Has Anyone Seen or Made This Blanket?

This is the Peppermint Candy Baby Afghan from the book, 7-Day Afghans by Jean Leinhauser and Rita Weiss. I've been Googling and Craftster searching, but I just can't seem to find any finished versions of this out there. I did find a couple of similar blankets that had been knit, either using a loom or knitting machine, but there don't seem to be any crochet versions out there. Which begs the question, why?

I think this is an adorable pattern and it would be very easy to change the colours depending on whether the little one was going to be a boy or girl. And of course there's the added appeal of the promise that this is only a seven day project. Perfect for when you need that nearly last minute gift idea...So I'm curious, has anyone out there made this blanket, or do you know someone who has, or have you perhaps run across any pictures of a crocheted version of it anywhere? If so, drop me a comment and let me know.

I did try starting one a few months back, but ended up frogging it because it was one of those days when nothing was working right. I had grabbed the only red wool I had on hand. It ended up being too thick so it was difficult to work with. Plus, my first piece kept coming out with the wrong number of stitches when I got to the end of the second or third row. I'm not sure if it was a typo in the book or my mistake. I have a feeling it was me, so I need to go back and try this one again when I'm feeling a bit more patient.

In my searching I did come across these tape measures, which certainly look like a miniature version of the blanket, don't they? These are available from Lantern Moon for $10.50 each.



Aside from "peppermint" I also tried using the word "pinwheel" when I was looking for samples of the blanket. As a result, I ran across this amazing creation from Crafster user craftydeb, which I am absolutely in awe of. I admire anyone who has the patience to sew that many pieces together because that's my least favourite part of crocheting. I also love this bright mix of colours. I've seen these pinwheels before in pastel colours and they've never really grabbed my attention the way this version does.





For anyone who is interested, here's a free version of the Pinwheel motif that was used to make this afghan. Now I have way too many blankets I want to make...but let me know if you run across any crocheted Peppermint Baby Blankets!

Guess the Project?

Just for fun I thought I'd put up the pieces of this project before its finished to see if anyone can guess what I'm making. My boyfriend, who is both wise and witty, was able to figure it out with a couple of clues. I say clues, he says obvious hints.

So what can I tell you about this project? It's going to be an afghan, it involves a lot of different coloured hexagons and those sheep are going to be attached to the light green hexagons. It's something geeky and to my knowledge (that is, after checking Craftster, Google images, and a few other crafty sites) it seems that no one else has thought of making this particular item yet.

Any guesses? Feel free to post them in the comments section or use the comments option to ask me more questions about the project if you want a few more hints. I've still got some hexagons to make. Then I need to sit down, sew all the pieces together and put a border around it. All in all, I'm hoping to be finished sometime in the next couple of weeks. I'll post the completed afghan and free pattern then. Until then, feel free to post your guesses.

Easter Bilby! Cute Thing of the Week

It's been a while since we've had a Cute Thing of the Week so let's start off with something a little different.

The bilby is a desert-dwelling marsupial found in Australia. According to Wikipedia there were two species of bilby in Australia prior to European colonization. One went extinct several decades ago and the other is currently on the endangered species list. Conservationists have been working to promote the Easter Bilby as an Australian alternative to Easter Bunnies, even selling chocolate bilbies in stores with proceeds going towards the conservation.

This wonderful crochet bilby and basket were created by Etsy user Crochetroo. It's available as a pdf for $4.00. While your checking out the bilby, also have a look at some of Crochetroo's other amigurumis. There are some beautiful bird patterns and adorable koala bears, wallabies and wombats.

Homespun: First Time User, Long Time Fan

I often spend time in the craft store looking at Lionbrand's beautiful, soft Homespun yarn, but up until now I've been reluctant to buy any. I didn't have an actual plan as to what I could do with it. I just really like the colours and the texture. Finally, with a little birthday money in my pocket, I decided to treat myself and pick up four skeins of Homespun Waterfall. Also, feeling kind of lazy, I decided to just stick with what I know and use it to make another round ripple afghan. What can I say? I love the way these things look and once you get past the first couple of rows it's just mindless repetition that you can use to occupy your hands while watching TV.

