Busy bee with a blue blanky

It's been a week since my last post, did you miss me? And what a busy week it's been! I started a full time job (yay!) as the director for a new group home for teen girls, so between taking care of last minute details to get the house set up, paperwork, training, and learning how to walk the girls through orientation, it's been a busy, busy, busy last few days. But I love it and I love the work I do, so it's totally worth it!

It's definitely good for me starting this job. Don't get me wrong, I love crafting and I totally enjoy having my Etsy shop. But I've worked in the social services field for the last 6 years, and it really is a not only passion of mine, but it really is my chosen career. Yes, there are days that can be incredibly stressful, but I really do live for the days where you have a success story on your hand. It makes all the hard days totally worth it. I've had such meaningful experiences in this field, watching families reunited after a crisis, helping families keep their homes, helping them find new homes when they can stay in their current one... it is so rewarding to see the difference you can make in someone's life, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

In this job, I will have the opportunity to work with young and teenage girls, and help them on their path to becoming a young woman. The other staff in the group home and I will have a part in teaching the girls the skills they will need to eventually live independently, as well as helping them succeed in school graduate, and maybe even help them find part-time jobs if they are able. I'm so excited that we're finally getting started.

I also have one new item that I've added to the shop...

and another new item I'm working on for the shop... I've taken the ripple pattern I used for the pillow cover I told you guys about last week and converted it into an infant and toddler blanket. I love the colors, and it's coming out really cute so far. Here it is in infant size (work in progress, it's about 2/3 of the way done):

To help advertise my shop, I participate in various weekly activities hosted by a Facebook group called Craft Hour (it's based in the UK, but they have followers all over the place). They do a weekly event called Treasury Tuesday, and this week they nominated my treasury! Participating in these events helps to get my shop's name out there, so do me a favor if you would... Click on the link here, Like the photo, and type Vote in the comments to help boost up my votes please!

That's what's new and exciting on my end! I'll hopefully be able to show you the finished product for the new baby blankets soon. Until next time...

Chevron Pillow Cover

I finally finished my latest project!

 










I'm happy with how it came out. I looked around at a lot of different pattern instructions, and came up with this pattern based on what worked and didn't work for me from those other patterns. Here's how I did it:

Supplies:

• 1 skein Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo, Heather Gray
• 1 skein Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo, White
• 1 skein Red Heart Super Saver Jumbo, Petal Pink
• G/6 Hook (4.25 mm)
• Yarn needle (for weaving in ends)
• 3 buttons (I used 3/4 inch wood buttons, but you can use whatever you like)
• thread
• thread needle (to sew on buttons)

(You can use whatever color combination you like. I didn't use the whole skein in any color, so you will have plenty left over to make a second pillow cover)

This pattern gave me a pillow to cover an 18" x 18" pillow. **NOTE: I find that I tend to crochet kind of loose- I seem to almost always have an item come out larger than the original pattern indicates. So, you may need to use an H hook to get the same gauge that I got with a G hook.**

Abbreviations: this pattern uses US terms!
ch= chain
st= stitch
sp= space
yo= yarn over
HDC= half-double crochet
HDCv= this creates the V shape of the chevron pattern: yo, insert hook and draw up a loop, yo and draw through 2 loops, yo, skip 1 st, insert hook in next st and draw up a loop, yo, draw through 2 loops on hook, yo, draw through all 3 loops on hook (see image below- images are ordered top row left to right, then bottom row left to right)

Ch 77

Row 1: HDC in 3rd ch from hook (ch 2 space counts as first HDC here and throughout), HDC in next 6 ch, HDCv (see instructions above), HDC in next 8 ch, *ch 2, HD in next 8 ch, HDCv, HDC in next 8 ch. Repeat from * 3 times (creates 4 V's). Ch 2, turn

Row 2-72:  Sk first st, HDC in next st, 2HDC in next st, HDC in next 4 st, HDCv, *HDC in next 6 st, (2HDC, ch 2, 2HDC) in ch 2 sp, HDC in next 6 HDC, HDCv. Repeat from * 3 times, HDC in next 4 HDC, 2 HDC in each of last 2 st.

The piece should measure about 37" with 72 rows. Since I was using 3 colors, I made 2 rows per color, giving me 36 stripes. You can change colors whenever you want depending on how many colors you use and how wide you want each color stripe to be. When you want to change colors, simply do not finish the last HDC. Instead, for the last HDC in the row you will yo, insert hook in the st, and draw up a loop. Using the new color, yo and draw through the 3 loops on the hook with the new color. Cut the yarn from your previous color, and continue the pattern with the new color until you are ready to change colors again.

