My friend’s baby likes to put her little fingers through a crocheted blanket she received. Her Mom asked me to make an 18 X 18 mini blanket for her to take on the run. Her requirements: soft, heavy, holes for fingers. I decided to use my beautiful blue LB Collection Cotton Bamboo in dusty blue, doubled and this pattern I found on ravelry. I hope she lurvs it.
When Target came out with their Missoni line, I was loving it. Unfortunately I could only snag a pair of rainboots for Lolly. I had already fallen in love with chevrons, as that was my first attempt at an afghan and crocheting. When I saw this Pattern, it was the best of both worlds. Missoni, chevron-love it.
However…it was KNITTING. I had successfully attempted knit chevrons after many many attempts and pulling it out a bunch of times, but this seemed intimidating!
Fortunately I got the hang of it much quicker than projects past…I think this pattern was easier than my first knit chevron pattern. I love making afghan’s out of acrylic when I know they are going to a home with children, so that it can be easily washed and dried. Vanna’s Choice was the perfect choice for this project (I picked out the yarn last summer at the Lion Brand Event!)
I changed the pattern slightly in that I made it about half the width and I ended it when I thought it was just the right size…there were more rows of dusty purple and light blue, but I thought it looked just right.
There are some mistakes, but none so noticeable that it needed to be done all over again. I consider them my signature, and I hope the recipient loves it as much as I do. This one was hard to part with for sure.
I bought some yarn this past summer in a Chicago Yarn store. One of my favorite new souvenirs from travel is a skein of yarn. I have a great time visiting the yarn shop, finding something new and unique, and then revisiting it later when I finally make something out of it.
It’s a red thread with white fuzzy thin yarn from Pingouin. It’s so unique, I can’t even find the skein to link to it. I originally envisioned knitting a baby hat with just the yarn alone, but it was hard to work with, so I decided to mix it. I used a variety of sparkly Lion Brand Bon-bon’s and the occasional strand of worsted weight white with this pattern (I added purl rows for the chunky white stripes). I considered adding ears and antlers, but for now, it will stay like this.
At the Lion Brand Party I was gifted the cutest Crochet Book: Little Crochet by Linda Permann and this gorgeous Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton. I had never used their cotton before, so when I saw the pattern called for 100% cotton, I was all over that!
I don’t usually make BOY STUFF, so it took me a minute to figure out my color scheme. I think it turned out so well with Citrus as the base and Blueberry as the bow tie. I was excited to break out my bon-bons in beach for the orange accent on the button.
The great thing about this project is it only took me a night, with a few finishing touches the next morning before the baby shower. This bib will be so great because it is machine washable and dryable. That baby can mess it up all he likes and it will stay nice!
When Carrie was here she had her eye out for anything GIRAFFE for her daughter’s upcoming 10th birthday. We kept hitting and missing: Too young, too weird, too meh. At the Brooklyn Flea we found this plastic giraffe and she passed on it. For some reason I could NOT stop thinking about that giraffe. I even went back to the Flea the next weekend to try to find it (I know, cuhrazy). I was UNSUCCESSFUL.
I turned to EBAY and got the perfect giraffe. I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. I pulled out the Lion Brand sparkly bon-bons in PARTY and CELEBRATE (that Lion Brand gifted me last month), and started yarn-bombing the spots off that giraffe.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE how she turned out. I was so excited about her that I shipped her off to Princess without properly photographing her. Thank goodness iphone cameras are pretty decent. Bon-bons are so fun because you can do lots of little projects like this. I feel like this giraffe is JUST RIGHT.
Today our friend is being born. In honor of his/her birth I am posting the gift I made for him/her. It’s the softest baby hat I have EVER EVER made. I used this pattern that I found on ravelry and the wonderful freebies I got from Lion Brand.
Run, do NOT walk to your nearest website/store and pick up a skein of this luscious alpaca (seen here: auburn/main and fawn heather/trim). It takes your beautiful gifts for baby from drab to fab. To make it extra fun, grab a skein of their latest neon colors in radiant orange for the beak, tassels and braids! I thought it was the perfect addition to this cute owl hat.
By the way, super fast and easy to make, and makes a great gift. I already started on one for Pickle–hers is being crocheted in natural alpaca.
I was browsing Lion Brand’s patterns on their site and found these RUBY RED BABY BOOTIES made in Vanna’s Glamour and new they had to be Pickles. I cast on both at the same time and deemed them my new Revellenics Project (even though I am not competing, just knitting while watching the Olympics). They were so fun to make, and I found the sweetest little vintage rhinestone buttons at the Brooklyn Flea Market for a special finishing touch!
The blanket Pickle is laying on was a gift from a friend, and her dress a gift from her Grammy.
Check out Pickle modeling another handmade creation here.
One rainy afternoon we had our friends over to make some banners out of scrap fabric. I just LOVED the focus and concentration these girls put into picking each piece of fabric, ripping and tying. It was awesome. I think I just sat and watched while I nursed Pickle.
A few weeks later our crafternoon was inspired by Lion Brand Yarn’s Yarn Wrapped Desk Organizers Craft, we Yarn-bombed some containers for upcoming birthday gifts.
Sidenote: Pickle is listening to her white noise app, Talenti is delicious gelato (I like banana chocolate swirl and sea salt caramel), the yarn used is a wide variety from my stash, and the pink flower is from this pattern. Also, the girls were VERY good at this, really loved it, and did not require much assistance–I highly recommend it for the TWEENS!
I made Pickle a new headband using Lion Brand’s Baby Soft yarn and this pattern. It is a tiny bit big, so she will grow into it. I think this might be very special done in a crochet cotton or vanna’s choice glamour.
I was so thrilled to be invited to a special BLOGGER event at Lion Brand last week. What made it even more special, is my Bestie was visiting from California, and she was invited too! Carrie and I arrived at the Studio around 3 o clock and spent the next 5 hours in Yarn Heaven.
After a tour of the Studio itself (which I had been to many times before, but learned some new stuff!), we were given the friends & family discount to shop. I snatched up some Vanna’s Choice to make this afghan. Of course they had all the required colors for my pallette.
I also picked up some of her Glamour for a few new projects I want to tackle:
Honeycomb Hat, Cable Knit Bracelet & Ruby Slippers.
We got a tour of the Design Floor. The work spaces were immaculate and white and beautiful. The vision boards were so inspiring. I even spied an intern working on a craft that will be posted on their website. After that we met the CEO, David, who was so gracious and amazing. His office was way cool, and of course his office chair and computer were YARN BOMBED!
Lion Brand set up a BEAUTIFUL gifting table with new colors of their yarns. I filled up my bag after two visits to the table, and this was after I had opened a gift that they had specially picked for me. Little Crochet! Perfect!
Seriously, it was yarn heaven! Better than Christmas! I can’t WAIT to get started. My mind is racing with all the projects I get to do with THIS YARN!——–>
When we were done shopping and picking out gifts, we worked together on a craft that I had never done before! We started with a BLANK and then dyed it with sharpies and water. After it dries, we will unwind it, roll it up, and then knit or crochet something! Exciting! Can’t wait for them to send it to me!
We concluded the evening with a delicious meal at Mesa Grill on 5th Ave. The food was so delicious. I can’t stop thinking about the piece of Coconut Cake I had for dessert.
I loved getting to know the heart and soul of Lion Brand. I can’t wait to work on my projects with my new yarn! Of course you will see them all featured here.
A HUGE THANK YOU For including THIS BLOGGER at such a warm event, full of YARN LOVE!
Urban Mom, Kristy Glass trying to juggle family, work and the city.
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