It’s a Pillow, It’s an Afghan, It’s a PILLOWGHAN!

Like all 3 year olds my daughter has certain items that MUST be taken with her everywhere she goes. Her favorite thing to drag around (and I mean that literally) is a blanket that one of my aunts made for her when she was a baby. It is a good size blanket and my daughter can not help but drag it behind her across the floor, across the ground and into the car. Number one, this is a really nice blanket and I’d rather not see it ruined. Number 2, it isn’t a real portable blanket and hard to stow when we take trips. To solve both of these problems and because I had yet to make a blanket for my daughter, I decided to make her a pillowghan.

In case you’ve never heard of or seen a pillowghan, it is an afghan that you can fold up into a pillow. The most basic pillowghans are made from 13 granny squares that have been joined to form a 3x4 pattern. Then the additional 13th square is sewed back to back with the center square on one end of the blanket. Leave the interior side of the 13th square un-sewed so that you can fold the blanket up and tuck it into the pocket. (I tried to put a graph on here to illustrate how the blanket goes together but for some reason it won't post).

When the blanket is open the “pillow pocket” also makes for a nice foot warmer. Or if you are 3 it makes a great place to stash your toys and carry them around the house.

For my daughter’s Pillowghan I used:
-size I hook
-6 skeins Caron Simply soft in white
-2 skeins Sensations rainbow boucle: 1 Turquoise, 1 bright pink

I worked the granny squares with 2 strands held together, the white and either turquoise or pink. 6 squares in color 1 and 7 squares in color 2. I joined all the squares by holding them back to back and single crocheting them together. 13th square is joined last by sewing through thickness of 2 squares back to back on 3 sides, leaving the one side open for “pillow pocket”.

A Back-Packing We Will Go

Everyone should have a fun, functional, travel size project that they can add their own flare to and make over and over and over again…and after I got sick of making washcloths (hehehe) I found an online pattern for a crochet backpack. The pattern is very easy and quite simple. However, I’ve never actually made it plain stripes like the pattern suggests. In fact I’ve done quite the opposite and thrown every stitch in my arsenal into this bag. Not all of them at the exact same bag but over about 10 of them

The bag in the picture, at the top of the page, happens to be my daughter’s. Why is it that 3 year olds feel the need to take absolutely everything with them but not carry any of it themselves? It used to be that everywhere I went my purse was full of spare pull-ups and travel wipes, butt balm, teddy bears and crayons. After pulling everything out of my purse (but the kitchen sink) at Target one day so that I could find my wallet and pay the cashier, I resolved to do something about my unmanageable mess. I thought that if my daughter had a backpack then she could carry her own mess and still have her hands free, which of course is why children hate to carry anything…so much stuff to touch!

Fortunately for me, my daughter absolutely loves her “pack-pack”. She packs her own toys it in (I usually throw in a spare pair of panties and some animal crackers as well) and off we go. She took it on the plane to visit nana, she also takes it to the park and it goes to church.

To say I have made a few changes to the pattern would probably be the understatement of the year but I think the most important change I’ve made is with the strap. I always work 2 strands together into a chain long enough to work and go back to the beginning in single crochet before slip-stitching back to the other end again. This way the strap doesn’t stretch so much. I also make my bags out of red heart because I know they are going to get run through the wringer and Red Heart is durable and extremely washable.

I wish I could say that I designed this pattern but I didn't, I mearly play with it. If you would like to see the original pattern, here you go :)
http://www.fuzzygalore.biz/patterns/ribbonbag.shtml

Pomp-a-doodle-doooo!

Have you seen this crazy fun new yarn that Red Heart has? It is called pomp-a-doodle and basically it looks like a bunch of little pom-poms on a string. It is great for making cute scarves and they work really fast too. I picked up this pattern by regaining my sanity hanging out at a wonderful yarn store in Carefree, AZ on a Saturday with my cousin. The ladies at the store were actually using a slightly different yarn but the resulting scarf is pretty much the same.

Pomp-a-doodle Scarf:
First, tie a knot in the end of the yarn. It unravels quickly and if you skip this step you will lose your final project. Skip the first pom and then make your starting slip stitch around your hook. Chain 2 more times then count past 3 more poms. Chain 3 again. Repeat until scarf is approximately 7 feet long. To finish, pull the last pom though the chain, cut and knot tightly. You should be able to get 2 scarves out of one skein.
(The first time I did this I used the whole skein and wound up with a scarf long enough for Big Foot)

These make great gifts :)

Happy crafting everyone!

To Purse or Not to Purse

When I stress I escape either by baking, crocheting or reading. Apparently I am currently on a crochet binge. As I look around my house it is amazing to see all of the projects I have done in the last 2 months. (Apparently being in Real Estate is stressful right now, who knew?)

As of the beginning of December I've made at least 17 different projects....that I can remember. My friends and family who live back in colder climates either love me for sending them things to keep them toasty warm, or else hate me for rubbing in my 70 and 80 degree temps. Slippers, and scarves, shawls and blankets all fun and all for other people. (Which reminds me I'm going to need to make a few trips to the post office so I can send a few more finished projects on their way)

Last night I decided to take a break between major projects (yes I have at least 5 more pretty big ones lines up) and make something for myself. Every time I go out with my husband... (I say every time like we do it a lot, we don't, we have a 3 year old...but I digress) Ok, when my husband and I go out to the movies or out dancing I find myself facing the (I'm sure) age old question of shove everything in my pockets or bring the “mom bag”. Pockets usually win mostly because if I bring the “mom bag” I have to empty all the crackers, spare Cinderella panties and half melted crayons out of it. But also because if I bring the “mom bag” I suddenly find myself carrying around everything my hubby doesn’t want in his pockets. Why do guys do that? I think they should all have their own purses or at least be required to always wear cargo pants with enough room in them for everything but the kitchen sink. When I make the decision to leave the “mom bag” at home and shove my belongings in my pockets I spend a good deal of the night wondering why I don't just buy a tiny purse to carry around.

To solve my pocket problem I decided to crochet myself a "cell phone purse". Just big enough for my EnV2 my license and some cash. Now I just need somewhere to go.