How cool is this!!! February 28, 2008

Hostile Bunni has found a way to ‘reproduce’ his evil minions!!  I don’t know how (yet!) but i’m on to him~ and he knows it!!

Rachael made this evil minion, her name is Aimee~ and the cool thing about it?  She’s making an alphabet army of minions!!  That’s right, A-Z minions!!!

  LOVE IT!!!  Oh, sorry, i mean Hostile Bunni loves it!!!

Another cool thing~ I seem to get suckered into buying little ‘prizes’ for the girls all the time and Adrian was complaining that he never gets anything.  So when i took the girls to the library (no books for us~ i have a $100 fine!!!) i went to Michaels and found the cutest freaking wind-up robots!!!

 It was so cute cause he came up to the bedroom and said his name was “Adri-tron” and did a little robot dance!!  I, of course, called him “Bubbi-tron”!.

On the crochet front:  I have cramps.  Again.  And i found the coolest yarn on sale for $1.50 (Bernat) and since Madaleine’s middle name is Rose (after my grandma!) i decided to crochet one for her:

  The rose came from a booklet called something like ‘country rose kitchen’?, the orange flower is from Nicky Epstein’s crocheted flower book the leaves are from a japanese book~ don’t remember which one.

Loving the whole ‘flower’ thing, i decided to design another flower scarf.  This is what it looks like so far:

  When i’m all the way done i’ll post the free pattern for it!!

 I’ve really been enjoying having Madaleine crocheting with me on the couch at night, and she made me a present~ it’s two different chains made into a bow!!

  Awwww!!

I’ve been having her just practice the chain and tonight we’re gonna move on to turning and the first row.

More cool stuff from the internet:

Once again, don’t remember if i posted this one before or not, but it’s a cute amigurumi robot!!

http://amigurumiobsessions.blogspot.com/2006/11/robot-pattern-ok-here-it-is_02.html

Not very many good horse patterns for free online, but i do like this one:

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/crochet/horse.shtml

 The best horse patterns i’ve come across are by KristieMN~ i have it listed in my blogroll so if you’re looking for a horse then go there first!!

More easter?  Here’s a fantastic egg pattern~ too bad (for me!) that it’s knitted!!

http://littlecottonrabbits.typepad.co.uk/free_knitting_patterns/

This one is a kitchen scrubbie thing, and even though i’m not into kitchen stuff it looks like it could be a beautiful flower of some sort!!

http://knitsandknotsweb.blogspot.com/2008/02/kitchen-scrubbie-free-pattern.html

BACON!!!!!  (Jenn: dogs don’t know it’s not bacon!!)

Yup, it’s a food link~ i love bacon (i like bacon, it’s delicious!) and here’s a link for cooking bacon into curls:

http://www.notmartha.org/archives/2008/02/18/bacon-curls/

Do you love japanese patterns?  Do you find yourself not only with the inability to read japanese but find the symbol charts impossible and confusing?!  Well, here is a site that just may clear up some of your issues!:

http://i-s.milkcafe.to/ami/amikata.html

Oh, so you do know how to knit!!  Well, then go here for a good handful of cool free patterns!:

http://ysolda.com/wordpress/patterns/

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?!!!

Free pattern here: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=216873.0

And here are more kitty pics!!!

 Luis made pork chops for dinner and i guess the kitties got tired of waiting!

  They all like sleeping on Madaleine’s bed in the morning!

 Cry Baby and Sweet Potato on the couch next to me

Later!

Nathalie

Stop coughing!!! February 27, 2008

That’s what i was telling Madaleine while American Idol was on last night!  Poor thing has a cold and nothing was working~ i took her to the doctor again today and he gave her steroids, so i hope it works!!  Oh, and he watches American Idol too!!!!  Learn something new everyday, right?!

So, while we were trying to watch tv last night i taught Madaleine how to do the foundation chain:

  She’s left handed so it’s easy to show her how!!  I tried to show Tasha, but she’s not ready to get it yet.  I did show her how to do finger knitting~ i remember doing that at my grandmas house years ago.  She super got into that!!  She used my fuzzy yarn and made a neckwarmer:

 And we all know how Tasha loves to pose for the camera, so here are more shots:

  A friend of hers is moving today so she gave it away

The kittens (and cats!) kept trying to attack the yarn all evening, so Madaleine got some leftover fuzzy yarn and the glue and stuff and made the kitties a toy to play with~ and let me tell you they loved it!!!:

 

It seems as though one of the evil minions thought he could take down a kitten all by himself:

 Uh-oh!

