Starry Night

Well, that is embarrassing! My blog turned 1 and I have been so busy I did not even post about it. If you dd not know I was not consistent you do now!  Moving right along: HAPPY BIRTHDAY THAT YARN GIRL!

Quickly I want to say thank you to the readers of this blog.  I know it is not the most interesting blog on the web, but I would like to think I am contributing on a small level.  A bigger thanks to those of you who have ordered from That Yarn Girl.  It has helped me stretch my mind and skill!

Let me share something I have learned over the last year-when people find out your crochet they automatically assume you knit.  I have nothing against knitting, but I have absolutely no knitting capabilities whatsoever.  With that comes people assuming you can create the same kind of project, and for the most part I can.


Here is a great example: One of my coworkers was pregnant and had found a cute hat she wanted to use in newborn pics.  She had checked around with her family and friends and found no one who would be able to duplicate the hat.  I did not have the opportunity to attend her baby shower, so I left her gift on her desk.  It was a crocheted sleeper.  She loved it and sent me a picture of the hat she wanted and asked if I would be able to create it.  I looked at the hat and immediately notice it was knitted.  I told her I would do my best and she could decide if she wanted to keep the final product.  Well as you can plainly see, she kept the final product, and used it!  My new model tonight is Ethan.  Thank you, Ethan!!

Needless to say, sometimes I do have the ability to duplicate a knitted item :)

Boy's Vest

As promised for those of you who fallow me on Facebook; tonight's project! For those of you who have small children you know they tend to get cold quickly. My son is no exception. As this winter approached, I was obsessively looking for a crocheted sweater vest pattern.

I check Google first because it is usually the first place I look for these things. I did find a pattern and it is great-for older kids. I worked one of the vests up and found it will fit Landon in about two years. So now I was back at square one. The next place I looked was ravelry.com.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Ravelry a quick explanation. Ravelry is a site for those who crochet or knit or both. You can find forums, patterns, and more! It has a great pattern library and a good portion of the library is free. Bonus!

So I was searching in Ravelry and found a Varsity sweater for kids. I used that pattern and left of the sleeves. It turned out perfect! My super cute model is my son Landon.

Getting to Know You!

Andrew

Today's post is a derailment from the norm here at That Yarn Girl.  Today I want to talk to you about my wonderful husband, Andrew.  About 10 months ago, he lost his job.  He has been working tirelessly since then to start his own business.  For those of you who are currently running your own business, or trying to, you know how hard the start up can be.  Another roadblock you may be very familiar with is funding.  Funding is difficult at best to come up with for starting a business.  Luckily my husband is an internet hound and found a wonderful little site called Kickstarter.com.  Andrew, being the tech savvy guy that he is started his own project on Kickstarter and he is now in the process of fund raising for his business.

A man in uniform, am I right ladies?

Let me explain what he wants to do.  Andrew was lucky enough to serve two years in Thailand as a volunteer for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and while he was there he developed a great love for the country and the people.  Upon returning to the States, he enlisted in the Utah National Guard in August 2001.  Only one short month later 9/11/01 happened and his world changed.  Andrew was deployed to Iraq in 2003. He served his country for six years in the National Guard and two years in the Inactive Ready Reserve.  Besides a deployment, Andrew had the opportunity to return to Thailand a couple of times with the military, which only solidified his love of the country, culture, and people.  With his service in the military, Andrew was able to attend Utah State University and graduate with his Bachelor of Arts degree in Interior Design.

What did all of that explanation have to do with Andrew's current endeavor of starting a business?  Simply this: Andrew is working to import home decor goods from Thailand.  In doing that he is working to create his own business, yes, but he is also working to improve the lives of the people he loves in Thailand.  Most of the business and factories he works with in Thailand are not wealthy folks running a business for pleasure.  For the most part the factories are run by exceptionally poor people who are trying to earn a living.  Some of the goods Andrew is hoping to import are hand made by the local Thai people.  I realize the big push right now is to have everything "Made in America," and I agree.  There is something that always enters my mind when I think of that, every person on this earth is a human being and with that comes the right to live comfortably.  I am not saying everyone in the world needs to become filthy rich, I am saying we have the ability to make someone else's life better.

Now for the good part!  You have taken the time to read this blog post, so please take the time to check out Andrew's Kickstarter project.  You can find it by clicking here.  If you have questions about what Kickstarter is or how it works, please check out Andrew's blog www.blueorchidimports.blogspot.com.

Thank you for your time and stay tuned for a wonderful little newborn project.  You will love it!

Little Monster

Fall is hat season for That Yarn Girl! For my loyal readers, do you remember the post about cute little Q?  He needed a "fuzzy" blanket because he had outgrown the one he already had.  Well, Q is back.  His awesome mom is doing something hat related for Christmas and needed four hats for Christmas.  Trust me, you will have an opportunity to see the hats for all four kids, but tonight is about Q and his monster hat.  So I started looking around for inspiration.  Here is the great thing about crocheting in this day and age: the internet!  Hooray for Google!  I have had so much luck finding almost any pattern I need.  So, thank you to those of you who have created patterns for almost everything.  I am working my way into pattern creation, but it is a slow move.  Stay tuned for a great hat pattern I have created.

For those of you who are interested in the pattern, you can find it here.  You will notice I changed it up, but only a little.

Monster Hat

Do you smell that?

Utah State!

As fall makes an appearance around our house, something happens to my husband. When we were first married, I was worried because I didn't smell what he did. Now I know what's coming and I am much less worried. This strange phenomena is particularly heightened around high schools. Andrew will turn to me sniffing the air and saying, "Do you smell that? It smells like football!"

When we married I was not an avid football fan. To be frank I didn't understand the game at all. After running offenses in the backyard, I have a basic knowledge and can actually follow the game now.

What does all this have to do with my blog, well I will tell you! I have tried out a new pattern from Playing Hooky designs and discovered it is perfect for football season. For two reasons, one it is a very warm hat and two the color scheme possibilities are perfect for showing team pride on game day!

Click here for a link to the pattern.

White Elephant

Oh, you are going to love this! One of the awesome ladies in my neighborhood asked me to make these hats for her as a family white elephant gift. Let me know what you think!

The Boy's Vest

Tonight's project comes to you from my little guy.  I have been on this kick lately of making baby girl clothes and realized I have not made many projects for boys, weird.  The truth is most patterns out there are cute for girls and kind of okay for boys. But I will work to improve that.  So here it is: the boy's sweater vest! 

As usual this is not my pattern, but if you would like it you can click here.  For those of you who crochet let me say the pattern says the small size is 2T-4T.  It is definitely more 4T.  It is huge on my son and he is roughly the size of a tank.

I do plan on making this project again with a few tweeks and hopefully I will achieve the right size fore my guy.  Enjoy!