A Happy Hooker Hooked on Yarn

Remember I started a new cardigan and dress? Then I ran out of yarn on both?! Luckily my LYS had the dark pink for the cardigan but I needed to get into town to buy more of the light pink and so I asked Mister M nicely if he wanted a happy wife and he did. He was going to town anyway to go to the movies. 

It was a bold move because Mister M is not the best with colours, but I gave him the dress for comparison and he came back with the right colour. He was lucky though because for some reason there was only one shade of pink in the shop, last time there was four different pinks so he didn't really have any other colours to choose from.

And I was very lucky since he came home with six balls of yarn and I didn't need that much yarn so now I can make another dress and perhaps a baby blanket although I might need more yarn if I start a blanket;)

I gingerly continued on both the dress and cardigan with a goal to finish within the weekend, but with a girls night out, book reading and housework I didn't finish. But I did have a lot of fun on Saturday with friends and reading on Sunday with Mister M in the rain, and we actually managed to take a small walk between showers.... 

(I haven't finished all the June books yet, I am on the last one so that post will have to wait, and there is no Bunday post since it was all thunder and lightning yesterday so we didn't watch TV or sit on the computer all day, sorry E2 who I know loves bunday posts)

but I finished the dress tonight, and a small baby bonnet by Marumin Crochet.

The colour in this picture is off. I made chains to make the thread at the bottom to use up this scrap of yarn, but I still have a tiny bit left, so I may have to make another bonnet. I used a 4 hook, but I think a 3 would have been better, so I had to stop sooner than the pattern said.

I used Søstrene Grenes bomuldsgarn in cotton. Almost three balls for the dress and bonnet I think, will weigh them later. Next time I want to make the shoulder part open and add buttons for closing so that it will be easier to put on and take off. And I am not too sure about the trebles (US), I think it would look nicer in dc's... I used dc in the scallops both on the shoulder trim and bottom of the dress. I love the pattern though and hope to find someone who can wear it. But it would be a nice baby gift so maybe I will just put it in the box. 

And I am on the last arm on my cardigan so that might be finished soon too. You might be getting sick of all this baby stuff, but I am crocheting other things too, honest, just that those things are Christmas presents so I can't show them off yet... ;)

So toodeloo from a happy hooker who might be a little yarnoholic.

Bunnies are happy too and say hello, they are still molting.

The dress weighs 89 grams and the bonnet 29 grams. So it was after all good that Mister M came home with six balls of yarn and not just two as requested.

I will calculate my in and out yarn input sometime later this week, so stay tuned, have I managed to use up any yarn? Or is my running out of yarn and having to buy more ruining everything?

Finished Friday, rebels and buns

Remember I was busy making baby clothes for a gift for little Maru-chan who was born in May, I made booties, a blanket and four bibs and since I finished the Flower Power Cardigan too last Saturday I included it in the gift (with a vintage Postman Pat book) for the next day because we were invited to meet the baby and see the adults and we got cake the next day^^ The parents said they loved the present but because I finished just the day before I forgot to measure how much I used, I know I started one ball of new dark pink and used a little on the next ball and a tiny bit lighter pink... So I am guessing about 60 grams... And three shiny new pink buttons from my LYS. Little Maru-chan looked super cute in her clothes but I do think wool is a bit hot for summer but you never know, for the past week it has been mostly raining. But I would gladly make another when she is too big for her gift;)

 I felt inspired and started another Flower Power cardigan from the book Cute and Easy crocheted Baby clothes by Nicki Trench, and would you know I ran out of yarn :S 80 grams of dark pink, so I started a dress, but what happened? I ran out of yarn again, at 80 grams again, so I need to buy more yarn... Shoganai yo.

So I did. I went to my LYS, in the rain and got soaked.

#yarnaddict

And I got the last two balls of this colour and I will finish my cardigan, I also bought four tiny pink buttons. I wonder what kind of finish I will do on this. The original has flowers, so either that or a pocket I think. But I haven't bought any more of the pink cotton because then I have to go out of town, so maybe next week, unless I can bribe Mister M to go yarn shopping for me;)

In other news, the bunnies, and mostly Mimle is molting again...