And the same kitten was glaring at me when i caught them nursing:

  I’m gonna have to keep my eye on them!!

Madaleine took a great picture of Twinkletoes last night:

  He’s sooo our favorite cat in the house!!

This is what the kitties were doing while we were in the living room:

  Can you see why i love these guys!!!

Here is a random shot of Tasha eating ramon noodles ( beef flavor):

And you guys know i love free patterns~ so here are some more that i’ve found online today:

It’s still cold out, and while these aren’t the fanciest mittens, i like them:

http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/crochet/retro_crocheted_mittens.php

This is a cutie little piggy!! Well, i don’t know how ‘little’ this is, but it’s adorable!:

http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/crochet/crocheted_dolls_pig_and_piglet.php

Always on the lookout for decent tutorials, i came across this one for amigurumi:

http://www.cherrycool.net/

How about some egg stuff for Easter?!:

http://hometown.aol.com/lffunt/eastereggs.htm

Here’s another gorgeous flower scarf:

http://www.yarncat.com/GarlandOfBlossomsScarf.html

I don’t know who Oboro Chan from Bottle Fairy’s is, some anime cartoon, but it’s so sweet!!  Here is a free pattern from djonesgirl:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=229038.0

Valentine’s day is past already, but next year i am so making these:

http://thinkingmama.wordpress.com/2008/02/11/paper-valentines/

Really killer daisy bag:

http://happyyellowhouse.com/daisyduffle.html

There is a link there to request the daisy square, and if you can figure out how to make it then cool!

Alrighty then, that’s all i have for now~ later!!

Nathalie

Cool stuff people do February 25, 2008

This scarf is so awesome!!!  Over here: http://knotworknits.blogspot.com/2008/02/fo-no-2.html  she made a killer scarf similar to mine (in construction!!) and it rocks!!!

Over at knitty.com (http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/PATTbubby.html) is found this totally adorable bear~ what’s so cool about it is that i ALWAYS call my son Adrian ‘my bubbi bear’!!!  Wish i could knit!! 

Over at instructables.com i saw that someone had made a crocheted bunny for the Vanna’s Choice contest thing~ and the pattern name was ‘Madeleine Rose’!!  That’s my daughters name!!!  If anyone has it please feel free to send it to me!!! (the notes said that it was from a knit simple magazine from last year)

The love bug pattern from heliinaville is so freaking cute!!!  And free!!

 

 Go here for the pattern:

http://heliina.livejournal.com/50341.html

Here is a tutorial for a knitted bunny, but i do believe you can do this as crochet also!:

http://resurrectionfern.typepad.com/resurrection_fern/2008/02/how-to-make-a-s.html

How about sewing a bag in 1 hour?!!  Jenn?!! 

 

 Go here (http://vintagericrac.blogspot.com/2008/01/1-hour-bag-tutorial.html)

How about some gorgeous crocheted long stem roses?!!:

 (She also has an adorable snake scarf pattern for free!)

http://rsislandcrafts.blogspot.com/2008/02/crocheted-long-stem-roses-free-pattern.html

Don’t we all hate cleaning?!!  Well, i found this neat how-to on making your own detergant!:

http://modcottage.com/?p=117

You’re gonna need it after you do this:

http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=27679&subsectionname=craftclassics

Hungry??  bperry052 over at craftster made all this food….. and a tutorial!!!  :

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=222947.0

Even though it’s not amigurumi, there is something about this dino that is adorable!  I can totally see this on a baby blanket!!

Free pattern here:

http://www.crochetville.org/forum/showthread.php?t=72707

I also found this over at crochetville~ it’s a super cool frog hat!!  Crochetroo has really cool designs!!

http://crochetroo.blogspot.com/

Speaking of hats~ this one is so cute!  It’s from ‘creativeyarn’ and it’s free!!!

http://creativeyarn.blogspot.com/2008/02/puff-stitch-crochet-beret-with-bow.html

Last but not least~ we have a cutie little crocheted basket by chickpea sewing:

Free pattern here: http://chickpeastudio.typepad.com/chickpea_sewing_studio/2008/02/the-little-croc.html

Enjoy your day!

