Sick Kid

Hi again!  I have been a little blog MIA due to a horrid stomach virus I got over Thanksgiving.  I was out for 2 weeks cold, so it's been tough catching up.  This is the busiest time of year for me at work, I am wedding planning, I am dealing with adopting a new cat, plus I haven't done any holiday shopping!  Anyways, here are some crafty scenes while I work on new projects.

Holiday pedicure by our perfect fake tree!

Jake's hat is starting to fit, but it's not long enough!  Opps!

Ps. Only 10 days left of wearing Christmas socks- take advantage!

Happy holidays!!

Pink Star Stitch Baby Beanie

Hi Tuesday readers!  Here is a new baby hat I crocheted for a friend of my future MIL.  See pics & detail below.

For the hat, I used Patons Beehive Baby Sport (not sure the name, but some kind of pink) and size F5/3.75MM hook.  I followed this pattern for a star stitch beanie.  After a row or two of star stitch after the increases, I did *7 dc, sk 2, ch 2* around for the ribbon.  Then I did 2 more rows of star stitch, and 1 row of sc.

For the ribbon, I used Lion Brand Micro Spun in French Vanilla and E4/3.5MM hook.  I ch 72, sl st to join, and 2 rows of hdc.  For the bow, I did ch 18 and 4 rows of dc.  The knot part I did ch 20 and 2 rows of sc.

No pattern really, but I hope it helps if you want to make something similar!  I hope it fits a 3 month old... I don't always get baby head sizes right.

Hope you have a great evening!

Spiral Molly Floves Pattern

I made these floves for my sister Molly.  She asked for them... oh, I don't know... maybe like a year ago?  EEEEEEE!  Anyways, I wanted them to be perfect, and my first pair I didn't like the color or yarn texture, and the 2nd pair I did in rounds instead of turning, and it made the cable look weird. 

Download or print the full pattern here!  Please note this pattern fits small female hands (ring size 4.5-5.5), but will stretch.  Simply adding stitches to each element should help give it a custom fit.

Tomorrow & Tomorrow & Tomorrow

Posting a new pattern & pics tomorrow!  Until then, say hello to our new addition: Topher!  Here he is interfering with both my pattern and my project.  I am pretty sure cat hair weaved into gloves gives it a coveted soft, mohair feel.  Eh??  Also, if you notice any problems in my pattern tomorrow, I blame the kitten.

MAQs

The other day I was working on some fingerless gloves for my sister, and Marty started asking me questions about my crochet.   Considering how little he knew about my crochet, I am sure my lovely blog followers know even less.  So I thought it might be good to include a little MAQ here (Marty-Asked Questions)!

Me in a TeaBeans original Earwarmer

How did you learn to crochet?
Freshman year of college (2000) a friend showed me how to do a granny square.  My first few projects were blankets that were essentially one giant granny square.  Then I progressed to variations (such as two granny squares sewn together with a string that could sorta be a bag, or chains of granny squares that could sorta be a scarf).  Therefore, I only knew hdc, ch, and could go only in circles.

About 5 years later, my sorority sister Tiffany was staying with me in NYC during her internship.  She was crocheting a blanket for her future husband, and showed me what felt like a Rosetta stone of crochet: turning.  Finally I was not confined to circles!

I have been messing around ever since then, learning all the stitches on my own, with a little help from my friends who were book editors at Sterling and would give me crochet books as gifts.

Do you make up your own patterns?  
Yes!  Nearly every single project I have ever done is original TeaBeans design.  I owe a great debt to a children's crochet book (the name I can't remember!).  It taught me how to make beanie hats, which is the foundation for every hat I design.

I have no interest in copying a pattern.  I would sooner buy ready-made at a store.

Do you sell patterns?
No, sorry.  You can have my patterns for free!   I just don't usually write them down.  Plus, why bother charging, when I figured it all out on my own anyways?

If you have any questions, let me know!

Reblog!

Girlfriends: In New York you can forget...: Two weekends ago I was in NYC for a trip to see Katie and our other friends Megan, Jeff and Marty. We were getting together to celebrate h...

Twisted Crochet Ear Warmer Pattern

Hiyo!  So I had some leftover Alpaca yarn from my Eternity Scarf, and since I am on a mission to use all my yarn, I thought it would be cool to make a matching ear warmer.  Below are pics & pattern!

