This is one of a few little girl hats I made a couple of weeks ago. They are crocheted using Caron Simply Soft acrylic yarn. The simple shell stitch makes this a very nice hat to wear all season. The way this hat is made it can fit a girl from age 3 to 10 years old. I just love the way it turned out. Of course, great photos make any item look like a thousand bucks!

The last Wednesday of every month is 50% off at all Ohio Thrift stores. As if you needed  another reason to go shopping to find lovely hidden treasures!

I love going to see what goodies I can find. I find myself a little heartbroken when I run across a hand crocheted item. How could someone have such disregard for something that was made especially for them. When I can I purchase those forgotten crochet beauties and recycle their yarn.

Saw this patriotic yarn and just had to have it. I didn't know what self striping yarn was. I am very thrilled with the way it looks. I will spend the evening making washcloths. Have you made anything using self striping yarn? Would love to see your projects.

Spring is just around the corner. For many people it means its time to do some spring cleaning. Get into your closets and start pulling out stuff you haven't touched since you've moved in! Its also the perfect time to get your windows, pantries and basement cleaned. Sounds like fun doesn't it?

My customers always come up with the most amazing ideas. That is why I was thrilled when a customer emailed me about having a scarf made to look similar to the Chicago flag. She was very specific in her directions, which was great. The easiest part was getting the scarf itself made.

When most people hear crochet they automatically think of granny squares and afghans. But there is so much more to crochet.

Photo Credit:  http://littlegoddess27.tumblr.com/

It's Sunday evening, my kids are spread out across the house entertaining themselves. I am sitting in our dining room surrounded by bags from Hobby Lobby, full of yarn. My table has patterns, invoices, crochet hooks, scissors and of course my trusty energy drink. As I sit here and crochet a cowl that is on its way to Colorado, it came to me, I am truly blessed.

This is a picture of my family. My brothers, sister and my mom, standing in her white dress glowing on her wedding day. 

About a year ago I decided to make beanies for my shop. I loved the way they came out and how warm they were. Since I listed them I sold about a hand full. Not bad but not nearly as well as I wanted them to sell.

So here I am looking through my inventory and I have these beanies that have not found a home. What to do with them?

Today's post is by Diana from Knotworkshop
She has a wonderful sense of humor and I just love her forum post. Hope you enjoy!

About a year ago I crocheted a few prayer squares and donated it to a fellow CreateCrochet team member. She then sold them at a Relay for Life event to raise money. The items that she did not sell were donated to a local hospital.


Prayer Squares

This is a fantastic way to use up your scrap yarn. Have fun with combining colors. If you make enough squares you can attach them to make a scrap happy afghan.

The idea behind these squares is that the person making them is praying while working on them. So the person receiving the square can be touched and blessed by your prayers.




Materials:
Small amount of worsted weight yarn
Crochet Hook Size 5 (H) - or whatever size your comfortable with

Abbreviations/ Special Stitches:
Hook = HK
Chain = CH
Stitch = ST
Single Crochet  = SC
Puff Stitch = PS: YO, insert hook in next stitch, yo, pull through and bring yarn up to height of rest of stitches (3 loops on hook), YO, insert hook in SAME stitch, yo, pull through and bring yarn up to height of rest of stitches (5 loops on hook), YO, insert hook once again into the SAME stitch, yo, pull through and bring yarn up to height of rest of stitches (7 loops on hook).

Instructions:
Chain 12
Row 1: sc in second ch from hk and in each ch across. ch 1, turn (11sc)
Row 2: sc in each of next 3 sc, puff st in next sc, sc in each of next 3 sc, ch 1, turn
Row 3: sc across, ch 1, turn
Row 4-9: repeat rows 2 &3
Row 10: *sc in 1st sc, puff st in next sc, sc in next sc*, repeat to end
Row 11: sc across, ch 1, turn
Row 12-14: repeat rows 2 & 3
Row 15: sc in each sc across

Once your square is done you can use a single crochet stitch around to create a neat border.
If you have any questions regarding this pattern please let me know.

