All around the web

Happy Sunday, all!

Before I head out of here for the day, I thought I'd let you know about some sites I just joined.

First, there's Bloglovin.  I've seen this site popping up on some blogs I read for almost a year, so I thought it was time I invested. So now you can follow my blog with bloglovin.

And finally there's my new Formspring account, where you can ask me anything.  I set it up to answer general knit and crochet questions you may have that aren't appropriate as a blog response.  So check me out on Formspring and ask away :)

Hope you all have a great rest of your weekend.  I hope to be back this week posting about some recent projects :)

Happy Belated Valentine's Day

Whether you're single or attached, I hope you were all able to enjoy the holiday!  So many people are vocal about their Valentine's Day dislike, and I understand the point that every day should be special.  But really, it's the one day out of the year you can use the "I'm hanging out with my hubby" excuse and not get the shifty eyes.

But for many people, there are other things to celebrate on Valentine's Day.

This is my oma (and I'm throwing in a really awful photo of me for free, as well):



Valentine's Day is her birthday, so this past Saturday, the whole fam got together and went to dinner, followed by cake and coffee and her house.

But you'll notice she is wearing a hand-crocheted scarf - made by moi!  I've tried to make her presents for her birthday the past few years because (and you may have guessed this already), my oma is the person who taught me to knit.  Granted the scarf is crocheted, but I'm not sure I'd have picked that up without having known how to knit first.  And I think she appreciates what I make.  In any event, the scarf came out pretty nicely.

The pattern is from Debbie Stoller's Happy Hooker, which I re-purchased over the weekend since losing it somehow in our move last year.  I used larger hooks than called for because I know my gauge is always tight, and I loved how loose it came out this time.  The yarn was new for me: Caron Simply Soft Paints in different shades of red - it was really beautiful and I'd definitely buy it again.  Caron never disappoints me.

Here are some close-ups of the scarf so you can get a better look at the colors:





And here's a photo (taken using Instagram for the iPhone) of me wearing the scarf to redeem my appearance in that first one.   Ouch.



Thanks, Oma, for helping me develop my love for the fiber arts!

Happy day after Valentine's Day!  For what it's worth, I do have the best hubby ever.  He got me Swedish Fish with a candy jar to keep on my desk at work so I don't think about killing people as often, a bottle of Clover Hill Catawba wine (who doesn't love a good Catawba), and a yarn ball winder!  He knows me so well.

Maybe next year I'll get a photo of him smiling :)

Free Crochet Pattern: Easy and Pretty Headband with Button

Yet another snowy, annoying, ice-falling-from-the-sky day brings us a fun winter pattern!  Check it out:

This pattern was created to make a headband for a friend of mine, so I thought I'd share.  If you run into any errors or need anything explained, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them as best I can in the comments.  I wrote it down pretty quickly, so I may have missed a step or two.  Just let me know :)

Yarn used: Caron Simply Soft

Hook: Size G

---

Instructions:

Ch 74

Row 1: Hdc in 3rd ch from hook; hdc until end of row.  3 hdc in last st; hdc across opposite side; 3 hdc in last st.  join in first hdc (NOT ch).

Row 2: Ch 2.  In back loop only (BLO), hdc in same st as join and in each st across; 2 hdc in each of 3 corner sts; hdc across other side; 2 hdc in last 3 corner sts; join to first hdc.

Row 3: Ch 2.  In BLO, hdc in same st as join and in each st across;  (hdc, 2 hdc)3x over the three 2hdcs in previous row; hdc across opposite side; (hdc, 2hdc)3x over the three 2hdcs in previous row; join in first hdc.

Row 4: Ch 2.  In BLO, hdc in same st as join and in each st across; over 6 corner sts work (hdc, 2 hdc)3x;  hdc across opposite side;  over last 6 corner sts work (hdc, 2 hdc)3x; join in first hdc.

Row 5: Ch 2.  In BLO, hdc in same st as join and in each st across; in 7 corner sts work (2hdc, hdc)3x, 2hdc in 7th st; hdc across; in last 7 corner sts work (2hdc, hdc)3x, 2 hdc in 7th st; join to first hdc.

Row 6: Ch 2.  In BLO, hdc in same st as join and in each st across;  in 8 corner sts work (2hdc, hdc, 2hdc, ch 2, sk 2 sts, 2hdc, hdc, 2hdc); hdc across opposite side;  in last 8 corner sts work (2hdc, hdc)4x; hdc until end of round; join to first hdc.

