I'm Back

In case you haven't noticed, I have had no luck being able to use my computer like I used to since I moved! My little boy just doesn't like to hang out in the basement where our computer is set up. Luckily for me I've finally found the Blogger App on my iPod Touch, so now I can update on the go! I tried going on the web from my iPod and updating that way, but it wouldn't allow me to add photos! :( So without further ado, here's what I've been up to!

I've been diligently working on this awesome portrait crochet piece for my dear friend and it's finally at the 76% mark! The only now is that I've run out of red yarn! I'm in desperate need of a trip to the yarn store and hope they have this color! I certainly don't want to have to order it online! I bought the yarn in Colorado while I was staying there, and the store is still fairly new to the Michigan area, so fingers crossed!

It's coming out rather nicely if I do say so myself! I can't wait to finish it for her! It's been taking much much longer then I ever had anticipated! :(

But that's all for now! More to come soon!

Oops I Did It Again

I changed my name once more! Is that really bad?  What's a girl to do?  So I decided that my my Etsy shop name, 7polkadots, just doesn't fit me anymore, so I set out to change that!  I picked a name that I felt was better for me and where I want to go with my business and so Two Little C's is born!

Two Little C's was inspired by my children, who's names both start with C's (as well as everyone else in my family)!  With most of my work being inspired by my children, what they like, what they do, it seemed a perfect fit to name my store after them.  I also like that it has a perfect mix of both fun and quirky feel without being overly childish or grown-up!  I really like it!

So now, I'm going to be re-redesigning the blog, LOL, and doing an entire relaunch of my Etsy shop!  I'm working on new product and getting everything in order to hopefully get the ball rolling in the right direction.  That also means a few (good) changes to the blog as well!  I'm going to be trying to focus my blogging more specifically on crochet/knitting and my business type things!  I know that by being all over the place with my banter can be confusing and off putting, and no one wants that now do we!

So I have some free patterns that I'm going to be putting up soon for some crochet afghan pieces!  I can't wait to share them with you!

Until next time, chao!

Crocheting Hats

I swear I'm not ignoring you!  (Don't you hate it when people say that!) But honestly I'm not!  I know I've been seriously neglecting the blog as of late even though my goal is to stay on top of my blogging!  Let me start out by saying I have an extremely good reason!  Without going into too much detail, my life is being turned upside down and I'm going to be starting a new chapter in my life.  Actually, I don't think it classifies so much as a chapter as it does an entirely new book! But anywho, my life has been total chaos this passed week or two and it seems to have been a long time coming.

The upside to all of this is that I've been crocheting very much to help my keep my mind off of things!  So, with that being said, I have some cute hats to show you all!  Let me start off by saying that I'm sorry for these horrible photos!  I can't for the life of me find the charger to my camera's battery, so I've had to take these photos with my iPod!

This lovely little blue bird hat was created for my daughter.  Isn't it just a cutie?  I love how it came out and it was super easy!

Of course I couldn't just stop there, I had to create one for my son as well!  I thought the red would be perfect and of course left the flower out!

So, that's something I've been working on through all the chaos, I hope you like!  If you wanna create some hats like these for yourself you can get this cute pattern from Sock Monkey Kook on Etsy!

My First Time Knitting Socks

Woohoo, I've been knitting!  I knitted my first pair of socks and boy I must say.... they are kinda ugly! LOL, my knitting is GREAT, but the variegated yarn created this really quite unappealing pattern.

Of course you can see that they are toe socks, and here you can kinda see the pattern around the toes is sorta nice, and even around the ankle area, but around the foot it created this weird patch that I don't care for.  But all in all, I really like them for hanging around the house and wearing my flip flops when I'm cleaning, and I think I'm gonna make another pair of regular socks.

 I made the socks from these two patterns by Patons Yarns.  I did the entire sock from the toeless pedicure socks and then added the toes from the toe socks.  These are free pattern available on their site if you are a member, also free.  Now, I will say that I've always been intimidated to try a pair of sock but I've been looking for a challenge and wanted to try something new.  Now that I did really well, my entire family wants some socks!  So now I'm gonna make different pairs for my husband, son, daughter, and even my mother.

