Crochet Market Bag

This is still one of my favorite bags.  Functional with classic pineapple motif.

With the arrival of Spring comes outdoor activities, and while gearing up for fun, I came across this great market bag that I made quite a while back. Even through the years, it is still a favorite. These are great for poolside, as well as a trip to the store or market. Heartmade Crafts has a paid pattern for the Pineapple Market Bag on Ravelry.

Thank you for stopping by.

Hope that you find joy and inspiration!

Happy crocheting!!

 🌸🐇🐰 Crochet Easter Bunny🐰🐇🌸

2014

This cute little bunny is made with this Easy Easter Bunny Pattern by Janette Williams. 

This fun easy project works up quickly and is a favorite with all the kids. Warning, with its adorable round belly and fluffy pompom tail, along with all the endless color choices, you probably can not make just one!

🐰🐇🌸🌸🐇🐰

Thank you for stopping by.

Hope that you find inspiration and joy!

Happy crocheting!!

Easter Trees

Cranberry Pineapple Tree Skirt

for

🌲🐇🐰 Easter Trees 🐰🐇🌲 

Making Christmas tree skirts year round, I will sometimes still have the Christmas tree up until after Easter. So what better way to have it blend in than to make it an Easter tree!

You can find out more about the Cranberry Pineapple Christmas Tree Skirt Pattern here on Doily Designs.

The kids and me had made several different crafty Easter trees through the years, and I thought, why not deck out the Christmas tree for Easter?  I think it looks cute with all the eggs. You could even add more decorations to make it even more festive!

Easter tree inspiration 

🐇🌲

These two trees are great for toddlers. You can draw egg shapes on cardboard and have the children paint them, then cut out the eggs, trace their arm on brown construction paper and glue the trunk and eggs on paper. Super easy and fun!

Or hand trees are always fun for the kids. Then the children used stickers to decorate.

🌲🐇🐰 Happy Easter 🐰🐇🌲

Thank you for stopping by.

Hope that you find inspiration and joy!

Best wishes, happy crocheting, & Happy Easter!!

Tiny Crochet Easter Baskets

   🐰🐤🌼🌸Happy Easter🌸🌼🐤🐰

Usually I make these in neutral colors for e.o.s. holders, but they are also great as tiny Easter baskets! Done with this colorful multicolor cotton yarn, they're so festive. 

The kids use their lip balm all the time, and loved having a case to carry it around with them. As well as being the perfect size for this bunny and Yoshi to have their own Easter basket and new e.o.s. for Easter 😃 🐇.

Pattern coming soon. Please, contact me if interested.

As always if you would like one made for you, you may visit my Etsy shop and make a request for a custom order.

Happy Easter!

 🐰🐤🌼🌸 🌸🌼🐤🐰

Thank you for stopping by.

Hope that you find inspiration and joy!

Happy crocheting!!

Tiny Crochet Flower Pattern

🌸 Quick and easy, tiny Crochet Flowers🌸

Quick and Easy Tiny Crochet Flower Pattern

Written in US terms

Easy project

E hook

Light, Worsted weight yarn

(I like to use Hobby Lobby "I Love This Yarn" for the great colors and softness.)

Begin with a magic ring.

Rnd 1: ch 1, 6 sc in magic ring, close magic ring loosely, join with sl st in 1st sc, then tighten magic ring circle.

Rnd 2: *ch 2, 3 dc in same sp, ch 2, sl st into next sp, * repeat * to * around for 6 petals, join with sl st in 1st sc. Fasten off and weave ends. 

Embellish if you would like with beads or leaves.

For a slightly smaller flower; do *ch 1, 3 hdc, ch 1,  in place of the *ch 2, 3 dc, ch 2.

I like to use these on lots of different items, including on product tags.

#Tags

#Tags

Cute crochet gift or product tag embellishments.

Whether you are in need of a product tag or gift tags, these can be a nice quick and easy addition to your crochet items. Personally, I like handmade items to have handmade tags and this is a fun and interesting way to add that personal touch.

 Selling ponchos one spring, I got the idea to put the flowers on a tag and give them with the poncho. You could detach the flower and add it to the poncho if you liked. Just a little added something.

You can get dozens of the tags at the dollar store, or have them printed up for you. Then crochet something small to suit your theme. Like holly berries for Christmas tags.

I have even used them as business cards on occasion.

Any small crochet item that looks good alone would work for this. 

Be sure to round any sharp edges on the tags, as to not snag the crochet.

You can find my Quick and Easy Tiny Crochet Flower Pattern here.

Thank you for stopping by.

Happy crocheting!

Russian Diagram Pattern 

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This was made from an intricate Russian diagram. I seem to recall that it was in Мод around 2010.

This was my first graph pattern to read and make. With minimal translation help from my hubby, who does not speak 'crochet', this ended up being a great starter pattern for me to jump right into reading graphs! If you are intimidated by graphs, they really are easier than you might think to read and actually kind of fun.

This was in 2010 and I really liked the Caron Simply Soft yarn back then. But the Simply Soft was a bit too large of a weight for this and I should have used a lighter weight thread, because it turned out better as a skirt, due to how large a shawl it is on me.

While I was creating this, I started looking for the pattern to give credit to the designer, when I stumbled upon some interesting history instead.  Searching around, I ended up back on Ravelry, and it appears that in 2009 people were taking noticing of this shawl pattern.  Looks like a lot of other people also wanted a translation for this beautiful graph. Turns out that it was published in MOD, a Russian crochet magazine. One lady, Copper Scale Dragon, did her research on the pattern and found that it originated back in the 80's as a doily pattern in a Japanese book of doilies, Fine Crochet Lace, Doily #13 pattern by Mayumi Sato. Later to find its way to Russia and turned into a shawl. She credits this Cape Shawl pattern to Olga Litvina. You can read Copper Scale Dragon's post on Ravelry, from 2009. Many others talk about it as well. There are over 164 projects finished on Ravelry for this Cape Shawl. But, sorry, sadly, the publication is out of print and I have not had any luck finding the pattern. Hope you at least find inspiration for giving graphs a try.

