration and craftiness.

Rules of the Link-up:

1. Do one entry or all! It’s up to you!

2. Add your entry’s link below, and be sure to put the button in your post!

3. If you do link up, check out a couple fellow bloggers to see something new.

4. Your hosts (Elizabeth and Stephanie) would love a following on Bloglovin, but it is not required! We are just glad you stopped by for “Autumn on My Mind!”

So it has been awhile since I finished a crochet project. The blanket I am currently working on is pretty tedious. It may be another year before that beast gets done…

So I decided to make a scarf to include in the Carabox I made last month for the gift exchange. I can whip out scarves within a few days. Feeling accomplished!

The yarn I used screamed fall and I looked up a new pattern on Ravelry. That’s my one requirement for each crochet project is that I do a new stitch.

This pattern called Urban Shells looks really complicated when you read through it. I also hate patterns that don’t have pictures, but I was determined to make this scarf happen. The first couple rows are tricky, but it is actually really easy once you get through that and understand the abbreviations she uses.

There are different textures on each side. Hopefully you can see the difference in the two shots below.