Baby Owl pattern

These lil cuties work up SUPER fast and are so adorable! 

Customizable in so many ways they're the perfect extra touch!

Baby Owl

Materials:
White yarn for the eyes & Orange yarn for the beak.
2+ colors of yarn of your choice for the body.
2 post eyes, 2 buttons or Black yarn for the eyes.
I/5.50mm crochet hook
Scissors, tapestry needle & stitch marker.
*Worked in the round *Place stitch marker at the beginning of each round.

Body

With 1st Color Chain 2
1- 6 sc in 2nd chain from hook [6]
2- [2 sc in each st] around [12]
3- [2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next st] around [18]
4- [2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 2 st] around [24]
5- [2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 3 st] around [30]
6-11- sc around [30]
Fasten off 1st Color and change to 2nd Color
12-16- sc around [30]
Fasten off and stuff the body.
With your tapestry needle, flatten Round 16 in half and sew it together to create 2 pointed ends on the top. Cut 2-4 pieces of both the 1st and 2nd colors and sew them onto the top of each pointed end.

Eyes x2 if you are using post eyes or buttons

With White Chain 2
1- 6 sc in 2nd chain from hook [6]
2- 2 sc in each st around [12]
Fasten off.
Attach post eyes or sew on buttons and then use your tapestry needle to sew the eyes onto the front of the body with 1 in between the eyes.

Eyes x2 if you are using Black & White yarn

With Black Chain 2
1- 6 sc in 2nd chain from hook [6]
Fasten off Black and change color to White
2- 2 sc in each st around [12]
Fasten off and then use your tapestry needle to sew the eyes onto the front of the body with 1 stitch space in between the eyes.

Beak

With Orange, using your tapestry needle, sew 8-10 loops in between the eyes to create the beak.

Choose as many colors as you would like to create the body, use Fun Fur to give your baby Owl eye lashes or use felt to give your baby owl custom special features! You can add extra increase rounds to make a fatter owl and add extra rows to the body to make a taller owl - this pattern will work up to approx 3.5-4 inches tall.

Add this "Baby Owl" pattern to your Ravelry library and download for free!

Check out my Facebook page; Forever Stitchin to see what other projects I am working on 

and to share your completed projects!

Red Heart "Reflective" Yarn Review!

Red Heart "Reflective" Yarn Review!

Continuing with the reviews of the yarns I received from Red Heart Yarn, next is the incredibly awesome "Reflective" yarn! I loved making this hat so much I decided to go out right away and buy another color so I could make a matching hat! 

The yarn is super soft, works up easy peasy like any other yarn and it has the extra awesomeness of having a reflective strip!!

Without the flash, it looks like green:

But then when you flash light on it.. booya! It is reflective!

This yarn is going to be amazing for adding an extra 'protective' layer to keeping yourself and your kids safe in the cold, dark winter months! When it's dark at 4pm, knowing that my kids will be wearing this reflective yarn on their noodles is great so that while we're out enjoying the sledding or going for a walk with the dog - all of the cars going by will definitely be able to see them, just a little bit better, than without it!

For the hat shown, I used left over worsted weight charcoal yarn that I had in my odds and ends bin to go with the Reflective yarn! I didn't really use a pattern, I just did double crochet increase rounds to make it child sized, switched over to Reflective yarn for the sides of the hat and then I did a couple FPDC & BPDC rounds with worsted weight to finish it off! 

Be sure to check out Red Heart Yarns website and your local retail stores to find this and other Red Heart products! Watch this space for my next reviews of the other products I received and check out my Facebook page; Forever Stitchin to see what other projects I am working on!

New Release Sale! - Christmas Collection

*NEW RELEASE SALE*

Forever Stitchin Ravelry Store

Forever Stitchin Christmas Collection e-book is available now!

Purchase the e-book any time and get 20% off all 5 patterns!

Check out my Facebook page; Forever Stitchin to see what other projects I am working on!

Red Heart "Heads Up" Yarn Review!

