Category: Inspiration

Recently I was lucky enough to take a trip to Hawaii, more specifically, Kauai. I absolutely love it there.  It is beautiful, green, full of flowers, and the people are just wonderful and easy going.  This trip has left me in an aloha spirit and I’ve decided to seek out some Hawaiian-inspired crochet patterns.

The most iconic symbol of Hawaii, in my own humble opinion, would have to go to the beautiful plumeria flowers of the islands.
I found this pattern awhile back and have not had a chance to try it out yet.  It is a 3D flower and is a great likeness to the actual plumeria.  This pattern was created by the very talented June Gilbank of PlanetJune Craft Blog.  She offers the pattern for free on her site.  If you would like a .pdf of the pattern that is formatted for printing, all she asks is a donation to her site, which is well worth it for such a lovely pattern.

This next pattern is a baby hula girl photo prop.  Isn’t it cute?  This pattern is also offered for free via Craftsy.  It was designed by Aimee Arnold.  Her Craftsy store is called Chain Four.  Go check it out!  You do have to create an account to get it, but Craftsy is a great pattern resource.  You can even find Heather’s Craft Corner patterns there! (Shameless plug!)

The next pattern is an amigurumi hula girl doll by Sayjai of K and J Dolls.  She is just plain adorable.  This pattern is available on Etsy for $4.99.  There are a bunch of cute patterns available in her shop.  She is incredibly talented.

Let’s not forget about the dolphins.  I was able to take a dinner cruise while in Hawaii and we saw two large pods of dolphins.  They really do like to play with the boat.  This dolphin amigurumi pattern is available on Etsy.  I’m not sure who the creator is.  The shop says that all funds will go to fund dutch artist Joyce Overheul’s projects, but I’m not sure if she actually made the pattern.  Regardless, it is very cute.

If you know of any other cute Hawaiian-themed patterns, please post a comment with the link.  I’d love to see them.

Aloha!

I ran across this post by Topsy Turvy and just had to share it!  These rings are so cute!

So, if you’re looking for a project, give these a try!

I love seeing what creative designers are coming up with.  Today I’m spotlighting crochet designer Anna of Crochet ‘N Play Designs.  Anna has mastered the art of designing great amigurumi works of art.  She is extremely talented.  You can find her work in her Etsy Shop: Crochet ‘N Play Designs.

Here are some examples of her work:

Cosmetic Bag

Dr Kit

Green Eggs and Ham

Vegetables

*All photos are copyrighted and used with permission.

If you’re like me, you often find yourself carrying an armful of stuff.  Without fail, if I’m going to drop something, it will be my water bottle.  So, here’s a solution!

I made this water bottle bag based off of a pattern for a gift bag by K&J Dolls.  I made it as part of a birthday gift.  I did make some modifications to fit my needs:

I used a 3.25 mm hook (D) instead of a 3 mm as the pattern suggests.  There was no real reason to it except that I knew where my 3.25mm hook was and didn’t want to look for my 3mm hook.

I only increased out to 60 sts rather than to the full 84 sts because that’s all it took to make the size I was looking for.

With the decorative stitching, I only did 15 rounds instead of the 23 in the pattern because that’s all I needed to get the height I wanted.

I also didn’t do the little ball ties as in the pattern.  Instead, I used a double strand of yarn and a 6mm (J) hook to chain 200 so the drawstring can be used as a shoulder strap.

My bag ended up being 3 1/2″ in diameter and 8 3/4″ tall.  (Pattern makes 4″ diameter & 10″ tall)

Because this bag uses a small crochet hook, it actually took HOURS to complete (small stitches and inevitable snagging!).  In the end, it turned out really well.  It’s durable.  The bottom is made of very dense single crochet stitching, so it can easily support the weight of a bottle.

Would I make this bag again?  I’m not sure, it was very time consuming for what I made.  That being said, it made a very good bag.  This particular bag was made as a gift, however, so I may have to make one more!

I’ve noticed an obvious trend for barefoot sandals.  If you haven’t seen these, they are basically a decoration for your feet when you want to be barefoot but still cute.  Most fit around the 2nd toe (next to the big one) with a loop and tie around the ankle.  The styles are numerous and they’re actually really cute.

Of course, being a mom, I never think to make things for myself because, let’s face it, baby feet are cuter than mine!  So I made some Baby Barefoot Sandals.  These particular ones are very easy to make (minus the flower which is a little more tricky & time consuming).

As much as I would love to claim this pattern as my own design, it is not.  I found a free pattern on Living the Craft Life if you would like to try making them yourself.  The flower I used was also a free pattern from Crochet and Other Stuff.  I decided to make the flower removable and had made these flowers months ago and have been trying to find something to add them to.  Here’s the end result:

And, like I said, everything is cuter on baby feet:

Don’t you just love the pockets on the back?  I LOVE THEM!  They look so adorable on.

Isn’t it cute?  I’m a little proud of it.  This hat pattern will be available in my Etsy Shop soon, hopefully followed by the bib and burp cloth pattern.  I’m also thinking about a little tank or halter to go with it for the little ladies. ***UPDATE: Hat pattern is now available!***

Leave some love!  I’d love to hear your comments!

Credits:
Baby soaker was made using “Baby Boy Soaker” pattern by Sharon Mann.  Available at www.coatsandclark.com

Another beard beanie!!!  What could be better?

This is my husband:

Yea, I know, but I love him anyway.  My husband’s head is, how can I put this…larger-than-average.  Because of this, I had to make him a custom fit beanie & beard.  I think it turned out ok!

The beanie is a simple double crochet beanie.  I started with a magic adjustable ring with 12 dc into it.  Increase each round by 12 dc until you get to the desired size.  Usually I see this at 60 dc.  I find this a little snug, but maybe my gauge is tighter than average. (This particular beanie is 84 dc in the largest round)

For the ribbing around the base of the beanie, I did front-post double crochet stitches.  3-5 rounds will probably get the look you want.  The cool thing about ending the beanie this way is you have vertical ribbing on the front and horizontal ribbing on the back.  The horizontal ribbing on the inside of the beanie will actually help keep the beanie in place.

For striping, I just winged it.  There are two thin stripes, one medium, and then the larger band at the bottom (the front-post dc).

See?  He really is cute.  🙂

The beard is a modified version of Jen Spears’ that I have previously linked reference to.  I had to change it a bit, but it’s the same concept.

To attach the beard, I just sewed the beard to the first row of ribbing on the inside of the beanie.  It ends with a clean finish and the seam is hidden by the edge of the beanie.

Hooray!  I finished a beard beanie!  This one is reserved by my mom.  I’m pretty excited about it.  This one is fuzzy with earmuffs:

I also can make them non-fuzzy and without earmuffs.  I based this on a FREE PATTERN by Jen Spears, but varied it a little bit and haven’t put the pom-pom on top.

Yet another Christmas gift…can you tell I was busy?

These are some more of the fun little cowboy baby booties that I made for my nephew for Christmas.  Unfortunately I didn’t finish the ones for my 4-mo-old daughter, but I will.

Again I used this FREE PATTERN but this time I left off the little “heel.”  I absolutely love these:

I have to admit, it was a little challenging for me to keep the rows lined up.  They kept working in a diagonal.  I had to use stitch markers and count a lot to keep it straight.  I’m currently looking at some tutorials to see if I can figure out anything I’m doing wrong.  If I do, I’ll share so I can maybe save someone else the frustration.

Crochet Hook Used:
     Size F (3.75mm)
Yarn Used:
     Red Heart Super Saver – Warm Brown
     Red Heart Super Saver – Coffee