announcment

We went to the doctor this Tuesday and found out that we're having a girl!! We are all so excited, even the boys wanted a girl! Immediately after leaving the doctors we all went to the thrift store to celebrate! I had given almost all my girl clothes away during my last pregnancy when I found out I was having another boy. I am not regretting giving them away because most of them were not that awesome any way. I kept all the best ones, but that wasn't very much. I have to say the pink dress is my most fave! I bought it a month ago hoping I was having a girl. I figured if I had a boy I would turn it into doll clothes or give it as a gift. All the other outfits I bought at the thrift store Tuesday. The pink bonnet is something I crocheted for Lizzy when she was a baby and I am still in love with the colors and design. I'll have to throw a pattern together sometime. It is super easy to make. I found all the quilt fabrics at thrift stores throughout the past year. I went through all the fabrics and put together a girly collection.  The color pallet kind of evolved and I really like how it turned out. :) I am so excited to be having a girl! I have so many ideas for sewing and crocheting her clothes! I'll be sure and share them as they come to be. Take care!

Free pattern: Crochet knight hood

As promised I am giving the instructions on how to crochet the knight hood / hat I posted about last week. (he was so proud of his dog picture and having him hold it was the only way he would pose for a photo :) he said "it looks just like a  real dog!") 

Check out his full finished knight ccostume here

Yarn: Red heart worsted 4

Hook: USK 10.5 / 6.5mm

Here is a key for all the abbreviations I use.

dc = double crochet

ch = chain

sl st = slip stitch

rep = repeat

sk = skip

beg = beginning

rnd = round

Ch 4, join with a sl st to form a ring.

Rnd 1: ch 2 for first dc, 12 dc in ring, sl st to top of beg ch. 

(13 stitches counting the ch 2.)

Rnd 2: ch 2 for first dc, 2 dc into every dc, sl st to top of beg ch. 

Rnd 3: ch 2 for first dc, 3 dc into every other dc, sl st to top of beg ch.

Rnd 4: ch 2 for first dc, dc in 1 dc, *2 dc in 1 dc, dc in next 2 dc, rep from *, sl st to top of beg ch. 

Rnd 5: ch 2 for first dc, dc in each dc, sl st to top of beg ch. 

Repeat rnd 5 nine more times (or till edge of hat reaches eyebrows)

(Now you are going to make the face opening by only stitching the back and sides.)

Row A: ch 2 for first dc, dc in each dc for 35 stitches, (flip work around to start next row on top of the stitches you just finished).

Repeat row A five more times back and forth with 36 stitches each row counting the ch2.

At the end of the 5th row don't ch2 and flip work around. Ch 18 & sl st to top of beg ch to begin stitching in rounds again and create the collar.

Collar rnd 1: ch 2 for first dc, dc in each dc and all 18 ch st, sl st to top of beg ch.

Collar rnd 3: repeat collar rnd 1

Collar rnd 4: repeat collar rnd 1

Collar rnd 5: repeat collar rnd 1

Collar rnd 6: ch 2 for first dc, dc in 1 dc, *2 dc in 1 dc, dc in next 2 dc, rep from *, sl st to top of beg ch. 

Repeat rnd 6 three more times, fasten off and thread extra yarn into the hat. 

You're done!

Let me know if you have any questions. :) I'll be posting the full finished costumes soon!

halloween decorations

This year it was really hard to get our decorations to look like a pretty display instead of an ugly junk collection. I re-arranged all our figurines and things a million times and couldn't figure it out. Finally I remembered how one of my favorite local boutiques arranged their Halloween displays. By color! When I tried it on our stuff our home transformed! It no-longer looked like a junk shop, It looked cute and intentional. I have to say that the black paper spikes I added to the mantle added that final touch. I got that idea from All Sorts. I remembered seeing and loving her Halloween mantle years ago. My Halloween letters were inspired by her as well I think.

making costumes

 I have been having more fun making costumes this year than any other year for sure! My oldest son is being a knight and my daughter is being a flower fairy.  When my son said he wanted to be a knight I knew right a way that I wanted crochet some chain-mail armor. The pattern I made is simple and if I don't procrastinate I'll post the pattern here on my blog before Halloween. When my daughter said she wanted to be a fairy I was super excited! I LOVE fairies! She showed me this fairy from our fairy book illustrated by Cicely Mary Barker and I was smitten! I changed the leaf hat to a flower wreath / crown because I knew it would be fun to make it out of glittered felt flowers. I used my flower tutorial as well as some other tutorials like this one, and this one, and i made up some new little ones for more variety.
There is so much more to the two costumes than the head pieces but I'll share it all after I'm finished with everything.

Last years costumes

I just realized that I never posted pictures of the costumes I made for the kids last year. It was probably because I finally finished them on Halloween day. There was a robot with real lights, a pretty little owl and baby robin hood. I cant wait to get working on this years costumes. If only they would make up their minds. :)

What costumes are you making this year?

Into the halloween spirit!

I have to tell you all the secret I have been keeping... I'm pregnant!! I am about three months along now and we're so happy! This is one of the reasons I have not been blogging much. I just feel so blah! (The other reason being that I am now homeschooling two kids instead of one and it takes most of my time up.) I have to say that Halloween has me crafting again though!! Trent and I just finished painting the two vintage inspired pumpkin treat buckets last night!  We really love how they turned out!! September is totally a Halloween month for us! Wanna see our Halloweens past? Take a look here, here, and here!

what a day

It's my birthday today and I couldn't ask for more than this to make the day perfect!