Aaaand I’m back!

It has been far too long! I haven’t blogged at all here for months, and since I’ve been doing a lot of crafting lately I figured it would be a good time to jump back in. Here are some of the projects I’ve had up my sleeve over the last several months.

          

The most important project has been our BABY! (10 weeks TODAY!)

My wife Ashley and I are expecting our first baby in May of next year, and after the year and a half that it took us to conceive, we have become very fond of the staff at ACFS. We have been planning gifts for them pretty much the whole time, and we were so excited to give them these gifts that we have been holding onto for what seems like FOREVER. For Dr, Nemiro, the doctor that originally got be pregnant  and performed Ashley’s cystectomy in May in order to save her ovary so she could conceive, we wanted to do something personal. At our first consultation, we commented on how we loved his socks. I can’t remember which socks he was wearing, because this was 18 months ago, but he loves to wear crazy socks and a nice watch to express his personality (black scrubs are pretty drab!) We promised him on that day that when we were pregnant we would buy him some socks, so we did! We also got him a stuffed sperm cell, ha! Also, when I had scarlet fever earlier this year:

He asked me how I figured out that I had scarlet fever and not just some rash. I told him that I had Googled it, and proceeded to tell everyone that we didn’t even need doctors anymore, because Google can diagnose anything. Ashley laughed and said, “But we still need him, Google can’t get you pregnant.” We all thought that was hilarious, and Dr. Nemiro even said that he would love to get a sign that said that so he could hang it up in his office. Do you get where this is going?

Cross stitched, just for him, lol! (be careful what you wish for!)

For his wife, Gina (who has been our nurse), we bought her favorite bottle of wine (we called months ago and had the office staff nonchalantly ask her what he favorite was) and a stuffed human ovum!  The office manager, Michelle, got a card and a stuffed Mickey Mouse doll (we share a love of Disney).

Lisa, our main nurse, deserved something very special! We got her a card, of course, and a stuffed Herpes virus (since she once told us the tale of a patient who did not inform her that she was having a herpes outbreak, and it’s been an inside joke for a while now), some chocolates and this little gal:

I had never embroidered before, so I thought I would bust out my gear and make something special for her. I think it turned out pretty adorable, if I do say so myself! It’s in a 6 inch hoop, so I left it in the hoop for her to hang in her office. We also gave her a framed picture of the three of us.

For Shane, the doctor who just recently joined the practice and is the one who got Ashley pregnant, we have him some socks so he can literally “follow in the footsteps” of Dr. Nemiro. He’s a huge Seinfeld fan, so I am working on a cross stitched sign for him that says “No soup for you!” We will see how that turns out! (no pics of that one… yet!)

Nothing for the best for our friends in that office… how can you not love people who put magazines like THESE in the ultrasound room of a fertility clinic? LOL

In addition to making/buying gifts for our friends at ACFS, I’ve also been working on a few other small things.

For Ashley’s birthday, I made her a quilt of all the shirts we have grown out of or put aside for sentimental reasons. I combined shirts from her life before me, my life before her and of course some of our lives together! (See that DARE shirt? I was wearing it the day we met!)

We’ve been playing with food, too… Some things, like this owl cake we made for our friend Kaitlyn, have turned out just fine:

                       

and others, not so much!

Ashley’s boss had a beautiful baby girl a few months ago, and we made these darling little gifts for the baby shower:

And our friend Michael’s little girl Haidyn (you may remember the baby blanket that I made for her when she was born!) turned TWO this year, so I made her an Elmo (or “Momo” if you ask her) (No pattern to link to here, 😦 I patterned this little guy on my own and didn’t write anything down while doing it!)

It’s been a busy year for us, and we are looking forward the adventures we we’ll encounter along the way with the impending arrival of our beautiful baby!

Until next time…

D

Mod Podge – The Best Stuff Ever!

So I’m a little bit of a Pinterest addict (who isn’t these days?), and I keep seeing these pins that show crappy artwork covered up with vinyl letters, and painted over with acrylic paint. When you peel off the letters, it’s suddenly super awesome! Until last night, I had never used Mod Podge before, but I saw it everywhere. I’m also one of those pinners that pins all sorts of neat things and then NEVER goes back again to actually do the project. I decided to turn that around this weekend and get some stuff DONE! 😀

Lennon turns 1!

