Cupcake Java Jammies crochet pattern

As promised, here's the original pattern I came up with for Cupcake Java Jammies, a cozy for your coffee cup.  I used a picture of Twinkie Chan's cupcake cozy for inspiration, but since I couldn't find a pattern of her's for them, I came up with one of my own. 

Cupcake Java Jammies

 Materials:  WW yarn in 2 colors (cake and frosting)

                    I hook

                    tapestry needle

                    pompoms

                    fabric glue

 This pattern is worked in 3 parts; the cake, the frosting and the piping around to cover where the cake and frosting meet. 

 Cake:

With cake color, ch 10.  Turn.

 Row 1:  1 hdc (in back loop only from here to the end of the cake piece) in second ch from hook and across, turn.

Row 2:  1hdc in each st across, turn

Repeat Row 2 until your work reaches 10 inches long.  Finish off, leaving a 15in tail for sewing.  With tail and tapestry needle, sew the last row to your first row, making a small tube.  Finish off and weave in tail.

Frosting:

Attach frosting color to the top of the seam. 

Row 1:  35 sc spaced evenly around the top of the tube.  Join with sl st into first sc.

Row 2:  Ch 3, 1 dc in first st, *SPECIAL STITCH: yarn over, insert hook in same st as the first dc, yarn over, bring up loop, yarn over, insert hook in next st, yarn over, bring up loop, yarn over and pull through the first 4 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through remaining 2 loops on hook*, repeat from * to * around.  Join with sl st into first st.

Row 3:  Ch 3, 1 dc in first st, SPECIAL STITCH in each st around, join with sl st into first st.

Row 4:  Ch 3, 1 dc in first st, SPECIAL STITCH in each st around, join with sl st into first st. 

Finish off. 

Piping:  The piping is made by creating a chain of BOBBLE STITCHES then sewing it onto the cupcake.

BOBBLE STITCH:  *Yarn over twice,  insert hook into the next stitch, yarn over and pull up one loop, pull through one loop on hook, yarn over and pull through 2 loops on hook, yarn over and pull through 2 loops.*  This is called an Incomplete Treble Crochet.  Repeat from * to * 4 more times to make 4 incomplete treble crochets in that same st.  There will be 5 loops left on the hook.  Yarn over and pull through all loops on hook. 

With frosting color, [ch 3, in 3rd ch from hook, work BOBBLE STITCH].  Repeat from [ to ] again and again until the chain of BOBBLE STITCHES is long enough to go around the whole cupcake.  Finish off leaving a 15in chain for sewing.  Sew chain onto the cupcake to cover the seam where the cake meets the frosting.   

Apply several small dots of fabric glue to frosting area, add pompoms and let dry completely. 

Shout out to Twinkie Chan for the inspiration for this Java Jammies pattern, (and the BOBBLE STITCH for the piping is my adaptation of her Piping pattern).  Feel free to use this pattern for your own use, and you have my permission to sell items made from this pattern as long as you link back to this post and Spicy Tuesday Crafts.  Please don't sell the written pattern to anyone.  At all.  Thanks. 

Happy Holidays!

sock monkeys and owls...

 I'm currently climbling out from under a huge pile of yarn, hooks in hand.  This summer I signed up to have a table at our local craft fair in Nov. to sell my Ouchie Owls, Boo Boo Birds and sock monkey hats.  Thinking I'd have plenty of time to stock the table, I started slowly working on some hats and other assorted baby/kid gear to put out for sale.  Ha!  Since I started working on stuff for the fair, I've gotten 10 separate orders for monkey hats, two of them while I was sitting on the bleachers at a football game.... my tiny friend slash amazing baby-sized advertiser Quentin was also there sporting his sock monkey hat and causing quite a stir with all his cuddly cuteness.  With all those orders coming in I've hardly accumulated much of anything for the fair but I do still have a month and a half.  Those last few days I'll no doubt be up at all hours.  Here are a few of the items I've finished in the last few days:     

Back to School Cake Pops!

 With a nod to my new "baking" hero (the quotes are because these really aren't baked), Bakerella, I attempted my first ever batch of cake pops to celebrate the first day of school.  I love how they came out and will definitely have to make them again! 

 The above recipe describes what I did, based mostly on the one by Bakerella....www.bakerella.com.  She's amazing, and her photos made me want to try one of each of her designs (I'm totally taken in by really good photos of things).  I made a few changes in the coating, however, because out here in the sticks I have to rely on Walmart for my supplies and they only had candy melts in red, white, and brown.  I totally lucked out with the red but I wanted to do some in apple green color so I had to come up with my own.  Enter white Almond Bark -- I had to laugh at the brand I found, called Pilgrim's Pantry....did the pilgrims really have much need for candy coating, what with all the seasickness and colony-building?  Anyway, I looked all over the web for instructions on how to effectively tint almond bark....I'd heard before that you can't use water-based food coloring drops because water "breaks" the candy coating like it does chocolate....but all I found was more people railing against water-based food coloring.  Holding fast to the anthem, "There must be a better way!", I tried it anyway.  Turns out, if you melt the bark, add a few drops of food coloring, add Crisco one tablespoon at a time, and stir A LOT, the bark will return to dipping consistancy and actually still tastes pretty good.    I got the green apple color by using one drop of blue with 6 drops of neon green (it's like a perfect Shrek color -- I also used it last year for the alien cupcakes at Josiah's 3rd b'day). 

