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Only Muttix

A New Baby (Pick Up Your Chins, Not for Me)!!!

I've just found out that my friend (technically husband's friend's wife, but she's cool people) is expecting and due in May. You know what this means? Diapers, crocheting, and lots of it!

Belle needs more diapers as well so I've decided to buy the Darling Diapers Unlimited pattern. With it you can make fitteds, AIOs, covers, and pockets which is just what I need since I'd like to make a mix of all of those for Belle and new friend baby. It is only 14.50 and comes in PDF form that you get as soon as payment is complete (pay through Paypal or money order) which means that you can print it off again and again. I've wanted to try this pattern for years now so I guess this is the time to do it! The multiple patterns, ease of getting the pattern, and the email support are what made me decide on this pattern over Very Baby. Not to mention the numerous recommendations for this pattern.

As it so happens, Joann's is having a sale right now on fleece, flannel, and terry cloth. I'll get the elastic from a local fabric store (the fabric there is too expensive for me but the thread and elastic are just right) and I've got enough Touchtape for now. I'd like to buy a snap machine eventually but for now, it is Touchtape all the way. The DD pattern works with Touchtape or snaps so that's great (and another reason that I voted for it over the Fattycakes pattern that I'd like to try but that requires the use of snaps).

Because we don't have a washer/dryer in our apartment I'm going to make more diapers than I normally would for Belle. I'm thinking that I will be able to wash once a week (I'm underestimating just in case) so that will take about 40 diapers. I won't be able to make all of those right now but I'll just chip away at the number. I'll be making mostly AIOs but I'll make a few fitteds, covers, and pockets as well. In fact, it may be better to make pockets because of the washer/dryer situation.

As for what I plan to make for Friend's Baby Bean here's a list in progress (she has a washer/dryer):

1. 10 newborn AIOs
2. 3 newborn pockets
3. 6 newborn fitteds
4. 3 newborn covers
5. 1 crocheted soaker
6. 1 crocheted longie
7. 1 newborn baby sweater
8. 1 sewn baby blanket
9. 1 crocheted baby blanket
10. 5 big burp cloths
11. 2 pairs of baby mitts (haven't decided between crocheted or sewn)
12. 5 newborn hats
13. 1 baby toy
14. 1 diaper bag
15. 1 wet bag for home (I think it is called a wet bag, it is just a bag that you put the dirty diapers in)
16. 1 wet bag for the diaper bag
17. 2 pairs of breast pads
    

The plan (as of now) is to make all of this and buy a nice basket to put it in. Her husband is pretty tall so I'm probably going to add in some 0-3 month sized things as well. I'm going to add the Dr. Sear's baby book and a tube of Lansinoh as well. I'm so excited because they are great people who I'm sure will raise an amazing child. I'm not sure whether they are going to find out the sex yet so when I start I'm just going to use greens and yellows and gender neutral patterns.

Drafting the Pattern

I'm making some diapers for Belle. Right now I'm drafting the pattern according to these directions. I don't have a lot of flannel right now and I'm not sure where my regular elastic is so I'm just going to make a few AIOs. Next week I'm going to buy more supplies and I'll make some fitteds and some covers, mainly because that will then enable me to crochet some soakers! I'm about halfway done drafting my pattern so I'm going to finish that and then cut out a diaper. I'm hoping to get one finished before Belle wakes up so then I can try it on her and fix anything that is wrong with it.

I'm going to try something new with the diaper. One of the mamas who is in a birth club group with me made a fabulous diaper for her baby. She made these velcro tabs that are backed by fabric and it looks really cool with the end effect being that you don't see the front velcro when the diaper is fully closed. I'm going to try that on this diaper because it looks so cool!

I finally found my camera so I'll update with pictures when I'm done.

A Beautiful Holiday Dress

So I'm working on a holiday dress for Belle. I'm working on the front bodice piece right now, I've already finished the back bodice piece. Next comes the sleeves! I have to get a few more baby hats done for charity this month and at least a couple Christmas presents. The holiday dress is fabulous, I love the yarn. I wish that KnitPicks would sell bigger skeins of yarn. I love their yarn (and especially love their prices) but I wish there were an option to buy a bigger skein (twice as big). Less joining and such. I only do small things right now and don't really mind joining with crochet but I've heard that joining in knitting sucks.

