Blogging From Asheville, NC

Greetings from Asheville! Yesterday was the first day in a long time that I didn't blog. There were just too many little things to do before traveling. Even though I have never lived in NC, I'm surrounded by the familiar, the dense vegetation, the curving roads, and the faster east coast pace. I'm looking forward to tomorrow when I'll get some time to venture out and see the town.

On the plane I made another spiral baby beanie and I'm about ready to write out the directions. I also had a lot of fun playing with my new travel toy. It's a drop spindle shaped like a niddy noddy. I paid a wopping $8.50.......

..........I gave up on this post last night, but I'm back now. You see, I'm typing this on my husband's new acer. It's a tiny little laptop and very cool for travel. Seriously, it's like 7"X10" and weighs about 2 pounds. The problem is that the keyboard is smaller and my fingers keep pushing the wrong buttons. The muscle memory is just too powerful. I actually hit a wrong key last night and it began writing in Japanese!

Today I gave my sister and brother-in-law the Baby Cozy I made for them. You know, the one from our crochet-along? Well they seemed really pleased. I also gave them the matching hat, and the spiral beanie I made on the plane and one of my Baby's First Christmas hats. I held my breath as they pulled off the tissue. As much as I love giving handmade, I always have this moment of "What if they don't like it?" I was starting to second guess my color choices and other little things. So I'm relieved and happy to report that they liked their gifts. I told them about our crochet along and how it felt even more special to be sharing the process with people. I hope your cozies will be happily received as well!

So I was talking about my travel drop spindle before. I was looking on line to try to find a link for you and I can't find where I bought it. I thought it was Halycon Yarn, but it wasn't there. I'll have to look for my packing slip when I get home. Anyway, it really is cool. Just imagine a tiny niddy noddy, I'm guessing 24". The center staff comes up through the top and has a hook. The reason I bought it is because you can spin a single on it and then wash and warp it right on the built in niddy noddy. You could spin yarn and then make something out of it while on a vacation. I'm going to try to spin enough yarn to make one more baby hat while I'm here in Asheville. I just think it would be fun to try. I'm taking pictures with my iPhone, so they won't be great, but I'll have something to share with you when I get back.

Well back to spinning. See you soon!

Just Checking In

Hello. I'm wiped out tonight. My kids are on holiday so I'm feeling the strain of running my little business and entertaining my kids. They don't really need to be entertained, but If I don't come up with activities, there is a couch potato tendency.

I have the spiral baby beanie pattern mostly written. I want to work through it one more time. I was doing great, diligently writing down the instructions as I went along until at some point I got distracted. The last third of the hat I kind of just finished without thinking about what I was doing. Since that doesn't do you much good, I need to make one more.

I have been feeling a little frazzled the past week or so. I'm about to go on a short trip to Asheville, NC. I think it will be a nice break. Asheville is a great town and I'm looking forward to spending some time there. On my last visit, a woman was just opening up her dream yarn shop. I can't even remember the name of her place, but I want to pay her a visit and see how her business is going. I also like to stop in at the Earth Guild. I should have some fun things to share from my trip.

I'll be checking in while I'm away, so let me know how those Baby Cozies are coming along. See you soon!

Spiral Newborn Baby Beanie - Crochet Project

Hello. Remember a couple days ago when I said I had an idea for a little hat to go with our Baby Cozies? Well here it is. What do you think? I think it turned out cute and what I like is the way the hat matches the cozy and makes it look like a little ensemble. I've been wanting to try out a spiral design ever since I saw a feature on them in this past Spring's edition of Interweave Crochet. I didn't use a pattern for this hat, but rather designed it as I went along. I used a real newborn beanie and my baby model to get the correct sizing. I promised to share the pattern if it turned out. I am now making a second one and writing down the instructions as I go so I will be able to write the pattern for you. I hope you will enjoy this pattern as well as the one for The Baby Cozy.

See you tomorrow.

