Easter Eggs and a Moogle?

HELLO ALL!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

We had a crazy busy fun filled Easter weekend here. Friends, and food and one heck of a Bachelorette Party and I still had time to color a few eggs just for fun while watching my traditional Easter movie, The Easter Parade. :-)

I also ended up watching the 1995 version of Persuasion because...well...I could!

As far as egg coloring goes, I had a good time! Like many things, I resent being made to feel like it's an activity reserved for childhood. ;-) It's great fun and a piece of JOY I wish to hold onto. 

I am however glad I didn't make too many because it took me a lot longer than I thought it would, and I'm glad I had the foresight to wear an apron....I was shooting those slippery suckers all over the place! haha! I got quite a bit of color on my hands. :-P

*Take Note* Waiting to cut my too long nails till after I was done was a stroke of pure genius, my hands were sooo messy and looked soooo much cleaner after I trimmed my nails!

I only bought a dozen eggs and after my husband and I boiled them, there were only 9 left. lol As it turns out, we've never really boiled eggs at home because he's really not a huge egg eater and well...I don't do much resembling cooking. haha So we managed to break a few, but 9 turned out to be the perfect number for me this year. I didn't realize how long it had really been since I colored eggs, but I think it just might be possible to loose the knack. lolol 

In any case, here they are all ready for me! 

I used two of the three inexpensive coloring kits my mother happened to send in a recent box.

FYI: The Coloring cups were a lot easier although the wax crayon was a joke. The eggs I colored using the cup kit also dried really fast. The speckled eggs were messy to make, but I liked combining colors. Biggest downside for me is that these eggs took two days to dry and even now are slightly sticky....

Anywho, here's my final lovely eggs. :-D

Yay! On a final side note, I finally finished a crochet hat project that I have been working on for almost a year. I started it when I was still just learning to how to crochet and have figured out or made up a piece of it here and there when I felt like it. It's kind of funny as this makes it a compilation of several stages of my learning process and not necessarily the best hat I could make now.

However, as it was made on request for and by my husband Billy and he seems to like it, I will chalk it up as  a success for now. :-P

It's mean to be a Moogle. I honestly don't know exactly what it is, but it's from one of his games...I want to say Final Fantasy Eleven, and it looks something like the image below on left.

Cute right?!

I have honestly been practically done with it for awhile but couldn't decide how to finish the pom pom thingy coming out of it's head....

Almost Done!!!!!!

We have decided to attach the poof I made over one eye so it doesn't flop about, but here's the basic final product. :-)

Ta Da! :-D

That's all for now, thanks for reading my friends. I find out about my big job opportunity with Teach For America on Thursday. Wish me luck! :-)

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

Oldies But Goodies

So Many Projects I Am Sooooo Proud Of That Won't Ever Make It Into This Blog.....UNLESS I just go ahead and put em all up at once! I can't help it! haha I just need to share! :-D

So, Here Goes! Newest Projects to Oldest Projects....sort of :)

Cowel Scarf

Cowl Scarf: Can also be pulled over head to keep ears warm.

Coffee Cup To Go Cozy: SOCK MONKEY! :-D

Started out as a slouchy beanie hat, but ended up a little closer to a kingston. :-P

Hats I made this year as Christmas Gifts!

Granny Square Scarf and first scarf  I ever made. :-)

Little Pocket purse for cards or other odds and ends. 

Soap Bag

Jelly Roll :-)

Jelly Roll Open

Rose Pattern

And Then Projects That Are Not Crochet........

Cross Stitched This In The Months Leading Up To Our Wedding in 2009. Have Yet To Frame It....Lol!

My Mother In Law Taught Me How To Make These Christmas Ornaments. They are genius and sooo easy!

First Shot At The Christmas Ornament Project

Now, that is out of my system and I feel much better! :-D

Have A Beautiful Day!

Snow Day #3

Oh the things I could do if I had a day off! .....Many many things, in theory, could be done around our apt. if I just had an extra day off during the week......

