Merry Christmas!

December

 Can you believe Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! Decorating is still happening here at Hopscotch Lane. Here is our buffet table for this year. The adorable little deer are ornaments found at World Market (they might be my favorite thing this year). The bottle brush tree is from World Market as well. The white cake stands were found at Hobby Lobby and the vintage crochet potholder is from an estate sale. I love the whole vintage vibe.

Last night I worked on our Ikea gingerbread house with disastrous crumbly results. First thing this morning I was determined to make the walls stay up so out came the glue gun! I placed it on a white Ikea doily style tray with some evergreens trimmed off the bottom of our tree and added a tea light for extra light. I love the smell of gingerbread!

A few more gifts need to be bought and wrapped and lots of cookies and sweets have to be baked! 

How are your Christmas festitvities and preparations going?

Vintage Ornaments Galore

Yesterday morning we went to our first Estate sale. I was on the hunt for vintage ornaments and I had heard that this sale had lots.I was not dissapointed, look at all the yummies I came home with. Lots of ornaments and a few tree toppers.

We made a direct dash for the ornaments and a good thing too as a lot of the folks waiting in line had come for the ornaments as well :)

One day I would love to have a whole tree of vintage ornaments. They are so colorful and shiny!

Oh Christmas Tree!

 We all had a wonderful Thanksgiving here at Hopscotch Lane! Lots of eating and relaxing. 

Now that all of the pie and leftover turkey is gone it is time to jump right into Christmas. 

So here it is out Dining Room Christmas Tree 2012!

 This is the biggest bushiest tree we have had to date. Last year was our first time in a long time having a live tree. We loved it so much we HAD to get another one and I think this one is just as perfect as last year. Like my bedroom tree, most of the ornaments are handmade. I love handmade ornaments, in 20 years I know I will be so excited to take out each ornament and feel all warm and fuzzy inside with the memories of making them.

 Here's the tree in all of it's night time glowy glory!

Thank you all for your lovely comments on the owl pattern! I am so happy you all are enjoying it! Also if you blogged about your owl please keep the links coming :) I can't tell you how happy it makes me to see all of your little owls hanging on your trees! You can also add your project on Ravelry here if you have the time.

Happy Wednesday!

Crochet Owl Ornament Pattern

Thank you so much everyone for your sweet comments on my blanket! You guys are the best! It seemed everyone who commented puts up their tree either the weekend after Thanksgiving or the first week of December, so to get you ready for tree decorating here is the pattern for a little crochet owl ornament!

 Materials:

• scrap worsted weight cotton
• size US H crochet hook
• black brads or black buttons
• poly-fil stuffing
• stitch marker 

Notes: The body is worked in a spiral so you will not slip stitch at the end of each row. Instead place a marker so you know where the beginning of the next row is. I like to use a small piece of contrasting scrap yarn because it is easier to just pull out and place between the stitches.

Body:

I used the colors pink (A), green (B) red (C), blue (D).
With Color A make magic loop
Row 1: 12 sc in loop (12sc)
Row 2: *Sc 1, 2 sc in the next sc*, rep 6 times. (18sc)
Row 3: *sc 2, 2 sc in the next sc*, rep 6 times. (24sc)
Row 4: *sc 3, 2 sc in the next sc*, rep 6 times. (30sc)
Row 5:  Sc in each sc around. (30sc)
Row 6-7:  Change to color B and sc in each sc around.(30sc)
Row 8-9:  Change to Color C, sc in each sc around. (30sc)
Row 10-11 Change to color D, sc in each sc around. (30sc)
Row 12: Change to color A, sc in first 3sts, decrease (sc2tog), sc in each st. (29sc)
Row13-18: sc in each sc around. (29sc)
Row 19: Sc in next 4 sc,  fold the body on the top and crochet together 6 sts, slip stitch in the sc 1 row below, stuff the owl with poly fil, crochet together last sts, end with a sl.st.
Fasten off. Weave in ends

Eyes (make 2):
magic loop in white.
Row 1: ch3, 11 dc in loop. Join with a sl st to top of ch3.
Fasten off. Weave in ends.
Add a black brad or button to center of eye. You can alternatively embroidery a french knot in the center.

