Blue Ombre Crochet Basket

Before we had completed Phase #1 of our move, I decided that it was more important to make some decor for our new apartment than to packing boxes. So I settled in on the couch and pulled out some vintage yarn. I had been planning on getting rid of this yarn when we moved. While I enjoyed the colors, it was taking up too much room in my stash. I had three skeins of each color and they just didn't make the cut when up against beautiful wool. But when I decided to make this basket, I knew it was the poifect yarn.

Ombre is probably on its way out of style, but I don't care: I love it!!

"Why a basket?" You might ask. Well, while prowling through Pinterest and Ikea for clever ideas on how to decorate our new abode in style, I found myself being attracted to storage baskets tucked neatly under side tables. Now, some of those cute lil cubbys featured hefty price tags. But why?! They are just baskets!! Being savvy, crafty, and motivated by not wanting to pack, I decided to crank out some of my own baskets.

I crocheted with all three strands of each color together to make a nice sturdy fabric. I am very fond of the outcome: vintagey and useful. It also kind of has a beachy feel, which is fine by me. I have always wanted a breezy, nautical themed home. Even though it's the middle of winter. And I live in a landlocked state. And will be moving to another landlocked state. But hey. I have my dreams, and I'm sticking with them!

Think of all the things I can carry around in here!!

For the edging, I did reverse single crochet (aka crab stitch). I looove love love love the way this looks and the tight, corded edge it makes. I've used it on baby blankets before as well. It reminds me of the look of the edging on those woolen blankets from the Southwest. So chunky and nice. Mhmhmhmhmh. Edging.

Those tight stitches, yo

A close up of the corded edge

So much room for storage!!

Perfect for yarn stashing. And, as a plus, I can select matching yarn to stow in it. Decorating!!

I will probably use this basket to tuck some magazines and maybe a few skeins of yarn under a side table in our living room. I'm leaning towards one of Ikea's "Lack" side tables because they are so affordable and spiffy. Maybe in grey? Depends on what color couch we get, I guess. This pregnancy thing just makes me want to decorate everything. Is that normal? I'm not complaining, (because who doesn't like to have a cute living space?) but just curious if decorating counts as a nesting instinct.

Hope you all had a sweet Valentine's Day!! I know I did.

Yours craftily,
Carolyn
Linkin' up at these fine sites!

Olympic Craft Watch: A Yarny Review of the Winter Games

 My family has always been very adamant about watching the Olympics. We never watched any other sports when I was growing up. No football, no baseball, none of that stuff (unless it was a local team and we were going to a live game. Sports are okay when you are supporting your hometown by being present). But every four years, when medals were being handed out, you can bet your sweet biffy my mom, dad, sister, and I would be glued to the tube cheering on America.

Maybe it was because watching the Olympics is an act of patriotism. Maybe it was because both Summer and Winter Olympics take place in seasons of less busy-ness on the farm. Maybe it was because my dad loves medals. Whatever the reason, I grew up being in love with the Olympics.

When I started dating Sailor, he was amazed at my incredible lack of knowledge about sports. I had never watched an entire NFL game all the way through, not even the Superbowl. I had no favorite teams for anything. I honestly could not have told you more than 10 professional teams, let alone name all the pro teams in one sport. The only players I could name were the ones I saw on cereal boxes. I had no interest in watching sports of any kind. But when it came to the Olympics, much to Sailor's surprise, I was the one begging him to watch.

"....But....you don't even like sports."

"But it's the Olympics."

"Which is a sporting event."

"But it's the Olympics."

"Which are sports."

"Olympic sports!"

I will have you know that I have since reformed my Non-Olympic Sport prejudice and begun to enjoy other sports. But the Olympics will always have a special gold-medal shaped place in my heart.

Especially the Winter Games.

This year has been so much fun to watch. In addition to the interesting political aspect of the games in Sochi, there have been so many exciting happenings. And amidst all these feats of athleticism and national pride and world togetherness there is something worth noting all on its own: the apparel.

