Little Boy Blue

My best friend is having a baby in April. I'm so excited I can't stand it. She knows it's a boy and while I don't really think you have to do the whole "blue is for boys, pink is for girls" thing, my friend likes blue and so do I. I made her a powder blue scarf for Christmas and she loved it. She even said I should make something for the baby from that same yarn.

Well since she doesn't usually read my blog (and I hope she doesn't start until after the shower!) I thought I'd share some of the things I've started for her.

First, a sweater:



It turned out so well! I seriously have a cramp in my arm from patting myself on the back. I'm not the best at seaming but I took my time and did loads of blocking and am very happy with the results. I still need some buttons and some velvet ribbon trim for the collar but this is 95% done and that's a great start! The pattern is from Special Knits by Debbie Bliss. The projects in this book are to die for. Seriously. The yarn is Bernat Cashmere Natural Blends. It's only 5% cashmere but it's deliciously soft and regularly priced at $4.00 a skein. I used 2 1/2 skeins for the sweater, not bad! Plus I have enough left for a matching hat or booties. :)

Second, a blanket:



I am loving this basket weave pattern! I was skeptical at first, it looked pretty wonky but now I think it's darling. The pattern is from Crocheted Afghans by Donna Kooler and it calls for a border that I think I'll be leaving off. This book is a good source for afghan patterns though some are a bit too old fashioned for my taste. I found my copy at the thrift for only a few dollars and I'm glad I picked it up. The yarn is Bernat Cotton Tots which is one of my favorites for baby stuff. I made an afghan for my cousin from this same book and yarn that I really liked, too. I'm half way done and it's going quickly. Of course I am running out of yarn, sigh.

Third, a little stuffed dinosaur:



Yes, he's green and not blue, but I had to mix it up right? He is from Cute Little Animals by Leisure Arts. I made an elephant from this book and have already given it to my pregnant friend. I have the yarn to make the hippo, too, so she'll have a whole set! Now I just need to figure out eyes for my dino. The pattern calls for beads but that's unsafe. I tried black yarn but no go. Felt is next on my list!

And finally, padded hangers:



I am on the fence about these. I mean, I think they are cute but does anyone else? I have three more baby hangers I can cover. Should I make the rest? The pattern is from Baby Crochet by Lois Daykin. I changed the pattern a bit to fit my hangers and added the polka dots instead of the little car she has in the photos. I may do a little car on the next one, or perhaps stripes? What do you think? Oh and I recently picked up Baby Knits by the same author and it's just as adorable as the crochet version. I highly recommend both of these books for cute, modern and easy to read knit and crochet baby patterns.

So that's what I've been up to. Back to my old stand by of knit and crochet. It seems so appropriate in the cold weather, too. :)

hugs
Rebecca

New & Old

New in The Goodness Shop:



Vintage Sheet Music Packs
Vintage Fun & Games Paper Packs
Vintage Easter Candy Boxes House
Vintage Easter Candy Boxes
Vintage Valentine's Day Candy Boxes
Vintage Crocheted Pot Holders

And more things to come including bakelite buttons, vintage handbags and vintage seam binding cards.

Old - FOREVER ago my friend Jean bought a vintage lace collar and some vintage hankies from the shop to use on a dress she made for her grand daughter Aly:



Isn't she cute? And what a sweet dress! You can see the collar, of course, but look closely at the pockets to see where Jean attached the lace from the hankies. :)

Please visit Jean here and keep a look out for giveaways. She is most generous!

hugs
Rebecca

PS: NEW swap coming over at Sweet Goodness!!

Ornate

Gee, I'm doing REALLY WELL on my resolution to blog more! Yikes! Honestly, I don't have too much to talk about at the moment. But soon, yes very soon, I know I will. I have loads of projects planned and a big rummage sale in February that I'm looking forward to.

So in the meantime I thought I would share some of the GORGEOUS ornaments I received from other bloggers for the holidays. Leigh Ann, Lucy, Heidi and I (aka The Goodness Girls) decided to do an ornament swap between the 4 of us. All I can say is WOW.



Leigh Ann's Sugar Plum Button Fairy!



Heidi's soldered Santa ornament!



Don't you love the back? I love how she put Goodness Girls and the year. I wish I had thought of that! We plan to make this a tradition between us with dates every year. :)



Lucy's hand painted Bless This House Ornament!

I know you guys are jealous. ;) I sent them each one of the paper shadow boxes I made. I'm already thinking about what to make next year.

I also received some sweet surprise ornaments in the mail. How did I get so lucky?



A gorgeous fabric and velvet leaves ball from the Queen herself!!





And these two lovely felt ornaments from my dear friend Sid. Don't you LOVE that wish box? You are supposed to write down a wish, put it in the box and comes true! I'm totality craftnapping that idea. And who doesn't love a little red shoe?