Bags

Today at Wal-Mart I found some dark blue bulky yarn at a discounted price, only $1.50 per skein. I got two and I'm going to make an easy peasy crochet bag (I absolutely love that blog!) for my sister. Not a huge one as she's a teenager. I have some purple that I bought eons ago to make grapes but I haven't bought the wooden beads to fill them yet so I'm going to wait on the grapes (I'm going to try and make little puffs filled with poly-fill instead of crocheting around a bead, but I need to figure out the dimensions first) so I'm going to make another bag for my mom.

Backed Up

I've ripped and redone some work on my fingerless mitts. I love the beautiful superwash wool, I can't believe that I ever hated wool. It is so squishy and comfy, I just love it!!

I've been so completely stressed out between work and bills lately that I haven't had much time to crochet. My charger also broke so I'm only able to use my computer when I can borrow Husband's charger which isn't often. So tonight I pulled up Ravelry to add my "new" project of my mitts and saw all of my uncompleted projects. Not great. So I'm going to work on getting at least a couple of them completed in the next week or so. I have way too many projects that I need to get done for the upcoming holidays/birthdays so I need to get my butt in gear. The end of September is looming and quite a few of these projects were September CALs so...

Hmm... Maybe less typing and more crocheting!

Just a quick update...

I've been working on some fingerless gloves for awhile now. I ripped back to the end of the thumb and have started again. I really like them and think that I'll wear them often this winter.

I bought four pairs of knitting needles (7, 8, 9, 10) last night. I spent a little bit trying out a knit/purl combo and then started thinking about returning the needles and getting more yarn with which to crochet. I probably will just keep the needles but wait on learning to knit. Many of the patterns that I like require smaller needles/cable needles/circular needles. Plus, I have so many items on my "to crochet" list. One of the things that makes me want to knit is my husband's frequent chant about how there are "holes" in my crochet. Not very nice, certainly. But when I make him things I'd like to keep in mind that he doesn't like the "holes" and knit him something instead. So I'll keep the needles and get some more on my next payday so I can work on that. Plus there are some patterns I've loved forever and wanted to try out.

I have the Amy Butler baby pattern book: Little Stitches for Little Ones and I love some of the patterns in it. Right now I'm in a crochet groove (as proved by the putting down of the needles when I've yearned to knit a sweater for years) but I'll get back to it.

I'll Be Gone for a Bit...

I'm working on a hat for Youngest Boy but it seems to be coming out too big. I'm three rounds away from completing it so I'm going to just finish it off (the thought of frogging it all makes me shudder) and if it is indeed too big I'll give it to my friend's son.

I'm just a little away from finishing my round ripple for Baby Girl.

And I might be out of the internet world for a few weeks so I'll likely be updating again sometime in late September but definitely by October!

Bye!

Too Many Projects, Not Enough Hands

I have too many projects on the hooks. Right now I have a hat for Youngest Boy, a skirt for Baby Girl, a purse for my mom, and a round ripple afghan for Baby Girl. I just started the purse (bad idea with so many projects on hooks already). I'm going to finish at least two of these before I start another project. Probably the hat and the round ripple. The purse is just beginning and the skirt is harder than I thought it would be so those might take longer. I'll probably just add four more rounds to the round ripple and then be done with it.

Longing for Uniqueness but Laziness Dictates Otherwise

So I love all the beautiful yarns that are hand-spun and hand-painted. However every time I settle myself on buying a skein or two, reality hits. I have three kids and a full-time job, not to mention my husband and hobbies. I don't have time to hand wash socks. I already know how it would end up. I'd start tossing them in the laundry on the "intimates" cycle, washing them alone at first. Then I'd get tired of that (I used a laundromat which means I'd be spending $1.00 to wash my socks) and I'd throw them in a lingerie bag in my regular clothes. Eventually I'd just toss them in with the rest of the clothes and they'd get ruined, if they already hadn't been by that point. I don't even want to deal with that heartache so I don't bother. I use acrylic yarns or cotton, washable ones. I also bought some Superwash wool recently. I'll try everything, as long as I can wash it with my pants and bras (which might explain why I go through so many bras!) Also I don't want to take time to crochet an item for a gift that has to be hand washed and risk the receiver not using it or wrecking it. So my gifts this year will be in machine washable yarns as well.