If you try this pattern I would love to see how it came out. Feel free to share your pictures with me.

Other Stuff:
I would very much like it if this pattern is used for charity and personal use only.
Please do not sell my pattern in part or whole.
If you post your creations on your blog, facebook, flickr or any other social networking site, please provide a link back to this page so others might be able to find this pattern.

Enjoy :-)

edited 8/13/13

I have been collecting crocheted squares for over three years. Basically, anytime I have scrap yarn left over from a project I would whip up one of these nifty little squares. The problem is I never got around to deciding what I wanted to do with them and how to put them together.


I belong to a wonderful group on Etsy called the Create Crochet Team. This is a team for crochet lovers. We share our work, ask questions and have monthly challenges. The monthly challenges are for fun and allow us to learn new techniques and express our creativity.

In April, one of the challenges was to learn a new technique. So I decided to learn a new technique on how to join crochet squares. Normally I would just sew them together or so single crochet stitches all the way around. After a search on google I found a tutorial on how to do a flat braid crochet joining method.



I love the way the stitches came out and I think this will be the way I go from now on. I am still slowly joining squares and hopefully I will have this blanket done soon. So stay tuned for pictures!


If you want to take a look at some other new techniques my teammates learned, go to our team blog: http://createcrochet.blogspot.com/ or our facebook fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/CreateCrochetEtsyTeam

I am fascinated with all things crochet. There are so many talented people with extraordinary creativity. If you search the internet you will find thousands of these people. Here are a few of my favorites.

I love thrift store shopping. You never know what you can find. Recently I have been on the hunt to rescue crochet items. It saddens me to know that handmade items, such as baby blankets, that were meant to be keepsakes get sent to the thrift store. Then sold for less than $5. When I find something like scarves, hats or blankets in good condition I buy them. I use the yarn to recreate another wonderful item that will go to another loving home.

Most of the time I just wonder around aimlessly until I find something that interest me. Today I found these wonderful charms. I think they are adorable.



I was able to "rescue" this scarf made out of this great multi color yarn.



My last find was a single skein of variegated yarn. I don't know if I've seen this color before. Its very bright.


Over the last year I have gotten a hand ful of items from the thrift store. I have to admit that most of them are sitting on a rack in my workshop. Its a good thing I have my own space, or my hubby would have went crazy a while ago. They are just waiting for inspiration to hit me. I promise I have all good intentions! I will keep you posted on what I come up with for these items.

Do you thirft store shop? Or am I the only crazy one :-)

I am part of a wonderful Etsy team called Create Crochet. Every Sunday they ask us a question and encourage us to blog about it. The idea is to help bring traffic to our blogs as well as get to know each other as team members. So this week’s question is:

When did you start crocheting? Did you teach yourself or did someone teach you? Tell us the story of how you became a hooker.

When I was little my grandmother use to crochet, she also did embroidery on pillowcase. As she got older her eyesight got worse and her arthritis got to the point that she had to stop working with her hands. My mother has crocheted for as long as I could remember. She crocheted almost everything in our house from the table runners to the plant hanger. One of my favorite items was the old fashion doll dresses she used to make. They reminded me of the old southern dresses, big and colorful. What I admired the most is that she never used a pattern; everything she made was from the top of her head.

I learned how to crochet when I was 13 years old. It was difficult for my mom to teach me because she was is a leftie, but once I got the hang of it I was hooked!! As I got older I wanted to learn different patterns and different stitches. I bought a book and taught myself how to read patterns.

I enjoy crocheting and for many years have told me I should sell my items. So when I found out about Etsy I decided to open a shop of my own http://www.myhobbyshop.etsy.com/ After being open for about 18 months my shop has done pretty good on sales thanks to my friends, family and the support of other Etsy shops.

Crocheting is something I enjoy doing very much and I look forward to one day teaching my daughter.

So tell me your story - How did you get started?