Materials:
- Eastland Alpaca Yarn in #809 Light Fawn - Sport Weight (2.5 Skeins)
- G6/4.25MM Hook


Ear Warmer Pattern
R1:  Loosely, ch 90, ch 1, turn
R2:  sc in each ch across (90), ch 1, turn
R2:  sc in flo across (90), ch 1, turn
R3:  sc in blo across (90), ch 1, turn
R4-R13: Repeat rows 2 & 3
Twist work and match edges so that front of work connects with back of work on each end.  Use sl st to connect edges.  Fold lengthwise at seam and sl st edges.  Here is how the work should look:

Fasten off, and begin Cinched Fastener pattern.


Cinched Fastener Pattern
R1:  Ch 10, sl st to join.  Do not turn.
R2-R5:  Sc in rounds.
Fasten off, and crochet ends in on back side.  


Ps. This pattern is copyright Teabeans...but you can use it!
Pps.  Thanks to several readers who pointed out my mistake - I always accidently write sch instead of sc - oops!!

Transformer Slouchy Beanie Pattern

Hello!  Here is a very fast & easy pattern for a crochet beanie that goes from cap to slouchy beanie.  Please note, this pattern is copyright Teabeans, but you can use it.

Materials:
- J10/6.00MM hook
- Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton in Almond & Walnut

This pattern is done in rounds.  Do not turn at end of row, but start up over first stitch in prior row.

R1:  Ch 3 (first stitch), *hdc - ch 1* 9 times (10 st)
R2:  *Hdc - ch 1 in first hdc - ch loop,  hdc - ch 1 twice in next hdc - ch1 loop* 5 times (15 st)
R3:  *Hdc - ch 1 in first loop, hdc - ch 1 in next loop, hdc - ch 1 twice in next loop* 5 times (20 st)
R4:  *Hdc - ch 1 in first loop, hdc - ch 1 in next loop, hdc - ch 1 in next loop, hdc - ch 1 twice in next loop* 5 times (25 st)
R5:  Hdc - ch 1 in each loop around (25 st)
R6:  *Hdc - ch 1 in first loop, hdc - ch 1 in next loop, hdc - ch 1 in next loop, hdc - ch 1 in next loop, hdc - ch 1 twice in next loop* 5 times (30 st)
R7:  Hdc - ch 1 in each loop around (30 st)
R8:  *Hdc - ch 1 in first loop, hdc - ch 1 in next loop, hdc - ch 1 in next loop, hdc - chc 1 in next loop, hdc - ch 1 twice in next loop* 5 times (35 st)
R9-20:  Hdc - ch 1 in each loop around (35 st)
R21:  Hdc in top of hdc & over ch 1 around, dec 1 st every 10 st.  6 total dec.  (64 hdc)
R22-24:  *1 fphdc - 1 bphdc* around (64 st)
Finish by securing a pom pom to the top!

Click here for how to make a pom pom without a pattern.

Pumpkin Circle Scarf & Pattern

Below is a super quick & easy pattern for a circle scarf, with pictures.  It's copyright Teabeans... but you can use it!

Well, I have to say, I give this yarn 1 star.  For some reason super thick yarn always seems like a good idea, but it is always really hard to work with and makes super-stiff garments.  However, I had bought a bunch of this, and I am on a mission to get rid of all of my excess yarn so I manned-up and used it.  Plus the color is perfect for fall!  It's really warm, and I am hoping it softens up.

Materials:
- Lion Brand Yarn Wool-Ease Thick & Quick in Pumpkin
- J/10 6.00 MM Hook

This scarf is done in rounds with no turns.
R1: Ch 101 sl st to make a loop
R2: Hdc 100
R3-15: Continuing over prior row of hdc.  I don't know if there is a name for this style of stitching.  There is a loop behind back loop only on an hdc.  Hdc in the loop immediately beyond back loop only.

Yo Gabba Gabba Halloween Costume

O-kay.  I think this takes the cake for most radly awesome crafty Halloween costume.  See below pic of my gorgeous niece as Plex, the Magic Robot on the TV show Yo Gabba Gabba.   My brother (pictured in costume as DJ Lance Rock on Yo Gabba Gabba) and sister-in-law made this awesome Plex costume!  I already thought it was a cool costume, but upon Googling these Gabbas, I was floored by how spot-on incredible this costume is!  Yeah!!!  

Friday the 43rd

Happy Halloween!  This year, Mister went as something scary-awesome!  Enjoy year 3 of cat halloween costumes...

Got a yarn bomb in my temple...

