Classy Clutch

Let's make a pretty clutch handbag! Grab a pretty mercerized cotton and follow along! This project will help you master 2 new techniques and leave you with a great new accessory for yourself or someone you love!!

My personal favorite mercerized cotton is Sinfonia. It comes in a variety of gorgeous solids and several variegated threads and can be found at Hobby Lobby. Don't forget to take your coupon! When working with Sinfonia, I prefer to use hook size E. (For a variation: use a large hook that leaves big holes and line your clutch with a nice fabric!) OR, add a strap!! This pattern is very versatile!

To start, chain whatever width you want your clutch to be. I am chaining 39 because it looks just about large enough to hold a checkbook/wallet.

R1: HDC in 3rd ch from hk and in each st across. (38 hdc across, counting first skipped ch2 as 1 hdc)
R2-14: Ch2, turn, HDC across

When you reach the end of R14 CH 19

R15: HDC in 3rd ch from hk and in each ch across and each st across when you come to the end AbInc(Abrupt Increase) 18 times. (click on the link to familiarize yourself with this technique if you're not a regular follower of Love in the Stitches or just haven't had an opportunity to try AbInc out yet!)

R16-19: ch2, turn, HDC in each st across

R20: sl st in 19 sts, bringing you back down the "arm" of the pattern to the body. Ch 2(first hdc), HDC in next 37 sts.

R21-36: Ch 2, Turn, HDC  across (This makes up the back and the top of the clutch)

For Simple but Elegant: continue to repeat R21 until you finish R44

R45: ch1, turn, follow shell stitch pattern across the edge ending with sc. tie off and hide ends
sew together.

For a Little Something More: Follow these directions for a Cabled Front

R37: Ch 2, Turn, HDC in next 15 sts, fptc around 4th, 5th, and 6th sts from hk 2 rows below, fptc around 3each of the 3 skipped sts 2 rows below. HDC in last 16 sts.

R38: ch 2, Turn, HDC across

R 39: Ch 2, Turn, HDC in next 14 sts, fptc around next 3 fptc, HDC in next 2 sts, fptc around next 3 fptc, HDC in next 15 sts.

R40: Repeat row 38

R41: Ch 2, Turn, HDC in next 13 sts, fptc around next 4 fptc, HDC in next 4 sts, fptc around next 4 fptc, HDC in next 14 sts.

R42: Repeat Row 38

R43: Repeat Row 39

R44: Repeat Row 38

R45 - 52: Repeat Rows 37-44

R53: Repeat Row 37

R54: (scalloped edge) ch1, turn, sc in first st, follow shell stitch pattern across the edge ending with sc. tie off and hide ends. Sew together.

Watch for our drawing! I will post pictures of the May giveaway next week!! Everyone who is a follower of the blog and posts a comment to the Giveaway post will be entered to win!

Click HERE for some Tips on the Classy Clutch.

As always,
Happy Hooking!
Mama Nettie

Well, the nails in the

board in the backyard found my baby boys foot...or rather his foot found them on Monday. My poor little E Bug was stuck so badly that I had to pull him free. Thank heaven he is up to date on his tetanus shots. We still made a fast trip to the doctor and got him seen about.

Have you ever had one of those days where you remain totally calm on the outside, but on the inside your flipping out???...yeah...that was totally Monday for me. Of course E picked 12:30 to step on the board, so the Dr's office was closed for lunch. I got him cleaned up and bathed he and L and got all of the kiddos ready to go with full knowledge that we'd be either going to the Dr or to the ER as soon as I spoke to the nurse, but when she called me back she said that they were booked up for the afternoon and I should, and get this all you other mom's, I should go to the ER and then IF they decided that he needed a tetanus shot I could call back and schedule an appointment for the following day with his dr's office.

Well, I don't know about you guys, and I'm not sure how your ER's work, but I am an extremely busy woman. I blog, I crochet, I keep my house and 2 other houses on the side, I take in laundry, and I care for my 3 beautiful children, one of which has severe, life threatening food allergies...so it's complicated and time consuming. I don't just have time to sit for 2-3 hours in the ER and then drive across town again the following day and sit in the Dr's office for an hour. So, as you can imagine, I was a little frustrated with that suggestion. I was very calm and sweet and I said, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be contentious and I trust the nurse and will do what she thinks is best, but can you ask her why she wants me to go and sit in the ER with all of my children today and then come back into your office tomorrow?"  Suddenly, and quite conveniently for me, there was a cancellation and we were able to get E in to see the Dr and start a round of antibiotics.

