My last project, the star-shaped baby blanket, was commissioned by my cousin. She also said that she wanted some of the potholders that I had made, a while back…

The pattern I used is called the African Flower Mandala Potholder and it was written in part (she turned it into a mandala potholder) by a lovely woman named Alice Best. She is the author of one of my favorite blogs: Crochet with Raymond.

I got the central flower portion of the potholder pattern from Heidi Bears. I just love her bears made with this flower! So cute!

Anyhoo… For these potholders, I used Peaches’n Cream cotton yarn (seven different colors) and a size I (5.50mm) crochet hook.

These potholders are really fun to make! The possible color schemes seem endless! They work up quickly, too. It takes me about 3-4 hours to make one complete, two-sided potholder. They are made with double crochet and single crochet.

The potholders are approximately (my guess without measuring) 10-12 inches in diameter. A nice size for potholders; no concern about your hand being bigger than the potholder and getting burned.

And they are nice and thick. The backs (which I’m not showing, because they’re boring) are a solid circle of double crochet, with no spaces. Between the thick back and the thick front, there is plenty of protection from the heat of pulling hot things out of the oven, or off the stove.

So, all six of these babies are going off to live in California. I do so hope that she likes them!

My cousin saw my handiwork on Facebook and asked me to make some stuff for her. It’s another baby blanket and some of the African Flower Mandala potholders. So much yarny funness!

I had decided on the Star Blanket, but the pattern seemed… wonky… That or it was just me (which is more than likely the case). Because it just wasn’t working, I decided to find another pattern.

The yarn I’ve chosen, Bernat’s Baby Blanket, won’t work with just any pattern. It is super thick and needs a pattern that isn’t simply highlighted by lovely stitches. You can’t see the stitches, with this squishy yarn. So, I had to find a suitable pattern.

After auditioning several patterns, including my own design, I finally settled on the Merry-Go-Round blanket. It’s a good thing too; I was starting to think that I wasn’t going to be able to use this yarn for anything at all! I’m making the blanket with two colors: White and something called Peachy (it’s a pink and orange variegated). I’m currently in the middle of round six, and I couldn’t be more pleased. It is working up perfectly.

This Baby Blanket yarn is kind of hard to work with. It’s really thick and kind of stretchy, so your hands really get quite a workout. But, because it’s so fat, it’s working up quick. This is always a good thing!

I’m deviating from the stripe pattern, in that I’m making some stripes wider and some more narrow. There is not enough white in the pattern, for what I have. So, I’m doing two white rounds and one variegated round. I may use more of the pink, in later rounds; but for now, this seems to be working. I also don’t want to have too many of the pink rounds, because of the fact that it is a variegated yarn and will look too busy. I like having big blocks of white, to make the colored yarns “pop”.

I’ve finished three of the potholders, so far. It is a fun pattern that I can finish, from start to edging, in just a few hours. It’s called the African Flower Mandala Potholder. I’ve made several of these and just love the pattern! I still have some cotton yarn left and should be able to get at least one more out of it. I might get two or three more, if I make them really colorful.

The last time I made these potholders, I ordered the yarn online. This time, I went to Walmart and I must say, I was quite disappointed with their selection (or lack thereof). I really expected them to have better choices. But, they didn’t have the Sugar’n Cream, just the Peaches’n Cream; that could be the problem. But, I grabbed several colors and proceeded to spend the next two evenings and one afternoon having fun with the hook.

I definitely knew that I wanted to make one of the red and orange, because I just love that color combo. But, after that, I came up with some combinations (using more than two colors) that I felt were quite inspired. One of them I love so much, I considered keeping it! But, I won’t do that… I bought the yarn for her, so I need to give it to her. I’ll just make myself another one (or two or three)!

Well, I’m off to work on the baby blanket… Look for pictures of the blanket and potholders, this weekend. I don’t have adequate (or quality) light when I’m home these days – except on the weekends. See you then!

I officially hate my local hairstylist… I was so upset when I left her salon that I totally forgot to run the errands that I needed to run. I flew straight home and proceeded to wet and blow-dry my hair, to try and fix what she did. It looks better than when I left, but I’m still not happy…

I asked for Melissa Steadman, from thirtysomething:

And I kind of got Samantha Carter, from Stargate:

However, it’s actually a bit shorter than Carter’s (I don’t have those nice bangs – mine only come halfway down my forehead). Also, my hair isn’t straight; it’s curly and frizzy.

I even showed her the picture of Melissa, that you see above.

She got the back and the bottom (below the ears) correct. But she seemed to go off course, when handling the top. I wanted the top to be long, at least to the top of my ears, with some chunky layers for texture… It has about four inches to go…

“When it grows in it will be perfect!” she said; as I silently seethed… Yes, when it grows in… IN ABOUT SIX MONTHS!!!

Thankfully, I was able to make it look (a little bit) better than she did. Her styling was just… Bad… All bad… She had it parted in the middle and all fluffy on top. I looked not too unlike Alice, from The Brady Bunch (imagine the sides a wee little bit longer):

I’m really hoping that with lots of product and blow-drying, I’ll be able to get it to look more like Carter’s than what I have now. I see lots of gel in my future…

The worst part is, I blame myself. She cut my hair once before, and I hated it then, too. I was going for an A-line, below the chin in front and jacked up super-high in back. Well, the front ended up being much shorter than I expected. MUCH SHORTER. I thought, well, maybe I just didn’t explain it correctly… And curly hair can be hard to get right, because it shrinks when it dries. This time, I showed her a freaking picture and she still screwed it up! I’m never going to her again… I think I’d have better luck at Supercuts. I think she just cuts too many elderly ladies’ hair.

Okay, I’m off to have a little cry now…

My poor sister… She has been waiting, patiently, since MARCH for her birthday present! The poor thing probably thought she was never going to get it. If I had been much more determined to knit it, she probably would never have received it!

I originally started knitting the scarf, using the Falling Water pattern. A lovely pattern, to be sure… However, not the best for a brand-new knitter, such as myself. And not the best for the yarn that I was using. It is the now-discontinued Knit Picks Kettle Dyed, in Auburn. Lovely pattern, lovely yarn, not lovely together. The color changes in the yarn, while subtle, still managed to swallow the delicate lace pattern. After SEVERAL frogging sessions, I put it down and began searching for another pattern. Well, eventually, I decided that if I knit it, it would never be finished. So, I decided to find a nice crochet pattern.

I started three different patterns, again disliking the combo of the yarn and pattern. I finally settled on the Spring Ripple Scarf. I’ve never done dc2tog before, so I had a few re-starts on this one as well… At one point, I looked at sweetie and said “I think this yarn is cursed! Even a simple pattern is getting messed up!” But, I persevered; and five days later, the yarn is all gone, made into my new favorite scarf pattern!

Behold! My sister’s scarf! Please excuse the terrible lighting. I was anxious to get photos and I don’t get home from work until after dark.

This scarf was made using a fingering-weight 80% superwash merino (so soft!), 20% nylon, sock yarn and size F (3.75mm) crochet hook. And since I have neither wires/pins nor mat, it was not properly blocked. But, I think it blocked relatively well, regardless.

I rinsed it in warm water and some of my hair conditioner and then folded it and hung it on a coat hanger. I tugged and pulled and tugged some more, stretching it out. After a few hours, I flipped it over and did some more tugging. Then, this morning, I opened it up and strung it over two coat hangers, again tugging and pulling. It was dry when I got home. It’s not perfectly even, but it is nice and wide and long. I know she likes her scarves like that.

I hope she likes this one.