Crocheted Volleyball pattern

I made a crocheted volleyball last year for a Volleyball game that our local Middle School was hosting. The game was a fundraiser for cancer (relay for Life, I think, maybe).
All the girls loved it. Unfortunately, like a lot of my projects, I didn't write down how I made it. Mostly I like to just sit down and make something, no pattern, no preparation, Just Do It.
I was doing a lot of experimenting with Tunisian crochet at the time. I remember loving the look, but hating the work it took to get done. So this year, I decided to make a new one and make a pattern. It turned out just a fuzz bigger than an actual volleyball size, but I still love it.

I used a size J hook. I didn't pay to much attention to gauge. If you are wanting to get the exact size of an official volleyball, then you might want to use a size or two smaller hook. 
I used white, navy, and grey yarn. This happens to be the colors of my step-daughter's school (I homeschool my little girls but if I didn't, this would be their school colors too). The middle school volleyball coach happens to be a good friend of mine (and an all-around awesome lady), so this ball is for the South Central Lady Falcons!

Crochet Volleyball pattern

Crochet hook size J

With white, chain 27

Double crochet in 3^rd chain from hook, and continue to double crochet in each stitch across.

Row 2:  Chain 2, turn, double crochet in each stitch across

Row 3:  Chain 2, turn, double crochet in each stitch across

Break  yarn and finish off.

Turn strip upside down and slip stitch in bottom beginning chain. Single crochet in each stitch across and break yarn and finish off.

With Gray, slip stitch to join (on either end of the white strip)

Chain 2, double crochet in each stitch across.

Row 2: chain 2, turn, double crochet 2 together, double crochet across the row until you have 2 spaces left, double crochet2 together.

Break  off yarn (be sure to leave a long tail of yarn to stitch with)

Row 3: repeat row 2

With Navy, repeat what you did with the Gray, only on the other side of the white strip.

Make 6 of these sections and then sew them together with a yarn needle.

 Make sure you sew them facing opposite directions like a real volleyball.

I stuffed the ball with some fiberfill before I sewed up the last section. I was afraid that the fiberfill might poke through between the crochets, so I put some quilt batting around the inside (so of lining the ball). It ended up being a nice soft squishy ball. If you want a harder more bouncyish ball, you might try sewing your sections over a cheap kids rubber ball. the only downside to that would be that if your ball looses air or pops, then you are going to have to take the whole thing apart to replace it.
Well, I am off to make another one of these in the opposing teams colors!

 

underwear? under where?

I finished up my bathroom rug this evening. I ended up using 15 pairs of boxer shorts, and that wasn't quite enough. The last row on each side was finished out in some cotton material my mother gave me. It was black with a blue flame (seemed appropriate with the underwear)

 I didn't use a pattern for this rug. I just made a chain until it was as wide as I wanted. Then I double crocheted across in each row(chaining two to turn) until I got my desired length. This rug is fairly small, because I don't have a very large space for it. My bathroom is, well, terrible. It just isn't set up well. I can't wait to remodel it, but for now that is last on my list.

Next up, my lovely husband (I really do love him!), volunteered me to make 300 little cloth purses for a mission trip he is going on with our church this summer. Also, I have an awesome pattern i am working up for a little something I will be donating to a charity in March! Oh, and I promise it will be made from new yarn, and not something I unraveled from my husbands wardrobe!

Right hand on Thin Mint

I have been a Girl Scout leader for three years now. I love it. When my daughter was going into kindergarten, (we homeschool) I called the local council to ask who the local leader was. They responded with "we don't currently have one, would you like to become one?"
I thought about this for a whole 30 seconds and said "Sure, why not?"
I figured this would be a good way for Zayda to make friends.  I think I have made just as many lifelong friends (if not more) than she has. It has been awesome so far.
In case you aren't aware.....IT'S GIRL SCOUT COOKIE TIME!!!!
This past week, we had a meeting with our troop and I needed some activities for them. Something fun that would fit into our cookie theme of the night.
I came up with this:

Cookie Twister

My daughter and I cut out pictures of the four most popular cookies from our family guide (and 3 more extra family guides I happen to have). In case you are not a Girl Scout, the family guide is a little booklet they send home with the girls that explains the cookie sales and prizes they can earn for selling.  Since I am way to cheap to print out big pictures of cookies, i drew them out on printer paper and Zayda colored them and cut them out. We then taped them to our good old traditional Twister mat and BAABAM...... GIRL SCOUT COOKIE TWISTER!