I know big-name fashion blogs have already ripped to shreds all the various uniforms and outfits and dos and don'ts, but I want to hone in on an accessory that a lot of countries sport: knitwear.

So, here are the noteworthy knits I have seen thus far during the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

Austria's Matthias Mayer

Let's talk about Austria's earwarmer first. When I first had these pointed out to me, I could not tell if they were knit or crochet. Upon closer inspection, they are indeed knit. In a lovely waffley stitch that looks oober cozy, might I add? They have hats that match this ear warmer. I really need to figure out which stitch this is. So cozy!!

Burton Boards for Team USA 2014

Okay, let's chat about 'Merica. First and foremost, I am completely obsessed with the US ski jackets by Burton. I know some people really hate them, but I am smitten. So rustic, so cozy, just yes. Yes all over. Yes everywhere. Send me one. Or two. The hats Burton designed for the team are quite nice as well. Simple knit beanies with rustic stripes. Lahve.

Team USA by Polo Ralph Lauren

 Okkkkkkaaayyyy. The interwebs have been going nutso about the "Ugly Christmolympics" sweaters designed by Polo for Team USA. I agree that they are a little much; overplaying the kitschy thing by a longshot. BUT there are nice moments in the ensemble: the mix-matched cuffs would look nice on a less explosively patriotic sweater, and the hat is acceptable. I am a big fan of the moose hat that they designed (the one the ladies wore) as well as the traditional turtleneck sweater with the mooses on it.

But this sweater? Buh. I vote, keep the mixed-up cuffs and the shaping of the sweater, but do it in solid navy with a striped back panel. But not Where's Waldo stripes, subtle stripes more like the Burton hat. Come on, guys.

Julie Mancuso at a pre-Sochi press conference

 Here is a lil pre-Olympic craft fashion for you. Julie Mancuso wearing a crochet hat at a pre-Sochi press conference. Ohmyyum. Such a squishy, home-made looking hat. Maybe it was homemade...I don't see any tags on it. This is a good level of kitschy for the Olympics. Cozy and homemade, not bombastically patriotic. Take notes, Polo.

Ole Einar Bjoerndalen of Norway

To follow up that nice crochet, here's some bad crochet. Can we please talk about how freaky it is that Norway opted for a crocheted hat as opposed to a knitted one?? Norway is known for knitting. The craft is deeply rooted into the country's herritage. So why, why, whhhyyyy crochet? I mean, crochet is my first love, so I'm excited to see it featured in the games. But NOT on the heads of Norwegians.

I like the hat as a hat, but I'm disappointed in Norway. Honestly, I was expecting some amazingly beautiful knitted colorwork depicting Norwegian skiiers swooshing down an mountain and/or being presented their gold medals while riding a moose. Something like that.

Maybe while I'm re-designing the Polo Team USA sweater, I'll whip up a chart for a victorious Norwegian ski hat.

Joint gold medalist (left to right) Dominique Gisin of Switzerland and Tina Maze of Slovenia

 Enough with me ripping on the crochet, let's get back to the knits. Slovenia's hats are possibly my favorite. They at least make it to my top five for Olympic knitwear. I am happy to say, I could also make this hat. It's a delightful seed-stitch concoction with those glorious neon stripes. The subtle texture adds just the right amount of interest to a simple hat. All the good things.

Carina Vogt of Germany winning the first ever women's ski jumping gold medal

What a historic event for female athletes. The first ever gold medal for women's ski-jump was won by Carina Vogt of Germany. And, let me say, she definitely hits the podium in my book for her hat. You can also see the full hat that matches Austria's ear warmer in this picture. Delightful!

But Germany's hat is all kinds of cute. Simple, patriotic colorwork that doesn't overwhelm anybody. A straight forward design. And a pom pom! Can't go wrong with a pom pom. This is another totally doable hat for crafting along with the Olympics.

Vogt being congratulated for her historic win

As you can see, there is some pretty great knitwear making an appearance in the 2014 Winter Games. Have you spotted any others?