While we were at the dr's office L peed through his clothes (He does that in one pee!!) and guess, just guess what I was completely out of in the diaper bag!!!!!! I'm that mom. That crazy wierdo mom that carries a huge diaper bag and has everything from neosporin to a change of socks for my potty training kiddos and a baggie to put the wet things in. It was so foreign to me to be without a diaper that I nearly fell to the floor in tears.  You should have seen the dr's face. She could tell that I was having a completely off day. I just looked at her and said "I guess everyone has to have their off days once in a while." and she nodded and brought me a diaper.

So, to make a long story only slightly longer, Monday poured over onto Tuesday a tiny bit, but by 4:30pm things were finally normalizing again. On a crochet note, I got the drawing prize mailed out and I crocheted a short sleeved summer cardigan for B. I used this pattern which I've used before and love! I made a couple of variations to it to make it fit B, and I made a flower for the lapel, and didn't it turn out darling?!!

Tell me about your off days...let me know I'm not alone!  I'd love your comments. Also, don't forget to click the link and check out this pattern. It is the easiest and most fun cardigan I've made, and one of the only ones I've made more than once in 28 years of crochet! (Yes I am counting all the way back to the moment that my Mama started teaching me to chain stitch and if you don't then you should! I think it's when the love for crochet was embedded into my soul!)

I was watching...

my babies play together today. B is getting ready for her first really big dance recital and as the oldest in the family she has taken it upon herself to teach the steps to her younger siblings. I am listening to them giggle and laugh and run and tumble into one another in the living room floor. When I turned to watch for a little while B is doing her "professional" (for a 4 year old) dance moves while E stands next to her in an over sized t-shirt and underpants that are on inside out and backwards, and does his best to copy her movements, and then there's my little L quite literally running circles around them both and singing "go L, go L" at the top of his lungs(always so proud of his accomplishments).

Suddenly tears sting my eyes and my heart is overflowing down my face as I am taken back 20 years to my own childhood. I remember my brother's first Tae-Kwon-Do demonstration. I remember how proud and excited he was and how he loved teaching us each step and technique in his routine. I remember how much love I felt for my brother and sister during the time that we were learning and playing together like that. It was so beautiful to look at my children and see that love between them.



B noticed that I was taking pictures and said "hang on mommy. Ok, now!" and set down her bubbles and struck a pose! L is looking at her like "you are crazy..you know that, right?"



So, for now dance is to them what Tae-Kwon-Do was to us. I wonder what their camper will be! We had an old camper. The kind that was built to slide onto/into the bed of a pickup. It was tiny, but it was ours! We spent hours out there playing. I was the little mama even then. I would clean and make curtains and pretend to make dinner...out of chips and sandwiches that I brought from the house, while Brandon and Crystal would play games. I was the banker in Monopoly. I didn't even play most of the time, but I loved to be the banker!

There are days when it is really difficult to have babies so close together. I know my mother felt the same way. But I look at them and how well they communicate with eachother the majority of the time, and how much they learn from one another, and I wouldn't change it for the world. There are so many priceless moments every day, so many moments that take me back and remind me of my precious family, and so many moments that make the future look so bright and beautiful!

What do your kiddos do that takes you back? I'd love your comments.
Mama Nettie

The Winner!!

Hey guys,

This was my first drawing ever! I know lots that I'll do differently. I'll post this on the correct day for one! I did message the winner, but I haven't heard back from her. ANNIE!!  You won the drawing!! Please get back to me and let me know where to send your prize!  You can contact me at mamanettiescrochet@gmail.com.

I look forward to hearing from you!
I will do another drawing next month, so if you didn't win, don't give up! Just follow my blog and let us hear from you!!

<3 Nettie

On the Birdie Band Wagon!

A while back I posted a picture of an "Angry Birds" hat that I made for my son L. He loves it and several people have requested the pattern so I decided to go ahead and write it down. I'm sure that it isn't without issues. Again, I'm new at writing down my crazy, spur of the moment, "I can make that!" moments!  If you have problems, please message me and let me know so that I can correct the pattern. As always, thanks for visiting my blog, and Happy Hooking!!

Angry Birds Hat

Supplies Needed:

Size I hook and a yarn needle

Red yarn

White yarn

Orange yarn

Black yarn

Small amount of stuffing

*PSM – Place Stitch Marker* (I recommend moving a stitch marker up as you go, you can use an actual stitch marker or a safety pin or a small length of yarn. )

Basic HDC Beanie with 4 rows of White, 7 rows of Red and then basic decrease and top closure. The beanie can be made any size, so alter it to fit anyone you like! If you have trouble, just message me at mamanettiescrochet@gmail.com and we can alter it together!  The Angry Bird’s face will be great no matter the hat size!