Red Heart "Heads Up" Yarn Review!

I can't get this yarn locally, yet (hopefully soon), so it was really great to get to try it out! To start, the feeling of the yarn is just plain amazing! I wanted to snuggle right into it and totally petted it as I was searching for patterns lol I ended up not being able to find a pattern I wanted to make using it so I just 'wung it' and made up my own hat with it!

This is the 'general' pattern I used for the hat shown in the picture below!
Using a size 6.5mm hook:
Chain 60, sl st to join making sure you don't twist.
Round 1 - ch 1, hdc around, sl st to join 
Round 2-5 - ch 2, alternate fpdc and dc sts around, sl st to join
[for Round 2, fpdc & dc in the 2 back loops of the hdc to leave 1 loop on the outside]
Round 6 - ch 1, hdc around, sl st to join
Round 7-8 - ch 2, dc around, sl st to join
[for Round 7, dc in the 2 back loops of the hdc to leave 1 loop on the outside]
Round 9-16- I started with ch 2, [dc in 6 st, dc2tog around], sl st to join and then decreased equally in each round afterwards until I couldn't decrease any more then I used my tapestry needle to fasten off.
I made a cute lil flower to finish it off!

I was able to make this hat in about 2 hours and I still have about a yard of it left over. The color is so vibrant and the softness is really luscious! It's not a 'cloud' soft though like baby yarn, it's more like a memory foam soft and I think that makes it perfect for cold weather items!

I would absolutely use this yarn again and again! Be sure to check out Red Heart Yarns website and your local retail stores to find this and other Red Heart products! Watch this space for my next reviews of the other products I received and check out my Facebook page; Forever Stitchin to see what other projects I am working on!

How To Make "Olaf" inspired Snowman Hat

"Olaf" Inspired Snowman Hat

I've had a few people ask me if I have the pattern I used to make my "Olaf" Snowman hat and unfortunately I don't! BUT I do have this blog space, so I made a quick guide for how I made him!

First - start with whatever standard beanie pattern you love to use to create the base in whatever size hat you want to make! Here's a couple of great freebies on Ravelry:
Charmed By Ewe - HDC Beanie: Newborn to Large Adult
Busy Mom Designs - Basic DC Beanie: Premie to Adult 

Once you have your base beanie portion done, use stitch markers to create ear flaps - I generally use between 15-20 stitches in the front and 8-10 stitches for each ear flap. Measuring the head you're putting it on is helpful but if you don't have that option use your better judgement about placement!

Tooth

Find the middle of the front of the hat and mark off 5-8 stitches (size of tooth will depend on the size of the hat) - attach White to the 1st marked off stitch, sc to the other marker, [turn, ch 1, sc across] x 2-3 (depending on the size of the hat). Fasten off.

Once I have the ear flaps and tooth made, I do 1 round of single crochet all the way around the hat, tooth and ear flaps to give it a finished look.

Braids

With Brown, cut 18 equal lengths approx. 30 inches long. Separate them into 6 groups of 3 strands. Attach 3 groups to the bottom of each ear flap, braid them tightly and fasten them off at the bottom with a knot - make sure they're the same length and trim the ends!

Eyes x 2

NOTE: Repeat each round of instruction until you reach the (#) for each round.
With Black, Chain 2
1- 6 sc in the 2nd ch from hook (6)
Fasten off Black and change color to White

2- 2 sc in each st around (12)

3- 2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next st (18)

Fasten off White and change color to Grey

4- 2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 2 st (24)

Fasten off and attach them to the front of the hat.

Nose

NOTE: Repeat each round of instruction until you reach the (#) for each round.

With Orange, Chain 2

1- 6 sc in the 2nd ch from hook (6)

2- sc around (6)

3- 2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next st (9)

4- sc around (9)

5- 2 sc in next st, 1 sc in next 2 st (12)

6-8- sc around (12)

9- sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 st (9)

10- sc around (9)

Fasten off, stuff and attach to the front middle of the hat.

