crochet scarf

Late last month I gave my sister a fall themed birthday gift that included two homemade projects. Last week I shared the first part of the gift which was a small polymer clay pumpkin container. It's a cute little keepsake that will hold her tiny treasures and remind her that it's fall. 

The next part of the gift I made her is a crochet infinity (or not) scarf to keep her warm on chilly fall days. The pattern for the scarf came from this lovely book on crochet. 

I highly recommend The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stroller if you want to learn crochet. When I was starting out my nose was constantly in this book. The instructions are very straightforward and easy to follow. 

The pattern I used is actually for a bolero jacket called short 'n sweet. It is a popular pattern among crocheters. I've used the pattern to crochet a few different projects so I'm pretty familiar with the stitches. I made the jacket as a Christmas gift for my mom a couple of years ago and then used the same stitches to start this ginormous blanket that I'm pretty sure I'm going to take apart. 

I didn't mean to make it this monstrously long but after working on this blanket I had the intricate lace pattern completely memorized.

Although the scarf I made for my sister is much smaller than the blanket above, it brought on a new batch of challenges. It was the first project I had completed with very thin yarn and a tiny hook.

It took some getting used to but I really love how it came out.

Once I got the body of the scarf to the right length I added a finishing border of single crochet. My original plan was to attach the edges making it an infinity scarf but after some consideration I decided to crochet a spot at the ends for functioning buttons. This way my sister can choose to wear it as a traditional scarf or as an infinity scarf. Plus I thought the buttons would be a nice finishing detail.

But before I could sew the buttons on I had other ideas for this scarf. I love the yellow thread, and it is appropriate for fall, but because my sister is blonde I figured a darker color might suit her better.

And just like that it was dark brown! The buttons I picked out are covered in a white fabric. I wanted them to stay that way so I had to wait until I was finished dying the scarf before I could sew the on.

Once they were attached I was finished! It's so satisfying to finish a project and have it come out pretty closely to how I imagined. I hope she loves it as much as I loved making it!

pumpkin cookies

Eight days! It's been eight whole days since I wrote my last post. In the blog world... that's an eternity.

The truth is blogging takes up a crazy amount of time. And sometimes I need my time for other things. What kind of things? Well I can't say. Yet!

I've been working on a couple special projects that require a lot of time. While my deadline approaches I pretty much have to ignore everything to insure that they get done. And sadly everything includes blog time.

But it hasn't been all work! I got to play a little too. In case you didn't know, last Saturday was a special day. The first day of Autumn!!! Obviously!!

To celebrate I had to make something with pumpkin. I went with cookies.

When it comes to baking, pumpkins are truly magical. Anything you add pumpkin too will be soft and pillowy. At least in my experiences anyway.

The recipe, as usual, is a hybrid. I looked at a few recipes and picked and chose what I liked until I came up with my own. So here it is!

Pumpkin cookies:

3 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Then add pumpkin puree, egg and vanilla. Stir until mixed.

This is where I do things differently than most cookie recipes suggest. I don't mix the dry ingredients separately! Eeeep. But the world still turns. What I do is stir in a cup of flour at a time to the wet ingredients until it's all incorporated. With my last cup of flour I add the other dry ingredients; in this recipe it's salt, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice. This way you don't have to dirty another bowl. How efficient!

Once the cookie dough is all mixed up scoop tablespoon-sized balls into a sugar cinnamon mix. Fully coat the balls of cookie dough then transfer them to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

To make them look like little pumpkins I used the edge of a glass to create curved vertical lines. This also helps to flatten the cookies out a bit. And it makes them very cute!

Bake for about 10 minutes until puffy and slightly browned around the edges.

I didn't get a chance to photograph the process of mixing them up because I wanted to do it quickly. But these are just too good to keep to myself!!!  

More posts next week! I promise!!

making stuff

So, as usual, I've been busying myself with a bunch of craft projects and I wanted to share a few photos of what I've been doing. Most of these are works in progress.

This is the start of a top secret project that I will be sharing later next month. You'd think making a small pinch pot out of polymer clay would be no big deal but getting the surface even and smooth is a challenge! 

 

I made this tiny polymer clay skull for no reason in particular. After a coat or two of white paint he'll be a cute halloween accent on one of our bookshelves. 

I also made a few tiny polymer pumpkins that are about the same size as the skull above. I've got five of them made so far and I have plans for more. I love these!

I've been playing around with paper mache too. I've wanted to make a small deer head for soooooooooooooo long. I'm talking years and years. I finally started a few weeks ago. I can't wait until it's done!

This colorful piece will one day be a pillow cover. It kind of reminds me of these painted chevron candle holders I painted awhile ago.   

Oh! I finally finished one of the crochet flags I've been working on! One down, one to go.

What kind of things have you been working on??

it's almost here!

So we're halfway through August which means my favorite time of year is just around the corner. Fall officially begins on September 22nd... but to me it starts as soon as I flip my calendar to September.

I saw these in the store and even though it seemed a little early I couldn't resist!

Pumpkin room spray and pumpkin candles. My must have fall essentials. Another fall must have - Yankee Candle in autumn leaves... my all time favorite candle. I can't wait to get my hands on one this season!!

I love everything about fall! The changing leaves. Bare trees. Crisp dry air. Sweater weather!

red, orange, yellow, brown and gold. I love everything about this time of year.

(as I write this our upstairs neighbor seem to be getting new carpet. To me this means loud ripping and banging noises and every so often a sprinkling of... plaster, dust and old stuff that was once in our wood ceilings. Marvelous. Note to self - keep latte covered)

I love redecorating my apartment and the change of seasons gives me an excuse to do just that. I've been looking through all my craft supplies for fall inspirations and ideas of new apartment accessories to make.

I've collected a lot of craft stuff over the years (have you seen my craft drawer?) so to keep my fall supplies fresh on my mind I took a few photos. That way I can look at what I have on my computer and make project plans without making a mess.

I'm already getting inspired just putting these photos together!

What will you be crafting this fall?