Candy Corn Scarf: Crochet!

I love candy corns. While it is true that there have been years where I go a little candy corn crazy and get utterly sick of them, each fall I still look forward to the sweet treats (it normally takes a good long year for that particular craving to return - thus I shun all Valentine's or Easter candy corns ^_^) To borrow a Bugs Bunny quote: "Why do I like [candy corn] so much? They don't have much meat on them...but I love them! I LOVE 'EM I LOVE 'EM I LOVE 'EM! LUNCH TIME!!!!"

But more than their goodie value, I think they are just so darn CUTE!! I love the color combination. I love the rounded triangular shape. I love that they are tiny. If you hop onto my pinterest page here you will see that I have a board devoted entirely to the Candy Corn!

So of course I needed a crochet version! Inspired by Twinkie Chan's food scarves, I crafted this one up to share with you all:

The Candy Corn Scarf:

Hook G
WW white yarn
WW orange yarn
WW yellow yarn

These are worked in rows - be sure to ch 1 at the end of each row

Begin with WHITE: (leave a long tail)
Ch 3
R1) 3 sc (3)
R2) 2 sc in first st, sc, 2 sc in last st (5)
R3) sc, sc, 2 sc in next st, sc, sc (6)
R4) sc, 2 sc in next st, sc, sc, 2 sc in next st, sc (8)

Change over to ORANGE:
R5) 8 sc (8)
R6) 8 sc (8)
R7) 2 sc in first st, 6 sc, 2 sc in last st (10)
R8) 10 sc (10)
R9) 10 sc (10)
R10) 2 sc in first st, 8 sc, 2 sc in last st (12)

Change to YELLOW:
R11) 12 sc (12)
R12) 2 sc in first st, 10 sc, 2 sc in next st (14)
R13) 14 sc (14)
R14) 14 sc (14)
R15) sc2tog, 4 sc, sc2tog, 4 sc, sc2tog (11)

F.O. and weave in ends

I made 11 candy corns and fastened them together tip to bottom until you have a scarf.
Length can be adjusted by adding or subtracting corns.

The best thing about this scarf is it won't give you a stomach ache ^_^

The Pumpkin Bomb

I came down stairs this morning to see that my 7 year old daughter has, indeed, taken after her mother:

pumpkin yarn bomb

I'm so proud ^_^

Bulky Boucle Scarf

I love the yarn store. I am literally like a child in a candy shop. Well, I'm more like the child in a candy shop that looks over all the candy options, but only ever ends up buying the same ol' plain cookies and cream that she always does.  But you see, it is so fun to go and touch all the soft varieties of yarn and dreaming up things to make with the crazy variegated colors. However, after spending WAY TOO LONG on this, I do always end up heading back to that one familiar section that holds all the 100% cottons or acrylics for my plushies. Well, this summer I broke out of my "usual" purchase and actually purchased an über soft boucle with lovely teal and brown color changing threads. I had absolutely nothing in mind for it. I just bought it and stuffed it into my yarn stash at home.  It's been looking at me for several weeks now. I figured with Christmas coming up, a super soft scarf would come in handy. Plus, I was excited to see how the colors worked up.

Well, let me tell you something. Working with bulky boucle was a hard transition! My cottons and acrylics are normally so clean and easy to look at, but this boucle, PHEEEEEW! It was like crocheting blind! The foundation row was torture to add on to and even then, my hdc were blindly inserted hoping I was catching the stitch at the right point. I had to count EVERY SINGLE row because I never knew if I was missing a stitch or not. This was not your relaxing in front of a favorite movie while crocheting sort of project. There was too much for me to concentrate on.

In one regard, it is a rather forgiving yarn because I know I wasn't always even (sometimes redoing the row to try and space the stitches out and sometimes not) and it's really hard to tell the ones that seemed spot on vs. the ones I was just too tired to count for.

But now that I'm done, I can back away and be grateful that it turned out as well as it did. I finished it off with some "fringe,"tried it on and sure enough, it will be a great neck warmer for someone!

Look at that texture!!!

Next,I am trying a Paton's Lace yarn with sequins that jumped into my basket at the yarn shop. It, too, is super soft and the peacock color is gorgeous, but it is pretty fuzzy and thin (a sport weight). I'll definitely post pictures when I finish that one and let you all know what it's like working with a yarn infused with sequins!

~kari ^_^

Show & Tell Bunting

Warning: Another non-crochet post ^_^

Early this summer our family set goals and made room most days to work towards accomplishing them. For the kids it was goals of reading enough to earn prizes through the library's summer reading program, and learning a new skill (magic tricks, how to ride a 2 wheel bike, bake a special cookie, etc) and we had our oldest set a goal to write, produce & shoot an original movie idea.  For the adults we worked on new piano songs, caught up on scrapbooking, and set photography goals. These goals, once met, deserved to be celebrated! For the past 2 years we've put together an official Show & Tell night for the grandparents. Having a caring audience who doesn't mind oooooh-ing and aaaah-ing over both small and big achievements is so great for the kids' confidence. It's also a wonderful chance to look back and realize just how much we DID accomplish.

This year's Show & Tell had to be a bit later in the year than normal for scheduling reasons. So, this last weekend we pulled out all our projects, dusted them off a bit and got to show them off! Feeling a bit artsy this year, I decided to make a bunting style banner for the occasion and just thought I'd share it with you all:

Using various scraps of paper I had accumulated in my years of scrapbooking, I was able to create this using my new favorite color combination: reds & aquas. I also had a fun teal & brown yarn that I used to string it up with. 

It definitely made it feel like a party! Well, that and Simon's awesome homemade pretzels - yummy!