Tooth Fairy Pillow pocket lovey

This tooth fairy pillow is going to be a gift for my wonderful dental hygienist, Carra.

In recent years, I've developed awful sensitivity in my teeth from enamel damage incurred from grinding my teeth and/or clenching my jaw during sleep. I started wearing a mouth guard at night, but not until after the damage was already done.

Ever since my teeth were damaged, having dental cleanings done has been terribly painful, to the point where I even considered not going to the dentist at all anymore (yeah, of course, I know that skipping dental visits wouldn't have made my situation any better, obviously, but ugh). I even felt that I had to change dental practices because my previous dentist didn't seem to be sufficiently sympathetic to my pain and wasn't really working with me to follow a plan to manage it.

My new hygienist, Carra (and, really, the entire team at Dr. Shelton's), has been nothing short of AMAZING. Carra has been very sympathetic and gentle with me at every visit and always gives me and my teeth the most wonderful care.

I always try to profusely thank Carra each time I see her, to let her know how much I appreciate her wonderful "bedside manner," as it were, but in addition to saying thank you, I wanted to give her a small, tangible token to express my gratitude, and thus I went searching for a crochet tooth pattern that was both super adorable and also sort of representative of who she is in her career. To me, Carra is my personal tooth fairy angel! 👼

This free Tooth Fairy Pillow pattern by Heather Corinne Smith is just right in every way. (She also has a video tutorial you can follow.) The design makes a tooth softie/lovey of a nice size (mine is about 6 inches tall, not including the hanging loop, by 6 inches wide), and the kawaii embroidered facial features are just so cute. The pocket on the back (about 3.75 inches wide by 2.5 inches tall) is the perfect size for holding a Dutch Bros gift card and sticker to add an extra touch of sweetness to the gift. I finished mine by adding a bow made of a small scrap of hot pink ribbon (it was only about 8 inches long to start with, so it was barely long enough, but it worked!!) that I had in my stash and followed this quick tutorial on YouTube to tie it, then I carefully sewed it to the tooth using a needle and thread.

Back with pocket

This turned out so cute, and I think Carra is going to love it. So if you love your dental hygienist as much as I love mine, maybe you should make one of these for your hygienist, too!

Machine knit coin purse project

I love the designs by Nicola Allison of Three Magic Sheep Co.! I just came across a TikTok video tutorial she made showing how to make these sweet coin purses using a 40-pin knitting machine. Such a super cute project!

@threemagicsheepco For links to the clasp, beads, and other supplies check out my website! Link in bio Or you can head directly to my Amazon storefront: https://www.amazon.com/shop/threemagicsheepco #howto #circularknittingmachinetutorial #circularknittingmachine #sentroknittingmachine #tutorial #knittingmachinequeens #threemagicsheepco #sentro #knittingmachine ♬ Beautiful Life - Vin Music

Kawaii Pop Tart

Using my Addi King Size 46-needle knitting machine, I made this kawaii amigurumi Hot Fudge Sundae Pop Tart toy.

I don't eat stuff like pop tarts anymore, but back in the day, the hot fudge sundae flavor was my favorite.

Recipe is 60 rows of crust/base color and 60 rows of frosting color. For a 48-needle machine, make it 65 rows of each. Since my pop tart is a Hot Fudge Sundae Pop Tart, I used a dark brown yarn (Red Heart Super Saver in Coffee) for the crust color and a white yarn (Red Heart Super Saver in White) for the frosting layer. I recommend using waste yarn to cast on and cast off from the machine because it makes it easier to close the tubes later.

Crochet each end of the tube closed and remove the waste yarn. Then fold your tube in half, putting the crust color on one side and the frosting color on the other side. Using the crust color and a 5mm crochet hook, work half-double crochet stitches around the outside edge of the pop tart, first to join the ends of the tubes together (across the short side), then around the corner (placing at least 2 HDCs in each corner), then down one long side (joining the crust layer to the frosting layer), then around the next corner, then across the other short side (where the tube is folded), then around the third corner. At this point, lightly stuff the pop tart, just barely enough to give the center some loft (don't make it at all firm). After stuffing the center, continue crocheting around the last (long) side (again, joining the crust layer to the frosting layer) until you're back to where you started. Don't forget to work a couple extra stitches in that last corner. Then join to the first HDC stitch and fasten off.

I did 65 rows in my sample piece of a Hot Fudge Sundae Pop Tart on my 46-needle machine, and the aspect ratio is a bit tall compared to what a real pop tart looks like, so I adjusted my recipe to be 60 rows of each color on the 46-needle machines, which should work better, and 65 rows of each color on the 48-needle machines.

For the eyes, I used a couple of 10mm eyes from this kit that I bought on Amazon. I embroidered the little mouth using a small length of Red Heart yarn in black.

For the colorful sprinkles, I found this skein of Ice Yarns Lorena Print in purple/pink/yellow/green/turquoise, which are the exact same colors as the sprinkles on the real Hot Fudge Sundae Pop Tarts. And for the chocolatey swirls, I embroidered chain stitches using more of the Red Heart yarn in the Coffee (brown) colorway.

Inspo photo

Pokemon yarn-bombing

Here's a different twist on yarn-bombing: Leaving little crocheted Pokemon characters at Pokestops for the players to find. This clever idea was shared with me by my friend Joann.

Crochet spring wreath

My dear friend Pam shared this super cute crochet spring wreath idea by Sarah at Repeat Crafter Me. The instructions are in this post on her blog.