{Crochets} Sarah & Duck Dolls!

Have you ever heard of Sarah & Duck? 

I hadn't but as soon as I mentioned it to my boys, they had seen it on SproutOnline.

My friend's little girl is obsessed, but since it's a UK show there is little on the market as far as toys here in the US.  So what's a mama to do? Ask her crocheting friend to make them! 

So after a little digging, we found a pattern which saved a lot of time and frustration!

My friend bought the pattern and I got to work!

Even with the pattern, I decided to do the head and body a little different.

In the pattern, the head and body are made separately and then sewn together. While that may work for some people, I was scared my sewing wouldn't hold up and Sarah's head would fall off! 

So, I ended up reading the pattern "backwards" and crocheting the head and body as one piece.

Looking to make your own Sarah & Duck?

I really searched for some of these yarns, so I thought I would help you by sharing what I used since I think they look pretty accurate to the show. From the pictures I saw, Duck's beak is a limey green, and while I tried it with a green beak, the yellow looked much better (made it obvious, that it was a duck and not a strange looking creature!)

 Pattern: here

Yarn I used:

Sarah: Red Heart Apple (Hat),Red Heart Buff (Skin), 

Red Heart Light Raspberry (Stripes), Red Heart Baby Pink (Sweater)

Black, White, Dark Grey, Light Grey (from my stash)

Duck: Loops & Threads Impeccable in Teal (Head) Lion Brand Vanna's Choice  in Linen (Body, Wings) Red Heart Buff (Legs) Yellow (from my stash, but I think it's Red Heart Yellow)

Crochets: A Gift for Baby C!

A friend of mine is due with her first baby at the end of August.

Let me tell you, her nursery is gorgeous! 

Not too babyish, but trendy, modern and adorable!

Grey, White and Yellow gorgeous.

So as soon as she let me know that Chevron was in the works for the nursery, I knew a chevron baby blanket would be the perfect handmade gift! 

It took me several tries, with several patterns and several yarns to get it just right for Baby C! 

In the end I ended up using a pattern that only had 5 stitches up, then create the zig or zag. 

What I liked the most about this pattern was the first and last stitch had two stitches in it, so it was much harder to mess up the edges ( definitely one of my downfall with crochet at times!)

I can't remember where I found the pattern since I tried at least five! 

But this is what it was

Chain width of blanket in multiples of 12+2. Turn.

SC two in first stitch. *SC in next five stitches. SC 3x in next stitch. SC in next five sts. Skip 2 stitches. Repeat from * to end, SC two in last stitch. Turn

Repeat until desired length. 

Now that I got the pattern down I will definitely be doing again! 

Once I finished the blanket, I made a matching yellow hat (using this pattern) for Baby C, 

and can't wait to find out if Baby C is a he or a she!

Crochets: A Gift for Baby C!

Things have been so super busy since I started teaching a couple weeks back! 

I'm hoping to wrap up some projects this week so I can photograph some of the amazing pieces my students have created!

But in the meantime, I wanted to share this baby blanket I made for Baby Boy C! 

I have to say this might be my favorite that I have done in a while!

I am loving the navy blue and white combo! It's just so classic to me!  

This was a great project to work on since it was rows of HDC (read: no thinking/pattern involved), until it was the size I wanted. Then I went around the edge to create a border. The key to the border was to do one round of SC in blue first (I tried jumping right into the white, and it didn't look great). Then two rounds SC in white. Then two rounds SC in blue. 

Then using HDC I crocheted a matching hat! I love baby hats, they are so quick to whip up!

Baby Boy C had an adorable Dr. Suess shower, and I loved that instead of a card you include a book, and to sign in the book so they could keep it and know it was from you! Such a great idea! 

Goodbye 2013, Hello 2014!

Every year I take a minute to look back at the top ten popular posts of All Things Fee!

{2010}{2011}{2012}

And this year is no different!

 10. Knit Wreath Tutorial

9. Under Sink Drawer Hideaway

8. Baked Ham & Egg Cups

7. Easy Crochet Flowers

6. Meal Planning

(I've Revamped how I plan now, so check that out here! I think it's pretty genius, I never have to sit to meal plan again!)