The blob to the right is Valmin and the one on the left is Mimle and just one session. They both hate brushing so i try to pluck whilst petting which sort of works better for us at least... But they are still at the point where they run away from me if I come close with a determined look. I swear those bunnies are mindreaders and always know what I am up to.

Also I am a rebel. Using my clothes pin for taco spices on my tea and sporting a Christmas towel in July. But it is Jul-i-gjen i Juli so there, a bad joke for you Norwegians.

Retro Baby Clothing Bonanza

Well, I told you I went through a lot of my things at moms place right?
And she is very good at saving things and so I got two boxes of baby/doll clothes, a lot of which I wore when I was a baby.

 I had to throw out a few of them because of holes and elastics and stains, but after cleaning most are fine to use. And fun to look at. I showed my neighbour and he exclaimed that he couldn't believe I had been so tiny... Neither could I, but my uncle assures me that my head was like a small orange when I was born so maybe I was tiny. Anyway, would you like to see some adorable baby clothes?

Picture of me, my brother and grandmother at my 1st birthday and the only baby picture I could find, I know there are some more but I guess my mother has them. And look I am wearing red and my brother pink, he loved pink and light purple.

I hope to use some as templates to make my own in crochet later and make some more baby clothes from my list from the blogpost here or my Ravelry list here.
After all baby clothes are fast and I need practising on small things before I can do bigger things for me I think.

I love these two. The pants even have little feeties...

Oh how I wish I could knit! But learning to knit baby things is on my to do list. Maybe I can make something like this one day. Like when I am a great aunt or something. Hehe.

Mister M and I are not that fond of yellow, I wonder if my mother was? Look at those tiny booties and cute dress. The sweater and jackets are home made by someone too. My mother told me some of these were hand me downs but one of the jackets was made by her aunt? I think, which is amazing, just wished I liked yellow >.<

Pink, I love pink! The lightest I think is in some kind of eighties mohair mix and might not be the best to put on sensitive skin, but with something with arms under I am sure it could work. And the other pink jacket has cables! The bright pink cardigan is not home made, but it is still cool and usable. I found three! White jackets in acrylics from the store also.

The back of this dress has some stains on it (or front, but since both sides are the same I say back) so I am thinking of colouring it, it is after all home made by someone and should be used. White is not the most practical colour to put on a kid I have learnt. I love the ruffles on this, so adorable. I hope someone has a winter girl so this could be put to use.

The pocket of the blue dress is loose, but that can easily be mended. Or removed, but aren't these just the cutest?

The red dress I also love, and finding baby clothes that are not pink and blue is not the easiest these days I have heard. But I still think colour is just a colour and not a sign of gender, I could easily put my kid in blue, red, green, yellow, purple or pink although I don't think I would put my boy in these dresses.... ;) 

I remember I loved to dress my dolls with this sweater. The skirt is not pictured so great, it has blue dots I think. And amazingly the elastics is still fine. I wonder if I ever wore this, it seems more 90's, maybe my cousin wore it? Or I just got it for my dolls?

The purple dress has a tiny hole that needs mending but the sweater is still in almost mint condition. Look at those sweet hearts on it, who would not wear this? I hope someone I know has a winter baby.

A lovely blue dress with an open back, and those are my toes for size comparison, this was one of the largest dresses so you could imagine how tiny the rest are. Maybe it can even be used as a shirt for older kids?

On the back it says: Sorry, sold out. I love this t shirt ^^

 There were some other body-things too, but this one was the cutest.

Even some I remember my mother buying as baby gifts but the baby grew too fast so my dolls got it. 

Lots of velour and reds and some pinks. Some even have my name in them so I know I wore them. I do think most of these clothes are mine and not my brother's, but perhaps some were my brother's first?

One is missing a button but it is crazy throwing it away just because of that? I can fix that.

Even some might think these clothes look old or dated they are so small they mostly look cute and adorable.

There were some more clothes, but I only added the most interesting ones. What do you think? Even if they are only from the eighties I am sure they could be considered retro right?

 And I have already started to use one jacket as a measurement for a small baby wrap with short sleeves, just because I don't think I have enough yarn for whole sleeves.