Overall, I was really impressed with the Homespun. It's a little hard to see your stitch spaces. I think I would have been frustrated if I was trying this stuff for the first time with an unfamiliar pattern. Doing something familiar, it wasn't too much of a challenge. Aside from that, I was impressed that the yarn didn't rip or fray easily, something I was concerned about because of its soft texture. Looking at the yarn while it was still on the skein I wasn't sure how its variegated colours would look once they were stitched up and I was really happy with the naturally stripey pattern that emerged as I worked with it. I hate changing colours, so to get an effect like this naturally was a lot of fun!


The colours in the first picture are more true to what the afghan looks like in real life. I just wanted to include this picture show the texture.

Next up, an afghan in a different shape. It involves piece-work though, so it may be a while before I get all the little bits finished and sewn together.

Books I'm eagerly awaiting!

I was doing some browsing on Amazon and came across two books I can't wait to own. It's amazing how excited you can get about something you didn't know existed ten minutes ago, isn't it?

First up on my wish list is Crobots: 20 Amigurumi Robots to Make by Nelly Pailloux. This 96 page paperback is expected to be released on April 21 and will retail for about $13.51 in Canada. Pailloux is the name behind the Etsy shop La Fee Crochette. I've featured her adorable Cookie Monster in one of my Cute Thing of the Week columns and am also an admirer of her South Park characters. If those creations are any indication, I'm certain her collection of robots is going to be adorable. I can't wait to have a look inside the book!

I'm a huge fan of Ana Paula Rimoli's work and I was very pleaesd to discover that her first book, Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet, was successful enough to earn her a sequel. Rimoli's new books, Amigurumi Two!: Crocheted Toys for Me, You, and Baby, Too will be released in paperback in June, 2009. The new book is 80 pages and expected to retail for about $17.07 Canadian. You can check out pictures of all the patterns that will be available in the book by visiting this Flickr site that Rimoli set up

Tiny Cthulhus are taking over!

In case I don't mention it enough, I love when people leave comments showing me the things they've made with my patterns. It really makes it worthwhile to post the free patters when you know there are people out there who are actually using them. Plus, even just the slightest change, using a different type of wool or a different type of eyes, can turn a pattern into something all new and it gives me new ideas for things to make.

For the past couple of months I've been reading all the comments, but I knew I wouldn't have time to post the pictures. They've been going into a special file so I wouldn't lose track of them though. Now without further ado, may I introduce a few of the latest cousins in the Cthulhu family:



This Cthulhu in a little pink shirt comes courtesy of Jude Thaddaeus. I highly recommend checking out her Photobucket pictures of this one because she did an amazing job on the wings.



A few adaptations on this one made by The Fair Weather Optimist and I think it's absolutely adorable.



Jenna Ellis created this little cousin. His eyes look so innocent, yet I'm certain he's planning something evil!

I'll post some more in a few days. If anyone's interested in the pattern, you can find it in the sidebar on the left listed along with my other free patterns.

Still Flying!

I'm back! I know it's been a while, but I'm hoping to get back to posting on here with some regularity. For the last couple months I've been completing the practicum portion of my training to become a teacher. For six weeks I had to teach full time in a grade 5 classroom, plan lessons, mark student work and deal with all the other minor to major emergencies that crop up in the average school day. It was stressful, exhausting, but also a lot of fun. It was also life-consuming and I'm very happy to be able to take back a little time for myself. Hello blog and blog readers, how I've missed you...

Of course the other side effect of this life-consuming endevour is that I don't have any of my own crafty projects to show off right now, or even any idea what's been going on in the world of crochet. I have been diligently keeping track of all the wondeful e-mails I've gotten over the past couple months from people who are using my patterns, so I'll start out these first few posts showing off some of those creations. Adding to our family of Cthulhu Cousins today we have these contributions from Sarah. I like how she's added hair to them, It gives them a certain punk quality.



And now in the name of shameless promotion...Remember how I'm always telling you that my boyfriend is both wise and witty? Well, now you can decide for yourself by checking out his new blog SF Kapow. You probably won't come across too much crafty info there, but I'm confident that many of the people who visit Cthulhu Crochet and Cousins are also science fiction fans. At SF Kapow you'l find discussion about all things science fiction including weekly commentary on Joss Whedon's latest TV venture Dollhouse. Hope you enjoy!