Beginning with White:

Chain 55, sl st to make lp

R1: sc1, PSM, HDC around

R2-3: HDC around, PSM as you go

R4: HDC around, sc in stitch with stitch marker, tie on red, sl st in next st (leave a length of white and cut)

R5: sc 1, PSM, HDC around

R6-11: HDC around, PSM as you go

R12: dec over st marker, 4 HDC,( dec, 4 HDC ) around

R13: dec over st marker, 3 HDC, (dec, 3 HDC ) around

R14: dec over st marker, 2 HDC, (dec, 2 HDC ) around

R 15: dec over st marker, 1 HDC, (dec, 1 HDC) around

R 16: dec, 1 HDC, (dec, 1 HDC) around (will be really small)

R17: dec, dec around. Ch 1 and pull tight to make a knot. Leave a length of yarn to sew top shut and cut.

Face Decals:

Eye Brows:

Ch 20

R1: HDC in 3^rd CH and next 7, dec over next 3, HDC in remaining 8 sts, tie off leaving a long length of yarn and cut.

Eyes:

Tie onto bottom of brow. Eye will be 5 sts wide, center it on each side, or you can ch 5 to start and sew the eyes on separately.

R1: 5 sc

R2: 5 HDC in center sc, sl st to last sc. Tie off and cut

Beak:

R1: Ch2, 3sc in 1^st ch

R2: SC in 1^st sc, PSM, (2 SC, 1SC)around

R3: 2SC in next st, PSM, (1 SC, 2 SC) around

R4: 1SC in each st, PSM

R5-6: (2SC, 1SC, 2SC, 1SC) around

Tie off leaving a length of yarn and cut

Feathers:

Big Feather:

CH2

R1: 6sc in 1^st ch

R2: 2Sc in each st (12)

R3-5: Sc in each st around

R6: (dec, sc 4, dec, sc 4) around

R7: (dec, sc 3, dec sc 3) around

R8-11: sc in each st around

Small Feather: Repeat big feather stopping after R8.

Take a small length of black yarn and make a knot to make a pupil for each eye.

Stuff the beak and feathers, sew the decals to the hat and there you have it! Ready to go!

Enter To Win!!

Hey guys! I am posting a pattern for my first time! If you try it I'd love to know what you think.  I wish I had a tiny baby to photograph this blanket and hat set on and with but my sweet little ones are getting so big!  Anyway, the pattern for the blanket is below, I wasn't brave enough to try writing out the pattern for the hat just yet.

I will also be GIVING AWAY the finished set that you see in these photos!  Follow my blog and post a quick comment and you'll be entered to win! Even if you don't have a tiny baby who would enjoy this set, it would make a wonderful gift!

You have until 12:00 Noon on Monday, April 9th to enter and the winner will be announced on the following Tuesday morning! Best of luck!

Special Stitches:  Note – read these stitches even if their names are familiar. I may do mine differently, and of course if you have any trouble, do not get frustrated, message me first. I’m a crochet person…not a pattern writer, I’ll gladly walk you through.

CTC - Crossed TC stitch: Skip 2 sts, Work TC in 3rd st, ch 1, Work Tc in 1st skipped st going in front of previous TC (so that stitches cross making an X) Note:To work this stitch in the corner, do not skip any stitches, Work TC in corner stitch, ch 1, and work another TC in corner st in front of previous TC to make an X

PUFF - Puff Stitch: Yarn over, Draw up a loop, 3 times, 7 Loops on hook, Yarn over and pull through all 7 loops.

This pattern calls for 2 colors of Bulky weight yarn.

Size K hook

Basic Blanket:

With color 1: Chain 41

Row 1: HDC in 3rd ch from hk and in each ch across. (ch 2 = 1st HDC throughout)

Rows 2-30: CH2 and turn, HDC in each st across(Do not tie off...do not cut)

Border

Round 1: Chain 5, Do not turn, work crossed TC stitch in the corner, Work Crossed TC stitches around and join with slip stitch in 3rd ch of ch 5. (note: There will be a couple of times when you have to put a TC in a stitch that you've already stitched in, in order to finish out the edge, that's ok, it is incredibly forgiving and the next row will make it lay beautifully.)

