My daughters have always loved to play kitchen, cafe and house. Play food has been a constant in our house for years because of this. The cheap plastic kind always rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted something more… I don’t know… CUTE! Over the years I have added all sorts of crocheted play food to my kids’ play kitchen. I tend to gravitate to making my own patterns because I like them made from cost-efficient yarn and designed to be the perfect scale for my kids’ small hands. Today’s “Featured Pattern Friday” is my very own! It’s a pattern that works up quickly with either bulky weight yarn or…

Ever wondered how to get a really tight close at the beginning of a crochet-in-the-round project? A magic ring or magic circle allows you to get a really tight center without having to fight working through a tight stitch. The idea of a magic ring or magic circle is that its a technique where you can easily work your first round of stitches in the same (large and open) center “stitch”. Then, when you are finished with your first round of stitches, close up the center tightly creating a very polished and cinched circle. I use this technique in almost all of my projects that are worked in the round.…

Crochet pumpkins are all the rage right now, and now you can make your very own with my FREE crochet pumpkin pattern and video tutorial! Yarn: For the pumpkins pictured below, I used a variety of mostly worsted weight yarn that I got from Hobby Lobby. I absolutely love their “I Love This Yarn” acrylic. It is a good quality, soft, and reasonably priced worsted weight yarn. I have hoards of of it at home and use it for a lot of projects. I also used this bulky weight yarn for the ribbed pumpkin that was a steal from my local Wal-Mart at $2.97 a skein. Make sure you scroll…

I have crocheted baby shoes for over a decade now. I used to sell them locally and via the internet. I LOVE crochet baby shoes, but like ALL other baby shoes – they fell off SO easily… #bummer. I started brainstorming how I could design a beautiful, yet also fully functional, baby shoe that I didn’t have to put back on 13,294 times each hour. After my 5th baby was born I came up with this pattern and successfully used it for each subsequent baby! I honestly don’t think my 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th child ever wore any other shoes for their first 1-1/2 of life. They are THAT…