Hooking on Hump Day – Mont Blanc Jacket

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here to tell you about the crocheted jacket I recently finished. This is the second garment I’ve made from designer Tatsiana Kupryianchyk of LillaBjörn’s Crochet World and is called the Mont Blanc Jacket. Tatsiana creates well written patterns and has many videos to help you along the way.

Mont Blank Jacket

For my jacket I chose Scheepjes Stone Washed XL in Deep Amethyst for the body and Scheepjes Furry Tales in Aladdin for the cuffs and collar. It might seem intimidating to work with fuzzy yarn, but Tatsiana produced a method that makes it much easier than you would think. (I won’t give away the secret here but just want you to know it was very easy to do)

This jacket has many design features I like such as pockets in the front and a pleat in the back.

The pockets were easy to do too.

The pleat gives you a little more room in the body of the jacket.

Here is a closer look at the pleat that also was easy to do.

Pleat detail

Back collar and pleat

One thing I did differently from the suggestion in the pattern was I didn’t make the furry cuffs as long as the pattern says to. I think the proportions are better for me this way.

My cuffs are about 5 inches long.

This pattern is worked from the top down, so you can try it on as you crochet. I also made the pockets longer than the pattern suggested and worked the jacket length to where I thought it looked the best. The final addition to the jacket were the buttons that Charlie custom made for me.

Stained wooden buttons made from a dowel

Using a 1 1/4-inch maple dowel, Charlie first drilled the holes then cut slices of about and 1/8 inch thick. He happened to have some purple stain that was a perfect match for the yarn. I love the way the buttons work with the jacket.

When the jacket was completed, I still had quite a bit of yarn of both types left over so I decided to make a matching hat.

Mont Blanc Hat (my pattern)

Mont Blanc Hat

Mont Blanc Hat with the cuff opened.

For the hat I started at the top and worked in rounds. For the first two rounds I just did single crochet and then, starting on the third round, I worked the same stitch pattern that is used for the jacket. It was easy to keep trying it on as I went for a perfect fit. When I was happy with the length of the main yarn, I used a slightly modified technique to attach the furry yarn as the jacket pattern and kept working until I had the size I wanted. I’m happy with how both the jacket and the hat turned out and love the way they look on me.

I love a jacket with pockets

The pleat looks great in the back

Both the jacket and hat are nice and warm

Overall, I’m happy with how the jacket and hat turned out and would recommend this pattern to anyone. You can find the pattern from LillaBjörn Crochet on Ravelry or Etsy.

I’m joining the The Loop Scoop Yarny Link Party (formerly known as Hookin’ on Hump Day). You should stop by to see some of the other projects people have posted.

Read Full Post »

Hooking on Hump Day – Christmas Stockings

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here to tell you about the Christmas stockings I made. Last year I finished a small quilt that we hung on our fireplace. It’s a bit small for the space so this year I searched online for a Christmas stocking pattern to crochet so we could add them to our display.

The stockings were hung from the quilt with care…

First a little word about how I hung them. Since the stone on the fireplace is so irregular, we couldn’t attach anything to the stone to hang the stockings from. Charlie found a 1/4″ dowl that was already stained and would work perfectly for that spot. To attach it to the quilt I used a matching brown thread and sewed three loops that hang down from the quilt. The dowl slips through the loops and even close up it’s difficult to see.

Now let’s get to the stockings. 

Charlie’s stocking
(Blue yarn is Red Heart Giant in Dark Country Blue – possibly discontinued)

I found the Country Cottage Stocking crochet pattern for free on the Who’s Homemade website. On the pattern page there are also links to paid patterns on Etsy and Ravelry and a video to show you the entire process.

Millie’s stocking
(Red is Caron One Pound in Claret)

The pattern instructions are well written and with the video there is no way to go wrong. I went “shopping” for the yarn from my stash and was happy to find colors that coordinated well with the quilt.

Walter’s stocking
(Green is Caron One Pound in Grass Green)

The only thing I did differently from the pattern was I added four rounds to the main stocking before adding the cuff to make them a bit longer.

