Letter of the week: T

T in latvian TĒTIS (father)
Tree, Trust, Tea, Tease, Tangled, Triceratops :D

Around the time we changed the staircase in our home, there where a loooooot of interest in hammering so I took the advantage of that and put my little man to work :) I put few spots on piece of wood and Oli hammered nails and after that I let them colour in with those small rubber bands usually used for bracelets .. (i really wanted to "colour" in with string as anyone who loves pinterest would have noticed all around there and everywhere else)
Btw, I had thought the hammering part would be the most fun for the kids but as it turned out, they loved the "colouring" way more!

after all of that I decided that it is time for me to write up pattern for T :)
so here it comes ->

& this one is pretty much as simple as first one I showed you -> I ;) 

Letter of the week: R

aRRRRR!
the pirate letter has finally come up! :D

and as it happens - R - stands for recycle too :)
so this letter is presented on a block for my latest ScrappyRug - rug made from TidBits, leftovers and recycled yarn from old sweaters and such :)

Letter of the week: P

PeeeeaNUTbutter :D
I remember first time I ever tried peanutbutter I thought: Why would anyone ever eat such a stupid thing ... I was teenager at the moment - not to mention - hooked on anything chocolately :D
now I will choose peanutbutter&jelly sandwich 9 out of 10 times I eat a sandwich and that one other time nutella :P not much has changed - sweet tooth has won the game! :D

Pattern for letter P:

Letter of the week: D

DEVIOUS
o, my ... am I really that bad ? :P
but maybe my unconscious mind is just trying to help me by telling that all the letters to write this one are already available!

D E V I O U S !

Pattern for letter D:

Letter of the week: G

Gorgeous! is the first name that comes to mind that starts with an G :)
and autumn is gorgeous if only for a moment ...

Pattern for letter G
pretty much the same as for letter C (+6 simple new rows)

Row 1: Ch 4, sc in 2nd st from hook, hdc, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, dc&hdc tog (dc in same st hdc in next), sc. Turn.
Row 3: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc. Turn.
Row 4: Ch 2, dc&hdc tog (dc in same st hdc in next), sc. Turn.
Row 5: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Row 6: Ch 2, dc&hdc tog (dc in same st hdc in next), sc. Turn.

Row 7: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc. Turn.
Repeat 6th and 7th row 1 more time.

Row 10: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.

Repeat 10th row. 5 more times.
Row 16: Ch 2, dc&hdc tog (dc in same st hdc in next), sc. Turn.

Row 17: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc. Turn.

Repeat 16th and 17th row 1 more time.

Row 20: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.

Row 21: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc. Turn.
Row 22: Ch 2, dc&hdc tog (dc in same st hdc in next), sc. Turn.

Repeat 21st and 22nd row 1 more time.
Row 25: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 25th row 2 more times.
Row 28: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc.

Row 29: Ch 2, dc2tog on previous rows last dc. Dc in the stitch where the previous rows last dc was made in. Turn.
Row 30: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc.
Fasten off.

(overall letter G consists of 30 rows)

Fun&Fancy pillowcase :)

You better believe it!
I have managed to finish this beauty while playing around with 3 kids 24/7 (oh yes - nights are pretty busy over here still - fun fact - most of the nightly activity comes from the big kids - who would have thought that baby in her 2 months could sleep better then 3&5 year olds combined! :D )

I am loving these totally different looks of my new pillowcase I can (and will) showcase the fun part of rainbowish solid granny diamond during the playtime with my kiddos and will change it to the fancy HexATile side when my girlfriends come to visit ... o, yes :)

Otto is trying to jump on and take a nap on SolidGrannyDiamond side ...
he wasn't lucky today, I'm not ready to share this pillow with him yet :)

and the fancy HexATile side in all it's glory :)

Both sides just so you know I have actually joined them :D and this is how Sam put it in the middle of the room to be her horse .. that was a fun moment :D
unfortunately that gloomy time of year has come when I get ZERO sunshine in my home, so pretty much all of the pictures I take inside looks colorless and murky ...
But outside even the gloomy days seem brighter probably because of the leaves ...

pattern release: Solid granny diamond ♦

do you remember the granny diamond and long granny diamond ?
now their little sister has arrived! ;)

