Steph's Stitches

In February of 2010 I signed on to Ravelry.com, a "knit and crochet community".  I love looking up patterns and viewing knit and crochet projects but it wasn't until recently that I actually updated my own profile and posted some of my crochet projects.  I thought I would share them here for those of you who are not a part of Ravelry.com.  I don't have pictures for everything that I have completed yet but I'm on my way.

The Eyeball.  This little guy was crocheted after I made a darling little elephant hacky-sack at Thanksgiving a few years ago.  The elephant didn't do so well as a hacky-sack (probably due to the ears and trunk!) but he was sure cute.  I filled him with plain popcorn kernels.  Anyway, my father-in-law thought the elephant was really cool and asked if I could make a Von Dutch eyeball with wings.  How he went from little blue elephant hacky-sack to eyeball with wings I'm not sure but never-the-less, I went to work!  I think this eyeball was the first crochet project that I've just eyeballed...uh, I mean, the first project I've made without a pattern.  He turned out so cute even though I never finished the wings.  I never stuffed him and gave him to my father-in-law either but the kids and I have had such fun just swinging him around by his ligaments that I left hanging out the back.  I even tied him to my glasses and scared my husband into thinking I was going to wear him (eyeball) as a Halloween costume in public.  He's given us some good times.  Thanks, little eyeball.

Next on the list of crochet projects is the diamond shawl.  This lovely lady was crocheted for my cousin, Dani (modeling it beautifully for me here).  I used a pattern by Kristin Omdahl in her book "Crochet So Fine".  I only made it half as long as the pattern called for but bought yarn to make the whole thing so I have another one that is about 25% complete in my project bag for myself.  The yarn is 100% alpaca lace weight (super fine).  With all the open lace you might not think it would be warm but it's so surprising how much heat this little beauty will generate! 

I especially love the shawl draped around Dani's neck like a scarf. It's so "grandma meets eclectic beauty".

The photo here is advertising our dog Pup's Christmas sweater.  My friend Tracy's dog, Blue is modeling it.  Pup is a lot more hyper so I never got a great picture of him in it.  I made one for my mom's dog Baloo as well.  I winged the pattern on these so they turned out a little different.  It's amazing how fast something whips up when you use big yarn and a fat hook though...I made these in an evening!

Valentine Hat.  I found this awesome stitch on Ravelry that looks like sideways knitting.  Tracy brought a hat that she had crocheted when she came to visit (above) and told me how fun it was to make.  I had never made a hat before so I had to try it.  It was more challenging than I had thought: I pulled the darn thing out at least 4 times getting the increases right.  Come to find out, the person that I learned the stitch from had a pattern for a hat on the same site!!  Arg.  I added the heart design by adding red yarn in some of the stitches and I added a little star stitch boarder.  Molly looks darling in it.

Last but not least is this little baby sweater that I very recently crocheted for our relatives in Spain on my husbands side.  I found this vintage pattern on Ravelry.com and knew I had to try it.  I had some yarn passed down to me from my mom from the 80's (I think).  Its labeled as baby yarn and it looks so soft and cuddly...LIARS!  Let me just say that el nuevo bebe better be wearing a turtle-neck onesie before donning this darling cardie!  It turned out super cute though and I bet it will be very warm.