weekend wip: finishing up.

hi there!
happy friday!

i'm loving how quick this short week went. it's a little strange to say that because on the one hand i look at little miss and see how she's changing everyday, getting bigger and so much older, and i want time to stand still for a little longer... on the other hand we really look forward to weekends with daddy (he's pretty fun to hang out with ♥).

designing a monster. little lulu.

spring colors + friendly monsters.

our valentine's day.

love. from our heart to yours.

happy valentines day (evening) ♥

i only have a few minutes before i completely pass out after our crazy flu-bug valentine's day... and before the sick husband beside me starts really complaining about the light still being on and me tapping away (he wouldn't ever do that)... but while i'm still vertical i would like wish all of my friends, family, and all of the visitors to my little piece of the web a very happy heart day. and more than that, i wish that we all continue to be thankful for the love present in our lives (in every form) and remain constantly open and giving of our love in return.

i am so thankful each and every day for my little family... my incredibly supportive, encouraging, and loving husband and best friend who works so hard to give us an amazing life (and to allow me to stay home with my little miss, such a gift!) and my little girl who makes every day an adventure and gives the best hugs and kisses ever! 

goodnight. and as always...

love.

p.s. the cute little lopsided pop heart i whipped up was a free ravelry pattern from MyGurumi that you can find here...  it was pretty quick and is so cute. i might do a million of these for next vday. (or close to a million.)

hooks and needles: an owl for valentine's day

hi there!

i'm so happy to introduce a new owl friend for little miss! i'm calling her val for now (really original i know, but nothing else has sounded right so far...)

i really love this little cuddly cutie and i can't wait for little miss to get her arms around her on valentine's day morning. i've asked joe three times this weekend if i could give it to her early, but i've been good and for now she's hiding...

this owl pattern was created by Stacey Trock of Fresh Stitches and i absolutely love it. Stacey is a phenomenal amigurumi designer and sells the cutest little animals and monsters in her etsy shop. she also sells patterns and kits to create your own amigurumi and has joined the new Craftsy.com team teaching great workshops and classes online.

i took the Nelson the Owl Workshop on Craftsy and let me tell you it was more than worth it! i highly recommend checking it out... it was very reasonably priced and it was so nice to be able to chat with the designer, ask questions about the pattern, and to share with others making the owls. the directions were easy to follow and very well explained.

now my little val...

she's actually not so 'little' - she measures almost 11" !! i made her using stash yarn left over from little miss's newborn blanket... her body, wings, and eyes were made with Lion Brand Baby's First which is a chunky weight. i didn't have any yellow in the Baby's First so for the beak and feet i used a double strand of some Lion Brand Baby Wool, also from my stash scraps. (yay for using up some of my stash, yarn shopping time!)

my owl follows the pattern exactly except for the wing construction and the addition of the cross-stitch heart...

for the wings i had to come up with a plan that would accommodate one wing's worth of pink yarn, cuz that's all i had. i obviously had a bit less than a full skein of my main color to start out with and the wing is where it caught up with me, not bad. i basically split the original wing pattern in half and crocheted it flat, 2 in each color, and then whip-stitched the two pairs together (right sides facing each other, then turned right-side out).

i have been wanting to do cross-stitch on crochet for awhile but hadn't quite found the right project... i thought this would be the perfect opportunity (and it was an easy peasy way to make it a special ♥ day owl!) i sketched out a quick grid and used some more leftovers bits.

overall i'm quite happy with how she turned out and am eager to make a few more. i think a snuggly owl would go great with a matching quick knit baby blanket as a go to newborn set. i'm so excited to see abby's reaction to it... tuesday morning is going to be so much fun!

be sure to check out Stacey's workshops, classes, and patterns available at craftsy.com - i really like everything i've seen on craftsy so far and i look forward to what's in store for the site. if you haven't checked it out, you should. there is something for everyone! i just signed up for Amigurumi: Design Your Own Monster class taught by Stacey and can't wait to start (hopefully this week after i've gotten a little more work on this done...)

love.

what i'm working on.

hey there.

checking in.

i'm currently writing (and rewriting) a catch up post... but i thought while i have a tiny bit of time i'd share what i'm currently stitching up over here. 

one of my main goals this year is to really develop my crochet skills. last year i taught myself the basics of how to crochet and completed a few things... mostly in sc, dc, clusters, granny squares, etc. but i've really only scratched the surface. 

so to that end i decided to get some of my fall stash used up and looked for a sampler pattern so i could learn a few more stitch combos... i decided to try this Sampler Throw by Lion Brand because it called for a worsted weight yarn (which is what i had in stash), and i wanted to practice making "popcorn".

i'm taking my time with these squares. i'm trying to work on getting the gauge just right and keeping a consistent tension during the "special" stitches. must. stop. pulling. so. tight. i really like the zig zag surface pattern... it would make a nice texture for a baby blanket. 

i love the colors for this sampler throw. they are all Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted weight yarns in random colors that i picked up over the past year for separate projects. i ended up not using them and together i think they make a really bold color combo. i need one more color because the pattern has 5 different squares, i'm debating between a white-ish that i already have in stash or something else totally new.

i paused on that project this week to work on valentine's stuff. while valentine's day isn't my favorite of holidays... i'll admit that i do, kinda, love each and every holiday in a totally new way since having little miss. really any excuse for me to get her stuff, give her a cupcake, and make her cute things works for me. 

so one of the things i'm working on for her this valentine's day is this little friend...

i don't know her name yet. she's almost finished. i'll post more when she's all done. for now if you'd like to check out the really great and super easy pattern you can find it at Craftsy from designer Stacey Trock (FreshStitches): Nelson the Owl Pattern 

so that's a bit of what i'm working on for the moment... it's nice to be getting back to the blog again!

love.