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Feather Cloud Glow Mist

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I am obsessed with this yarn! It is a lace weight, mohair-silk blend, in this amazing color scheme: Palomino Heather . I love it so much, love it, love it, love love love. It feels amazing, like... a feather cloud glow mist. I know, I know, that is a silly name for this post. But, well, I do have a history of making up silly names. Like,  Fireworks Cake Volcano Circus .  😂 So, yea, this sweet new piece is all about feather, cloud, glow, mist. Those are the things I think when I try to touch it, when it apparently touches back. It is barely there, can hardly feel the full weight of it, like almost no weight at all. Amazing. It looks so beautiful, in every light. So magically gorgeous, just hard to describe how incredibly fabulous this yarn is. Here is how their website describes it:  " Appearing as a warm-toned neutral from a distance, Palomino Heather is a complex heather when you get up close. Hints of purple and magenta are swirled with the more prominent light pink, ...
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Flower Roll-Ups

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  I love making these pretty little pieces! Thank you, Yarned and Dangerous , for always providing such a great variety of gorgeous yarn. These sweet mini-flowers are perfect for spring time, and perfect any time. I chose two variations, one with spindly petals, and the other that rolls up like a carnation. Both are quick and easy patterns from a great book: I made a dozen of each kind, and gave them to my students as examples they could work from. So fun! Several of my students made their own variation right there during class time. Fantastic! Here is a whole folder of way too many pics of me having way too much fun working on these cutey patooties:   Flower Roll Ups .  Now that I've made these two, I want to make more, and variations, and different sizes, and more and many more. 😆  I can imagine making a mini-tree version, with a brown base (instead of green) and modifying the spindly petals to be more leaf-like. That will be fun to play around with. 😍 Colorful Y...
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Fun and Easy Amigurumi

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  This Cactus Kit is so cute and fun! 🤩 Then, I had to make a cute little lizard to go with it . The first lizard was made out of leftover yarn from the kit - and he turned out a little too bulky. But I still love him. 😍  So, then I did the exact same lizard pattern but now using super fine yarn - and wow! What a cutey patootey difference that made! Not easy to work with, but love how that fine year looks. It works up so slow and difficult... almost not worth it. Probably will not be doing any more amigurumi with fine yarn. 😂 Here's whole folder of pics, showing how much fun I had with this kit and these lizards: Cacti Fun and Friends I have a new love affair going on with fun stuffed crochet cuteness, and it all started here: Swampy Amigurumi
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Simple Hats

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  This Simple Sun Hat pattern from Yarnspirations is so cute - I made two of them! 🤩 And the Super Snappy Top Hat pattern (by Heidi Yates, for Snappy Tots ) is a delightful fave of mine. ( Silly Hats and more ). I had so much fun making these three easy pieces. Perfect examples for my beginner crochet class. No showing off. 😎 Here's a folder of too much fun: Simple Hats
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Keepin' it simple

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  I love a simple scarf! 😍 Look at those beautiful colors! This was an interesting experiment. Both of the above came from the same skein, of a Carnival color scheme from Hobbii Yarns. The top piece is working short rows of sc going vertically with the scarf, and the bottom piece is working long rows of sc going horizontally with the scarf. What an interesting difference the direction makes! Two completely different scarves, same single crochet stitch the whole way.  I love the look and the texture of that sc stitch. Nothing fancy about this, and the simple beauty just glows through! I know, I would LOVE to embellish both with some fringe and ruffle. 😎 But, this little experiment is all about keeping it simple, because these examples are for a show-and-tell with my Beginner Crochet Class. I am super excited to be teaching a class at the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center .  🤩 Here's a whole folder of fun with these pieces: Simple Scarves . So many great colors! I experimente...
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Forest Witch Queen shawl

