handmade for Christmas

we're mostly packed up here waiting to move into our new house, so my crochet stuff is really the only craft stuff I have access to anymore... not that I've been doing much else in the way of crafts for a while now!  I'm looking forward to having a room again that I can keep my sewing machine set up in, and maybe a table to work on my jewelry.  until then I'm just crocheting when I get a chance.  here are some gifts I made and sent to my brother in Shreveport for Christmas.

I made a square hat for Abbie with a zig-zag puff stitch.  I had to make the construction of this hat up as I went, but it's pretty forgiving since it doesn't have any shaping to it.  joining the puff stitches in each round was the hard part, but I made it work.  this could totally be done as a flat piece and then seamed together, though.  I put tassels on the top corners to look like pig tails, and I made some boots with puff stitch flowers on them to match the hat.

Ava got a striped slouchy hat (another pattern I made up as I went) and I added a puff stitch flower to the bottom band.  I used Red Heart Soft for all of these hats, which gets even softer when you steam or wash it.  I steamed the slouchy part of this hat which made it lay really nice, but I made sure to leave the band at the bottom alone in case it relaxed too much.

Ashton's hat is an earflap beanie that I decided to find an actual pattern for.  I used Micah Makes free pattern, but I added an extra row of single crochet to the edge and put a line of fringe on top for a mohawk.

friendship bracelets 2014

the weather had been going back and forth from cold to hot so I wasn't thinking about bracelets for the boys until a friend of mine sent me a picture of all these bracelets she's been making.  I felt so behind!  it took me two weeks to finish all 6 of mine (why did I decide they need 3 each??) but I got it done.

I was looking for some interesting new pattern ideas and I really liked this rainbow zig zag... then I realized I did that one already year before last in yellow and black!  with gradient colors it gives it a different look so I did it again, anyway.

Scarlet King Snake colors/pattern (red on black, friend to Jack) is a must now so I did some framed chevrons to represent snakes - I think these are my favorite.

I did each of their names in gradient colors with some accent triangles for a tribal sorta feel.

when I gave Leo his first bracelet he wore it for a little bit and then asked me to take it off :(  I was pretty bummed, but he came around and asked for it again later.  every time I had a new one to put on them they both held out their arms and patiently waited for me to tie them on, then went back to playing.  I would love to still be making friendship bracelets for them years down the road, but I know one day it'll come to an end when they decide they're too cool for mom's dorky crafts, so I'm glad they are willing to wear them for now!