Hello Kitty! Crocheted Hat

Heeeeeeellllllooooooo Kitty!   This is pretty much it. I made my first Hello Kitty crochet hat. I probably (I’m sure)  took longer than it should have being that I’m still an amateur crocheter.  It probably took me about 4-5 hours just to put the kitty face together, including ears.    There was some trial and error for me.  Having sprained my thumb today didn’t help either.  But I bet some of you pros can make this whole hat in a day, 3-4 hours tops.  Not me.  I’m still not that good.  Slightly less than 2 years into learning this crochet skill and I’ve still not mastered it.  I’m just a jack.

My 5-year-old daughter, who I had planned this hat around, had already decided before I even started on the face that she won’t want this hat.  It’s not perfect but I still think it’s cute.  She’s asleep now as I just finished this so we’ll see what she thinks in the morn.

I just made a regular beanie hat.  Then I made the ears the same way you would start a hat and stopped when it was big enough to my liking.  For the eyes, I was going to use buttons but decided it was not working the way I’d like so I ended up just filling in eyes by crocheting right on the hat itself. I tried to make it oval, as that’s the way it looks on the images I looked at.  For the nose, I just crocheted a circle with yellow and finished it off with a black trim around it.  For the bow, see this video.  That video helped me a lot.   I varied a little in my own process & style but that’s me.  I tend to do that.  But the gal in the video did a good job with instructions.  Thankful for people who take the time to make these videos!  The whiskers are probably the easiest.  You just should make sure you count out your position the same for each side.  Differently from the video I referenced above, I didn’t weave the whiskers across, but directly down and then over so that your whiskers are not stretched across on both sides.   That probably doesn’t make any sense.   I’m sorry about that.

Here’s a pic of the underside.

As you can see, you don’t see the whiskers as much as the right side.

Well, I hope you learned a little something here or else at least enjoyed seeing my finished product.  Will you make one today?

 

 

My Crafty Things…

My recent years of crafty projects. More in progress…

These are just a few things that I have made, that I actually took pictures of.  I hope to add to it (pictures and online journaling about them, that is).

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I like economics, home economics that is. I have always had an interest in most things homey, like sewing and DIY things; things traditionally attributed to the woman at home.  I’m overjoyed this has not all disappeared.  In the midst of the feminism era, I know many women who find their joyful calling at home. I am among them, and have no shame in admitting so.  What an honorable calling and purposeful pursuit.  This is what I was created for.  Praise the LORD.

 

 

This little day in my life…a beanie hat became.

I crocheted my first beanie hat!  This is my cutie, Lexi, modeling it for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I added the brim of the hat impromptu.

 

I’ve never crocheted a hat before, never mind a brim.  I made this in about an hour.  Maybe 2.  I didn’t really keep track, but it didn’t take long at all!  I think it turned out pretty cute.  Of course, I think the little cutie modeling it made it much cuter!

I’ve only made squares until now.  I’ve started many blankets that never saw a finish.  I learned the basics last year.  It’s only taken me this long to actually make something!  So, if I can do it, so can you!

Window Herb Garden- My Newest Addition

My ventures in gardening continues.  My mind doesn’t seem to stop.  I seem to always be thinking about what I can create next.  Sometimes I get in over my head.  Thankfully, this time, the task was not beyond me.  It took a few days to come up with the plan, and finally today, it has come to fruition.

I like to make use of the nooks and crannies of spaces to utilize dead space in a creative way, though I don’t feel the same about big spaces.  Ever since we moved into this house that we’ve now lived in for almost 3 years (I can’t even believe the time!), and being the hand-dishwasher that I am (yes, I do have a dishwasher. I know, I know – weird!), and the nice window to look out at the sink, I have often wondered how I could use the sides of the cabinets and the window space better.  And now I have it!

This is all I used to make this project, aside from the little red bins.

