Sunny spread baby sized

I've used this pattern 3 times now. It's still one of my favorites. Instead of doing it all one color, I tried it out with two colors. I really like how it turned out. I'm keeping this one, it will be for our newest baby girl. 

Little girl hats

I've had fun making a bunch of newborn hats recently. They're so quick, and yet so cute. 

This one was for a friend's newborn little girl.

I figured our new little girl needed a new hat, too.

I can't wait for this little girl to come out so she can try it on!!

Moo hat

After looking up a bunch of different patterns for a cow hat, I finally decided to make my own. I looked at a few different ones on pinterest, and copied parts of different ones that I liked. Here's the outcome, Audrey calls it her "moo hat." 

Mittens

My first attempt at mittens. I don't know if I'll actually wear them, I don't know how practical mittens on adults are, but it was a fun pattern to try and they're super warm. I found the pattern here. 

A bag and a purse

After browsing a bunch of different bag and purse patterns, the first one I attempted was kind of a made-up pattern. I made a few squares using my favorite square pattern, then attached them together. I made two big squares with the little squares, then crocheted up the sides and added straps.

It turned out a little floppy, and the straps stretched out too much, but it was a good learning experience. It doesn't hold up well to heavy items, but I've used it a few times to hold crochet projects.

I made Madelyn a little owl purse a long time ago, which she uses almost every week to put her offering in to  bring to Sabbath school. She was requesting one with a longer strap that could fit over her head "so it wouldn't fall off her shoulder." After looking through some different kid patterns, I found this pattern and decided to give it a try. Turned out super cute, and Madelyn was happy with it.

Audrey wanted to model it, too.

I altered the pattern a little bit, changing up the wings and making eyes from black yarn instead of using buttons. 

Now she just has to find some things to put in it, she's been wearing it around a lot with it empty :)

One of the coolest things I've ever made--a purse!!

My sister had mentioned wanting a shoulder bag for my next crochet project, so I got right on that! I used this pattern which is a highly repeated pattern on ravelry.com. I pinned it a long time ago wanting to give it a try, but hadn't yet since the sewing part of the pattern just didn't appeal to me. But after purchasing some purse straps from Joann's I decided to go for it, and it turned out not being too bad. I used this tutorial to figure out how to sew in the lining. It turned out so cute, I had a hard time giving it away :)

I made a lining using some really stiff interfacing so that it would hold up a little better. Each side on the inside of the purse has a few pockets sewn into them. I filled up the purse with some purse contents when I gave it to my sister. 

 

Madelyn wanted to model the purse, and of course Audrey wanted to get in on the picture, too.

Christmas mugs

The sharpie mug idea has been all over pinterest, and I thought it looked like a fun one to try for family gifts this year. I bought some white mugs from Big Lots and used some oil-based sharpies I already had, and used some letter stickers to write out names on each mug. I let Madelyn draw all over the mugs and trace around the letters, then took off the stickers. A quick bake in the oven, and they came out awesome!!

This is the one I made.

 

The colors turned out a little different after baking, which was weird. Blue turned to green, red turned to maroon, and yellow turned to mustard. We've used the ones we made (made a "mama" one and a "daddy" one) and ran them through the dishwasher a few times, and they seem to be holding up great.

When I gave them as gifts, I filled them with some drinks--tea packets, apple cider, and hot chocolate--then added some Mexican hot chocolate snickerdoodles and some mocha cookies (Get it? Hot chocolate and coffee cookies inside the mug? I thought that was pretty clever). Turned out pretty cute I thought :)

Gifts for my nephew

I'm now an aunt!! My sister-in-law had a little boy in mid-December. Since I know she appreciates my crochet gifts, I went a little crazy and made her a bunch of different things. 

I of course had to make a cozy baby blanket. I used the "Ruffles and Dots" pattern, which I have used before. 

I also had to make a couple little hats to keep his head warm and snuggly. 

This red and white striped hat was made by special request. My sister-in-law wanted to do some newborn photos with a hat with a long tail to wrap over his little bottom. Of course I would make her one!! The photos they took turned out beautifully. 

My sister-in-law and brother-in-law have an ongoing inside joke about squirrels, something to do with a nickname I think? :) So of course I had to make their little guy a squirrel. I purchased this pattern from this etsy store. Turned out as pretty much the cutest thing I've ever made.

A couple afghan gifts

Afghans are so much fun to make. You get to pick out the pattern, decide on the yarn colors... However, I've made a few too many for myself. Although I would really like to make us another one. I think we might have enough, I don't know, maybe we could use one more? :)

These two afghans I made were for gifts, and both were a lot of fun to make.

The first one was a new shape for me, called the "Around the Rosie" baby blanket. I was inspired by this post from my favorite crochet blogger, maybematilda.com. Instead of making it in a baby blanket size, I upped the hook size and used worsted weight yarn, which made it a much bigger afghan. I made this one for my mom for Christmas. 

The second afghan was called "Sunny Spread", which is one of my favorite patterns, and which I've also used a couple more times since this blanket. It was also featured on my favorite crochet blog on this post. 

I made this one for my sister-in-law. It was a fun color to work with. She requested a bright colored afghan, so bright is what I picked!! I chose to use a shell border, however, instead of what the pattern called for. 

Wow, look how little Audrey is! This was from earlier this year. 

Okay, now, who else wants an afghan!!