Hello!

I would like to say hi and thank you to my new followers! I have been trying to follow you back but darn blogger doesn't want me to have friends, lol! I will follow as soon as the service lets me! In the mean time, enjoy this pic of an orange pincushion I made!

Tropical Crocheted Chip Clips

I was bored one gloomy Saturday so I crocheted a wee little sunshine to lift my mood. It was so cute and since it only took a few minutes to work up I decided to work up some more tropical themed minis.

The fruits of my fun little paradise afternoon sat themselves in my yarn basket for weeks. Then today I decided to give them a purpose! I always wanted to put them on magnets but I chose clothes pins and magnets. This way they are twice as useful, clip a bag of chips or stick something to the fridge!

This set is for mom but I will be listing a set like this one and possibly a few other sets in my Etsy shop that will be opening soon!

Project Peek

Every Giftmas I make gifts for everyone in mine and my husband Josh's immediate families. This year I am including the animals because they are as much a part of the family as any of us!
I was handed a wonderful crochet catnip toy idea a couple months back and I decided to finally try it out!
Behold - the crochet mini toilet paper filled with catnip!
Here it is right before the final sewing! After I finished I realized it would have been more fun if I would have stitched in small pieces of Velcro so the kitty could actually unroll it as they love to do! So I will start on another soon and perfect the design so all the kitties on my giftmas list will have some fun!

And since this blog is "Stuff Laci Makes" and not "Stuff the Crazy Cat Lady Crochets" here are my husband's birthday cupcakes. And yes, his bday is on Halloween!

Creme Brulee

I made this little creme brulee as a pincushion for my sister Shae's birthday. She always requests creme brulee for her bday dessert rather than cake!
This little thing took a lot of patience and many many mistakes before it held its shape. Secret - I used a 2x6 strip of plastic from a kitchen chopping mat to make the base stand up.
Also, the bottom is filled with rice to make is heavy enough to be a functional pincushion.
I did not write a pattern but I can jot something down quickly if anyone is interested.

Mario Mania!

One night I was crocheting a Golden Snitch and when I was halfway done I thought it looked like a little hat with wings. I automatically thought Mario Wing Cap.

So I made one! And then I started getting bombarded with ideas of other Mario stuff I needed to make! I have a little collection going on and I will be making some different enemies to list with the others on Etsy!

Cute, right?

More Cat Toys!

After making the catnip traffic cone I decided I need to make one for the Etsy shop! So I made another, this one is slightly taller and slimmer (I didn't remember what I had done last time, lol!). And then I thought it would be cute to make a traffic light to go with it!

So then I decided to make a cupcake and stuff it with catnip. I love making cupcakes so this was a given!

After that I had the idea to make a cheeseburger catnip toy after the cheezburger network! I love lol cats and I thought it would be fun to make a cheeseburger that a cat would really love!

To see more images, visit my Etsy shop!

Crocheted Animal Toys

After making my cheeseburger I wanted to make a hot dog toy for my puppy!

Again, no pattern. I just went for it and I learned well from my mistakes! I didn't have the proper color for the dog but I don't think Tanner minds :)  It also has a squeaker from a dead toy at mom's house!

And since I made Tanner a toy I figured I needed to make one for everybody! Cleo was first since her 15th birthday was last month! She is an old kitty but she still loves catnip! I really wanted to crochet with orange yarn. I rarely use orange and I was just in an orange mood this evening. So I started thinking about orange things. I thought of a traffic cone and I just laughed at the thought of a catnip traffic cone. It NEEDED to be done! Cleo will be getting this tomorrow, I hope she likes it!

If anyone is wondering exactly how to put catnip in a crocheted item, it's easy! Just make a small bag with scrap fabric, fill, and stitch closed. When I make catnip toys (I have made sushi, a fortune cookie, and a Golden Snitch for my friend's cat Potter!) I just stuff the ami with the sachet and it is usually so tight no other stuffing is required! :)

Zero calorie, zero fat cheeseburger!

I made a cheeseburger!

This cheeseburger may have started another one of my crazes (see last week: potholder mania!). I have been thinking of so many foods and all of my family members are telling me that I need fries and a drink to go with my burger! So my new catchphrase for the week is "If you can cook it, I can hook it!"

Yarn-burger: Sesame seed bun with ketchup and mustard swirled on the bread, grilled hamburger patty, cheese, 3 strips of bacon, lettuce, tomato slice, 3 onion slices, and 3 pickle chips!

When I first started hooking (haha, I had to!) I saw a pattern for a set of coasters that, when stacked, looked like a cheeseburger! I thought it was clever but I could not have read that pattern to save my life!

 So it has been a year since I started crocheting and I thought of that pattern again. But now-a-days I hate following patterns! A few months into my crochet fever I started making changes to every pattern I came across. I seemed to always find a better or easier way so I stopped reading patterns and started creating my own instead. I love that people share their patterns online and that there are endless resources for the inspiration-blocked crafter, but I have found that if I just sit down with a hook and yarn I can create whatever I want!

Guess what's next?

Talk to me Tuesday

I recorded a ttmt video this week! It is a couple of days late but at least I edited and uploaded! I have recorded and discarded more video than I like to admit! Well, here it is!