Tools of the Trade: My Favorite Crochet Hooks

When you’re creating, it’s important to be happy with your tools. If you’re not, you’re not likely to want to continue creating. When I learned to knit in 2015, I took a long break from crochet. When I picked it up again about a year and a half ago, I wasn’t entirely sure I was going to want to do much crocheting; I just had gotten a hankering for a specific project. So I bought the cheapest set of hooks I could find, which were (I think) $2.79 for 4 hooks. They were plain white plastic, and they worked pretty well. I made an entire blanket using one of those hooks (actually 2 or 3 blankets, I think).

When I realized that I was going to want to continue crocheting regularly (as well as knitting), I decided to buy a slightly more expensive hook. I’d heard good things about the Clover Amour crochet hooks, and I really wanted to try them. Problem is, the set is about $75, and I didn’t really want to invest that kind of money. So when I needed a new hook (in a size I didn’t have) for a project, I opened up my JoAnn app and looked at the coupons. I don’t remember the exact deal I got, but suffice it to say that I got a pretty good deal on ONE Amour hook. It was less than $4. For that price, I could afford to experiment.

hooks

So… after all that backstory (that probably didn’t matter!), let’s talk briefly about the Amour hook itself. It is a pretty standard length for a crochet hook, and has an ergonomic handle. Each size has a different colored handle, so it’s easy to spot the different hooks at a glance. The shaft and hook are metal (at least in the smaller sizes that I mostly use – E through J), but it’s a very smooth, brushed metal. (Upon further research, I see that they’re made from “polished aluminum.”) The yarn glides over the hook effortlessly. I find myself able to crochet very quickly using these hooks. Those two criteria mean that I LOVE THESE HOOKS! Ever since I crocheted my first stitch with one (no joke), I knew I never wanted to use another hook again. And I haven’t.

I mostly crochet blankets and toys, so I don’t have (or need) the whole $75 set. I currently have 4 Amour hooks (sizes E, G, I, and J – actually I have two of the I hooks because one got lost and I won’t crochet with any other anymore, so I bought a new one and then found the other). I can’t recommend these hooks enough. For a budget-friendly hook (they run about $8 each at JoAnn, and you can almost always find a 40, 50, or 60% off coupon on their app), they really can’t be beat.

Blessings,

ladybug-signature-3 copy

Happy Birthday, Ballet Boy!

My oldest son recently turned 17! He is such a joy to have around, and I’m glad he’s mine.

4E5E6385-1E45-47C6-9DB8-16D7ACB499C4

We celebrated his special day by having a few close friends over for dinner and a murder mystery party. I found one online that was very simple to put together – just print and read, basically. It was a huge hit with his friends!

Happy birthday, Ballet Boy! Here’s to many, many more.

 

Ruby Dress pattern

I posted about the Ruby dress I designed and made last week, but I hadn’t yet written out the pattern. Well, now I have, so I wanted to post it here so other people can have the opportunity to make this cute little dress!

D3796C25-22B1-4F42-ABB3-5ED1D2440896

Full disclosure: I tried to find people to test knit for me and didn’t get any takers, so this pattern hasn’t seen anyone’s eyes but mine until now. If there are any mistakes (which I don’t think there are, but you never know), please feel free to let me know so I can adjust them.

I did not include a pattern for the flower because I didn’t write one. Any crochet or knit flower (or even a decorative button or felt/silk flower) will do. You could even leave the dress plain, but I think the flower adds a little “something special.”

Here is the pattern.

Ruby

Knit Toddler Dress

Size 12-24 months

Gauge: 18 stitches and 26 rows using larger needles in stockinette = 4 inches

Yarn: Worsted or chunky, whatever you like to get gauge. I used Caron Latte Cakes in the color Strawberry Flambe, which is labeled as a “chunky 5,” but felt reasonably thin (worsted) to me.