Cue three consecutive snow days....Yeah OK so I didn't get much done, there have been adequate clean dishes for Billy to cook on at night, and you can again get to the closet door to search for clean towels...and there might even be some in there. :) And that about sums up my productiveness in the last few days... 

I am however enjoying a gigantic mug of coffee (to assuage what is likely a caffeine headache) with a snowman on it in the spirit of the whole snow and ice storm thing going on outside. :-)

It's got snowflakes on the back too. :-D

I also: finished this crochet necklace (which ended up taking waaaay longer than I thought lol).

I know, the lighting is terrible but you get the idea . :-)

A little closer up on the strands.





Got this fun little pattern from the blog Mandipidy. Click Here!

And..... I Spent an irresponsible amount of time on Pinterest.....and read other people's blogs about what you feel like when your pregnant and all of the things no one tells you about after you give birth.....VERY SCARED FACE....

http://www.pregnantchicken.com/  (Greatest Blog Ever...do not be alarmed if you check this out and the first post you come across is called "Porn for Pregnant Ladies". It's full of fantastic photos like the one below.)

Pregnant Chicken

And.....yeah that's pretty much it for today....haha....

But you know what, it's been nice to just play hookie although I really should get more Italian homework done I figure I should enjoy these days while they last....you know before I decide to have kids which will apparently make me feel like this.......

;-)

And On That Note.... :)

Have A Beautiful Day!

SNOW DAY!

Aaaaahhh it was sooo nice to relax today, I didn't go outside at all, not even to take this picture of the snow still outside this afternoon. ;-)

Instead, I put on my favorite fluffy bathrobe, worked on my Italian, read a little, clipped coupons I will probably never use and have no safe place to store, and of course, I had plenty of warm yummy liquids like coffee, cider and hot chocolate. I even took a nap....although I kept waking up thinking I was supposed to be doing something haha.

Mmmmm and you really have to love that hot chocolate, it's not the dark chocolate mix I prefer, but hey chocolate is chocolate and I believe in real marshmallows, so it always works out well. :-D (Which incidentally, marshmallows are spelled weird. I mean who says marshmAllows it's marshmEllows right?! Or maybe that's just me?.... Lol)

The inside lip of this mug says: "Is Huge" ;-)

I also broke in my first attempt at crochet slippers that I made over the weekend. They aren't really what I was hoping for. They are kind of more like little socks and they aren't that warm, so my hunt for the right crochet slippers is still on. Still, for a first attempt at this kind of thing, they weren't bad, I was able to change the pattern a little bit to make it fit my foot, and Billy thought they were kind of cool which is truthfully the main reason I bothered to make the second slipper. lolol :-)

Obviously I am still working through the same color yarn I have been using recently. :-)

All in all it was a great day and I'm hoping for more snow tonight like the forecast says. Maybe UW Seattle will actually cancel classes tomorrow. Here's hoping.

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL DAY!

Useful = Good

CELL PHONE SLEEVE

Lately I have been trying to find little crochet projects to use up all that extra yarn that inevitable begins to pile up, this way, I can feel thrifty and simultaneously make space for the next time I go on a yarn binge. ;-)

I also really love making something useful, it feels good! This last weeks little project that fit into my tight little schedule was a little phone cover. My mother-in-law made me this beautiful one a while back.

I love the great color and the faith button!

Unfortunately, my phone is kind of big and doesn't fit quite right. I ended up using this sleeve for my new camera and it's pretty perfect with the little strap and everything. That did leave my phone kind of naked though and it could use a little protection from the other wandering and extensive contents of my purse and/or schoolbag. So, I decided I would whip up a little something myself. :-)

I decided to go pretty simple. I used the pattern from this great blog below, it's really easy and uses only single crochet and slip stitch and it looks nice and clean.

Eggheaded Momma: How to Crochet a Cell Phone Sleeve Or Any Little Bag

This is how mine turned out!

As you can see, I decided the plain sleeve wasn't quite doing it for me so I decided on this simple but super cute little candy applique. I found it at the link below. The same page also has patterns for other sweet treat appliques!

