Meow

There was a trend of wearing animal hats. Here are some kitty hats I made for my nieces and a friend's daughter.

They have a orange tabby named Dexter, so I made them orange kitty hats with pink ears. Wool will keep them warm in the winter snow.

I've also added ear flaps for added warmth and coolness!

This is an improvisation on a kitty hat.  Little A liked the color red, so I had some red merino wool to create this fiery kitty hat. Very Christmasy, don't you think?

Again, I added ear flaps for added warmth in the winter months. The white yarn i-cord, trim and ears are for effect and coolness!

Here is what it looks like close-up.

I've made kitty hats and panda hats. I'll work on adding to my repertoire of animal hats as I get requests. Happy Knitting!

Recycling or Keeping Green

Going to Trader Joe's for groceries is one of my  husbands tasks. Sometimes the bags are quite heavy and we always use our own bags that I either crocheted or bought. But, we also have so many plastics bags that we didn't throw out from times when we didn't have any of our bags or before we got into the being-green phase.

So then I read up on the Internet how to make a market bag out of recycled plastic bags. Here is the result. It is strong and can fit and hold 5 one-liter bottles of water. I will make another one, that is bigger.

It was difficult to make, only because it is hard to work with plastic "yarn." The process is simple. Take the bags and cut strips. Then join the strips and roll into a ball of "yarn." Finally, find a pattern and use a big crochet hook to create any design.

A-DOLL-rable

I have used this free pattern to create a variety of dolls with custom colors in different sizes. This is a Large size doll made in acrylic yarn and filled with poly fill, which makes it easy to wash in cold water and air dry. The eyes and mouth are glued on, but if they get detached, I can easily sew them. The hair color can be blond, black, or brown -- or any color you want.

The dress and shoes are removable, and I can make additional shoes or dresses for a doll. The hair is braided, but it can be combed out with your fingers to create other hair styles.

The dress and shoe buttons are made of wood, but those can also be customized for color or material.

 

Email me directly for additional information or to order. Please provide any custom color choices, otherwise I will use my discretion.

For Sale: large doll $60, medium doll $38, small doll $24.
I can make extra-large doll for $75.
There are discounts based on how much the material costs.

Bear in a Basket

My attempts at creating more amigurumi and other items, I have found a cute bear pattern that I gave to my friend's daughter. I also attempted to create a basket, but I need to find a tougher yarn to make the basket more sturdy.

Here, Aubrey is holding the little beat that is made of pure wool and filled with poly-fill. The bear in the basket below is the same. The basket is made of mercerized cotton in a gold color. Both items are crocheted.

Butterfly in the Grass

I wanted to try amigurumi and so I found a cute pattern online for this butterfly. So I created this cute crocheted butterfly with a lavender body and shinny multicolored wings. Here it is in the grassy background of my laptop desktop.

It is only about 5-6 inches high and is made with cotton yarn and thread and stuffed with poly-fill.

Happy Thanksgiving or Woof Toy

Last year I was inspired and found a pattern to create a small pumpkin. I even included a squeaky so that my two doggies will enjoy. The squeaky lasted about a month. Mia's goal in life is to chew on all the squeaky's of her toys, including those hand-made with love. The toy has survived without being flattened minus the filling, however.

Made of acrylic yarn and filled with poly-fill, this toy survives at the bottom of the doggies' toy bin. It is about 4 inches tall and round. Sometimes it is used for fetch.

Wave Rave

Being inspired by the fall foliage, I crocheted a throw or afghan using the red, yellow, orange and taupe colors. It was crocheted with acrylic yarn, so it is easy to wash and dry.

These vibrant colors bring about the warm colors of the fall season: ripe pumpkins, Thanksgiving, colorful leaves un-cloaking trees. And, the chill in the air gets a little more intense.

What better way to cozy up in front of a fireplace, with this warm afghan.

For Sale: $28 with additional charge for shipping.

Diamond Colors

This afghan with diamond shapes was so favored by my mom, that now she uses it and lays on her bed.

Each granny square was crocheted with two triangles shapes, where one half single triangle had a single color and the other half triangle worked in contrasting stripes. Arranging these squares with the stripes together, combined as diamond shapes. After creating the 9 diamonds, I attached them together with yellow stripes.

I used bright colors and combined them in contrasting patterns. The three combinations are shown below. 

The orange diamond pattern created are 4, each made up of 4 squares. 

4 Orange Diamond: 4 squares/ea or 16 total squares

The yellow diamond pattern created are 4, each made up of 4 squares. 

4 Yellow Diamond: 4 squares/ea or 16 total squares

Finally, one red diamond pattern made up of 4 squares. In all there are 36 squares. I arranged the diamond patterns in a diagonal order, as you can see from the picture at the top.

Red Diamond: 4 squares

The yarn used was Vanna White's acrylic yarn, which makes it easy to wash and dry, without worrying about shrinking.

Multi-color Throw

This crocheted multi-color throw was created with yarn scraps from various projects. I found a granny square pattern that I liked and began to paint my canvas with the colors at my disposal. It is like a quilt and fits a queen sized bed. It is made from wool and wool blends yarns. 

Here is a close-up of one square that uses two different bulky wools.

At the corners I incorporated a new granny square design, as seen here. The cross square appears in all four corners.

Price: $40

To the market

My previous Market Bag was praised, so I created another one using linen, cotton/acrylic blend and acrylic. The linen or flax yarn is quite strong and should hold a heavy load.

I also sewed in my "Handmade by simi" label. I will eventually like to order these with my logo, but until then, this will do.

Care Instructions: machine washable cold gentle cycle and line dry.

This market bag is for sale for $10.

Geometric Patterns

It seems sometimes I am in the mood to create afghans or dolls or scarfs or hats, and I continue to find patterns to create over and over. I usually like to apply my own color creations to a free pattern or a pattern from a book. Then I look at my stock of yarns, that I organize by color, and paint the pattern in my mind before I start the project. Here is an Afghan that I combined vibrant colors, using merino wool and alpaca wool. The colors used are brick orange, purple, dark purple, light green, golden rod yellow, brown and royal blue.

 

Detail of the square:

A Bag for School

Jadyn uses this bag for lunch and gym things. It is made of wool, with varying colors. Most of these are left over yarns from various projects. It has a depth of about 2 inches and a long strap.

School Funds

Many NJ schools need to engage the PTA in fund raises, so I have made this donation. Wool and acrylic afghan, crocheted in a hexagon granny "square" with flower pattern in the middle. I played around with various colors and added the blue to signify the sky.

Another donation for the fund raiser is this ribbon scarf made from a colorful multi-color vibrant ribbon.

Finally, this crocheted doll made from a free pattern. I create them with different colors for the hair, eyes and clothes.

Keeping Green

I've been crocheting market bags for some time, mostly based on free patterns, but this last one I just made up myself. I used left over yarn from different projects. The bottom is flax yarn and the rest acrylic. The straps are long to be able to put on shoulders. It should be quite strong for heavy items.