Wine Bottle Cozy - original crochet pattern

I saw a similar pattern on raverly.com but it was for knitters. While I may know how to knit...I don't prefer it. You may hear me say time and time again, "knitting is like driving a stick shift and crochet is like driving an automatic."

Here is my original pattern.

Wine Bottle Cozy

Hook E (3.50 mm)

Ch 16, join w/ sl st to form a ring
Round 1: Ch 1, sc in each st around (16 sc’s), join w/ sl st
Rounds 2-8: Repeat round 1
Round 9: Ch 2, *3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in next same st. Sl st in next st* repeat from * 5 times. Sl st to finish.

Cut – weave in ends.
To embellish – hang beads or crystals from the center of the petals.
The petals can also be changed modified based on other flowers you may have created.

Etsy account...finally

I am a bad blogger....or at least not a very consistent blogger. It's on my "to do" list..I promise.

One thing I've been able to accomplish is an Etsy account. Please visit my store at www.etsy.com/shop/carriebyhand.

Now that we have a new laptop I'm hoping to get my blog updated with lots of new projects and maybe even patterns or recipes for a few creations.

The cost of doing business...

Apparently my friends and co-workers like the work I do. Hmmm...to me it's just fun and I enjoy it. But, I've been making some adorable hats recently and I hope to get pictures posted soon. Along with pictures, I'll also post prices for anyone who's interested in buying one (or two or more).

Scarves, hats, and headbands...oh my

Here is another great project. Found the hat and scarf pattern (seperate) on Ravely.com and made them as gifts for a few special people. This picture is just the had and scarf.


This is the hat, scarf, and headband set!

I've had friends ask me to post prices for my scarves, hats, and headbands. So.
Hats $15
Scarves $10
Headband $10
Contact me at carrielaine@rocketmail.com to place an order.

This year I've spent some time getting into Iris Folding. It's really very easy and looks complicated...my favorite kind of craft. I taught classes at my work on how to make these three christmas cards. Charged everyone $5 for the "kit" and made almost $200 (for charity). Had enought of the kits left over that I made my own cards for my friends and co-workers.

Painted pottery...House Divided

Have you ever been to one of those places where you can paint your own pottery? They're pretty awesome. Found one in my hometown and got a great idea to make a wedding gift for friends. The bride went to Oregon State but the groom went to University of Oregon. This is called "a house divided". The people at the pottery store...Rose City Ceramics....showed me how to transfer a design on to pottery and then helped me with the process. It took me three hours to paint the right number of coats for this to come out looking so great, but it was well worth it...as you can see. The plate was less than $25 and all the paint and firing costs were included. When I gave it to my friend, you can see how happy she was with it. Her hubby liked it too. Right now it's in a place of honor...the middle of their coffee table.

Dish scrubbies

Found this dish scrubbie pattern on Ravelry.com. They are really easy and quick to make. They're crocheted with 100% cotton yarn and can be used as dish scrubbies or coasters.

cheap but pretty...

Who would have thought that tissue paper could be so pretty. I found...via google...how to make tissue paper flowers. Made these in orange colors for a friend at work. I put two of these little flower back to back and then hung them from the ceiling with crepe paper. They were so pretty and really make a big statement for a small price. I made them again for another friend's birthday but did them in pink, white, and silver.

Forgot one of my baking yummies...

Here's another fun dessert that I made for a bridal shower. Shot glass desserts. It was hard to find pretty shot glasses but I really like these. The filling is a chocolate mousse and french vanilla cream with chocolate sauce. If you're going to do these, I suggest you make sure you have spoons that fit into the shot glasses.

Need to blog more often....

It's been too long since I've blogged. Not that I haven't been doing any crafting and baking, but I was sidelined by a hand surgery that put a little crimp in my life. All is better and I have some fun things to post.

I'll start with my baking projects...

I made this caramel apple bundt cake with my new bundt pan. Yum!! I would probably not do the caramel topping again because it slides off and then absorbes into the cake. I think I'll just do a powdered sugar/milk glaze.

This is a pretty simple cupcake made for a friend at work. She likes funfetti cake (store bought) but I added these pretty cupcake flower liners purchased at JoAnne Fabric, topped with a really yummy buttercream frosting, and a flower candy.