All I did was weave the rope (I know it’s actually called something else but slipped my mind) through the wires inside the bin in a way that balances the box.  Then just tied it in a knot.

I bought a bunch of the wire thingy last year and used it as borders for other garden projects I did but changed course so here they are, re-purposed!   The hooks you see at the top were straight since it’s supposed to just stick in the ground.  All I did was bend them into a curve using pliers.

This is what it looks like inside the box.

Here is the end result.  It took all but maybe 20 minutes (and that’s with 9 fingers! so it might take less with 2 working thumbs!).  I planted seeds of basil (lots and lots of it as it freezes well), parsley, dill, and chives.  I’m thinking of adding some strawberries.  I’m excited to see how (well, I hope!) everything will grow.

I made one for each side of the window.  I got everything at the local Dollartree.  It cost me a full about $9 for both racks, not including the dirt (cheap! pun intended and seeds (6pks/$1).  Now that’s my kind of budget! 

The planter in the middle is cherry tomato seeds.  Another experiment.  We’ll see what happens with those!

Cooking with herbs in any other form just doesn’t compare with fresh!

Many peas in our pods

Yesterday was the first time I noticed we had peas growing in our garden.  Not the vines, but the actual vegetable (or fruit, if you wish).  I thought there was only one.  I urged   my family to come out and see the “1″ I found.  To my surprise, I found there were more.  I have a LOT of pea plants planted.  So this is just the beginning.  I planted a few varieties including the sugar snap and the original peas.  I love harvesting the fruits of my labor.  What a joyous reward the Lord gives.  The learning experience has been a great one too.  I encourage you all to try it, even if you just start with a container garden on a deck or patio.  It can work!

Our first fruits…

My little Lexi had the honor of tasting our first ripe raspberry June 29th.  Kira had the first blackberry from our first blackberry bush.   We are excited to have fruit growing in our own backyard.  I may be more so, and I try to encourage the rest of my family in my excitement too.  Why did i wait so long??!!   I just had this fear that I couldn’t do it, any of it.  I didn’t want to put the time into learning to grow anything in the past b/c I just thought I couldn’t do it, wouldn’t be able to keep up with it.  It wasn’t so much a lack of available space, but a feeling of defeat.  I’m so thankful to God for the stamina to pursue the desires of my heart, to which I hope and pray are that which He desires for me also.

Along with the berries, I have strawberries growing in containers and doing very well.  There are some berries growing among the patch as well.   If there were one thing I could rave about the summer, it’s the environment for which such a sweet image could prosper.  I will enjoy the harvest season.

Crochet/knitting, not just for grannys anymore

I started a crochet/knitting night club in my home a couple months ago.  Not your average “club night” out.    We met for the first time in February.  We had a great first turn out.  We had to skip last month because I was still recovering from surgery.  We meet once a month and it’s just another nice opportunity to get together with the ladies and fellowship over a hobby that, by a little surprise, is quite popular.  And not just with the grannys either.  We have quite a few young ladies and even girls interested.  Many already have ventured in to the hobby on their own, some learned from family members- moms, grandmas, etc.
My reasoning for starting such a group is my joy in gathering with fellow Christians and fellowship, while doing something we enjoy together, in this case, crochet and knit.  The has seem to be a rise of interest in crocheting in this past decade,or at least the past few years or so, in the younger generations.  Maybe I’m in denial of my age, granted I’m not that old, the cyclical effect of what’s cool is a continuous and the age of interest seemingly decreases with each decade.  Or maybe I’m just more aware of it now that I’m older?  I haven’t done an actual research on this, just my experience and observation in life.  So don’t quote me unless you have done research that back my statements.  Then you can use this as a reference all you want. 

Well, I have always enjoyed learning new things, and things that may seem challenging.  And funny enough, the things that I thought I would likely never have interest in as a little kid, here I am dabbling in them and advertising their coolness as if I were a marketing exec.  I’ll say it again, “crocheting is cool”.