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

SpongeBob SquarePants!

I've never actually seen an episode of SpongeBob (I know, shocking since I have kids!). I don't have a vendetta against him or anything, it's just never happened. But I knew I'd be spending some time with everyone's favorite Porifera when a friend told me that her amazing daughter wants a SpongeBob birthday party. How could I refuse?

My friend gave me ideas of what she liked and what she wanted me to include. It was great that she knew what she wanted - made the design process a lot easier! She wanted some hint of his pants, but pink instead of brown! How cool & different, I love it! I did a little research, lots of thinking, and decided on a general idea of how I wanted the hat & face to look. Nothing left to do but get started!

I set out to make the hat first (duh, haha). I didn't use a pattern per se, but I've made enough hats in my day to work it up pretty quickly. When I got to his shirt (the white stripe) I used a super secret crochet trick of mine (wink, wink) to make the lines especially clean. That's a whole 'nother blog post, haha. Then on to the pink earflaps. Of course it wouldn't be complete without some super chunky braids!

Now, onto the face. If you're familiar with my usual work, you know that I'm not a big embroiderer nor seamstress. The less I have to do after I finish the body of a hat, the better! So I was a little nervous when it came to getting started. The individual pieces weren't difficult to crochet, but putting them together so that it actually looks like SpongeBob was a little tricky. I'm really happy with the eyes & nose, but I still don't love the little crook in his smile. Oh well! I'm my hardest critic, and it's pretty hard to get embroidery to look straight on crochet!

I can't wait to see my friend's daughter's reaction when she opens this on her birthday! I really hope she loves it!!

My daughter, Bryn, wanted to model, so of course my son, Declan, had to get in on the action!

(PS - No, I will never make another one, haha!)

PLAY HARD ~ PLAY HOOKY

Release the Hounds (part 2)

WOW!! I can't believe the response I got from my recent release of my newest pattern, Reversible Houndstooth Beanie.

Let me back up a little... I'm getting together all my new designs to send to my photographer. The plan was to have a 2012 new Design Preview Sale to show you what I've been working on, before I get the final proofs back. I listed 15 copies of my Houndstooth Beanie on Monday, but before I could even finish posting about it on my Facebook page, ALL 15 copies had SOLD!! I had several posts about how upset some people were because they missed it that I decided to leave the pattern permanently. All in all, I sold WAY more than the 15 copies I thought I would sell. I was overwhelmed and excited by the response!! I literally couldn't believe it!

Even though I still don't have the professional photography finished, I will continue to have the pattern listed on Etsy, Ravelry, my website, and coming soon to my Craftsy page!

PLAY HARD ~ PLAY HOOKY

Release the HOUNDS!

...Houndstooth that is. Please forgive my extreme cheesiness, haha. Today I am FINALLY releasing a new design. The Houndstooth Headband. I've been wanting to use the traditional Houndstooth pattern for a while and was finally able to do it now that I quit my day job!

Last Spring I started looking around for houndstooth patterns because I thought it'd be fun to make something for my mother-in-law. But, all I found were a LOT of knitting patterns, and some not-so-houndstoothy crochet patterns. So you know what that means. I made my own! Traditionally houndstooth uses black and white to show off the contrast of the pattern. But I think it'd be fun in most color combinations, as long as the 2 colors have contrast. I also wouldn't try it in a variegated yarn because it'd probably take away from the stitch pattern. But it's up to you to try different things!! Oh, and did I mention - IT'S REVERSIBLE!!

So here it is! I have a photographer on stand-by, but I want to send her all my new designs at once. So for now, we'll have to make do with my not-so-professional photography, haha. But my kids are still cute!

Get your own pattern:

Playin' Hooky Designs

Etsy

Ravelry

 It's reversible!

SNEAK PEEK:

Coming up next - the reversible Houndstooth Beanie!

PLAY HARD ~ PLAY HOOKY

A photo tutorial is worth a thousand questions

It's here! It's here! The updated Brain Waves Beanie pattern is finally here! I've offered my Brain Waves Beanie pattern as a free download from my website and Ravelry for over a year now and I've seen SO many great finished beanies with creative color combos made by you! But I've also had lots of questions by confused hookers. Trying to explain detailed crochet technique and which-stitch-goes-where without pictures has been taking up a lot of time lately. And the last thing I want to do is create confusion and frustration for my awesome fans!

So I decided to take a couple of days and create a new photo tutorial to accompany both the Kids and Adults versions!!! I really hope it helps! I focused mostly on the beginning and ends of the rounds as that seems to be the sore spot. I also included several pictures to help you check if your stitches are lining up like mine do. As always, if you're still having trouble with it, please send me an email and we can work through it!

Child's tutorial: beginning of a rnd

Adult's tutorial: end of a rnd

How to line up stitches

My new updates are also just in time for this pattern to be featured in a local mom's magazine, Momaha, from Omaha, NE (even though I live in CO)!! Check out the article below and the magazine's website! 

Thanks Momaha!

PLAY HARD ~ PLAY HOOKY