Book Review Crochet for Baby

Crochet for Baby or Babyhæklet as the original title is, a book by Sys Fredens. This book is now out of print in Norwegian but I borrowed it at the library to see if it was a good book and since I was busy making baby gifts I thought it a good place to start. Also small things are fast and fun to do and might suit me rather well as I am always starting something new. Well I opened the book and loved it. 14 patterns which included; baby booties, bib, body, wrap around top, jacket, dress, another jacket, short trousers, dress with sleeves, hooded jacket, trousers, "devil" hat, blanket and driving pouch. All in all a good set of things a baby needs I thought and started looking into finding and purchasing the book for myself. But when I started actually reading each pattern to see which one I wanted to crochet and what yarn I would need, the yarn I found out easily as there was a section at the back but I struggled with the patterns. Usually when I read a pattern I understand it and can wizz through but in this book it did feel like certain key tidbits of informations was missing. When I try out a pattern I like the pattern to be easily read and well written, I don't want to wonder if I am supposed to crochet in the round or back and forth, I don't want to wonder if I start at the top or bottom and things like that and in this book I felt a lot where up to guessing... I asked my mother who has been a crocheter all her life and she could not understand the jacket pattern either. I felt discouraged and put the book down. It had looked so promising, and a baby book with crochet in Norwegian is hard to come by. I wanted to try again and felt betrayed by the author and her beginning words in which she talked about her patterns as easy... But I started anyway with the baby booties.

Aren't they adorable? And sure they look really easy.

But looks can deceive, I started out and did a row at a time, and surely after three rows my sole looked like a V., this can't be right I thought but I continued on and after reading the whole pattern again I decided I was doing it right since the pattern said the sole and heel needed to be sewn at the end. But I still think that would have been better said more plainly at the start. Ok, carry on. When I got to the top of the feet I struggled again and did not understand anything and after crocheting and ripping and doing over I decided it might be right and just continuing again. Then I did the ankle and I didn't know if I was supposed to continue back and forth or do it in the round but did both and the round seemed better so I stuck with that. In the end I spent four hours on one but the second went by so much faster although I am still not sure if i did it right after the pattern. And number two is slightly bigger but oh, well. They are still adorable.

And good baby gifts.

In my finished blogpost of the booties I used Drops Paris which was not the suggested yarn, but luckily in this pattern it is stated how big the sole should be in cm for each size which was very helpful. The booties weighed 45 grams with bows.

 The second one I did in a couple of hours so I am sure a good crocheter can make a couple in a night.

I am not sure if the size of the book 15x15 cm made it so that the patterns needed to fit into a too small place so some important pieces were missing or if I am a bit too much beginner for the book but I do think it could have benefitted with some more sentences here and there. And more pictures. In fact I hope she makes another version with more detailed patterns more pictures and perhaps more patterns and twice as big a book.

I also made the bib which wasn't easy, but easier, even if I know there are a few small mistakes in it I just couldn't be bothered ripping it up too many times. I think patterns like that take some getting used to and perhaps I need to trust myself a bit more and just finish instead of redoing all the time. But after the initial grumbling and ripping I quite enjoyed it and I still think the patterns are gorgeous, so much in fact that I am contemplating buying the Danish version, after all I read Danish so it shouldn't be too hard... I want to make the wrap around, "Devil" hat and a dress or jacket or two...

Finished Friday

Mimle helped me today, she thought I was too slow darning in my ends, so she did it herself....

I was busy reading in the sofa when I looked down on my feet and Mimle was munching on something, my heart almost stopped when I saw a large white thread peering out of her mouth. I was fast to hunt her down and take the thread from her. Luckily she didn't ingest much and she even let me have a small piece of thread to safely sew in the end...

But I do love Mimle. Even when she is a little troll.

So here is my sort of finish, it needs a bead in the middle of the flower and then sewing it to the headband. I think it looks good, it is for a birthday girl so I feel lucky Mimle left enough yarn for me to sew in the end.

And the second baby-gift-bundle is finished. Unless I put something else into it that is;)

 I made two more of these bibs and the purple is from a book called "Hekle til babyen" and a pair of baby booties from the same book (which I will review soon) to go with the blanket. :) 

so now the baby can come.

I am not sure how much yarn I have used up, the booties was made in Drops Paris Cotton and I used 45 grams, each of the three bibs weighed around 15 grams and I used Søstrene Grene yarn.

So so far I have used up 90 grams of yarn on baby-things in this bundle. I have already counted the blanket.