Round 2: Tie on color 2 and cut color 1. In the corner Ch 1 space, PUFF, ch2, PUFF, *Ch 2, PUFF, Ch 2, PUFF, ch 2 * across. In corner Puff St, Ch 3, Puff St. Continue around. Slip stitch to top of first puff stitch to finish round. Note: Puff stitches go in the ch 1 spaces of the previous row.

Round 3:  ch 2, do not turn. 2 sc in each ch 1 space and 1 sc on top of each puff stitch, 6 sc in each corner space between 2 puff stitches. slip st to connect.

Round 4:  Ch 2, HDC in each st around, except around corners: in corners - HDC in the first 2sts, 2 HDC in the next 2sts, and HDC in last 2 sts.  Slip st to connect.

Round 5:  Chain 5, do not turn, work round of crossed TC stitches.

Change to color 1. 

Round 6:  Work round of PUFF stitches, same as Round 2 above.

Round 7:  Work round of single crochet 2 sc in each ch 1 space and 1 sc on top of each PUFF, 5 sc in each corner space between 2 PUFFS. slip st to connect. tie off and weave in ends.

So I fell off...

the blogging wagon in a bad way! There are about a half a dozen new posts begun to get me back on track, but after missing a year and a half, WHERE DO YOU START???!

So, my thinking is, you just start or you never will. I know it's not incredibly deep, but it's what I'm telling myself so that I'll go ahead and post even though there's a huge gap of time. I want to know you guys and I want you all to know me! I'm a mom too! I'm a hard working, barely sleeping, sometimes crazy mom. Just like all of you....admit it...I already know it's true. (If you're not, this is not an invitation to inform me...If I'm a weirdo then I prefer to stay in the dark about it!)

Things about me that are new since my last post... We found out that my youngest baby, L, suffers from severe life threatening food allergies.

His allergies include Nuts, Milk, All Dairy, Eggs, and Wheat. We have to keep a label on him at all times since some of his most severe allergens can be used as binding agents in emergency medications. I found a wonderful store on Etsy.com called Creative Clam that is run by really wonderful people. Tracey helped me design these ribbons for L and I sew them on the sleeve of each of his shirts.

They wash great and transfer easily when he outgrows his clothes. Figuring out what to feed him was quite a challenge at first, but it was nice to know why he had been crying so very much at night. His little tummy just hurt all the time. We also had several close calls with anaphylactic reactions to nuts, milk, and egg.

That's the only really big change for me, it altered the way we live life around here as you can imagine. We are all healthier for it though.

As far as crochet is concerned lots is going on as usual. Let's just jump right into the last few weeks. I received a custom order for a wool skirtie! It turned out really cute! I used a slight variation to

stitch 18 from Leisure Arts Triple Play Pattern Stitches, an absolutely wonderful resource for

anyone who loves crochet! Ok, here's my variation. When doing this stitch in the round, you have to chain 5 instead of 3 when starting the row of crossed treble crochets. The chain 5 counts as the first tc and ch1. You can see that the skirty increases in size as it comes down from the waist. I did the increase on the row with the puff stitch. Between every other puff stitch I added an extra chain. Then on the row with the single crochet, I added one extra sc on each chain space that had an extra chain. It worked out perfectly.

My friend Sarah shares a pattern for a baby blanket using this stitch in her blog Engineered Crochet as well, and she shares her own border pattern! You can also see how the stitch can look

quite different when using a larger hook! Crochet is so awesome that way! It is so easy to change and adapt to whatever you want it to be by changing something as small as the hook size or how tightly you hold your thread!

I don't know about you guys, but my children have totally jumped on the "Angry Birds" band

wagon and are completely nuts for the game. They have so much fun playing, and even more fun with the plush toys that we were given at Christmas time. So...I got this idea that I could make a hat for my youngest. L has a special love for Angry Birds, so one night I just sat down and designed this hat out of my head. There are definitely a couple of changes that I'll make on my next one, but all in all I think it turned out really cute!!

And, last but not least, here is a teeny tiny little space alien that I made as a birthday gift for my friend Step to set on her desk. I found the pattern at JoAnn Fabrics when my son E and I went in there after his last check up from having tubes put in his ears. It

was a free pattern, but I can't seem to find a link for it. It was SOOO simple. Just a basic round ball using 2 threads a regular yarn and an eyelash thread. The antennae and eyes are rather self explanatory. If you decide you want to make one and can't figure it out, just message me and I'll walk you through it. I added a tiny bit of gravel in the bottom to make it heavier and make it sound a little like a hacky sack when you move it around. It just turned out really cute!