The purple on the left has a little but of silver in it, which is what my mom picked out.  The pink has flecks of purple, hot pink, and even yellow, and it's gonna make a cute pair of socks for my daughter.  The yellow has all sorts of different colored flecks in it, but it's for my son and I'm gonna make a pair of ankle socks or stirup socks for myself.  The black and grey variegated is for my husband and is a nice wool blend that should be great!

So I have lots of work to do, off to knit and stuff!

-♥-
Chassity
XOXO

Grandmothers and Bunnies and Ballet, Oh My!

It's been a hectic time at the O. house and boy it's been fun!  My mother is in town for the week visiting and CiCi has been so excited about it!  We only get to see my mom maybe once or twice a year, so all the time we get is special.

So, lots has happened in the few days my mom has been here already.  CiCi has been asking lots and lots about taking a ballet class, so we signed her up!  It starts this Saturday.  I can't wait to be going to recitals and doing dance classes for years to come.  I used to dance when I was in high school and I strongly believe in extra curricular activities!  So we had to go buy CiCi some ballet shoes and we got her these!  Nothing fancy, just some shoes from Payless.

The biggest upset for us seems to be that we've gotten CiCi a bunny!  I know, it's been a bunch of new things for CiCi, but I really wanted it to.  I guess me wanting it was a good thing since I will have to take care of it the most and deal with CiCi's constant need to play with the poor thing.  Maybe CiCi is a little too small to have a bunny because she has been scaring the poor thing to death, but this is only the 3rd day she's had it so I'm hoping things will calm down really soon!  It's a cute little thing though, and we've named it Ruby, from the Nick Jr show Ruby and Max!  It's not all white like Ruby but it's one of CiCi's fave cartoons with a bunny in it! :)

She loves little Ruby all the same and I'm glad she has a little "friend" at home to play with.  She will hopefully learn a little from the rabbit and all will b e well! :)

-♥-

Chassity O.

XOXO

First Day of School

So my daughter, Cecilia aka CiCi, has started preschool.  I totally would have posted this earlier, but you know I had all that computer trouble around the same time! :(

So a little back story, I grew up in Germany.  My mother is full German and I spent my first 9 years or so in Germany.  Over there they have this awesome tradition for children and their first day of school.  It's called a Schultute!  Basically it's a decorated cone that's filled with candy and goodies so that they feel better about going to their first day of school, which can be filled with anxiety.

I absolutely love this tradition and had to do it for my own daughter, even though she was super excited about going to school! :)  I found this cute blog post with cute instructions on how to do it, but I'm also going to show you what I did!

What You'll Need:

• Poster Board

• Wrapping Paper or other decorations

• Scissors

• Hot Glue and/or good glue stick

• Tissue Paper or Fabric

• String

• Fillers (like candy, school supplies, etc.)

First you'll need to cut your poster board so that it can become a cone.  How large you want it is up to you, but I made mine pretty large because I had some big items.  Place your poster vertically in front of you to measure it out. To get the rounded edge I used a string and a pencil.  I held one end of the string in my right hand with a pencil and placed it at the bottom right hand corner you see in the photo. I pulled the other end of the string out to the bottom left hand corner of the poster in the photo.  Holding the string tight, I keep the left hand in the corner and draw my pencil up and around to the upper left side of the poster, like in the photo.  Then cute along this line to get the final product.

I then used my poster to trace my wrapping paper and cut it out as well.  Using a glue stick or hot glue, glue the wrapping paper down to the poster.

Use your hot glue to glue the two long edges together.  You might need some extra hands or a clip to help hold it in place while you glue.  Make sure it's holding together really well because you don't want it to come apart when you put your goodies inside.

Glue your tissue paper or fabric to the top.  To make sure it goes all around nicely, you'll want to overlap it and bunch it up.  This makes it easy for the kids to open and get inside, as well as not ripping any tissue paper used.  

You could take the decorating one step further and put ribbon around the top edge, maybe make the cone look like your child's favorite character, or put their name on it with pretty craft letters.  The possibilities are endless.  Next year I really want to make another one for my daughter and then I will probably make it into a character.