Your patriotically,
Carolyn
Linkin' up at these fine sites!

Ps: I'm trying to get back on a more frequent posting schedule now that phase #1 of our move is complete. Things have been a million kinds of crazy here, but hopefully everything is coming together now. I am ready to get back to blogging and relaxing!!

Basketweave Crochet Cowl

Who doesn't love a toasty, thick cowl around their neck? Crazy people, that's who. Because seriously, you'd have to be crazy to not want this cowl. I may be a little biased because I made it and it's green, but who am I to judge myself? That's what I thought. Right.

Here's an embarrassing tidbit about this cowl: I made it over a year ago. A YEAR AGO. And I never took pictures of it. Worse yet, I never gave it to the birthday girl for which I made it. Mahalia. Aka Mufus. Aka my bff since 4th grade. Guh. I know. It's pretty terrible. But, in my defense, right after I made it I got really sick and was soon after diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis so when her birthday rolled around, this beautiful scarf was really not on my mind. And by the time it was on my mind again, we were getting ready to move. So yeah.

I'll stop justifying. I know I'm bad.

The good news is, I did have the foresight to pack it when we moved up here behind the Cheddar Curtain in March. And I even remembered about having it before her birthday was past this year. Woohoo! -highfives self- I sent it off last week and by my calculations...it even arrived a few days before her birthday. What, whaaattt? I never am that good. I guess it doesn't really count as "good" when it's a year overdue. Pfft. Nah. I'll take the victory. -confetti and grape juice all around-

My dear Mahalia's birthday is the first birthday on my list of "important people's birthdays". It's in January. Resolutions and feeling good about making stuff happen are still fresh in my mind so when I (inevitably) forget her birthday....I feel astoundingly horrible. Come on. It's the first chance of the new year to remember a friend's birthday, and I forget? Buh. What a good path to be on for the whole year. I'm glad that this year is different. Even with Pregnancy Brain making remembering extra hard.

Enough about my personal shortcomings, let's talk about baskets!

Basketweave, that is. I love this crochet technique. It's so textural and warm; perfect for using a subtly variegated yarn to make a nice, dense cowl. This is made with Lambs' Pride Wool that was given to me fiveever ago by my favorite yarn fairy. In fact, I still have some of this luscious wool in my stash. Maybe it's time to revisit this stitch...

Wanna make your own? Cool! Learn how to crochet the basket weave stitch, chain a loop as long as you want your cowl to be and get at it! Great instructions, huh? But for real, if you can double crochet, you can make this cowl. Easy peasey wooly squeezey.

Come on, look at that texture. Don't you just want to squish it? And that green. Ugh. Best color ever. Can you tell how badly I wanted to keep it? Pretty badly.

So yummy. Dat green.

Happy Birthday Mufus!! If you are reading this, now you know what an awful friend I am. Haha, juuussttt kiddiiinggg. I'm great. You're great. Happy Birthday.

-Carolyn
Linkin' up at these fine sites!

Knit Some Cozy Mitts: Free Pattern

Need a quick little project that is high in the cozy factor? With the temp dipping back down below zero here again, I did. My hands are ALWAYS COLD. ALWAYS. I have been wanting to make some mitts for a while now, and after seeing this free pattern by Carissa Knits I knew it was time.

While I have not been active online, I have been very active at home. Well, maybe not "very" active. But somewhat active. More active than I have been online, at least. As you can see by the pictures of piles of boxes and moving supplies that I'm not showing you, I've gotten a lot done. And that means I earned knitting time, right? Right.

Siiigghhhh. Moving is so messy.

 I used one of my fave shades of Caron Simply Soft. This saturated, jewel-tone teal is just yummy yummy for my eyes. I love it. I am sort of kind of making a blanket out of jewel tones like this. It's on hold though, so I stole the teal for these mitts.

 Another fun tidbit about this project: it was my first experience with cables!! I am smitten. I want to cable everything.

Socks. Underwear. Shower curtains. Pants. Sweaters. Vests. A box.

Everything.

