Catching up!

Hey guys,
It's been a while since I've posted, things have been a bit crazy around here lately!! My laptop decided to throw a hissy fit and is currently not with us so I'm typing on my very old backup computer... the keys stick so if we're missing a few letters along the way I apologise now! I'm trying not to think about my large collection of music, photos and documents I currently don't have access to :(

In crafting news, with the loss of my laptop I have had VERY long days at home alone to fill. It's amazing the things you can finish when you're not procrastinating! Last week alone I crocheted 3 shell stitch scarves, a beanie for a friend, a cat scoodie for myself (wait til you see it!!), I finished one of the bavarian stitch/Catherine wheel/yarn-eater blankets I've been working on and I finished a knitted scarf with that fabulous European yarn I had. I've been meeting up with a friend once a week and we've been having a crochet 'n' cupcakes day and on Monday this week we made a road trip to Tamworth to hit up the Spotlight sale. We spent 2 hours wandering around looking at all the pretties and didn't even realise we'd been in there that long. I'm SURE we would have been there longer had we not had a time to be home by. It was lovely actually, our budget has been so tight lately and little luxuries haven't really been a possibility but my husband sent me off with our spare $25 for Spotlight. He is the most wonderful person! I was able to get a bit of fabric to decorate the nursery and some yarn on special for our baby mobile :)

Just today my newly converted crochet-addicted friend and I made mini crochet top hats and ate chocolate vegan cupcakes with candied oranges on top and it was amaze-balls. By the way, I am NEVER making any other kind of cupcake ever ever again! Seriously you take the eggs out and wowza does it make a huge difference! They're so light and fluffy and just plain fabulous...delicious little morsels of joy! Right now I'm just chilling in my warm (very expensive to heat) loungeroom listening to jazz and working on a crochet mobile for Baby Shmoogle Bean's room. I saw the hot air balloon mobiles whilst googling earlier and I have fallen completely in love with them. I'm making mine up as I go as the available pattern didnt really tickly my fancy, I'm just hoping what I end up with is a good as what's in my head! You know what sucks about all this crochet madness though? I can't actually share any photos with you until I have access to my hubby's laptop (his is broken too.... electrical stuff hmph!) so maybe maybe maybe tomorrow I can jump on and give it a go. I soooooo want you, if you're there reading, to see what I've been up to!

Oh! I made some fabric bunting for our nursery yesterday too...... I spent the afternoon watching LOTR and sewing away like a mad munchkin and we hung the finished product up last night. I'll share a photo I promise :) It looks great!

In baby news, all is well! I'll be 24 weeks pregnant by the end of this week, isn't that crazy!! The time is just catapulting by, our baby will be here before we know it! He kicks all day now, and my bump is getting pretty 'bumpy. I've been lucky and have had no complications so far, I go for my gestastional diabetes test next week and I'm hoping everything will be ok.
Anyhoo, I'm getting a touch peckish (HA! I'm always peckish these days) so time for that honey sesame stir fry soon methinks. I'll hopefully be back again soon with some photos! Fingers crossed for me guys!

Hope you're well and dandy my lovelies!

From boredom comes pretty things!

Not that I really have a use for a child's sized crochet hat (even though it IS pretty) I have made one lol I've had an incredibly long and tedious day and ended up trawling Youtube for a new pattern to make... it was meant to be adult sized but I think I fudged it somewhere. Nomatter! Ta da! I can keep this up for as long as there are still odds and ends of yarn in my box but after that it's bye bye crochet for a while until we have the spare cash to restock. Or even for one new ball... yes things are that bad at the moment :(  Should make for a few more occupied afternoons this week anyhow! After that who knows ;)

Two free newborn crochet hat patterns

So it's that glorious day of the week again.. FRIDAY! All together now with the sigh of relief 1,2,3 *Ahhhhhhhhhhh* Not really many better ways to spend a Friday afternoon than crocheting (in my opinion anyway) and today I've whipped up two newborn hat patterns for you... and yes these are more hats to add to Baby Shmoogle Bean's ever-growing stash. I am fast approaching the bottom of my scrap yarn box which is absolutely horrible because at the moment we don't have the spare cash for new yarn to start refilling it with :( Such is life! We make do with what we have right? I made both of these with one less-than-half ball of yarn and one even-less-than-half ball and as it turns out there was JUST enough. Anyhoo they're both quick to work up and go nuts with colour combos! Enjoy! I'm off to make some more with what's left of my scraps :)

