When Irish eyes are smiling...

As St. Patrick's Day is fast approaching it's time to celebrate! St. Patrick's Day has always been a huge holiday in my family. My father was a great partaker in the festivities every year and my husband's birthday happens to fall on that very day! So every year we begin the festivities on Friday night and carry on until Sunday evening when we prop our feet up and say Job Well Done!!

So let's celebrate the color green, shamrocks and an Irish state of mind!

Last year we started off at the Marketplace at Disney and Steve got his face painted!

The paint actually lasted all day and into the night! He was hit of every party we attended. A definite conversation starter!

This beautiful shamrock garland comes from Shelley in Cheyenne, WY at The Prairie Cottage. http://www.etsy.com/listing/93594325/st-patricks-day-shamrock-crochet-garland

This adorable Fourleaf Clover Crocheted Headband Hair Accessory comes from a designer at Purdy Things on ArtFire. http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/product_view/PurdyThings/5216677/adjustable_shamrock_crochet_headband/handmade/accessories/hair/headbands

This cute St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Beanie would be cute to wear at any party! You can find it at MarciLynn Designs on Etsy.  http://www.etsy.com/listing/92567451/st-patricks-day-shamrock-crochet-beanie

How about at little a little bit of a vintage look with this beautiful Irish themed doilie.  You can find this pattern at http://www.crochetdoilies.com/doilies_for_sale_1.html

You can never go wrong finding a holiday pattern at RedHeart.com. This shamrock afghan is perfect for the occasion. http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/crochet-shamrock-afghan

 

A little bit of Irish countryside!

"May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light, May good luck pursue you each morning and night"

Spring Fling!

We had some great weather last week which put me in the mood for Spring! The next few days here in Orlando will be chilly, in the 40s & 50s so I'm going to put my mind on the warmer breeze of spring and bright colors. Come along on this Spring Fling!

These beautiful Crocheted Flowers in Pink & Cream were made by Annie Design. Check out her work on www.etsy.com/shop/AnnieDesign

This crocheted Hair Barrette - Pink Daffodil is by meekssandygirl.deviantart.com.

In addition here is the Crocheted Spring Flower Necklace by meekssandygirl.deviantart.com.

This crocheted Violet Colorful Shawl is by Crochet Butterfly. You can find it at www.etsy.com/shop/crochetbutterfly.

These beautiful flowers are the epitomy of Spring! These crocheted wildflowers can be found at carriewolf.net.

This crocheted mini blanket is a true inspiration. So delicate. The pattern comes from a Japanese magazine. You can also find out about it at blog.shopwiksten.com.

If you go to hookandbake.blogspot.co.uk you'll find a comfy, cozy blog that you can't help but smile at when you sit and flip through it. The crochet work is extraordinary! This Country Cottage Dreams pattern is quaint and screams of a British Tea Party!

I follow a blogger and avid crocheter The Needle Nerd. She posts such beautiful images on a daily basis. I have so many projects that I have tagged to work on just from her posts. This image came across Facebook this past week and I am in love with it. The following link will take you to the creator's raverly page where you can purchase the pattern. I think this would make the cutest baby shower gift. So precious and such detail. http://www.ravelry.com/projects/hamishbrown/lollo-the-african-flower-bear-11

I hope some of these images have inspired you to get in the mood for Spring. Here's a little gift for you. This is a spring printable that I created. You can print it, stick it in a frame and then it will remind you that you are in a springful state of mind!

 
“Spring is the time of plans and projects.”

― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

It's a Pug's World

If you ask anyone who knows me besides being obsessed with crocheting, there is a member of our family that I am totally obsessed with...my husband?.....well yes, but the number one spoiled member of our family is our pug Baron von Rehrman. Let me introduce you....

My little boy Baron.

He is the end all be all in our house. Spoiled, loved, cuddled, 24/7, 365!!! So it got me to thinking...
what kind of pug design is out there? Being a graphic designer I've done a few things to highlight my puggy pug. Let's go look and see...

Baron inspired a few stickers that I designed.

He's my pug patron saint of crochet because whenever I work he is never far away. He loves to lay next to me while I crochet. He's the overseer of the the project!

Look at the beautiful artwork done digitally by Rebecca Collins of Pet Portraits.  Check out her stuff on artpaw.com.

I came across this logo and love it. Really cool!

Who wouldn't love this Crocheted Pug Pillow from Peanut Butter Dynamite on Etsy? Check it out! http://www.etsy.com/shop/peanutbutterdynamite

Hot pads anyone? I mean pug pads?....These are from  Hooknsaw on Etsy.http://www.etsy.com/shop/hooknsaw

Yoda Pug? Adorable. This comes from Sweethoots on Etsy. http://www.etsy.com/shop/Sweethoots

This adorable crocheted Pug Puppy Dog Hat made by Ira Rott at www.irarott.com. So cute!

This beautiful artwork is created by Brian Rubenacker. Check out his work at http://www.etsy.com/shop/rubenacker

What can I say, I love my pug!!!

