• Try to use materials from my stashes (beads, yarn or fabric) – A.K.A. spend as little as humanly possible on craft supplies for the year – Exceptions to this would be ‘necessary’ things like: wire (for making jump rings, eye pins, head pins, etc.), felt (for accents for amigurumis) and spools of thread (for the sewing machine, of course).
• If I have to spend money on craft supplies, I’ve decided on a $2 allowance per month (so a maximum of $24, including tax, for the year). I’ll be keeping track of this on the blog (guess that means no more buying wonderful handmade lampwork beads… I have a lot already, that haven’t been used yet!)
• To crochet and/or knit a minimum of 12 preemie hats for a local hospital as a donation (I was originally thinking of 52, one for each week, but I figured that would soon become more of a ‘chore’ than something I’d like to do – one per month should be a good amount) – I also want to learn “new” things for each hat (new stitches, new patterns, etc.)
• Utilize the wonderful crochet stitch dictionary that I receieved for my birthday! It’s The Complete Book of Crochet Stitch Designs: 500 Classic and Original Patterns by Linda Schapper and I haven’t gotten a chance to use it as much as I would have liked (used it as a reference so far and used one of the mesh patterns for my mom’s Christmas scarf). I love this book. It’s in need of a review for this site though!
• Do reviews! I’m planning to do at least 2 reviews per month – probably not in April or December, due to exams, but I figured I could ‘catch up’ or do some in advanced in the other months. This is where I plan on using (and slightly abusing) my local public library, as well as some of the books that my sister and I already own as well as maybe buying some magazines (I’m currently on the hunt for a new/recent copy of Crochet Today! – I’ve tried 3 different bookstores and haven’t had any luck yet)
• Get better at taking photographs. I own a point-and-shoot Sony Cybershot (DSC-W150) and have for almost a year (since January 2009). And on that note…
• Make a light box! I’ve been meaning to since forever. I even have some saved boxes just for the purpose of making a light box, I just haven’t gotten around to making it yet.
• And, lastly, but definitely not least, to be more organized with all of my craft supplies (I’m going to be cleaning out a few drawers so not all of my beading supplies are, ahem, everywhere – as well as getting a few bins to put my jointly-owned yarn stash somewhere besides in zipped plastic bags in a giant clear plastic garbage bag).

The Seafoam Drift Scarf was made for my mom for the holidays. She loves it! It’s a crocheted scarf in an open mesh pattern with a fringe added on. I’m toying with the idea of posting up the pattern for this. The open mesh pattern is really easy to do and it works up fairly quickly, because of all the open space. It took ~6 hours and it is about 5’5″ long.

Pattern: None used
Materials: Bernat Satin Sport in Jade
Length: ~5’5″ (without fringe)

The entire scarf, the fringe is actually even (it looks a bit uneven in this photo, probably because I didn’t arrange it very well on the carpet).

Read the rest of this entry »

A super cozy cowl made in bulky-weight yarn that is sure to be a quick project! The pattern is crocheted flat so you can stop when you reach the length you need to go around the wearer’s head.

Click to download a PDF copy of the Crochet Ribbed Cowl.

What is amigurumi? Where did the word come from? How the %#*! do I pronounce it?

All very good questions!

Amigurumi is a Japanese word and encompasses knitted and crocheted toys – usually animals or human-like dolls. They generally have cute features (like big eyes), are made of yarn, stuffed with love (or polyester stuffing). Due to the nature of the stuffie (or amigurumi, I just find ‘stuffie’ to be a lot easier, and quicker, to type out), it is generally recommended that you use a smaller size crochet hook or knitting needles when making them in order to ensure that you are making a tight fabric. This makes sure that when you stuff (with love!) that the stuffing does not show through.

Read the rest of this entry »

Caron International is having a giveaway!

If you’re a resident of the US and you want some free yarn, all you need to do is send in 3 labels from the Caron Simply Soft lines and your address and you’ll get a free full-sized skein (not a sample size!) of NaturallyCaron.com Country yarn – you don’t need to send in shipping and handling.

Do note that you don’t get a choice in colour, but you do get a full-sized skein of the NaturallyCaron.com Country yarn.

Interested? Click here to go to the official Caron’s free sample page.