Rose Field Baby Blanket

I've been working on this blanket and a tutorial for it for a while now, and happy to announce that it is now available for purchase at my etsy shop!

To help you decide what type of yarn to use to make this blanket, I've made a few versions of it. The one on top is made using Patons Grace yarn (100% Mercerized Cotton, light (sport) weight) and G-hook (4 mm).

The blanket below is made using Patons Astra (100% Acrylic, light (DK) weight) and G-hook (4 mm).

I worked extra hard on making this pattern as readable and easy as possible. And even though the official skill level for it is intermediate, I've had a beginner crocheter in mind when I was writing the pattern and taking the pictures for it. I understand that not all the mommies and soon-to-be-mommies have advanced crocheting skills, and may still want to make this beautiful blanket. 

Here's a sample of one on the pages of the pattern, for you to have an idea about pattern instructions (the quality of the picture below is intentionally poor):

This blanket is great as a photo prop for a newborn or a baby! It looks great in photos, and just as good in real life! Color combination and possibilities are endless!

I hope you enjoy this blanket as much as I do!
Tanya

Candy Roll Phone Sweater - Crochet Pattern

It's been a long time since I posted last, hasn't it? So I decided to start posting again with a free pattern to make up for the time lost.. This is my way of bribing you. :)
The pattern is pretty easy, and I hope you will like it as much as I do. Make it to fit your own phone, as the pattern can be easily changed for custom size (hey, you can even make one for your iPad or laptop).

The phone case is made by working in spiral, and I am warning you that I will be used many words and explanations, aiming this tutorial for beginners, who may be not as familiar with working in spiral.

Roasted potato spirals

It has been a while, hasn't it? My life has been very busy lately, and I had to put on hold creating new patterns for now. But the one thing I haven't stop doing is making food. After all, I need to eat to survive :)

I've tried making these beautiful roasted potato spirals, and I just had to share the recipe, because it will turn any plain and simple dinner to fine dining experience at home :) 

For 2 people:

8 large white potatoes

4 tablespoons of olive oil

1/2 teaspoon dry parsley flakes

1/2 teaspoon dry rosemary

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

fresh ground black pepper and sea salt to taste

Preheat oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Make potato spirals using spiral cutter, and arrange the spirals into little nests. My mom brought me one a while ago, and frankly I didn't know what to do with it, until I tried cutting a potato with it a few days back. I was absolutely amazed by the beautiful potato ribbon, and here are the results of my experiments. This is what the spiral potato cutter looks like:

http://www.everten.com.au/Triangle-Potato-Spiral-Form.html

All you have to do is to drill this thing into the center of the potato, and keep drilling until you have drilled through the whole thing. Ah, I sound so professional! Apologize my language, please, I only know how to cook, I am not used to writing about cooking yet!

Mix the rest of the ingredients and evenly spread them over potato spirals with silicone basting brush.

Bake potatoes for 25-30 minutes. Enjoy!! I really loved how they turned out, both taste-wise and appearance-wise.

 

 The leftovers of the poor potatoes can be grated, blanched in boiling water for 3 minutes, and frozen in small portions for easy morning hash browns.

Crochet Pattern Octopus Bracelet (free)

Why octopus? I've been crocheting the bracelet in a cafe with a friend of mine. She asked me, "what are you making? an octopus?" I guess with all the turquoise strings the bracelet did look like an octopus a bit. So here it is, octopus bracelet pattern:

Convertible mittens pattern...

... is ready for my dear customers!!!!

It took me a while I know.... I had many excuses and other things that I've done when I should have been working on finishing this pattern, but the pattern is finally ready!! The mittens come in 2 sizes - small and medium, and should fit hands 5 1/2 to 8 1/2", hopefully this range is good enough!

Magic Circle Tutorial

Magic circle is one way of starting to crochet in round.
Its advantage is in smaller hole in the middle of your crochet item. Here's a quick tutorial:

Crochet Hair Clip "Hat" and Flower FREE Tutorial.

(WARNING! There are many pictures in this post, proceed with caution.)

Have any of you tried to make a hair clip with a crochet motif or a little flower? I've made them many times. It is easy to make a little flower. It is also easy to find snap clips. But for me personally it wasn't always easy to connect the two in a neat and pretty way, and at the same time to keep the hair clip from falling apart.

To tell you the truth, I've never searched internet to get ideas, I used to sew a piece of fabric to a snap clip, and then sew a flower onto that fabric. I've also tried to grue the flower onto the clip, but it always comes apart very soon. I came up with an idea of making tiny snap clip "hats". Only now that I'm writing this, I am wondering if someone somewhere invented something similar already.. Hm... Oh well... Maybe I've re-invented a bicycle, but at least I've taken a thousand of step-by-step pictures :) So here it goes:

New flowers

Four new flower patterns are in my pattern shop now! Ready for your fun spring projects.

3D Dahlia Flower

3D Mini Roses

3D Three-tier flower
Hibiscus Flowers

Make some flowers.

We both know you want to make them :) I've made quite a few lately, and I just wanted to share a pretty pile of flowers with you. (4 new flower patterns are now available within the next few days!)

New Crochet Pattern - Cute Tiny Little Heart

I've added a tiny little patter to my etsy shop. The pattern is super easy and includes plenty of photos to really help you make this cuteness yourself.