One of the reasons I started thinking about crocheted animal items is I follow a crochet blogger
http://accordingtomatt.blogspot.com and he came across a Fox Scarf pattern that inspired me.
I immediately went online to the buy the pattern. You can too here...http://www.etsy.com/shop/beeskneesknitting.

This is one of the coolest patterns I've seen in awhile. There are other animal patterns on the site as well. Can't wait to get started on it!!!!

I hope after seeing all of these images that pugs will inspire you too!!! The next time you see a pug maybe it will warm your heart just little bit more now....!!!!

Beach Blanket Bingo!

Although we are experiencing a cold snap this weekend down here in Orlando, FL I am anticipating the warm weather that will be fast approaching in March. 80 degree weather and then moving into the summer months where it's in the 90s and the beach is a must!!


So let's go to the beach!!! Here are a few thing I found that will inspire you to look to the sun!

Nautical Themed Rag Rug from Rags2Stiches on Etsy! http://www.etsy.com/shop/FromRags2Stitches

Beach Mat & Totebag - FaveCrafts

Metedeconk Beach Tote by Next Stitch. http://www.nexstitch.com

Open Work White Barefoot Sandals - Beach Wedding from Elvish things on Etsy.  http://www.etsy.com/shop/ElvishThings

Star Motif Open Work Crocheted Shawl by Kristin Omdahl

Crocheted Lace Maine Island Beach Stones from Green Digs Crochet. http://www.etsy.com/shop/GreenDigsCrochet

Painted Bird Crocheted Shoes! http://www.shoppaintedbird.com/

Work Your Way Up Bag crocheted by Dots or Stripes. Pattern by Yarnberry http://yarnberry.wordpress.com/my-patterns/string-bag/

This image comes from C'est Vogue. I think it speaks for itself!

This is an afghan I made from a pattern called Sunny Spread. I love it not only because of the color but it reminds me of sand dollars.  http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/sunny-spread

So when the weather breaks wherever you are head to the beach with any of the above items. You now have a new project to add to your list!!!

I'm in the mood for love...

I love Valentine's Day! Not only because my whole life my father used to get so excited about Valentine's day because he always said it was the one Holiday that had my name in it! He used to buy my sister and I a heart shaped box of chocolates every year! I also loved it because you could be so creative on Valentine's Day, designing your own cards, baking a heart shaped cake or crocheting little hearts!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is a lovely heart themed afghan. It comes from The Prairie Cottage on Etsy!

This lovely heart garland comes from Gracious Rain. http://www.graciousrain.com I love the use of gradated yarn.

These lovely hearts can't help but make you smile! The colors are awesome. They look like Easter hearts! They come from Pink Milk. http://pinkmilkjewels.blogspot.com

This is a heart shaped detail from a pair of wrist warmers I made!

This is a Heart themed doilie I made from a pattern.

Here it is in purple. So sweet.

This is a Valentine Printable I did. You can drag it off to your desktop and print it right off of your computer.

Here's another printable! Enjoy!

Make a heart this week and give it to someone you love!!

Cravings

This is my obsession for the weekend!!

This diagonal crochet stitch is awesome!!! This piece was created by http://cocorosetextiles.blogspot.com/2011/08/hello.html

 This is the pattern from another crocheter!

http://fantaisiesdeflo.canalblog.com/archives/2011/10/13/22328113.html

It is in French but at the top there is a place where you can convert it to English.

I'm so excited to try a stitch I've never tried before. And to also try and learn how to read a drawn pattern instead of a written pattern. This is something I really want to learn as I have never created a project in this way. See The Crochet Crowd. Mikey has several videos on how to read a pattern in this fashion.

I'm thinking of doing only 2 colors to make a checkerboard effect. Red Heart is my favorite yarn so let's see...maybe the cafe with turqua or cafe and real teal or burgundy or heather gray. Hmmmmm.....my brain is about to burst!!

I came across these lovely images as I was searching for some color ideas.

Instead of Granny square...Granny circles? Love these colors!

The artist calls these crochet skyscrapers!

 Enjoy this beautiful work by Cristina Catalunya on her blog!
http://www.myworldofwool.com/2012_09_01_archive.html

Here are some coasters I made that look like Granny circles too!

This pattern was done with cotton yarn and are coasters.

I have some errands to run this morning. My pug Baron has to go to the doctors for his shots and then when I get back I'm going to try to tackle the diagonal crochet stitch! Yeah!

Searching the bloggers

I have spent the morning searching the web for other crochet blogs trying to get some inspiration! I love seeing what other people are working on. There is such great work being done. I've been thinking of going in a bright and colorful direction. I'm still making chains to finish the Friendship Scarf. Take a look at a few of the things I found. You may want to follow these creative people!!

Crochet O'Clock. You can find this at accordingtomatt.blogspot.com. So colorful. Perfect for a spring project!

Over at crochetnuts-place.blogspot.com you can find this beautiful hotpad design.

These Vintage Flower Pot Holders can be found at http://made-in-k-town.blogspot.com/

As I said I'm still working on the chain portion of the Friendship scarf. It's starting to come together. I just need to assemble.
 

Friendship scarf in progress.

Take the time to see what other people are working on. It will inspire you. I challenge you to take on a project that you've never done before and make it your own!