You can buy the pattern on etsy or ravelry :)
(took me about a year to finish writing it up because after 3 finished diamond blankets I just wanted to make something entirely different .. not that i did crochetwise .. well I did "make" a tiny human, but that's a different story :D maybe for some other time besides the fireplace with tea and cookies ..)

now I am finally ready for moooooooore diamonds ;)
Finished up those pieces and wrote a pattern - so proud of myself :)) pattern includes instructions for more rows (like the left side project that should become a jacket some time soon, scheme I plan to use for the jacket also included in the pattern pdf), but you can always choose to crochet just first two rounds of each piece like I did for my still unfinished pillowcase I call shattered rainbow on the right ... (I could blame the kids, but that would be soooo unfair because they are on their best behaviour lately)

some more pictures to come ..

Letter of the week: Z

Zzzzzz ...
above all else at the moment I am craving sleep, full night of dreamless sleep .. and then some more sleep .. zzzZzzz

Pattern: 

Row 1: Ch5, on the third (and fourth) chain dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat second row 5 times.
Row 8: Ch 3, dc on same st, hdc on next, sc. ch 1 hdc on the side of dc. Htr, tr in the space between dc's.
Row 9: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc on previous rows tr. Turn.
Row 10: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 10th row 7 times.
Row 18: Ch 3, dc on same st, hdc on next, sc. ch 1 hdc on the side of dc. Htr, tr in the space between dc's. 

Row 19: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc on previous rows tr. Turn.
Row 20: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.

Repeat 20th row 3 times.
Fasten off.

(overall letter Z consists of 23 rows)

Letter of the week: N

Nice!
NNNNNN is here to stay ;P

Pattern:

Row 1: Ch5, on the third (and fourth) chain dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat second row 8 times.
Row 11: Ch 3, dc on same st, hdc on next, sc. Ch 1, hdc on the side of dc. Htr, tr in the space between dc's.
Row 12: Ch 2, dc2tog, dc on previous rows tr. Turn.
Row 13: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 13th row 7 times.
Row 21: Ch 1, sc on next 3 st. Ch 1, hdc on the side of dc. Htr, tr in the space between dc's.
Row 22: Ch 2, dc2tog, sc between dc's on the side. Turn.
Row 23: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 23rd row 7 times.
Fasten off.

(overall letter N consists of 30 rows)

If confused about straight parts check out letter I 

corners similar to 1st and 3rd corner of WorM ;) but I'll post some more pics of the corners just in case ...

Mini ♥ Granny Square

Almost a week ago I saw a tiny granny square with a heart in the middle on instagram (made by talented Susan @suregal27)

and today I finally tried it out :)

heart was simple and looked cute but I struggled to make the second round square up like it should according to the pattern .. so obviously - I frogged it a few times and finally made my own perfect hearty granny square ♥

1st row - heart! (as seen on Susans @suregal27 instagram profile)

Magic circle. Ch2, 3 tr, 3 dc, 1tr, 3dc, 3 tr worked in magic circle. Ch2, sl st in magic circle. Tighten magic circle.

Letter of the week: A

And the naming game is ON:

Annabella
Adriana
Aurelia
Aurora
Adelaide

and many more I like (I won't show you because they do not start with A :P ) ... hubby says none of mine could be the one and only for our little princess and thank god after more than two months of indecision he has his own favourite. A name I hadn't even considered (to be honest I hadn't even noticed it), but each day I like it more and more ... so probably me and my 30 possibilities will have to cave in and accept the one he has chosen ...

Pattern for letter A is pretty much the same as for letter V just turn it around and add "-" similar like I did for H ;)

Letter of the week: V

Vella ducis *
* devils dozen is perfect as I have managed to write patterns for 13 letters so far! :)

Vision!
let's hope pattern for next dozen letters will come faster ...

Pattern: 

Row 1: Ch 4, sc on 2nd st, hdc, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat second row 9 times.
Row 12: Ch 3, dc on same st, hdc on next, sc. ch 1 hdc on the side of dc. Htr, tr in the space between dc's.
Row 13: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc on previous rows tr. Turn.
Row 14: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 14th row 6 times.
Row 21: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc & hdc tog, sc.
Fasten off.

