A Trio of Beanies!

So decided to take a break from the blankets and kick out some boy beanies this weekend! I had gotten the Stitch and Bitch Crochet: Happy Hooker book a while ago, but have yet to make anything from it - so dove in and found this adorable beanie hat pattern. When I went to look it up on Ravelry - I saw that the designer, Laura Killoran (http://croshaydesign.com) had an update to it! So i quickly downloaded the update, and went to work to make a beanie for hubby. The pattern was easy, flawless, and the result was BEAUTIFUL!!! It was SO easy - that I made another one for my 4 year old and yet another for my new baby boy who's due next month!! Kicked all out in a matter of hours!

Used Bernat Satin Solid Yarn - Black and Forest Mist Heather for the Stripes - I did up the hooks for the bigger 2 hats, but that's due to my own tight stitching which i've come to accept and decided not to try to change :)

The result - a trio of adorable matching beanies! I've already sent the pattern out to all my crocheting friends - and will most definitely use this pattern again in the future! Hats off to Laura Killoran and Thanks for the awesome pattern!

You can follow her on twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/croshay

Or follow ME :) https://twitter.com/#!/mancychavez

I heart Vickie Howell

This is going to turn into a gushing fan post to Vickie Howell.  Vickie is an amazing designer sponsored by Caron Yarns, who's patterns are modern, timely, and flawless!  I have only been crocheting about 18 months now - definitely still define myself as a beginner when i think of all those who have been crocheting for 30+ years :) I'm a newbie, still get confused in how to change colors, always forget how to do a Treble-crochet and have to hit YouTube to relearn, and I usually avoid anything that's not rated "easy" because i feel that i have not yet graduated past that point.  I do, at this time, have over 40 crochet projects "under my belt", still coming to grips that my gauge is super tight and I ALWAYS have to go up at least 1, if not 2 hook sizes to match. I also get 90% of my patterns free online.

Here's where Vickie comes in!

My mom told me to start subscribing to the yarn manufactures websites to get free patterns. So I did, and I signed up for Caron's and that's where I "met" Vickie. Right away LOVED her style! She was giving patterns for stuff I would see in the mall! So i dove in, and make my first Vickie pattern - the Urban Jungle Slouch Hat. :) Ended up making it 4 times! :)  Why, not just because it is AWESOME, but because the pattern is perfect. I was able to follow it the first try - understand what was expected of me, and the result was beautiful! (which cannot be said of all my projects :) I tweeted about one of these hats, and Vicki herself re-tweeted me! (my 15 minutes of social media fame).

So now, I'm diving into my next Vickie project!  I got Caron's free pattern newsletter, and there was the "Baby M Blanket". I am expecting a baby boy in a few weeks - and was looking for an awesome pattern for make for a blanket for ME (I give away almost everything I make). I gotta tell you though - i was very nervous. I mean - it's rated "intermediate". So it must be complex, tricky, difficult, albeit beautiful! So i jumped in, head first, scared and nervous. I sat in a quiet room (i usually crochet with my 3 kids running around me) so that I could "figure out" the pattern. I went at it, and low and behold, Vickie laid everything out very clearly, even had a diagram of what the pattern stitch is supposed to look like, and after about 20 minutes of going through the first few rows, I had it! Vickie comes through for me again! After working on and off during the afternoon, I already have 10 rows of the blanket done, and know the pattern cold where i can now go back to the chaos of my home, and crochet away!

More to come when it's done!

<3 you Vickie!  You can follow her on Twitter too - @VickieHowell

Ripples for EVERYONE!

Yay!!! Don't you just LOVE a finished project! I know I do. This blanket was very fun to make. Pulled the free pattern from Ravelry and using 100% Cotton "Peace and Love" Yarn from Bernat made this a very soft and fun piece. It's stitched up very quickly. I chose the colors for a baby boy blanket for my best friend who is due ANY DAY NOW!

Few items to note - I wouldn't do this particular pattern with this yarn again. If you can see from this top image, there is a bit of a "buckle" in the blanket. I followed the pattern exactly, which was very good, and seemed correct, but without the "give" of the acrilyc yarns, I think the cotton coupled with the pattern caused this "buckle" I pulled and tugged and stretched, and could not get it to lay flat at all.

I loved the pattern and I loved the yarn, and I love the final result - I just don't know that I would marry the two up again. Just my humble opinion.

All that being said - I did ship this blanket to my BFF who lives in PA and she called me immediately! She LOVED it :)

Thanks for looking!

Masculine Birthday!

Seriously - why is is SO hard to come up with masculine birthday cards! Could be because more than 70% of my stamp sets have flowers on them, and almost 1/2 of my paper is some kinds of pink/purple :) Came up with a card for my BIL's birthday to go with the iTunes gift card (always a hit!). This is a very "green" card, as the patterned paper is actually the packing off a blocks toy my son got for Christmas last year. I loved the pattern and held on it it, and finally made a card with it! Matched the Blue and Green from Stampin' Up! colors, and added the embellishments. Scalloped punch on the white, and used my Sizzix Big Shot and a textured plate for the background embossing! Hope you like - made a second one that's for sale on Etsy!