That won't keep me from visiting the hand painted yarn pages and sighing though!

Some Pictures

This is Belle's Round Ripple. Please excuse the laptop and papers in the corner, I'm too tired to edit the photo right now! Anyway, it looks big in the picture but it isn't big enough yet. On the bottom you can see that I've started a third round of the pink but I'm almost out of that color and I don't know if I'll have enough to go all the way around. So I'm ripping it back and adding a lighter pink that I have a full skein of. It bunches like that in the middle because I didn't realize I'd changed hooks until quite a few rounds later. I started out using an I hook and somewhere in the red I switched to a J hook by accident. By the time I discovered it I'd done quite a few rows and didn't want to rip back. I'm not too bothered by it though it does upset me a little. Not enough to rip back though!

This is the Swish Superwash that I bought from Knitpicks. It is the Merlot Heather colorway.

Shine Worsted in the Hollyberry colorway.

Shine worsted in the Terra Cotta colorway.

Caron Simply Soft Brites, Rose Violet, that I got from Wal-Mart.

Caron Simply Soft Brites, Berry Blue.

Baby Hat #2

I've made a second hat for my local hospital. Another boy hat, same pattern as the first. I'm making my youngest a winter hat now with the same yarn that I used to make the charity hats.

By the way, I found my old phone that has the camera in it. No sign of the camera cord for my old camera nor my new camera. I have my new camera's cord and my old camera but they aren't compatible. But any camera is better than no camera!

Baby Boy Hat #1 for Charity

I called in to work tonight as I'm not feeling well. My kids are running around playing and I had to tell them to play in their room because their yelling was making my head hurt.

I bought four skeins of yarn to make some charity baby stuff. So far I've made one baby hat for a boy. I bought two rose colored skeins and two blue skeins. I'm doing the boy hats first. As a mama of boys I know that boys frequently get the short end of the stick. When people donate/buy things they like to buy for girls. I guess maybe because most people giving are women and they think about when they were a little girl and then they buy stuff for girls. Even the stores are biased, most having girl sections at least twice as big as the sections for boys.

So, I'll probably end up donating more hats for boys than for girls. I'm thinking that I'll probably donate the hats to a local hospital. I don't see paying for shipping on these hats when I could spend the money I'd spend on shipping on more yarn to make more hats!

Sedona Skirt a.k.a. Autumn Harvest Skirt

I'm starting the Sedona skirt. I'm following the directions (post 41) that pandorakick was so nice to give me. I've measured Belle's waist and it is 43 cm. Adding five for growth makes it 48 plus ten for cinching the skirts means 58 cm. I'm going to try out the foundation row instead of foundation chain as she suggests. Her directions really helped me out as I would have just randomly tried to figure out the sizing.

And if you don't know how to do a foundation row, here's an excellent video on it.

YouTube - Chainless Foundation Single Crochet

Chainless Foundation Single Crochet

Got My Yarn! No Thanks to the Post Office

I finally got my yarn!! But oh, the torture I had to go through in order to receive it.

The post office and I have a love/hate relationship in that I hate them and they love to take my money. I usually avoid them when I can but there wasn't an option for another way of shipping through KnitPicks. Ever naive, I was hopeful. Surely 8 skeins of yarn could fit nicely in my itty bitty mailbox. After all, I've avoided picking up my mail for weeks at a time which only resulted in my Mary Poppins mailbox being stuffed to the gills (and a couple times, my mail was held, but that was after about 3 or 4 weeks of not picking up the mail AND getting a couple catalogs). Still, I picked up my mail every day (unheard of!) to keep my mailbox nice and empty for the mailman. I napped in the living room instead of my bedroom lest I miss his knock.