So, now you fill it with goodies.  I filled mine with lots of candy, as well as a coloring book, stickers, number magnets, number flash cards, light up bracelets, and hair-ties.  Traditionally it's filled with all candy, but you can fill it with whatever you like, even all school supplies.

My daughter loved it.  (Sorry for the blurry pic, but I had a hard time getting my daughter to be still, LOL!)

So, hopefully you can use this, but I'm sure many kids already started school, so maybe next year?  I plan on making one of these for my daughter for a few more years, though they will be smaller and smaller, hehe!  I hope you like this post! ;)

I'm Back

Woohoo, I'm back and boy am I happy to have my computer back! I've been spending the better half of the past two days trying to get everything in order and fixing my programs.

But, while my computer was away I managed to get my crochet portrait piece to a good point. It's exciting to see it all coming together where before it looked like a mess, LOL!

So here it stands at 25%! (Can you see my son trying to grab it in the bottom-left corner? hehe) Can you see it coming together? On the left is my plaid shoulder, and on the right is my husband's shirt with an old english E on it! AWESOME!!!

Computer Trouble

Man o man, I must say that my computer is giving me so much trouble that I'm finally breaking down and taking it to in to get fixed! So I regretfully say that my poor computer will be gone for a few days and I won't be able to post much, though I probably could post a few things from my iPod Touch like I am now! ;) So, until I get my computer back, I hope you guys have fun!

Some New Hooks

I'm so excited, well mostly excited anyway! I was finally able to replace a couple of my crochet hooks that met unfortunate accidents! You see, two of my main hooks that I use to make EVERYTHING were lost a broken respectively!

My all time favorite G hook, which I've dubbed my go-to-hook whenever I make something basic, was lost by my daughter who decided to snag it from my little craft area! It's been weeks and I haven't found it anywhere! I've looked in my daughter's room, her play kitchen (where it was spotted last), her toys, and everywhere in between! I finally just decided to get a new one!

Now, for most of my amigurumi toys and such, I always use my E hook. Now, the bad thing about my E hook and using it for ami's is that sometimes you have to pull and push hard to get the hook within the tightly crocheted stitches. I prefer metal hooks and have never been able to splurge on one with an awesome rubber grip, which I REALLY wanna do someday soon, but gripping them tightly and working on such small tightly crocheted pieces makes them wanna bend. I of course feel the need to always bend it back. Are you starting to get the idea yet? For those of you who aren't, hehe, the constant bending back and forth gave it a small crack which later turned out to be a whopping break! Imagine my dismay when it snapped in the middle of one of my projects! :(

So, I've finally been able to replace my lost precious G and broken E with new ones! The G is even the same color as my lost one! :D I had a few work-in-progress pieces that are definitely gonna get finished now that I have my new hooks! See my excitement now!

Don't you just hate it when you're main working pieces break or get ruined? Feel free to tell me about something that you've lost or broken in the middle of a project in the comments section! :D

I've Found Pinterest

So I've been put on to Pinterest and it is as addicting as everyone says it is! In case you are like me and hadn't heard about it or checked it out before now, Pinterest is a site that allows you to "pin" photos of your choosing on your own board. You can view recent photos others are pinning, view other's phitis based on searches, and even follow people so you'll always see their pins! There are TONS of super cute photos that are just so inspiring and everything.

So I decided to do a search for yarn and look at some of the cuteness I found there!

I fins some of the amazing photography to be inspiring to creativity. I also love some of the color inspiration I get! If you're on Pinterest, feel free to check me out as ChassityO. I'm still new and don'y have much, but I did find the app on my iPod Touch, so hopefully I get going quickly, LOL!

Tuesday Treasury :: Cafe Latte

So I missed last weeks Tuesday Treasury (sorry!) but had to find a very beautiful treasury for you guys! I think I did a great job with this amazingly beautiful piece here! There's lots of knits, ruffles, lace, and my new favorite, a fabric flower! Check out this treasury called Cafe Latte, curated by Snobish Design. Feel free to click on the image to take you to the actual treasury listing on Etsy!