Crochet-Along: FinishingThe Baby Cozy

Hi all. I meant to post this earlier in the day, but it took me forever to sew on my little circles. Here's my finished cozy being modeled by my life-like newborn baby model. Up until now, I have made all of my cozies in three colors, but I made this one a little different. Not knowing if I'll be the aunt of a niece or a nephew forced me to change things up a bit. I know there are lots of colors that are less gender specific, but I was having a hard time finding three colors I liked together. I settled on these two and I was planning on making one color the body and making both the flaps the lighter shade. As I started crocheting, I got the idea to add the stripes and dots to make it a little more playful. What do you think?



Well I guess you're getting excited about finishing your Baby Cozy. The only thing left is to make a cute little tie for the side. You can really do this a number of ways. I think it would be pretty to find a nice silk ribbon and sew it on. On my prototype cozy, I joined the body colored yarn to the end of the top flap, chained to the length I wanted and then worked sl sts back down the chain and joined it with a sl st to the same space I started in. Then I carefully knotted the yarn on the underside of the flap. I attached the same kind of chain to the side of the body where the tie would naturally meet. You can see this one in the picture here to the right.

I like this look, but when I made my next cozy, I decided I wanted to make the tie more understated. With this in mind, I have started making plied yarn ties. I use my spinning wheel, but you can create a plied effect with your hands. Cut about a 30" piece of yarn. Pinch one end between your fingers to hold it in place while you twist the yarn counter clockwise. The Patons yarn we are using for this project has a clockwise twist so at first you will see it untwist and then it will start to ply in the opposite direction. Keep twisting it until, when you release the tension, it wants to back spin or twist up on itself. At that point, holding your piece of yarn carefully so it doesn't unwind, thread it through the end of the left flap. I like to go up from the underside, skip about three sts and then go back down. Still holding the ends of the thread, make sure the flap is in the center and then bring the ends together. Holding the ends together, get the ply started by turning them counter clockwise. You will see that the tension in the twist will make the yarn want to ply together. Then I just tie a neat little knot in the end and trim the tips to make them even. You would repeat this to make the other tie attached to the body. I think writing this makes it sound more complicated than it is. Once you try it, you see how easy it is.

Well I guess that's it! I can't believe it! We are done! What am I going to do with myself now that I'm not thinking about this cozy? I know a lot of you are still working on yours. I'd love to see some of your baby cozies when you are finished. If you'd like to share, send a picture to j.pedersengiles@gmail.com. Let me know if I can post them on this blog to share with everyone. You could also leave a comment with a link to your flickr pictures or something like that. Anyway, I play show and tell all the time, so now it can be your turn!

Remember, I'm here everyday and I love to hear from people. Please feel free to share comments or ask questions. If you have feedback on this crochet-along, I'd like to hear that too. I plan to do more in the future and I want to make them as fun and easy to follow as I can!

See you soon.


The Baby Cozy ~ Part I
The Baby Cozy ~ Part II
The Baby Cozy ~ Part III
The Baby Cozy ~ Part IV
The Baby Cozy ~ Part V
The Baby Cozy ~ Part VI

Crochet-Along: The Baby Cozy - Making the left flap

Hello there. I hope you are all having a nice weekend. I just got home from a couple hours in the park with my family so I'm feeling pretty happy and mellow. If you are just joining us and starting your baby cozy, welcome! I'm sure this is a crazy fast crochet-along especially for a project of this size. Just know that I visit my blog everyday and will be here to answer questions long after the final instructions go up. As you work through your cozies, I'd love to hear feedback so I can improve my future crochet-alongs. When you are finished, if you would like to share a picture, you can send images to j.pedersengiles@gmail.com and let me know if I can share them on this blog. I also wanted to let you know that once I finish with all of the instructions, I'll make a post that contains the pattern only and maybe a few less pictures. That way you'll have something easier to print off for your pattern collection.

Are you ready? Here's the left side panel or flap:

(When I posted this yesterday, I forgot to add that you make this left flap in the third color yarn you chose. Of course you can use your colors any way you like, but for the sake of this pattern, you would now be switching colors.)