Needles: Any to get gauge, plus one set a couple sizes smaller. I used size 8 for the ribbing and size 10 for the rest. Interchangeable circular needles are preferred because of the rapidly increasing skirt. It starts small (a 16” or 20” cord will do) but increases to double its size, so you’ll need up to a 40” cord before you’re done. You’ll also need a cable needle as well as a set of DPNs in the smaller size.

Construction: Dress is knit top down starting with the collar, which is worked in rows. A button is added at the end to close the opening. Then it uses raglan increases for the shoulders. Once the sleeves and body are separated, you’ll knit a couple of inches. Then a garter stitch band is knit, followed by the skirt, which increases rapidly for the open, flowy feel. Cables are knit in the skirt between the wedges of increase.

Using smaller needles, cast on 68. Turn work.

Work 1×1 rib (k1, p1) for 1 inch. Work in rows, not in the round.

Increase round: Place marker and join for working in the round. Increase 4 stitches evenly as you knit one round.

Marker setup: Knit 12 (back left), place marker, knit 12 (left sleeve), place marker, knit 24 (front), place marker, knit 12 (right sleeve), place marker, knit 12 (back right).

Setup round 1: *knit to one stitch before marker, yarn over, knit two, yarn over* Repeat from * to * until one stitch before last marker (8 stitch increase). Be careful not to increase at the beginning of round marker.

Setup round 2: knit around

Repeat these two rounds a total of 8 times. You should have 144 stitches on your needles.

You will now work even (no more increasing) until your yoke measures approximately 5.5 inches from the cast on.

Separate body and sleeves: Knit to first marker. Place all stitches between first and second marker (the sleeve) on hold using waste yarn or a stitch holder. Using backward loop method, cast on 4 stitches. Knit to next marker, then repeat the process of placing sleeve stitches on hold. Knit to beginning of round.

Bodice: Knit every round until work measure approximately 2 inches from the underarm.

Waistband: Work in garter stitch (knit 1 round, purl one round) for 8 rounds, or until your belt measures 1 inch.

Increase for skirt: KFB (knit front and back) into every stitch

Marker setup: Knit 10, place marker, *purl 2, knit 8, purl 2, place marker, knit 20, place marker* Repeat from * to * around. Knit last 10 stitches. This establishes where your cables will go, as well as the increase points of the skirt.

Round 1: Knit to first marker, *purl 2, C6B, purl 2, yarn over, knit to one stitch before next marker, yarn over, knit 1* until last increase marker. Knit the last 10 stitches (being mindful not to increase at the BOR).

C6B: Move three stitches to cable needle, hold in back of work, knit 3 stitches, knit 3 stitches from cable needle.

Rounds 2-3: Work as established, knitting the knits (and YOs) and purling the purls all the way around.

Repeat Rounds 1-3 until your piece measures about 17 inches from the shoulder to the bottom (or 1 inch shorter than what you want the total length to be). You may need to switch to a longer cable as you go.

Switch to smaller needles and work 1×1 rib for 1 inch. Bind off.

Sleeves: Pick up sleeve stitches from waste yarn using DPNs (or magic loop if you prefer) in the smaller size. Knit one round.

Work 1×1 rib for 6 rounds. Bind off. Repeat on other sleeve.

Weave in ends and block your dress. Then find a pretty little girl to put it on and share your pictures with me on Instagram @ladybugdaydreams!

I am working on developing this dress in larger sizes, so stay tuned for that – though it will likely be quite a while. If you’re a knitter who’s interested in helping me out by making this dress in other sizes, contact me and we’ll work something out!

Blessings,

ladybug-signature-3 copy

Musik at Home (review)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way.

I’m not much of a music person. I know that’s probably not a popular thing to say, but it’s true. Given the choice, I’d sit in silence before I turned on music any day of the week. I (usually) find it oppressive and aggravating. I would never choose to do a music class in our homeschool because I wouldn’t enjoy teaching it, and that disdain would simply push the thought from my mind. But I know that I’m the anomaly, and I know in my heart of hearts that it’s not fair to the people around me to push that view. So I signed up to review Musik at Home. Using the Musik at Home Membership, I have been able to introduce my younger kids to some very basic music education, and it’s been lovely.