5. Chalkboard Eraser Tutorial

4. Crockpot Mac & Cheese

3. Fabulously Festive Ornaments

2. Sews: Advent Calendar

and.... the number one spot goes to

Finger Knit Cowl!

Happy Halloween from the Minions!

Happy Halloween! 

Halloween is one of those things that I hate blogging about!

I love to make our costumes, but hate to share them ahead of time!

Anyways! Here's what I came up with this year...

Our Minion Family...

Using a basic hat pattern, I made each of my kids their own minion hat. 

Are you as hooked as we are to Despicable Me? 

Once finished with them, I made a little headband for me! 

Three pairs of overalls, yellow shirts, black gloves and we are all set!

I'll update once I get a picture of us all! 

Crochets: Bow Cowl

You guys are not going to believe this!

 I actually sat down and crocheted something!

I feel like the last time I sat down to knit or crochet and finish was when I was pregnant with Ellie!

And she will be one in November! Eek!

Anyways, back to the cowl!

This was a sitting on the couch, don't want to pay attention type crochet.

I made this is two pieces, the main piece and the bow "knot".

To make the main body, I just made my chain until it was big enough to drape around my neck. 

Then I continued the entire piece with half double crochet. 

It looked like a scarf, until I stitched the ends together (the original plan was to twist and stitch together)

After my ends were together, I crocheted the small piece.

I made my chain a little longer than the height of my cowl, this way it would gather a bit.

I single crocheted the small piece to give a little bit of a variation.

Lastly, I wrapped the small piece around my cowl seam and stitched together and to the cowl.

I was so happy with how this came out, I started another project already.

And no. My sweater is not done. 

Ran into some "issues" and the lace I have to pay attention to my stitches. 

So I put it aside for now.

Crochets: Stitching together squares...

This post should be titled: 

Crochets: Stitching together someone else's not-so-square squares.

Eek! 

I was asked to stitch together and 90 some year old woman's "squares" into a lap blanket. But once I got the "squares" I realized this was going to be harder than it should be. Here's the problem. No two "squares" are the same. Yikes. And actually not a single one is square, there is no pattern, she just crochets her day away, and when she is tired she ties them off. Which created a pile, that I acquired!

And that's what I had to work with. So, because they actually wanted two blankets, I decided to try to make the first easier than the second and find all the pieces that were similar in size. Then per their request, I used black to "sew" them together.  Sounds simple enough. 

Here is what I have come up with. Not bad for a first attempt 

( Confession#1: I've never made a blanket bigger than a baby blanket.) 

(Confession #2: I've never stitched multiple squares/blocks together.)

All that is left is going around the border once or twice. 

And weave in all those pesky ends. 

Then on to the next one. 

Which is going to be a little more crazy because of all the different sizes. 

Fingers crossed I can make it work!

Crochets:Ellie's Spring Hat!

Made this nice and cheery colored hat a few weeks ago for Ellie.

It's the perfect hat for spring!

I used white cotton for the hat, and multi colored cotton for the rose.

I used my go to rose pattern, and with my go to hat pattern.

Instead of following the pattern, and doing some rows sc and some dc. I hdc'd the entire hat.

It's so cheery! Definitely makes me happy that Spring is almost here!

Crochets: A Lovie

I'm totally guessing that you would call this a Lovie.

We've all seen them in stores. The small blanket with the doll head attached. 

I didn't intend to make this when I started, I intended on making a blanket. 

But then I ran out of yarn. Only 24 inches square.

(Good thing I can weigh my yarn from now on!)

So I brought it to my Knit & Crochet class and asked for some opinions.

(My favorite part of class!)

And someone said to add a head for a Lovie! 

Perfect! It took me a while to sit down and finish, since I'm not a Lovie fan I assume.

But now that I did. I think it's came out cute!

Crochets: Super Girly Baby Hat

Now, that I have let the cat out of the bag, I can share some of the things I have been up to!

And what is even more fun, is that I finally can make and keep some girly items!

Here's the latest!

A super sweet, yet super girly hat!