So you see I am SO LUCKY to have such crafty good friends.

I'll be back, as promised. For real this time. Oh and since it's been awhile, how about a gratuitous cute puppy picture, hmm??


That boy loves to nap! I love his little polka dotted feet!

xoxo
Rebecca

and a Happy New Year . . .

Are you as tired as I am??? Wow. The holidays were fast and furious! But fun, of course. :) There were lots of lovely visits with friends and family, parties, presents and yummy meals. 

While I love Christmas and all the hustle and bustle, I look forward to a bright shiny new year. It's my time to get organized. My time to get started on my January list. And it's looooong this year. I have new linens for the bedroom and bathroom (which means a total cleaning first), big plans to overhaul the craft room and office, meal planning and learning a new language to get started on. :) And of course the many projects I want to get started on including many baby items for my expecting best friend.

I also promise to be a better blogger. I'm working on a brand new laptop over here and I'm still learning the differences between Mac and PC. So far, I'm lovin' the Apple. More to come on that. Since I don't have any of my pictures uploaded on here yet how about a shot of one of my favorite hand made gifts from the holidays?

Husband Hats! I showed you a bit of these before and I am thrilled with how they turned out. I ended up making 5 total. They were well received and that makes you feel good. :) I hope to make the guys scarves for next year though I'll need to get started earlier this year I think. :)

I'll be back soon with some new photos and projects and hopefully some new goodies in The Goodness Shop. Now I'm off to start on my New Year's Resolution of keeping up on my blog reading.

fondly,

Rebecca

Decking the Halls

Hello . . . I know I've been absent but things have been, well, BUSY. I know you all are feeling the same way. So I've decided to stop kidding myself that I'm going to be able to post anything worth reading over the next few weeks and CALL IT A YEAR.

But before I go I thought to share some of my ornaments and decorations with you:


This was my friend Dita's idea and I love it! What's really making me laugh is the inch of dust on top of my hutch! Once I saw this picture I got up this with the duster LOL. Keepin' it real over here!




We made some really cute little shadow box ornaments this year but of course I forgot to photograph most of them before I sent them out. Made from paper scraps, printed Victorian images and sayings, ribbon and jewelry box lids. Easy!



And yes, and this is the banner that I made! Congrats to Diane for guessing correctly first! Want to see what I sent her? Go here.



A sweet fairy Santa my Mom brought me from St. Michaels, Maryland. I love his little trumpet and pointy nose!

And now I'm off to finish the 80 million things I need to do before Christmas. I'll be back in the New Year better than ever! I have ideas for some swaps and tutorials and patterns that I hope you'll enjoy. And now my message to you:


*from an embroidered stocking I made for a swap . . will share more about that in 2009!

Enjoy your holidays however you celebrate!

fondly,
Rebecca

Have Yourself a Crafty Little Christmas . . .

Hello friends! I am so sorry it's been so long since I posted. I had a few house guests over the last week and spent my time laughing, chatting and eating lots of yummy treats. :) Fortunately girlfriends and sisters don't mind if you knit while you visit and I was able to finish up a few things.

Back in November we had our First Annual Christmas Craft Tea. We are hoping to do a new project each year and make it a tradition. Our project this year were banners. A fun little project that is easy to personalize.


1 - Red & Green Peace


2 - Pink, Red & Silver Peace


3 - Blue & Silver Joy


4 - Blue & Silver Noel


5 - Red, Green & Silver Joy


6 - Red & Green Noel


Pink, Black & White XMas Rox

All different, no? :) It was an easy project. We cut out large tags on the Sizzix to use as the base. We decorated the tags with paper, embellishments, crepe paper pinwheels, rosettes and glittered chipboard letters and then strung them on ribbon. You need to tie a knot at the top of each tag to make it stay.

Can you guess which one is mine? First person to leave a comment with the correct guess will get a little treat in the mail from me. :) **UPDATED - we have a winner!! Diane from Little Birdie was the first to guess that mine is the blue and silver Noel!**

Off to continue my crafty Christmas!

xoxoxo
Rebecca

Fa La La La Lazy

Whew! Where HAVE I been? I cannot believe it's December already! I'm glad I started my holiday crafting in October because I've had a bit of the lazies the last week. All that turkey and stuffing certainly didn't help. :)



Thanksgiving was lovely. We haven't been home to my parents for Turkey Day in 4 years so it was a nice change.



I made gingerbread cupcakes. Mmmm . . . I used a Trader Joe's gingerbread mix from last year I found hiding in my cabinet! Way to use what you have, no?