(overall letter V consists of 21 rows)

Some pictures...

Letter of the week: F

Family
Friends
Fishes
and an unFinished page in colouring book for adults :P

Pattern: 

Row 1: Ch5, on the third (and fourth) chain dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat second row 3 times.
Row 6: Ch 11. Dc in 4th ch from hook. 10 dc. Turn.
Row 7: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 7 th row 4 times. (do not turn after last repeat)

Row 12: Ch 2, dc2tog on previous rows last dc. Dc in the stitch where the previous rows last dc was made in. Turn.

Row 13: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 13th row 4 times.
Fasten off.

(overall letter F consists of 17 rows)

Letter of the week: J

I just noticed I have forgotten letter J ..
(it might have happened because pattern for letter J is almost the same as for letter U)

Pattern for letter J

mandala madness in my head :)

I was daydreaming about the day I will make overlay crochet mandala and then it hit me - I should just make one, so on mothers day I decided to gratify myself with one of Amanda Williams (Yarn House) lovely mandala paterns and picked Lylah Mandala :)
as I learned later that day she was running a promotion of 50% off her patterns .. me and my big mouth - I bragged about my purchase of the pattern (first time ever, btw .. not bragging - I do that all the time :D but the pattern purchasing part :D ) and she noticed my post and was soooooo generous that she gifted me one more pattern ! I was cheeky enough and picked Snowflake and now that Lylah is finished and gifted I will start it tomorrow :)

Letter of the week: E

Eep!

Pattern: 

Row 1: Ch5, on the third (and fourth) chain dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat second row 4 times.
Row 7: Ch 3, dc on same st, hdc on next, sc. Turn.
Row 8: Ch 1, hdc on previous rows hdc, dc on previous rows dc. Turn.
Row 9: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 9th row 2 times.

Girly Blanket

I made this Girly blanket for my adorable little niece to nap under and her mumma so she knows we love her too ;)

Links of inspiration (for the doilies):
check out my projects on ravelry

Letter of the week: L

Love ♥
Long days, early mornings, sunshine, colors, dandelions, light.

I love the spring!

***

Kids keep me occupied till they drop .. sometimes I fall asleep before them, my eyes just closes reading them the 75th fairytale .. then later belly baby gives me a push and I crawl to my own bed :D if she hasn't woken me up by midnight then she surely will after 5am ... but in spring that's already morning so I get up and go for my morning coffee :) (in spring I don't mind these early mornings too much :P It's already light outside and I get to spend some time alone :) )

Pattern: 

Row 1: Ch5, on the third (and fourth) chain dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat second row 4 times.
Row 7: Ch 3, dc on same st, hdc on next, sc. Turn.
Row 8: Ch 1, hdc on previous rows hdc, dc on previous rows dc. Turn.
Row 9: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 9th row 8 times.
Fasten off.
(overall letter L consists of 17 rows)

the only difference from purely longer letter I is the corner (7th and 8th row) so I made few photos of that :P

Letter of the week: W or M - both! :P

I am way too lazy to make two different patterns for letters that look pretty much the same ... in my opinion W is just upside-down M so here comes two letters for the price of one! :D

Pattern: 

Row 1: Ch5, on the third (and fourth) chain dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat second row 8 times.
Row 11: Ch 3, dc on same st, hdc on next, sc. ch 1 hdc on the side of dc. Htr, tr in the space between dc's.
Row 12: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc on previous rows tr. Turn.
Row 13: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 13th row.
Row 15: Ch 3, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc.
Row 16: Ch 2, dc2tog on previous rows dc. Dc in the space between dc's. Turn.
Row 17: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 17th row 3 times.

Row 21: Ch 3, dc on same st, hdc on next, sc. ch 1 hdc on the side of dc. Htr, tr in the space between dc's.
Row 22: Ch 2, dc2tog, dc on previous rows tr. Turn.
Row 23: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.

Repeat 23rd row 6 times.
Fasten off.

