Burton Bear Cowl

They are finally finished!! The cowls knit up so fast but then you get the fun task of "finishing" them. I hate weaving in ends. I'm ashamed to admit this but I have a pair of striped socks that have at least 10 tails inside them that I pretend don't exist. :x I made a cowl for both myself and my daughter...and with my leftover yarn I made her a wristlet that she loves. I must point out the crochet work along the front of the cowl and the ears. ;) I'm learning a bit. It goes so fast, I can see why people crochet. On this cowl, I used a bind off method that my friend Jeremy taught me. The pattern calls for casting off and then stitching together but I cast off by using a three-needle bind off.

Linking up to: I Heart Naptime . My 1929 Charmer . Craft-o-Maniac . Making the Scene . Making the World Cuter . Sewing Barefoot . Ninth Street Notions . The Dedicated House . Mad In Crafts . DIY Showoff . Brassy Apple . Homemaker On a Dime . Not Just A Housewife . My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia . Sugar Bee Crafts . Mercy Ink Blog . VWB Blog . Home Stories A to Z . The Winthrop Chronicles . Just Us Four . Sugar and Dots . Gingersnap Crafts . Someday Crafts . White Lights on Wednesday . The Well Crafted Home . Fine Craft Guild . The Gunny Sack . House of Hepworths . A Glimpse Inside . Two Yellow Birds . 30 Handmade Days . The Shabby Nest . Naptime Crafters . Whipper Berries .

Convertibles!

I'm ready to play. :) I had a nice interweb hiatus over my winter break. I took a break from my usual job with kiddos to work with some old folks and really refreshed my batteries. What else? I haven't really been crafting too much. I've been on an organization kick. I feel like my entire family has a hoarding problem, which leads to insane amounts of container purchasing. *sigh* We're getting there.

What else have I been doing? Knitting. I'm working on the Burton Bear Cowl and I can't wait to post my completed photos. Before Christmas I completed a few of these hat/beard combos. How do I look with a beard? Not so hot! lol I have a confession. Every hat that I've ever made is too small for the recipient. Why? I don't know. They look cute but the recipients should consider it a decoration and not feel obliged to wear them. Back to the story...

I looked all over Ravelry for bearded hats and then I realized no one will really wear a fake beard more than once so I made these convertible. When knitting your hat, make a button hole on each side. I used a pattern, mostly made up and definitely forgotten similar to this:

Cast-on 40 

Rows 1-3  Sl st pearl wise, *K* 

Row 4-  Sl st pearl wise, K14, Cast off 10, K15

Row 5-  Sl st pearl wise, K14, cast on 10, K15

Row 6-  Sl st pearl wise, K2tog, *K*, K2tog, K1

Row 7-14   Sl st pearl wise, *K*

Row 15-20 Sl st pearl wise, K2tog, K2tog, K2tog, *K*,  last 7 stitches, K2tog, K2tog, K2tog, K1

Cast off.

Then I stretched my beard out over my face to see how much I needed to add in length to reach the button holes. I did a simple garter stitch side burn to connect the two pieces. I sewed them together and added the button. 

Linking up to: I Heart Naptime . My 1929 Charmer . Craft-o-Maniac . Making the Scene . Making the World Cuter . Sewing Barefoot . Ninth Street Notions . The Dedicated House . Mad In Crafts . DIY Showoff . Brassy Apple . Homemaker On a Dime . Not Just A Housewife . My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia . Sugar Bee Crafts . Mercy Ink Blog . VWB Blog . Home Stories A to Z . The Winthrop Chronicles . Just Us Four . Sugar and Dots . Gingersnap Crafts . Someday Crafts . White Lights on Wednesday . The Well Crafted Home . Fine Craft Guild . The Gunny Sack . House of Hepworths . A Glimpse Inside . Two Yellow Birds . 30 Handmade Days . The Shabby Nest . Naptime Crafters . Whipper Berries .

Liebster Award

I have only been craft blogging for a short while but I've had the privilege of participating in several link parties and meeting many new bloggers.

Just recently I was nominated by Nicole, at Mendezmanor.com for the Liebster Blog Award. She has a great blog and you should check it out. I am happy to accept the nomination and look forward to getting to know my nominees better!