 I also would like to note that I discovered I was doing "make 1"s wrong. I suspected it was incorrect when I was working on Sailor's Christmas present and ended up with a vampire-bite looking hole where I had done two m1's. I had increased stitches before in other projects, but had been with the knit through the back of the stitchy thing method. So I looked up how to ACTUALLY make one using the "raise the bar" technique. And look how clean it looks! That niiceeee lil row of new stitches. So proud.

This pattern is really quite easy. I would recommend, though, checking the sizing a bit. My hands are itty bitty baby hands, and these mitts are a lil too big for me. I prefer skin-tight, my-fingers-are-turning-purple gloves. You know, the kind that...fit like a glove. Right.

I don't fault the pattern with this, because my hands are freakishly small.

Give this pattern a try! Your hands deserve to be stylishly warm like mine are.

Happy Friday!!
-Carolyn
Linkin' up at these fine sites!

Free Printables: I Love You More Than Yarn Valentines Card

I have decided to try and make free printables a monthly thing. After all, I am obsessed with them and I love finding fun ones, so why shouldn't I offer some too? This month's freebie is coming at you a little early, but there's a good reason for that which I will explain later.

Happy February!! The month of looovveee. I'm not a big fan of the commercialism surrounding any holiday, so the amount of stuff I already see in the stores for Valentine's Day makes me a little grumpy. But still. I find it to be a fun, light-hearted, happy day amid some of the coldest months of the year. And there is nothing bad about sharing a little lovin' with those you hold dear.

This printable is a spin-off of a valentine's day card I made for Sailor while we were dating. He got a little laugh out of it, and said, "Oh, gee, thaanks. I was really worried," very sarcastically. Little did he understand (after only having been with me for a year) the full compliment of the sentiment I had expressed. I think he is FULLY aware now of my yarn nerdiness, so perhaps this year the card will mean a little more.

Especially considering he has lived with me and my yarn stash for closing in on two years now.

Find the Download Here!!

It prints on a full sheet of paper, so if you want smaller cards, you will have to resize it. It would also be super cute printed on kraft paper or glittery cardstock! Alas, I do not have either of those right now and I am too lazy to do what I normally do in want of kraft paper: cut up a paper grocery bag. But it looks cute on white still.

You could even make banners out of the card!! Too cute right? I love holidays and coordination and cute things.

Speaking of cute things....

Dat Bunny. Check out Tara Lea Photography here!

My sister, the very clever photographer, took some stinkin' cute pictures of Arlo while we were visiting family at Christmas. This is one of my favorites! He was so intrigued by his gift from my parent's dog, Roxy. Spoiler alert: It was a sweater. How cuuuttee is thaattt??

On to the last bit of business before I close out this post: the reason why the free printable for February is a few weeks early. There are some big changes going on here at the Carrot Cottage. Boxes are everywhere I look, and the sound of packing tape cannot be escaped. You know what that means...

We are moving!

I can't give all the details now, but I wanted to post a bit of a disclaimer as to why my posts are going to be pretty sporadic throughout the next two weeks. By February, we should be all settled in to our brand new (albeit still temporary) home. This is not a forever move, but rather a nine month to a year long move. After this...we will begin the adventure of looking for a house to own.

!!!!!!!

I am so excited. Baby Z is on the way, moving is underway, and I am currently in the way. -flees to dodge couches and boxes being moved-

Hopefully I'll sneak in a few more posts before we go, but do not be surprised if I suddenly become silent. This also means that Last in Line Shop on Etsy will be closed in a week or so until we get all set up in the new place.

Happy -early- Valentine's Day! Can't wait to get back in the swing of posting and show your our new home!

-Carolyn
Linkin' up at these fine sites!

DIY Refashion: Men's Shirt to Peplum Dress

 Hey guys! Remember this big old ugly shirt? A week or so before Christmas I set to work chopping this shirt up and designing a snazzy peplum dress out of it. I wore it on Christmas Eve and got asked a few times where I bought the dress! I consider that a successful refashion.

