Knit Baby Blanket With Hood! Free Pattern!

This is a simple knit baby blanket. It does take awhile to knit but the pattern is super simple. I used 4 scans of Lion Brand yarn (color 173) Dusty Green. I used 100% acrylic yard because it is easier to wash than wool but of course you can use any natural fiber yarn as well. For the dragon tail I used one scan of Lion Brand yarn (color 125) Taupe and for the flowers I used one scan of Lion Brand Pink. The white centers of the flowers I used a white cotton yarn but you could used anything or any color. 

Blanket:

I used size 8 US 32in circular needles and casted on 150 stitches. I did a simple stockinette stitch and reversed it every 5 inches. A stockinette stitch is when you knit on the right side and then you purl on the wrong side. When you want to reverse the stitch you knit on the right side and when you turn over your knitting instead of purling on the wrong side you knit again. Then you continue every other row purling and knitting till you knit 5 inches and then reverse the pattern again. I made my blanket 35" x 35" which is a nice big size so the baby that you give it to can grow into it. 

Hood:

Cast On -  50 stitches
Work as though you were in the blanket. (Stockinette 5 inches and then reverse)

Except you must decrease - every right side (knit) row: K1, slip slip knit, k to 3 st from end, k2tog, K1

Decrease till you have 3 stitches left and then bind off.

After you bind off cut a long tail from the scan of yarn so you have enough to sew the triangular hood to one corner of the blanket. 

Dragon Tale:

Cast on 7 stitches

R1: Knit 5, increase by working into front and then back of stitch, Knit 1

R2: Knit 1, increase in next stitch, Knit 6

R3: Knit 7, increase in next stitch, Knit 1

R4: Knit 1, increase in next stitch, Knit 8

R5: Knit 9, increase in next stitch, Knit 1

R6: Knit 1, increase in next stitch, Knit 10

R7: Knit 11, increase in next stitch, Knit 1

R8: Knit 1, increase in next stitch, Knit 12

R9: Knit 12, Knit 2 Together, Knit 1

R10: Knit 1, Knit 2 Together, Knit 11

R11: Knit 10, Knit 2 Together, Knit 1

R12: Knit 1, Knit 2 Together, Knit 9

R13: Knit 8, Knit 2 Together, Knit 1

R14: Knit 1, Knit 2 Together, Knit 7

R15: Knit 6, Knit 2 Together, Knit 1

R16: Knit 1, Knit 2 Together, Knit 5

Repeat Rows 1-16 till you have a til long enough to run down the hood and the back of the blanket. Then bind off and sew into the back of the hood and blanket. 

Flowers:

For the flowers I worked in garter stitch. 

Cast on 7 stitches

R1: Knit

R2: Knit 1, Increase 1, Knit till you have one stitch left, Increase 1, Knit 1 (9 stitches)
R3: Knit

R4: Knit 1, Increase 1, Knit till you have one stitch left, Increase 1, Knit 1 (11 stitches)

R5: Knit

R6: Knit 1, Decrease 1, Knit till you have one stitch left, Decrease 1, Knit 1 (9 stitches)

R7: Knit

R8: Knit 1, Decrease 1, Knit till you have one stitch left, Decrease 1, Knit 1 (7 stitches)

R9: Knit

R10: Knit 1, Decrease 1, Knit till you have one stitch left, Decrease 1, Knit 1 (5 stitches)

R11: Knit

R12: Knit 1, Decrease 1, Knit till you have one stitch left, Decrease 1, Knit 1 (3 stitches)

Bind Off, cut a long enough tail to sew into the next peddle. 

Make 5 peddles and then sew each peddle into the next. 

Middle of the flower:

Cast on 3 stitches

R1: Knit

R2: Knit 1, Increase 1, Knit till you have one stitch left, Increase 1, Knit 1 (5 stitches)

R3: Knit

R4: Knit 1, Increase 1, Knit till you have one stitch left, Increase 1, Knit 1 (7 stitches)

R5: Knit

R6: Knit 1, Decrease 1, Knit till you have one stitch left, Decrease 1, Knit 1 (5 stitches)

R7: Knit

R8: Knit 1, Decrease 1, Knit till you have one stitch left, Decrease 1, Knit 1 (3 stitches)

Bind off and sew into the top of the peddles. After the flowers are assembled then arrange the flowers on the blanket and then sew them into the blanket. I put one on the hood as an accent. 