Pictures from 2011

Thank you for stopping by!

Stumpkins

More Stumpkins Nostalgia

~Stumpkins Doll with Crochet Hat and Scarf~

So in all my Stumpkins nostalgia, I got very excited and started crocheting her accessories.  Honestly, I am more excited now about making the accessories than the actual dolls 😅. 

These cute little hats started as jar toppers years ago, but it turns out that her head is about the same size of a mason jar. So I used my pattern for the jar covers and made her these hats and scarves. The one with the huge pompom is my favorite, pictured above.

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Originally my pattern for Mason Jar lid covers, filled with candy, for Christmas.

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Used as cute little Stumpkins doll hats!

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If anyone is interested in the pattern for the hats and scarf, please let me know.

This is my 20 yo Stumpkins doll, modeling the hats and scarves made recently. She looks really good for her age! Just goes to show that these stockings dolls are very durable.

Thank you for stopping by~

okay... more pictures :S.. She looks like a Charley Brown character to me, in this picture. 😆

Snow in Texas!  

As well as lots of migrating Red Robins.

Yarn Stuffing

Stuffing with Yarn

Yarn Stuffing

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So, you know all those pesky little ends left over after weaving ends? Well, I started recycling them by using them as stuffing! With so many wasteful scraps cut after weaving ends, it seemed such a waste to throw them all away. Turns out that I would collect enough to stuff a small pillow in a very short amount of time. Especially if working with a lot of different colors on one project. So I began to use these as stuffing.

Recently while watching Sweet Potato 3, Christine's Bunny and Chick CAL video on FB, and aside from that it is an adorable crochet amigurumi Bunny CAL, I loved the innovative use of grocery bags for stuffing! And while, I am not sure if it is her idea, it is a great idea!

This gets me wondering what else people might be using besides your traditional stuffings?

Please, leave a comment and share your ideas!

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For the larger, looser stitched items, this does not work as well because it shows through and even can come through, so for those I still use fiber fill. But for smaller projects like Amigirumi, it is perfect and I have my scrap stash ready to go! :)

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It was great to see Christine using the grocery bags as stuffing. Very inspiring that others are using things that are recycled.

I would love to hear what you are using.

Check back for more crochet ideas.

Thank you for stopping by.

Best wishes, and happy crocheting!

Shoncho

Blarf

Shoncho

😆

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Blarf Shoncho.... my Stashbuster Blarf as a Shirt Poncho.

  The Stashbuster Blarf, pictured below, is absolutely beautiful!  

Ever since I first saw the picture of the Stashbuster Blarf, I wanted to make one! For my idea, I did not use this pattern exactly, but it was a great inspiration and perfect for what I wanted to make.

The pattern is to make a "Blarf", a scarf but bigger, like a shawl. Which is great, but I am more a poncho girl. So I made 2 rectangles with various stitches, added a border, and joined it on the sides. Voila, you have a poncho, or is it a shirt? or a "Shoncho" 😆 My Blarf Shoncho!

With my yarn stash in hand, I started working up this "Shoncho".  I absolutely love the different yarns and yarn textures together! Mine uses mostly Caron Simply Soft and Yarn Bee Soft Secret, with some "I Love This Yarn".  

This join was before I found the beautiful Celtic Lace Join. I guess that I did something similar back then. The Celtic Lace Join has a very good tutorial for something similar to what you see here. This gives it an interesting touch on the shoulders.

2014

I have been seeing quite a lot of Shoncho type creations on Pinterest lately, and I am liking the Shoncho name more and more ;)

Thank you for stopping by. Check beck for more crochet thoughts and ideas.

Best wishes and happy crocheting!

Stumpkins Flashback

 Stumpkins

   80's flashback!

Does anyone remember these cute wee folk?

My Mom made these adorable soft sculpture dolls in the 80's, and I took up making them in the 90's. Now these cute little guys are back!  As I recall, the story goes that they are sweet little creatures of the woods.

Each unique Stumpkins doll is made with love, stuffing and nylon stockings. Then each is embellished to fit their unique, individual style, character and theme.

Here you see my  Renaissance Stumpkins Collection;

Princess Stumpkin

Fairy Stumpkin Princess

Sultan, his camel and a Bellydancer in the background.

The King and Queen


The idea came from a book that my Mom had in the 80's,
by Trish Powers
Wee Folk Stumpkins
(Cover pictured below.)

My Mother would make clowns, ladies, babies, married wee folk, and of course Mr & Mrs Claus.

(Ps.... they have the cutest little tushies, dimples and all!)

Flashback is warming my heart on this unusually cold winter day here in Texas!

Thank you for stopping by!

So much about my Mom and I had not mentioned....my Mother as is Mrs Claus! ;)
Pictured below. She is creator of Silver Santa. A wonderful non profit organization, giving and sharing with those in need. Your crochet items are a wonderful blessing! If you would like to get involved and donate your crochet items or any other hand made items, or of course, financial support, please contact Mrs Claus at mrsclaus@silversanta.org. Thank you! 

A Non-Profit Senior Citizen Program providing care packages and a day of joy during the holiday season to low-income senior citizens, veterans, and persons with disabilities living in assisted living and nursing home communities or home-bound.
Please, visit Silver Santa to find out more.
Thank you!