KITCHEN SCRUBBIES - A Past Christmas Gift.

Welcome everyone!

Another Christmas gift share. Yes, I know the last Christmas is further away from us now than the one coming up, but I kept forgetting to get photos! This huge jar was nearly full when I gave it to my daughter for Christmas. We all love using them.

Sometimes it is difficult to find a good dish or pot scrubber. Well I found one at a handmade market in Cardston some time in November last year. There were some incredibly beautifully made things for sale there! One thing I found was a kitchen scrubber. My sister was with me, and swore up and down that these were the best scrubbers ever. So I bought one to test out. Boy, was she ever right? They work beautifully on everything, without scratching.

I set out to find a pattern and the right kind of yarn, and found both. I made about 18 of them for Christmas! I gave 12 to my daughter and 6 to my sister.

I am, of course, already making gifts for this Christmas, but those posts will have to wait a bit as I am in the middle of a few of them. Sometimes I need a change from the project and go to another one...

I am guessing that you too are starting to work on your Christmas gifts. Homemade gifts take a while, but I like the fact that making these gifts brings the Christmas spirit into my life while I am working on the projects, and I love that feeling!

Happy Crocheting!

A Vest for my 14 Year Old Grandson

Another Christmas gift to share.

When you are crocheting most of your gifts, what can you make a 14 year old grandson? I made him a pullover for his birthday; I made him an ear band or head band with mittens for Christmas, but what else could I make him? My daughter suggested a vest. So that is what I made him. I think he liked the vest better than his pullover.

I thought I had chosen a pattern that would be easy to work, but it turned out a little more complicated than anticipated because in order to keep the pattern fairly even, it actually had to be changed every so often to keep the 'v' in that pattern evenly spaced. I had to unravel a lot, and after completing saw that I had missed getting some of those 'v's' in the right spot. But overall, it was worth it.

Again, getting close with my camera in the below photos changed the colour of the vest.

Here he is in his PJ's and the vest.

Well, that's the pics for this christmas project. Hope you enjoyed seeing it.

Happy crocheting!

A Shrug for my Daughter

Welcome back for some more Christmas gift sharing!

My daughter can work from home most of the time and she says she can get a little cold in her office. So for my daughter I wanted to make her something to help keep her comfortable and warm. I decided a shrug might be just the thing, along with some hand warmers (fingerless gloves).

I made a smaller version of this shrug for one of the four girls that would be here for Christmas (posted here), but this one is in a different colour, yarn size #3 (sport yarn), and is a size larger.

Because I used a sport yarn (#3) I had to adjust the pattern slightly, and also I used a 7mm hook keeping the Elizabeth stitch nice and loose, and very soft. The pattern I had to purchase, but there is a bit of a video showing the 'Habitat Cardigan' as labeled by the designer.

This is what it looks like spread out on the kitchen island. I did not get a photo of my daughter wearing it....yet.

I took a close up of the stitches, but the photo came out with the yarn looking grey in colour. I guess the colour doesn't remain true when the camera gets too close. But at least you can see what the Elizabeth stitch looks like, and the Half Double Crochet Ribbing too.

HAND WARMERS

I did one pair of hand warmers in the same yarn, and in the Elizabeth stitch, but it looks different than the Elizabeth stitch of the shrug. Why? Well that's because I worked the hand warmers in a round, rather than the back forth rows of the shrug. That's what made it look different. I like how they turned out, and they match the shrug nicely should my daughter need both when working.

The light mauve warmers are a remake of the ones I made for her birthday. They were a little too large, so I made her a new pair in the same yarn I did for her birthday.

These are just done in a Single Crochet stitch and a Slip Stitch Ribbing.

Well that's it for this gift, and there is more still to come.

Happy crocheting!

Four Pairs of Christmas Slippers for the Four Girls

Hope your New Year is getting off to a good start.

I'm continuing with the sharing of the Christmas gifts made for that didn't get posted before Christmas.

One of the last minute gift ideas was to crochet a pair of slippers for the 4 young girls that would be here. It took just 2 days to make the four pairs, I got the pattern from Stephanie Zed's YouTube video. A great pair of slippers! I did not use chunky yarn, and since I was making them with a #4 yarn and for children, I did not use the large hook either. I used a 5.5mm hook, or a 6mm hook for the larger girl feet, following the same pattern in the video. It worked! I just had to adjust the number of rows for the different lengths of feet.

Here are the girls trying on their slippers after having just opened them and putting them on their feet (hence the paper bits you see in first photo). I did not get the chance to take photos of these slippers before wrapping them up for Christmas, but I do plan on making more and will post a few more details then.

Happy New Year & happy crocheting!

3 Cardigans For 3 Girls For Christmas

The Christmas gifts continue with these 3 cardigans.

I made these cardigans for three girls. Two of them for my 2 granddaughters, aged 10 & 12, and one for a very tiny 10 year old step-granddaughter (hers is not posted as it is exactly the same as the purple one, only a smaller size, so why post 2 purple cardigans?).

For these cardigans I crocheted the body in one piece in a vertical direction with the Half-Double Crochet stitch. Once I seamed it up then I added the sleeves in a single crochet round.

Lastly, I crocheted a border using the Window Flower Stitch I found on YouTube. I had to figure it all out before starting the border so that it would work in the corners and curves. I am pleased with how it turned out.

I am happy to report that all three girls loved them. One of the girls even wore it despite being hot from the the excitement and 'opening gifts workout' she had. When her Mom suggested she might want to remove her cardigan, she replied - "No I don't want to. It was made by a very special person". Did that ever make me feel good.

Here is the size 12 cardigan in grey.

This 12 year old girl made sure to wear her cardigan to Church the Sunday following Christmas. That made me feel good too.

One thing I wish to note here. With children you need to measure their arm length even after only four months has passed. Not that the sleeves were too short, or to be disappointed in the length of the sleeves, but enough to wish you had added a row or two. Something I learned, anyway.


Happy crocheting!

For My Sister and Her Husband For Christmas

I am soooooo far behind in getting all my crochet projects for Christmas gifts all posted! And now it's time to wish everyone a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!




Today I am showing you the gifts I made for my sister and brother-in-law. I used the same yarn for both, but in different colours.

FOR MY SISTER

As you can see in the photo below, I made a hat, ear band, mittens & scarf.

The hat pattern I got from 'Love Crochet' by Yarnspirations.

It was an easy pattern and one I would do again.
Below is the twisted ear band or head band, which I did not use a pattern for. I used the Elizabeth stitch which looks a little different when using a #5 yarn versus a #3 or 4.

Here are the mittens. You notice that they are the same as the ones I made for everyone else. A simple pattern that I now know off by heart! These too are from 'Love Crochet' by Yarnspirations.

I believe this is the first time I crocheted a scarf the length, instead of the traditional width. This way you can have a nice vertical pattern down the side edges.

The close ups changed the colour of the yarn.

FOR HER HUSBAND - MY BROTHER-IN-LAW

I made the same scarf, and mittens, but there wasn't enough yarn for the ear band as more was used in the making of his toque. The colours of this yarn lends itself better for a masculine set.

This stitch, the Step Stitch, is the first for me and was delighted at how easy it was to create. My brother-in-law, loved this toque and wore it for 2 days after receiving it. He even wore it in the house!

Scarf - same as my sister's...

Well, that's it for this posting. Hope you enjoyed the two sets. I wish I could find more yarn like this. it is so soft and easy to work with.

Happy crocheting!