Knitting & Crocheting

A couple of weeks ago I shared a sweater and hat I knitted for the Little Lady. (Leaving Thursday for a week long visit :) I wanted a little embellishment for the hat, and I made a flower using the material that I will be using to make her 2 pairs of reversible pants. Although I sewed the flower directly on her hat, you could easily add a brooch pin so it could be removed. I'm a little leery of sharp pokey things on toddlers :)

To make your own Frayed Fabric Flower you will need:

woven fabric scraps
felt scraps
embroidery floss
button
a copy of the pattern found HERE
brooch pin (optional)

Make a copy of the pattern. Cut out a woven print and matching felt for each of the three sizes.

Using a running stitch and 3 strands of floss, sew the woven fabric flowers to the corresponding felt flowers.

Stack the 3 flowers on top of each other with largest flower on the bottom and the smallest flower on top. Tack together.

Sew a button in the middle.

At this point, you can sew a brooch pin to the back of the flower or tack the flower to a garment.

Easy Peasy... all done :)

Finished the Kitty Cat. YAY! It was a detour away from all the other things I needed to get done this week, but I am very pleased with it. As a beginner crocheter, I found the pattern easy to follow, and I am every so grateful to Jules at Little Woollie for generously sharing her talents with her readers. 

I put in the center granny square that Jules used. She recommended another square since the sun burst had rather big holes for the stuffing to work its way through. But I liked the original square better than the new one she recommended (it was denser thus the stuffing won't poof out!) and I went ahead and made the sunburst tummy panel.  

Before stitching the front to the back, I lined the back of the 2 granny squares with a solid orange fabric. I intentionally sewed the square on so it puckered. I wanted some extra lining so it would give as I stuffed the Kitty.

I also also added a XOX on the back of the cat, just to remind the Little Lady that I love her very much. We will be heading to Wisconsin next week, and I'm sure LL is going to love her new friend.

If you are interested in making your very own Kitty Cat, make sure to pay Little Woollie a visit.  Trust me, even beginner crocheters can do this!

Now, all I have to do is finish... ahem... start, her 2 pairs of pants!!! 

Saturday, I saw an adorable crocheted Kitty Cat at Little Woollie. (Adorable blog, BTW.) I thought the Little Lady would love it. Now, I'm not saying I've never held a crochet hook before, I even made Crocheted Ball Ornaments for Michelle this past Christmas:

but I'm certainly a crocheting noob. When I read over the directions, there were many terms I didn't understand. So, I linked to the pattern on Facebook, and asked our experienced crocheters for their opinion... do you think I can pull this off? Everyone was so encouraging, I went out and got yarn for the project before I chickened out.

Well, it has been an adventure :) I've been crocheting close to my computer, because I have to keep looking up stitches, and I've even watched a few videos on YouTube. For the most part, I'm pretty happy with it. Sure, I'm having some problems. For example... I'm having a heck of a time starting circles.

 And I have questions... how do you stop the slip stitch from slipping when you start a circle... how do you count stitches... how much tension do you keep on the yarn as you are working?

My Grandma Pearl taught me to knit when I was very young. She also crocheted, but she made things like toilet roll covers and kitchen towel thingies, and I never bothered having her teach me. I REALLY wish I had! Although I know I'll get better with practice, there is nothing like sitting next to an experienced craftsperson, that can help guide your hands, and share the tricks of the trade! 

But, all in all, I am pretty excited about the way it is turning out. It isn't exactly like Jules' at Little Woollie, for example... I wound up not having any space between the cat's ears, whereas hers does, but I'm thinking it's an ish thing, and that it will be alright. And, when the wee ones were over yesterday for Sunday Dinner, Pixie told me, "You know, I would like one, too." So, something tells me I'll get more experience, and that's the best teacher, or so the adage says :)

EDIT: Okay... this is probably going to tell you more about my personality than anything else I've ever done before... I couldn't live with the dark photos and I re-shot them! (If you didn't see the post earlier, here is the note I included. You can see one of the nasty photos down below:

NOTE: Yes... the photos are rather dark. Took the photos last night, went to crop them this morning, and let's just say, after my early morning rant, ALL the pups were ready to give up their morning naps and go outside! Decided not to re-shoot, so imagine everything a little brighter, a little cleaner ;)

So, yes, it was gnawing at me, and I HAD to re-shoot. I often get accused of being a perfectionist. I usually don't see it. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure this even qualifies since the other photos were soooooo bad. Anyway, I couldn't leave it alone, even with an apology. Now, you really can see what the sweater looks like, and I can go back to my day as planned :) 

Last night I finished the lovely sweater for Little Lady. It really was a very simple little thing. The free pattern is available HERE from Purl Bee. I love, love, love the roll up sleeves! 

I decided she needed a beret to go with it. I found a free pattern HERE. It is the sweetest little hat from Sarah Grieve, and it is called the Ava Beret. She used a stitch called the brioche stitch pattern, which is lovely, but for the main body I used a seed stitch since that was the stitch used in the sweater. I had to fudge a little, since the seed stitch required an odd number of stitches, so I did 1 less decrease. Also, Sarah sewed a button on the beret which is adorable. A girl needs a little bling, right? I'm thinking instead of a button, I may make a small fabric flower from the material I will be using to make her pants. Of course, I'll share a photo when I decide :)

I love it when I get to use the technique where you create a hem by knitting it in. When you are done, the hem is already finished, no handsewing and no loose ends to weave in. Neat and lovely!

Anyway... done and done! Today, if I get a chance, I'm going to start on her reversible pants from Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings. YAY! It's been too long since I sat at my sewing machine.

For those of you that didn't see the old photos... I saved the one below. I'm not crazy, right? It was worth re-doing the photos... at least it was for me ;)

Last day of January already... yikes! It's been a busy week, but I have made time to work on the new sweater for the Little Lady. I shared a link to the pattern last week... a lovely sweater knit in 1 piece. I've finished the back, one sleeve, and half of another. Cruisin' :)

I was going to make a skirt to go along with the sweater, but Michelle suggested I make the adorable reversible pants found in Anna Maria Horner's book Handmade Beginnings.

Aren't these sweet?

It's hard to see in the photos, but the yarn I'm using in the sweater has flecks of brown and green. I hit my stash and was able to come up with fabric to make 2 pairs of reversible pants that will look wonderful with the sweater.

So, the plan... finish the sweater this week... sew the pants next week... then I'll be taking to train to Wisconsin for a week of playing with the Little Lady. Can hardly wait :)