The Star Stitch

Have you all seen the crochet stitch called the star stitch?  I first saw it pop up on Pinterest and thought it was so pretty, and I pinned it to check out later.  Then I saw that Drops Design has a free potholder pattern using this stitch and thought this would be the perfect time to try it out.  Although their pattern says it's a potholder pattern, I thought it would work better as a dishcloth.  And I had just the yarn for it.  A few years ago I bought a bunch of Creme de la Creme yarn on sale online.  I hadn't used this yarn before and when I got it, I was so disappointed, and didn't like it at all.  It is very thin and rough, and wasn't anything I wanted to use for any of my potholder designs.  I stuck the box of yarn in a closet and hoped I would eventually find a project for it. When I saw the Drops pattern, I knew this was the project I had been waiting for and would work great with this yarn.  Since the stitch is fairly dense, I thought a thinner yarn would work well with it.  I dug that box of yarn out of the closet and started stitching.  I have finished 3 so far, with a 4th on the hook and I am very happy with how they have turned out.  I really love this stitch and it is so much fun to do, and once you get going it goes quickly too.  I will probably end up making up the whole box of yarn (20+ balls) into these dishcloths.


I also got my Easter Bunnies finished and delivered to their recipients.  I used this pattern and added my own twist to them.  :)

And on a totally unrelated note, I have to share some of my critter pics.  Last fall we had a dead tree that needed cutting.  So my husband cut off the top of it, and turned it into a bird feeder.  This made it high enough that the deer couldn't clean out the feeders each night.  He also built a squirrel feeder for the squirrels.  The first picture is from a few months ago.  The squirrels found the feeder, but they apparently didn't realize it had food in it and they used it as a chair to sit on while eating out of the bird feeders.  It took them a while, but as you can see in the 2nd pic, they finally figured out there was some good food in that chair of theirs.  Then last week I glanced out the window and thought to myself "Wow, that is a big squirrel!".  Upon closer inspection, I realized it was one of the neighborhood cats.  She may have been bird hunting, but if so, she needs to work better at camouflaging herself, cause not one bird would come near the feeder the whole time she sat there.  :)

Cupcake Pincushion Ring

I recently saw a cupcake pincushion ring online somewhere (can't remember where), and it got me to wondering if I could make a crochet one using my "Cupcakes To Crochet" Pattern.  This pattern can be made using either worsted weight yarn, sport weight yarn, or size 10 crochet cotton thread to make different sizes of cupcakes.

First I needed to find a ring that would work, and I found just the right thing at Hobby Lobby.  And it was 50% off to boot!.  Next up, I made the cupcake using size 10 crochet cotton thread and a size 7 steel crochet hook.  Then all I had to do was glue the cupcake to the ring and I had myself a Cupcake Ring Pincushion.  :) It was a fun little project.  :)