crochet flowered headband

i love projects that are fast with instant gratification! this is one of them...

i crocheted a chain as long as i needed it. then i used this tutorial from little birdie secrets and made 3 flowers with a size "f" hook. then sewed a pearl in the middle and attached it to the headband.

boye vs susan bates

can someone please explain to me why both of these hooks are "G", and although they're different brands, they're also TOTALLY different!!

the boye brand "g" hook is 4.25mm. the susan bates brand "g" hook is 4.00mm. and it may not seem like THAT big of a difference...

but look how different the hooks actually are!!

i learned the hard way the difference 0.25mm can make!

and when you google crochet hook sizes, some say a G should be 4mm. and that's from the craft yarn council! (who knew such a council even exsisted, lol)

and others say it should be 4.25mm.

SO WHO'S RIGHT?!?! and why is this the only hook that has this issue?

Awareness Ribbon Hat

------------------------------------------------------------->
as you see, i'm a team captain this year for our local relay for life event! (click here if you want to donate) i wanted to make a special hat to wear and someone on etsy referred me to this pattern from crafty andy. at first glance i was thinking it was WAY beyond my crocheting skills! i've never used a graph and intermingled colors like this before. but his pattern was written in lamens terms that i had no problem figuring it out! so if you crochet, challenge yourself and you may be surprised :)

there were some adjustments made to get a better fit, so mine is not identical to andys. but it still gets the point across.

Easter Bunny Hat

how precious is this hat... (pattern here)

and the model couldn't have been any cuter!

(photo by Melissa Brazeal w/ Production B Photography)

we celebrated my dads birthday at the padre hotel in bakersfield. we reserved a banquet room and outside in the hallway was an old switchboard that my niece and nathan loved playing with. while learning knew photography stuff, i'm also trying to figure out my adobe photoshop cs4 :/

nathan's birthday is almost here :) originally i was planning on having a yo gabba gabba theme party. so i came up with this little banner using his name and the characters from the show. i am darn proud of myself with it! i used microsoft word! but now i'm bummed because time constraints just aren't going to allow for a party :(

more crochet...

playing catch up (random photos)

breakfast with santa pictures...

christmas shopping w/ mom, mimi and aunt cynthia is EXHAUSTING!

apparently he didn't like his wallpaper anymore you think?

couple new beanies :)

earwarmer/headband

not a fan!

symbols of christmas

fancy gloves

for christmas this year, my siblings go hot fudge and caramel...

2010's christmas wreath

ramblings...

i had a baby shower to go to earlier this week. i wanted to include some handmade items along with the gift card i pitched in for with some friends. man how i love free patterns online! thank you to all those creative ladies who share their thoughts!

first, i whipped up this crochet shell cap. the bow (also a free pattern), isn't attached to the hat. but on an alligator clip that can be removed and attached to a headband as well. she also got 10 other flowers/crocheted bows on clips with 8 crocheted headbands in any color you can think of!

i also made a dress for the new baby out of leftover fabric i've had since christmas :)

and a tag blanket that's minkee on one side, and silk on the other. again, out of leftover supplies :)

we're going camping in a few weeks and my mom wanted some sort of hat (not a beanie) to wear. so i found this pattern for the belliveau cove hat. oh, and it's not weird i bought a styrofoam head to help me crochet is it? ROFL!

knock knock, anyone still visit this blog?

my poor blog has been abandoned the past month :( let me clear off the cobwebs and i'll fill you in :)

of course i've been crocheting!

puff stitch beanie

wacky monster beanie accompanied by nathans cheeeeese face

we had a family movie night at church the beginning of summer. we watched kung fu panda. one of our family favs for sure!

jaren is on the activity committee (they're the ones who put this on) and came up with some pretty neat decor ideas. we bought red poster board (2 for $1) from the dollar tree. man do i love that place! i also picked up a few rolls of electrical tape to use around the edges of the posterboard to make them not so drab. then he (we) came up with some church sayings and used google translator and had them translated into chinese characters and glued them to the poster board. so if they're not right, blame google ;) jaren also made 25 origami cranes that we taped around some of the posters.

i made "panda" cupcakes, kinda sorta?

i found a po picture online and added text that said, "enjoy the movie, or else" and printed it onto brown lunch sacks to use as popcorn bags. i suggest doing this only if you have a top feed printer!! i don't, mines a bottom feed. and i broke my less than 30 day old printer!!! so i jumped onto kodak.com and "chatted" with there 24/7 technical support about my broken printer. EXACTLY 23 1/2 hours later, i had a BRAND NEW PRINTER at my doorstop thanks to the big brown truck :)  and thank you kodak for having great customer service!

k, back to the popcorn... we had 2 homemade caramel corns, jalapeno cheese, cheddar cheese and basic popcorn. they were all SOOOO good!

the "concession stand"...

we bought chinese takeout boxes and filled them with candy for each of the kids to have. i printed the CTR logo in chinese on labels and cut them out and stuck them to one side of the box.

the other side was a kung fu panda picture i found online and added text that fit the nights theme.

fun was had by all!

crafting overload!

currently working on this... pattern found here...

i think car seat canopys are great! i wish i would've thought of it when nathan was born. but of course not ;) i have a friend who's days away from having a baby and i knew she wanted one. random funny story... she bought the same exact fabric i did hours after i did at the same store and was going to ask me to make her one. but of course i was already planning on it, lol. but the one thing she did request was a slit in the front so her toddler could peak in on baby anytime. i really should stop crafting at night because the pictures turn out horrible in my dark dining room!

ANOTHER fleece blanket with crochet edges. here's the pattern i followed.

i had a hard time falling back to sleep the other morning, so i got up and thought i'd give smocking a try. LOL. *SHOUT OUT TO MY MOTHER IN-LAW* i wish you lived closer because i totally would've called you over for a 5am sewing session! martha stewart (of course) has an excellant video tutorial on how to do it. get this, it's normal thread on top, and elastic thread in your bobbin. its just genius if you ask me!

i helped my 11 year old niece sew last weekend for 10 hours. we were unstoppable! she has a hawaiian day coming up at school and also a special year end dance that is black/white theme. joanns fabric had pre-smocked fabric where you get the size you want and just sew it up the back. so we chose this print for her black/white dance. we shortened it to a length she liked and used the scraps to make the straps and also a matching headband. and woot woot, i had a 50% coupon, so we paid $7 for this dress!!!!!!

for the hawaiian theme top, i couldn't decide between a pillowcase style, or smocked, so we did both. there's 3 rows of shirring under the bust line. and of course being the sweet gal she is, she wanted to make tops for her little sisters to wear that day too. and of course they all had matching headbands as well.

here she is modeling her top ;)

the beanie i made the other day, here's the same pattern but with a floppy brim added. i'm seriously OBSESSED with buying this ladies crocheted hat patterns. i have *almost* all of them.

i made CTR (choose the right) necklaces.

i traced a 1/2 inch washer onto scrapbook paper and cut it out. then glued it to my washer. used my cricut and cut vinyl ctr's. then used diamond glaze to seal it. diamond glaze adds a clear, glass type, raised effect finish. then used sheer ribbon for the necklace, added a bead and clasp and that's it.

my sewing/craft to-do list was finally finished! but only for about 2 hours until i remembered i'm going out with ladies in my ward this weekend and don't have a purse! guess i'll get going on that tomorrow...