Mouth

With Black, attach to the hat and sc along the front of the hat to create a smile. Use your tapestry needle to give him the cheeky look by sewing 2 strands at the end of each side of his mouth.

Eyebrows

With Brown, attach to the hat above the eyes and do 6-7 sc along to give him 2 eyebrows.

Hair

The hair is worked all in 1 piece with slip stitches onto the hat to secure it in place.
With Brown, attach to the top of the hat and ch 9.
Turn, ch 1, sc across - sl st to attach to the top of the hat.
Chain 15, turn, ch 1, sc back down towards the hat.
Sl st to the next st over on the top of the hat.
Chain 9, turn, ch 1, sc back down towards the hat.
Fasten off and weave the ends in to secure the hair onto the top of the hat.

That should have your "Olaf" inspired Snowman hat complete!

Please feel free to share your completed hats with me on my Facebook page: Forever Stitchin

Red Heart Boutique Swanky Yarn Review!

Red Heart Boutique Swanky Yarn Review!

I was super lucky when I emailed Red Heart to see if they would donate a prize to my 4000 Fan Appreciation Event! They said absolutely and they asked me if I would like to review a few of their products - to which I said, yes! Most definitely!!

I received my Red Heart package full of awesomeballs! It was like Christmas morning!!

I set out to find projects to make using all of this amazing yarn and the first one I came upon was a previous Design Wars pattern by Sincerely Pam called Urban Glamour Slouch and Cowl that uses Red Heart Boutique Swanky and Soft Touch yarn - of which I have plenty!

The Swanky yarn was the one that I was most leary about using because I thought it would catch up on the yarn and my hook haha but I was so wrong! It wasn't an issue at all and it turned out beautifully! I did take a couple extra minutes to turn my hat inside out and 'push' most of the flecks to the outside of the hat after it was done - just to make as much of it stand out as possible!

I think Sincerely Pam's Urban Glamour Slouch pattern was the perfect pattern to use Swanky yarn with to test it out and see if it would 'catch'. There was only a couple times where I had to take more time than usual to yarn over and pull through and that was simply because of where the lil fleck happened to land on the yarn was I was pulling through - it was super easy to just slide it through and keep on going!

I used Red Heart Soft Touch in Black and White with Red Heart Swanky in Purple to create this amazingly comfortable and unique slouch hat and it only took me about 3.5 hrs total to work up!

  

I really enjoyed using this speciality yarn and would definitely use it again to add an extra flare or something special to make an 'ordinary' hat a lil more "swanky"! I also would be more inclined to try other yarns like it that have the added flare after trying out the Swanky yarn!!

Be sure to check out Red Heart Yarns website and your local retail stores to find this and other Red Heart products! Watch this space for my next reviews of the other products I received and check out my Facebook page; Forever Stitchin to see what other projects I am working on!

4K Fan Appreciation Event WINNERS!!!

4000 Fan Appreciation Event Winners List!

The anticipation is almost over!!

Super big thank you to everyone who participated! 

Reading the comments and seeing everyone interacting was the best!!!

You're all GIANT fluffy awesomeballs!!

Now the fun stuff ;)

Sponsor: Suncatcher Craft Eyes - Claimed

Prize: a 10 pack of your choice color and size

NEW Winner: Crystal Tessin
Contact: Michelle

Sponsor: The Perfect Knot - Claimed
Prize: 3 patterns of your choice
Winner: Judi Prince
Contact: Michelle

Sponsor: Yarn Baby LLC - Claimed
Prize: beautiful skein of hand dyed yarn
Winner: Susan Selfridge Daniels
Contact: Shannon

Sponsor: Keep Calm and Crochet On UK
Prize: 3 patterns of your choice
Winners: Lashele Warren & Brittany Yenser
Contact: Heather

Sponsor: Krista Murias Fitness - Claimed
Prize: 1 Shaker Cup + 3 Flavors of Shakeology
Winner: Robin Clinton
Contact: Krista