The courses in Musik at Home are divided up by age range. You can choose a course for Babies and Toddlers (birth to 24 months); Mixed Ages (1-5), Preschoolers (3-5), and Family Music for ages 4-7. Each level has 6-9 video lessons which each last under half an hour (perfect for younger kids and their short attention spans!). Some of the lessons ask you to use super basic musical instruments like shakers or drumsticks as well as a scarf or large piece of fabric. You can easily substitute things around the house for these (a plastic container filled with rice for the shaker, sticks from outside or wooden spoons for the drumsticks…). There are also dancing and singing activities. It’s really easy to navigate the website and find the best category, and then lesson, for your child(ren).

musik

Even though the classes are quite short, they incorporate a lot of different activities within each one – again perfect for keeping young children engaged. My kids (2, 4, and 8) really enjoyed the Mixed Ages class. Even the baby was able to mimic what he saw on the screen during these lessons, and it was super fun to watch him get so excited about the classes. The older kids really liked using the sticks to bang on stuff the most, but Bumblebee (the baby) loved to dance and twirl.

If (on the off chance) you’re like me and aren’t that into music but you still want to give your young children a gentle introduction to the topic, I recommend giving Musik at Home a chance. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Make sure to head over to the Review Crew blog for more information and additional reviews.

Blessings,

ladybug-signature-3 copy

NatureGlo’s eScience (review)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review,  nor was I compensated in any other way.

D818D968-D0E8-42A6-B171-CCA14DB5E700

Science has the possibility to be tricky, especially as your kids get older. We use a textbook for Ballet Boy (16), but Scorpion (14) isn’t quite ready for that particular text. So when I saw that there were review slots open for NatureGlo’s eScience MathArt & Science Course Bundle, I applied. The course is completely digital, and there are 25 different unit studies for ages 10 and up. I let Scorpion look over the lesson options when we first got access and choose which one he wanted to work on first. He chose the one on Komodo Dragons.

komodo dragon

IMG-6383The Komodo Dragon study in NatureGlo’s eScience includes 7 lessons:

  • Main lesson slideshow with study guide (this is sort of like the syllabus for the course)
  • 10 amazing facts about Komodo Dragons
  • History connection (a short video with questions about Joan Beauchamp Procter – fascinating lady)
  • Geography connection (a lesson on the Indonesian islands)
  • Art connection (how to draw a Komodo Dragon)
  • Literature connection (read an Indonesian folk tale)
  • Creative writing (write your own version of that folk tale)

Some of these lessons take a little longer than others (the writing one, particularly), and for that reason some of them would spill over into multiple days for us. Generally speaking, though, Scorpion was able to work through one lesson each time he sat down. I had him work an average of twice a week, so he was able to finish this unit study in under a month. He liked it so much that when he finished, he chose to continue in the Herps Explorers series and moved into Frogs, Geckos, Chameleons, and More.

geckos

This second unit study is much longer than the first one. The Komodo Dragons study is considered to be a “one lesson” unit, while the Frogs (etc) study is classified as a 6-week study. It wasn’t until I got into that study with Scorpion that I realized we probably moved a bit too slowly in the Komodo Dragons study. Comparing the “one lesson” to the “6 week course,” I could see that each of the 6 components in the latter have the same number of lessons, so I’ve had him start logging in each day to work on science instead of just a couple times a week.

The lessons in the Frogs study are not the same as in the Komodo Dragons study. The Frogs, because it’s broken down into six individual lessons each with its own focus animal or group of animals, pulls different “connections” (art, literature, etc) in throughout the six weeks (and therefore during a different animal focus) rather than all being present in each animal’s lessons. This keeps things from becoming predictable, monotonous, and overwhelming. Over the course of the six lessons, though, all of the components are there – as well as much more, as you could probably guess based on the longer length of the study.

