Crafty Crochet

Some crafty crochet to share.

Have a really good look at the picture below.

The crochet work and idea's belong to Rudy Rambo, I saw her post to Mikeyssmail on face book and it impressed me enough to blog about it (with her permission).

Not only has she embellished her project, but she has put it together for so many uses. I wonder what is under the lid of the 1st container on the right?

Below is a stitch marker and row counter in one. I saw this idea on the internet somewhere and made one up myself, I have already used it and it is so very handy.

I was doing some swatches of skull and crosssbones from a graph pattern. I was testing for the best size to use in a hat. At this point I do not think I could work the graph into a hat as I make the hats in the round and I do not think the graph pattern will line up as the stitches in a hat are off set. But I was able to sew on the small skull to the back of an ear flap hat.

Large Skull Graph.

Small Skull Graph.

This is an ear flap hat I made for a 2 yr old.

This is the link to my pattern.

I must tell you that I was one of two winners for Mikeyssmail DVD competition.

I am going to use this as an aid in teaching my grandkids more on the knifty knitter, maybe I'll get them to crochet too!

Locker Hooking? Crochet, Threading, Latching, Rag Stash Buster

I stumbled across this craft known as locker hooking!
From this

To this

And this

And this

Here is a good selection of information to get you and I started.

Here is a link to another locker hookers post.
Link to some free patterns.

YouTube Video Tutorials.

These tutorials will lead you to the next in the series too.

You may also like to see some latch hooking

                           


Materials you may need. 
The locker hook from Amazon could not be posted to Australia, so I ordered mine from here.

Recycled Sweaters and Dyeing Yarn

I've been contemplating on recycling old sweaters.

I looked into this once before and browsed the second hand shops for used sweaters, but I was baffled, I really did not know what sweaters would unravel well. 

So this time I am going in prepared with the knowledge I have discovered on the internet. 

I'm also considering the purchase of felted sweaters, the ones that were accidentally felted that can be cut into shapes for all types of uses.

I also thought it may be handy to have some knowledge of dyeing yarns too.

I just have to learn about what types of yarn will take the dyeing process.

I found some handy video tutorials that will assist me in this venture and I would like to share them with you too.

Excellent link for more help.


Link for more help.

Have A Browse Around These Sites

These site's are all about yarn creations, full of pictures, minimal reading and links to the original post. Certainly worth the browse.

Check out the youtube video's below too. 

Go to this link for the picture with the garden chair

 Go to this link for the recliner and the TV

Let's Go Back To The Lady Bug Scarf

Let's Go Back To The Lady Bug Scarf.
I have a couple of pictures from the makers of my ladybug scarf pattern.
Crochet Quackers ... home of the ducks .
Oh my, crochet quackers really does the pattern justice. 
You may want to have a look at her blog too, she crochet's ducks among other things.

This one is from a maker from ravelry, her name is Themrselliot.

This is what she had to say about her ladybug scarf.

"I used buttons with some variation of size for the dots on the back and the eyes. Time saver! I also pinned in the corners of the scarf neck piece so it tapered to the first attached ladybug’s head"

It is pleasing to see people using the pattern and their version of the pattern too, thank you Ladies.

Just a little some thing for me

I made a  scrubby dish cloth, a tawashi cloth and a simple knitted square face cloth. It's the first time I have had the knitting needles out in a long time. The scrubby was made on the knitting loom and the tawashi cloth is crocheted.

The link to the free patterns are above.

I also made some toppers for a hand towel.

It's not often that I crochet just for me.

It is a treat for myself to place in my bathrooms.

I have a little bit more of this cotton yarn left, so I'm off to look for something else to match.

It's All About Crafting

Get your self lost in this craft site. So many things to see, crochet, knit, sewing, quilting, paper crafts etc, etc, etc, enjoy!

Whip Up.

Impressive How To links/ Hand Bag Handles/Tawashi/Dish cloth

I like the concept of these items I found whilst browsing the internet.

How to make a hand bag handle

How to make a tawashi/dish cloth

Dish Cloth Scrubby, made on a loom, with a real scrubby twist

Granny Stitch Hat Pattern With an Added Granny Square For An Ear Flap

It pays to scour the web for inspiration.

I was going to write my own pattern for a hat like this granny st hat, but I came across a free one that was easy to read and to make up.

The hat is for a child.

Here is the link.

But I was planning a different look, so here are my changes.

The hat is made as per the pattern, I made up a granny square of 3 rounds and placed the square in a triangular position onto the hat for an ear flap.

I placed 2 corners on the very edge of the hat edge and sewed them into position.

I made sure they were placed apart to fit correctly over the ears.

For the ties with 2 strands of yarn held together, I chained 50, then made a mini cork screw on one end.

I also did a row of sc around the hat before I sewed on the ties.

And here is the result, simple yet effective.