My troop had a fun time. Since they all wanted to play at once, we had about 10 little girls on the mat at the same time. It didn't last long before one girl fell and they all went down like the playing cards in Alice In Wonderland.  It was quite comical, to bad I didn't video tape it!
I think this concept could work for a lot of different things.
I'm thinking:     Youth Group: "put your right hand on Virgin Mary and your left foot on Baby Jesus"
                         Easter party: "Left hand bunny and right foot colored egg"
                      bachelor party: "right hand glass of beer and left foot naked lady"
                    Kid's themed birthday(such as mermaid): "right hand seashell and left foot fish"
The possibilities are endless, so drag out your old twister and have fun!!

The Continental Divide

I hate top sheets. It is the feel. They are so cold and not snuggley. I usually use a flannel top sheet because I can tell myself it is more of a really light blanket...yes...that's it...a blanket.
A few nights ago, we got ready to go to bed and I realized the sheets were in the washing machine. (My three year old got grape jelly on them. Don't ask how this happened.) So, since I was to lazy to dig out another flannel, my husband grabs the top of the stack to throw on the bed, which happens to be a regular sheet. Did I mention I HATE regular top sheets. So this was how the conversation went:
I said, " I hate top sheets like that"
Gary: "Well I don't like NOT having a top sheet"
Me: "Maybe I should just cut the sheets down the middle and make my half flannel and your half regular?"
Gary (giving me a look) "Whatever"
I knew the look.  We have been married for almost 9 years. It was the "you are just stupid enough to do something like that aren't you" look. So since he followed this look up with "whatever", I figured it was a go.
So, this morning, after my husband went to work, I sewed the sheets together.
His side is white with a bit of colored stripe (which now that I look close, you can see that I didn't sew it very straight). My side is a nice fuzzy sheep flannel. I love sheep.

It's not that I am trying to keep my husband off my side of the bed. He is MORE than welcome to visit. I just love a good compromise.
Oh, I almost forgot, I will be cutting up the extra part that I cut off, to use for crocheting rugs! I NEVER throw anything away!

Maybe you could learn to like me....Hang me in your bathroom

I have always loved the movie Annie, Even before my mother gave birth to my darling little sister who happened to have the exact same hair (although she never has looked good in red).  If you don't know the movie well, Daddy Warbucks refuses a painting, looks at it a second time and says,"Wait a minute, There is something about her. I think I could learn to like her. Hang it in my bathroom."  The painting happens to be the Mona Lisa.  Anne then goes on to say," Maybe you could learn to like me, Hang me in your bathroom."  I love that line.
That line inspired me to crochet my husband's used underwear into a bathroom rug.
Yes....that's right. Let me explain.
I love my husband very much, he is an awesome Christian man, Father, nurse, and all around good guy. Did I mention he is good looking and smells fabulous......Anyway, he has a weird thing about socks and underwear. If he could afford to only wear them once and throw them away, he would. He buys new ones alllllll the time. Whenever I wear his socks, he complains that I stretch them out. I wear a women's size 9 shoe.  He wears a men's size 11 shoe.  Who's on my side with that argument?
Recently we were doing some cleaning out in our bedroom.  He had a pile of boxers he was going to throw in the trash.  I can not tell you enough how these were used boxers, but they were not USED.  He might have worn some of them a couple times. He used to wear boxers and recently decided to switch to boxer briefs. (Yeah, he is going to love it that I announced this to the whole internet).  It makes more sense for him, he is a nurse for goodness sakes.  He wears scrubs. You gotta contain your package somehow in those clothes.
Now that I have probably thoroughly embarrassed my husband I will get back to the rug.  I am CRAZY frugal, and just plain weird about throwing stuff away. I looked at those boxers and it hit me.
Maybe I could learn to like them.....crochet them into a rug for my bathroom!
So, here I go. wish me luck.

I think I will throw away the elastic waistbands. I mean who would make stuff out of waistbands!! That would just be NUTS!!