So this has nothing to do with crafts, but I just have to share it. My baby bulldog, Lennon, is 1! She’s a doll, and I adore her, so here is a little collage Ashley put together commemorating Lennon’s first year on Earth. We love her floppy lips, her crooked bottom teeth and even her smelly gas. She is wonderful 😀

 

Scrapbooking

I should have never gotten into this, because now I am seriously addicted. Last August, Ashley and I went to Pennsylvania to see her grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. While there, MommyMom (Ashley’s grandmother) showed me all the work she had been doing on her Disney World scrap book. Guess who immediately decided it was time to start scrapping?

I don’t pretend to be an expert in any of the crafts that I do, I am a true believer that the journey of crafting is just as important (if not more important) than the actual finished project. With that being said, I have been working on my first scrapbooking project for about 6 months now and I have learned a lot!

One thing I am a massive fan of is the Perfect Layers tool. It is seriously the most awesome thing I have ever worked with in my life! If you’re a scrapbooker, you know what a pain in the ass matting your photos can be. MommyMom turned me on to this tool and I can’t imagine ever working without it. Check it out!

Anyway, the main point of this post is to share some of my spreads and a nifty background page I recently made. Here’s what they look like:

Chemo Caps!

In November, my mother in law, Lorraine, was diagnosed with breast cancer. I immediately started searching the internet for free hat patterns so she would have some cute coverups for when she lost her hair. I was lucky enough to stumble upon Brimming With Love, and fell in love with their awesome patterns. The one that I chose to use was Milly’s Tie Hat Pattern, and I have to say that they turned out so beautifully. So far I have made 3 for her, and I am currently entertaining the thought of cutting up an old unfinished tunic-top that I was working on back in the day to make another… it’s a gorgeous royal purple Egyptian cotton! I am also going to work on making her a coral colored hat to go with some nice new tops that she has.

If you know anyone who is going through chemo, these make lovely gifts. Depending on the fabric used, they can be warm for winter or just enough to protect sensitive skin in the summer. I’m considering buying a jersey cotton sheet set from Target and making a whole bunch for Lorraine to pass out at chemo. I guess it all depends on time 🙂

Here are the finished products!

 

The fabrics

Fat Kid’s Delight – EXTRA Creamy Potato Soup

I came across a recipe on Pinterest a while back that was for Creamy Cauliflower Soup. To me, it sounded like it would be a really yummy and healthy spin on potato soup, so I gave it a shot. It was fabulous! The only shitty part is that I am the only one who thinks so, and I don’t foresee it being made again any time soon. 😦 If you do feel like trying it out (I promise, it’s delicious… as long as you like cauliflower) I spiced it up a little by adding just a tiny pinch of cinnamon. The recipe already calls for nutmeg, and I thought just the teensiest bit of cinnamon would really kick it up. (I was right!)

So the point of the story is that Ashley was very upset that I made some cauliflower soup instead of something more to her liking. She desperately wanted some potato soup. What resulted was hands down the unhealthiest thing I’ve ever eaten… kind of. I guess eating an entire bag of Doritos is pretty unhealthy… so let’s just say that this is the unhealthiest legitimate meal that I’ve ever eaten. Ok, here it goes. Prepare and eat at you own risk. (It’s totally worth it, I promise.)

I give you… FAT KID’S DELIGHT: The Ultimate in Creamy Potato Soup

Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes with Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting – Recipe

These cupcakes were a huge hit when I made them yesterday for Ashley’s birthday. I made these on a whim and made the recipe up as I went along, so hopefully this recipe will work out!

A Blankie For Haidyn

Hello there! It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, mostly because there isn’t much time between work and school for crochet! One project that I did work very hard on over the last month was a baby blankie for the new baby of my friends Michael and Jeffrey, miss Haidyn Lee Traversino. She’s precious as can be, and a soft pink blanket is just right for a little princess.

The pattern is one from Lion Brand. I usually have a hard time finding good patterns from them, because most of them are either very outdated or just downright ugly. They do have great afghan patterns though (including the 5 1/2 hour throw, which I have been dying to try out) and of course this pattern, The Carson City Afghan, which was the inspiration for this project. Here’s a look at the picture provided in the pattern:

The pattern calls for Baby’s First yarn from Lion Brand, but I went for Vanna’s Choice in Pink instead. I’m a huge fan of Vanna’s Choice for a lot of reasons, most of which I think I’ve shard here before. While it’s not very sturdy for Amigurumi work (for Amis I usually go with Red Heart, a brand that I usually avoid for everything else) the colors are extremely rich, the texture is lovely, and the yarn is machine washable. I just can’t get enough of this yarn.