Row 1: With the wrong side of the cozy facing you, join with a sl st in the lower left hand corner of the cozy. (When I say lower left hand, I mean the lower left corner of the piece when you are looking at it from the front. see picture) sc in same st and in next 57 sts. Equals 58 sts

Rows 2 and 3: Ch 2 turn, hdc across, equals 58 sts

Row 4: Ch 2 turn, hdc dec over first two sts, hdc across, equals 57 sts

Row 5: Ch 2 turn, hdc dec over first two sts, hdc across to last two sts, hdc dec over last two sts, equals 55 sts

Rows 6-38: repeat rows 4 and 5 consecutively, row 38 will have 7 sts

Finishing

Ch 1, do not turn, crocheting along bottom edge, work 1 sc into the end of each row for a total of 37 sc, sl st in the end of the last row, sl st in the same space as the joining space of row 1.

Ch 1 turn, skip first sl st space and sl st into the next st, sc in the next 35 sts, 3 sc in next st (corner made) sc in next 5 sts, 3 sc in next st (corner made), crocheting along the top edge, work 1 sc in each row for the next 37 rows, sl st in last row, join with sl st in same space as the last st of row 1. Finish off weaving in all loose ends.

OK, that's it for today! I'll be back tomorrow with some final finishing instructions, the tie mainly and some pictures of my finished Baby Cozy. See you then.

The Baby Cozy ~ Part I
The Baby Cozy ~ Part II
The Baby Cozy ~ Part III
The Baby Cozy ~ Part IV
The Baby Cozy ~ Part V
The Baby Cozy ~ Part VI

Crochet-Along: The Baby Cozy - Pic of finished right flap

Hi there. I hope everyone is enjoying making their Baby Cozy. I also hope that you are finding my instructions easy to follow. I'm short on time right now, but I wanted to post a picture of my completed right flap. Don't pay too much attention to the stripes. I'm adding a little pattern to mine because I'm only working with two colors. I'm keeping my cozy neutral while trying to add a little visual interest. I'll be back tomorrow to get you started on the left flap. See you then!

Crochet-Along: The Baby Cozy - Making the right flap

Hello! So how are our cozies coming? I know I said I'd be back by this morning, but this week has been crazy. Hopefully you all are in less of a hurry and can crochet at your leisure. I admit I'm stressing a little because I have a number of things I need to accomplish before I catch a flight next week. One of the other things on my mind is a little hat to go with this cozy. I have a design idea in my head, but I haven't worked in out yet. If I get a chance and it turns out cute, I'll share the hat pattern with you too. I just think it would be fun to have a hat to match the cozy. Don't you?

Ok, so now we are going to make the panel or flap to the right of the body we just finished. This is the flap that will fold over first and then we'll make the left side that will go on top. Remember to switch to the color yarn you chose for this piece. Ready?

Row 1: With the wrong side of the body facing you, join new color yarn in the upper right hand corner. Sc in same st and in next 57 sts. Equals 58 sts.

Rows 2-3: Ch 2 turn, hdc across

Row 4: Ch 2 turn, hdc in next 56 sts, hdc dec over last two sts, equals 57 sts

Row 5: Ch 2 turn, work hdc dec over first two sts, hdc across remainder of row, equals 56 sts

Rows 6-21: repeat rows 4 and 5 consecutively. At the end of row 21 you should have 40 sts.

Row 22: Ch 2 turn, hdc across, equals 40 sts

Row 23: Ch 2 turn, hdc dec over first two sts, hdc across, equals 39 sts

Rows 24-35: repeat rows 22 and 23 consecutively, and the end of row 35 you should have 32 sts.