You'll need:
'H' or 5mm crochet hook
2 colours acrylic (or whatever you like to use) yarn

Stitches used:
MC (magic circle)
Ch (chain)
Dc (double crochet)
Hdc (half double crochet)
Sc (single crochet)
Fp hdc (front post half double crochet
Bp hdc (back post half double crochet)
Sl st (slip stitch)

With colour A
Round 1: Mc, ch 3, 10 dc in ring. Sl st to top of ch 3
Round 2: Ch 3, 2 dc in next st *2 dc in each st around* sl st to top of ch 3
Round 3: Ch 3, 2 dc in next st *1 dc in next st, 2 dc in next st* around. Sl st to top of ch 3
Round 4: Ch 3, 2 dc in next st *1 dc in next 2 sts, 2 dc in next st* around. Sl st to top of ch 3. Finish off.
With colour B
Round 5-6: Ch 3, 1 dc in each st around. Sl st to top of ch 3. Finish off
With colour A
Round 7: Ch 1, 1 sc in each st around. Sl st to beginning ch 1. Finish off
With colour B
Round 8-9: Ch 3, 1 dc in each st around. Sl st to top of ch 3. Finish off
With colour A
Round 10: Ch 1, 1 sc in each st around. Sl st to beginning ch 1. Finish off
With colour B
Round 11: Ch 3, 1 dc in each st around. Sl st to top of ch 3. Finish off
With colour A
Round 12: Ch 1, st st around base of hat. Finish off, weave in ends.

With colour A
Round 1: Mc, ch 3, 10 dc in ring. Sl st to top of ch 3
Round 2: Ch 3, 2 dc in next st *2 dc in each st around* sl st to top of ch 3
Round 3: Ch 3, 2 dc in next st *1 dc in next st, 2 dc in next st* around. Sl st to top of ch 3
Round 4: Ch 3, 2 dc in next st *1 dc in next 2 sts, 2 dc in next st* around. Sl st to top of ch 3
Round 5-8: Ch 3, 1 dc in each st around. Sl st to top of ch 3
With colour B
Round 9: Ch 3, 1 dc in each st around. St st to top of ch 3
Round 10: Ch 2, *1 Fp hdc in next st, 1 Bp hdc in next st* around. Sl st to top of ch 2
Round 11: Ch 1, 1 sc in each st around. Sl st to beginning ch 1. Finish off, weave in ends.

Newborn Baby Heffalump Crochet Pattern

The baby heffalump hat is something I've had on my 'to-make' list but everytime I tried I kept stuffing up the ears. This afternoon I was determined to work it out and after an hour or so I finally got it! Woohoo!! I was making one for Baby Shmoogle Bean and figured, well you know, why not take that bit of extra time to write it up as I go and share it with you lovely Beans :o) I feel slack for constantly MEANING to share patterns with you and then not actually doing it so here we go! Lucky you hehe The pattern involves a bit of the old 'just eyeball it' technique for lining things up and such but you'll be right, I promise!

So you'll need:
5.00mm hook
8 ply yarn in grey and a bit of 8 ply in white
yarn needle for sewing

The stitches we're using this pattern are:
magic circle (MC)
slip stitch (sl st)
double crochet (dc)
chain (ch)
half double crochet (hdc)

This pattern is in newborn size only sorry... also please do not copy/reproduce this tutorial in whole or in part anywhere. Feel free to make and sell to your heart's content though.. I don't mind! :o) A link back to here or something would be nice though?

For the hat
Round 1 Start with a MC, ch 3, 10 dc into ring. Sl st to top of ch 3 to close.
Round 2 Ch 3, 1 dc in same st. *2 dc in each st around* Sl st to close.
Round 3 Ch 3, 1 dc in same st *1 dc in next st, 2 dc in next* around. Sl st to close.
Round 4 Ch 3, 1 dc in same st *1 dc in next 2 sts, 2 dc in next* around. Sl st to close.
Round 6 Ch 3, 1 dc in each st around. Sl st to close.
Rounds 7 to 10 Ch 3, 1 dc in each st around. Sl st to close.
Round 11 Ch 1, 1 sc in same st. 1 sc in each st around. Sl st to close. Finish off. Sew in ends.