This pattern used a K hook, which was awesome in the interest of time. I managed to punch this blanket out in about a week. The V Stitch pattern (made by a very simple dc1, ch1, dc1) works up fast and is also very pretty when it’s all done. (I posted a picture of a closeup of the pattern below) Instead of the frilly edge shown in the pattern, I opted for a single crochet around the outside to make it look a little neater. I was already planning on embellishing the blanket with a letter H, and I didn’t want it to look to busy.

As for the H, I worked 13 or so rows of 3 sc (made 2) and attached them with a couple more rows of sc. Then I went around in a sc to outline the entire letter. I didn’t follow the pattern, but you can find an awesome alphabet pattern here.

Here is a look at the process. Be prepared, I took a ton of pictures while working this pattern! And of course a ton of Haidyn enjoying the creation 😀

Just home from Joann with all my supplies! (Including a bamboo handled crochet hook… incredible! I will never go back)

Getting there…

Nearly full size.

A nice view of the V Stitch Pattern

I just had to test out the size… I figured Gus was about the size of a newborn.. 😉

Completed, with the H attached.

Happy birthday, Haidyn!

Proud Papas

Meeting Makenzie and Alexis for the first time… They weren’t to sure about her!

I hope Haidyn’s life is as fabulous as she is… and I hope her blankie gets to go on all sorts of adventures with her!

My next couple projects are finishing Ashley’s Mario and Slytherin blankets, some Amigurumi for my cousins Aero, Hannah and Kort, and a cozy for Ashley’s grandmother (we call her Mommmy Mom) to store her external hard drive in. Pictures to come, of course, unless I stay this busy and never crochet again!

Peace, love, Potter!

– D

Slytherin Afghan, Mario Plushie – Projects for Ashley

Two projects that I’m working on right now are a green and silver striped Slytherin afghan and a Mario plushie. Both are moving along slowly right now, but since it’s Valentine’s Day, I thought I would share some things that I’m making especially for Ashley!

♥ Slytherin Afghan

I found this pattern while browsing around on Lion Brand, but I changed a few little things from the pattern. Instead of using multiple colors, I stick to alternating the green and silver. Also, the blanket is crocheted with Carron Simply Soft instead of Vanna’s Choice (though Vanna’s Choice would be awesome for this project.) The stitch is very repetitive and easy to learn. It’s just three double crochets, ch 3, repeat. This is a great project to zone out while working on (something that’s hard to do while constantly counting stitches for smaller projects) I really wanted to make something in the Slytherin colors for Ash, and I absolutely loved this pattern as soon as I saw it.

The original pattern.

 

 

 

Progress:

 

 

A closer look at the stitch.

 

♥ Mario Plushie

When I first started this project, I had no idea how huge it would end up being. I was definitely expecting an Amigurumi as opposed to a stuffed animal, but he’s coming along very nicely all the same. I used Red Heart for this entire project because I was on a serious budget when I purchased the materials. He is crocheted using a G hook, and I think the hook and the yarn weight make a really nice tight-but-loose stitch that works well for this type of project.

This pattern is really great and it’s provided for free by WolfDreamer at her blog. Her work is fantastic, and the level of detail in her pattens is extremely helpful. I’m hoping to be done with this soon so I can see the finished product. So far, it’s looking good!

 

Starting the body.

 

Head with nose and mustache pre-attachment.

 

Body Assembled.

 

The original pattern by WolfDreamer.

 

So right now it’s just his hat, eyes, nose, mustache, hair, legs, feet and suspenders that need to be added. All the needed parts are small, so here’s to hoping that I will have something to show for all of this work soon.

Well that’s it for tonight…. hopefully I’ll have some more work done on both of these projects soon so I can continue to share them.

Happy hooking! ❤

First Post, Past Projects

Well hello there! Welcome to Too Legit To Knit, a place where I hope to get all of the crochet out of my system so the non-crocheting people in my life won’t have to put up with it anymore!

Right now, I have several projects in the works. The main ones are a Mario Plushie and Slytherin Afghan for my wife Ashley, and a stuffed Pig for my cousin Aero.

