Crocheted Beard

What better way to keep your face warm on those cold Southern California nights than your very own crocheted beard? It does get below 70 degrees here sometimes, I swear...

We found this link on Pinterest for a simple tutorial.

Who says that women cannot rock a beard?! 

Or maybe you need a lumberjack costume?

See some pictures below of my brother, Brian, modeling his latest birthday present.

We are Giants fans in our family, if you couldn't tell.

I think he looks like either Brian Wilson or Sergio Romo. What do you think?

Either way, after this latest World Series win, this hat is doubly awesome!

I think he likes it.

Though the beard is sewn into the beanie, it is easily folded back and worn normally. Try one out for yourself!

http://www.jjcrochet.com/blog/tag/crochet-hat-pattern/

My First Crochet Project

For my first crochet project, I found a cute little bear tutorial online.

It is super simple and super-cute. The bears are shaped like balls and have eyes and little faces stitched on with embroidery thread.

Here are a few of mine in action:

To make a koala bear, you need grey yarn (3 or 4 weight), 2.00 mm crochet hook, tapestry needle, black embroidery thread, 6 mm safety eyes, and white felt.

 The weight of the yarn will change the size of the overall bear (as long as you follow the tutorial).

Here you can see the koala was done in weight 3 yarn.

For the panda bear, you will need black and white yarn (3 or 4 weight), 2.00 mm crochet hook, tapestry needle, black embroidery thread, 6 mm safety eyes and black felt.

 The panda is made with weight 4 yarn and is much rounder than the koala.

In order to change the thread between colors, I would recommend a Russian joiner (as seen here). There are no bulky knots poking out from your bear in strange spots making the overall look very sleek.

I love these cute little guys so much, they were Christmas presents for a lot of people this year.

My Por-Por (Chinese grandmother) laughed so hard when I gave her one. She was amazed at how fast we learned how to crochet and thought they were very sweet.

We would recommend these little bears for first time crocheters!

You have never lived till you've hooked!

Crochet Beginnnings

So where to begin in the great wide world of crochet?

We really wanted to work out way to Amigurumi figures, but practice makes perfect, right?

So we began with a simple ball.

Done in teal, my favorite color of course.

Why bother just staring at boring white, when you can do it with some flare!

This website was super helpful when learning how to make simply objects.

To start a ball, you must learn two simple stitches: the magic ring and the single stitch.

Mine didn't come out too bad for a first try!

They also had heart shapes as well. These are super- cute!

Mine came out a bit lopsided, but still recognizable.

I tried a freehand object using all that I learned. I think I decided about half way through that it would be a pear. Can't have too many crocheted pears!

If you would like to try out these simple objects, you can find the free patterns in the link below.

http://www.pepika.com/free-patterns/amigurumi-course.html