Favorite Little Princess

I get a lot of inspiration from Pinterest, as do many of you, so I thought I would start a weekly posting of my top five pins from each week. The more I pin, the more I find I need to add more boards to organize all those pins. This past week I created a new board based on one such pin. It wasn't long before I accumulated 89 pins. That's a lot of cupcakes! Favorite Pin #1 Cupcake This was originally pinned from Rachelles Beautiful Bespoke Cakes , out of London. Her creations are just amazing. If you check out her blog, which is linked on her site, you can see how she puts together some of these sweet designs. Favorite Pin #2 Chevron Baby Blanket This precious little blanket can be found over at Eat, Knit, & DIY . which I find amusing since this is a crocheted blanket. I often get requests from crocheted gifts whenever a new baby is close to arriving. This blanket will make a fine addition to my collection of go-to gifts, especially with the recent popularity ...

Back in December, I joined up with others in the country to commit to 26 Random  Acts of Kindness . I've haven't been posting each individual one, mostly because of some of the criticism surrounding the movement. Yes, there are some bah-humbugs out there who think they have the right to tell people if their act is "good" enough. Personally, I think any selfless act, no matter how small, is a contribution to humanity and we need more of it. I'll put my soapbox away now. Like any crocheter, I have a stash of yarn. Please try to contain your shock. I set a goal to reduce that stash significantly and I'm making great progress by teaming up with my Acts of Kindness plans. This is also something the non-crocheter/knitter can do as well. A few years ago, I purchased a small, round loom called the Knifty Knitter made by Provo Craft. You can buy it separately or in a set. I just bought the little blue one. K2 wanted to learn to crochet, but at the time she was lit...

Just a portion of my out of control yarn mess. My yarn stash may be a little out of control.  Just a bit. Just a lot according to my hubby. Having two girls digging through it for their own crafty ideas makes it even worse. It's time to get it under control. Plus, I can't stand having my yarn knot up when I'm making something.   I wish that I had a ball winder, but remember, I'm cheap thrifty. I pinned this little gadget to my "Gifts I want" board, but it's not really practical right now.   I have a free way of getting the same result, but it does take a little longer. You just need a stick of some sort. I have used a large crochet hook like this one: Size Q Hook Of course, because of this mess I couldn't find it.  Instead, I used a broken drumstick. Seriously. See the duct tape? It still works for me. Take one end of the yarn and hold it against the stick with the tail pointed down. Start winding around the tail . Wind about 5-10 times, th...

I collect yarn.  Not always by choice.  It just seems to find me.  Usually it's not enough to make something I want, which leaves me searching for ways to use up that yarn.  Here's a quick simple project to use up that stash.  It's simple enough that even the kiddos can help out.   Grab some yarn and wind it into a ball.  Mine is fairly small, because I have little dogs, and this ball is to be their new toy.   After you wind it to the size you want, tuck in the end.  Get some string.  I used my leftover bedspread weight yarn (Size 10 cotton).  Wrap it evenly around the ball to where you have 17 strings.   On each end, start weaving the string over and under the 17 strings.  Doesn't have to be much, just enough to create some stability.  Grab your yarn needle and leftover yarn and start weaving away until you cover the entire ball. Weave in the ends and go find a dog! She's wasn't too thrilled with the camera, but l...