vicrochet

Francine is one of the Imaginary Friends in my etsy shoppe, TheCoolNana.

She thinks she's a hottie....

The Red Heart Tweeds yarn I fell in love with (and subsequently purchased mass quantities of) has turned into a great medium for these cute Scottie place mats.

What to specifically call them eludes me. Their size is geared more to a doily than a coaster (8"x10") but they are too small for the standard place setting.

People try to say that Scotties can't be trained but that isn't true.

Take Maddie, for instance. She is all decked out and ready for her obedience class. Yes, you can teach a Scottie to do ANYTHING....as long as they think it was their idea in the first place!

Maddie is my own design. Her outfit is a "Build A Bear" for an 8 inch bear. She was made with Bernat Soft & Chunky.

Meet Sophie. She is modeled after my youngest grand daughter, Sophie Elizabeth. My "real" Sophie is only 6 months old.

I haven't quite decided how to do her shoes so she is going to be without legs until I make a decision. She is slightly bigger than Rosie, perhaps I used a smaller hook with Rosie, who can remember such things?

Each grand daughter is going to receive a doll fashioned after her at birthday time this year.

My darlin' Dugan turned 6 years old this month! My, how time flies. This little guy is in honor of Dugan's special day. He is made with Homespun Yarn, design is my own.

Found on Craft Magazine: "If you knit, crochet, or sew, you likely have extra materials laying around that can be whipped up into some cozy love for a homeless child. I have no doubt the receivers of these gifts will feel the warmth of your handmade donation."

http://www.typepad.com/services/trackback/6a00d83451e97b69e2010536c79a10970b

Donations are only through February 29, 2009. What a wonderful cause to put our hands to work!

Snow Bear led me to thinkin'....I could make Snow Scotties! Or, perhaps they are Rolly-Scotties, the jury is still out.

Regardless, they are two of the new designs for the shop. I do believe the wheaten needs a black nose embroidered on his snout.

Anything that allows me to combine my love for my Scotties and crochet is a very good thing....

The snow is pouring down today. The said "one inch...possibly". I would wager five so far. That works for me! Instead of going out tonight I stayed in my jammie and crocheted.

close up of airplane button

Love this yarn! My friend, Nikki, has a new baby boy, Micah! The cardigan and hat are 0 - 3 month size. Yarn is Caron's Simply Soft Shadows - Merino.

My daughter's friend gave birth to three beautiful little girls last week. Two weighed in at 1 pound each and the third at 15 ounces. I am making some items to send.

I read that a one pound baby's head measures 7 inches. These little hats fit Rosie!

If you want to feel a special sort of love, make something for a preemie. Don't know someone? Not a problem. Newborns in Need have local chapters all over the United States. Your special handiwork would be especially appreciated!

Just visit: http://www.newbornsinneed.org/

Well, Helen won out and I begrudgingly (snicker) made a baby sweater to match her.

I know I am not the only woman that has at one point or other designed an entire outfit to either go with a pair of earrings or shoes. (I LOVE these earrings - I need to buy a pantsuit to match!)

Well, that is the true story about this entire project. I was at Joann's the other day stocking up on buttons and discovered the little purple hippos. Since my next aisle was to find a purple/lavender yarn for another project I was drawn to the purple hippos even more.

On the way home I started thinking about the book I got for Christmas....Isn't there a little hippo pattern in that book....?

So there you go and I think that is one of the things I love about crochet. It encourages creativity, at least for me. I hope it does for you too!

Meet Helen. She's a hippo. She is insisting that I make Evie a sweater to match hers so that should be my next post.

Who knew Hippos were so bossy??

Sackboy is complete, sans zipper. For now he'll wear his little sweater (purchased). I just love LBP!

Modeled by the "Sneetch". I was looking for a quick project to do while watching the Steelers stomp the Chargers. This worked up rather quickly. The pattern is from the current Crochet World magazine.

The "heart" is a bit choppy but it was the first time for me to try the treble crochet stitch. I would like to make this hat for all of my grand daughters for Valentines Day. Hopefully practice will make perfect.

Just finished project 2 & 3 for 2009.

My friend, Carol, just purchased her first house and I wanted to make her a house warming gift. I started with the lapghan but decided to keep going since I had so much yarn left over. I have been looking at the pattern for the wheelchair tote for her for quite some time. I am pleased with how it turned out. It is my first bag!

There is NOTHING like seeing your grandbabies play with the toys you make them. Special thanks to Miss Emma's Mommy for sending me the picture.

Perhaps I shouldn't post Rosie until I have completed her shoes and her embroidered mouth but....

If I have the same luck in making little shoes for her as I have my grand daughters it may never come about. Newborn shoes I make could fit my high school student.!

I started Rosie last night and will likely fine tune her by midnight today...so why not post her?

I used Roxy Craft's Lucille Peep pattern with just a few tweaks. Her dress seemed a little short so I added two more rows. Her hair is Red Heart Soft Sport - brown, body is regular Red Heart-aran. Her dress is Caron's Simply Soft Paints - Victoria Rose - hence the name Rosie.

Roxy Craft Lucille Peep: http://www.roxycraft.com/lucillepeep_info.htm

In 2007, large toy manufacturers who outsource their production to China and other developing countries violated the public's trust. They were selling toys with dangerously high lead content, toys with unsafe small parts, toys with improperly secured and easily swallowed small magnets, and toys made from chemicals that made kids sick. Almost every problem toy in 2007 was made in China.

The United States Congress rightly recognized that the Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) lacked the authority and staffing to prevent dangerous toys from being imported into the US. So, they passed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) in August, 2008. Among other things, the CPSIA bans lead and phthalates in toys, mandates third-party testing and certification for all toys and requires toy makers to permanently label each toy with a date and batch number.

All of these changes will be fairly easy for large, multinational toy manufacturers to comply with. Large manufacturers who make thousands of units of each toy have very little incremental cost to pay for testing and updating their molds to include batch labels.
For small American, Canadian, and European toymakers, however, the costs of mandatory testing, to the tune of up to $4,000 per toy, will likely drive them out of business. And the handful of larger toy makers who still employ workers in the United States face increased costs to comply with the CPSIA, even though American-made toys had nothing to do with the toy safety problems of 2007. Toy makers won't be the only ones impacted by the CPSIA, the thousands of US businesses who offer clothing, jewelry and other gifts for children --in essence-- the entire children's industry will be as well.

The CPSIA simply forgot to exclude the class of toys that have earned and kept the public's trust. The result, unless the law is modified, is that handmade toys will no longer be legal in the US.

Thriving small businesses are crucial to the financial health of our nation. Let's amend the CPSIA so that all businesses large and small are able to comply and survive!

I finished my mother-daughter project today for my daughter and her new little one, Evie. Candace wanted a hat and scarf in earth tones so I used Bernat Softee Chunky, Terra Cotta Mist. I had a skein of the same color by Bernat in a worsted yarn so decided to make a matching outfit for Evie who is 6 weeks old.

Candace really likes this particular sweater pattern (I made two previous sweaters for Evie in the same pattern - this yarn looked a little boy-ish for a little girl so I added the ruffles to the bottom of the sweater and also added some cute flower buttons I found in my own mother's stash. I know Mom would have LOVED making things for Evie, her only great grand daughter. (top picture has truest colors)

The patterns can be found here:

Baby sweater: http://miracleshappen.us/patterns/CapSleeveJacket/
I added the scallop at the bottom of the sweater with 2dc 1 ch 1 dc (2 rows)

Baby hat: http://www.bernat.com/pattern.php?PID=3654

Mom's hat and scarf: http://www.bernat.com/pattern.php?PID=2174