9/31 - Crafty Me: Striped Tee Shirt Dress

A few months back there was one of those equally amazing and dangerous fabric sales where people and stores and charity's all have stalls selling piles of fabric and patterns. All new, vintage and everything in between.

I spent more cash than I should have and came home with a fresh stash of fabrics to make stuffs with. It was very satisfying and bankrupting.  In order to justify those purchases, I need to have something(s) to show for it. Ya know, prove to myself that I didn't buy it for looking at. 

A fancy kind of dress is in progress and I made a few pairs of leggings but my fave so far is this striped t-shirt dress. I love dressing my kid in stuff I'd wear myself, especially considering all the pink fluffy sparkles that is available in the "girls"  section of most clothing stores. She likes it, I like it and my fabric stash is slightly smaller.  Winning!

8/31 - Crafty Me: Fingerless Gloves

8/31 you guys! I turn the ripe old age of 31 in September so I officially have less than 2 months to complete 19 more projects. Totally unachievable, (I'm such a glass half full kind of person) what was I thinking? I do actually have a pile of things to share but I've not yet managed to produce photographic evidence so it's not quite as dire as it seems (really though, I should have started this project when I was 25).

Full disclosure, these gloves were not made to give as a gift or to keep for me but to list in my Felt store. I've been feeling the need for a new laptop and perhaps a fancy scmancy camera for this blogging malarkey but let's be real, those aren't things I need, per se and not exactly impulse buys you grab on the way home from work on a whim. 

I don't have the cash lying around to make these things happen so I figured I'd see if I could turn some wool into gold. Also, I have a ton of pairs of these for myself already and pretty much everyone in my family has already been given a pair as a gift at some point in the last 5 years. 

So yeah, gloves: 

I made a few pairs in a few different colours but I fell in love with this aqua yarn a few years back and I'm still totally smitten. I love it so much I have nail polish to match. Not even kidding. 

The pattern is mine and the Ravelry details are here if you're a curious person who crafts things from yarn and you want to have a lookie. 

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Crafty Me, Crafty Pattern: Convertible Wave Cowl (Free!)

Ahoy there! I've been crocheting a lot lately, after a long hiatus that arose from crocheting a lot. You'd think I'd learn. I decided to share a simple pattern I worked up a few years back that I still really like the effect of. I've sold many of these cowls over the years but these days I'm more focussed on pattern design than selling finished items. I have so many ideas but so little time so my pattern output isn't exactly what I'd like it to be (patterns released so far this year: 0. Pattern concepts I have swimming around in my head: 6520).

Moving on. Pattern below:

Skill level: 

Beginner

Stitches used:       

Double crochet -dc

Single crochet -sc

Chain stitch –ch

Materials:               

9 mm hook

5 buttons of 20mm width or more.

Chunky/bulky weight yarn (you can also use 2 strands of DK or 8 ply yarn, which I have done in this pattern as it is hard to find vegan chunky weight yarn)

Gauge:                   

3-4 pattern repetitions per 10 cm/4 inches. Gauge is not essential for this 

pattern,more repetitions means a slightly smaller scarf and less means a larger one. 

You can change your hook size to suit if you have a preference either way.

Pattern Instructions:

Chain 20 Stitches

Row 1: Sc in 2^nd ch from hook and in each ch to end. Ch 1 and turn

Row 2: sc in 2^nd sc from hook, *chain 2, skip 2 sc and sc in next 2 sc. Repeat from * to end. Ch 2  and turn

Row 3:  dc in 2^nd sc from hook, *chain 2, skip 2 sc and dc in next 2 sc. Repeat from * to end. Ch 1 and turn.

Row 4: Repeat row 2.

Row 5: Repeat row 3.

Here’s how things should look at the end of a sc row once you’ve got going:

Continue repeating rows 2 and 3 until your scarf measures aprox 85 cm, finishing with a sc/ch st row. You can opt to making it longer if you want to be able to wind it around lots of times but you will need more yarn for this.

Next row: Sc in 2^nd ch from hook and in each sc and ch to end. Fasten off.

Finishing:

Stitch buttons onto the ch st gaps along one end of scarf as shown.

Weave in all your ends and threads and if you're so inclined, block. I don't bother with mine, but you do you. 

You can now use every ch  st gap on your scarf as a button hole and so it can be buttoned on angles, along straight lines or just using a few buttons at a time. The possibilities are endless! (Not actually endless, there is a finite number of rows and button holes, but you get me).

Ravelry details here!

If you make this, I'd love to see. Share with me at the Shiny Happy Crafty facebook page and make my heart explode with all the happy. 

7/31, Crafty Me - Colour Tipped Scarf

And the award for the most awkward picture goes to.... me! Believe me, the other 2 shots were worse.

You know when you want some colour but you don't want a busy print and you don't want anything too bright and you just want to keep it understated so that your cats eye leopard print sunnies can steal the show and you realise that you're probably a bit too picky and maybe you overthink things like scarves sometimes? You get me? Yep. Well this is the scarf for those days. 

This was a really easy knit that was super quick and satisfying and it's really easy to wear. It's all the right shades of all the right colours and is the perfect throw it on and go kind of scarf (I am aware that no one would actually believe that I'm a throw it on and go kinda girl after I opened with that ramble). In real life the red is richer and darker and kind of redder? I like it. 5 stars, purl bee, 5 stars. 

Ravelry deets and the same awkward picture here.

Crafty Me 6/31 - Tiny Dinosaur

This one is old and I really must get better at recording these things, especially when they're related to dinosaurs. I made this costume for Pai for her 4th birthday, back in April using a pattern lent to me by one of her former preschool teachers. The pattern allows for all sorts of modifications (bear/lion/mouse) but it's from the early 90's from what I can tell and it all smells a bit too much of my own childhood. That combined with Pai's dedication to all things dinosaur, made it an easy choice.

I love handmade gifts and I love the idea of making from scratch, buying as little as possible brand-new and those nice things but let's be real. I need sleep too much to be one of those mamas. I'm not being a hater, if you want to make all your children's toys from nothing but a toothpick and blu-tack then go right ahead. All I'm saying is that despite the fact that I like to make stuff, I work full time and so 9 times out of 10, I'm going to choose sleep over lovingly hand stitching "made by mum" labels into the collars of clothing I made with my own bare hands.

Here's some photographic evidence that I made something that my kid really likes. She is wearing dinosaur slippers on her feet in a public place because I cannot say no to a kid in a dinosaur costume.

mid rawr

Til next time, I'm going to go make stuff to bed now.