A pink lemonade cupcake - made with a straw and candies. I actually thought these were too tart and probably won't make them again.

And these are the red velvet cupcakes. WOW - they were awesome. Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting - dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with red sugar!

Ring bearer pillows

Made two adorable ring bearer pillows for Lindsey. Giving them to her tomorrow. Hope she likes them.

Daisy square - from ravelry.com

I really felt that this Daisy square was going to stump me. It took a couple of attempts to get it right...but when I finally mastered the patter, it turned out amazing. I found the pattern at Ravelry.com. It's free but the square designer will only give you the pattern if you agree to send a completed square to her. She combines squares from everyone and creates blankets for charity.

Here is my square. I love it so much I'm going to make a whole afghan out of the same colors. Maybe I'll use it as a raffle gift for the breast cancer fundraiser next year.

Pillowcases are fun and easy...

I've decided that pillow cases are just about the most fun thing to make with all of the beautiful fabric that's available. Sometimes I'm just overwhelmed at all of the beautiful fabric and don't know what to do with it all. The answer...pillowcases.

With 3/4 yard of the pretty stuff, and 1/4 yard of contrasting fabric..you have custom pillowcases. They make great gifts and you can even wrap gifts up in them. I made pillowcases with multiple kinds of breast cancer fabric for my 3-Day team last year and everyone loved them.

This is my latest one. Wish I would have taken pictures of all the others. I'll be better about that in the future.

Catching up on projects

I've been remiss is posting my finished projects. I recently completed a baby blanket. Didn't use traditional colors (teal, orange, white) because the Mom-to-be is a little more hip that traditional blue and/or pink. I like this pattern because it works up VERY quickly. When I figure out to blog better, I'll post the pattern.


On the crochet front - I've found a new love. FOOD. Ok, those who know me know that real food is an on-going love affair, but crochet food is new and fun. I made doughnuts and cupcakes. Can you believe it? These are just about the most adorable things EVER.

Another Apple Cozy

The great thing about this blog and sharing it with friends is that they see some of my projects and say "hey....I want one of those". And that's just what's happened. A friend saw my previous apple cozy and said "I would love to have 5 of those". Cool. She wants to give them to her son to give them to his teachers. I never know how to price my projects, but I think I'm fair...$2.00 each. I found a better pattern that I like and is more flexible to the apple. I added a stem and leaf to the pattern and I really think it looks adorable.

Iris cards

I found a couple more pictures of Iris Folding cards that I've created. I love making and giving these cards. They look so complicated, but they're really pretty easy....just a little time consuming.

A special card for special friends

I wanted to create a special card for two of my friends. Here is the result...an iris folded coffee cup. I'm actually pretty proud of how great these look.

Weekend projects

After finishing my last afgan project I was looking for a small and quick project. I actually found two that I'd been wanting to try...so I did them both. The first one is silly, but it's an apple cozie. Thought it might be cute to make a cozie for my apples at lunch...to keep them from getting bruised in my lunchbox. Apples don't really need a cozie, but this was a fun little project. I used cotten yarn and if I had to do it over, I'd make it a bit taller and not narrow it so much at the top. The apple was hard to fit into the cozie.



The second project was a pair of fingerless gloves. I like them and they were very easy to accomplish, but they were a bit too loose at the hands. If I make these again (maybe next winter)I'll do the wrist with the same size hook as called for in the pattern, but change to a hook 3 sizes smaller for the hand.

Granny Square Blanket

I realize that granny squares are no big feat of amazement when it comes to crochet, but this granny square blanket is my own design. I used small squares and large squares to make the blanket and put the squares together with a new kind of joining method. The joining looks like an extension of the squares. It was pretty easy and I can post the instructions later. The colors are white, pink and brown and I used a satin kind of yarn. Oddly enought, this is probably one of the first blankets I've ever made for myself.

Iris folding and yo yo adventures

I have a couple of new projects to post. Both of these were for my very dear friend Ericka's birthday. She knew she'd be getting the necklace but had no idea how "substantial" it would be. Needless to say, both the card and the necklace are one of kind....just like Ericka. I honestly feel so selfish when I give a handmade gift. I get such a sense of accomplishment and pride at the reaction. Ericka was thrilled with the card and even more amazed with the necklace. Yeah!!