Finishing

Ch 2, do not turn, hdc across the bottom edge of your flap by working 1 hdc in the end of each row for a total of 34 sts, sc in the end of the next row, join with a sl st to the corner of the body (the very next st after the 58th st of the first row of this flap)

Ch 1 turn, sl st in sc from previous row, sc in next 34 sts, 3 sc in ch 2 space from previous row to form a corner, sc in next 32 sts, 3 sc in next st to form the second corner, work 1 sc in the end of each row going up the flap towards where you began for a total of 34 sc, sl st in the end of the last row, sl st in the same space as the joining st of row 1. Finish off weaving in loose ends.

So that's it for today. I'll take a picture of my finished right flap tomorrow to share with you. I know it may seem like a lot of counting, but once you've made one cozy, you will see how the pattern comes together. If you decide to make a second, it will go much faster. I'd love to make this up is some beautiful handspun yarn or play around with embellishing one with flowers maybe. I think there are a lot of possibilities for creativity and originality with The Baby Cozy!

See you tomorrow...


The Baby Cozy ~ Part I
The Baby Cozy ~ Part II
The Baby Cozy ~ Part III
The Baby Cozy ~ Part IV
The Baby Cozy ~ Part V
The Baby Cozy ~ Part VI

Crochet - Along: The Baby Cozy - Finishing the body

Hello everyone. My day has been crazy and I still have a couple meetings to attend. Yikes! Still, I don't want to keep my crochet-along friends waiting, so here's the next step. We are one row away from having the body of our cozy done. It's just one row, but it's an important row because we are forming the pocket. I've taken a ton of pics for the visual people like myself and as always, I'm here if you need me.


The picture to the left is where we stopped at row 89. With the right side of the cozy facing you, fold up the bottom edge to form the pocket. You should have 37 hdc rows for the pocket leaving 17 rows unfolded for the head. (I'm hoping when you click onto the pic on the right, you will be able to read my writing. I can see it in iPhoto, so I hope it will come through.) Now it's time to place two markers where we will join the front and back of the pocket. Find your upper right and left corner stitches. Place a temporary marker in them if you like. There should be 40 stitches between the two corner stitches. From the upper right hand corner stitch, count down 19 stitches counting the corner as 1. Slip a marker through that 19th stitch and do the same for the other side. You will also need to slip the marker through the two top corners of the pocket. After you place your markers, be sure that there are 40 stitches between them on the top edge of the pocket.


Now that your markers are in place, we can move forward to the last row of the body.

Row 90: Ch 1, do not turn, sc in the next 2 sts, 3 sc in the next st (upper right hand corner made), sc in next 40 sts, 3 sc in next st (upper left hand corner made), sc in next 17 sts (you have reached your first marker and will now be working through two layers, the front and back of your pocket), sc in next 37 sts, 3 sc in the corner (lower left corner made), work 40 sc evenly across the bottom edge(see pictures below for a close up look at a corner and the bottom edge), work 3 sc in next corner (lower right hand corner made), (To be sure to place your next stitch correctly, I recommend counting down from your marker 37 sts) sc in next 37 stitches to the marker, sc in next 15 sts, join with a sl st to beg ch 1.


The body or center section of your cozy is now complete! Yeah! You can remove the stitch markers and weave in your ends. This is me being very detail oriented, but if you look at the upper right hand corner where you just finished, it tends to have two small gaps from your previous turn rows. I like to close these up a little while I'm weaving in the tail end. Below is a before and after picture of what I'm talking about.


If you find any of this at all confusing, just let me know and I'll help in any way I can. I'm hoping the pictures are useful. I know this is just one row and not much to keep the experienced crocheters busy, I'm going to get started on the right flap this afternoon and hope to have some more for you by tonight or at the latest, tomorrow morning.

Happy crocheting!