The first bundle I made four bibs, but it is only the green which was finished in May and haven't been counted yet. That also weighed 15 grams.

And then there is the flower headband, that weighed 14 grams.

So May so far has been 119 grams, or a little over two skeins of yarn out.

And nothing in. 

(except some red, white and blue for gacha stitches and some yarn for our next project, but that doesn't count!)

Sunday Giveaway winners

In honour of my 555th blogpost I hosted a giveaway and here are the winners!

I used random-com to generate the numbers to see who would win.

Congratulations to everyone!

The winner of the first bundle is Smithereen and she won the purple wool and alpaca yarn and buttons. I have your address, let me know if you want me to make something out of the yarn or not;)

The second winner was Jenn and she won The Cross Stitch bundle.

Please give me your address so that I can send you your gift.  (you can comment here and I won´t publish your address, or send me an email)

The third winner is Brenna and she wins the crochet bundle with yarn and crochet mitts I have made in blue. I have your address too so I will send you your prize soon.

But as Brenna mentioned there were only six participants and I could give out consolation prizes to those that did not win, and I will, on Tuesday I will go out and buy a small Norwegian chocolate, something small and crafty and a skein of yarn from my stash to all that participated. So to Craftsonthego, *Kio and Ruthsdatter please send me your address to and I will send you your gifts this week.

If I have not gotten your addresses within next Sunday I will re-draw the winners of the giveaway and the consolation prizes will be put into my next giveaway. I hope you enjoyed my giveaway and come again.

And since it is bun day, here are some relaxing bunnies who think 20 degrees C is too hot anyway.

And here is my new start, on another stash busting acrylic baby blanket.

Finished Friday

I have some finishes to show you and since it is finished Friday today what better than to show off what I have done these past few weeks?

I have found my stitching bug again, yay! And I started and finished this lovely little biscornu turned into a scissor-fob which I will put in my gift-pile. 

Here is the back of the same biscornu and I finished the boy-bunny, I still have one more in this series and am contemplating wether to start it now or do it next Easter, I love having seasonal things to do in its season, but it would also be lovely to actually have a finish... 

And then there is the daffodil in the middle which I started just over Easter, that too is finally finished after I frogged the middle yellow since it was stitched in the wrong place. You would think that I learned my lesson and properly look at the chart, well, I did the same with the darkest green, stitched all the darkest green and then realised it was wrong and had to frog that too. And when it was finally done, I had lost the frame.... I was mad, but as things want to do, it turned up, the same day my beautiful pink scissors and needles set from Tulip did. That was indeed a happy day.

And I finished another bib, the bigger pink one, made a heart on the blue bib and started a third bib, this time in pale pink, but it won't have scallops I think...

And the pink thing in the background of all the pictures is my granny stripe baby-blanket which is way over half way already, just one more skein I think!

So far I have finished One whole skein of pink, but started a second.

The pink for the blanket is already up to five balls I think, but since it is not finished I will not count it.

So, 70 grams out in baby-bibs and 200 grams of scarf

and 

350 grams in these past two weeks.

So I am not doing too well on my two out one in yarn policy, but that might be because of all those half finished things, if I finish them properly I might have more success.
Hey, scratch that, I forgot I had the knitted scarf finish, I never made a proper post about it, but I did finish the blue/green scarf the other day, I will take a picture and show you later, so I think my policy is working better than I thought... Yay me.

Baby Crochet Patterns Bonanza

This year I wanted to get better at making clothes and so I thought, before I start on too many adult sized ones that take forever (like my crochet skirt), I think smaller is better. Easily finished, less expensive, I can use yarn I already have and later I hope to tackle some more clothes for me. 

(I am hoping my confidence and skill will soar with a little baby clothes making crochet practise)

But in the mean time, here are some baby patterns for crochet (crochet patterns are for some reason hard to come by so I made my top list) that I thought looked useful and cute.

If I make any of these I will tell you how I liked the patterns and if they were worth purchasing.

Now onto some Pants:

Heartthrob Pants by Drops Design

Pants from Drops, this pattern is free and since it is made in DC it will work up fast, those pants look very comfy and is good for both genders ( I think most anything could be worn by all genders, but the parents might have other ideas)  and you could even make it a bit long and just fold the legs up a bit for longer usage. I wish Drops made more crochet clothing in general.

