Dina the Dino!

Christmas prep is in full-swing here in our home! I'm working on finishing up an advent calendar for my daughter, and working on crocheting all sorts of ornaments and gifts.

My latest endeavor is for a little girl whom I love just as much as my own. She is my daughter's best friend, and they have literally known each other since she was taking her first steps, and my daughter was in my womb. They love each other unconditionally, just as sisters or cousins. This little friend of ours loves all things pink and dinosaurs. I happen to have had a dinosaur pattern sitting in my Ravelry queue for years. I decided to make it for her, because I realized I had never made anything for her before. My daughter, of course, was super jealous, claiming that I "never make anything for [her]," despite the fact at least half of my projects are dedicated to her, including the "owlghan" I recently completed. She's very dramatic and distraught that she will not be receiving anything from me for the next month and a half until Christmas is here. Life is so hard at the ripe old age of four.

This pattern was super easy. It's called "Dudley the Dinosaur" and was written by Maureen Hartog. It is offered as a free Ravelry download, and can be found here, if you have an account. If you don't have an account, what's wrong with you? Please go make one. There are so many fabulous patterns for free and for purchase on this site.

I made Dina with Hobby Lobby's "I Love This Yarn!" in Pink, and some Red Heart white & silver Christmas yarn. Both are worsted weight yarns. I used a size G/6-4.25mm hook.

A few discrepancies I had with making the pattern were with the neck and the legs. I didn't want to sew up the side of the neck, and so I just crocheted in rounds. I also didn't like having the legs be different lengths, and so all four of them have ten rounds, instead of two of them having ten rounds, and the other two having twelve. Speaking of, the pattern is worked in rounds, not rows. The pattern is still very straight-forward, and easy enough to follow, especially for beginners. I'm beginning to notice that, as in writing literature, every pattern author has a voice of their own, and their own way of explaining things. If you do decided to make a Dudley the Dinosaur (or Dina), please take a few moments to read over the pattern first. Ms. Hartog's increases and decreases are described in a way I have not encountered before. It was not difficult to catch on to her language at all. It just caught me off guard, because I did not read the pattern before making it. D'oh!

Another thing I did differently than Ms. Hartog, is that I used buttons for eyes on Dina instead of googly eyes, since the buttons can stand up to more play. To accomplish this, I sewed on the button eyes before I began any decreases in the head; round 14, to be exact. Should you choose to follow in my stead, you definitely want to sew them on before you add any sort of stuffing, as the filler could be difficult to maneuver a needle around.

Just for kicks and giggles, I made her a little bow that can be removed. It's just a few rows of 3 sc attached to a chain of 28.

Overall, I give the pattern a 14/16, according to my rubric for reviewing patterns. I haven't found any other sources for the pattern besides Ravelry, which admittedly is an excellent source, still doesn't provide much accessibility for the pattern. There were no other discrepancies with the pattern besides those mentioned above and the accessibility of the pattern.

Here's a photo of Dina the Dino! Happy Stitching! xo

Owlghan: joining comments & granny pattern

Hey, awesome you!

This post is two-fold. There is a review of the joining technique used, as well as the pattern for the filler grannies that I created.

I have never in my life made an afghan in which joining was required, but when I saw these cute little guys wandering around on Pinterest, I just thought they were so adorable, that an afghan HAD to be made with them!!

The pattern for these adorkable little darlings can be found on a blog called "Repeat Crafter Me." Please click on the image above to go directly to the pattern!

There was no getting around it. I was enchanted. An owlghan. How cute, am I right? Now that I'm closer to being done with the afghan . . . well, I'm just honestly not sure that I'll ever make another afghan in which joining is required again! Don't get me wrong, it's certainly not the joining that was a pain in the neck. Honestly, it's getting the edging right, but I'll focus on that in another post later this week.

So, the first thing I did was pick out the colors I wanted to use. This afghan is for my 4-year-old daughter, so pink and purple just had to be in the mix. I'm in love with everything sage right now, so I threw some of that in there to add some contrast. The colors together remind me of a fairy tale.

Confession time! I did not make a graph for how many squares I would make before I started making them. Don't judge me! I had a valid reason for not doing that. There's a madness to my methods.

I wanted to see how quickly and easily I could put the owls together. I'm a fast crocheter, and I'm not all that patient. So, sewing on buttons and making beaks and feet on top of the normal crocheting? Eh. Making a ton of owls did not seem like my thing. I don't mind the little nuances of adding and decreasing stitches, sewing parts together, and sewing embellishments on so much when I'm making a stuffed animal, because they're normally pretty easy and quick to make, but a ton of monotonous little owls? What was I getting myself into?