About the Liebster Award:


The Liebster Award's origins are pretty much a mystery. Bloggers nominate other bloggers that have 200 or less followers. “Liebster” is German for “favorite,” so this is kind of like the “favorite blog award.” It's basically a "Hey, that's a sweet little blog you've got there. Here's an award!" You can't just accept the award. You have to play by the (ever changing) rules and pay it forward. Then you can put the award on your blog for all to see.


The Rules:

1. List 11 facts about yourself.
2. Answer the 11 questions given to you.
3. Create 11 new questions for the bloggers you nominate for the award.
4. Choose 11 bloggers with 200 or less followers to nominate.
5. Go to each bloggers page and let them know about the award.
6. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to their blog.


So here are 11 Facts about me:

1. I'm just going to put it out there... I'm terrified of white boys with beards.
2. I say 'bless you' when my cats sneeze.
3. I have a bad habit of interrupting people.
4. My favorite animal is the alpaca.
5. I subconsciously associate people with colors, ask me what color reminds me of you.
6. I fall asleep during movies.
7. I get offended when people show up at my house unannounced.
8. I recently started getting really bad motion sickness, especially on elevators.
9. I don't have a favorite band, artist, or even song.
10. I love running through people's sprinklers.
11. I speak no languages aside from English.


Here are my 11 Questions to my nominees: 

1. What is your favorite book?
2. What do you do for fitness?
3. Do you carry Hand Sanitizer in your purse?
4. Blogger or Wordpress and why?
5. If you could live anywhere on earth, where would it be?
6. Mac or PC?
7. Starbucks beverage of choice?
8. Who was your favorite president and why?
9. What brand of toothpaste do you prefer?
10. What is your go-to feel good music?
11. Are you close to your mom?


Here are my answers to Nicole's 11 questions:

1. Where are you from? I'm from Arkansas, I've lived here all of my life
2. How long have you been blogging? Since the middle of October
3. What do you like to do for fun? Craft, cook, garden, eat, and spend time with family and friends
4. Do you have kids? Yes! I have a beautiful 8 year old step-daughter.
5. Where do you like to shop for clothes? I don't. I mostly shop online. I like to find cute vintage skirts and dresses on Etsy.
6. Where do you like to shop for home accessories? I'm ashamed to say, I shop at Garden Ridge a lot.
7. Do you have any pets? 3 felines.
8. Do you like to cook? Yes, but I don't like to clean.
9. What is your favorite restaurant? We have this local diner called The Root Cafe that serves the most delicious breakfast foods.
10. Do you have a favorite cocktail...if so what is it? Moscow Mule...ginger beer, lemon, vodka.
11. Where do you like to go on vacation? Anywhere. My most favorite vacation spot is in Austria.



And here are my 11 nominees:

Making Home Base

Love May Decorating

Love Grows Wild

Giraffe-Legs

The Simply Living Blog

24 Cottonwood Lane

A Moment of Whimsy

Sugar and Spice

I Love Buttons

Crafty (Mis)Adventures

Becoming Native

Seuss Felt Stockings

Okay, so I didn't recycle these. But they only cost .60 each. That's fair, right? We are celebrating Christmas at my inlaws so we are taking our massive tree with us. (Whew!) Does anyone else start to feel a little claustrophobic with a huge tree in the house? This year we are putting up a few small trees and keeping it simple. We couldn't have maroon stockings to go with our theme so I whipped up some quick felt stockings, and by quick, I mean quick. I hot-glued these. :X Is that a sin? It should be. I've been known to hot glue costumes together while wearing them.  I traced some stocking printables and cut the shapes out and made another piece for the backing. I think they are kinda cute.

Chunky Wrap

Oh hi there. I recently finished this scarf/wrap/shawl monstrosity and I've gotten so many compliments on it so I thought I would post it here. I have a friend who loves to make shawls and I've always envied his patience. I knew I wanted something warm for the winter that would match everything and this is my perfect piece. :) I searched all over Ravelry but didn't find a pattern that would fit my needs so I improvised this. The yarn is Berroco Sundae yarn in Marmalade. I used 3 skeins on size 15 needles. In retrospect, I should have cast on at a corner and worked my way up but instead I cast on 160 stitches which meant I was stuck with a big 5 feet triangle. Had I started small and worked my way up in stitches, I could have had more flexibility with the size. The pattern is a simple lace pattern: knit 1 row and then knit 1, yarn over, knit two together on the next row... repeat. To make the fringe, I cut pieces 10" long and folded in half and then looped them through the edges (ever 3rd stitch).