Ripple blanket

Last week I decided I wanted to learn how to crochet a ripple blanket aka chevron blanket. I'm thankful for attic 24's wonderfully easy tutorials because she made it easy to learn!!

The blanket is coming along really well!! I love how the colors look together. Now I just have to decide how big to make it!!

I'll be including this blanket into my etsy shop when done! I love making blankets, so let me know if you need a custom project!

Etsy Shop Updates

I had opened up my Etsy shop over a year ago and had some success with it.  I found that after awhile that I didn't have time for it like I thought and also wasn't selling items...  I learned some things from the process, so I'm not counting it as a total loss!

I decided about a month ago to reopen it with some new items and with some updates.  I have changed my shop to Made by Velma (notice that the blog reflects the changes too!).  I thought this was a little more fitting with what I am doing as some items I make aren't always geeky.  

So here are two of the things I just added to my shop!!

I have custom made bear hats for kids!  These hats have become really popular with my friends and family that I decided that they needed to be shared with everyone!!! 

SO I'm still going to have a few geek things too!! Here is the cutest crocheted Yoda EVER!!  I'm so excited that I can share this Yoda in my shop!! 

I've got some other ideas and will add them as soon as I can! Take a look at my shop and let me know what you think! I would appreciate any feedback that you can give me!!

It's a Turtle!!

My youngest sister's birthday is coming up and I wanted to add a fun handmade item for her present.

I found this cute pattern for a turtle and decided he would be perfect!

This is the CUTEST turtle!!!!

My nephew really likes him!!!

Taking Advantage of a Long Weekend

I took advantage of this long weekend and crafted away!

The one project I'm really excited about was these lovelies

They look like regular gloves, but they are actually...

GLITTENS!!!!!

They are a nice combination of fingerless gloves and mittens all in one!

All I need to do is add a button so I can keep the flaps down when needed!

You can find the pattern here on Ravelry 

I also finished up a hat for a friend

Made a cowl for a friend's daughter

Started an embroidery project

And finally I cleaned out our hallway -- it's an ackward hallway that leads to nothing and we have just used it to hide the junk we have! SO I have reclaimed it for my crafty storage!  Thanks to Ikea I now have a beautiful space for my yarn, fabric, sewing machine and more!!

What did you do this weekend??

Beautiful Blogger Blanket

I recently discovered Jill's Knitting and Crochet Blog - Stocki.  She has some wonderful projects that she is working on that caught my eye!  

Jill is hosting the Beautiful Blogger Blanket!  I am so excited about this! Basically she is asking for people to send in crocheted granny squares in any pattern or color and she will put them together into a blanket! Then those who participated have a chance to win the blanket! How cool is that???  The more squares you make, the more chances you have to win!  

One of the rules was to use 100% cotton for the yarn, so I picked 3 colors from I Love this Cotton - Rosey, Sage and Mullberry.  I found four different patterns to use and here is what I came up with!

I was inspired for this square from Craftyminz's blog.  She was doing a granny a day last year and made some fabulous ones! The Pattern was found on Ravelry.

I started with the pattern from Red Heart for this square but didn't like where it was going so I just stopped here and thought it looked pretty enough on its own! 

I loved how simple this pattern was!

This little square is my favorite! I know with my instagram it's hard to tell, but the flower is crocheted on top of the square so it pops right out! It soooo pretty!!!  I discovered this pattern on one of my many stalkings through pinterest.

I would love if some of my crochet friends got involved in this project! Head over to Jill's blog and get the scoop!!! I'll let you know if I win ;) 

More bear hats!!!

Isn't this just the cutest polar bear??

I also had a request from a friend for a bear hat for her. Here is my daughter modeling it for me.

So glad there are so many people who like these bear hats!  

Wrong yarn = cowl for the daughter!

One of my friends asked me to make them a hat they saw in the store. I found the pattern on revelry and was ready to get started. I even found yarn on sale for it!

Well I got started in the project only to discover I had bought the wrong yarn! Urg! I bought super bulky instead of just bulky. Seriously there is a difference for those who are questioning this.

I sat here for awhile messing around with the yarn and finally decided it would be perfect for a cowl and I knew just the little girl to enjoy it!

My daughter even showed me all the different ways to wear a cowl!

"It looks like a necklace mom!"

"Oh my mouth can be warm or I can be a Ninja!"

not sure what she was doing here but her ears are going to be warm!

So I'm glad I made a mistake in the purchase of my yarn! It turned into a super cute prize for my cutie daughter!

Daisy Coasters

I have been seeing these cute daisy coasters pop up all over pinterest and had to find the pattern to make them.  I found the pattern - in German of course.  Seems to be my luck to find awesome patterns in another language! Thankfully I found a picture version pattern and I was able to make them!!

My plan was to make them before Christmas for my Granny & Granna but obviously I'm a little late... But I can still give them these pretty presents!!!

One of the daisies

smaller flower coaster

Adding the border for the daisy

Kindle Case

I was looking through different patterns on Ravelry and found this really cute one for a Kindle Case!  I have a hard cover for mine now but it just seems boring and a little bulky at times.  When I through it in my purse it feels a hundred pounds heavier so I will gladly welcome a new,cuter, lighter cover!

I used Stitch Nation's Bamboo Ewe in Mermaid (how cute of a color name is that?) and found this awesome fabric for the lining at Hobby Lobby on sale!! 

Sewing the lining in can be kind of tricky but it worked out really well! I had done it before on a clutch I made but had forgotten how I did it. I found this tutorial from Futuregirl to be really helpful!

All I need to do is add some buttons to help keep it closed! 

Another Beat Hat!

Bear hats are SOO cute and I love to make them!  They are the easy project I can make in one evening!

Here is the newest polar bear hat I made for my bestie's youngest baby.  

Maybe she'll send me a picture of him wearing so I can share it with you all!!!

My First Attempt at Knitting Socks

I love reading other people's blogs because I get great ideas from them!  Recently I saw the awesome Peppermint Twist socks that Knit Purl Gurl made and I fell in love!  I have never made socks before but I really wanted to try them now!! 

I used Peppermint Twist sock yarn from Spinning Fates and this awesome sock pattern from Ravelry.  I also used the videos from Lion Brand  to help with all the complicated turning of the heal and gussets (never knew my socks had gussets before!)  

I took advantage of the kids and hubby being out of town and got these done in a week.  I'm not sure how often I'll make socks but it was fun to do!

And here are more pictures from the process of making them!!

double pointed needles look crazy!

looks more like a ancient foot trap!

look how nicely the stripes line up!