Engagement Shoot In Boston

These are a few samples of my Engagement Shoot at the Boston Public Library and in the Boston Commons. I love the look of the Boston Public Library and it was amazing to take photos there. I would have loved to have my wedding there but of course it is way out of my budget so a second great choice was to have my engagement photos taken there! I also planned my photos the first week of May which was a perfect time for the beautiful pink flowering trees in the Commons. I hope that these can be a source of inspiration for the brides to be out there!

Pictures from inside the Boston Public Library

Pictures from the Boston Commons

Will You Be My Bridesmaid?

Want a special way to ask your girlfriend's to be your bridesmaids? This is how I did it! 

Tutorial to come!

Wedding Cake Topper - Banner Tutorial

Wedding Cake Topper Tutorial

What you will need:

2 Wooden Eggs - From Michaels Craft but can be found in most craft stores.  

2 Wooden Balls with Flat Bottoms- From Michaels 

Buttons - Had some extra hanging around the house. 

Pearl Stickers - Michaels 

Acrylic Paints - Michaels

Set of Small Paint Brushes 

Black of felt or black paper - Had it around the house. 

Netting for the veil

Things from around the house:

Drill with a 1/16” wood drill bit 

Elmers Glue

Scissors

Glue Gun

Q-Tip

Black Felt Marker

Step 1:


Drill a hole at the top of the wooden egg where the wooden head will be placed. Be careful to not put to much pressure on the drill, not to let the drill slip and hurt your hand. If you feel more comfortable place the egg in a vice and then drill the top. The hole at the top of the egg should be about a ¼” deep. 

Step 2: 

The egg heads that I got from Michaels had flat bottoms. The flat bottom has a small pre-drilled hole in it. But if you can not find wooden balls with pre-drilled flat bottoms then you must drill a hole yourself. Again using a vice will help you avoid injury. 

Step 3:

Cut the ends off the Q-Tip and stick one end into the hole you drilled in the wooden egg body with some Elmers glue. Then put the other end of the Q-Tip into the pre-drilled hole of the wooden head. Keep cutting the bottom of the Q-Tip till it is the correct length and the wooden head sits nicely on the top of the egg. Put a dab of hot glue around the edge of the egg’s hole. Then put some Elmers glue into the wooden head then place it onto the egg and firmly press down. The hot glue will help stabilize the head faster so you can continue working with out waiting for the Elmers glue to dry. 

Step 4:

Paint the bodies and head of the toppers. For my groom I did a traditional tuxedo painting the egg all back except for a white “V” that represented his tux shirt. For the bride I painted her egg body with an ivory color and used the skin color to make the dress appear to be sweetheart dress. For the hair I used brown paint and tried to mimic the hair styles my Fiancé and I would wear on our wedding day. Note: Don’t be afraid to mess up….you can always whip off what you don’t like or paint over it. For the eyes you can paint them or try to draw them in with the black marker. Since I LOVE eyeliner I drew my eyeliner on my bride. 

Step 5:

Details!!!! I used pearl stickers for details like the bride‘s earrings and detail on her dress….which I think made a huge difference. I used buttons for my bouquet which I glued together with the hot glue gun and then glued directly to the egg body of the bride. I also used a button for the groom’s boutonnière. I used a flower button and a small piece of netting to make a bride cage veil for the bride. For the groom’s bow tie I cut out of a piece of felt and hot glued it on to the groom’s egg body. 

Step 6:

Enjoy your unique toppers and make sure you get some good pictures of you holding them at your wedding! 

DIY - Wedding Cake Toppers

It's the little touches that make the difference! My costume cake toppers are sure to be a hit at my wedding! Would you like to make your own unique cake toppers? Tutorial to come!

Button Bouquet Tutorial!

Step 1:
Collect your materials....I used:

• Vintage and Children's Buttons from Ebay                                                                  $ 60
• (I bought button "lots" - which are just large amounts of buttons in the colors I wanted for filler buttons and then bought special buttons that I knew would accent my bouquet.)
• One rose pendent from Ebay                                                                                            $ 1
• (Using things other than buttons to offset the size in the bouquet worked well for me.)
• Gorilla glue from Michaels Crafts                                                                                     $ 10
• (You could get it in any hardware/craft store, one thing I don't really like about this glue is that when it dries it expands which can create a mess. So I would recommend finding another multi-purpose glue that will glue plastic.)     
• Floral wire from Michaels Crafts                                                                                       $ 5
• (Get a gauge that is easy to work with but still strong enough to hold 3-4 glued buttons up right. Also I went to several stores to find white floral wire or really any white wire that would be the right gauge and found nothing. So I ended up using green wire and painting each steam. This is just another step so if you can find white or gold I would go with with that, unless you want green.)
• White floral wire from Walmart                                                                   Two for $ 1 - $ 5
• (The white floral wire at Walmart was very flimsy and I knew the gauge would not hold up 3-4 buttons. I bought this wire for the filler buttons, since it was so easy to work and I knew I would need a lot of filler buttons.) 
• Plastic and Foam Bouquet Handle from Michaels Crafts                                            $ 4
• (I am not sure what to call this thing......it basically looks like a little toilet bowl scrubber. All it is is a plastic handle with a round dense foam a the end of it. You could probably make one but I found that this one was very easy to use and strong.
• Grand Total: $ 85