Nathalie

I got fat February 25, 2008

Jessica and Jason came over on Friday, and the first thing Jessica mentioned when she walked in was how incredibly fat i had gotten!!  Kidding, but she did say i was fat.  Yup.  I’m a big fat fatty. 

And creme eggs being ‘in season’ does not help matters!!  So, to compliment my fattiness, i made a piggy:

 (i’m much bigger from behind!!)

 Tasha had me take a series of piggy photos, and this one was my favorite:

  She thought the piggy was so cute that she didn’t even wait for the glue on the eyes to be dry~ she gave it to Frida!!

And here is Madaleine using my camera:

 I don’t know about you guys, but she kinda looks like Jess in this one!!

I woke up early this morning and finished this little froggy pouch:

Here is my view while making the frog:

 Cry Baby is at the end, then the four kittens: Steve Holt (aka Balto), Sunshine, Sweet Potato, and Butternut Squash

This is a pic that Tasha took last night of Twinkletoes and Sweet Potato:

And here is Sunshine sleeping next to Tasha:

The actual full view of Tasha sleeping on her bed:

 Where are the other 4 cats?  On the couch.  Trying to attack my yarn!

What else did i do yesterday other than crochet and complain about being fat?  Why, i got to clean up an entire bag of cat litter!!

 This ginormous mess was brought to you by Cry Baby and Sandy!

That’s ok though.  I could stand to ‘move’ around more!!

Later!

Nathalie

Pac-man February 22, 2008

At Adrian’s request, i made a pac-man:

Why make the ghosts when there are plenty of cats in the house?!

 

Free pattern by fulloffluff: http://fulloffluff.com/wordpress/2007/04/03/14/

Nathalie

Sunshine’s new toy February 20, 2008

Or really i should say ‘cats love yarn so i had to make them a toy so they would leave me alone’!!  It’s cute though cause i went to Walmart this morning with Tasha and right before we were gonna leave i was all ‘wait! i forgot the jingle bells!’ (which are located at the waaaaaaay other end of the store!)

At any rate, here is Sunshine’s new toy:

It’s really easy to make and doesn’t take more than like half an hour!!!

Materials:

Size G hook

Chunky yarn in whatever colors you like (i used 4 different colors)

jingle bells (the larger ones)

Using any color:

5 sc in a ring

rd1: 2sc in each sc around (10 sc)

rd2: 2sc in first sc, sc in next sc around (15 sc)

rd3-5: sc in each sc around (15 sc)

rd6: (sc2tog, sc in next sc) around (10 sc)

Insert jingle bell now

rd7: sc2tog around (5 sc)

rd8 & 9: sc in each sc around (5 sc)

Repeat rds 1-9 three more times, switching colors in round 1 if you want.

Fasten off, weave in loose ends, give to a cat!

Notes:

1. Do not use stuffing for this toy because it will muffle the jingle sound.

2.  Make sure to buy the large jingle bells.  I bought mine at Walmart ($1.97) and it was the package next to the ‘regular’ sized ones.

Enjoy!

Nathalie

My Camera featuring my three kids! February 19, 2008

My kids love sneaking off with my camera and taking pics.  In the last year and a half i have had to ‘replace’ the camera 4 times, so i generally give the kids a big ‘no’ when they ask to use it!!  Adrian was with me in my room, so i did let him take pictures~ he chose Balto as his subject:

 Yup, that’s my hand removing the cat from the open can of coke!!

 This kitty is Sunshine

And Tasha took this pic of Momo:

And speaking of Tasha, it’s obvious when she uses the camera because it’s tons of pictures of her!! Let’s look at her ‘photostream’:

 My, What a big mouth you have!!!

(When she was newborn, my younger sister Jessica looked at her and said “She’s gonna grow into that mouth, right?”!!!)

I have one of those crappy keychain cameras, and the only way you can take a good picture with it is if you’re outside on a sunny day.   I let Tasha play with it and she took the most amazing “tasha” series with it!!  I need to see if i can’t find them, but i ended up printing and framing one of her close-ups and it’s hanging in the living room!

