Crocheting...no it's not your grandmother's sport anymore!!

The summer I was 12, a friend of my mom's taught me to crochet. I did nothing more than make a few granny squares. A couple of weeks later, I never touched another crochet hook, until I turned 27. I was pregnant with my youngest child, on bedrest, and wanted to pass the time, while making her something special. So I picked up a pattern, went and bought some yarn and made this for my HayleyBug:




Since then I have not been able to put my crochet hooks down. I love to crochet. I think it's sorta like therapy for me. I usually make gifts for new babies or items at my friends; request, but now I've ventured into trying to sell my items. I've only made one sale so far. but hey I'm just starting out.

I have an online shop on a site called Etsy. Here is a link to my Etsy page: http://kristinskreations11.etsy.com. Stop by and take a look...see if you find something you like. Keep checking back for newly added items periodically. Also, if you see something on this page you would like made, just drop me an email at gallardok11@gmail.com.

I ran a promotion on my Facebook fan page that if I got to 100 fans, then the 100th fan would get a free hat in their choice of colors...well here's the 100th fan hat. also, if you'd like to check out my fan page then just click the link at the top of the page.



Cody's sister Stacy decided to give a few of my hats as gifts to friends...these two hats were for some children she knows:




My oldest daughter Kaitlyn had a birthday party to attend and needed a gift at the last minute, so I whipped up this hat in the same yarn that I stitched Kaitlyn's hat in the year before.



My boyfriend Cody is into a type of racing called drifting so he wanted me to make something for his car. This is a cover for his master cylinder. I used the pattern for the coffee cozies I make but made it a little bigger. As for the Hello Kitty, I had a pattern for the head but had to add to it to make it bigger and just sort of did my own face by looking at a picture on the internet. I was quite proud of myself for this one and can't wait to make some more Hello Kitty stuff.



My boyfriend's sister Stacy recently had a baby...here is the blanket I made for the baby:


...and here's the hat I made to match the blanket:



I decided to make my boyfriend Cody a beanie for this winter:



My March 2010 Ravelry Blocks (Half-N-Half Square):



Here are my February 2010 Ravelry Blocks (Violet 12" Square):



I am a member of a crochet community online called Ravelry. They have a group called the 2010 Block-a-Month CAL (crochet-a-long). Every month they will post a square you can make, resulting in a whole afghan at the end of the year. I have decided to do 7 different color schemes as I can choose to keep, sell, give as gifts, or donate to charities at the end of the year. So here are my January blocks (E-ZEE V-ZEE Granny Square).


I made this beanie and coffee cozy for a couple of people who are Pease Greeters. Please take the time to check out their site PeaseGreeters.org. These great people are a group folks who join together at Pease International Airport which is where a large number of deployed troops either come into the States or leave out of the States. The Pease Greeters have food for the troops and cell phones for them to call loved ones and just really do what they can to make them feel appreciated for their service. I made some extra beanies and coffee cozies to sell in my Etsy shop and 10% of sales will go to the Pease Greeters organization.



My friend Robert lost his beanie, so he asked me to make him a new one:


I made these Breast Cancer Awareness Coffee Cozies to donate to an event called Night at the Races. Please check out their site and if you're in the PA area you might wanna attend as they raise money to benefit the Susan G. Komen foundation. I also made some to sell in my Etsy Shop. 10& of sales from the coffee cozies in my Etsy Shop will be donated to the Save the Ta-Ta's Foundation.




Here are some beanies I made in NFL colors. They are for sale in my Etsy shop:



I made these for a couple of friends who served as infantry soldiers in Iraq, hence the light blue stripe (light blue represents "infantry").


A beanie I made as a thank-you gift for my friend Casey.


This is a scarf I made as a thank-you gift for Casey's friend Kimi.


I made this scarf for my mom to give to her for Christmas.


This is a set a friend of mine bought to give as a Christmas gift. He said the recipient works for the domestic violence center, hence the dark purple ribbon, and her favorite color is green.


The same friend of mine who bought the set above also bought thiet for his girlfriend:


Camo beanie I made at the request of a friend.


I just finished these two nights ago. My two older children wanted me to make them winter hats to match their coats so here they are. Believe it or not, they are made from the same pattern with a little altering to make the hats different.


My friend Corey saw my awareness hats and asked that I please make him one. He drives a demolition derby car and they do a fundraiser for breast cancer so he thought he would like to have a hat to match his pink car. :) He asked that I also add the purple ribbon for general cancer awareness in memory of his mother who has passed away from cancer. Here is that hat:


I couldn't sleep one night so I made this...I will definitely be making some more like this one in black with a pink ribbon and some lighter pink ones with a pink ribbon and some teal ones for ovarian cancer. This one is for sale for $10.00 on Etsy for $10.00 with proceeds going to the Save the Ta-Ta's Foundation.



Here is my hat that I made for Ovarian Cancer Awareness. I is for sale on Etsy.com for $10.00 with proceeds going towards the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund:


I used the leftover scrap yarn from my daughter Hayley's blanket to make these cute little hats to donate to an organization called Newborns in Need. They collect handmade baby items to donate to babies in the hospital.


These newborn hat/bootie sets are for sale on my Etsy for $6.50 per set. A portion of the proceeds from sales will be donated to the March of Dimes. They make great baby gifts!!


My friend Lindsey wanted a unique baby gift to give a friend so she custom-ordered a baby size of the girly skull blanket. I added a little scalloped border to "girly it up".


I made this set for my friend Bubby's sister who just had a precious little baby girl. I think it came out really cute.


I had found the chart for this online and wanted to try it out so I gathered up some scrap yarn and made a potholder for my mom. I eventually plan to use it to make some afghans to sell. A percentage of any of my pink ribbon creations will be donated to Save the Ta-Tas:


I found this chart online also. It started out as just a normal skull and crossbones, but I wanted to make it girly, so I added the bow. I gave this to my friend Ashley as a gift. I can also make the normal version without the bow and can size it down for a baby/child sized blanket. I'm also going to play around with the chart to give the skull a "mohawk". I think that would be kinda cool! LOL


This is a blanket I made as a gift for my friend Andrew:


Here is a blanket that I am donating to Forever Warm. This organization was created to provide parents of stillborn children with a blanket that they can wrap their children in for pictures and/or burial. Parents are also given the choice to keep the blanket as a personal keepsake to remember their child:


This blanket recently sold on Etsy:


Here is a blanket I made that I am donating to Project Linus. This organization provides blankets to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need: