Meet Elfie

I love the idea of Elf on the Shelf. Well, at least the magical fun he has every night. I'm not a huge fan of the spying for Santa. I mean it's cool for other parents, but just not my thing. And I hate that the kids aren't supposed to touch him. Again I get why, but I know my kid, and that just wouldn't work.

Plus he's not very cute. So I decided to do a similar idea, but where I crochet the elf, and make up our own rules (you will see them in the letter to Riley in my next Elfie post).

I started by searching for elf graphics. I found cute elf line art (digital stamps) here, and colored him in Photoshop. See??

Cute, huh? Then I searched for a crochet elf pattern (I didn't have the time or desire to start from scratch) and I found this one: here (you can also buy it here). It's adorable, and I knew it'd be perfect for this project!! I made a couple modifications, and added a few things to make him look like the graphic above. I noted all the changes here in my Ravelry account. Just in case you wanna make your own! :):)

I seriously love him, and so does Riley!!

To give you an idea of his size, here is a picture I took of him and Riley in front of the Christmas Tree. Total cuteness!!! I am gonna share our daily (nightly) adventures here on my blog. We didn't start on December 1st like I planned, cause I wasn't done with him yet. But I don't think Riley minds. :)

So I guess you'll be seeing me a lot this month (for a change!!) Can't wait to share all our fun! :):):)

♥ Kim

Crochet Pattern: Rainbow Nesting Bowls (rewritten)

I know this post looks familiar to some of you. I promise I am not re-posting the same thing.

I have my original pattern posted here: Rainbow Nesting Bowls. But I have gotten a lot of e-mails about the way I wrote out some of my increase rounds (rounds 4, 6, 8, 10 & 12). This is the way I increase when I crochet anything round. I hate getting that hexagon shape!! And I felt very strongly about writing my pattern out this way. I hope it has helped some crocheters that had never heard of increasing evenly. When I was a new crocheter I was so grateful to came across this blog (http://monkeyhousefull.blogspot.com/2010/03/is-it-circle-or-hexagon.html) explaining it.

So, I have decided to keep the original pattern, but for those of you that are having a hard time with it, or have your own way of evenly increasing, or just prefer the pattern written out more normal (haha), I have decided to post an updated version.

Your bowls will turn out the same as my original pattern, I have just written out those 5 rounds differently. :)

ABBREVIATIONS

ch	chain
inc	increase
rnd(s)	round(s)
sc	single crochet
( )	work instructions between parentheses as many times as indicated

MATERIALS

• US F5/3.75mm Crochet Hook
• Worsted Weight Yarn in purple, blue, green, yellow, orange and red (I used "Red Heart Super Saver" in Lavender, Turqua, Spring Green, Bright Yellow, Pumpkin and Cherry Red).
• Stitch Marker
• Yarn Needle

NOTES

• Rounds are worked in continuous spirals, do not join or turn.
• Use a stitch marker to mark the beginning or end of each round. Make sure to move the marker up each time you start a new round.
• I start with a magic ring, PlanetJune has a great tutorial for that here. You can substitute "ch 2, 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook" for the magic ring and round 1, if you prefer.
• I use an invisible fasten off, there is a great tutorial for that here, just scroll down to "invisible finish".
• I always back weave my ends, here is a video showing you exactly the same method I use.
• Nest the previous bowls inside the bowl you are working on (before fastening off) to make sure it is the right height. If your yarns vary in thickness (my purple is slightly thicker) you may have to add or subtract a round.
• The height of the bowls can also be adjusted to your liking, just add more rounds until they are the desired height. 

PATTERN

PURPLE BOWL
Make a magic ring
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6)
Rnd 2: inc around (12)
Rnd 3: (sc 1, inc) six times (18)
Rnd 4: (sc 2, inc) six times (24)
Rnd 5: (sc 3, inc) six times (30)
Rnd 6: (sc 4, inc) six times (36)
Rnd 7: (sc 5, inc) six times (42)
Rnd 8: in back loops only, sc around (42)
Rnds 9-12: sc around (42)
Fasten off, weave in ends

BLUE BOWL
Make a magic ring
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6)
Rnd 2: inc around (12)
Rnd 3: (sc 1, inc) six times (18)
Rnd 4: (sc 2, inc) six times (24)
Rnd 5: (sc 3, inc) six times (30)
Rnd 6: (sc 4, inc) six times (36)
Rnd 7: (sc 5, inc) six times (42)
Rnd 8: (sc 6, inc) six times (48)
Rnd 9: in back loops only, sc around (48)
Rnds 10-14: sc around (48)
Fasten off, weave in ends