(overall letter W consists of 29 rows)

Letter of the week: H

Ho, Ho, Ho, Hi, Hi, Ha, Ha! :D

Yesterday evening I read my kids the story about letter H (well it was a latvian book and there where a lot of laughs written in a book and next to me in bed) so I decided I should finally write up more letters :D and why not restart this with such a Happy letter H :)

soooooo ...
This is one of those letters that consists of two parts :)

Pattern for the first part (same old letter I):
Row 1: Ch5, on the third (and fourth) chain dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat second row 9 times.
Fasten off.
(overall letter I consists of 11 rows)

Pattern for the second part (letter I transforms to H):
Row 1: Ch5, on the third (and fourth) chain dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat second row 3 times.
Row 6: Ch 10. 3 sl st to the previously made I's on the 6th row. 13 dc worked on the chain. Turn.
Row 7: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat 7th row 4 times.
Fasten off.
(overall letter H consists of 11+11 rows)

weekly planner

or how I am attempting to teach my kids the passing of time ...
so far everything that has ever happened has happened "yesterday" magical past time that stores all their previous life :P
and the future is as far as 5 minutes from now .. and even that is waaaaaaay toooooooo faaaaaar, noooooooone can survive those looooooooong minutes waiting till the tea is warm not hot ... next day or next week seems like a lifetime of waiting ...

۰•● ✿ ●•۰

and now
about a half year later since I wrote that ... not much has changed, BUT I have made the pocket planner I was dreaming of!

Obviously
it is not being used as I had planned :D

Random Rambling: Little tricksters are growing!

Five more minutes!
Sam's way of bargaining for anything :D

Sam 2&half

Just two bites!
First milk, no carrots, only potatoes ..
Oli's way of bargaining for sweets ... when he promises to eat some amount of real food in exchange for sweets ... he starts this without even knowing if there is something sweet planned after the meal :D
But I am smart enough to tell him that in this case he will have only some part of that particular dessert afterwards .. sometimes that works better than expected and he eats an extra meatball :P

Oli 5min till 5

Mommy is mine, Daddy is yours.
This is a way for them to divide their domains. They are dividing everything! :D parents, cousins, friends, cartoons, music :D
Of course it works only till the other one gets offered something better... for both of them dealbreaker is that the other ones parent is taking them somewhere even if it is something really booooooooring :D

Both (Sam 3 and Oli 5min till 5)

Letter of the week: C

Cat, color, cinnamon, concept, crochet, city, chance ...
just first few words starting with C that appeared in my mind this morning :P

yesterday I was sooo disapointed by the fact that I had chosen grey as the colour to test the letters ... but today I figured out how to spice it up :P I just have to switch white background to make it look more fun ;)

Pattern for letter C

Row 1: Ch 4, sc in 2nd st from hook, hdc, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, dc&hdc tog (dc in same st hdc in next), sc. Turn.
Row 3: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc. Turn.
Row 4: Ch 2, dc&hdc tog (dc in same st hdc in next), sc. Turn.
Row 5: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Row 6: Ch 2, dc&hdc tog (dc in same st hdc in next), sc. Turn.

Row 7: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc. Turn.
Repeat 6th and 7th row. 1 more time.

Row 10: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.

Repeat 10th row. 5 more times.
Row 16: Ch 2, dc&hdc tog (dc in same st hdc in next), sc. Turn.

Row 17: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc. Turn.

Repeat 16th and 17th row. 1 more time.

Row 20: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.

Row 21: Ch 1, sc, hdc, dc. Turn.
Row 22: Ch 2, dc&hdc tog (dc in same st hdc in next), sc. Turn.

Repeat 21st and 22nd row. 1 more time.
Fasten off.
(overall letter C consists of 24 rows)

Scrappy Rug

Second scrappy rug is growing I have now made 9 squares using bits and pieces working c2c (corner to corner).
Squares are 13x13 pixels small (or big). I have no idea why i chose devil's dozen...
I am using hook nr 4 and 2 strands of leftover yarn bits in DK (this is mainly for myself so I do not forget whitch crochethook to take when returning to the rug), hook is probably smaller than would be needed for that thickness of yarn, but as it is not supposed to be blanket but it is gonna be rug it should be more firm than squishy ;)

Few more pics ...

Spring sweater

Hi and hello! ;)
My spring sweater is ready to rock this world!