Beak:
1) Ch 3, turn.
2) Crochet 2 sc, turn.
3) Crochet 1 sc, turn.
4) Make a sl.st.
Fasten off. Weave in ends.


Assembly:
I am extremely lazy and just glue on the eyes and the beak on to the owl, but feel free to sew them on. If you would like to add a hanging loop, just make a chain of 14 and sew it on the center top of the owl. I decided that I liked the owl better with just a Christmas ornament hook looped through a stitch on the top :)

There you have it a super simple Christmas ornament!
I hope you all enjoy!

Christmas Cheer

Did you happen to notice what was in the corner of my room in my last post. Yes it was a Christmas tree! I know it's a bit early for some of you, but I promise there is not a lick of Christmas decorations downstairs yet :) It's a bit of tradition for me to put up the bedroom tree in the beginning of November. It really puts me in the Christmas spirit and makes me excited. There is nothing like laying in bed at night and staring at a Christmas tree.

I did this years theme a little differently. Normally I have colored lights with lots of glittery ornaments in the same colors as the lights. This year I brightened it up. A lot of the ornaments you see are handmade (I think those are the best kind). I included lots of white and did clear lights. It has to be my favorite tree ever.I love it so much I decided to do the big tree downstairs in the same style.Yay! 

Its always been tradition to put up the tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving. It is honestly my favorite day of the year, I look forward to it all year. I love it even more than Christmas Day :)

When do you put up your tree and decorations?

Granny Square Blanket Tah Dah!

I've been a bad little blogger lately. Around the Holidays I seem to be super busy with lots of fun things (as I'm sure all of you are) and don't have as much time for the computer. 

Despite my lack of blogging here is a tah dah moment I am super excited about! I finished it so quick that there was no time for in progress pictures :)

 

It's a super simple granny square blanket. Each square is 7 rounds and the 4th and 7th round are always white. It is 6 squares wide and 7 squares long. The border is just double crochet with each color alternating with white. The border really did seem to take longer than the making of all the squares. I probably won't be doing that big of a border anytime soon.

Sophie approves!

 

 Doesn't it look smashing with my new red gingham Ikea comforter!

 

There it is! Such a fun project and I'm in love with it :) 

Hope you are all having a great week!

WIP: Patchwork Granny Blanket

I'm sure all of you have seen all of the wonderful patchwork type granny square blankets popping up everywhere in Blog Land. Of course I had to join in the fun and start my own!

 Originally I had red and dark blue in the mix, but for some reason they just looked off. 

 So I swapped those out for grey and purple.

Very much out of my comfort zone! Aahhh!

This is the first blanket or crocheted piece of any kind really that doesn't have red, but I'm loving every bit of it!

Sabrina the Crochet Halloween Doll

Meet Sabrina! She is the newest addition to my Halloween decor this year!

 I wanted to name her Broomhilda, but Mom said she looks much more like a Sabrina. I have to agree.

She's a miniature version of the Daphne Doll so she was super fast to make up. I found the witch's hat at Pat Catans for 70 cents and the cute felt spider came in a pack of felties from Hobby Lobby. The rest of the spiders are on the Halloween tree. Oh yes... a Halloween tree. Pictures soon!

I'm all ready for Halloween! How about you?

It's Here!

The Daphne Doll pattern is finally ready for sale! I am so excited to share it with all of you!You can purchase it in my etsy shop or you can instantly download it on Ravelry.

This is my first published pattern so if you have any questions or see any obvious mistakes, please do not hesitate to convo me on etsy or email me at hopscotchlaneshop@yahoo.com.

Thank you all again for your encouragement to write the pattern. You guys really kept me motivated! 

It's a Normal Kinda Day

Packaging days are always my favorite. There is just something so satisfying about bringing a bag full of packages to the post office. It gives me a sense of relief and accomplishment. 

 Hope you are all having a great week!

Finished: Daphne Doll

Say hello to Daphne! 

She is my newest creation that I have been working on all week. 

She is crocheted out of 100% cotton and was such a joy to design! 

I am currently working on some friends for her. Is it strange for a 20-something to have a doll?

 Pattern is currently in the works!

Hope all of my US friends have a great holiday weekend and all my international peeps have a wonderful 1st weekend of September!