Love 'em!  I'll have to try different ones for the kids' b'days from time to time.  I'm thinkin' a Cake Pop party is in order, too....one of every kind, please!

Josiah turned 4!

So, our little man turned 4! Once I got over the fact that he's been with us for four years already. . . has it REALLY been that long?!?! . . . I got to work planning his party. His favorite movie right now is Gnomeo & Juliet so that's what he wanted for his party. But I don't think the movie did very well overall because there was no merchandise to be found -- no figurines, no plush, no decorations, nothing! -- so we had to make up our own. For the invites I found an image online of one of the official movie posters and added my own text, then printed them as 4x6 photos.
We had the Reds Vs. the Blues just like the movie, complete with Mr. and Mrs. Featherstone (the flamingos): The cupcakes were red and blue gnomes "hiding" in the grass:
I took sugar cones and coated them with melted Candy Melts, then sunk them into the frosting "grass" on top of chocolate cupcakes. The Travelocity Roaming Gnome made an appearance (found him at Target along with the fantastic mushrooms which I painted) as well as the stuffed crocheted version I made years ago. He (the crocheted one) lives in the center console of my car and has been photographed all over CA, WY, NM, CO, NV, UT, OR and even went with my parents and aunt & uncle to Hawaii two years ago . . . I have a whole scrapbook devoted to his excursions! The treats on the Red side were strawberries, dark chocolate Hershey candies (3 shades of red), cupcakes with Strawberry Fields ice cream and Coke and red Hawaiian Punch. The treats on the Blue side were blueberries, York peppermint candies (blue & white), cupcakes with Birthday Bash ice cream (confetti ice cream with blue frosting ribbons throughout) and Pepsi and blue Hawaiian Punch.We had our own version of "Nanette the Frog" -- my mom's vintage cookie jar. That thing is older than I am and has been repainted several times but I love it! My dad would happily let it live at my house permanently but Mom wanted it back.He had to eat the frosting first:After the presents . . . the kid made out like a BANDIT, I tell you . . . and the treats, we all went back outside to launch the Gnome Paratroopers!The paratroopers were a huge hit!

And finally, we ended the night with Gnome tattoos. Those little guys were the HARDEST thing to remove -- they said "temporary" but 5 days and that many showers later I finally had to take the nail polish remover to mine and he still didn't budge.

Josiah said he loved his party and had a ton of fun with all his friends and family. I was glad to hear it, because I had a blast! Love that little guy!

SYTYC is over for me...Sad!

So, after a 5 week run, I got last place and was "voted off" last week. Sad! The 5th, 4th, and 3rd place people were only separated by 3 votes, but my time was up this round. I loved competing and will miss it, but it'll also be nice to just craft for fun instead of deadlines, etc, which turned out to be way more stressful for me than I thought it would! Anyway, here's what would have been my entry for the Kids Can Do week which is taking place right now -- go on over and vote for your fave! And now I present: Genesis' Swimsuit Cover-Up!

When I was 8 years old, I spent a summer with my grandma learning to sew. She was a fantastic seamstress and I loved spending time with her just to soak up all the knowledge she seemed to exude. My own daughter turns 8 this winter and so I decided it was high time for her to learn the basics, and what better opportunity than the Kids Can Do week at SYTYC! She's been wanting to make a swimsuit cover-up for herself and here it is!
She picked out the fabric and buttons and did about half the sewing (until Phineas & Ferb came on tv and I lost her completely). I made the design as easy as possible so she could follow my instructions:
The swimsuit cover is made of lightweight fleece to absorb the water but not be too hot, and it was perfect for her to sew because it doesn't fray like terry cloth or knit. The front is held closed by stick-on strips of Velcro so she didn't burn out on button holes on her first project. The three buttons that are across the top are functioning but since the fleece doesn't fray it didn't need a fussy buttonhole. Now she's desperate to get to the lake and try it out. And she's got a notebook full of sewing projects to try before school begins again!

Week 4 - Upcycle

My favorite part about summer is the colors. All the stores have bright displays out and I love to browse and see what the new color schemes are for housewares and fashion. My sister recently sent me a care package in which she included several fantastically bright placemats. And while I love how this yellow one looked on my table:

I decided I wanted to be able to enjoy it more than just at mealtimes so I made it into a summery bag!
I added a double-sided (for added stability) ribbon for the handles and mitred the corners so it will stand up on the table by itself. It's fully washable and dryable and stain-repellant because in real life it's still a placemat. It's just big enough for an on-the-go summer -- my wallet, keys, phone, and a granola bar for the kids. I could also toss in a magazine or novel for those long hours by the pool.
I love how it looks hanging on my kitchen chair and can't wait to give it a try!