Crocheting with rags

I like to crochet rugs from material.  My mother, grandmother and great-grandmother (and so on I am assuming) were all quilters and liked to sew, therefore, had large material stashes. I am lucky enough to have been blessed with some of it and I have a lot more at my disposal. Since styles and designs change so often, striping out the material and crocheting it into rugs is the best use for some of the crazy stuff. It makes GREAT rugs!
First I cut the material into strips. I like to use strips that are about 3/4 inches wide.
Next you will need to link the strips of material together. Sewing them together with a zigzag stitch makes a nice (lump free) material to work with, however, that can be time consuming.
You can just link the strips together like this:
Hold the two strips together, overlapping by about an inch or so

fold them over together like this

make a small cut in both the strips together (being careful not to cut past the end of the strip)

now take the end of the strip you are attaching and link it through the hole 

pull tight

Continue to do this with strips until you have enough for your project. You will want to roll them up to keep them untangled and neat until you crochet with them. I have wound them into a ball before, but I have trouble with it rolling around on me while I am crocheting from it. For this reason, and the fact that it looks pretty, I like to roll them into a big wheel.

I usually either do a rug from similar colors, such as shades of blue, or I just do random colors and patterns linked together, which makes for a nice look too.
Sometimes I make wheels of similar colors and as I am crocheting, I can change colors just as I would with yarn.
Some of my latest rag wheels that are ready to work with:

Using strips of rags works with most patterns just the same as yarn. You will need to use a large hook. I usually use a size N because I like my rugs to be tight. If you like a looser rug that works up quicker, I would suggest a larger hook such as a P or Q.
Check back soon, I will post an original rug pattern for free!

Little Ladybug ear flap hat

I don't know what has happened to my photography skills. I think I had some at some point, but clearly they have gone out the window. Anyway, here is the Little Ladybug ear flap hat. I will post the pattern in a link that is more printer friendly.

Little Ladybug Ear flap hat

I used a size J hook

with black yarn,start with a magic ring and sc 8 times into the ring, slip stitch to join into a circle.

Rnd 1: ch 1, 2 sc in each stitch around, join with sl st to 1^st sc (16)

Rnd 2: ch 1, (1sc in 1^st st, 2 sc in next st) repeat around, join with sl st. (24)

Rnd 3: ch 1 (sc in each of next 2 st, 2 sc in next st) repeat around, join with sl st (32)

Rnd 4: ch1, (1sc in each of next 3 st, 2 sc in next st) repeat around, join with sl st (40)

Rnd 5: ch 1, sc in each st around join with sl st

Rnd6 &7: repeat rnd 5

Rnd 8: ch2, double crochet in each st around, join with sl st

switch to red yarn

Rnd 9 – 14 repeat rnd8

break yarn

ear flaps (make 2 , one on each side of hat)

with red yarn, sl st to a sc on side, sc in each of next 8 sc, turn

chain1, sc2tog, sc in next 4sc, sc2tog, turn

chain 1, sc across, turn

chain 1, sc2tog, sc in next 2 st, sc2tog, turn

chain 1, sc across, turn,

chain 1, sc2tog, twice, turn

chain 1, sc2tog

chain 20

middle section of ladybug:

with black chain 15, break off, but leave long strand of yarn to sew with.

Spots (make 6)

start with magic loop, make 8 sc inside loop, sl st to join into circle

break off yarn, be sure to leave plenty of yarn to sew with.

Antenna (make 2)

chain 5, slip stitch to form a ring

rnd 1: ch 1, sc in each st around, join with sl st

rnd 2: chain 2, double crochet in each st around, join with sl st

rnd 3-5: repeat rnd 2

break off yarn, leaving plenty to use for sewing.

(2 large pompoms will be end of antenna)

Make 2 large black pompoms and 2 medium ones.

Sew all pieces together according to picture.

Use black yarn and chain 20, sl st to bottom of ear flap, chain 20 more. Break yarn.

Braid the two black chains and one red chain together and attach medium pompom on the end

 I forgot to mention: this is a pretty small hat, I would say newborn or under 1year. If you want to go bigger, than just add more increase rows around the top, or use more single crochets in the original magic loop.