I whipped up this little crochet teddy bear for my son for Christmas. Isn’t he cuuuute?! It was a quick and easy project! I used a free pattern from Lion Brand (you need to create a free account to view it) and made a few adjustments. I wanted a round head (it was more oval as written in the pattern) so I did my own thing for the head. I added two rounds to the arms and also did the ears differently. It had been a really long time since I broke out the hooks, so I really enjoyed making this little guy!

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Sequoia (super bulky yarn) – it needed just a tad more than one skein
Hook size: K
Safety eyes purchased on Etsy

Do you realize that we’re 4 months away from Christmas?!?! This year has just flown by. Well, honestly, the last couple months of my pregnancy crawled on so slowly that I thought I was going to go insane, but now I suddenly have this 3 month old baby and I just can’t believe it! 4 months might seem like plenty of time to prepare for Christmas, but I’ve decided to do a handmade Christmas this year, inspired by all my crochet and crafty pins on Pinterest! I also decided it would be a wonderful tradition for me to make new blankets for my kids each year. So, I’ve started working on my daughter’s afghan. I picked out this DROPS pattern (and here it is on Ravelry). I’m leaving out square 3 because I’m not really lovin’ it… but the other squares are fab! I’m also making it smaller since it’s for a little 4 year old. So far, so good! I’ve worked 4 squares so far and have 26 left to go! I hope to be done in a month so I can move on to my son’s blanket (which will look a lot like this).  Colors I’m using: pink, cream, buff, sungold, and sea blue.

I’ve also started on these adorable penguins. My daughter’s is almost done… I’ve been waiting on some safety eyes to arrive in my mailbox so I can finish it. Hers is pink and my son’s will be aqua blue.

And how adorable are these felt finger puppets?!? I’m thinking I’ll do this set plus a farm animals set (for the Old MacDonald song).

Hubby will get a hat and that will probably be the only thing I’ll make him. I’ll buy him some other stuff too, of course… It’s just harder to make stuff for guys. lol

I used to think crocheting was such an old lady hobby. I always quickly passed over any projects done in those old, muddy brown and green colors. Then, I discovered that some ladies were making really gorgeous stuff in more modern color palettes and I was hooked! (haha… hooked… get it?) First I found tons of fun hat patterns on Etsy that were perfect for my new baby boy… then I signed up for Pinterest. If you’re not on Pinterest, you are seriously missing out! Gosh, I love spending my spare time pinning away – tons and TONS of inspiration there! ANYWAYS, I started finding more links to amazing crochet patterns. I discovered Dana’s A Granny A Day blog where she shares her daily granny square and then once she has enough squares, she makes a blanket from all those squares. I am totally inspired by her gorgeous color combos and I’m hoping to crochet a blanket for one of my kids sometime this year (once I’m able to save up enough to buy all the yarn I’m going to need).

Another FABULOUS place to discover new patterns and projects is Ravelry. They have a crazy huge pattern database where you can search for free or for sale patterns.

For now, I’ve been doing fun little projects like potholders. I happened to NEED some anyway. Seriously, I only had one oven mitt and no potholders/hot pads. lol This Fanciful Flower Potholder (free pattern!) is so cute and super easy! I just love how mine turned out! See? Not old granny looking at all! lol These would make awesome gifts, don’t you think?