Oh the Cuteness!

Hi everyone! I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted here, but I have a very good excuse this time that I think you will all be very excited about. Big changes are happening and big plans are being made! First of all, I'm no longer living in Campbell (And yes, this means I had to disassemble and box up  the amazing craft room ... Le sigh.). At the moment I've got everything I own except for the essentials put in a storage pod, and I've spent the holidays with my mom and dad, and the new year with my sister, and now I'm planning on returning to my beautiful city of Oakland to finally start working on my big dream... I'm very proud to introduce to you The Black Squirrel , a brick-and-mortar and online fabric, yarn, and craft supply boutique! It's been my lifelong dream to own a little craft shop and I've decided it's time to go for it! The shop will stock a variety of beautiful trendy yarns and fabrics, with a focus on s...

There's some seriously cute crocheted goodness up on my Etsy shop right now! Look at how adorable this little lady is, and she's modeling one of my Victorian-inspired baby bonnets that I just listed. Thank you so much to Nadine form Birdy Boutique Photography for taking this shot! I originally made a bunch of these bonnets for a craft fair, but the sprinklers came on and I had to pack it in! If you're not following me on Instagram yet then you're missing out, as I did a presale of these with free shipping before I listed them on Etsy! Come find me @ohthecuteness if you want in on future sales! Also up in the shop are my crocheted bike beanies: I wrote this pattern myself specifically for people who ride bikes. They fit really nicely under a bike helmet and they're very squishy and stretchy. The yarns have little gold filaments in them too for some extra sparkle! There's only one Autumn colored one left so don't miss out!

My best friend's little girl turned two recently and she decided on an Alice in Wonderland theme for the party! My birthday present to her was to help with party decorations and sew her a little white apron to complete her Alice-esque look. I had a feeling it was going to be adorable so I took photos along the way and have made them into a tutorial for you guys!  These two photographs were taken by her mama, Nadine of Birdy Boutique Photography. This apron tutorial is special in that you can adjust the size of the apron to fit the child you're making it for, and if you leave some extra fabric like I did you can rip a single seam and resew it to make the apron last even longer! Kids grow so fast, and it's silly to get rid of something handmade if there's an easy way to alter it to keep it useful! I hope you all enjoy this one! How to Make a Toddler Apron You'll Need: 1/2 a yard of white fabric 2 yards of white eyelet lace trim 3 yards of wide...

Hi everyone! Alexandra and I are very excited to share our new recipe for baked cronuts today! Truth be told, neither of us have had the opportunity to try an actual cronut. They sound amazing but as if a regular fried piece of dough wasn't bad enough, adding a million layers of butter inside sounds like overkill.  But the idea of a tender, flaky piece of baked puff pastry dressed up like a donut sounded just right, especially if it incorporated some seasonal fruit, and so our baked cronuts were born! You can make either of the two flavors, but we found our favorite was stuffing everything into one huge, hard-to-eat monstrosity of awesomeness. There's no photos of that scene, but you get the idea...  First, assemble your ingredients: 1 package Dufour Classic Puff Pastry (one sheet will make about 12 cronuts) 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 1 roll of marzipan, finely chopped into crumbles A pint of ripe cherries, pitted and cut into eighths...

There's a ton of new cute items up for sale in my Etsy shop this week! These herb and spice filled trivets, which I talked about making for a craft fair , are finally listed in the shop! As are these wonderful vintage button art pieces I made. I've been collecting vintage buttons my entire life and I'm so happy to have these special ones out of the jars and on display! The one in the top middle is sold, and the center one is mine, but the rest are in the shop waiting for new homes! I've also listed a framing option for them if you want yours to arrive nicely framed! And lastly, I've created a new version of my Yarn Bombing Kit that comes without a knitted piece included , for those of you who want to make your own and ship it off to a friend! Happy shopping! ^_^

It's finally done! Coming in at a whopping 24" x 72" and using over 1600 yards of  Lily Sugar'n Cream worsted weight cotton yarn , it's my most ambitious knitting project to date.  I knit a sweater once in a single month.  This monster took me about 9 months, working on it in the evenings here and there when I could. I'm completely in love with it! It's hefty and squishy and thanks to the fact that it's entirely seed stitch I didn't even have to block it. I started making it because some time soon we hope to get a small flock of chickens for the backyard, and I wanted a nice wrap to wear while I sit on the swing and let them roam around for a couple hours each day. I needed something that would hit at the elbow so I could knit while wearing it and this came out just perfect! I used this pattern from the Purl Bee blog , cast on the 109 stitches with my size 8 vintage straight needles, and used all the balls of Sugar'n Cream I h...