Hey Dearies! Since this week is the week of Valentine’s Day, I wanted to find some more patterns for this lovely day! Even if you don’t celebrate it, hearts, like these can be the extra accessory to add to many projects!
Now, I looked around to find free patterns for these, but do keep in mind, I’m looking for different ways to crochet a heart. Like I said before, they can add the finishing touch to projects, such as hats, baby blankets, blankets, clothes, bags, and so much more! You can even make these to wear as jewelry!
Note: These are NOT my own patterns, I will be leaving links to these free patterns, but all rights go to the creators themselves.
Crochet Simple Heart
This pattern is fairly simple and very easy to make, it is also like how I made my bookmark or close to the same stitches. If you want a solid perfect heart, this would be the one you go for.
I love the idea of being able to make hearts in all sizes or in different sizes. This creator has three sizes, which is perfect if you are looking for a particular size for projects. Not to mention, these are great practice project for those who are wanting to learn how to crochet.
I think this idea is simple, but it is so beautiful! I think these would make a perfect pin or add a wonderful touch to a headband! Not to mention, it’s not like a normal rose shape or heart shape, its more unique and the pattern is amazing!
Technically, this is a coaster pattern, but there doesn’t mean it has to be just a coaster, you can make this to be a wonderful add-on to a baby blanket or a hat. Not to mention, this is a little different from how a normal shape heart is crocheted.
Here is another pattern, that has 3 different sizes, but they are a little different from the other ones that are on this list. They are more drawn together than the other ones but are just as quick and easy to create.
There we have it! There are many others that I found, but most of them were patterns that you had to pay for the pattern itself, which I only wanted to find the ones that were free.
Especailly, ones that were different or unique to create. Which ones are your favorites?
Hey Dearies! With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I figured I would find some free patterns for this lovely holiday! Even if you don’t do anything, these ideas are perfect to make for the kiddos of your family!
Note: These aren’t my patterns, but free patterns that I have found and will have the website link for that pattern. All rights go to the creators of these patterns!
1. Valentine’s Day Cat
If you are a cat lover, then you should definitely add this to your do-to list! The cutest thing about this cat is that it’s shaped in a heart! Not to mention, you don’t have to sew on the whiskers, another option would use some puffy paint, but it can be challenging to do.
Super cute hat and since February can still be a little nippy out, these are a perfect gift to gift the kiddos for Valentine’s Day! The best part about these is that you can wear them for all the winter season.
I’ve actually made a wreath, something like this, but it was so difficult to do and if you have been following me for a while, you’ll know that wreath, such as these, take a very long time to do, but once they are finished they are so worth all the hard work!
As you know, I love to include kitchen sets, especially when it comes to holiday stuff like this! These are a super cute idea to have for the month of February! This also gives you more on practicing the C2C stitch and how to change colors.
This is another cute idea to make for the kiddos, especially perfect for putting in some chocolate kisses! This type of pattern is something that you can also use to practice changing colors, as well as switching colors!
When I saw these, all I could think of was what a great idea these would be for teachers! These are small but super easy to make and to make many of these! I’ve always wanted to be a teacher and if I prepared myself, I would have these for my students!
These are more for decoration when it comes to placemats, blankets, clothing, and even bibs. However, they are also perfect for making them into magnets! Not to mention, these are perfect practice for those that learning to sew pieces of their projects together!
I know, this bear is too cute! The best part about this pattern is that there is a FREE PDF print out! Which makes them perfect to add to your binder of patterns! These bears are super soft and perfect for those babies that were born or will be born around Valentine’s Day!
From one of my favorite crochet YouTubers, Naztazia has created this amazing pattern that is perfect for Valentine’s Day or for people who have a theme of Hearts for their kitchen! The best part, there is a video to show you how to create this amazing dishcloth!
Doesn’t this one look familiar? It should because this was the first pattern that I have EVER created and posted on my website! If you have been following me since day one, this was when I was first starting out or getting into crocheting! This is perfect for beginners!
*This is a very true story. Tissues might be needed. It was difficult to write this, but it is something that helps me express what had happen with my son and his short journey. Please, just take caution when reading.*
There are a lot of ‘Mom Blogs’ out in the web. Some talk about how to take care of a child or their experiences with their child’s first achievements in life. But I haven’t seen very many that talk about the experience of having a child with a heart disease. Let’s just say that it’s very much an emotional rollar coaster.