As you might guess it's freezing outside! (-1C to be precise) so I ran out, snapped few photos and ran back in (thank god and my husband for hot fireplace in the kitchen) :)
It's gonna be about a month till +10C and real opportunity to show this beauty outside tough ...

This is the yarn that jumpstarted my spring ;)

And here I have started my granny style spring sweater ..
In the begging there were looooooong chain and huge hole for the head :P when I felt like shoulders are covered I folded this square and started working in rounds.

Loads more pictures to come ;)

Letter of the week: U

YOU are amazing!
U are!
and do not forget that. ever.

Pattern for letter U

Letter of the week: O

O is my little mans letter .. He used to point it out wherever he went like Sam does now with hers.

But he has outgrown that childish game and now he prefers his full name:

• he writes it himself (just his name) and any colouring ends real fast (he hates it, I have no idea why) he colours about a square inch (tiny spot on a page), decides he should write instead, writes his name and if I suggest some other words he claims "too tired" and runs off to jump on bed ... :D
• he uses scrabble letters to put together his name in two "letter couches" as we call them .. :)
• he uses puzzle letters to arrange his name (something quite similar as scrabble just letters on puzlepieces) other kind of puzzles do not interest him now ...

(On really rare occasions I have managed to trick him into writing Sam's name)

Pattern for letter O

Letter of the week: S

Letter S is first one Sam learned about a year ago, she notices it everywhere! One letter S in a word and she claims that word as her own and I have to remind that letter and word is not quite the same ...

And then in last years October (I think) I made a whole crochet alphabet :) and was planning to share the letter patterns here. (I won't make any predictions on how loooong it might take me to write up all the patterns, because usually those predictions turn around and bite me :D ) And I was planning to share pattern for "S" first, but then "I" came sooooooo easily ;P
I should have written them when I was making them because then I knew every letter by heart, but now I have to look at the finished things and think real hard how did I make them ?!...

SO finally! Pattern for letter S

Letter of the week: I

The simplest letter there is! :P

And maybe most important one!
a lot of mighty things start with ourselves - I am. I love. I hope...
I will do this! ;)

Pattern:
Row 1: Ch5, on the third (and fourth) chain dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Row 2: Ch 2, on same (and next) st dc2tog, dc. Turn.
Repeat second row 9 times.
Fasten off.
(overall letter I consists of 11 rows)

On the go photos so it's easier to understand confusing places of the pattern (if any) ...

Magical life of crocheter

I am obsessed with Harry Potter...
Even as I am writing this in background there are sounds from third movie: Prisoner of Azkaban... After I reread the books in autumn I have watched all movies twice already...
o, my ...
(watched is a strong term, because crocheters usually listen to movies not really watches them :D)

When I started crocheting letters first thing I thought was that I need 3 letters for each day of the week (M, T, W, T, F, S, S) well just in Latvian (P, O, T, C, P, S, S) for weekly pocket calendar from recycled jeans (that is already hanged up in second floor hall but we haven't started using it as I had imagined ... that probably is the reason why I haven't shared it here yet).

But when kids saw the letters they wanted some of their letters and I thought why not whole words and when I had that many I picked quote and didn't stop making those letters till I could "write it down" ;) 

The magic in all of this is that one small thing leads to another and as long as that light burns over that latest idea there is no telling how far that might go ... ;)

I promise that the patterns of the letters used to write down this amazing quote from J. K. Rowling's book character Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore will start to appear here soon ;)

Happy Crafting!

Testing new things :)

This is the test piece of how the Blanket of the Waves will look like. I'm not showing you sides yet because well .. they suck :P

Ok, actually just one side is totally unusable.

Hex A Tile! ;P

One fun day over at the instagram we where droooling over tiles ... and I just happened to have few hexagons so I HAD to try it out!

First thing I thought that the easiest way to make this would be plain hexies (probably with first round black) joined with black and then when it looked way too much like a simple honeycomb blanket one would crochet sl st over it in rows so it would makes it come to life ...

BUT when I saw the real hexies and started joining them in my mind I soon discovered that I the best way is to make plain hexies (no need for first round in different colour) and then join them as if using ruler :)