He never knocked. I received a notice dated two days prior that my "overflow mail" was at the post office. I'd checked my mailbox that day, it was completely empty.

So today I ventured out, it being the first day since the notice that the post office was open again. I put on a brave face and walked to the post office, though I did stick a book in my purse for the long wait. At the office I smugly strode past the line of customers and rang the pick up door's bell. No one answered. For almost an hour. Finally, after another woman showed up and she and I both began to chorus our protests at being so blatantly ignored, we were told that no one was manning the door that day. You'd think that someone would have mentioned that to me before that. I'd been waiting patiently. I work in retail and know what it is to deal with jerky people so I quietly read my book and only began to protest when it became apparant that I was being ignored and that there wasn't even an attempt to help me. So then, instead of immediately helping us (especially me, the customer who had been waiting for thirty minutes before the current customers even arrived in the post office) we had to join the back of the line.

I hate the post office. Hate it. Customer service, people.

Back on a happier note, my yarn is beautiful! I got two skeins of Swish Superwash 100% Superwash Wool in Merlot Heather, three skeins of Shine Worsted 60% pima cotton, 40% Modal in Hollyberry, and three skeins of Shine Worsted in Terra Cotta which is more orange than I expected but pretty all the same. I've yet to find my camera cord so I can't take any pictures which really sucks. I'm thinking of splurging on a new camera next payday if I can afford it. This Kodak EasyShare C713 is 7 mps and can take video as well. It is only $89.99 so I'm going to see if I can sneak it into the budget somehow.

Supporting the Little Guy (and Girl)

I always like to support the little guy when I can. Keeping that in mind, I was browsing Etsy for crochet patterns and found these wonderful designers.

KTBdesigns I'm going to at least buy the pattern for the tool belt and tools to make for the boys for Christmas. I really like the patterns for the dishes. I didn't even know it was possible to make a crocheted frying pan!

Catcozy Sells a cute snowball and penguin pattern for a bowling game.

Delicious Crochet has a ton of cute patterns but I'm not so sure about the ones with the super mega photoshopped pictures.

Eureeka's Window is the creator of many innovative designs. I love the little television.

How about making your own Count Caterpillar?

Holland Designs Cute baby shoes patterns and more.

Sylver Designs I've admired these booties for awhile now. It is so hard to decide which pattern to buy!

Maria's Handmade Crochet and Jewelry Design I'm not too fond of the dessert patterns at this shop but I love the corn on the cob and watermelon slice pattern.

My4Heads - Creative Crocheted (& Knit) Concoctions pulled me in with the butterflies and seahorse patterns and kept me with the lizard and kangaroo!

Planet June has many patterns you won't find elsewhere like a guinea pig and a dolphin.

Beverly's Boutique is where I found the cutest little workboot baby bootie pattern. I wish I'd known about patterns such as these when my boys were babies!

Pitter Patter Patterns I so want to buy the pumpkin pattern sold here.

Aerie Designs carries a pattern for appetizers that is incredibly cute.

As always, Ravelry has a ton of patterns for free and for pay. Crochet Pattern Central has a huge database of free patterns. My Picot is an online database of crochet stitches. And you can watch videos of crochet techniques at NexStitch.

Single Crochet Foundation Chain

Just in case you've never heard of doing a foundation row instead of a foundation chain, here's a link to an explanation.

Bags, bags, bags

I just can't stay focused on one project at a time. In checking out my Google reader, I saw that Laughing Purple Goldfish had a post on an easy yarn bag by Lisa Gentry. I immediately wanted to do the bag as I'm dying to make myself a new purse. I haven't made a bag yet but I really want to. So I scrolled down and started reading about LPG's easy peasy crochet bag pattern/tutorial and was then led to the simple lining tutorial she made. I stand in amazement. I've wanted to do a crocheted bag with a lining but I was intimidated by thinking of sewing into crochet. LPG broke it down into steps so it looks so easy, I'm going to try it out! I absolutely love her blog and highly recommend it. Now if only she'd make a tutorial on how to add a zipper closure to a crocheted, lined bag (hint hint!!) as I love my bags to close entirely. I suppose if she doesn't do it, I can figure something out, maybe make the lining longer to add the zipper? Hmm...

