Easter Lovelies

The awesome find of this lovely Easter dress for $6 at a local thrift store called for something to make it a bit more special - and so that my dress-loving girly could wear it to school. Since it's sleeveless, she just needed a bit of a cover-up. I bought three skeins of Caron Simply Soft in a peach color and got to work after finding the formula for a seamless top-down cardigan online. It was a surprisingly quick knit, since I made it short-sleeved and cropped so it hit at the same point as the empire waist on her dress, and it took less than one skein of yarn - which means this sweater cost less than $3! I couldn't believe it! I'll definitely be making more.


Because I had two full skeins of yarn left, I decided to make her 18-inch doll a matching outfit. The dress was very simple, using the top-down seamless formula for crochet on the top, but putting the opening in the back. Then I increased for the skirt to make it fuller and kind of ripply. And as soon as Averie saw the sunhats I made for my grandmas, she wanted one, too. So a peach hat with peach rose completes her Easter ensemble.



(Pictures taken in front of my brother- and sister-in-law's gorgeous new house in Phoenix, where we spent Easter this year. Thanks for your hospitality! We love you guys!)

A New Treasure

I have the best mother-in-law a girl could have! She and my father-in-law made the trip up north this weekend to visit the bird refuge with us, and if that wasn't enough she brought me this gem she'd found at a thrift store.


Any guesses? It doesn't look like much, and it's obviously VERY dated. I didn't even know something like this existed. It's a knitting footstool! The top opens up so you can store your knitting supplies in it!

I was so excited when she told me what it was! It fits all my various sets of knitting and crochet needles, as well as my various notions. I figured eventually I'd re-cover it, but didn't plan on it anytime soon. Then I found some gorgeous, cheap printed canvas at Walmart (2.50 a yard!), and raced home to "git er done." Lots of staples, hot glue, and just a little while later, I had this beauty.


I wrapped the fabric around the bottom, so I didn't need any trim there, but I did need a trim to cover my staples at the top. I didn't feel like going out to the store and spending more money, so I grabbed some cotton yarn from my stash and crocheted a quick trim which then got hot glued on. And voila, a custom, cute knitting footstool. I love it!!!

Grandma Birthday Hats

I recently came across a cute pattern for crochet sunhats, and the first thing I did was make one for each of my grandmas for their birthdays! This is my sweet Grandma Rae in her hat, done in white with a green band (her favorite color), and with a peach rose.

This is my fun Oma, whose hat is red with a purple band and bow for Red Hat Society. She wore it to their monthly function this past week and I now have an order for another for one of her friends. :)