Monday, March 30, 2015

Zig Zag Baby Blanket.


I have not been updating very regularly lately. That is because I have been keeping a secret from you. I am expecting my second baby soon; like in 5 weeks. I feel like I have been struck with pregnancy brain double hard this time. I have been designing, but when it comes to writing the pattern out it is like I have a major brain freeze. I have a few drafts on my computer, but they just stare at me with sad eyes saying, "People do want to see what you are doing." One of these days I will get back to the program.

For this baby I thought it would be fun to knit for it since I crocheted a lot of things for my daughter. I started with a hat. It turned out okay. Then I made a dress, that ended up being way to small, I'm being told that this baby is measuring in the 80th percentile so I don't have high hopes of it fitting. I also made some leggings, they turned out great. When I get a picture of her wearing them I will post it.

Lastly I made a blanket. (I still have 5 weeks. I'm sure I will think of other things to make.)

I used a stitch pattern that I found on Purl Bee. The Rick Rack Scarf. I made 4 inch squares with the stitch pattern. I used a German twisted cast on, and cast on 25 stitches for 22 rows. For the cast off I used a stretchy cast off.

For the border of the blanket I really wanting to knit on a mitered edge, but I could just not figure out how to do it. So I compromised; went with what I knew and used crochet.  The stitch is a Tunisian Purl stitch and I chained 12. I made short rows for the corners to make the mitered corners. I finished off the edge with a reverse single crochet.

Some of you will comment, "but all the weaving of the loose ends." I know, I know it is horrible. I hate them too. This time though it was not that bad. I kept the ends really long and I wove them in using a yarn needle. Also it turns out my daughter really likes weaving in the ends. I think she did about half of them for me. So you can always hire your kids out to do the unpleasant parts.

I hope this brings you inspiration to create something that is completely different from the original.


Thursday, January 22, 2015

Butterfly Kindle Sleeve

I wanted to share with you something that I have been working on. I finished this sleeve for my Kindle Paper White last week. I feel so accomplished at how beautiful it turned out.
I had this idea in my head that I wanted to make a sleeve that had Irish lace on it, and I specifically wanted a butterfly to go on the front. I spent a few nights on Pintrest looking through different Irish Crochet pictures and I slowly formed what you see in the picture.

For the butterfly I took a lot of inspiration from the picture found in the antique pattern library.

For the motifs on the back I used the diagrams found at this blog.

For the top edging I used the diagram found at this blog.

For the small flowers I took inspiration from the butterfly wings and top edging and made up my own flower.

The last pictures are of how I pieced it together. 





For the base of the sleeve I used Luster Sheen. It is a beautiful peacock blue color that really does not show up well in the photos. I got it from an estate sale and I have been saving it for something special. For the lace part I used a worsted size ten thread. All together it probably took 10 hours. I made a lot of it while I watched all the episodes of Broad Church. A very good BBC Mystery.

I know this will be something I keep for a very long time.

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Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Party Cowl

 A Free Crochet Pattern


Are you in need of a quick last minute crochet gift. I have an easy cowl pattern for you.

I first came up with this pattern when I was asked to come up with some class ideas for when I was teaching crochet lessons at the art studio that I work at. We wanted to have some options for when students wanted to have a birthday party or shower at the studio. The idea was that each student that was participating in the party would learn how to make one strand of the cowl, then at the end of the lesson we would put it all together and give it as a gift to the host of the party.

This cowl is easy enough for a beginner and it can be worked up in any yarn or weight. There are a lot of possibilities. Each strand could be a different color or size. I am excited to see what other creative ways you can make this cowl.

Pattern

Yarn: Lion Brand: Homespun, bulky,  6.00 oz./170 g (185 yd/169 m): Cherry Blossom

Hook: size I/ 9 5.50MM

Notions: 1 button, thread, sewing needle.

Gauge: Each yo-yo is 3 in. The band is 3 inches by 12 inches.

Special stitches:

Picot: ch 4, sl st into st just made.
Joining picot: ch 2, sl st into picot of previous yo-yo, ch 2, sl st into st just made.

Notes: The cowl is made by making individual strands of yo-yos, that are formed into large loops. When you have the desired amount of strands you put them inside a band that is also crocheted.

Yo-yo strand

First yo-yo: With an adjustable ring, ch 3 (counts as the first dc here and throughout), (4 dc, picot, 10 dc, picot, 5 dc) in the adjustable ring, pull the ring tight and sl st into the first dc, for a total of 20 dc. Finish off. Weave in your ends.

2nd- 6th yo-yo: With an adjustable ring, ch 3, (4 dc, joining picot, 10 dc, picot, 5 dc) in the adjustable ring, pull the ring tight and sl st into the first dc. for a total of 20 dc. Finish off. Weave in your ends

Last yo-yo: With an adjustable ring, ch 3, (4 dc, joining picot, 10 dc, joining picot with the first yo-yo, to close up your loop, 5 dc) in the adjustable ring, pull the ring tight and sl st into the first dc. For a total of 20 dc. Finish off. Weave in your ends.

Continue making yo-yo strands till you have your desired amount. The model shown has 4 strands.


The band

Row 1: Ch 9, sc in the second ch from hook, sc in each ch across for a total of 8 sc.
Row 2: Ch 3, turn, dc in each sc across for a total of 8 dc.
Row 3: Ch 1, turn, sc in each dc across for a total of 8 sc.
Rows 4-15: Repeat rows 2 and 3.
Row 16: Repeat row 2.
Row 17: Ch 1, sc in the next 3 dc, ch 2, sk 2 dc, sc in the next 3 dc. (button hole just made.)
Row 18: Ch 3, dc in the next 2 sc, 2 dc in the ch 2 sp, 3 dc in the last 3 sc. Finish off. Weave in your ends.

Assembly

Add your button to the band using a needle and thread. Put the strand loops in the band and close the band up with the button.
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