Bought a Hook

I was at the store and of course I made my way over to the craft section. I bought a B hook and a C hook because I couldn't remember which hooks I needed for the Care of Magical Creatures CAL. Of course, like I always do, I forgot the E hook. My stash says that I have one but I can't find it (kids got into my stuff). I'm going to see if I can find it before buying another hook though because even though I don't need the C hook right now, I didn't have one so I can't bring myself to return it!

I checked out "Super Crochet Wonderful" from the library. There are a few cute designs in the book that I'd like to try out.

My yarn order still hasn't arrived but I'm hoping it will show up today or tomorrow.

Supplies for the Harry's Happy Hookers CAL

So apparently the Harry Potter CAL that I joined is going to be a Care of Magical Creatures theme. And, the items that we'll be crocheting will be surprises until the end! The person running it has given a list of items that we'll need.

Quoted from the group:

Hooks - B, E, G, and H (or those that suit the yarn you choose)

Yarn - WW or DK in : 3 (or more, get scrappy!) in varigated (your choice of colors, but try to make sure at least one is in bright or jewel tones), black, brown or tan (or a varigated brown or tan), light pink, green (this is the only color we might use a whole skein for), yellow (or gold) and whatever color you want to make your Owl. Also, black crochet thread in whatever size you have; embroidery thread will work as well. If you don’t have that, we will discuss how black sewing thread might be used.

Notions: tapestry needle, black thread (see above), eyes of your choice: google, safety, felt circles, beads or embroidered on. You will need various sized-eyes, from about 1/4 of an inch up to 1/2 inch. All of these projects, if you elect to put eyes on, would look fantastic will embroidered eyes, and that would be a safe option for children.

Remember, you can also add the cauldron muttix2 told us about as a catch-all for your Creatures or as a great way to give them as a gift!

Tee hee! I was mentioned as I told them about a cauldron! :) I love when I show people new things. Anyway, I have most of the stuff needed, I'll just need to buy:

1. Black crochet thread
2. Jewel toned, varigated yarn (I'll likely get some Peaches and Creme as that is a good deal)
3. Black, brown, and tan yarn (I have varigated tan but I'll need some black for the cauldron and will get it for something else as well. So I don't technically NEED this.)
   

Wow, that's all I need! Originally when I looked through the list I thought that I needed more but I have yarn in all the other colors. That's great as money is pretty tight right now.

Whatever I make with this CAL will work for my Christmas Year-round CAL as I intend to give the toys to my boys for Christmas.

Edgery Doo

http://www.edgerydoo.com/

Me wants it.

I Moved My Crochet Blog...

I moved my crochet blog from another blog provider to over here. I was trying out the other provider but I've seen that they don't offer anything different (at least right now) than what I have here and in fact less than what I'm used to so I moved my stuff over here. Simplicity and all that.

Yet Another CAL (A Sock One This Time)

Just joined another CAL. Ravelry's Recipe for SOCK-cess CAL group is starting a crochet sock CAL September 1st. Whew! Too many groups!! But I'm hoping the deadlines will keep me focused.

Progress on Belle's Round Ripple

After working on the blanket some more I've realized that my original thoughts on how many more rows I'd do were out of proportion. I didn't realize how quickly the blanket would work up. Since I last posted my progress, I've done four rounds of red, five rounds of pink, and I'm working on a row of red. I'm thinking that I'll do four rows of red (including the one that I'm working now), four of pink (maybe five, I'll see how it looks), and finish it with one or two rows of red. I think it should be big enough at that point. Of course, nothing is set in stone, I'm just crocheting it until I think it looks right. I'm trying to dig out a camera so that I can take pictures of my progress. I've found a camera but no batteries and no camera cord. I had a great camera but it disappeared one night, I think my kids might have thrown it away while they were cleaning one day.