Well, that’s what it was for me. My son was diagnosed with HLHS (Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome) when I was 22 weeks pregnant with him. Basically, HLHS is when the left side of their heart is either underdeveloped or never formed. Once he was born, he would have to go into surgery within the first week of life.
Altogether, he would have to go through 3 major surgeries with in the first 3 years of his life. Now, I was 18 when I was pregnant with my son, Liam. Image being me at 18, and being told that there was a very big change that he wouldn’t make it. Liam’s everyday life would be either life or death.
The happy family that my fiance and I imaged had changed. We didn’t know if he would make it to his first birthday. We had so many unanswered questions. Would he be able to play sports when he gets older? Would he need a heart transplant in the future if his starts to fail? Or the big question that we wanted to know: Would he ever make it home from the hospital?
Because of how serious his disease was, we weren’t able to have him, in our state. We were recommended to go down to Boston Children’s Hospital. We were told that they deal with congenital heart defects everyday. It made me and our family feel a lot better about having Liam there.
Once Liam was born, he was the most beautiful baby boy that I ever laid eyes on. You couldn’t see that there was anything wrong with him, but on the inside, there was a struggling heart that we would of never noticed.
As soon as I hear him cry, I started to cry myself. They cleaned him up and gave him medicine, to keep the values from closing. We could only hold him for a minute before they took him up to where he needed to be.
I finally got to hold him longer, later that day. I wanted to keep holding him because I knew that once he had his surgery, it would be a very long time until we were able to hold him again. They planned for his first surgery to be on June 27th, 2016, 3 days after his birth.
My fiance and I spent the entire day with him, holding him, getting as much closeness as we could. Until, the morning of his surgery came. We walked down with him, until we got to the point we weren’t able to go past. We both kissed his and held his little fingers. Praying that god would watch over our little boy.
During that day, we got out of the hospital, trying to get our minds off of the fact that they were doing surgery on our son. I wanted to wait all day, but my fiance and I agreed it would be best to go out and get some fresh air. We got frequent updates, while Liam was in surgery. It made me feel better that someone cared enough to let us know that everything was going smoothly and that they would keep us posted until he was our of surgery.
Once they called to let us know that he was doing great, they told us that he was all set to see visitors. I was nervous and scared to see how he looked. Even when we got closer to his room, tears already started to pour down my face.
As a parent, you never want your children to go through surgery or be hooked up to anything. Seeing Liam for the first time out of surgery, was life changing. His chest wasn’t closed, they keep the chest open for a few days to make sure everything is working out fine before they close it. Every time I would go to see him, I asked that they covered his heart, just when I was in there. I don’t know why, but I felt uncomfortable.
As weeks went passed, they finally closed his chest and slowly started to take him off some medication and his breathing tube. We were finally able to hold our son again, after about 4 weeks from his surgery.
We thought that things were going great, he was able to leave the NICU and move over to what they called was ‘The Floor’, meaning that Liam still needed nurses, but not 24/7, like he did in the NICU. The doctors said that once he was able to start eating from a bottle or breast and a few other things, he would be able to go home.
Day 2, of being on ‘The Floor’, was the most horrible day of my life. The nurse had come in to give Liam his medicine and he was being fussy, so she suggested that I pick him up and rock him. All of a sudden, my worst nightmare had happen. He stopped breathing in my arms.
The nurse took him and pressed the code blue button, 7-8 other hospital staff rushed in to help, they took him back over the NICU. I followed them, shocked and frighted. My fiance rushed over to the hospital, they wouldn’t allow both parents to stay in the room together, so he had to stay at a place that was a mile away from the hospital.
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I didn’t know what to do, they had a nurse stay with me until my fiance got there. All I could say was, ‘he stopped breathing in my arms.’
They did CPR on him for 45 minutes until they were able to get on bypass. They didn’t know what happened. They figured it was a blood clot that blocked blood from reaching his heart. The told us that they were going to try and take him off bypass slowly and hope for the best, but if he was still on it after a week, there was a good chance that Liam wouldn’t make it.
During the time he was on bypass, Liam had brain damage, from getting CPR for too long, kidneys and liver were starting to fail. We ended up sitting down with a few doctors and his surgeon. We also got our immediate family to come up, for the support. They said that once we can get him off bypass, that they would be able to determined if he would still have brain activity, but by the looks of what they were trying to read, he had little to none brain activity.