Animals covered in this study are: Frogs and Toads; Dwarf Geckos and Chameleons; Geckos; Giant Salamanders; Turtles; and Marine Turtles. At the end of the six lesson course, there is a review and a certificate of completion.

bubbleology

Animals aren’t the only options for lessons on the NatureGlo’s eScience program, though. For example, there’s one on Bubbeology, which is another “one lesson” course. When I opened up that one, I could see easily how that would be done in just one lesson (as opposed to seven, like what we did with the Komodo Dragons). There are only two things in this lesson: the overview and “projects, activities, and videos.” I didn’t see any of the “projects,” but there were some pre-lesson questions/activities listed in the overview lesson. Grasshopper saw me looking over the lessons to write this review and expressed some interest in the Bubbleology one, so even though he’s below the age range I’ll probably find some of the videos listed on YouTube for him to watch.

Beyond the science aspect of NatureGlo’s eScience, there’s the MathArt aspect. We haven’t explored that very much, but the concept strikes me as pretty awesome. As it sounds like, it’s a way of combining math and art in the real world by looking at things like patterns in nature, architecture, plant growth, and more. It also teaches about the Golden Rectangle and Fibonacci Numbers.

So, what did we think overall?

From Scorpion:

I liked the topic of the Komodo Dragons study. It was pretty straightforward and didn’t take me too long per lesson to finish. I liked that it covered a lot of different subjects within one topic. I haven’t done a unit study since I was a little kid, and this reminded me how fun they can be.

From Mom:

The content of the lessons is really good, and well thought out. I had a bit of frustration in the logging in process each time because moving from the log in page to the courses list isn’t very intuitive, and sometimes required me to log in twice. But once we got the hang of exactly where to click to avoid having to do that, I thought the program was awesome!

Click through to the Homeschool Review Crew blog to read more reviews from other families.

Blessings,

ladybug-signature-3 copy

Adjusting a Sweater Pattern

I’ve been knitting long enough now to have some confidence in what I’m doing. It’s rather a nice place to be! Today I’m going to talk about how I took a standard pullover sweater pattern (the Flax sweater, a free pattern of which I’ve made numerous iterations) and turned it into a cardigan for Dragonfly. Let’s start with a picture of the sweater I made:

E3A0B176-3191-49C4-84B2-EF7DDFFA1555

The sweater pattern in its original form is knit in the round from the top down. This means that starting at the collar and working the neckline, then shoulders, then body, you knit a large tube of fabric that fits around a person. You then come back up to the armpits and knit the sleeves from pit to cuff.

The Flax sweater starts with ribbing at the collar. I changed this to garter stitch, which does two things. First, it matches the texture on the top of the sleeves. Second, because I was working flat instead of in the round (I wanted my sweater to be open in the front, so making a tube didn’t make sense), garter stitch is easier than rib because it’s knit every round (no purl stitches anywhere in sight). I did this for 1.5 inches.

For my sleeves to line up with the front of the sweater, I couldn’t put the markers (indicating where I needed to place my increases for the shoulders) in the same spots as the original pattern. To accommodate the change, I looked at the original pattern and determined which numbers were for the front and back, and which were for the sleeves. I took the front/back number and divided it in half. This gave me the number of stitches I needed for the left half of the front and the right half of the front. I then knit the first half, placed a marker, knit the first sleeve, placed a marker, knit the entire back (no need to divide this one in half), placed a marker, knit the other sleeve, placed a marker, and finally knit the second half of the front. From here on out I was able to follow the pattern as written, with the exception of working in rows instead of rounds.

The yarn I used on this sweater was partially freshly dyed wool for this specific project, partially leftovers from other recent sweaters. I incorporated all of the other colors as stripes in the sweater, and I chose to divide the stripes using a thin stripe of brown. I used that same brown for the collar, waist, wrist cuffs, and button bands.