Now I am back home and back to feeling overwhelmed. I don't know why I put so much stress on myself! I mean SERIOUSLY. Why am I freaking over getting the house clean and tree up? It's supposed to be fun! So from now on NO MORE STRESS. Are you with me?

So now I'm headed to my sofa where I plan to finish knitting the scarf I'm making for my boss and I'm going to ENJOY it. I'll have projects to share soon including some really cute diorama jewelry box ornaments. :)

cheers!
Rebecca

PS - some fun vintage holiday items to go up in The Goodness Shop this week!

Sugar Plum Houses

Vintage Putz Houses, or paper houses, are favorites of many people. I've seen so many imitations in stores in the last few years. I purchased a few from the Martha Stewart Macy's decoration line last year. This year I decided to try to make my own.

There were many instructions for houses online and in magazines but being the non instruction reader than I am, I made up my own pattern. :)



Basically, I took a 4 x 6 jewelry box lid and cut out a 3 dimensional paper house to fit inside. (Thanks to my Mom for letting me take pictures of her working on a house!) It took a few tries to get the house template to work out the way I envisioned it. Then I added a roof, fence and windows.



The next step was to "paint" the house with a mixture of glue and water and then glitter the whole thing.



Add a glittered bottle brush tree and voila! A Goodness Sugar Plum House. :)



I also made a church . . .



and a town house. I made a green barn style house as well. I am very happy with the way these houses turned out and all in all they didn't take that much time or money. I'm really hoping to make a few more for the shop if time allows.

I can't wait to display them on my fireplace this year!

Cheers
Rebecca

Tea, Anyone?

I participated in Diane's Falling {Tea} Leaves swap and was matched with Danielle. Boy was I lucky! She sent the most wonderful swap!



Gorgeous hot pads and tea cozy that match my house perfectly! You can see my glass tea pot modeling the cozy, it fits perfectly! Some lovely hand stamped note cards, English Breakfast Tea, which is a favorite, autumn leave shaped sprinkles (which will look great on the gingerbread cupcakes I'm making) and spiced sugar cubes! I can't wait to try them, they are soaking up their spices now. Oh and THESE:



The most delicious pumpkin hazelnut biscotti I have ever had! And I am not exaggerating! I love it and so does the DH.



Here's a closeup of the gorgeous cozy. Danielle said she had a hard time giving it away but I am very glad she did!

Here is what I sent Danielle:



Vintage napkins, tea cups, tea towel and a pale blue milk glass creamer. Plus one of my tea cup pot holders, a variety of caffeine free herbal teas, a tea ball and my favorite tea party recipes!

Thank you, Danielle, for the wonderful swap and thanks, Diane, for pairing us up!

I also did a personal swap with my dear friend Sid. However, I didn't take any pictures except this one:



She made these gorgeous earring from pearls she got on her trip to Alaska. I've already worn them several times. I hate that I have no photos to share, I've already dispersed all my wonderful gifts into my home, but Sid posted a few photos here of what she sent me and what I sent her (which I also forgot to photograph, doh!)

I've got some really cute crafts to share this week. We had our first annual holiday crafting tea over the weekend and we made some fabulous things! I'm hoping to have time to write up a few tutorials as well.

And where is my usual gratuitous puppy shot?



:)

fondly ~ Rebecca

On the Way to Holly Jolly

First . . . the winner of the yarn holder is . . . Jenn! Woo hoo! Jenn, send me your address. I've been using my yarn holder quite a bit, I think you'll enjoy it. :)

Now on with the Holly Jolly . . . Christmas has come to the Thrift Store.



All of a sudden K Mart cast offs have been showing up in the thrift I frequent most often which means Martha Stewart Everyday items. I was quick to snatch up this fun silver wreath and . . .



. . . this super cute flocked Santa tree topper and sweet pine cone beaded garland. A few weeks ago I also picked up 3 feathered cardinal ornaments as well.

Now while I like much of Martha's holiday line you know my heart skips a beat for vintage!



To say that I was excited to find this box of Shiny Brite ornaments is an understatement! These are rare in the thrift, particularly still in the box. My favorite Shiny Brite balls are the ones with words on them and there are quite a few in there!

I'll be heading to my Mom's for a long weekend of thrifting and crafting. I'm hoping to happen upon some more fun holiday decorations. When I return I'll be listing quite a few vintage Christmas items in The Shop so stay tuned!

fondly ~ Rebecca

Vintage FOUND

As you know, I am always on the look out for vintage in the thrift store. While it is readily found in antique stores and at flea markets, thrifts are a different story. So it's such a thrill to uncover vintage articles and of course I always pick them up either for myself, friends or the shop.

Usually my "route" in the thrift store includes stops at the linens, books, jewelry and housewares. I rarely look at clothes anymore though something possessed me to peek at the costumes last weekend.



