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!

What an amazing week it has been...

Nix that! What an amazing month it has been!! Things have been insane!! Mostly in a good way. L has hardly slept and is fighting the idea of eating anything besides breastmilk....so...I'm exhausted! I've finally found that he prefers anything that I am eating, or Italian foods, such as spaghetti, or ravioli, or lasagna!

Lasagna sauce on his forehead and pure joy in his eyes!!! I LOVE IT!!!!

As far as crochet is concerned...

I have made another pair of wool Sock Monkey shorties, like the ones that I made for Brandi a few months back, and I came up with a pattern that I'm calling Sock Monkey Sally!! It's a darling little sock monkey shorty for a girl!!

Here is a picture of the little skirt/poncho's that my mom designed!! Aren't they awesome???!! Check out the other new product photos that Brandi has done for me on my etsy page!! So awesome!

I came across a remnant of the cutest little bug fabric...

you ever saw!!! I thought it would be perfect for a little dress for my B to wear for her birthday!!! I'm really excited!! I'm going to crochet the bodice and probably a couple of little bugs to go on clips in her hair!!You know how it is when you're designing something from scratch?? It takes about a million times as long to finish because you are designing as you go, and sometimes that means taking it out 365 times before you get it just right. Well...that's where I am. I was looking for a stitch that would give it some texture and still be tight and modest. I think I found it!!! Isn't this darling??!! The part that you see here is the waistband, I am working the bodice from the bottom to the top. I'm thinking that I'll just add the flecks of the red every few rows. I find myself really wishing that I had some bright yellow, but oh well. I think it will really turn out cute! More photos to come...of course!

Here's a funny picture of my L. He is so obviously a 3rd child!! He sleeps through almost anything! Check out these toddler tossed surroundings!!! LOL ...and still he looks so peaceful!!B found a poncho/shawl that was mine when I was 4 or 5! She immediately wanted it on and she wore it most of the day yesterday!!! She, of course, had to have a hat with it. No matter that it was 100 degrees outside...or that we didn't have a hat that matched at all!!!

I wish I had thought to take a picture of her during nap too! She wore it as a blanket!! So sweet!