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  I can explain. 😆 This piece exists now because I simply could not put leftovers of the Northwoods Wedding shawls into a bin that might get forgotten. I had to create something, anything, out of those leftovers, and this coronation robe for a forest witch queen is what happened. 😎 It is exactly the same base pattern as the gorgeous Granny Shawls I made for the bridesmaids of my dearest deary dear, Moriah. And the only added embellishment, just a teeny bit of extra yarn, nothing much really, is the faux fur that I thought would be wonderful trim, but uh, didn't really work out for a wedding look.  Yea, so that failed experiment went into the leftover bin, but it never left my mind.  I had way too much fun making this monster pseudo-shawl: Queen of the Woods .  And now I plan on making several more. I'm thinking that the pink poodle faux fur will be perfect trim for the next one, with purple base yarn, and possibly sparkle fringe, also a ruffle or two. 😂 Faux Fur...
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New Year Fringe Fest Ruffle'mania

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So much happening in this picture, I can't stop staring. And I can't decide which detail I want more. 😎 The fringe, obviously. But, also those ruffles. And then, there's the compressed yarn scraps in those cool containers. All the things I love the most. 😍 Over Christmas break I had plenty of crochet time, and I binged on all my favorites: easy patterns, colorful combinations, and all the embellishments. This three-piece set got more embellished every hour. From ruffle to double-ruffle, and from fringe fest to monster fringe fest. 🤩 I love them hanging out, and I love them all bundled up. With the right posing, they almost look like three cozy characters in a crochet adventure.   Hey, that sounds like an idea for board game design. 😁 Yes, stay tuned. My fantastically creative cousin, Cathy, and my spectacularly nerdy brother, Frank, and I are all in geek plan mode, starting to develop a board game based on crochet. We are open to your discussion. Post questions, or an...
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Jellyfish Hat

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  I absolutely loved making this twisted piece of colorful fun! It is a masterpiece of curly, cute craziness, all thanks to a great pattern, Twisted Jellyfish , from an amazing creator, The Twisted Hatter .  She is a crochet genius, and I am obsessed with her work. I first learned about her twisted genius pieces from my friendly friend at the Salty Stitchery  (who is another creative genius in crochet), like a starting chain of sharing nerdy crochet inspirations. Crochet Gawking .  I love this community of creators!   Look at those curls! 🤩 I love making curls, and this pattern introduced me to a couple of new techniques for widening them, plus making them do curly variations, and embellishing them with edges and fun options. I do have a longtime love affair going on with colorful curls . To me, a swirly curl is a fun variation on my first love, The Ruffle Monster . 😎 I am so happy to have learned a few new tricks about this technique for ruffle lovers....
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Holiday Sparkle

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  A sparkly scarf makes the perfect holiday gift wrap! 😎 It is like wrapping up with a handful of tinsel. This amazing yarn isn't actually yarn, I think. Maybe. Not sure, exactly. 😻 It is basically a metallic thread that is simply gorgeous, so colorful and sparkle'tastic, it is like disco ball magic for crochet art. 🤩 I bought four shimmering cakes of this at my favorite yarn store , Yarned & Dangerous . I used only two of the cakes for this little mesh scarf project, and now I'm wondering what I should create with the other two. I'm feeling something kinda disco-dream-like in the future, maybe. 🪩 The two strands of sparkle yarn makes it look so fancy, but this simple mesh scarf is not difficult. Just the same easy peasy pattern that I love doing. A few more examples... Sunrise Sherbert ,   Autumn Trio ,  Blue Moon , Devil'icious ,  Hippie Chicks , Pretty, Simple ,   Yea, just a few. 😆 That's a half dozen examples of several dozens of e...
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Swampy Amigurumi

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  I crocheted a few playful pieces as a wedding gift for Brian & Kendall. 😍 Their Swamp Wedding theme was the inspiration for this collection, and I had so much fun making it all! Every piece was a learning curve for me, and a little adventure. This was my first time doing amigurumi, and now I'm all in. 😎 So grateful to the mother of the groom, my New Orleans cousin, Linda, for the design inspiration on this theme. Thanks to the Swamp Wedding, I have learned so much making these cute critters, it has taken my crochet skills to the next level. 🤩 Two helpful books got me started: Here's some pics of the patterns: amigurumi patterns The first thing I made was a silly hat for the bride and groom. Swampy versions of these  Silly Hats ,  which have been a joy to make every time: Silly Hats in Action . Thanks, Snappy Tots , for a great pattern. Very fun to do these hats in swampy colors!  These hats also made perfect buckets for stashing the critters.  After the...
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