Sponsor: Danyel Pink Designs - Claimed
Prize: 3 patterns of your choice
Winner: Tiffany Rose Kole
Contact: Danyel

Sponsor: LuckyLu Creations - Claimed
Prize: 1 sheet of fabric labels
Winner: Michelle Wulf
Contact: Kara

Sponsor: Hatch-ed With Love - Claimed
Prize: 4 patterns of your choice
Winner: Katie Leigh
Contact: Jennifer

Sponsor: Sincerely Pam - Claimed
Prize: 5 patterns of your choice
Winner: Sherry Krawicki
Contact: Pam

Sponsor: Baca Creations - Claimed
Prize: 2 patterns of your choice
NEW Winner: Randy Barnes
Contact: Salena

Sponsor: Melody's Makings - Claimed
Prize: 5 patterns of your choice
Winner: Cecelia Edwards
Contact: Melody

Sponsor: The Crafty Geekette - Claimed
Prize: 1 pattern of your choice
Winner: Leslie Bath
Contact: Jacqualyn

Sponsor: AllieCat's Hats and Crafts - Claimed
Prize: 1 pattern of your choice
Winner: Leslie Bath
Contact: RaeLynn

Sponsor: Mad Crafter Creations - Claimed
Prize: Crocodile Stitch Skirt Pattern
Winner: Leslie Bath
Contact: Jenny

Sponsor: Forever Stitchin - Claimed
Prize: 10 patterns of your choice
Winners: Susan Higbe, Barbara Mees Carr, Jill Selfridge Obrock and Barbara Larrabee
Contact: Jo at Forever Stitchin

Sponsor: Red Heart Yarns - Claimed
Prize: Red Heart Prize Package
Winner: Caitlin Rutledge
Contact: Jo at Forever Stitchin
Please include your name, address and phone number!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE WINNERS!!!

You have until 12pm October 12 2014 to claim your prizes or new winners will be drawn!

Thank you so much to all of the sponsors for donating such incredible prizes to help me celebrate this milestone! I look forward to doing this again in the future!!

4000 Fan Appreciation Event

Woohoo!! What a couple years it has been! I started crocheting February 2012. I learned at a community crocheting class that my friend Diane was teaching with another lady. It was something I just decided to do because it was $20, it would get me out of the house for a couple hours once a week. I never in my wildest dreams anticipated that it would lead me to something that has quite literally changed my life.

I had the intention of making random hats and scarves for gifts but IT clicked. Something seriously CLICKED and in October 2012 I wrote my first pattern... leading to nearly 100 patterns to date!

Now, my Forever Stitchin page has surpassed 4000 likes! I can't even come up with the words I need to express the all encompassing gratitude I have for every single person who - for whatever reason - liked my page through this space of time.

To the regulars, the people I recognize, the people who show me love every day on that page, the people who have become my FRIENDS - I do not mean this lightly when I say you are a very huge part of my every day!! I am appreciative of each of you that share your craft with me, your enthusiasm for what I create, your excitement in seeing what I come up with next. You are all a part of my inspiration and I am absolutely not Forever Stitchin without you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart, for every like, comment, share and bit of love you show me!!!!

Now that the mushy stuff is out there - lets get to the FUN stuff!! ;)

This giveaway will work a lil bit differently than most events lately. There is no "liking" on Facebook involved - actually, we're encouraging you to get away from Facebook! I will be posting 1 post per vendor with 'instruction' on how to be entered to win their prize and that instruction will be interacting off of Facebook! It will be easy peasy and it will lead you to another website where you can see what each vendor has to offer! We would love you to LIKE our pages, of course, if you want too! We would love for you to share our pages and our creations and most of all, interact with us!!!

So without further ado, here is a look at our incredible sponsors and what they are donating!

