A Thinking Cap!

It seems I get into this mood around this time of year: a Lovey-making, Harry Potter kind of mood. I don't know exactly what it is that makes me feel this way but I'm putting all my money on the fact that I'm cooped up inside all winter and I literally have nothing better to do.

Fortunately for me, this leads to some of my best ideas. Especially when it comes to crocheting Harry Potter themed Lovey blankets (I literally have a list of ten or more but finding the time and motivation to make them is the hard part, especially now that I'm in school again).

For all those loyal people out there (who could probably care less about my rambling), a sneak-peak at my newest Lovey . . .

The Hogwarts Sorting Hat!

It's turning out far better than I imagined it. I'm still not sure though if I'm going to try to make him look all grumpy or if I'm going to cute-ify him up a bit. We'll see what popular opinion tells me.

Pattern to be posted soon!

My boyfriend is a secret paleontologist

In my last post I mentioned that my boyfriend, Shayne, had made me some pretty cool dinosaur things for Christmas. I was hoping to get them installed so I could take some pictures but I thought about it some more and I really want to save them until we move out together.

Before I get to the pictures, I just want to mention how freaking talented Shayne is. These projects required molding, sculpting, painting, and a lot of creativity. It's so not fair how much better he is at painting than I am; I had four years of art classes and he's never had a single lesson.

Here we go!

The first thing Shayne made for me was this Tyrannosaurus rex shower head. Yup! It's a shower head! I saw one a while ago on Pinterest. I got really excited and showed it to Shayne but apparently it was made from one of those 3D printers and there's no place online that you can actually buy the printed shower head. I may be biased, but I think mine is cooler anyway.

Plesiosaurs are my absolute favourite dinosaurs. These are actually shower curtain hooks (Shayne mounted them on some cardboard so they aren't tumbling around together). Apparently my boyfriend carved a negative and made a mold of them and hand painted each one (I feel so incredibly lucky).

Shayne's told me eventually I will have an entire bathroom accessory set but he's still working out how to make them. I'll post pictures when they're made!

Dinosaurs? DINOSAURS!

I've been going dinosaur crazy over the last few months since the new Jurassic Park movie trailer came out! Now, dinosaurs have always been a pretty big obsession of mine (though not as nearly as obsessed with them as my older brother is; he actually works at a dinosaur museum). Ever since the trailer came out though, dinosaurs have been everywhere and I want to buy them all! It also is giving me a reason to wear my Jurassic Park dress again!

That's right. A Jurassic Park dress.

I made it a few years ago when the first movie got re-released in 3D. I refused to go see it in the theatre until I had finished sewing this dress.

I've never been more proud of anything in my life. 

Walmart was actually clearing out all their kids dinosaur bedroom stuff a few months ago and I literally had to buy it all (future children, I'm sorry if you hate dinosaurs because of me). I got a few extra of the dinosaur curtain panels though because they're a really nice blue with dinosaur outlines on them and I want to make another dress or shirt or skirt out of them. (I'll post a picture later)

I have a feeling dinosaurs are going to be very popular again and that might not have been the best idea on walmarts part.

I did use a pattern for the dress but I'm not completely sure which one. If I ever find out, I'll update this post with it.

Also, I got dinosaurs things (AWESOME DINOSAUR THINGS!!!) for Christmas this year, but I'll make a separate post about that when I get pictures of them. My boyfriend is so talented :)

Jingle All The Way DIY

A while ago I saw this post on Pinterest and I immediately fell in love with the idea. Especially the little bit about using it to keep track of how long you've been together with your significant other!

Even though the post suggested to start it the year you get married, I wanted to make it right away. My boyfriend and I have known each other for 15 years(since I was five!) but we've only been dating for a year and a half and I didn't want to wait for him to propose and then for us to get married(it took him long enough to ask me out).

I'm still using the silver bells to keep track of every year we've been together; then I'm going to use red bells for the year we get married and every 5 year anniversary, and blue bells for the years we have a baby.

(I'll add better pictures when I have the motivation to get out of bed and grab my better camera)

I got the shadow box from Michaels (I think it was around $16; I could have gotten a cheaper one but I liked the detailing on the frame) as well as the bells($4). I got the vinyl decal from this shop on Etsy. And Shayne (my boyfriend) printed this picture out for me for the background 

(He edited the colour because I'm not a fan of gold and printed it out using his freakishly awesome printer and crazy thick paper)

Shayne's now really excited to make one to hang up all year 'round except instead of having jingle bells, he wants to put bullet casings in it. 

Puffy Stitch Safety Earwarmer

Puffy Stitch Safety Earwarmer

© Courtney Wiche 2014

Red Heart Reflective in Purple

6.5 crochet hook

Tapestry needle

To adjust the width of the earwarmer, just chain a multiple of 3 + 2 sts (I started with 14 chains for an adult sized earwarmer, and 11 for a child)

Ch 14

R1 – in 2nd ch from hook (sc, hdc, dc), skip next 2 chs, *(sc, hdc, dc) in next ch, skip next 2 chs, repeat from * across, ending with a sc in the last ch, turn.

R2 – ch 2, in first sc (sc, hdc, dc), *skip next 2 sts, (sc, hdc, dc) in next sc, repeat from * ending with 1 sc in top of turning ch, turn. NOTE: you will be making each cluster in the sc sts of the last row

Repeat row 2 until piece measures desired length (mine ended up being about 18” unstretched). Fasten off and sew ends together.

I am absolutely in love with this yarn! The reflective strand that runs through the yarn is a little bit scratchy when you're working with it, but the final product is actually pretty soft. There's also a neon pink colour that I want to get to make for my cousin because it's so cute!

New Custom Baby Blanket Graph Pattern NOW FOR SALE!

It's been pretty crazy around my place lately; new jobs, figuring out school, lots of birthdays, and my cousin had his second baby (a boy! The first in our family since 1996).

Whenever people have babies, my favourite thing to make are name blankets. I find so many cute ones that I have trouble deciding which pattern to use. Usually when I pick a pattern though, I keep it in the family. I made one for my cousin Brynn when she was born in 2010 and when her sister, Aubree, was born last year, I used the same pattern but in different colours.

Since the new baby (Lauton; so cute!) is the first boy in the family in a while, I decided I needed something extra special and extra cute and I just wasn't loving any of the patterns I was finding.

So. . .

Ta-da!

A new pattern!

I'm still working on the one for little Lauton so I don't have a sample for the pattern, but once I got the idea I just had to share it with everyone.

Completely personal, completely customizable and completely adorable!

Christmas In September

I have very few children in my family and it makes things a little boring. Until my cousin was born in 2010, the youngest person in my family was my little brother and he was 14. Suffice to say, I spoil my two cousins (Brynn is almost 4 now and Aubree is almost 1) with every project and craft I wish I had as a kid. I've been in a very Christmassy mood lately which is odd because I'm usually a Halloween nut but I've been obsessed with the Christmas Pinterest page.

The one thing I knew I wanted to make this year was Santa sacks for Brynn and Bree. I'm kindof obsessed with making kids believe in Santa because I remember it being one of the only good and magical things from my childhood and I love how excited it used to make me.

For each bag, I used a roll of unbleached muslin fabric, cardboard alphabet stencils (first name, last name), a fabric quarter (I used the same pattern in different colours), and decorative cord (but in red).

I'm really happy with how they turned out. I actually really want more people to have children in my family so I can make more of these but I don't think that's going to be happening anytime soon. Looks like I'll be waiting five or so years until I have kids to make them for.