Whitniffic Whatnots

So, here are the baby blanket photos I promised months ago... finally! This thing took me nine months to finish- the same time it takes to actually make a baby! Overall, I think it turned out great. I love the pattern and the colors, and it was really simple to do. Using a bigger hook would have made it go much faster, especially in the double crochet stitch I used. I purchased the yarn online from KnitPicks; it's CotLin, a cotton/linen blend that's really soft and easy to work with. I ended up using a lot more than I expected- I didn't really keep track, but I must have used at least 4 balls of the lime green (which isn't available anymore- glad I ordered more when I did!), maybe 7 of the surf blue, and 11 of the coffee brown. Basically, I started with a double-crocheted square about 8 inches by 8 inches. After the square was finished, I picked up stitches all the way around it and began DC in the round. I did two DC rows of each color to transition into the n

I wanted to create something quick, easy and cute for a craft sale I participated in last month... and who doesn't love flowers! I called them Yarnations- a combo of yarn and carnation.  I had been exploring the concept described in this TED talk about hyperbolic crochet, and I thought the technique would work out well for flowers. It's a simple process; you simply SC twice into every third stitch, which creates exponential growth.  The flowers are actually really simple to make. Here's the pattern: You'll need a small amount of a floral-colored yarn, and an even smaller amount of a leafy green yarn. Gauge doesn't matter... use a smaller hook for smaller flowers and a larger hook for larger flowers. You'll also need a needle and some thread, as well as pin backs, hair pins, or whatever else you'd like to attach to the back to make the flowers wearable.  Flower Chain 16 Row 1: Skip first chain stitch, *SC, SC, 2 SC in third st