Cindy’s stocking
(Purple is Red Heart With Love in Aubergine)

I like how the use of post stitches gives you a more closed fabric for the main body of the stocking. The toe was easy to work and with the help of the video the heal and cuff were no problem either. The white yarn is also Caron One Pound. It’s always nice to be able to work from your stash and create something new that will be a part of our holiday decorations for years to come.

I’m joining the The Loop Scoop Yarny Link Party (formerly known as Hookin’ on Hump Day). You should stop by to see some of the other projects people have posted.

Read Full Post »

A New Holiday Decoration

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. I wanted to show you a new Christmas decoration I made.

Christmas Dachshund Quilt

I started this in a class during the 2019 Genesee Valley QuiltFest. The class was taught by Cynthia England and it helps to demonstrate her “picture piecing” technique. This pattern is called “Santa Pooch” and you can buy the pattern and fabric pack from her.

Close up of Head

The finishing instructions call for you to embroider the eye on the dog and it has you outline the white parts of the Santa hat to help them stand out. Charlie and I thought the outlining fell a little flat so I purchased some fluffy fleece from JoAnn Fabrics and added it to the hat instead.

Detail of Head with Fleece

Adding the fleece was quite fiddly but I managed to get it attached and I love how it turned out. I also added the little bell to his scarf which was part of the kit. I did most of the quilting using my embroidery machine.

Close up of the quilting

I used two embroideries from Embroidery Online by OESD. The straight border is called “Snow Quilt Border” and the corner is “Snow Quilt Corner”. Since the corner embroidery was a triangle shape and I needed it to have square edges to match the straight border, I used my embroidery software to extract a bit from the straight border to square them up. I also extracted one of the snow flakes and used that randomly in the white background. You can click on the above image to see the details. I also stitched in the ditch around the dog and the gift boxes with invisible thread.

Christmas Dachshund hanging above the fireplace

The fabric pack that came with the pattern had a different border fabric that I wasn’t crazy for so I found this perfect purple fabric to use instead. I love how it turned out and it makes a lovely addition to our holiday decorations.

 

Read Full Post »

Hooking on Hump Day for Feel Better Friends

Hi everyone it’s Cindy here. Today I’m joining the Hookin on Hump Day blog hop to tell you about my most recent Feel Better Friends (FBF) doll that I made.

Emmalynn

Emmalynn is a 9 year old girl with epilepsy and some other health issues. She recently received a VNS device that helps control seizures.

Emmalynn is pretty in pink

Emmalynn’s mother said that her favorite color is pink and that she is in and out of the hospital a lot. She hopes that a doll would be a great comfort for Emmalynn when she is having testing or when she is admitted to the hospital.

Doll and accessories for Emmalynn

I noticed in the pictures that were sent to me that Emmalynn was often accompanied by a stuffed Teddy bear so I decided her doll needed one too.

A perfect bear for a doll

I found a cute little Teddy bear pattern from AmigurumiToGo.com. Emmalynn’s bear has lighter colored paws and nose so I made that adaptation to the pattern. I love the way the bear turned out and think he is the perfect size for the doll.

Every doll needs a bear for a sidekick.

To go along with her fancy dress I made a pair of “Mary Jane” shoes for the doll.

Cute little Mary Jane’s for the doll with her pink socks.

The hair for this doll was made using Knit Picks Shine sport weight yarn that was first hooked into the scalp. I then styled it as close to Emmalynn’s hair as possible.

The last thing I did was to try and simulate this doll having a VNS device. I started with a small piece of wood that I covered with muslin and then sewed into the chest of the doll.

I also added scars where the surgery left scars on Emmalynn.

VNS scars on the doll

A VNS device is sort of like a pacemaker for the brain. The wood piece that is in the doll doesn’t really stand out but it can be felt just below the scar on the chest.

Emmalynn loves her doll

According to Emmalynn’s mom, “My daughter Emmalynn loves her Feel Better Friend! Thank you so much! You did an amazing job! And to make her teddy also. You made my little girl so happy!!!!”

Making Feel Better Friends dolls has been a great way to use my crochet skills for charity work. Right now FBF is in need of more volunteers to make dolls. We are an all volunteer organization and recently the number of requests for the United States reached a point that the leaders have had to shut down requests for the USA so we can catch up. If you would like to help please click here to learn how to become a volunteer.