Bloggy Moms Blog Dare

Ok, I've joined the 2011 Blog Dare over at Bloggy Moms, yes I know it's kinda late, but it should be a lot of fun! I've been searching all day for awesome blogging tips and fun post ideas to make this blog more successful, and I really like this one! So I will be making sure I post every single day, you might get tired of me soon, LOL! I hope you all enjoy what I have to say and I hope to say things you all enjoy! If you're a blogging mom then make sure you head on over and join Bloggy Moms. If you wanna join the Blog Dare, then head on over HERE and get to blogging, LOL!

Wanna know what else I found today while searching for blog ideas?

101+ Killer Blog Post Ideas

100 Ways to Find Ideas for Your Blog Posts

Big Huge Thesaurus

ABC's of Me

So I was blog hopping, something I like to do, and found out about a cute little blog called Sassy Sippy Cups and Sticky Sarcasm. It's a personal journal style blog and I kinda like what she posts about! Anywho, she had a cute post there about herself from A-Z and I wanted to do the same! It will help everyone get to know me a little and so forth so why not, besides, I LOVE useless questionaires, LOL! So here we go!!!

Age: 28

Bed Size: We just got a brand new King size and I LOVE it!

Chore You Hate: All of it! I mostly hate putting away clothes, LOL!

Dogs: I love dogs! Right now we have a little MinPin/Poodle mix, but soon she's going to go live with my Mom!

Essential Start Of Your Day: I have to check my email! If I don't I get antsy and aggravated because I get sooooooo much mail that it will get crowded!

Favorite Color: I have a few... purple, white, black.

Gold or Silver: White gold, LOL, best of both worlds!

Height: 5'6" (but the docs say I'm 5'5.5", shhhh don't tell!)

Instruments I Play, (Or Have Played): In middle school I played the alto sax, and then the bells

Job Title: MOM and WIFE, that says it all!

Kids: daughter Cecilia (turning 4 next week), son Cassiel (4 months)

Live: This Army Post in Colorado

Mom's Name: Cornelia, but everyone calls her Connie ;)

Nicknames: Chass, Mom, Babe, Hun.....

Overnight Hospital Stays: Well I had a c-section with each of my kids. I also had to stay overnight while pregnant with my daughter for the stomach flu and dehydration.

Pet Peeve: Oh wow, I have lots! Um, lets see! I hate when people take too long for no reason. I hate being late, especially when someone makes me late because they took to long! I don't like when people ask a question just so they don't have to try to figure it out for themselves, drives me nuts! I could go on but I won't, LOL!

Quote From a Movie: Oh wow, um ok I guess I'm gonna say it! "I had an adrenaline rush, it's very common, you can Google it!" from Twilight, LMAO! And "My father is part of the CIA and he;ll have you dead in minutes!" from Girl Interupted.

Right or Left Handed: Right handed

Siblings: I have two younger sisters, Courtney and Colby

Time You Wake Up: Right now it's somewhere around 10am or so, depending on when the munchkin wakes up!

Underwear: LMAO, Under There ------>

Vegtables You Dislike: I don't care for squash, zucchini, or eggplant

What Makes You Run Late: kids, LOL

Xrays You've Had Done: Lots, the ones I remember are for my hands (carpal tunnel) and for my ankle in high school when I sprained it!

Yummy Food You Make: My new faves is my turkey meat loaf and sweet potato chips!

Zoo Animal: I used to love the Elephants, but since moving here to Colorado Springs, at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo you can feed the Giraffes, so it's my new fave!!!

Are you going to post this to your blog? Leave me a link so I can see what you wrote!!!

My Tumblr

If you're a huge tumblr fan then you're in luck! I've created, or rather updated, an old tumblr account. It's connected to my twitter, so if you already follow me on twitter and don't wanna follow me on tumblr then that is ok too! You can find me on tumblr at http://my-polkadots-life.tumblr.com/.

Wordless Wednesday

Tuesday Treasury :: Fairest of Them All

I know I completely forgot about the Tuesday Treasury two days ago! :( Oh well, I figured better late than never! d

Well, I found this super cute treasury on Etsy called The Fairest of Them All! I think it's super cute and absolutely love the colors. The curator, littlexbekahxbug, did a fantastic job picking out the amazing pieces that went into this treasury. Everything has a beautiful glow and dreamy feel to it! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Click on the treasury image to take you to the Etsy Treasury List.