Went to a comedy club Sat night in the East Village, and we passed by this.  Of course I had to snap some shots.  I think this is probably an Olek yarn bomb, but I don't know for sure.  The pics I saw of her grocery carts are different designs/colors. 

You probably know it drives me nuts when people confuse knitting with crochet (like confusing Phil Collins with Genesis), but I guess I get it.  Still, I am so surprised by how many legitimate articles about Olek's work call it knitting.  If I were an artist and crochet was my primary medium (which is basically true except I don't make a living off it), I would get "sick of tired" (Workaholics??) that pretty quickly.

Blanket Jackson

Good evening!  I am very excited to share a crochet blanket that I just made.  First I must give you a little history so you can understand why I am so thrilled.

Once upon a time, I was a volunteer at a hospital downtown as an outpatient greeter.  There were other volunteer opportunities, and one of them was to crochet blankets for preemies.  Time somehow got away from me; and six years later, I still had all three skeins of yarn they gave me, with two skeins attached to barely-started baby blankets.  I have been determined to make the blankets, but I always have more fun ideas that I get fixated on!  Long story boring, last Saturday I met up with Brooke & Christine to have a girls day.  Blankets don't require much concentration, so I brought my hospital yarn along.  YEY!  

Pictures, pattern, & materials below.

Edge folded over & border:

Stitch detail:

Full blanket (~22 sq inches):

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft (1 skein "soft green," 1 skein of a blue)
Hook:  G6/4.00MM

I started off with green, and ch 101.  Then I did alternating:
- 4 rows dc
- 3 rows of
(1) 2 sc, sk 1
(2 & 3) 2 sc between each 2 sc prior

I ran out of green and did the same pattern blue on either end to make it look semi normal.  I don't love it, but what can you do when you run out of free hospital yarn?  I finished with a border of 1 row sc, and 1 row reverse sc.  Um, can we talk about reverse sc...otherwise known as CRAB STITCH.  Holy crap, how am I just learning about this awesome stitch with an awesome Zoidberg-esque name.

Anyways, I still have 1.5 skeins of blue left so I am going to make another baby blanket.  I cannot believe this day has finally come.

Indian Summer

Yay!  I finally finished my first bathing suit! 

I have been wanting to make a really cool crochet one piece.  (Please reference swim suit inspiration post.)   I used this bikini pattern (the first one: Bikini Mimosa) as my basis for the top and the bottom.  Then I free-styled the middle portion using the same pattern as the waist.  I also had to improvise around the legs.  At first the bottoms were so small, but then I killed the fabric with our steamer, and they were huge!  I crocheted borders around the leg holes (decreasing stitches) to fill in some material gaps (didn't want a g-string!), and Marty literally did not believe it was the same bathing suit.  Killing fabric can change how the whole thing looks and fits, and is especially necessary if you plan on wearing it in water!  It's my favorite finishing technique.

I used E4/3.5MM hook with Lion Brand Micro Spun yarn.  

Also, I think everyone should take a moment to congratulate me on my bravery for posting these pictures on such a HIGH TRAFFIC blog (hahaha..?).  Sorry these are so dark too.  It's not exactly beach weather/season, although I did try unsuccessfully to figure out how to super-impose these pics onto a beach scene.  Maybe next summer I will actually wear this to the beach!

Yarn Bombed NYC

Don't you just love Olek?!  I am having a hard enough time finishing up this bathing suit I am working on!  Olek recently yarn bombed the cube in Astor Place.  She is so rad.  Crochet is so rad.  Knitting is for... hahaha.  

Source. Source.

Already in Love

How freaking awesome is this custom NatalieDee comic that Marty had made for me for our celebration of 5 years together???  Soo good - right down to my hair, and wearing my favorite color!  I actually had on a dress in that color today when Marty gave me this!  And the drawing of Mister is SPOT ON!  Check it - too perfect:

Readers of my blog know that I LOVE Natalie Dee, so this pretty much made my life.  Her comics are sooo ridiculously funny.  Visit her site, and get your own custom Natalie Dee comic!

Ms. Balloon Hands

Crafts!  Ok... this is kind of a lame craft like the stamps I put up earlier, but I like to upkeep the blog.  To celebrate 5 years of Kmart, I made Marty a little surprise party out of balloon animals!

Unfortunately I only know how to make dogs really.  When I said that to Marty he said, "yeah, but you are REALLY good at making dogs!!"

