Thursday, March 12, 2015

Fiber Wall Art






Tried something new over the weekend, and liked the results so much they are now listed in my shop!

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Easter Egg Bonnets DIY


Wait...egg hats? I should probably explain myself before I go any further. It all started about a month ago when I was having a major creative block. I really wanted to make something cute and small and pretty, but I had no idea what. Jewelry? Sure, but I make jewelry all the time. I like to think I'm not into tacky, kitschy things, but then I had this weird idea.


Easter's coming up, right? For some reason, eggs are a big deal during Easter. Honestly, I've never understood why. New life? Or something? In the words of Jim Gaffigan, "But what do Easter eggs have to do with Jesus?" I have no idea. Anyway, around here we hardboil them, dye them, and eventually eat them as part of tradition. 

As a variation on the egg decorating process, I had an idea for making tiny egg hats! I've seen gourd hats, and I think maybe egg hats before, but never egg Easter bonnets (although I'm sure they exist). So I got tacky and kitschy and made a few to stick on my white hardboileds. 

They're cute...right? Waste of perfectly good mercerized cotton? You decide. After crocheting three of them and drawing little faces on the eggs, I thought they were super adorable. If you're looking for a quick and easy project that's a little different from traditional egg coloring, I've included the pattern below!
(For a list of crochet abbreviations, check out Craft Yarn Council's list.)

You'll need:
Size 10 mercerized cotton thread (I use the Aunt Lydia's brand)
US size 1.5mm steel crochet hook
Hardboiled egg!
Sharpie for face drawing

To make the bonnet:
Ch 4, join with sl st in first ch to form round.
Rnd 1: Ch 3, work 11 dc in ring, join with sl st in top of beg ch-3 (12 dc)
Rnd 2: Ch 3, dc in same st as last sl st, 2 dc in each dc around, join with sl st in top of beg ch-3 (24 dc)
Rnd 3: Ch 3, 2 dc in next dc, dc in next dc, repeat from * around, ending 2 dc in last dc, join with sl st in top of beg ch-3 (36 dc)
Rnd 4: Ch 4, *skip next dc, dc in next dc, ch 1, repeat from * around, join with sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch-4. (18 ch-1 sps)
Rnd 5: Sl st in first ch-1 sp, ch 1, sc in same sp, ch 3, sc in next ch-1 sp, repeat from * around, ending ch 3, join with sl st in first sc. (18 ch-3 sps)
Rnd 6: Sl st in ch-3 sp, ch 1, sc in same sp, (dc, ch 1) 4 times in next ch-3 sp, dc in same sp, sc in next ch-3 sp, repeat from * around,

Here's a visual grid for Rounds 1-6 if you need more help:


Next, draw a little face on your egg and top it off with one of these adorable hats! I used my watercolors and a water pen to draw the cheeks, and a pencil/Sharpie for the eyes and mouth.


Make a whole crowd of Easter bonnet-wearing gals for a cute display. Happy crocheting!

Looking for more tutorials? Check out my blog's DIY page!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

The Switch: New Site Coming!


This has been in the works for a while now, but I'm excited to announce that I'm almost ready to transition to a new website! It will be just like this one, only a bit more organized and user-friendly, and with more potential to grow. 

I just did it. I bought a hosting plan, my own domain name, a fresh theme, and began teaching myself WordPress. It's been really exciting learning CSS and how to create different aspects of the website. I'm really excited to show you all!

So, starting on Friday (THIS Friday!) I will be transitioning over to my new site! Everything will be there already, including my entire blog, but I'll post about it here on Friday to direct you there. Perhaps a week after that, I'll be re-directing this site to the new one to start completing the transition. 

It'll be difficult to regain whatever following I had, but I'm excited to start fresh somewhere else. See you over there!