For the ears (The ears are made in two parts, the upper ear and the lower ear sections. The inner ear sections are also made seperately and are made in two parts. We will sew all pieces together in the last stage)

Upper Ear (make 2)
Round 1 Start with MC, ch 2, 13 hdc into loop. Sl st to top of ch 2 to close.
Round 2 Ch 2, 1 hdc in same st. 2 hdc in next st and in each st around. Sl st to close.
Round 3 Ch 2, 1 hdc in same st. *1 hdc in next st, 2 hdc in next* Sl st to close.
Round 4 Ch 2, 1 hdc in same st. *1 hdc in next 2 sts, 2 hdc in next st* over next 26 sts. Finish off.

Lower Ear (make 2)
Round 1 Start with MC, ch 2, 10 hdc into ring. Sl st to top of ch 2 to close.
Round 2 Ch 2, 1 hdc in same st. 2 hdc into next 7 sts.
Round 3 Ch 2, turn. 1 hdc in same st. *1 hdc in next st, 2 hdc in next st*
Finish off leaving a long tail for sewing.

Joining Upper and Lower Ear sections:
Overlap upper and lower ear sections using image below as a guide. Sew in place. Repeat for second ear.

Join yarn in top of ch 2 at the top of the ear piece. NOTE: for one ear you will work top to bottom and for the other ear you will work bottom to top. Make sure your ear pieces are right way facing before joining yarn. If you sc around both ears top to bottom one will be the wrong way around
Ch 1, in BACK LOOPS ONLY 1 sc around ear from top to bottom. Finish off. Repeat for second ear.

Inner Ear Sections:

Inner Ear Top (make 2)
Round 1 Start with MC, ch 3, 11dc in ring. Sl st in top of ch 3 to close.
Round 2 Ch 3, dc in same st. 2 dc in next st and in each st around. Sl st to close. Finish off. Leave long tail for sewing.

Inner Ear Bottom (make 2)
Round 1 Start with MC, ch 3, 11 dc into ring. Sl st to close. Finish off. Leave long tail for sewing.

See image below for place of inner ear sections, you'll need to overlap them a little. Once you're happy with the placement, sew them into place. You can also see how to ears will sit against the hat.

 Once you have all the ear pieces sewn together you're ready to sew the ears into place against the hat. Make sure the bottom of each ear is placed at the base of the hat. I hate sewing things that 'stick out' on crochet, I find it really tricky... so I can't really advise on how you should do it... just kind of wing it and hope for the best :o) You're probably better at it than I am anyhow. Once you're happy it's secure... and all your bits are sewn in, then you're probably done! Also if there are any mistakes in the pattern please let me know, I'm writing this up at 11pm at night and I may have missed something... happy crocheting!

You'd never even know it was there!

Today is the day I finally say goodbye to my sewing/craft room.... After a week of sorting/culling/packing and playing extreme tetris our spare room is empty and ready to be turned into a nursery. YAY for having the space for a nursery!! But EXTREME SAD FACE that my little crafting haven has been stored away until we can afford to move someplace bigger. Really I am grateful we even have the space for a nursery and that the spare room is there at all but honestly can you imagine how completely heartbroken I am!?!!! A desk and shelves (well bookcase/shelves) that were once covered in all my scrapbook papers, sewing bits and yarn is now just an empty barren wasteland of boring and waiting to be packed away into the shed to make room for our crib *sniff*

Ok so I'm probably being a little melodramatic about it all... it's not my craft stuff is GONE forever it's just packed up neatly-ish in the top cupboard and this really just means I can take over the kitchen table in the meantime MUWAHAHAHAHA I mean it's not like I ALREADY do that but shhhhhhhhh

And besides... now I can start the really fun part! Turning a reasonably small spare room space into a baby nursery on a less than meagre budget. I have a few ideas but will need to wait til we get the rest of our unit sorted before I can start on it... it kinda looks like a bomb hit it as we're cleaning for an inspection at the moment and thought we'd take the opportunity to do a bit of de-cluttering. Nothing gets a person more motivated to clean than an inspection notice haha! It needed doing anyhow :o) It's just looking at my 'craft room' now, you'd never even know it was there!