The Baby Cozy ~ Part I
The Baby Cozy ~ Part II
The Baby Cozy ~ Part III
The Baby Cozy ~ Part IV
The Baby Cozy ~ Part V
The Baby Cozy ~ Part VI

Crochet-Along The Next Steps: The Baby Cozy

Good Morning! I apologize to people in other time zones who might be waiting on me. I wanted to crochet through the next three rows before I wrote them out for you so I don't miss any details. It's funny, right now both of my kids are studying functional text at school. My older son, who is very left brained, is not very happy about it. So which is harder, following functional text or writing it? I know I'm feeling some amount of pressure to write very clearly and get it right the first time. I don't want anyone to have to rip out rows because of me! So here goes:

Row 87: Ch 2 (counts as first hdc of the row) turn, 2 hdc in first st (first corner made), 34 hdc across, 3 hdc in last st (second corner made), do not turn, continue down the side of your rectangle, work 1 hdc in the end of each row to equal 86 hdc, 3 hdc in 1st st of beg ch on bottom edge (third corner made), 34 hdc across, 3 hdc in next st (fourth corner made), now continue working down the other long side of your rectangle once again by working 1 hdc for each row to equal 86 sts, join with sl st to top of beg ch 2.

Row 88: Ch 2 (counts as first hdc of the row) turn, hdc in next 87 sts (be careful not to crochet into the small space that almost looks like a st at the base of your ch 2), 3 hdc in next st (corner), hdc in next 36 sts, 3 hdc in next st (corner), hdc in next 88 sts, 3 hdc in next st (corner), hdc in next 36 sts, 3 hdc in next st (corner), join with sl st to top of beg ch 2.

Row 89: Ch 2 (counts as first hdc of the row) turn, (The side facing you now is the right side of your cozy) hdc in next st (again, be careful not to crochet into the small space that almost looks like a st at the base of your ch 2), 3 hdc in next st (corner), hdc in next 38 sts, 3 hdc in next st (corner), hdc in next 90 sts, 3 hdc in next st (corner), hdc in next 38 sts, 3 hdc in next st (corner), hdc in next 88 sts, join with sl st to top of beg ch 2.

Remember: Count Twice, Crochet Once .....and I'm here if you need me!


The Baby Cozy ~ Part I
The Baby Cozy ~ Part II
The Baby Cozy ~ Part III
The Baby Cozy ~ Part IV
The Baby Cozy ~ Part V
The Baby Cozy ~ Part VI

Autumn Bliss - Handspun Yarn

Show and tell time! Since I was holding off on my baby cozy this weekend, I spent some quality time at my spinning wheel. I spun three different skeins, but this one, I'm calling it Autumn Bliss, is my favorite. It's a bulky weight, but not super bulky and it comes to 83 yards/3.75 oz. One ply is my own "Golden Brown" and "Happy Green" rovings spun in turn to create a striping effect. The second ply is a gorgeous nylon that just sparkles in the light. The nylon combines bright shades of orange, green, pink, and gold. Together they look like a sunny Fall day. At least that's what it reminds me of!

OK, Now I'm off to work on my Baby Cozy for our Crochet-Along. I'll be checking in tomorrow with the next steps. See you then!

Crochet-Along Let's Get Started!: The Baby Cozy

Good Morning! Well today is "Go" day for The Baby Cozy Crochet-Along! I busied myself with other projects this weekend to give people a chance to find us, buy their yarn and get started. My Baby Cozy is still 18 rows big, but I'm going to find an hour today to finish the first 86 rows so we can move forward.

Now if anyone out there has already done Rows 1-86 and is tapping their toes waiting for the next bit, just let me know and I'll speed up for you. Once we get started, the project will go quickly. I only have two weeks before I need mine to be done so it's definitely a priority project. The baby is coming! :D

Baby's First Christmas Hats - Crocheted for babies 0-3 months

I know I made them, but I can't stand it, these are just so cute! There, I said it. I just wish I had designed these sooner so I could have made them for my kids!

I actually already had some of these in my shop, but people always seem interested in the one style or size you don't have. I didn't have this Red Hat with White Trim made up in a 0-3 month size. So here they are. One is made completely from boucle yarn and the other is boucle with a furry white trim. I can't decide which I like best, but I'm leaning towards the boucle one. What do you think? Boucle or Fur trim?