Guest Post from Abby of GouldThreads

This post is from my friend Abby! She has a great tutorial to share with you today on making crocheted flowers. I love that you can use yarn scraps for her project! Make sure you check out her Etsy shop and Facebook sites. Not only is she fantastic, she has such cute pictures of babies & kids modeling her creations!

Hello! I'm Abby Gouldsbarry from GouldThreads. I'm thrilled to be a guest on Monkey See Monkey Do! Today I'm going to show you how to create adorable crocheted flowers. They are so cute and easy to make. I use mine to make girls hair clips but you can use them for homemade bookmarks, appliqués, decorations--you name it!

I first began crocheting in college with some friends and later taught myself how to knit as well. This winter I opened my Etsy shop and began to sell some of my creations. Some of the items that you will find in my shop include hats, accessories for boys and girls, and newborn photo props. I also take custom orders. I just LOVE making new items and always aim to please! You can find me on Facebook by searching for GouldThreads or visit my Etsy site at

http://www.gouldthreads.etsy.com/

Happy crocheting!!!

One of the great things about these flowers is that you can use just about any yarn and any size hook. You can use 1 color or 2. I am using 2 for this tutorial (MC-Yellow, CC-Pink). The MC will be for the center of the flower and the CC for the petals. For this tutorial I am using Red Heart Super Saver size 4 yarns and a G hook (4.25 mm). Bonus: This is a great way to use up some of your yarn scraps!

To make a flower of your own: Using MC (yellow in my picture) Chain 2. 5 SC into the 2nd chain from hook. SL ST to first SC. Switch to CC (pink in my pictures) and pull up a loop (see picture above).

Here is what it will look like once you have your CC on the hook. Notice how you have 4 tails hanging (2 MC and 2 CC). I like to pull the tail of the MC tight to secure the CC. Once the CC is secure you can cut the MC from its ball leaving a 1 or 2 inch tail hanging.

With CC, *SL ST to next stitch. Chain 2. 2 DC in same stitch (I DC over the tail of MC that I just cut and the CC). SL ST again in same stitch. It should look like the above picture.

Repeat from *4 times for a total of 5 petals.

SL ST to bottom of first petal. Fasten off and weave in loose ends. TA-DA! That's it. What a simple and sweet little flower.

I like to use my flowers to make hair clips like the ones sold here on my Etsy site.

Here is a bookmark that I made using a crocheted flower and heavy cardstock! I just used a glue gun to adhere the flower to the cardstock. What a simple and unique gift!

Thanks for reading and trying out my tutorial!

Please remember to check out my sites on Facebook and Etsy!

Newborn Hats

I made a few more newborn hats this week. I'm in full nesting mode (only 2.5 weeks left til my due date!); at least as much as I can be since I don't have my own house

(5 weeks til our projected move-in date!)

I made these hats using the tutorial and pattern I posted here.

Something really exciting is that a friend of the family is working with a church group to make hats and blankets for the local hospital (the same hospital where I'll be having the baby!) She said that some of the moms have nothing for the baby and the hospital staff has to scramble to find a blanket for them to take home. So my friend is going to use my pattern to turn t-shirts into hats for these underprivileged babies.

I'm thinking that I'll take my extra newborn hats in my hospital bag and leave them with the nursing staff to give to moms in need. My baby can only wear a few...it IS July, after all!

Yellow and Gray Zippered Ruffle Pouch

I love the color combo yellow and gray. You may be seeing more of it from me.

I made this pouch using the same procedure I did for the tutorial found here. The only difference is that this pouch is 5" x 7". I made it to protect my itouch.

Part of it is even repurposed: I used a zipper from a pair of pants I ripped apart to make

into maternity shorts.

Gathered Tunic Shirt

Talk about a super easy frugal, repurposed tunic! You've got to try making yourself one of these.

I started this project because I had this tank top with two stains on it.
No idea how they got there.
I love the color, so I wasn't ready to say 'bye-bye' to the shirt itself.

I got this shirt below practically free from a church rummage sale. It's brand new; it has 'sample' written on the inside in permanent marker.

The shirt was too small for me to wear (I am really tall, and it's a size small!) but it was perfect for my project.

Not sure how to obtain more sample clothing. Ideas? What do stores do with their samples?

I cut off the blue shirt below the bust as I wanted to create a tunic with an empire waist.
I have another shirt with the same type of style, so I measured it and found it was 12" from the shoulder to the waist.
I added an extra 3/4'' for seam allowance to the length before cutting.

I took the second shirt and cut it right underneath the armpits. I wanted the waist of the tunic to be as long as possible.
The yellow shirt had a greater diameter than the blue one. I gathered the front and back of the yellow shirt until it met up with the blue shirt's diameter.
Gathering just the front and back (not the sides) gives a more slimming effect.

I pinned the tunic pieces into place with right sides together.

After sewing the seam, I turned the shirt right sides out and removed the basting stitches I had used for gathering the front and back.

Press the seam with a steam iron.
I could have stopped right there, but I couldn't resist adding some sort of an embellishment to the upper part of the shirt.

I decided to add a little ruffle. I just gathered a strip of the solid yellow fabric with my sewing machine...

...pinned it into place...and then sewed it down. Then I removed the basting stitches I had used for gathering the ruffle.

All done! I can't model it yet because I'm still nine months pregnant. I'm looking forward to wearing it this summer after the baby arrives!

You could easily make this a maternity style shirt, too. You'd need to start with a shirt larger than a size small for the bottom half and probably do some heavier gathering than I used for this one (you might have to gather the sides!) Alternatively, you could probably pleat the front and leave plenty of room for a pregnant tummy.

Handmade Thank You Cards

My son got some great gifts for his birthday.
Did you see my post about his birthday decorations here?

I obviously wanted and needed to write some thank-you notes, but I didn't have any cards that were suitable for a little boy to send.

That just shows how many thoughtful gifts this kid has gotten over his two-year life span...I went through all the boy cards in my stash!

After surveying the grocery store's selection a few days ago, I decided to just make some. I had all the supplies...I busted out my scrapbook paper, paper cutter, some ribbon scraps, and a new stamp I got for $1 at Target. They didn't match his birthday party's theme, but I couldn't bear to cut out any more cars after last week!