A vintage little girl's communion dress complete with veil. I know I didn't NEED it but I couldn't just leave it there either. (I'm sensing a pattern with me, are you? lol) And see that hanger? It's covered in crochet in gold thread and has a soft green velvet ribbon. The dress was hanging on it at the thrift and I didn't even have to ask the lady if I could have it. :)



Sweet buttons on the bodice and eyelet lace . . . so cute!



Also found at the thrift, two vintage beaded bags. I doubt I'll be parting with these! :)



This is the same thrift where I found that gorgeous seam binding. I wrapped some up to send to The Queen and hope to offer some cards like this in The Shop soon. It really is lovely and I have more than I'll ever use. :)

And how is little Lincoln doing?



Spending some quality with our larger version of him. :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

RR

NEW

A new president? Yes. But that's not what I am talking about.

I went to the mall last night to buy a new laptop. But that is not what I'm talking about either.



Meet Lincoln. Our new puppy. I'm turning into the crazy dog lady over here. But I couldn't leave him behind. Lincoln is a 4 month old Sheltie who weighs about 6 lbs. We named him for President Lincoln since we got him on Election Day. I wish I had better pictures but it's hard to get him to sit still. Wish me luck and if anyone has any handy house training tips, let me know!

Rosey Posey Scarf Pattern and Give Away!

I'm over here patting my self on the back. Finally this year I have FINISHED some hand made gifts for the holidays. Every year I start with great intentions and can usually only manage to finish a hat for my sister and even then I'm working on it on Christmas Eve. But this year, I have a big pile of warm yarny goodness to bestow on my family and friends.

As I mentioned last post, I was inspired by this scarf made by Diane. So I decided to try to make my own in a similar pattern. When I told Diane that I totally copied her she was so nice and happy that I could manage to write a pattern! Ah shucks, thanks! It's a very simple pattern and I hope some of you will give this scarf a try. It really is super cute.

Rosey Posey Scarf



This is another stash buster project and can be adapted for use with many types of yarn though I recommend something soft with a slight sheen. You can also adapt the length and the width to suit you or the recipient. For the red Posey Scarf I used 2 skeins of TLC Cotton Plus, for the pink I used 1 skein of Caron Simply Soft and for the blue (pictured at the bottom) I am using Bernat Cashmere Blends and I think it will take 3 skeins to complete.

Supplies

2 to 3 skeins of worsted weight yarn
Size H hook (or size that suits your yarn, make a double crochet swatch to see what you like!)


Abbreviations

ch - chain
sc - single crochet
dc - double crochet


Chain to desired length - start making chains and determine the length of your scarf by wrapping the chain length around your neck. You can make it as long or as short as you like.

dc in 4th chain from hook and every chain until the end, turn

ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in each dc to end, turn

Here is where you can customize the width. The red scarf only has 2 rows of double crochet on each side of the chain. With the scalloped edging it measures about 5 inches wide. I designed this one for a young girl and didn't want it to be too wide. The pink scarf has 3 rows of double crochet on each side of the chain and measures about 7 inches wide with the scalloped edging. You can make as many rows of double crochet as you like, just be sure to put the same amount on rows on the other side of the chain to match.

Once you have determined your width:

ch 3, 4 dc in first dc, skip one dc, sc in next dc, skip one dc *5 dc in next dc, skip one dc, sc in next dc, skip 1 dc* repeat from * to * until last dc, 5 dc in last dc, fasten off and weave in end.

Attach yarn to first chain on OPPOSITE side of where you started your first row of double crochet (you'll now be working down the other side and making a mirror image of your completed side. Questions? Leave a comment!)

ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in each dc to end, turn

Add as many double crochet rows as you did on the opposite side

ch 3, 4 dc in first dc, skip one dc, sc in next dc, skip one dc *5 dc in next dc, skip one dc, sc in next dc, skip 1 dc* repeat from * to * until last dc, 5 dc in last dc, fasten off and weave in end.



See how easy? Now to give it as a gift, roll it up and tie a ribbon around it with a gift tag. This pattern would work well with Bernat Satin which is only $3 a skein at most craft stores. What a nice gift for $6!

Here is my blue scarf in progress:



It will have 3 rows of double crochet on each side but for the middle row I did crossed double crochet to give it a more lacey look. Wanna try? A tutorial can be found here.



And now for the give away . . . see that nifty Knitpickers Yarn holder I'm using to tote around my in-progress posey scarf? Want one? Leave a comment and next Monday I'll pick a winner! It's a good size and has a hook in case you want to clip it to your knitting utility belt. ;) Oh and Diane, I have one for you, too, for letting me be a copy cat. Email me your address!

Oh and if any one makes a scarf, let me know!

xoxo
rr