You should stop by the Hookin on Hump Day blog hop to see some of the other projects people have posted.

Read Full Post »

Thankful Thursday – An Award Winning Quilt!

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. Things have been a little quiet here for the past few weeks but there is a reason for it. I’ve been working on a quilt in order to get it ready for my quilt clubs big show the Genesee Valley QuiltFest. The quilt show starts tomorrow and runs through Sunday and tonight there was a members reception where they gave out the awards.

There are two types of ribbons that are given out. One set is for professionally judged quilts and the other set is for those judged by a group of quilt club members. I only have two quilts in this show and did not submit either one for professional judging.

I arrived at the reception a little late and they had already started giving out the “club” awards. Just a few minutes after I got to the reception area I was hearing the name of my small quilt and my name read aloud for a second place ribbon!

Listening Through the Glass

This quilt is about 48 inches x 24 inches and was made to put up in our living room. There is a lot to tell about how the quilt came together but I will leave that for another day. I didn’t expect to win any awards but I’m very thankful I did.

We are joining Brian for the Thankful Thursday Blog Hop!

Read Full Post »

Wordless Wednesday – Millie’s Napping Corner

Reining in mom’s crochet project bags.

Read Full Post »

Mischief Monday – Trash Can Bandit

Hi everyone. I’ve had to turn over a new leaf in my sewing room. It seems that someone likes to rummage through the trash can when he is bored.

Hi mom. I was making sure the zipper package was empty.

That was one day…a few days later I found this…

I think you left a zipper in the garbage.

Hey mom why did you put the trash can on the desk?

I don’t think you really have to ask do you Walter? Of course sometimes I forget to put the trash can back up when I’m done working in there and enter to another mess almost every time. In reality I can never get mad at him…could you?

Read Full Post »

Super Power Sunday

Hi everyone! It’s Cindy here. When you were a kid did you ever watch TV shows like The Adventures of Superman and wish you had super powers like him? I know I did. Of course I really wanted to be Samantha from Bewitched. Just a wiggle of her nose or a blink of her eyes and everything would be better.

We’ve all had someone or somepet in our lives that has suffered from some sort of health problem and wished we could do something to make them better. Here in Blogville there is always somebody in need of our Power of the Paw support. If we had those super powers like Samantha did we could wiggle our noses and make everyone better. Sadly we know that isn’t possible so we do what we can by putting our paws together, saying prayers or sending all the positive vibes we can.

Recently one of Blogville’s residents shared with us about a young girl that has been battling a mysterious health problem. Just like with our pets it can be more upsetting when a child has health problems because it is difficult for them to understand why things aren’t normal. I’m talking about Macey the granddaughter of the author of the Three Little Pugs blog. If you haven’t been following Macey’s story you can go here to read a little about what has been going on.

Macey the Super Girl!

A couple of weeks ago Macey had some scary tests coming up and I wanted to do a little something to help her get through it. Being the crafty person that I am I fired up my sewing machine and created a  cape for Macey to wear whenever she needed some super powers. It’s made of fleece on the outside and the backing is a fun cotton print.

Pow! Zoom! Zap!

I hope the cape helped Macey feel stronger during her tests. The one thing I do know is that she will know that people all around the world are worried about her and hope she feels better soon.

Super M

The cape is in her two favorite colors, purple and pink. It was a challenge sewing the “M” on the cape with the stretchy fleece fabric. I used a tight zigzag satin stitch and had to be careful to make sure it didn’t go too wonky.

Another challenge I had was figuring out the correct size for a 6 year old girl. Of course I used my friend Google to help me. I found a few patterns and put them together to come up with my pattern.

Super Girl with Super Cape

I used Velcro at the neck to allow for easy on and off. As you can see by the above picture it fits her great and even allows for her to grow a bit and still fit her.

Pretty package for a pretty girl

I wrapped the cape in purple and pink and included a funny get well card with a pug on it.

Not sure what they’re giving you…but I want some!
Get well soon!

I enjoyed making the cape for Macey and seeing her smile in her pictures made me smile too. If you don’t already know The Three Little Pugs you should go visit them and say hello. You could also include some encouraging words for Macey as I know her grandmother shares them with her. Get well soon Macey!

Super Macey Cape

 

Read Full Post »