ETA: Pattern is now available on Etsy or Ravelry.

Thrifty Yarn Storage

  The other week I found a brown display rack at the local thrift store. Bought it for $5, spray painted it aqua, and voila, a cute yarn rack!

Hooky Update

A lot of crocheting has been happening at Hopscotch Lane the past week and I have to selfishly say that it is all for me!

First I started a new blanket! This is probably the biggest thing I have crocheted to date, but it is absolutely flying off the hook. You can find the pattern here. It is in Swedish, but with a little basic knowledge of crochet and a lot of help from google translate it is manageable. This pattern is ingenious and sucks you right in from the get go. I cannot wait to see what stitch and color is going to be next. The picture shown is only two days of work on it. I cannot wait for it to be done so I can snuggle under it when it's cold and snowy

 Next is a happy amigurumi bunny! 

Finally, I have been working on a super secret Christmas project. Do you wanna see a sneak peak? Do ya?

The whole project will be revealed in September, it will include lots of pictures, new free patterns, and Christmas fun! Stay tuned!

Matching Crochet Blanket and Owl Pillow

I have been busily crocheting up a storm here at Hopscotch Lane. We have been having an unseasonably cool August so far. Yay!

Here is my newest set of crocheted goodness in my all time favorite colors.

 A simple crochet granny square blanket with a fun colorful border.

And a fun owl pillow. This is a new design and I really love it. I have many color combinations in mind that I cannot wait to try. Possibly one in Halloween colors???

I have a little confession to make. I may have put up my Halloween/Autumn Lemax village last week. I got a huge order from my favorite online store and could not wait more than 2 days to take everything out of the box and put it all up. I am anxiously waiting until at least after Labor Day to show it off :)

More Yellow

It's been yellow kinda week. I don't know what it is, I just can't get enough of it. Usually I am all about red and pink, but yellow has been looping around my hook lately.

 This is a super simple baby blanket. It's just a huge granny square, using my favorite granny square pattern. I did 20 rounds of 2 rows of color. Then I single crocheted all around the blanket with 3sc in each corner. The finished blanket measures about 22 inches square. Perfect for cuddling a baby!

Of course I had to make a matching owl using atergcrochet's amazing pattern!

Yellow and White Chevron Blanket

Hi all! Thank you so much for your well wishes for my new shop. Your support means so much to me!

  I think I just found my new favorite pattern to crochet... chevron (or otherwise known as ripple). The royalsisters have a great pattern for the perfect design, not too pointy and not too wavy. I want one in every color of the rainbow :) 

This one is made out of Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn in bright yellow and white using size H hook. I did not add a border as I though the edges are perfectly neat. It measures about 27 inches wide and 32 inches tall. So happy with how it turned out. It is my first ripple ever!

Some Big News

I finally opened up Hopscotch Lane on Etsy!!! 

This shop is purely just to have fun. I'm an excessive type of person and when I make one thing I always get obsessed have to make 10 more, and really how many blankets or owls does one girl need :) My latest obsession is pillows! Can you tell from the last few posts? I am so excited to finally have a shop that just lets my creativity flow. I am sure I will find lots of inspiration today at the Summer Market in Avon Lake. It is all handmade, vintage, and cute food stands. Can't wait!

Have a great weekend!

2012 London Summer Olympics

Are you all ready for the Opening Ceremonies tonight? I am!

It was a complete accident that I started and finished these pillows in time for the Olympics. I am completely obsessed with any thing union jack and British, so when I saw this pattern I knew I had to make one up. A simple granny square pillow is the perfect companion for this sweet pillow.

The union jack pillow is backed with red and white polka dot cotton in an envelope style. The granny square also has an envelope back, but it is done out of poly/cotton blend fabric.

Tomorrow I have some big news to share with all of you. If you want a hint check out my blog's sidebar!

Happy Olympics!

Pink, Red, and Blue Pillows

I have been having so much fun lately working on new crochet pillow ideas in between work and my granny square blanket.

Here are the two newest in my probably my favorite colors ever: red, pink, and blue!

The striped pillow is Tanya Whelan "delilah" fabric with a fun red cotton crochet edging.

The smaller pillow is just a really large granny square made out of acrylic yarn.

Such fun and fast projects :)