I am excited to present a new baby lovey that features a round ripple pattern. It has a centerhole which is created by crocheting around a thick ponytail hair tie. By crocheting the baby lovey with a centerhole, you can use a store-bought stuffed animal for the project. That way you can wash the round ripple lovey separate from the stuffed animal. Here is the lovey with the stuffed animal removed so you can see how it looks separated. Here is another round ripple lovey that I crocheted using the same round ripple idea for the project. I want to detail how I start my round ripple lovies. I u ..read more

I used the Maybelle flower pattern to crochet these cute coasters. The pattern is very versatile as you can use the flower motif for headbands, blankets, bags and many other things by simply joining the flowers. I used a G (4 mm) crochet hook and just a small amount of yellow acrylic and brown suede yarn to make these four coasters. My coasters came out to 5 inches wide. These will be used in a charity auction basket along with wine glasses and a bottle of wine ..read more

I wanted to revisited some of my recycled Valentine’s themed projects. Over the years, I have crocheted and sewn several fun projects that might inspire some of you to try these for Valentine’s Day. Plus it’s eye candy for any plarn and denim lovers out there. Here is a recycled plastic Valentine’s card holder that adults and children can both make together. It uses some pieces of red and white recycled plastic bags, scrap yarn, ribbon and a small remnant of red felt to make. The full picture tutorial and directions can be found at the fused plastic Valentine’s heart link. Here is a little Va ..read more

If you are like me, you just hate not saving those pretty Christmas cards that you receive each year. So let’s recycle those beautiful old cards into something new and keep on enjoying them. Here is a before photo of the cards that I punched holes all around the edges. Next you just need a small crochet hook to work into the holes. I use a small hole punch and a C (2.75 mm) crochet hook in my projects. I have a picture tutorial and full details can be found here on how to make these recycled Christmas card ornaments. Here is one of my favorite cards, that I cut in half and glued the pieces b ..read more

Here are two Christmas towels that I bought at the Dollar Store. They make wonderful holiday themed towels by adding a crocheted towel topper with a jingle bell. I used the double layered towel topper pattern that is a free crochet pattern. I did work the handle on 8 stitches just because this 24/7 cotton yarn is thin. This gives the handle a bit more strength for hanging it up. For the buttonhole, I crocheted 2 chains and skipped 2 stitches for the space for the jingle bell. Depending on the size of the button or jingle bell you use, just adjust your stitches to make the hole big enough for ..read more

A few months ago I shared that I dyed my first batch of wool yarn using grape Kool-Aid. I dyed just one white skein of wool yarn in my first attempt. You can read the full post here about how I dyed the yarn using Kool-Aid. I was really happy how my test came out and here are the baby hats I crocheted using that yarn. First I crocheted this ribbed band baby hat. The free crochet pattern is found here. I used a G (4.25 mm) crochet hook for this project and did add few extra rows of the ribbing to reach a hat length of 5 inches long. Next hat was crocheted using the double post baby hat pattern ..read more

I picked up a few of the Halloween kitchen towels at Dollar Tree to add towel toppers to them. These themed towels are a fun and quick project that I am using for a upcoming fundraiser. The towel topper is added to the towel by simply folding it in half and crocheting along the top edge. No cutting or sewing is needed. The first row is challenging but using a fine point steel crochet hook really helps. Once that first row is complete, the rest of the pattern works up very quickly. The free crochet pattern is found here at waffle towel topper. Enjoy and Happy Halloween ..read more

I shared last month that I was working on a new crocheted recycled tote bag. I call this recycled bag my harvest tote bag. I used mainly white retail bags for the tote but added orange and black bags to create a Halloween harvest themed tote. As you can imagine, orange and black plastic bags are hard to come by. So with such few of these bags available, I was only able to use them sparely in crocheting this recycled tote bag project. I used the free recycled grocery tote pattern to crochet the project. Just follow the original pattern with the following changes. The harvest stripes were croch ..read more

I crocheted this baby dog lovey using Aggie May’s round ripple blanket pattern. I started with 4 rounds using aran cream yarn for the center of the lovey. An important tip is to use the same color for center of lovey as the animal so you can hide the joining. The dog lovey pattern is available free here. I first crocheted the round ripple blanket to 21 inches wide. Some loveys are smaller but I like it a little bigger to accommodate the dog head. Here is the lovey blanket before adding the dog to the center. Next is a photo of the head after I added the muzzle and nose. I had to play around ..read more

I started crocheting a new plastic bag aka plarn project. I am using one of my original plastic bag tote patterns to crochet this bag. The pattern features a single crochet base so it’s nice and sturdy for groceries or other such needs. I still have plenty of old plastic bags on hand but I don’t collect as any as I used to. Many areas and stores don’t use the thinner plastic retail bags any longer. This ball of plastic bag yarn was made by cutting the plastic retail sacks in 1 inch strips using the looping method. Here is my progress so far in the photo below. I just finished the single croch ..read more