Things from around the house:

• Scissors
• Wire Cutters
• Super Glue
• Wax Paper - ( To cover the table with)
• Vase - (I found a vase helpful while assembling)
• Cleared Table - ( Space where you could leave things to dry overnight)

Personal Touches:

• Excess fabric from my wedding dress when I got it hemmed - ( To cover the handle)
• Family portrait pendent from when I was 5 years old

Step 2: BUTTONS! 

After all your buttons or other materials arrive. Sort out the buttons that will be fillers and what will to accent buttons. I used plastic baggies for this so I could see what I had. 

Step 3: Gluing Accent Buttons Together
After stacking the accent buttons that I thought looked good together I used super glue to glue them in stacks. Careful not to use to much or glue will go through the button holes and end up glued to your table. 

Step 4: Forming The Wire Steams and Gluing Them to The Assembled Buttons
I cut the floral wire to 6-7 inch lengths and made about 40-50 of them. I then took each one of the "steams" and curled one end around my pointer finger. After the wire had a curly end I would match it up with an assembled button stack and match the curly end to the size of the base button. By flattening the curly end of the steam to the size of the desired button stack I make sure each steam stood curly end down by itself. After the wire stood upright by itself I flipped the already glued assembled buttons face down and glued the steam with a drop of Gorilla glue. 

Step 5: Making Filler Buttons
For me the filler buttons were just as important as the accent buttons because they are what makes the bouquet look lush and full. I used very light gauge wire which I threaded through the button holes and twisted the wire back on itself to make a steam. Then after I made several I twisted the individual filler buttons together to make a baby bouquet.  

Step 6: Assembling the Bouquet!!!!!
After you have a good amount of accent buttons glued to stems and filler buttons twisted together then it is time to assemble. Since this was the first button bouquet I ever made I did a dry no glue run first. I stuck the accent buttons into the foam end of the bouquet handle and started to fill it in. After I got a bunch arraigned into the foam bouquet form I realized I would need more for the look I wanted. My bouquet is medium size but it is pretty heavy so that is why I stopped. I found using a vase was a way helpful way to prop up the bouquet form while arraigning the buttons. 

Step 6: Final Assembly

After determining how many filler and accent buttons I needed to make and then arraigning them in the way I thought looked good. I was finally ready to glue all the buttons into the bouquet handle. As in step 5 I stuck the wire steams into the foam handle but this time I dipped the ends into some Gorilla glue. For this step I found Gorilla glue to be the best choice. After letting everything dry overnight in the vase those babies weren't going anywhere! 

Step 7: Personal Touches

My personal touches will be wrapping the ugly plastic handle with excess fabric that will be cut off my wedding dress when I get it hemmed. I also have a little gold family portrait pendent that was taken when I was about 5 years old that I will attach to the handle. (When I have those elements complete I will re-post!)

Step 8: ENJOY!!!

Although this bouquet cost me about $85 and several days to make….I believe it is worth the hard work. I have seen several different button/felt/broach/feather bouquets on etsy.com that start around $200, so if you have the time then it will be worth your while to make your own.

On my wedding day I will have a unique and beautiful bouquet that has sentimental personal touches that I know I could never find in a store. Since the buttons will never go bad I will keep my bouquet as a wedding keepsake.

So needless to say the tradition of tossing the bride’s bouquet over her head will not be happening at my wedding….sorry single ladies! 

Do-It-Yourself Button Bouquet (First Post)

Bridezilla ~ ever heard of her? Well not to say I'm becoming one (I hope) but I can see why brides do! I have been engaged since last November and getting my wedding into motion has been a big undertaking. The one thing I love about my wedding planning is making special handmade elements that will make my day extra special, since I do have a year till the wedding. The first thing I really wanted to make was a button bouquet. I bought all my buttons on EBay and the rest of my supplies at Michael's Crafts. I made my bouquet out of all buttons and one pendent but I have seen several types with broaches, felt and feathers. Tutorial to come!