Ask (for cake) and you shall receive! A lot of people have asked me if I could release the Strawberry Cake Scarf pattern that I put together for classes taught at Michaels in 2014. Here is my original blog post about it. The Craft Yarn Council owns the rights to the pattern now, but since the class is no longer available at Michaels, I asked if I could share the pattern here, and they said yes! Yay!

This Strawberry Cake Scarf is super sweet, fun to wear, easily customizable to your favorite cake colors and flavors, and perfect for crocheters of all skill levels – even beginners! So let’s eat our cake and wear it, too! I made my first cake scarf back in 2007, and it looked like this:

I didn’t change much except for the strawberry. (Should I cut my hair again!?) Unfortunately, both of the yarns I used in 2007 do not exist anymore, but I’m sure you could find similar if you wanted to. The cool thing about this pattern is how flexible it is. Pretty much any worsted weight yarn will work, and you’re basically just crocheting a bunch of rectangles :). 

If you’re not inclined to crochet your own, I’m also selling a finished version of the scarf in my Etsy shop.

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I’m excited to show you my final Critter of the Month class on Creativebug.com! It’s an adorable and abominable snowman!

Wanna see the sketch I made before crocheting him?

He actually went through a few iterations before his final form :P. There are two little things about this class that I think are kinda cool. 1) You will learn how to give your monster a mouth that is actually concave so that you can put stuff in it! 2) He comes with a little crocheted Santa Hat that you could actually crochet for tiny ornaments or gift-toppers.

Click on over to Creativebug to take the class!! I am dying to see all your monsters, so if you end up making one, please do tag me on social media!

If you’re an SF local, you should pop over to Imagiknit to pick up some yarn and check out my cute lil pop-up shop which we dubbed Seasons Eatings! I turned some of my crocheted bento buddies into ornaments, but if you happen to pick one up at the shop, you can always cut the hanging loop and turn these items into pins, hair clips, or keychains!

I turned a bear-burger into a tree-topper with a simple alligator clip!

You can also purchase some of my sticker sheets and fully-assembled bento boxes now at Imagiknit. I had a lot of fun putting Seasons Eatings together, and I hope you guys like it!

The #YarnHeroes has its own site now, YarnHeroes.com! Check it out! I think it’s pretty cool if will be year-round movement! Here’s a link to my original post about the Yarn Heroes and our mission to help you crochet for charity. You can also find my pattern for Candy Cane Wristwarmers. Below you’ll find a pattern for some cute and easy puffy crocheted bows that you can turn into hair accessories, corsages, belts, Christmas tree decorations, wreath decorations, shoe clips, purse-pins, pretty much anything and everything! I originally designed these bows to make shoe clips for a Bee and Puppycat outfit, but they are really great for holidaytimes, too. You can create a cute embellishment for a wide range of your charitable crocheting, and you can also make the bows themselves for charities such as BowDazzling. So far, Bow Dazzling has delivered over 29,000 bows and headbands to children’s hospitals. Pretty amazing!

AND NOW: Giveaway info! Lion Brand will send TWO winners each 2 balls of yarn of your choice (PLUS a pack of Lion Brand BonBons) to make your own pair of Candy Cane Wristwarmers and a bow or two. I made my wristwarmers with Kitchen Cotton in Bubblegum and Hot Pepper, but each winner can choose whatever Lion Brand yarn and colors you like. I think Vanna’s Choice would also be perfect! My green bow is made with Bonbons, and the white one is Vanna’s Glamour.

To enter to win, simply comment my blog with one of your own Yarn Hero moments, whether it was someone who was a Yarn Hero to you, or a charitable cause you crafted for, or what future Yarn Hero plans you might be cooking up! You have one week until Wednesday, December 7th at midnight PST. Please note that this giveaway is open only to USA/Canada, and you must be 18 or over to enter. I will choose the winners randomly with Random.org. Please only one entry per person.

