Just What Every Little Girl Needs

So I was at Micheal’s last night, and saw some fun yarn on clearance. So I bought some and made my daughter some slippers for her birthday.

Aww, aren’t they cute? But this yarn has a little secret. Turn off the lights and you get this:

Now she will be the envy of all her friends at her next sleepover! Ok, so the picture is not that great…it’s a lot harder than you would think to take a picture of glow-in-the-dark stuff while it’s glowing in the dark…but you get the idea =)

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Licensing Available

After several inquiries, I have decided to offer licensing for some of my patterns.  What does this mean?  As standard copyright applies to patterns, they are for personal use only.  This means, no selling the finished product.  Purchasing a license gives the purchasee the right to sell products made from a specific pattern.  I am offering licensing on food patterns only, available in either a yearly license (good if you are new to selling or don’t want to invest a lot just yet) and a lifetime licence (yep, that would mean good for life!).  If you are interested, simply download one of the PDF’s below.  The documents detail the licensing agreement as well as gives instructions on how to purchase one.  Please note, the cost of the license does not include the pattern itself.

Yearly: $20

Lifetime: $75

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Crochet Clean Color Change

This doesn’t look very pretty does it?

To make a “clean” color change while crocheting, is actually quite simple, and it will help your projects look even better =)

You start your color change on the stitch prior to the one you need to change. So, say you have to sc 5, switch to purple, then sc 10 more. On the 5th stitch, you would begin your color change.

Start your stitch as you normally would (in this tutorial, I am using single crochet stitches, the same principle could be applied to most other crochet stitches to achieve the same result).

Once you get to the point where you have two loops on your hook, it’s time to switch colors.

Instead of using your first color (pink) to yarn over, use your second color (purple).

Pull through as normal…

…and continue on!

Now doesn’t that look much better =)

At this point you can either cut and tie off the old color yarn (best bet if you are not going to be using the color again) or you can keep it attached until you need to use it again (best if you are going to be changing colors frequently).  With the second option, keep in mind that it will add some extra bulk to you project and it may be visible if there are large gaps.

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Here’s Mouse!

Well, it didn’t take me as long as I thought to write up the pattern! For those of you who don’t know, there is a very popular children’s book called If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. This book (and all the other one’s that go in the series) is one of my son’s favorites. Oddly, though, I did not make this mouse with him in mind! It’s going to be a Christmas present for my sister-in-law =) When I asked her if there was anything specific she wanted me to make her for Christmas, she said “toys”…and since she loves this series of books, I decided to give it a shot. Of course now I’ll have to make another one for my son! The whole time I was taking pictures of Mouse, he kept saying “mouse…please!” over and over. Speaking of pictures, we had a little bit of fun with them. Check out my previous post if you’re interested! And now, the pattern (and the download) :

Items needed:
3.5 mm (E) steel crochet hook
Worsted weight yarn (shown is Lily Sugar ‘n’ Cream Confectionery Colors in Caramel, Lily Sugar ‘n’ Cream Solids in Blue and Coffee)
Small pieces of light pink felt (available at most craft stores)
Small bits of light pink yarn or embroidery floss
6 mm black safety eyes
Stuffing
Tapestry needle
Stitch marker to keep track of rows (safety pins or bobby pins work great!)

*This pattern is worked in a continuous round unless otherwise noted. Make all limbs and ears prior to the head and body so that they can be attached as you work.

Leg (make 2)
Round 1: With brown yarn, ch 2, sc 6 in second ch from hook
Round 2: Inc in each (12)
Round 3: Sc around
Round 4-7 : With blue yarn, sc around
Bind off leaving a tail for sewing

Arm (make 2)
Round 1: With brown yarn, ch 2, sc 6 into second ch from hook
Round 2: Inc in each (12)
Round 3: Dec in each (6)
Round 4-6: Sc around
Bind off leaving a tail for sewing

Ear (make 2, worked back and forth)
Row 1: Ch 2, sc 2 into second from hook, ch 1 and turn (2)
Row 2: Inc 2, ch 1 and turn (4)
Row 3: Inc, sc 2, inc, ch 1 and turn (6)
Row 4: Inc, sc 4, inc, ch 1 and turn (8)
Row 5: Sc across, ch 1 and turn
Row 6: Sc across, bind off leaving a tail for sewing
Cut a small triangle of light pink felt to fit in his ear and glue or sew into place

Head
Round 1: With brown, ch 2, sc 6 into second from hook
Round 2: *Sc 1, inc* 3 times (9)
Round 3: *Sc 2, inc* 3 times (12)
Round 4: *Sc 3, inc* 3 times (15)
Round 5: *Sc 4, inc* 3 times (18)
Round 6: *Sc 5, inc* 3 times (21)
Round 7: *Sc 6, inc* 3 times (24)
Round 8-10: Sc around
Round 11: *Sc 6 dec* 3 times (21)
Round 12: *sc 5, dec* 3 times (18)
Round 13: *Sc 1, dec* 6 times (12)
*Sew ears into place, attach eyes and embroider the nose using the picture as a guide then stuff ‘im up!
Round 15: Dec in each, bind off leaving a tail for sewing.

Body
With brown yarn, ch 13 and slip stitch into first to form a ring
Round 1: Sc around
Round 2: *Sc 1, inc* 6 times (18)
Round 3: *Sc 2, inc* 6 times (24)
Round 4-9: Using blue yarn, sc around
Round 10: *Sc 2, dec* 6 times (18)
Round 11: *Sc 1, dec* 6 times (12)
*Attach arms and embroider the overall straps as shown in the picture and then stuff
Round 12: Dec around, bind off and weave in ends
*Attach legs

Tail:
Cut 3 strands of brown yarn twice as long as you want the tail (so, if you want the tail 1.5 inches long, cut your strands 3 inches long). Using all three strands, loop them around a crochet stitch in the appropriate area. Pull the ends so that six strands are all the same length and then braid. Tie off at the end and trim excess yarn if needed.

Cookie (make 2):

Round 1: Using brown, ch 2, sc 6 into second from hook
Round 2: Inc. in each (12)
Round 3: * Sc 1, inc * 6 times (18)
Round 4: * Sc 2, inc * 6 times (24)
Round 5: * Sc 3, inc * 6 times (30)
Round 6: Sc around, slip stitch into next, bind off and weave in ends
Using dark brown yarn, embroider “chips” onto one of the cookies. Sew the two cookies together.

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Meet Mouse

Mouse has been very busy doing publicity photos for his book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

So Mouse decided to take a little nap.

What’s this…a cookie?!  Yum!

Now, back to that nap!

Pattern available soon =)

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