Luckily, the pattern for the owls really is fairly quick and easy. Naturally, as well, I cheated a little bit and used a larger hook size than the pattern calls for. I still didn't want to make that many owls, though, so I made up a filler square to go in between them based on the center of the owls for continuity. The pattern is so incredibly simple. It goes like this:

OWLGHAN FILLER GRANNY

Make a magic circle.

ch 1

Rnd 1: 8 hdc in magic circle, pull string taught, sl st to join (8 st)

Rnd 2: ch 1 (do NOT turn), 2 hdc in ea. st around, sl st to join, finish off 1st color (16 st)

Rnd 3: with 2nd color, sl st to join, *ch 3, sk next st, sc in following st, repeat from * 6 more times, ch 3, sl st in same st as join (8 ch 3 spaces)

Rnd 4: ch 3 (counts as first dc now and throughout), 2 dc in same sp, ch 2, 3 dc in same sp, *ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in same sp, repeat from * 2 more times, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, sl st to join, fasten off 2nd color (4 corners, 4 sides, 36 st)

Rnd 5: with 3rd color, sl st in corner to join, ch 3, 2 dc in same sp, ch 2, 3 dc in same sp, *ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 2, 3 dc in same sp, repeat from * 2 more times, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, sl st to join, fasten off (48 st)

Rnd 6: with 4th color, sl st in corner to join, ch 3, 2 dc in same sp, ch 2, 3 dc in same sp, *ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 2, 3 dc in same sp, repeat from * 2 more times, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, ch 1, 3 dc in next sp, sl st to join, fasten off.

After I got going on the squares, I jotted down a graph on the back of a random piece of paper I had lying around the house. When I got all of the squares done, I slip stitched in each stitch along all the columns first to join, and then along each of the rows. I like the slip stitches being on the front so they're more visible. Owls are very good hiders, and they like to hang out in trees. These should reflect that somehow. To me, it looks like they're perched on the white joining, or even peeking out of a hole in a tree. This is what it looks like pre-border:

As always, I hope that you find this post helpful! If you have any questions or concerns, please comment below. Happy stitching! xo

Magic Circle Tutorial

After posting the original pattern for the Neko Ear Warmers, a friend of mine suggested that I post a tutorial showing how I make my magic circles. (Julie, this is for you, dear.) Although I'm fairly certain I actually cheat when I make them, this is the easiest and fastest way I have figured out how to make the ever-useful magic circle. Plus, it holds up well in the work.

Before we begin, here's another disclaimer: don't judge me for how I hold my yarn. I know it's not technically correct. For whatever reason, though, my pianist fingers are strong enough to hold the yarn taut without wrapping it around my pinky. I just don't think about it. It works for me. Do what works for you.

Anyway, here's your snazzy little photo tutorial:

First, hold your yarn like you're about to cast on.

Keep acting like you're about to cast on by inserting the hook on the left side, and making a loop with the yarn. Hold that X the yarn makes between your middle finger and thumb:

Next, insert your hook into the loop from the front side:

Draw up a loop:

Then, follow the pattern and make the stitches over the 2 strands to the left of your hook. For this example, I'm making one of the ears that belongs on the Neko Ear Warmer.

NOTE: there will be one short end. Make sure that, no matter how many stitches you make, you can always grab the short end! That short end is essential. It's what puts the "magic" in "magic circle." No lie.

Once you've finished your stitches, pull that short end before you sl st to join or continue on to the next round (if working in continual rounds).

Make that hole in the middle of all the stitches as small as your little heart desires, and boom! You're done.

Magic circles are ideal for making hats, and, well, anything that's round except maybe a doily. I wouldn't use a magic circle for a doily. Let's not be silly, now.

By the way, in case you can't tell, YES that is a smaller version of the Neko Ear Warmer. The updated pattern is available for purchase in my Etsy shop.

I hope this tutorial is helpful to you! If you have any questions, concerns, or find an error in the tutorial, PLEASE contact me via e-mail, Facebook message, Etsy message, a comment on here . . . basically, whatever. Just let me know, so that others who use this tutorial won't have any problems.

Happy stitching! xo

Why pay someone?

Forewarning: this has absolutely nothing to do with crochet. I just love DIY projects, and you'll see why.

My motto in life is typically, "why pay someone to do something, when you can DIY?" I love it, because it saves me and my family tons of money.

My latest project was last week. I detailed my car myself & it only cost me $20.

My ex-husband left a ton of old oil spots on the back seat from when he was using my car to travel to and from work, and I have NOT been able to get them out for the last 3 years for the life of me!! My daughter (who will henceforth be referred to as 3.14, because Pi is her nickname) also decided to color on the middle of the back seat. Yaaayyy pre-schoolers! But seriously, she's awesome. I just needed something to get this gunk out of my car!

Here's a picture of what it looked like before:

Crazy, right? It was a LOT worse before I vacuumed it, too. But that was just loose food junk that was caught underneath 3.14's booster seat.

Here's a side tangent, but I promise it's relevant. My aunt from southern California was visiting us last summer with her daughters. They drove out here. To Tennessee. Yeah. I did that once. I'll never do it again. Anyway, she mentioned using this amazing product on spots on her carpet at home for pet stains. It's called Spot Shot. It is seriously the most wonderful home cleaning item everrrr. No joke. ANY stain, new or set in, it gets it out like nobody's business. It's like Chuck Norris meets Margaret Thatcher's granddaughter kind of kick-butt stuff. (Have you HEARD of Margaret Thatcher's granddaughter yet? Amazing.)

Long story short, I was staring at these stains, trying to think of a way to get them out, when I got to thinking . . . that Spot Shot is the Terminator of all carpet cleaners. I wonder if I can get that to work on the back seat of my car.

Crazy me tried it. AND I WON. Boo-yah, back seat stains! Sayonara for evah!

Here's what it looks like now:

My aunt for one is super proud of me, I'm proud of myself, and my car looks like it doesn't even belong to a single mom! Winning, duh.

Moral of the story is, go buy some Spot Shot, and get to spring cleaning.