Champy Girl's Yummy Sweet Appliques!

Oooh also, below is a link to my Pinterest page. I find a lot of my crochet patterns through Pinterest as well as a million other fun things. Especially if you haven't discover Pinterest yet check it out, it's oodles of fun!

http://pinterest.com/allycehn/


And that's all for now. For those of us with a three day weekend ahead, Enjoy! I know I will....haha Italian Paper...prepare to be conquered. ;-)

Have A Beautiful Day!

EarWarmer/Headband Success!

HIYA!

It's still too COLD outside for me and while I have been crocheting like crazy this fall and winter to bundle up, I have the worst time finding and accurately completing hat patterns that are flattering on me, so I thought I would give the EarWarmer/Headband pattern a shot. The designs I use are often a hodgepodge of several different patterns so I will try to compile those here. Enjoy!

Materials:

I used: A size H crochet hook for both headbands. (5mm)
            Caron Simply Soft Yarn in Bone and Persimmon, Medium Weight (4)

 This is the tutorial I used for the body of the headband. Crochet Geek on Youtube is a great source, there are sooo many patters and she is super easy to follow!

I chose this tutorial because it was so easy to follow and I love the ribbing effect you get from the pattern!

The linked tutorial also uses a size H hook but does not specify what kind of yarn is being using. I used Caron Simply Soft because it's my favorite and I always have some on hand. :)

  If you are a tight crocheter like myself and you use the same material I did, you will probably have to make more rows that the Crochet Geek tutorial recommends. I did many more periodically checking to see how it fit around my head (allowing for the little bit of stretch this project will have when completed).

First Completed Project:

The Lighting In Our Apt is terrible but you can see the full project here.

Gives you an idea of what it looks like on.

And here's a shot of the flower! :D

The flower pattern used for this first project is once I chose from a hat pattern I would like to complete for this Spring maybe. It's actually 3 different little flowers sewn together at the end, admittedly, mine looks different from the picture provided, but that's OK, it ended up being just right anyway. :)

Below is the Blog with said hat pattern and the flower pattern I used for my headband below.
This is a fantastic blog with so many adorable crochet patterns! Check it out!

Here is the pattern as well, just in case. Remember, you make all three flowers and then sew them together.

Flower Pattern
Make a magic circle,

Largest Flower
Round 1: Chain 3 (count as a dc), ch 1, dc in the loop, ch 9, join with slip stitch to the first chain, ch 1. *dc, ch 1, dc, ch 9, join with slip stitch to the first chain, ch 1. Repeat from * 4 times. Join with slip stitch to the first ch-3 (12 dc and ch-1 space; 6 ch-9 loops in total).

Round 2: Ch 1, sc in the same stitch, * work 14 dc in the ch-9 loop, sc in the next dc. Repeat from * 5 times, join with slip stitch to the first sc. Fasten off.

Medium Flower
Magic circle. Ch 1, * sc in the loop, ch 6, 1 hdc in the third chain from hook, 1 dc in each of the next 3 stitches. Repeat from * 5 times, join with slip stitch to the first sc (6 petals in total). Fasten off.


Smallest Flower
Magic circle, * ch 8, slip stitch in the loop. Repeat from * 4 times (5 petals in total). Fasten off



Assembly
Put these flowers in order they should be done with the smallest one on top. Sew in place in the center. Sew completed flower unto project of choice!

Second Completed Project:

Again sorry about lighting. :-

 This was my first time making a bow like this. So easy! Below is the Blog I found this bow pattern.
http://bwalker8706.blogspot.com/2010/12/big-bow-headband-pattern.html

Here Is The Pattern as well just in case:















  Bow

row 1: ch 40

row 2: hdc in 3rd ch from hook across                                                                  

row 3-7: ch 2, hdc across

fold the strip together to form a cuff, and sew together

It's that simple! I made the second headband a little smaller than the first once I realized how much stretch my yarn gave me, but I still used many more rows than the Crochet Geek. :D

Have A Beautiful Day!