Homemade Ornaments

A week or so ago I started using Pinterest.  At first I wasn't sure that I really liked it, but the more I've looked at it, the more I get into it.  :)  Yesterday I officially made my first Pinterest project!  Travis and I never found an "Our First Christmas" ornament, and I've always been a little sad about it.  The other day I saw a link on Pinterest to a website showing how to make an ornament from a wedding invitation.  (If you're interested in seeing how to make this ornament, click this link.)  After a little digging, I found an extra invitation from our wedding and set to work.  Here's how it ended up:

I even still had ribbon that matched our wedding colors.  How perfect is that??  I love that if you look at the ornament you can see all the details - our names, the date, the time, the location....  Perfect!

Of course, if you want to buy nice glass ornaments instead of plastic ones, you have to buy in a package of at least 4.  So, I had 3 glass ornaments left over.  I had seen some cute ornaments at Target, and used them as my inspiration.  Snowmen!

I think the earmuffs really make these ornaments awesome, don't you?  Unfortunately, there weren't enough "snowballs" that fit into the ornaments to make 3, so I used the leftover pom poms to make ornament number 4.

I love them!  I'm so excited to hang them on our tree.  Of course, we must wait until after Thanksgiving is over before we can start decorating for Christmas.  One holiday at a time, please!  ;)

Baby Blanket and Hat

A few months ago I got on a serious crochet kick.  Probably the biggest kick I've been on in a long time!  A friend of mine is having a baby boy at the end of this month, so I thought I'd start by making something for her.  I haven't been able to post about it until now, since her shower was yesterday and I didn't want her to see her gifts before she got them.  haha!  But she has now received the present, and I can now talk about it openly.  ;)

My first project was a baby hat.  Girls are easier to crochet for, because there are endless flowers and cute little things you can add to your projects.  I wanted to find something cute, but obviously for a boy.  I ended up combining 2 different patterns.  Here is the final product:

The first part of my pattern came from here.  I crocheted the first 10 rows, and then added the ear flaps from this pattern.  I only used 8 pieces of yarn in the braids, because the 12 that are suggested in the pattern made the braids much too thick for my liking.  Supposedly this hat will fit a newborn.  I guess we'll see in a few weeks!

After I finished the hat, I wanted to make something using my favorite yarn in the world: Naturally Caron Spa.  I had some left over from the cardigan I crocheted several months ago, so I found a pattern for a baby blanket that looked like it was for a boy, bought the remainder of the yarn I needed to finish it, and set to work.  Here's what it looked like when I was done:

I found the pattern here.  I think the only change I made to this pattern was to not add the ribbon and buttons.  Even though I thought the ribbon and buttons were cute, it just seemed like it would be easier to wash without them.  I love the crisscross pattern of the stitches!  This one was extremely easy to make, and I think it came out really well.  What do you think?  :)

I have made several things since the blanket, but since they are Christmas presents, I can't share them with you yet.  Soon, though!  Christmas is right around the corner!