The End of the Third Annual Flats and Hand Washing Challenge

"I am taking part in the Third Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry. For 7 days I will be using only flat cloth diapers and handwashing them in an effort to prove that cloth diapering can be affordable and accessible to all. You can learn more about the rules and why this challenge was started by visiting the announcement post. This year there are over 400 participants from all over the world!"

Unfortunately I didn't make it to the end of this year's challenge. I completed 5 days. Last year I finished the challenge and continued to hand wash for an additional 2 weeks and continued using flats for another 2 months. I know that I could do it if I had to but fortunately I don't have to.
This challenge has made me seriously consider getting rid of a lot of my stash and sticking to flats if there is ever a baby #2 in my life.
Congratulations to everyone that did complete the challenge. It isn't an easy task.
And now without further ado. The winner of the wool longies is.....
Mommytoreanne!

I also have this crocheted soaker up for sale in my Etsy shop.

Rag Bag

I can not sew to save my life. LOL. Actually let me rephrase that. I can not sew using my sewing machine. For whatever reason anytime I try to use my sewing machine something goes wrong. A needle breaks, the thread jams.. something always happens that makes me just give up. I dream of really learning how to sew and making beautiful garments but for now I am sticking to quick and easy projects like this rag bag.  Actually it is meant to be a grocery bag caddy but I mostly use reusable bags and really needed a home for all of my rags.  I love this fabric. I had it in my stash for a while now and am so happy that I finally got some use out of it.  It is a heavy black and white toile.

I had taken an online sewing class where I learned how to make a French seam, which I used for the long side of my rag bag. That is actually the only part that was done on my machine. After that my machine was acting up so I just hand sewed the elasticized ends and the strap. The strap is a little wonky but overall I like how it came out.

This week I am linking up with CrunchyCatholicMomma's Stash Bash and NaturalSuburbia's Creative Friday and

The Country Homemaker Hop

Destashing for Girls

So as some of you may know I have been really trying to cut back my yarn stash. I have been doing a pretty good job so far. Let's just say I can now close my yarn drawer. :) This week I crossed two more projects off of my queue. Yay!!
Last year I found this gorgeous alpaca wool blend yarn for $1.99 a skein. What a bargain. I cleaned them out and now was stuck with 6 skeins of purple yarn that I still had not used until now. I do hope to have a little girl one day Inshallah. So with wishful thinking I picked out two projects that could really be used at anytime of year.
Project #1 Modeled by Miss. Panda Bear was the Shell Stitch Pixie Bonnet from Crochetlatte.com

Project #2 was Bev's Newborn Shirt/Vest from Bevscountrycottage.com

This week I am linking up to Frontier Dreams' KCCO, CrunchyCatholicMomma's Stash Bash, and NaturalSuburbia's Creative Friday.

Travel Size Playscapes

I have been on a major destash mission lately. I searched ravelry for small projects that would help me use up some of my scrap yarn.  In my searches I stumbled across the cutest project to make for my son. It is a travel size playscape.

Can you guess what's in the bag?

Keep Guessing...

Quack Quack. Two little ducks swimming in the pond. But these aren't any ordinary ducks. They are little finger puppets.

This is such a fun toy. My son is really having a great time playing with his ducks. I plan to use this little playscape for story telling. It will be perfect for telling the story of the Ugly Duckling.
The pattern is called Duck Pond Playset and can be found here.

The following day I was inspired to modify this pattern to make a portable racetrack for my son's cars. I had seen a pattern for a racetrack rug on ravelry but thought that this would be more manageable. So here is my creative juice baby lol.

It came out just how I had imagined. I do wish the track was a bit wider though.
I used stash gray yarn for the track and white for the drawstring.
My changes from the original Duck Pond Playset pattern are as follows:
Follow pattern up to round 10 substituting green for blue and black or gray for green.
Round 10: Ch 1. *2 sc in nest st. sc in next 8 sts. Repeat from * sl st. at end of round to connect round. 60 st. total
Round 11: Same as original pattern's round 10
Round 12: Ch. 1. sc in each stitch around.
Round 13: Change to green yarn. Chain 2. Dc in each st. around. sl st in first st in round. Finish off.

Drawstring done in white: ch 80. Add a matchbox car.

This week I am linking up with Craft-o-maniac.com's Monday Link Party Frontier Dreams' KCCO, CrunchyCatholicMomma's Stash Bash, and NaturalSuburbia's Creative Friday.

Needle Holder

Finally I have something to hold all of my crochet needles. It's been a long time coming. 6 or 7 years ago my mom had started sewing one for me. The furthest she got on that project was cutting out the fabric. Then about 2 years ago I put this pattern in my queue on Ravelry. Well finally it is done!
I used all stash yarn and a vintage "diamond" button that was from my grandmother's button box. As a child from the depression my grandma never wasted anything. She hoarded buttons and all sorts of things. She would cut them off any old or even donated thing she had. I inherited her lovely box of buttons and cherish it so much.

                                         The pattern is called Kluster and is from Berrococ.

                                                        And here it is all rolled up.

I really should have felted this a little more. I only sent it through the wash once. I am nervous that some of the smaller hooks might fall out so for now I am keeping the little hooks in my crochet bag. I do love how this project came it. I am even happier to be making a dent in my stash and to be crossing off projects from my ever expanding queue.

I am linking up with Naturalsuburbia's Creative Friday and Crunchycatholicmomma's Stash Bash this week.