ÆlleBællebukse- EenyMeenyShorts by Birgitte Haahr Hejlesen

This one is in Danish, which I am sure will be easy, it has some of those pesky popcorn stitches, but it is adorable. Since it cost a little I am thinking of waiting a little while to make this, but it is SO on my list, as I said, it looks adorable and very useful.

Kattegat Cardigan 

Same designer made these sweaters, and you get the vest too in the pattern, still at an affordable prize, unfortunately both are only in Danish, but that can't be too hard can it?

Pattern - Baby Shorts with suspenders by Mon Petit Violon

I saw something similar in a Simply Crochet magazine and I think I want to make either this or the magazine one. And you could probably add buttons between the legs for easier diaper changing.

This also costs some money but not that much.

Pattern on Revelry by Cathy Ren

If I ever have kids this is so something they will have to wear, this designer made lots of these in different colours, you can he hello Kitty, a bear, Mickey Mouse, a chick, a fox or Superman and they are really cheap.

Pattern by DIY by Ruta

Another easy Granny Type Baby thing. I think this cozy is adorable, and I have found variations of this with almost all animals, just search, or add a head from a different pattern. I want to make this one day, it has been on my list from when I started crocheting but now that people around me are actually starting to sprout I think it is time to actually start one. This pattern is free.

Pattern by Freddie Schuh

Bibs are essential with babies, and with the one I showed in the last post I found a couple more.

With this cute petal one your baby could be a flower, and it could also  double as a costume. This pattern is not free.

Pattern by Bernat design Studio

This bib might be a good stash-buster, just make it in stripes, I know I will, one colour and stripes of leftover yarn in between, then I can use up some of my smallest stash. That or you could always cross stitch something with the leftover yarn. This pattern is free.

Then on to the dresses! I think crochet lends it self very well to dresses, making it lacy and airy and fairy-like fits so well to small kids. (and me)

Angel Wings Pinaforte by Maxine Gonser

I have seen this dress made both open and closed at the back and it is my favourite, seems like it is not only my favourite, but over 2390 projects have been made on Ravelry.

I love those butterfly/angel wings arms and the fact that it seems to adjust to fit different sizes and I love the fact that this is free!

Eloise Baby Sweater by Tamara Kelly

This dress might be better for Winter babies, just make it is wool or alpaca, you make it a little longer and it is a dress, a little shorter and it is a jacket. Here is also a good chance to use up a little stash in those colourful stripes. This pattern is free and for sizes 0 to three years old!

Some Jackets, don't forget the one a little higher up by the Danish designer who also made the blue pants.

Baby Hexagon Jacket by Soledad Z

This jacket seems to consist of a couple of hexagons and then some assembling and tadah, you have a spiffy jacket. I think it is adorable, and suitable for all ages and genders, just make the hexagons bigger for a bigger version. Here I would recommend having a jacket the size you want this to be for comparison.

Just Peachy- Crochet Baby Jacket by Marianna Mel

Any child needs a vest in their closet. I think this would be very handy in wool so that it can be used for spring or fall or even winter with warmer  clothing underneath. I think vests are underrated anyway, I try to make M understand that vests are good to have but he still looks at me all clueless.

This pattern is free for sizes 0-3 months, but use a clothing as comparison and try to make it the same size, or you could use a bigger hook to make it bigger, the small size uses under 50 grams of yarn so you could always use up that leftover yarn from bigger projects.

I loaned this photo from CappelenDamm

I loaned this book from the library because it is impossible to buy since it is out of print,  I will look at the patterns and hopefully do a review of it later, I have had a peak at it and it seems like easy and fast projects.

You can't have a baby crochet pattern bonanza without a blanket. This is one of my all time favourites, but the Filet Bunny afghan, granny Ripple, Blanket of the hearts and the good old granny square are also good, fast and easy to make for any baby.

Star Blanket by Bernat Design Studio

 I have made several of these blankets in small sizes, more like lapghans and I love this pattern. It is free and fun and perfect for any child. (or me).

 I hope you got some inspiration and that you can make something for a little one with crochet and not just knitting because there are tons more knitting patterns but maybe like me you feel more comfortable with a hook than a needle?

(All pictures are from Ravelry unless otherwise stated and all links link to Ravelry)