I haven't attached the flower yet, I'm going to put it on a clip so I can use it with multiple hats!

Here is my go to hat and flower patterns!

Did I mention she is to arrive in just 5 weeks? 

Eek! I better get ready!

Crochets: Presents for Baby C!

Sometimes the downfall of having a craft blog, is having to wait until you give presents to be able to share what you have been up to! 

Here is exactly one of those cases:

My gift for Baby C!

A blanket, hat and lovie!

Baby C is going to have the cutest owl themed nursery, and with owls being all the rage right now I knew exactly what Baby C needed!

The owl lovie!

The adorable owl hat!

For the blanket, I worked it like a granny square. Starting at the center and working my way out. 

This created a nice modern geometric pattern.  I am loving this version as it's not too "hole-y" like a traditional granny square.

I am loving it so much... That I have another little something that I am working on using the same granny pattern!

The lovie is actually based on a rattle pattern that I found over at Lovely Little Life.

I say based because I used half double crochets (hdc) instead of the called for single crochet.

I wanted the stitches to match the hat and blanket and thought the single crochets would look funny.

For the hat, I just crocheted a baby hat and added the owl eyes and beak. 

If your looking for an owl hat,  Repeat Crafter Me's owl hat is adorable! 

I'm thinking it's next on my list!

That's what I've been hooking, what have you worked on lately?

Beautiful Bubble Baby Blanket

Phew! I did it! I actually found a project that I loved so much I actually finished!

(I've have some craft WIP's all over the place lately!)

But I did it! After browing Ravelry and Pinterest, I saw this beauty. 

And even though there is no true pattern I figured it out!

The only thing I didn't do was add the ruffle edge. I didn't do that because I am not sure if this beauty will go to a boy or girl. I think the mint can go either way, and I'm donating it to a great cause!

Heartoberfest is lucky I love what they do! Because I was very tempted to keep this lovely for myself!

This picture is closer to the color!

Now, want to know where you might be able to get your hands on it?

So, what is Christie's Heartoberfest?

(taken from the About Heartoberfest section of Christies Heartoberfest website)

Christie’s Heartoberfest is an annual awareness and fundraising event, with all proceeds benefiting the SADS foundation (Sudden Arrhythmia Death Syndrome).  Each year 400,000 Americans die suddenly and unexpectedly due to cardiac arrhythmias.  3, 976 of them are young people under the age of 35.  In 2005 one of the victims was Christie Tolosky, who died suddenly at the age of 24 from what was later diagnosed as Long QT Syndrome.

This year is the 7th Annual Christie's Heartoberfest, and it's taking place this month.

 September 29, 2012  at Saratoga State Park!  

If you are in the area, you should stop by! You pay to get into the State Park and then you purchase $1 "Chinese auction" tickets and try to win some great prizes!

Can't make it to the event? But still want to help? 

 You can donate here!

Can't donate? But still want to help?

Think about joining Christie's Heartwalk Team!

Can't do either?

How about donating something for the auction next year? 

Leave a comment on this post or email me, and I can send you the contact information!

All my Hexes...

I think I may have found my crocheting groove! I've got a couple projects in the works right now! 

This one is the perfect "what do you do with a baseball size ball of yarn" project.

It all started when I was teaching my class at the library, I found this pattern and copied it off. 

Then stuffed it in my bag to not be looked at for weeks. Then I saw this beauty, and this beauty. So I pulled out my pattern and started with all the "random too small for anything else balls of yarn" around my house!

Each granny hexagon takes only a couple minutes, which make it one of those instantly gratifying projects. Even though I will probably need a million  before I get to actually make a blanket or something out of them! But it's great for not wasting those little balls of yarn!

If you know how to make a granny square the hexagon is super easy! When you start, instead of making four clusters and four corners, make six clusters and six holes!  

What have you been crocheting or knitting lately?

Finished: Pink Granny for Baby B!

Yay, last week I showed you the in progress. And I literally finished it that night! 

Gotta love quick and satisfying!

Maybe this was all I needed to get back into my yarn stash! 

I've been on the hunt for my next pattern to work on. Have any to share?