Progress

So I've been trying to focus hard on getting somewhere with this crochet piece. It's of my husband and I, and I'm really loving how it's coming out.

The lighter colors on the right are the bottom of my husband's shirt while the darker stripey colors on the left are of my shirt. I know I picked a crazy photo to do because I was wearing a plaid-ish shirt, so the detail is CRAZY!

Right now it's at 11% and going really good! Better get back to work on it right away! I can't wait to get to a point where you all can really see the details! It's going to be amazing. Here is what it will look like when it's finished! :D

No Creativity

I haven't been feeling very creative as of late, I've seemed to have lost some Mojo. I mean, I have been working on my new crochet portrait piece, but other than that I can't seem to find the drive to work on anything else. I have been getting lots of ideas though, so that I suppose is sorta a good thing. Now I just need to find a way to make it come to life. The process is kinda hard. I honestly think I need some more inspiration, so I've blog hopping around to some of my fave creative blogs.

Not So Idle Hands created a wonderful little baby shower gift of a hand "screen-printed" onsie and baby leg warner set. I really want to try this for my little one some time.

Make It & Love It has some AWESOME crafty ideas that I wanna try. I really wanna try these 5 Stranded Braided Headbands really soon. It should be awesome.

And of course I have to link my new found obsession, crochet portrait pieces, by TotalLee!

New Design

So I have once again redesigned my blog and I must say, I really like the way it has turned out! It's nice, simple, clean, and easy on the eyes! I'm still putting everything together and making everything just right so bare with me here as I get it all together!

New Ideas

I'm so excited about making a new crocheted photo piece and I can't wait. It's a personal photo of my husband and I and it's going to be in 8 shades of purple. My daughter really wanted it so I thought that would be a perfect color for it since it's her fave. Here are the shades I chose.

I know they are all sorta jumbled up looking right now, but I've put them in order according to my pattern's numbers. This box is actually the perfect size for holding them all together and keeping them in the right order. It's going to be easier this way to know which ones to use when.

I'm still trying to decide if I want to make them and sell them in a new etsy shop or in my 7pd shop. I'm afraid it's going to be a jumbled, hodge-podge mess if I put too many different things in the same shop. I'm still trying to decide. But that's ok! I can't wait to post my progress!

Bringing Etsy Back...

Ok, so I can't really bring Etsy back since Etsy itself hasn't gone anywhere, but I'm trying to bring my own Etsy shop back to an Open status, LOL! Having a baby has brought on so much work now that I have two kids but I finally feel like it's coming to a place where I can really crochet again, if my daughter would stealing all of my work, haha! But I really mis crocheting and knitting so I've been working hard to get there.

So I've made an executive decision to bring back the cupcake babies! I know I made and listed a different sort of cupcake baby before with wooden peg dolls, but this time I'm bringing back the crocheted originals. I think they are much cuter and what's better than that? I have decided to make some additions to the whole shebang though by adding a fabric lining to the bag, sprinkles for everyone, and more details on the baby and blanket! It's going to be a very cute upgrade! Cupcake Baby 2.0, LOL! I'm working on them right now and figuring out how I'm going to add the new features, so when I finish then I'll be posting here first!!!

I swear, this time I'm really going to try to post more, HONESTLY! ;)

Edward Cullen Crochet Piece

I'm so excited to say that I finished my Edward Cullen crochet piece!

It did take me longer to finish then I expected because I didn't have as much time to work on it toward the end of my pregnancy. I got so inspired and decided to work, and work, and work on it until it was finished! I swear I'm so excited about it that I don't know what to do with myself, LOL!

Now I only need to put a back on it and that can be a trick within itself. The piece is pretty thick so I have to pick a back that won't add to the bulk but also easy to attach. I thought about crocheting a back or knitting one, adding fabric, or even fleece. There are so many choices.

I know that crocheting would be easy to attach but it would take longest to create and add too much bulk.

Knitting might be easy to attach but I'm not sure it would be the best idea either!

Adding fleece or fabric could be really cool but attaching it could be harder. I wouldn't be able to sew it on with my sewing machine because the crochet is too thick. I would definitely have to sew it by hand.

Well, those are my choices! :) I guess my progress will be another update!