When knitting the button band that would have the buttonholes (rather than the solid one where I would sew buttons on later), I chose to make a buttonhole at the approximate middle of each color stripe as opposed to placing them evenly all the way down the sweater. Then I found buttons in my stash that matched the colors of the stripes and placed a matching button on each stripe.

That’s it for this sweater! I’ll be starting another “Flax Hack” sweater tonight, so there’ll be another post in a few weeks explaining that one (it’s an adult size sweater for Scorpion, so it’s going to take a while to make).

Blessings,

ladybug-signature-3 copy

My Teaching Library (review)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way.

When you’re homeschooling a wide age range of students, I don’t think you can have too many subscriptions to homeschool help services. This is why I was open to reviewing My Teaching Library when asked. I knew that there would be plenty here that we would be able to use. For this review, I’ll be talking about the Download Club, to which I received a one-year membership.

My Teaching Library is a site that has a huge range of resources for kids PreK-12, and this makes it different from other services, and makes it different from what I thought it would be. I expected it to be mostly worksheets, but it’s so much more than that! You can browse their offerings by age/grade, subject, or newest resources. They have options for all your regular subjects (math, language arts, etc), but also some that can be harder to come by, like foreign languages (American Sign Language, French, or Spanish). In addition to standard things you’d use for your students, they also have classroom posters, printable diplomas, games, flashcards, and more. Let’s dig a little deeper into what we used in our home.

91E580DD-E153-467B-89E0-873C9AEA46C9I was immediately drawn to the French curriculum. We used to use Rosetta Stone to learn French, but that was on an old computer that has since died, and we haven’t put it on my new laptop yet. And besides that, sometimes paper things work better for younger kids. So I downloaded from the French archives: animal names, family vocabulary, months of the year and days of the week, basic weather terms, number words 0-20, and the colors poster.

MTL 1Some of the items were flashcards and others were posters. All follow the model of “show, don’t translate,” though. The animal flashcards, for example, name the animal in French and offer a picture. None of them have the English name for the animal. The same goes for all of them. The main difference between the posters and the flashcards is that the flashcards have definition lines to cut; the posters are a series of images with a common border.

One thing that threw me off a little bit at first was that when you click “download,” the files don’t go to your computer straightaway like a normal download. From the point you click download, they go to your downloads folder within the site itself. You have to then go to your account screen, then to downloads, and download “again,” at which point it will go onto your computer. I think I would prefer to have it be a traditional download instead; I don’t see the purpose behind having to go to a different page to download the files properly. Or at least give the first “download” a different name, like “add to your dashboard” or something.

The Download Club is available for $45 a year, or for $225 you can buy lifetime access. It allows you unlimited downloads to every single one of their worksheets, flashcard sets, and unit studies. If you’re not sure you want to commit fully to that, you can also buy things a la carte. The French PDFs we used range from $1-$3 each. They have full textbooks available in many subjects (including upper grades science and math) for a wide price range. There is quite literally everything you could possibly need available for one price – and it covers ALL of your children! What could be better than that?

I am super excited about all of the different options available on My Teaching Library. This will definitely become something I go back to again and again for resources.

Make sure to head over to the Homeschool Review Crew blog for more reviews.

Blessings,

ladybug-signature-3 copy

Simply Coding (review)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way.

If you’re interested in having your kids learn some basic computer coding, the Coding for Kids Annual Membership from Simply Coding might be for you. Designed for kids 11-18, the course includes interactive content, videos, chat help from the staff, and projects. Mentors are available for chat help from 9am-6pm central time M-F, and they offer email support on the evenings and weekends.

Through the course, which costs $149 per year for one student or $229 for a family account for up to 3 students (there’s a 10-day free trial if you’re unsure it’s something your kids will be interested in), youth learn to code their own video games, websites, and apps. The course includes roughly 300 hours of content. While appropriate for beginners (so long as they know how to type – though not required, it does make it easier), Simply Coding goes above and beyond other entry-level coding curricula out there.