Nautical Trial

I ordered some awesome nautical rubber stamps for use somehow in my wedding decor.  The stamp designs are AWESOME, but they were sent as just a flat rubber pad.  You have to cut them out of the pad and mount them to something to stamp them.  Saturday, Marty and I tested them out.  We picked a stamp that was small and that we didn't love (in Marty's case, didn't know what the image even was) as a test.  I cut it out (per the instructions) and hot glued it to a water bottle cap (not per the instructions).  Marty wrote "Test 1" on a notecard, which was totally cute.  Here is Test 1 in blue ink:

There wasn't a Test 2 haha.  JK JK there were a few other tests, but I don't want to share them here bc it could give away an awesome wedding craft idea that someone might steal and use before I get to, and I am not really very good at sharing.

Finally, I will leave you with the image that I was left with as I headed out for brunch Sunday morning:

Future hubs/cat baby totem pole.  I am a fan.

Bottoms Up

Arghhh I spent so HOURS trying to follow this one part of the crochet swimsuit pattern that said, "inc. at ends 1 st. every 2 rows 21 times."  How to interpret??  Literally (1 stitch), that turns the work into a triangle instead of a trapezoid.  So after many an hour, I have finally decided to increase 1 stitch every two rows on BOTH outside ends (which would, in fact, make a trapezoid).

Anyways, at least I got to watch that new Zooey show & Workaholics, neither of which disappointed.


Love
Katiebeans

The Endless Summer

I am trying to be very focused this year.  I only want to tackle one project at a time, patiently & thoughtfully, without becoming overwhelmed by all the hundreds of things I want to make.  That way hopefully I can enjoy crochet, and also make some quality projects.  So here is a sneak peak of the bathing suit I am "patiently & thoughtfully" working on.  Right now I only have a couple of cups, but I have a bunch of good patterns to cobble together, and some awesome inspiration.  Pattern & pics to come...

Side note, I am reading Marty's book The Answer is Never, which so far feels like a history textbook on skateboarding.  I guess there is a surfboarding movie called The Endless Summer, which the author references.  Also he references 70s chicks in crochet bikinis.  Also, some of those pics I snagged are from Free People's site in a section called "Endless Summer."  So, full circle.

Big Bouncing Babies

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on two super secret projects, and here is one of them!  Two of my most favorite people are having a little bebe boy.  Some of us lady friends of Christine combined our crafting powers to make a congrats baby blanket.  Brooke, Kristin, and Kate knitted strips of brown & blue, and I crocheted a cream-colored border, using this border pattern.  Here is a close up:

Before the crochet edge, the knitting piece was 151 stitches x 240.  I did a rough measure, and if I recall correctly, the full blanket is about 5 ft by 3.5 ft.  Big for a baby, but perfect for a winter snugging up with your newborn!

Here is a pic of the lovely future baby-mama opening the blanket at her shower!  The yarn was Lion Brand Nature's Choice Organic Cotton.  The knitters used size 9 needles, recommended by the yarn.  I tried using a J/10, which was recommended, but it made too big of stitches so I switched to I/9.

And here is a pic of Brooke, Christine, and me!  We all unintentionally dressed to match the blanket.  

I had fun at the shower and was also grateful I didn't have to suffer through the Steeler game.  I hope everyone had a good Sunday, and maybe took a minute to remember those who died ten years ago today, especially the heros of flight 93.  

xo

Katiebeans

OK Computer

OK Computer, let's blog.  First off, I don't have anything crochet to show you, but I feel obligated to have a pic.  So here is a funny pic of me & Marty surf-fishing.  The jacket I have on is a Nike customized N98 so that feels kinda crafty??  Also, I just wanted to brag that I caught a fish surf fishing. Yes I probably could have found a more flattering picture of both of us but this isn't a fashion blog so you just shut up.

Anywho,  it's finally getting all fall-like, which is excellent because it is putting me in the mood to crochet.  I got some good ideas and patterns ready, but before I can start those, I have to finish two hush-hush projects that I can't talk about right now!  In the meantime, I figured I would let you know those were in the pipeline (I know you are just hanging on the edge of your seat, refreshing TeaBeans over and over).  I also wanted to tell you about Pinterest, which is my new favorite thing ever, if you haven't heard of it already.  Now, instead of copying & pasting & saving & uploading & boring my readers with "inspiration" posts which are really just "reminder" posts for me, I can save all that stuff on Pinerest!  Check out mine at Pinterest.com/Katiebeans!

Ok... chat you later!