GREEN BOWL
Make a magic ring
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6)
Rnd 2: inc around (12)
Rnd 3: (sc 1, inc) six times (18)
Rnd 4: (sc 2, inc) six times (24)
Rnd 5: (sc 3, inc) six times (30)
Rnd 6: (sc 4, inc) six times (36)
Rnd 7: (sc 5, inc) six times (42)
Rnd 8: (sc 6, inc) six times (48)
Rnd 9: (sc 7, inc) six times (54)
Rnd 10: in back loops only, sc around (54)
Rnds 11-15: sc around (54)
Fasten off, weave in ends

YELLOW BOWL
Make a magic ring
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6)
Rnd 2: inc around (12)
Rnd 3: (sc 1, inc) six times (18)
Rnd 4: (sc 2, inc) six times (24)
Rnd 5: (sc 3, inc) six times (30)
Rnd 6: (sc 4, inc) six times (36)
Rnd 7: (sc 5, inc) six times (42)
Rnd 8: (sc 6, inc) six times (48)
Rnd 9: (sc 7, inc) six times (54)
Rnd 10: (sc 8, inc) six times (60)
Rnd 11: in back loops only, sc around (60)
Rnds 12-16: sc around (60)
Fasten off, weave in ends

ORANGE BOWL
Make a magic ring
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6)
Rnd 2: inc around (12)
Rnd 3: (sc 1, inc) six times (18)
Rnd 4: (sc 2, inc) six times (24)
Rnd 5: (sc 3, inc) six times (30)
Rnd 6: (sc 4, inc) six times (36)
Rnd 7: (sc 5, inc) six times (42)
Rnd 8: (sc 6, inc) six times (48)
Rnd 9: (sc 7, inc) six times (54)
Rnd 10: (sc 8, inc) six times (60)
Rnd 11: (sc 9, inc) six times (66)
Rnd 12: in back loops only, sc around (66)
Rnds 13-18: sc around (66)
Fasten off, weave in ends

RED BOWL
Make a magic ring
Rnd 1: 6 sc in magic ring (6)
Rnd 2: inc around (12)
Rnd 3: (sc 1, inc) six times (18)
Rnd 4: (sc 2, inc) six times (24)
Rnd 5: (sc 3, inc) six times (30)
Rnd 6: (sc 4, inc) six times (36)
Rnd 7: (sc 5, inc) six times (42)
Rnd 8: (sc 6, inc) six times (48)
Rnd 9: (sc 7, inc) six times (54)
Rnd 10: (sc 8, inc) six times (60)
Rnd 11: (sc 9, inc) six times (66)
Rnd 12: (sc 10, inc) six times (72)
Rnd 13: in back loops only, sc around (72)
Rnds 14-19: sc around (72)
Fasten off, weave in ends

You can find the pattern for the color sorting balls here.

I hope this version makes it easier for some of you! Let me know if you have any questions, or if you spot a mistake. Happy crocheting. :):):)

♥ Kim

Happy Day After Halloween :)

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween. Me and Riley were pirates. :)

We had fun dressing up, and trick or treating. This is the first year he could actually say "trick or treat" himself, and "thank you" too.

I've been crazy busy, no time to edit pictures from the baby shower (in September... I seriously can't believe it's November now!!! Where does the time go????) But I wanted to stop in a say hi.

For some crazy reason I haven't been getting all of my comment notification e-mails. I think it's a Yahoo mail thing, cause I've had other random e-mails disappear, or ones that I know I should get never arrive. So when I remember I check blogger for new comments, but I can't e-mail back that way, I can only reply in the comments section. So if you don't hear from me, that's why. I promise I'm not ignoring you or being rude. :):):)

♥ Kim

Blue & Brown Jungle Baby Shower

I have been in baby shower mode for the past couple of weeks! Olga's baby shower was on Thursday. I co-hosted the shower with Olga's sister Marina. We kinda worked together the same way me and Liz did for Netta's baby shower last year. I did the dessert table and the entry table, and Marina took care of the food and the decorations.

You know me, and of course I just have a teaser photo to post today.

Here is the dessert table!!!

I had a round table to work with this time, so I've been pinning round table ideas to Pinterest for the past months or so. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but everyone loved it, especially Olga!

I have lots of details to share. And I will soon (Haven't you heard that before, haha). But for the next couple of days I am going to catch up on all my new shows that are piling up on my DVR. And hang out with my little guy. Right now he is waiting for me to print out some letter "E" stuff, we have been slacking on "letter of the week" activities, and I promised him we would do something fun today. :)

♥ Kim

Rainbow Cake

Yesterday was Mitch's birthday. He is 31 years old now.

Me and Riley baked him a cake.

We made it a rainbow cake, because we wanted to have balloons too. And we only had a multi color bag of balloons. That way everything would match. It was like a mini (super mini, haha) rainbow party. With cake and balloons and garland and cards.

Those are all my favorite things about birthdays though. Especially cake. :)

♥ Kim