Simply Coding aims to give kids real-life coding experience in their younger years. A lot of kids want to (or think they want to) work in IT and coding as adults, but few of them know what that really means in regards to the dedication and training necessary. Simply Coding gives them a taste of the dedication required for a fraction of the price of a college course – or worse, an entire degree that they then don’t want to use. And with Simply Coding, the student has something to actually show for their work at the end – something that, if they were right and they do want to go into IT as a career – just might give them a resume piece for college applications.

The entire course is actually made up of 9 courses, totaling nearly 3 high school credits. You can see the breakdown in the graphic below:

coding 1

There is lots more information on Simply Coding on the Homeschool Review Crew Blog today, including other reviews linked up there. I highly encourage you to check that out!

Blessings,

ladybug-signature-3 copy

Wisdom Wonder Project (review)

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy if this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way.

6CD64D1A-1390-4CA7-8E1C-F2EABB98910C

Wisdom Wonder Project is a subscription based, classical education curriculum for kids preschool through 2nd grade. What started as a group of parents who couldn’t find a classical school near them and therefore started their own has become a full curriculum for younger students available for purchase worldwide. For the month of September, Dragonfly and I have been using their Little Wonders Preschool set. This is for kids in preschool or kindergarten.

How It Works

Wisdom Wonder Project is, as I mentioned, a subscription product. You can choose a monthly subscription or an annual one. Each month, you go in and download the curriculum to your computer; there’s no need to log in every day. Little Wonders is a three-piece set: literature, Little Masters (art), and block play. 

Kindergarten literature is just what it sounds like… Each month, your kit includes everything you need for your child’s first literature lessons. There are four books highlighted each month, which gives you a full week to spend with each one. With each book, you read the book each day and then do activities based on the book. For example, with Harold and the Purple Crayon, there are loads of activities involving purple things (making purple play-doh that is lavender scented, buying purple fruits and veggies from the store and eating them, etc).

4AACE4A3-0E9C-4BC6-9E44-39A438681A88I had a hard time getting hold of most of the books for this month of study (almost none of them were available in my library system), but I was able to find A Sick Day for Amos McGee, and we read that a few times. Dragonfly really had a lot of fun with the sandpaper coloring activity in that unit. Because I had an ebook version of the story instead of a hardcopy, I had Scorpion (14) draw an elephant for Dragonfly to color. (The curriculum instructed you to photocopy one of the pages for this activity.) We had some sandpaper on hand, so we popped that underneath the drawing and let him color away. This gave his elephant a “real feel” texture, which he loved.

Little Masters is the art curriculum, and it’s titled such because each month focuses on a “master.” September is Alexander Calder. The packet includes a brief biography, and it’s there that I read that he is credited as the creator of the mobile. For this reason, the main focus of the month is learning about shapes. One of the activities in this vein was to let your child help make a sandwich of his choice – Dragonfly chose peanut butter – and then cut it into the shape of his choice. We first talked about the shape of the bread (rectangle), and then he chose to have it cut into triangles, and he shared one of them with his baby brother.

The third component is Block Play. This includes another book, and after reading it, you use physical things (beyond paper and pencils) to create aspects of the book. For example, you’re instructed to help your child build a skyscraper, or create a road. Basically, it gives your child a chance to wiggle a bit and explore with their hands while still learning.

I loved the idea of the Wisdom Wonder Project, but I wish they used more mainstream books that were easily found at the library. That made it difficult to really get into the curriculum as well as I wish we could have. That said, I will continue to download the kits each month (I received a yearlong subscription), and we will use the ones that are readily available to us.

Wisdom Wonder Project also has curriculum for kids in 1st and 2nd grade, as well as a video math program using Singapore Math. Click through to read more about that on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.

Blessings,

ladybug-signature-3 copy