I hope everyone had a fun labor day/long weekend! I brought some hula hoops to a barbeque and planned on hoopin’ it up but it ended up being too hot. And today is even hotter! Ack! A couple days ago, it was cold and raining. I’m so confused. We don’t have weather like this in southern California. I’m ready for Fall though. Bring it on ASAP, please! Enough talk about the weather! I’ve been hanging on to some flower pictures and I’m going to dump them here for your viewing pleasure! :)

My pretty hibiscus. Two of my three hibiscus bushes died recently. This one is the survivor. I feel bad for (unintentionally) letting the others die, but this one has always been my favorite so I’m happy it made it.

A dwarf zinnia. I love taking macro photos of flowers btw :)

My plumeria! I was so excited to see flowers on it! I transplanted it about a month ago and I think I hurt it a little by breaking roots so I didn’t think it would make any flowers this year. Surprise! :)

Not a flower but still from the yard! :P She’s been my bff lately! I’ve started taking her to a new walking path and she gets so excited! She knows the sound of my shoes and the sound of my dresser, so when she hears me getting dressed in the morning, she starts doing a little happy dance because she knows she’s going on a walk!

Pretty pretty pom bombs!

How perfect is this?! Yarn bombing meets guerilla gardening! Love it!

This week I fell in love with hydrangeas. I think it’s partially because of how big they are. I love that. But I also love how many pretty colors they come in:

Here’s what I’ve been working on this weekend! It’s been my intention for a while now to get some hats listed on Etsy for those of you who like my patterns but don’t crochet. I actually attempted this once before but I ended up keeping two of the three hats that I made. Oops! :/ So here goes my second attempt! I’ve been making some Pineapple Coconut Slouchies and hope to get them listed soon. Let me know if there’s any particular color that you’d like.

I’m also working on finishing up the pattern for one of these hats. I’m almost done writing everything up but I’m still going to need to get it tested before it’s released.

Oh, and my poor Chia bunny started to grow mold! :( I think some of the seeds were bad… so here’s a picture of a rose instead!

♥ This week, I found two spiffy calendars! Here’s a pocket style one made with photos and here’s a pretty one made with buttons!

♥ I’m starting to see Valentines crafts popping up! My favorite so far is PlanetJune’s love hearts. (free crochet pattern)

♥ I’ve recently been interested in learning new fabric dying techniques. Kinda sad that I can’t really try this one! But I just love the look of these fabrics that were dyed using snow! So pretty!

♥ Here’s a tutorial that shows how to make fabric roses, and this tutorial shows them used to decorate socks. I just love these socks! Actually, I have these socks! (I ♥ $2 Target knee highs!) I just need to make some flowers now! :D

♥ Craft Snob has several different types of fabric flower tutorials. My favorites are Pomela, Olivia, and Lydia. There are so many things these could be used for!

♥ Check out this cute triangle pouch! I really want to make one of these!

♥ Here are some cute owls made with pom poms! You could made so many types of critters with pom poms, actually!

I’ve been meaning to share this pattern for a while now! I had to sell my Blythes a while back so I kinda forgot about this pattern and all of the other things I’d made for them. It always weirded me out that some of their clothes cost just as much as mine! So I was all about making as much stuff for them as I could. Unfortunately, I lack the patience to sew tiny clothes. So everything I made for them was crocheted or knit. Anyway, here’s a really easy, pretty accessory for your Blythe dolls! I hope you like! If this is popular, I’ll probably post a few of my Blythe hat patterns too.

SUPPLIES

- Size E crochet hook
- Worsted weight yarn in 2 colors
- Yarn needle

ABBREVIATIONS

CA – color A (flower)
CB – color B (headband)
ch – chain
sc – single crochet
rnd – round
st – stitch
rep – repeat
dc – double crochet
hdc – half double crochet
ea – each
FO – finish / fasten off

INSTRUCTIONS

This pattern is worked in rounds. Join only where the pattern says to. Gauge for the flower is unimportant. Gauge for the headband is 5 hdc = 1 inch.

HEADBAND

With CB, ch 45. sl st to join.
rnd 1: ch 2 (counts as 1st hdc). 1 hdc in ea ch.
invisible join and FO

FLOWER

With CA, ch 2.
rnd 1: 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook.
rnd 2: work in front loops only – [1 sc in next st. ch 3. sl st in same st as previous sc] rep 5 times
rnd 3: work in back loops from rnd 1 – [1 sc, 3 dc, 1 sc in same st] rep 5 times
invisible join and FO

With a scrap of CB and your yarn needle, make three french knots in the center of the flower. FO leaving a piece of yarn long enough to attach the flower to the head band.

ASSEMBLY

Use the piece of CB that you left and your yarn needle to attach the flower to the headband. I like to put the flower over the join in the headband so that you can’t see the join.

If you use this free pattern, please consider supporting me by purchasing a pattern from my shop.  Your support will help insure that I’m able to continue making new patterns to share (both free & paid). Thanks for considering! :)

TERMS OF USE:
This pattern is protected by United States & International Copyright law. This pattern and anything made from it may not be used for commercial purposes. You may not sell anything made from this pattern. You may not resell or redistribute this pattern in part or in whole. Derivative works are prohibited. This pattern and items made from it are intended for your personal use only.

Copyright © 2010 Julie King / Gleeful Things. All Rights Reserved.