Also at the Yarn Heroes website, you’ll find information about a $250 yarn giveaway happening this month. AAAAND don’t forget, while shopping at LionBrand.com, you can use code YARNHEROES16 for $5 off any order that’s over $20 or more for your charitable crafting, only until December 15. AAAAAND, don’t forget to check out the blogs of the other 14 Yarn Heroes for their free patterns, plus some of them are hosting giveaways of their own!

[Moogly] [Mama In A Stitch] [All About Ami] [One Dog Woof] [Sewrella] [Delia Creates]

[Underground Crafter] [Sh*t That I Knit] [Kristy Glass] [Two of Wands]

[Make & Do Crew] [A Crocheted Simplicity] [Little Red Window]  [B-Hooked Crochet]

Tag photos of your charitable crocheting/knitting with #YarnHeroes so we can see all your awesome work!

Now, onto some cute bows!

Cute Puffy Bow Crochet Pattern!

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Treetopia assembled a super cool Design Council for their Christmas in All Shapes and Sizes campaign, and I am so honored to be a part of it!

We got to decorate a Treetopia tree of our choice (sponsored) and then answer the question, ““What unique family tradition inspired your Christmas tree’s theme?”

I have sort of a roundabout answer to this, as my Christmas tree is really about starting to create new traditions in my own home, rather than representing unique traditions from my family. After moving out of my family’s house, I didn’t have my own tree for a very long time. I was kind of afraid to start gathering my own set of ornaments when I was basically moving to a new apartment every year. When I finally got around to buying my own (faux) tree a few years ago, I decided that I wanted to only buy handmade or vintage decorations, and this is what I’m showing here for the Christmas in All Shapes and Sizes campaign. I like putting new spins on classic Christmas traditions, such as stringing popcorn into garlands and finding the Christmas pickle. My popcorn and pickles are crocheted! And since I just love food-themed decor in general, I have a lot fun, kitschy cupcakes in my tree, too.  I admit that I broke a little on the handmade/vintage mission when I hung some cute keychains I purchased while in Tokyo in October, but “re-purposing” might still be on theme! My personal mission as a crafter has always been to add more fun and color to my life and the world around me, and my candy-coated lavender tree definitely fits the bill!

Let’s take a closer look!

My older tree is pink, which I have a vintage red tree-skirt for. But I’m one of those people who doesn’t like mixing purple and red, so I threw down this vintage flower-loom afghan! I love anything that screams technicolorgranny!

Ok, I broke my handmade/vintage rule a bit here with these Treetopia Artisan’s Glass Egg ornaments, but I think that gifted ornaments can count, too :P. I liked these lil guys because they reminded me of ornaments from my tree growing up. I probably accidentally smashed a few… and in grand tradition, I actually already dropped one of these Glass Eggs on the wood floor… shhhhH!!! I can have nice things!!!

I really love ornaments that have a little tiny story on them, like these two lil smooching deer!!! I am also in desperate need of an amazing tree-topper. I have gone years without one, and I want the best one!

I actually have a few more kitschy cupcake ornaments on the way, being handmade as we speak! My current fave shop for this kind of decoration is 12LegsCuriosities on Etsy.

Please check out the other Design Council Bloggers’ trees and their holiday family traditions on the Treetopia blog! Two trees/bloggers per day have been going up this whole week. BUT WAIT. THERE’S MORE.

Treetopia is giving us the opportunity to give one lucky winner a $150 gift card to shop at Treetopia. That’s pretty dang spiffy if you ask me! All you have to do to enter is to comment my blog with your favorite one-of-a-kind family holiday tradition. I know that I just asked this in my group giveaway, so if you wanna mix it up, you can also answer with your favorite holiday treat/drink/side-dish/snack as well! You can enter until next Wednesday, November 30th, at midnight! A winner will be chosen randomly by Random.org.

P.S. The holiday tradition with my family is that we go out to eat somewhere nice together on Christmas Eve and then go home and open presents that night. The following day, we have friends come over for Christmas dinner and have a huge, extremely funny White Elephant gift exchange. Which reminds me, I have to go hunt for that…

P.P.S. Here is an outtake from when I had the room arranged a bit differently, but I felt like Bearry Ham (long story) was lookin a bit weird, so he sat the rest out.