Photos from a DIY Wedding + A New Dress

A couple weeks ago I attended a wedding for my boyfriend's sister and her fiancé. The bride was doing a lot of the preparation for the wedding by herself and with the help of her family and friends. I know that can add a lot of extra pre-wedding stress, but the result was beautiful.

I was around helping to set things up that morning so I was able to take a lot of pictures. The bride's mother spent the better part of the past year growing succulents that were used for decor, favors, boutonnieres and the bouquets. She has quite the green thumb, right? I have trouble just keeping my succulents alive!

Enjoy the pictures!

Triple Luxe Cowl

A couple of weeks ago I took a trip to Oregon to visit a very good friend of mine. It gets a bit colder there than it does here, so I used that as a perfect excuse to do some crocheting. I made a Cloudburst Shawl for my friend and a Chunky Stripe Hat with a pom pom for her husband. For myself, I was trying to pack for a weekend in just a backpack so I wanted a warm accessory that could get with every outfit. My raincoat is red, so it was very obvious to me to crochet a blue cowl.

I had been eyeing the Triple Luxe Cowl pattern for awhile. What had stopped me from making it sooner was that bulky yarn meant for a very warm cowl. I live in Northern California, and there would probably only a month or two in the winter when it'd be cold enough to wear it. So of course I jumped on an excuse to make it.

Chunky Stripe Hat with Pom Pom

Remember my Chunky Stripe Hat pattern? Well, after making all of those hats I was left with a lot of scrap yarn. Plus, I had just gotten finished making my own Triple Luxe Cowl and had a bit of yarn left over from that project as well. Scraps are just asking to be made into stripes, so I thought it was time to try out my beanie pattern again.

The Big Knot Headband in more colors!

Another gift I made this past Christmas (yes I was crocheting for weeks!) was my Big Knot Headband in several different colors. I hear a lot from family and friends that read my blog that they'd love something I made in purple/red/orange, etc. Well, I can't make all the colors, but I came pretty close with these.

They are all still made using Red Heart Soft yarn. I had plenty of yarn leftover too, so I have all of these colors up for sale in my Etsy shop.

Crochet Hearts Garland

I have really been getting to the Valentine's Day mood around here. What can I say though, I am a sucker for red, pink, and anything with hearts. I went onto Ravelry searching for a basic crochet heart pattern. I wasn't even sure what I was going to use them for yet, but I just knew I wanted to make some hearts. Plus, I had just enough red leftover from my Cloudburst Shawl project to made some. I just love this yarn color because I think it's the perfect shade of red.


I found this crochet hearts pattern to use. I liked that it is done in three rows, and you can stop at any row depending on what size you want to make. I started by making the large size and just kept going. Soon I had a whole pile of these cute hearts.

Crochet Eskimo Boots

I'm still sharing the handmade gifts I made for this past Christmas. The one I'm sharing today is probably my favorite of the bunch. I had been eyeing this crochet pattern for awhile. I just loved the cuff and the ties with the pom poms. So I was excited to finally get an excuse to make it. The most difficult part of this pattern was probably figuring out the yarn. The pattern gives the amount of skeins needed of their brand of yarn, not the yardage. I did not have time to order their yarn if I wanted it made for Christmas, so I figured out approximate yardage by calculating the the amount skeins required and the yardage in each skein.

Crochet Fingerless Gloves

Just a small sampling of the gifts my generous family exchanged

Happy New Year! I hope you had a nice holiday season with your family and loved ones. I enjoyed the celebrations and time spent with family. This was especially nice after the hectic pre-Christmas preparations. I had been busy finishing up the 6 Weeks of Gifting series for this blog, planning Christmas get-togethers, and furiously sewing and crocheting up some gifts for loved one.

Crochet African Violet Pincushion

I had a frustrating sewing week. My sewing machine kept breaking threads (turns out it needed to be cleaned), my ruler slipped while using my rotary cutter, and I unpicked more seams than I care to admit. Then there's the mess. When I'm working on a sewing project everything is out. My cutting board, thread, pins, fabric scraps, sewing machine accessories, ironing board...you get the picture. I don't have a dedicated sewing room, so at the end of the day I need to put everything away back into the closet it came from so that the dining table can return to its original purpose. Usually, after I've finished with a day's work, I feel a sense of accomplishment. Then cleaning up isn't a hassle because I'm in a pleasant mood. But having to clean up a mess when I'm not feeling satisfied..well, that just sucks. So last night I decided I needed a change of pace. I wanted to do something relaxing instead.