SuncatcherCraft Eyes

Prize: a 10 pack any size and color 

to 1 winner

Suncatcher Craft Eyes Website

The Perfect Knot

Prize: 3 patterns to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

YarnBaby LLC

Prize: this beautiful skein 

of hand dyed yarn

Yarn Baby Website

Keep Calm and Crochet On - UK

3 patterns to 2 winners

Ravelry Store

KristaMurias Fitness 

Prize: Shaker Cup + 3 Shakeology flavors 

Krista Murias Fitness Website

Danyel Pink Designs 

Prize: 3 patterns to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

 

LuckyLu Creations

Prize: 1 Sheet of Labels

Etsy Store

Hatch-ed With Love

Prize: 4 patterns to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

Sincerely Pam

Prize: 5 patterns to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

Melody's Makings

Prize: 5 Patterns to 1 winner 

Melody's Makings Website

AllieCat's Hats and Crafts

Prize: 1 pattern to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

Mad Crafter Creations

Prize: Crocodile Stitch Skirt Pattern

Etsy Store

The Crafty Geekette

Prize: 1 pattern to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

Baca Creations

Prize: 2 patterns to 1 winner

Ravelry Store

Forever Stitchin

Prize: 10 patterns to 4 winners

Ravelry Store

Red Heart Yarns
Prize: 1 Red Heart Yarns Prize Pack to 1 winner
Red Heart Website




















This event will run from October 6th through October 9th on >> my Forever Stitchin facebook page << and winners will be drawn October 10th! A GIANT thank you to ALL of the incredible vendors who have donated and are helping me celebrate this milestone! You're all complete awesomeballs!!!! I wish everyone the best of luck! I can not wait to see who gets to enjoy these amazing prizes!

The Invisible Single Crochet Decrease

The Invisible Single Crochet Decrease

Awhile ago I learned a new technique to decrease without having that 'bump' left over, leaving a very obvious indication of a decrease stitch. With this "invisible decrease" there is practically no indication of a decrease stitch! There's no bump, there's no big hole, there's no 'super crazy stitch' to do it either! I decided I'd do a super quick photo tutorial to teach you this technique, if you haven't already been utilizing it!

For this tutorial I made a simple 10 stitch swatch but you can utilize this stitch in ANY pattern where you see "sc2tog" - this is my starting point:

You will work in ONLY the 2 front loops of the next 2 stitches (in the picture - the 2 loops that are raised, directly left of the current stitch)

Insert your hook into the next stitch, using the front loop only - 2 loops on your hook

Insert your hook into the next stitch, using the front loop only - 3 hoops on your hook.




Yarn over and pull through the first 2 loops only

You will have 2 loops left on your hook, yarn over and pull through both loops.

This is what you will be left with! A practically invisible decreased stitch!

Your finished row will look 'seamless' and your decrease will essentially be invisible!

Try out this technique the next time you have to "sc2tog" [single crochet 2 stitches together] and let me know what you think!! It takes a lil bit of getting used too, using only the 2 front loops but after you start using it and you see the difference in your projects look, I am sure you will be utilizing this method every single time you see that "sc2tog"instruction!!

This method works best while working "in the round" if you are using rows, the back of the decrease will leave an obvious (2 left over loops) look where you decreased!

Visit me on my facebook page - Forever Stitchin and check out my Ravelry Store for all my patterns!

The Crochet Lounge Giveaway Winners!!

The Crochet Lounge's 

Birthday and Loungiversary 

Giveaway Winners!!

The event has come to an end and 2 winners have been contacted and given their Forever Stitchin prizes!!

Congratulations to Lisa Hudson and Bonnie Stratton!!

These 2 lovely ladies each won 1 copy of each of my 5 dinosaur patterns - Ashley the Apatosaurus, CeCe the Triceratops, Patricia the Pterodactyl, Rachel the T-Rex and Suzi the Stegosaurus from my "Extinction Pack" collection!

Congrats to ALL of the winners and thank you to Yi-An from The Crochet Lounge for hosting such an incredible event!

SPECIAL:
From September 3 until September 10th use code "DINOS" in my Ravelry Store to receive 25% off all of my patterns!