My fiance and I looked at each other and prayed that god wouldn’t take Liam from us. He did. On July 23rd, 2016 at 4 in the morning, our son had passed away. When they took him off bypass, he was doing fine, but slowly started to decline. My fiance, his mother, my mother and I, were with him when he passed. I held him until his heart stopped beating.
Everyone I knew, their baby got to come home in their car seat, but Liam never even left the hospital. He didn’t come home in a car seat. He came home in a box. Every mother’s worst night mare.
It was really hard to write this, but I think it’s time that everyone knows that not every baby born in this world is perfectly normal. I rather tell people my experience than let every mother or soon-to-be mother think that everyone’s child is born healthy.
Because my son wasn’t born healthy. His heart disease was something that not even doctors know how it was caused. I’ve googled it thousands of times, no one know’s why HLHS happens or any congenital birth defect.
This year will be two years that Liam has been gone. I’ll never get to see him on his first birthday or see him walk or talk for the first time. He was two days shy of being a month old.
But there is one thing that I want to let everyone know. Whether your child was on this world for a day, month, or years, you can’t just get over it. People think that because Liam wasn’t even a month old, that I can just get over it.
To this day, I still cry about him, not as much as I first did, but I do still cry about him. I always will. He is my little Simba and I miss and love him so much.
On a happier note, Liam gave us a surprise from up above. We were blessed with our daughter, Isabella on October 25th 2017, our rainbow baby. I believe that he knew we were ready to be parents, as cheesy as it may sound, and gave us our healthy daughter.
Every year on his birthday, we release balloons, in honor of him. In honor of our heart warrior, our little Simba. Now, our Simba is looking down and watching over his little sister from up above.
A lot of people think that having a baby will bring you joy and happiness for your family. Which is does, but a lot of people don’t understand that there is a lot going on then just taking care of a baby.
I have been dealing with depression since I was 13. It’s been a long rocky-road for me. Sometimes, I just wish that I could just be happy, but having depression, makes you want to do nothing. Be nothing. You are always sad inside and no one will really know unless you talk to them about it.
When you have a baby, after the baby is born, some mom struggle with, what it is called, ‘baby blues’. It usually happens to a lot of moms within the first month of their baby being born. That’s why a lot of OBGYN’s ask you about ‘baby blues’, at your 6 week post-postpartum check up. They want to make sure that you and the baby are in good hands.
As a mom who has already lost a child and just had another one, it’s really difficult for me to watch my daughter grow because my son died when he was only a month old. It’s started to hit me a few days ago, that’s why there hasn’t been a lot of blogging going on.
Not just with the depression, stress and other issues are also on my mind. It makes it worse, especially when you have a little one that needs you every waking minute. There are days that I don’t want to get up, but my daughter gives me the kick that I need to get up and go on with my life.
It makes me sad that I can’t see my son reach the milestones that my daughter is, but she gives me a sense of hope. Just because I lost my son, I can’t get up on the fact that he’s gone. I always know that he will always watch over my daughter and any future children that I may have.
Before you say that a newly mother can’t be depressed, think about this. Have you ever had a child? Have you ever thought of the crying to never end? Have you ever go nuts, in your mind, because your baby is crying and you don’t know why?
I give praises to newly mothers, especially ones that have babies or children with birth defects. I also want to praise all the mothers that try their best, when they think their best isn’t good enough.
You moms are doing amazing!
It’s good to hear a good thing or too. To me, it makes me feel inspired and more confident to shoot for the stars.
But the one thing that I always do, when I’m feeling depressed or down, I talk to someone. Whether it is a friend, family member, or my fiance. I talk to someone. I rather people know what’s going on, versus keeping it all locked inside. As much as I sometimes would rather not talk to anyone, I know that I should.
If you are a mom, who’s struggling with depression or ‘baby blues’, talk to someone or talk to your doctor, they can give you some medication that will make it easier for you to handle. As much as some people don’t like taking medications, I am one of those people, it does work.
I am always an open ear. Seriously, if you need someone to talk to, go to my Contact page and send me a message. It’s better to open up to someone, rather than no one.
To all those moms, you keep doing what you are doing, better days are sure to come.
*If you really need help and need to talk to someone or a medical professionally, click on the link below. It gives a list of hotlines and explains depression in depth. The hotline is there and is completely anonymous.
Katie's Blog 