Oh the Cuteness!

For the third prize basket, comment number 41, Chase ! For the second prize basket, comment number 28, Hannah ! And for the grand prize, comment number 30, Kelli ! Thanks so much to everyone for playing and leaving me all those wonderful comments all month long! Please send me your contact info at ohthecuteness@hotmail.com and I will send you your prizes on Wednesday! And congrats to the winners!

They should call me "little miss last-minute" these days, but at least I am getting things done and not letting important deadlines pass me by. My schedule got thrown out of whack because I went to visit my parents for a little pre-birthday fun this past weekend. I had hoped to post this stuff last Wednesday and to have done a shop update on Saturday, but I had to switch days off and spent them all in Paso. Anywho, blah blah blah, let's get to the good part, yes? Here's the spread of prizes, all waiting to be arranged in the pretty little baskets I went on and on about yesterday: Yaaay! So I have picked all these little goodies out from the most coveted parts of my stash, and made some too! We have: Vintage Japanese tin butterfly pins, amigurumi acorns (with hanging loops), fancy little spools of baker's twine, vintage cotton mushrooms, and vintage flower beads... Big baggies of vintage and new buttons, some Japanese dessert erasers, and some little blue plaid 3-...

For those of you who would like to make one of the little fast baskets but don't need the entire tutorial , here is the pattern, plain and simple. This is also good to look at after you have completed the tutorial, so you can see what a pattern for in-the-round crochet looks like. Materials: H hook (5.0mm) Ball of Sugar and Cream worsted weight cotton yarn in Natural A small amount of colored yarn or hemp twine for the stripe Abbreviations: st - stitch slst - slip stitch ch - chain dc - double crochet Round 1: Begin with the adjustable loop in the natural yarn. Ch 2 (counts as first dc), and crochet 11 more dc into the loop. Join to beginning ch with a slst. (12 dc) Round 2: Ch 2. 2 dc in each stitch around, join with a slst. (24 dc) Round 3: Ch 2. *1 dc in next st, 2dc in next. Repeat from * around, join with a slst. (36 dc) Round 4: Ch 2. *1 dc in next 2 st, 2 dc in next. Repeat from * around, join with a slst. (48 dc) Round 5: Ch 2. *1 dc in next 3 st, 2 dc in next. Repeat from...

*If you would like to make these baskets but do not need the entire tutorial, click here for the plain pattern ! So in part one we learned how to increase to make a circle, which is daunting but doable, right? If anyone has any questions at all please e-mail me at ohthecuteness@hotmail.com and I will do my best to answer and amend the tutorial in any way I need to. Anywho... the rest of the basket is really easy because thanks to the miracles of crochet geometry, all you have to do now is do one double crochet in every stitch. Here's the breakdown: For rounds 8 and 9, chain 2 and then do one double crochet in every stitch all the way around. Be sure NOT to do one in the base of the beginning chin this time, as we are done increasing (I have done this on accident many a time, being a space-cadet). After these two rows, you will notice that the sides are curving upward nicely and it is starting to resemble a basket more than a trivet. Of course, if you got bored already you can stop...

I have finished everything for the gift baskets, which I will post pictures of tomorrow. First thing, the baskets themselves: And, as promised, here is my tutorial. This pattern is a quick version of my Kitty Stuff Basket pattern. I made this tutorial for beginners who have a little experience with regular crochet and would like to learn to crochet in the round to make things like this basket, or hats, or amigurumi . This is the way I do it, and since I am self-taught with a little help from my mom and the Internet, I am sure it is a slightly unorthodox way to do it, but if it works for me it might work for others out there who have trouble with traditional methods. This is also how I get seamless rounds. Can you find the join? Actually, I forget where it is too! So let's get started, shall we? *If you would like to make these baskets but do not need the entire tutorial, click here for the plain pattern ! Materials you will need: An H hook (5.0mm) A ball of Sugar...