Row 7: Ch 2.  In BLO, hdc in same st as join and in each st across;  in 8 corner sts work (2hdc, hdc, 2hdc, 3hdc in ch, 2hdc, hdc, 2hdc); hdc across opposite side;  in next 8 corner sts work (hdc, 2hdc)4x; join in first hdc.

Row 8: Ch 2.  In BLO, hdc around.

Row 9: Border of your choice!  I opt for reverse single crochet in the back loop only.

Finishing:

Wrap around head to find where button placement should be.  Sew on button of your choice, weave in ends, and you're good to go!

---

I like this headband because you can use the button area to display a really cool button you've found and wear it on the side of your head as more of a decoration - OR you can wear the button in back like a regular headband for a simpler look, but decorative enough from all the hdc ridges that you look a bit fancier :)

Hope you're all staying safe in this crazy barrage of awful weather we keep getting (it's been at least twice a week for the past month that we get hit).  Tonight's supposed to bring 2" of ice, so that's fun!

Three months later, my hubby has a hat!

Way, way back when (October of 2010), my lucky husband celebrated our first anniversary by going yarn shopping at an upscale shop.  Okay, so that's not all we did, but it would be pretty awesome if he was enthusiastic about me buying yarn.

I picked up just a couple things:



I let him pick out a yarn he liked for me to make him a hat, and of course I can't walk away with nothing for me :)  So I bought some pretty purpley-pink chunky yarn and a pattern booklet that claimed you could make an entire hat from just one ball of the stuff.

My yarn was called Schulana Grand, and when it says it's chunky, it really means it!  It's also not cheap, either.  Check out that wonderful $22.50 price tag.  But it was my anniversary, so I figured it was okay.



Hubby, on the other hand, picked out some grey Plymouth Yarn Encore Tweed:



Fast-forward about three months, and I finally got around to knitting our winter hats.  Hubby has been freezing his head off since December, but with all the last-minute Christmas projects and custom orders, I never got around to it :(.  Luckily, he didn't take much offense to it.  He only reminded me about it every waking moment.

I'm happy to say they're done and wonderful!  I wish I'd have made his hat longer, but what can you do?  I even added an extra 1/2" to the darn thing.  Oh, well.

Here's my finished hat!  The yarn so was so thick, and it was only a 2-stitch cable, that I didn't even need a cable needle.  I was able to just wrap the stitch around my thumb before knitting it off.  Pretty easy.  But I have to admit all those cables started driving me nuts!





Click here for project details over on Ravelry.

And here's Hubby's:





Click here for project details over on Ravelry!

I'm spending most of my week studying a crap-ton for my classes and some studying for an exam at work.  I basically have no life for the next three days.  But before I go to bed each night, I've been taking an hour to work on some new commissions I've brought in, one of which is a knitted brimmed hat for my hairdresser!  I bought canvas for the brim two weekends ago, so I'm excited and kind of nervous to experiment.  If anyone has any tips for making a brim, feel free to share :)

Long time no blog - here's a necklace and a headband!

Well hello!  It's been awhile.  As you can probably guess, my classes are back in full-swing.  Nothing like coming off a busy holiday month into a busy schoolwork session.  The joys!

Anyway, I'm here to show off a couple projects I've been working on, but definitely not all of them.  I still have a Traveling Scarf to finish, not to mention I made Hubby a hat out of some yarn I let him pick out during our anniversary trip to the Poconos.  That was back in October, and I only got to making it two weeks ago.  "The shoemaker's children have no shoes" kinda thing.

Anyway, here's a necklace I crocheted a friend of mine for Christmas:







We finally did our exchange this past weekend, so I can post photos at long last!  Yeesh.  I think I want to make one of these for myself.  I kind of fell in love with the colors :)

Also, another friend of mine and I are doing an exchange: I'm making her a headband and she's making me one of her necklaces (which are super pretty and way different than mine).  Here's the prototype of the headband I made her:



I apologize for the awful photo, but it was late at night and I wanted to send her a photo to make sure it's what she wanted!  I made the button hole a wee bit big, which I didn't realize until I had already attached the button, so I may frog everything to get back to that point and fix it.  It just bothers me way too much, haha, but I think overall it looks really cute!  So you can all look forward to a pattern of this soon.

And please, can someone actually hold me accountable for writing out this pattern?  So many times I say I'll write the pattern and just never get around to it.  Feel free to kick me in the behind or send me nastygrams via email or in the comments.

More to come soon!  I hope you're all enjoying the new year.  I'll leave you with this quote we should all start using on our craft projects:

"This ______ is handmade.  If you throw it away, those same hands will make a doll in your likeness and stick pins in its butt."