How do i know when Madaleine steals the camera?  Well, first of all she leaves the case on the floor!  But really, she’s really into taking outdoor scenery photos:

 This is our backyard at dusk

 I don’t know whose cat this is! But it’s in our backyard.  So is this one:

And last but not least, she took this kitty picture:

 It’s hard to get good ‘action’ shots of the cats that aren’t blurry!!!

Later!

Nathalie

Time for some links! February 17, 2008

I’m in the middle of clearing out my favorites list, so here are some for everyone

Japanese mouse:

http://amicoco.karou.jp/amizu-nezumi.html

A hat for st. patty’s day:

http://amazinggreyscrochet.blogspot.com/2008/02/free-leprechaun-hat-crochet-pattern.html

How about a shamrock?!  Here is a youtube video on it, and there are a bunch of other crochet videos over on the right side of the screen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGzh-wVHB1w&feature=user

If i could crochet clothes worth a crap, i’d make this one!

http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/crochet/crocheted_v_neck_pullover.php

Or possibly this one:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=199866.msg2123326#msg2123326

 A carrot:

http://moonarts.com/blog/easter.htm

Conversation heart scarf:

http://pepperberry.typepad.com/my_weblog/conversation-hearts-scarf.html

I may have posted this one before, but here is a super cute doggie!!

http://artangel-sol.livejournal.com/tag/free+pattern

A gorgeous, killer daisy scarf:

http://soozs.blogspot.com/2007/10/how-to-crochet-daisy-chain-necklace.html

A tapestry crochet kitty bag:

http://www.tapestrycrochet.com/KittyBag.htm

Let’s hope you can read Spanish patterns, cause this dino is awesome!

http://tejemanejes.com/Dinopirata-Roko-Star.html

I also may have posted this one before too, but yummy ice cream cones are, well, yummy:

http://sh0tgun.net/blog/index.php/2008/01/26/ice-cream-cones/

Now these flowers are so freaking cool!!  I have a solder thingy, and i swear i’m soooo making these sometime this year!!

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=195328.0

A non-ugly granny square that acutally looks good!:

http://undisthreadness.blogspot.com/2006/09/16-circles-square.html

Some useful/interesting tutorials:

granny squares

http://iamtotallyobsessedwithyarn.blogspot.com/2006/01/granny-square-pattern-with-pictures.html

Crochet stitch guide:

http://www.weirdmirror.org/stitch.htm

Neat folded paper ball:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/872371/make_flower_paper_ball/

Invisible finish:

http://www.crochetcabana.com/tutorials/invisible-finish.htm

Weaving in ends:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=223031.0

No knots or tails sewing tutorial:

http://belladia.typepad.com/bella_dia/2006/01/no_knot_no_tail.html

Pink kitty hat:

http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=207480.0

Let’s bake some french bread!  I love french bread, so hopefully this recipie doesn’t suck:

http://ihavetosay.typepad.com/randi/2008/01/baking-french-b.html

And i’m gonna put this in my blogroll, but just in case i f someting up, here is the links page for stargazers?  the site with the old timey patterns:

http://home.inreach.com/marthac/links.html

A completely hilarious ‘article’ from the onion, anyone with cats can relate!!:

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/74085

Enjoy your Sunday!

Nathalie

Snaaaaaaaake!! February 16, 2008

I threw in all the extra “a’s” to emphasize how long the snake is!!  I had a ziploc bag full of small amounts of yarn and it was just driving me crazy seeing it every time i opened the yarn box~ so the snaaaaaake was born!!  Nothing fancy, just kept crocheting in hdc’s till i ran out of yarn and then glued some google eyes on it.   Oh, and note to self: Stuff while working on it, not when you’re done!!  I had to use one of those stick things that come with mini-blinds to shove the stuffing in!!

I wasn’t in a ‘color-coordinating’ mood when i made it, just wanted to get through all the stupid yarn scraps!!  Here it is on Tasha’s bed, when it’s stretched out it almost goes from one end of the bed to the other:

I really wanted to put jingle bells in it, but couldn’t find any so i strung some large black beads on string, tied it up and stuck it in the tail.  And Steph, totally email me pics of the snakes i sent home with you!! 

Luis found a home for one of the kitties, and i didn’t want him to take the one i wanted, so i got a blue marker and colored her tail!  Awwww!!  She’s happy in her new home~ and now we have 4 kitties left!!! 

