Pin-tastic Friday

My pintastic Fridays are going to be used to link up the top five awesome pins I found this week on Pinterest.  If you don'f follow me already on Pinterest please do so.  Here are the pins I think are the best of my week:

1. Block Stitch Tutorial
2. One Skein Cowl
3. Invisible Decrease
4. Clever Color Change for Amigurumi
5. Knitting Increases

Do you have some favorite new pins?  If so, link them up in the comments below :)

Free Heart Pattern

I needed a heart pattern for a project and none I found on the web really did it for me.  So I wrote one myself and I'd like to make it available for you to use :)

Free Heart Pattern:

Materials:
Any weight and color yarn you'd like to use
Any size hook you need for your yarn of choice
Scissors
Tapestry needle

Create a Magic Circle and chain 2.
Crochet all of the following into the magic circle: 3trc, 3dc, chain 1, trc, chain 1, 3 dc, 3trc, chain 1, slst.
Pull string tightly to close center circle.

WIP Wednesday

Although it is a day late, I thought I would let you see my latest WIP (work in progress).

I have been making hats for my family for the coming winter lately, well since I got my new knitting needles from Knitpicks anyway, and I found a few awesome patterns on Ravelry and I have been on a knitting kick... big time!

First I made this little beauty for me:

The pattern can be found here.  It was a quick work and while easy to knit had some challenges.  I've never done wrapped stitches and this was a good test for me.  This was also the first time I tried to use the Magic Loop method for knitting in the round.  I love it!  I cannot stress how much easier it was to knit this hat using the magic loop method rather than using DPNs.

Second is this, which is currently on the needles and is our WIP Wednesday highlight.

Originally, I wanted to do this hat in a lovely gray yarn but it is a chunky/bulky weight yarn and the pattern calls for worsted weight.  I am not good enough in knitting yet to modify a pattern to work with a different yarn size so I changed to Vanna's Choice in Chocolate. Mr Little Bird picked this pattern for himself out of a few I showed him on Ravelry. I like this pattern a lot.  It is very easy to read and understand, plus works up quickly.  Again I chose to Magic Loop this hat as opposed to doing the DPNs; which will likely be the method of all my future "in the round" knitting will be done in.

What are you working on?  Do you have the fall crafting bug yet?  Mine always comes early but when it hits, it hits with a vengeance and nothing else can be done :)

Coming soon...

First of all I wanted to thank you all for your patience while I figure things out here at home. Getting schedules organized and created for two small children isn't as easy or as quick as I thought it was going to be. While baby bird #2 is a great sleeper she is not the most predictable on her actual times. Plus little bird #1 needs playtime with Mommy bird too:-)   that being said, things are normalizing now so posts, patterns and overall interactions will be coming at a more regular clip now.

Now on to the coming soon part. I have filmed a few video tutorials and I have taken pictures for a few written tutorials on crochet. The first ones will be about creating a chain, single crochets and half double crochets. There will also be a post on crochet abbreviations and how to use the abbreviation to read patterns.

If there is something specific you'd like either a visual(picture) or video tutorial on, please let me know. Just leave me a comment, I'll be sure to get started on what you want to see asap:-)