#betterthanstorebought #booyahmozzerellasticks #awyeah #hashtag

Ahem. Enough of that. Let's talk about the dress. I started by properly dissecting the men's shirt and gathering some matching thread and some extra fabric in the event that I needed to add more.

 While I do not have any good pictures from the process, you will have to make do with my turn of phrase and poetic descriptions.

I started by drafting up what I wanted in the dress. It had to feature a princess-seamed bodice. The lines are flattering to every body type, and will hopefully suit me for at least another month or so of Baby Z's growth. Hehe!!

To achieve a well fitting bodice, I was lucky enough to have a princess-seamed dress that fit me quite well. I used that dress as a basis for designing mine. I added a little wiggle room in the bust area (since pregnancy has already left me floundering for tops that fit in that realm) as well as the waist. After drawing up the pattern on cardstock (and making sure to add a seam allowance) and picking which pieces of the shirt would become which parts of the bodice, I set to work cutting.

 After piecing the bodice together with pins, I was shocked and concerned to discover that the bodice was FAR too tight. So, without a moment to lose, I drafted a side panel. Having such limited fabric from the men's shirt, I had to use some sections from a pair of teal old lady trousers I scored a year ago. I also decided to use the teal pants to assemble the peplum ruffles as well so that the side panels did not look out of place.

After the bodice was pieced and sewn, I quickly trimmed up the skirt and edged the peplums. Then, after attaching the skirt to the bodice, all I had to do was finish the neckline and sleeves and WHAMO. One bootiful dress.

Since this dress will hopefully be able to be worn for another month or two of this pregnancy, it is a bit billowy. I pair it with a brown belt to keep some of the girth in check. You can hardly tell that it has got extra belly room!! The shoes are a Goodwill score from a few weeks before Christmas. $3!! Holy schmowzow!! And they are practically new. I love me some fun flats.

There you go friends!! Have you done any spiffy refashions lately??

-Carolyn
Linkin' up at these fine sites!

Free Patterns: Nerd Crafts

I've been vowing to make more things for my own use for as long as I can remember. It is hard to dedicate a large amount of time on a project for myself. It feels selfish! Only certain projects can really stir up the desire to make something for myself. Usually those projects have a certain...geekiness to them.

Here we have a round-up of some free patterns for the crafty nerd in each of us. Perhaps you can convince yourself to whip up a little something for you if the project is delightfully nerdy. -winkwink-

Find the pattern here

I could not resist setting to work on this pattern as my first foray in knitting dishcloths. It is bigger on the inside, you know. (Hurhurhurrr) The chart is very easy to read, and it worked up quickly!! I made two of these cloths: one for me and one for my dear friend Becca. I have quite a bit of blue cotton yarn left from these projects, so there may be a few more in the future.

Side Note: Look at that spiffy coffee mug! The TARDIS disappears and reappears on the other side of the mug when it is filled with a hot beverage. Delightful!

Find the pattern here

 I know I wrote about this Direwolf Cowl before, but it deserves to be mentioned again. The pattern is written for double knitting, but I instead used it as a guide by which to stitch the direwolf onto the cowl afterwards. Very easy!!

Find the pattern here

This pattern marries two of my great loves: yarn crafts and patterns worn by characters on shows/movies I enjoy. This particular scarf is modeled after one worn by Luna Lovegood in the 7th Harry Potter movie. There are many versions of this scarf, but I like this pattern best. It is easy, beautiful, and fun. In fact, I was so fond of the finished product, I rewrote the pattern to make it an infinity scarf and made one for myself. You can expect to see it soon!!

Those are the patterns I have used so far. Here are some free nerdy patterns I want to make soon!

Amy Pond's Pandorica Opens Scarf

Vincent and Amy Pond Scarf

Harry Potter Bookscarves

A Practical Animal Cracker Hat

The Weasley Sweater

Bow Ties Are Cool Washcloth

Have you made any of these patterns? Do you have another favorite nerdy pattern?

Happy Thursday!
-Carolyn
Linkin' up at these fine sites!