For my first post, I thought I would share some of the projects I have worked on so far. I’m hoping that in the future, my posts will focus more on the process of crochet, step by step pictures, lots of my own patterns and the like. But for now, here are some of my favorite completed projects.

♥ Little Lion, Little Turtle

I picked up a copy of Ana Paula Rimoli’s book Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet about a month after I taught myself some basic crochet stitches from Crochet For Dummies. I figured making something small would give me the sort of instant satisfaction that I never got with knitting (I have still never finished any of my started knitting projects, and I highly doubt I ever will.) I fell in love with making cute little dolls, especially because of the little details. This lion is from “Amigurumi World”, and it was made for my nephew Jakob to go with his jungle themed crib set. I used Lion Brand Vanna’s Choice in Rust (Body) and Brick (Mane). For eyes, I used black buttons (something I only used on my first few projects, I’ve since moved on to safety eyes) and for his muzzle, I cut up an old tan bed skirt and embroidered the face with black yarn.

The pattern, with the first few rounds of the project.

 

 

Baby Jake with his lion.

This little turtle was for Jake’s older brother Nicolas, and is also from Amigurumi World. I used Vanna’s Choice again (it’s my absolute favorite for amigurumi) in Brick and Kelley Green. Buttons again for the eyes, and the face is just black yarn. I wasn’t very impressed with this one when it came out, but it was one of my first projects so I made myself feel better with the whole “it’s the thought that counts” pep talk and gave it to Nicolas anyway. My mother said that he looks like an alien with hemorrhoids.

♥ Twin Penguins

I have two 15 month old twin nieces, and their mom Maggie loves penguins. Since I made a lion for Jake when he was born, I thought it was only fair to make something for the girls as well!  Since they were born, their colors have been pink and purple. Headbands, onesies, blankies and the like. I took this pattern from Lion Brand and added a pretty little pink scarf instead of the striped one in the pattern. I also made the entire head in black instead of making the bottom half white. Unfortunately, I am easily distracted and only made one. So let’s just say I am teaching them a lesson about sharing 🙂

 

Miss Penguin, pre-assembly.

Fun Fact: Penguins LOVE White Castle and Healthy Choice.

 

♥ Arnold the Pygmy Puff

As an insane Harry Potter fan, Pygmy Puffs were the first things I thought of when I saw this fluffy pink yarn. Of course, in HBP, Arnold is purple… but let’s just say that he either got a dye job or this is a different Pygmy Puff named Arnold. You pick. 🙂 These are very simple to make, and I will definitely be posting a pattern for it at some point (not that it’s very hard… crochet in the round. That’s about it.) And will (hopefully) be selling these guys in my Etsy shop once I get around to making them to sell!

Precious!

♥ Eric Cartman

My mom is a massive South Park fan (as am I), so I when she was bugging me non-stop to make her something, Cartman just seemed like the right thing to do. I used some Carron Red Heart that was lying around, the whites of his eyes are made with a cut up white t-shirt (I am huge on recycling old fabric for projects, mostly because I am totally broke 90% of the time!) He’s pictured with some Cheesy Poofs. This pattern came from La Fée Crochette. You can find her Etsy shop here.

♥ Harry Potter Himself

When I thought  I had the hang of amigurumi, I started working on my own pattern based on a mix of some of the others I had worked on. I didn’t write down the pattern that I used for him, but I’m currently trying to get it down on paper to either share here or sell in pattern form on Etsy. For Harry, I used Vanna’s Choice. I don’t remember the exact colors, but he’s crocheted in his Gryffindor uniform, Maroon, Gold, Grey and Black are used, plus the peach yarn for his face. I embroidered his face and glasses right before finishing off and worked small pieces of black yarn all over his head for his hair. He’s pretty unique, because he’s crocheted in pretty much one piece. His legs, body and head are all crocheted in one continuous round.

At some point, I’m hoping he will have some hand sewn Gryffindor robes to go with his outfit. I’ve got a huge list of pending projects, though, so I don’t think that will be happening for a while!

Harry and my dog, Gus. (Harry’s hair hasn’t been finished yet)

Harry during construction.

So there you have it! I’m hoping to continue writing in this blog as I continue to learn and expand with my crochet. My focus now is on finishing projects for my Ashley, who is always bugging me about the fact that I start projects for her and never finish them. Step by step pictures and notes of those projects will follow!

Happy hooking to all ♥

D