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Lately

January 27, 2015

There have been an innumerable amount of thoughts swimming through my head these days concerning this blog.

My feelings. My hopes. My dreams. My desires. My fears. My worries. My cares.

Who even cares about this blog? My hand shoots up in the air...

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In In the Home, My Diary, Photography, Thoughts/Advice Tags pretty, home, studiolivin, homedecor, homedesign, learning, growing
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I Made a Headband!

January 19, 2015

Hey guys! I'm excited to say I'm moving swiftly through my crochet projects. I find so much joy in being able to make things I would normally buy, and let me tell you, it's mighty fulfilling getting compliments on things handmade (thank you friends!). 

I really hope I can be an encouragement to any of you retired crocheters or those of you who have always wanted to take a go at this craft. It's loads of fun and there are so many people out there sharing there tips and patterns online. 

Pleas check out Stephanie's Crochet Blog! She is so inspiring, with great visual patterns, and amazing pictures of her assortment of crochet'd projects, from stuffed animals to mittens to coffee sleeves. Or my personal favorite – the Bobble Bearded Beanies (which all my future kiddos will be wearing one day)!

Yep, you guessed it, my most recent project was a knotted headband. Do yourself a favor and check out the ones Stephanie made (much more professional looking than mine), and don't miss the pictures at the bottom of the post featuring her and a friend modeling the headbands in taupe and mustard.

I chose to make mine with green yarn to match my eyes, but since it was such an easy and fast project, I'll probably end up reproducing more in lots of different colors to match all my outfits! (muahaha)

Please keep scrolling for the pattern.

Materials Needed:

5 mm crochet hook
yarn, medium weight (ex: Lion Brand Yarn’s Vanna’s Choice)
crochet needle

Click the link below to get the pattern!

Stephanie's Knotted Headband

by: Stephanie Lau from allaboutami.com (go show her some love)

When you finish, put on your headband and do a little happy dance.

Happy Crocheting!

In Artsy Stuff, Creativity, Wife Life Tags crochet, pattern, beginners, learning, headband, womensfashion
1 Comment

I Made a Cowl!

January 13, 2015

It took me a year, but I finally tore apart the closet to find my, untouched, beginner's crochet book and set of hooks, both gifts from last year's Christmas (compliments of my new Rans family). 

What spurred on this new decision, you might ask. Well, you see, I've been wanting an infinity scarf for a while now, but buying one for $20 never felt worth it, as it rarely gets cold here on the central coast of California. I figured if I got past the discomfort of learning something new, I could have that scarf for under $5 if I just bit the bullet and learned to crochet.

After scouring Pinterest for an easy, and free, pattern, I ended up on ravelry.com (my mother-in-law's go-to crochet site) with a pattern titled the "Easiest Ever Infinity Scarf" – how could I pass that up?

Unfortunately, I found two problems right off the bat. I had never followed a crochet pattern before and I didn't have a 19 mm hook. Would that stop Natalie? No way! On the upside, I did have the correct yarn, in a lovely mustard shade, and that seemed most important to me.

I grabbed the largest hook I had (11.5 mm) and pretended I knew what all the terms meant. I was relieved to discover that the pattern was pretty darn easy. I went on crocheting until the yarn found it's end. I stretched the length of scarf out in front of me. It looked kind of short. I placed the ends together. Now it looked really short. I shrugged my shoulders and figured it was probably due to having the wrong hook size. It didn't look too bad though, so I continued on. 

I wasn't quite sure how to connect the ends – what in the heck is a slip stitch!? Good ol' YouTube came in handy there. I winged it and except for the loose ends, which needed to be weaved in with a crochet needle, (which I didn't have), I felt fairly good about the end result – but I mean, how could I have gone too wrong with that lovely mustard color wrapped around my neck.

Funny thing is, I realized a few days later that I had no idea what the difference between a single crochet and double crochet was and had double crocheted instead of single crocheted the whole way round. Somehow, it turned out fine. I'll definitely laugh about it one day when I'm a pro, crocheting blankets and sweaters and what not.

Oh, yes, and I forgot to say, that I found out later on that this one-looped scarf is usually referred to as a cowl. The infinity scarf is longer and can be doubled or tripled around your neck. Therefore, I made a cowl. 
(If you'd like to read more on that matter, go here.)

And keep scrolling to find this pattern.

Also, I cut my hair! 

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Here's the pattern!

Easiest Ever Infinity Scarf

Pattern is for for an open weave lightweight infinity scarf which takes about an hour to make. It is made with bulky (weight category 5) yarn, but could be made with worsted weight yarn as well. It is so easy the instructions are included below.

Abbreviations: 
ch - Chain
sc - Single Crochet
ss - Slip Stitch

Materials: 
Yarn Weight: 3.5 oz. ( a little more than half a skein) Bulky / 12 ply (7 wpi)
Suggested yarn: Lion Brand Homespun yarn 
Hook Size: 19 mm (S) crochet hook 
Other: Blunt Yarn Needle for weaving in ends and Scissors

Finished item measures 6” wide x 60” diameter

Gauge is not important, but try to crochet loosely. The large S hook and crocheting loosely is what gives the scarf an open weave mesh look.

Pattern: 
Ch 10 (If using worsted weight yarn, ch 12 or amount needed for width desired.) 
Row 1: sc in second ch from hook and in each ch across to end (9 sc), turn, (DO NOT ch 1) 
Row 2: sc in first sc and in each sc across to end (9 sc), turn (DO NOT ch 1) 
Repeat row 2 until scarf is 60” long, (DO NOT cut yarn) 
Place ends of scarf together right sides facing each other, ch 1 and ss ends together across to end. Tie off, cut yarn leaving enough tail to weave in. Weave in ends.

Tip: You can also twist the scarf before stitching the ends together to get a different hang style. I ended up altering mine later on (after these pictures were taken) to get that particular look. -Nat

Happy Crocheting!

In Artsy Stuff, Creativity, Photography, Wife Life Tags learning, crochet, pattern, infinityscarf, cowl
1 Comment

You Win Some, You Lose Some

September 18, 2014

Well, there's no pretty way of saying it: I had an epic fail last night while attempting to perform my first ever soup operation...

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In Cooking, Wife Life Tags recipe, inthekicthen, learning, sweetpotatoes, kale, corn, soup, wifelife
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Hi, my name is

Natalie

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Happy Anything is a patchwork blog. From mom things, to food, decor, travel and nature, I'm finding inspiration anywhere and everywhere; and I hope I can inspire you as well.

Happy Reading!

 

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