Once you have all your rows done, weave in all your ends.

TO CREATE THE PILLOW COVER:
This is based on an envelope-style pillow cover. True envelope-style covers don't need traditionally need buttons, but a) I like the way the buttons look and b) I didn't completely stitch the top flap down so that it would be easier to insert and remove the pillow. Here's how I did it:

Lay the piece on a flat surface, and fold the button end up approximately 9". Use a whip stitch to sew each of the 2 sides together. Next, take the top end and fold is down approximately 11". Use a whip stitch to sew the 2 sides together for the first 9" or so (basically until you reach the stitching for the bottom pocket).

I sewed the buttons on each of the 3 center V's. The ch 2 space on the top flap makes for a perfect button hole!

You will notice that this leaves the actual pillow cover to be only 17" for an 18" pillow. That's fine! The yarn has some stretch to it, so you will still get a good fit around the pillow.

And that's it! If you would like to buy the pillow cover from me, you can do so here: Chevron Pillow Cover

Please don't publish and/or sell these directions as your own. If you would like to sell the finished product, at least show some love and give credit where credit is due :)

Until next time...

Sick baby week

So, it's been a while since my last post. Well, we've had a hell of a week over here. The park never happened last weekend unfortunately, because our little one came down with a fever Friday night. No other symptoms, just a fever. However, we found out the hard way what a febrile seizure is. Watching my baby go limp in my arms, fists and jaw clenched, off in a daze, drooling is one of the scariest things I have ever experienced in my life. It lasted about a minute, maybe a minute and a half tops. But it was the scariest minute-minute and a half of my life. It happened the first time on Saturday afternoon. She was very sleepy afterwards, but we got some medicine in her and put her in a cool bath for a few minutes to try to bring her fever down. We took her to the ER, found out what it is, but nothing to indicate what was causing the fever (no coughing or vomiting, lungs and ears were clear, etc). Turns out the fever doesn't even have to be that high, it just has to come on very quickly. ER advised us to continue giving her Ibuprofen and/or Tylenol for the fever, and to contact the pediatrician on Monday to schedule a follow up. For the rest of the day, she was our happy little girl, came home and ate pizza with us for dinner, and went to bed without a problem.
Sunday came, and the day started off like it always does. The fever was still coming back, but she was in good spirits, ate breakfast without an issue. Then she had a seizure on Sunday afternoon as well. Same symptoms, same duration. Same sleepy baby once it was over, and happy once she got some sleep.
Took her to the pediatrician on Monday. They tested her for the flu, which came back negative. So all we could think was that it was some viral infection that her body just had to fight off. They advised that we check back in on Wednesday, and if the fever still hasn't gone away to bring her back in and they would run tests.
Fever kept coming back over the next 2 days even with meds, so back to the pediatrician we went on Wednesday. And boy oh boy, did they run tests. Strep test, they catheterized my poor 1 year 8 month old little girl to get a urine sample, and sent us off to the lab for blood work. She didn't like any of it, but she took it like a champ (especially when the lab gave her a popsicle!)
So here we are. It's Friday. We're waiting for the labs to come back. But the good news is that her fever hasn't come back since Wednesday afternoon! And she only had those 2 seizures last weekend! (Small victories, right? That's what I keep telling myself, and I'm sticking with it!)
So what have I been doing in the meantime? I finally finished the blanket for my sister-in-law!
It is now boxed up and on it's way to her at college. :)

With that project done, I'm back to working on items for the shop. Here is my current project:

I love the colors! Once I have the finished product, I'll show you how it came out. I also have a few other ideas that I'm working on putting together, so stay tuned.

Until next time...

Rainy days :-/

Nothing kills your energy quite like rainy days. Even though it's only rained today and yesterday and was pretty nice out before that, I'm definitely much more blah than my usual self.

Not much going on with the shop, but I am making strides on my sister-in-law's blanket. Working on sewing together all the individual squares... 144 of them! So it's taking a little while, but it's finally starting to look like a blanket. I'll post a picture of it when I'm done.

Once that's done, it's time to get some more products on the site. I've got a few ideas in mind, just have to make them a reality. Any suggestions of stuff you would like to see? Check out the shop to see my current offerings: www.stitchedbysovs.etsy.com I recently combined a couple of items to make a gift set for mommies-to-be.

The weekend is supposed to be nicer, so hopefully we'll be able to take baby girl out to the playground.

Enjoy your weekend, and I hope you had a good April Fools Day! Hopefully no one tricked you too bad ;-)

Until next time...