Another Shutterfly Book

I finally got around to making Another Shutterfly Book featuring crochet creations. This one is for our granddaughter's birthday. I thought "Four Lambs Together" would be perfect for a girl turning FOUR this month. 

It has been almost two years since my last Shutterfly Book. I love making them. Once an idea sets hold in my mind, I can't rest until it's done. 

The idea for this book started back in November with a blog post titled Four Lambs Together when I wrote a rhyming verse to accompany photos of four crocheted lambs. I took a few more photos of the lambs on a white duvet then put the whole thing aside as I was much too busy preparing for Christmas to think about making a book. 

Also I was hoping our daughter might take more 'book-worthy' photos when she visited. Unfortunately that didn't happen. Our house was too full and busy to fit in a photo shoot. Then I got sick with the flu when they left which further delayed any thought of a book. 

Finally as I was starting to feel better and as my most recent half-price Shutterfly coupon was about to expire, I thought a book would make a great birthday present if I could get it done in time. That got me thinking in earnest. I woke up through the night working out details in my mind. Honestly, this creativity stuff is so exciting it interrupts my sleep. 

The next night after work, I sat at my laptop and finished the book all in one go. I love how it flows so easily once I have it all sorted in my mind. 

The cover looks like this except with a sepia filter on the photo.

I ordered two copies of the book to be sent to Boulder - one for my granddaughter and one for me. I am pleased with how it looks despite my unedited amateurish photos. I do hope our granddaughter likes it too. 

This is the sixth book I've done for our grandchildren. I thoroughly enjoy making them. If you would like a peek inside, click on this link: Four Lambs Together. I am worried I might have made a mistake on the cover of the version sent for printing. There is no way to know for sure until it arrives. Only a few more days to wait ... fingers crossed hoping it's fine.

Happy Birthday to our sweet granddaughter. We love you lots.

Update: The book arrived early. I was relieved to see the cover was correct. My daughter sent me photos of our granddaughter counting the lambs and a video of her reciting part of the story ... so sweet.

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Easy Crochet Infinity Scarf

While searching through my stash recently, I found two balls of Patons Venus yarn in white. I remembered buying three balls on sale for $1.99 over a year ago. At the time, I was making a baby bobble blanket and wasn't sure how much I would need for the border. You can read about that here if you missed it. I used one ball adding two to my stash.

Patons Venus yarn is a luxuriously soft worsted weight yarn with a unique thick and thin texture. I love how working simple rows of single crochet back and forth with this yarn creates a pretty pattern. I was able to make this Easy Crochet Infinity Scarf for only $4. How cool is that? 

This Infinity Scarf is smaller than the Calm Cowl I made recently. I took photos side-by-side to show the difference.

I can wrap both scarves to wear as a cowl, but this white scarf fits a little tighter around my neck than I like.

This shorter infinity scarf is much more comfortable worn hanging down like a scarf rather than wrapped like a cowl. I would add one more ball of yarn to make this scarf a little longer before calling it a cowl.

Technical details for this Easy Crochet Infinity Scarf are listed below in case you would like to make one too. 

Patons Venus Yarn - 1.75 oz/50 g (2 balls) $1.99/ball
Worsted Weight (4)
5.0 mm hook
Cold water wash, lay flat to dry

Stitches Used:
ch - chain
sc - single crochet

Note: chain at beginning of row does NOT count as a stitch

Starting ch = 31
R1 - sc in 2nd ch from hook and in each ch across (30 sc)
R2 - ch 1 and turn, sc in each stitch across (30 sc)
Repeat row 2 until you run out of yarn 
Leave a long tail to sew ends together (yarn texture hides flat join)

Finished Size: 18.5" folded in half - 37" circumference - 6.25" wide

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Crochet Calm Cowl in Cottonwood

Making a Linen Stitch Blanket for our grandson was so much fun, I decided to carry on crocheting the linen stitch making a cowl following this free pattern on Ravelry called "Calm Cowl". It is a circular scarf crocheted in the round that can be worn wrapped like a cowl or hanging like a scarf. 

For the blanket, I bought two balls of each colour plus one extra of cottonwood, leaf and white totaling 15 balls of yarn. In the end, these extra balls were added to my alredy extensive stash. 

To crochet this cowl, I used the leftover ball of cottonwood yarn. 

I prefer to wear this scarf wrapped like a cowl to hide the crooked seam. You can see what I mean in the photo above. I worked and frogged the first 7 rows of this scarf a few times before finally giving up. I wasn't too worried as I knew wrapping would hide any imperfections. 

Technical details for this Crochet Crochet Calm Cowl in Cottonwood are listed below in case you would like to make one too. 

Hook size - 5 mm
Yarn Used (Worsted #4 weight):
Mary Maxim Best Value 100% acrylic (170 g/6 oz) - Cottonwood

Starting Chain - 211

37 rows

Finished size: 22" Folded in half - 44" circumference - 7" wide
Free pattern: Calm Cowl by Suzana Davidovic on Ravelry found here

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