The one in the back is Sunshine (mine!) and the other is one of the girls~ still need to name her:

And the boy kitty, who i named Steve Holt (Steve Holt!!) and Adrian named Balto (yeah, he’s got two names) is trying to play with the mini-blinds but he’s not big enough yet:

And now for some cool stuff i found, aka: free patterns/tutorials!!

This is an adorable little bear:

http://amigurumi-along.blogspot.com/2006/04/bear-pattern.html

And i’m not very good at sewing, but this little box is adorable:

http://applehead.typepad.com/applehead/2006/05/hey_presto_a_li.html

And who doesn’t like oreos?!!  We love them!! (Just not a whole row, right Jen!)

http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf34890489.tip.html

With all the cokes i drink, i just have to try this one:

http://www.escamastudio.com/inspiration/diy.html

And what about granny squares?  Well, i found this cool tutorial on finishing them:

http://www.crochetcabana.com/tutorials/invisible-finish.htm

New one here:  I just found this on craftster, it’s a super awesome valentine kitty by freckledcutie:

free pattern here: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=227160.0

Nathalie

Cool sites i found…and my kitties!! February 5, 2008

Yeah, i know, kitty kitty kitty!!!  But i’ll post them at the end. Here are some cool things i found over the last few days, first is a new free pattern from Bittersweet:

And here is the link:

http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/2008/02/05/whale-of-a-tale/

I love her stuff!!

And i found a cute little fox here:

http://nimoe.wordpress.com/2008/02/03/fox-amigurumi-pattern/#comment-17

And, man i wish i knew how to knit cause these olives are just cool!

 You can find the free pattern here: http://i-like-lemons.blogspot.com/2008/01/giant-olives-pattern.html

And speaking of cool knitted stuff, this is an awesome bathtub from who else? Bittersweet!!

 I don’t think this one is a free pattern, though.  Either way, it rocks!

And how about this free crochet pattern?!!  It’s mugs of hot cocoa, and i want one!!

http://sh0tgun.net/blog/index.php/2008/01/29/mugs-of-hot-cocoa/

I also found cookies and ice cream cones on the same site!!  Yummy!!

Here is a panda pattern i found at craftster: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=223520.0

His name is piddlesworth, and his pattern is free!!

 Cute, huh?!

How about Valentine’s Day?  It is right around the corner!  I found these cool amigurumi hearts :

 Go here if you want to make them: http://www.pepika.com/free-patterns/heart.htm

And here is another heart garland: http://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/2008/01/heart-garland-c.html

As for non-amigurumi, i found these really cool glove-thingys here: http://fiberclectica.blogspot.com/2008/01/pattern.html

 Madaleine loves this kind of stuff, so i love that it’s a free pattern!!

And one more kick ass pattern!!  These are the grumpies!!!

They are brought to you by chezmichelle, and they are free!!!  Her site as a bunch of super cool patterns!!  Go here: http://www.suncatchereyes.net/Free%20Patterns.html

And one more Valentine project from purlbee: crocheted valentine cards!!  I will definitely try these out!!

 How-to here: http://www.purlbee.com/crocheted-valentines/

That’s what i’ve found ‘free pattern’ wise so far, but don’t worry, i’m always online looking!!  So what else is new here?  Well, i won a contest over at guppygirls site, and got an adorable ami bird!!!  I’ll post a pic later (batteries are dead…..again!!!)  I keep telling the kids not to do playback on the camera, but they still do! 

Oh, and i totally didn’t forget!!  My kitties!!

This is two of them~ not sure which ones!!~ and they fell asleep in the tiny space between my leg and the pillow!  (new sheets btw, on sale at target!)

 Awwww!!

This is Twinkletoes, Sandy and Cry Baby.  Since we took the broken screen out of the window, they spend a lot of time checkin out the backyard:

Cry Baby also discovered a new quiet place to sleep…. the top shelf in Madaleine’s closet!

 I bet you can guess where the rest of the clothes went!!! (hint: on the floor)

The cats, all of them, like to sleep on top of my yarn box.  These two kitties are making sure they won’t get caught!

 I believe the kitten on the bottom is mine~ i named her Sunshine!

Oh, and here is an adorable ’sleeping kitty’ pic~ they’re on the couch:

 Totally cute and totally mine!!!

And last but not least, this kitten photo i like to call “Great Kitties Think Alike”

Later!

Nathalie