From My Loving Home

Last weekend I attended my first ever Christmas market to sell some of my handmade items. I have been very excited about this and started working on inventory months ago. As I have been telling my friends and family about the sale, all sorts of people have been asking me to make certain items for them. I am very flattered that my items are taking off and that people are buying them (and that I'm currently backlogged on orders!) but I have come to realize that I need to formulate a plan for future sales and craft fairs so that I'm not caught in a scramble the week before each sale to whip up some more items.  As part of getting organized, I am posting items and prices on this blog so that people can easily see the items I make and also what the pricing is.  Face Cloths These soft face cloths are made of durable 100% cotton and are machine washable.  They come in a variety of modern colours and have a loop for easy hanging.  $3 each or 2 for $5 Reu...

It has been a long while since I blogged partially just because life is busy and partially because I have been crocheting like a fiend.    I have been a Ravelry member for a while but had only joined so that I could get access to free patterns.  Recently, I started adding project pages and joined some groups to help me out and provide support for a CAL that I joined in the spring.  Within the comments on that group, people kept mentioning "Sophie".  At first I just breezed over these comments but then I saw some pictures of the Sophies people were working on and I immediately fell in love.  Sophie's Universe was designed by Dedri Uys and she is nothing short of brilliant.  I cannot wrap my mind around how she came up with this design, let alone wrote a clear pattern for us to create her beautiful work of art for ourselves.  Everything you need to know to create a Sophie for yourself (or one of her other amazing designs) can be f...

When I found out my good friend had a baby girl, I couldn't wait to crochet a girly pink hat for her.  I ended up finding a pattern on Pinterest and adding on a little flower to make it a bit more feminine. Here is the pattern to the hat http://www.whistleandivy.com/2013/04/faux-ribbon-baby-hat.html .  I used Rowan handknit cotton yarn so had to adjust a bit for gauge but I really like the colours so made it work.  The pattern for the flower embellishment can be found at http://www.alittlebirdtoldme-craft.com/2010/10/crochet-flower-tutorial.html . From my loving home, Monika

I saw this cute scarf on a blog and realized I had the same yarn sitting at home with no purpose as of yet.  New to crocheting, I thought it would be a nice project to work on while watching tv since I didn't have to concentrate too hard. The free pattern (Estelle button cowl)  was not only simple but the finished product turned out as promised notwithstanding my novice skill level.  I used one skein of Red Heart Boutique yarn for this the project.  I bought a set of metallic buttons at Michael's to finish it off.   I like the versatility the buttons add.  You can either wear it as a simple double-wrap cowl by fastening it end to end or you can fasten the buttons anywhere along the scarf for a variety of different looks.  From my loving home, Monika

Having a little boy, I always wanted to knit a newsboy hat for him as they are so wonderfully adorable.  When searching for free patterns, I only ever seemed to come across crochet patterns so didn't actually attempt making one until taking up crocheting this year.  After making the newsboy hat, I decided to also make a lady's hat from the same yarn (Red Heart Super Saver - Aran Fleck).  I found a very cute pattern on Pinterest (link to website below). Once the hat was done and ready for finishing, I decided to have an angled brim instead of the straight folded back brim and it ended up looking a bit flapper which I think is also cute. The pattern can be found http://www.crochetaddictuk.com  and I would consider it a beginner level pattern.  There are numerous other free hat patterns to be found on the same site.  The child-size newsboy hat pattern I used can be found at http://vallieskids.blogspot.ca (linked directly to pattern pag...

I recently decided to give crocheting a try after being an avid knitter my whole life.  It turned out to be surprisingly simple to figure out thanks to my knitting background and Google.  I found a lovely bag pattern (free!) on Pinterest and used some bargain yarn to give it a try.  The whole project took me about a week to complete and used two balls of yarn.  The original pattern I was following was the Rainbow Bag .  I followed the pattern as best I knew how (as it turns out I may not have been doing some of the stitches correctly at the beginning but they still looked fine!).  Obviously, I did not change colours throughout instead using a colourful yarn.  I decided learning to crochet would be enough of a challenge so I didn't need to add the hassle of changing colour every row and then sewing that all up at the end.  Here is the finished project.  My next project is a triple stitch scarf but then I think I will try ...