I used 8 ply yarn and a 4.00 mm hook.

Here is a tutorial for the corkscrew.

Here is a tutorial for a granny square.

Four More Flapper Hats

Over the last 2 days I have completed these four adult ear flap hats.

I am trying to write patterns as I go, I have the draft for the granny flapper hat, but I have to make a second one to complete the pattern instructions. The pink and blue ones in this picture have a very similar pattern to the childs ear flap hat pattern I up loaded a few days ago.

These 2 black ones have a different stitch each, one being the granny on the left and on the right is the puff stitch. Both ties have a lovely finish, one has a black rose and the other has curly ends.

Below I made a ladder type of tie for the adult pink ear flap hat. It has the filet st with a scfd row threaded through the centre.

With a small flower attached to the top of the tie, the ladder looks almost like the stem of the flower.

A few simple rows of the colours that are used in the blue earflap hat, finish off this tie nicely, suiting a male or female wearer.

Whilst I am here, I am going to type down some of my instructions for future use. I have so many things jotted down that I can barely tell them apart.

Adult hdc ear flap hat worked almost the same as the childs hdc hat, difference below.
Adult HDC ear flap hat.
1. 12 hdc into ring
2. inc to 24
3. inc to 36
4. work row with out increase
5. inc to 48
6. inc to 60
7. inc to 72
Work with out inc for approx 7 inch measure of hat from top to bottom. Fin
Place ear flap 7 st's away from back centre.
Make ear flap
1. work 12 hdc
2. 3. 4. work 12 hdc
5. dec at each end ( 2nd st in and 2nd lst st)
6.work 10 hdc
7. dec each end
8. work 8 hdc
9. dec each end
10. work 6 hdc
11. dec each end
12. dec each end (2 hdc) fin off.

Edging the same as childs hdc.

Tammy's HDC Ear Flap Hats for Jr

What an absolute blast it is to see another crocheters work made from a pattern that you wrote.

Below are some pictures from Tammy, she made 3 hat's in one day and was onto her fourth when she told me the news. Tammy is from the States and she used 4 ply yarn and her favourite 6.5mm hook to make her hats.

This is Jr's favourite hat, front view.

Jr's hat side view.

How clever, Jr requested a spiderman hat with out ties.

Thank you Tammy for allowing me to use the photo's of Junior.

Here is the link to the hat pattern.

I made these 3 hats today

I really wish I had the time to write down all the patterns for the hat designs I come up with.

Writing a pattern takes so much time, I can make 4 to 5 hats in the time it takes to write a pattern, I do get some patterns up on my blog, but not as many as I would like to.

Below are some pictures of 3 hats I designed in 1 day.

Pink with cream spike.
Cream wave.

Simple black ear flapper hat with a folded peak.

Childs HDC Ear Flap Hat Pattern

Finally another free pattern to share.

This hat is for a child from 4 to 10, but can fit a little loosely on a 2 yr old and firmly up to 14. I have had it on my head and it barely fits, my head size is an adults meduim to small.

The hat fits my 4 yr old grand son just perfect and was a little loose on my 2 yr old but he still looked good in it. I hope to have some pictures of them wearing the hats soon.
I also used a hook 1 size smaller, same ply yarn and made the hat to fit a baby 6 to 12 months old.

The hat is made with the hdc st and works up quite fast, I have included a video tutorial for the hdc st at the bottom of the page.

If you make this hat, I would love to hear your feed back.

Enjoy.

I put a small flower on each side of the pink hat and a couple of buttons on the blue hat.

In the picture below I used a 4mm hook with the same pattern directions, this fits a 2 yr old.

 
In the picture below, I am showing you what I am referring to in the pattern as the centre back st.

In the picture below, I am showing you where to sc twice when you make the edging for the hat.

My Grandson Used My Knitting Loom

Meet Darcy, my 7 year old grandson. I taught him how to use the knitting loom tonight. He found it relaxing (words from his mouth).

Unlike the his sister Lily, he soon became a little bored with the loom knitting about half the way through making his hat. So I wrapped the pegs and he lifted the stitches over, soon this eventually bored him too, it was not growing fast enough for him.

I was making something for myself on another loom, but I had to put that aside to finish Darcy's hat off. Darcy was getting a little tired at this stage so I had to go very fast to finish it.

Once it was off the pegs and sewed up, he stuck his fingers through the hat and said look Nan a monster, so we came up with the idea for a monster face to put on the hat.

Some buttons for eye's, a bit of sewing for the mouth and he had to have a mohawk too!
All just in time for bed time too! I'm sure we can add a little something extra tomorrow for more of a monster look. He has worn it to bed, because he says it is nice and warm.
I was really pleased Darcy took an interest in the loom, we have nintendo's, wii's and a playstation too, they all took a back seat to him being creative on the loom.
Well Done My Darcy boy!