Friday, January 28, 2011

Yarn I Heart!

Tiny Yarn Heart
When I comes to yarn choice, I consider myself pretty picky. Since I crochet baby items, I want them to be soft, and colorful, and baby-ish, but quality. I don't want them to get pilly when washed or stained when spit up on or other things that babies do.:-) I want a yarn that it easy to work with but I also want my creations to last. I want them to be something cherished, that moms can put in their child's keepsake box to last forever.

When I first learned crochet, I didn't really care about quality because I wasn't educated on what was out there. I thought a trip to Joann's or Michael's for yarn was fine...and it is, but there are so many more options! Even now I wouldn't describe myself as a yarn expert, but I am learning and still searching for my favorite yarns. Finding ones I love, and ones I hate. 
Sometimes YARN IS A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP

So, on to my FAVORITE YARN:

At the moment, I am mainly working on crochet baby hats and booties. 
I recently FELL IN LOVE with these yarns----
BLUE SKY ALPACAS I love their worsted weight organic cotton. They also have a line called SPUD & CHLOE that is super soft and beautiful to work with. The best thing about these yarns is not only the quality, but they have super bright colors.
Colors like grape jelly - watermelon - splash - pollen-  firefly - jelly bean -popsicle - lemongrass - lotus - flamingo - poppy
If you asked me to make anything out of these yarns, I would probably say A BIG YES!

So, my suggestion is to take a trip to a yarn store near you and just FEEL the difference or look at reviews online. Unfortunately most of the time with yarn, you get what you pay for...And even if Joann's, Michael's, or Walmart is your only option for yarn, there are great options there too. A lot of it depends on your project. I love "Cotton Ease"  by Lion Brand and "Caron's Simply Soft."  Both of these yarns have made some really nice baby crochet stuff.

Locally, I love going to:
Talk to someone there and have them help you with the project you are working on and the type of yarn they suggest. It will make a big difference on the outcome!

Monday, January 17, 2011

My New Shop Pages


I AM SO EXCITED!!! I have 2 new shop pages above: SHOP GIRLS and SHOP BOYS. I will be adding additional items soon (very tedious project indeed!).
I am ALSO excited about my new designs. The mary janes in this picture are my own pattern. I have worked on it non-stop for months! This newborn set was just finished today and the color is WATERMELON. The baby crochet hat and booties are cotton/acrylic and the flowers and trim are organic cotton and superwash wool, very nice stuff! It is even more adorable in person. I only wish I had a baby girl to model it for me! You can visit my SHOP GIRLS page for orders or visit my facebook shop, scroll to browse thru the categories. There will be more pictures of this set soon, hopefully on a baby girl model!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Newsboy Hats


I just LOVE these crochet baby and toddler hats! I have made so many lately, I am not even keeping up with my blog! They are soft and keep baby's head warm for the winter, and they're stylish too.

Loops and Threads Acrylic Yarn
I've even made some with Organic Cotton and they turned out quiet nicely.
The organic yarn makes them super durable,
my 3-year-old wears his everyday and it still looks new.


Lion Brand Organic Cotton
I have just created an Etsy store and a Facebook Shop. I will be very SLOWLY adding items for sale. Since I am a very busy mom, it's taking some time, but it WILL be set up SOON.

Happy Crocheting!
and GOD BLESS...
Jenny