CALs

Crochet-A-Longs. I am joining them because it is fun and it will keep me on track. Right now I've joined one in Ravelry's CAL group, Ravelry's Harry's Happy Hookers group, and a Christmas Year Round CAL on Crochetville. The last one goes until Christmas and the first two are monthly CALs. Fun!

Socks to Make for the Husband

http://www.crochetandknitting.com/mensock.htm

Cabled Socks to Make for Me

http://www.scribd.com/doc/211932/Cabled-Socks

Peanutzmom's Pattern Page

This page has lots of cool patterns that I'd like to try out. I need to get all this stuff on a disk or something and print it out. Peanutzmom's Pattern Page

Little People

Little People - my very first pattern - Crochetville Forum

I want to make this doll. I also want to use this pattern as the basis to make a gnome.

Want to Make This Sweater... Maybe With This Yarn

Baby It's Cold Outside | Crochet Me

This looks really cool. I also want to do a cute ruffled sweater that I found on Ravelry but this sweater looks pretty easy and cute. Plus, you can't beat three hours for making a baby sweater. I'm going to add it to my list.

I bought some yarn today. Two skeins of 100% Superwash Merino Wool Swish Worsted Weight in Merlot Heather dye lot 24092 that are 110 yards per 50 gram ball. Three skeins each of 60% Pima Cotton, 40% Modal natural beech wood fiber Worsted Weight in Hollyberry dye lot 24140 and Terra Cotta dye lot 23810. Spent too much as we are broke right now but I actually bought the yarn with a project in mind. I'm going to make a scarf each for my mom and my sister for Christmas. The other yarn will be for a baby sweater or longies.

Adding in Another Color

After a few more rounds I've now added in some red. I'm working on the second round of red. I'm thinking I'll probably do four rounds of red, eight of pink, four of red, eight of pink, and end it with four of red. I think that will make it big enough. I'm trying to make it big enough for the baby to lay on and have some playing room on the floor but not so big that it becomes a bother to use.

Belle's Afghan

I'm working on a Round Ripple Baby Afghan that I found on Ravelry awhile ago. I frogged the baby mittens I was working on because I only had a thicker yarn than the pattern called for and trying to figure out the conversion was annoying me. I crochet to relax and that was definitely not relaxing. The afghan is surprisingly easy and I'm loving it. I'm just on the 8th round but I can already see that it is going to be very pretty. It is just pink right now but I'm going through my yarn to see if there is another color that I'd like to mix in. Hopefully I'll be able to figure out my camera situation and can post pictures soon.

Christmas List (A Work in Progress)

1. Husband
a. Cable Hat (saved pattern)
Needed: 3 balls Swish Worsted Yarn in Dublin.
b. Beanie (saved pattern)
c. Toes Up Socks (saved pattern)
d. Narrow Tweed Scarf (saved pattern)

2. Boys
a. Two (one each) Cute Kids' Earflap Hats
Needed: 4 balls Swish Bulky Yarn, one each in Planetarium, Marlin, Verdant Heather, and Adobo.
b. Gnome Home
Needed: 1 ball dark brown bulky yarn, 1 ball lighter brown (possibly mixed colors), tiny bit of green bulky yarn for base, green eyelash yarn, various yarns for flowers on walls.
c. Whimsical Castle Bag
d. Two Medieval Money Bags.
e. Crocheted Hot Dog
f. Easy Peasy Strawberries
g. Simple Crochet Balls
h. Baby Triceratops

3. Baby
a. Little People Doll
b. Baby Grab Ball
c. Blocks
d. Cute Butterfly
e. Baby Mittens

4. Mom
a. Shelly Scarf
b. Gulf Shores Hat

5. Dad
a. Starter Scarf
b. Remote Control Caddy

6. Sister
a. One Skein Scarf
b. L.A.M.B Inspired Hat
c. Quick Winter Headband
d. Fancy Filigree Bracelet (This is for a bookmark but I'm making a bracelet with it.)

7. Brother
a. Aran Scarf
b. Crochet Wine Bottle Cover

8. Niece
a. Hot Pink Bracelet Purse
b. Amigurumi Sprite Doll to go in the bracelet purse.