Snow Blossom Beanie

It's almost time for spring! Boy, am I ready. The winter weather around Washington hasn't been as intense as other parts of the country (my friends in Portland and Boise were drowning in snow!), but it's definitely time for the grey to make way for green. Appropriately, today I released my Snow Blossom Beanie, which is perfect for the last of the chill. It is available on Ravelry and Craftsy. Thanks go out to the lovely Alexis for modeling.

The Snow Blossom Beanie reflects the hopeful transition from winter into early spring. It is delicate and feminine with sweet little flowers. Surface crochet and appliques provide nice texture and stand out in the cold. The pattern includes a chart, written instructions, and a short photo tutorial on surface crochet. The yarn used to make this pattern has unfortunately been discontinued. Alternative yarns are suggested.

Carefree Basketweave Crossbody Bag

A pattern release! Yaaaaaay! It's been far too long. I was recently promoted at my day-job, and man oh man has there been a lot to do. I'm a Campus Manager now, which is kind of like a principal. The school is fairly small, but it is still a lot of work. However, I settled in today with my laptop to get this pattern out because it was burning a hole in my files! I am thankful to my many testers for working so hard to make it a reality.

Here's the Carefree Basketweave Crossbody Bag! It is available on Ravelry and Craftsy.

Hands free can be a great thing. This bag is meant to be worn across the body, leaving your hands free for texting, creating, dancing… being you! The button keeps your essentials in place and the tight basketweave stitch eliminates the need for a lining. Make it in a funky variegated and stand out or let the texture do all of the work with a solid color. The pattern includes a photo tutorial that will guide you as you work. This bag is made with a lovely cotton-blend yarn, Kraemer Yarns Tatamy Tweed Worsted.

Hot Off the Hook: Basketweave Crossbody Bag

The weather has got me super into bag patterns right now. Summer is officially beginning at the end of this month, and my hands are all about cotton. I'm excited this afternoon because I just finished the sample for the first of two basketweave bag patterns. This one is the crochet version.

I'm sending it to my testers this weekend and I hope to release it at the beginning of July. That way all of you concert/festival/fair/etc goers will have a nice project to make and show off while carrying your stuff in style. The knit version is in progress, as I've mentioned before. Oh, but I'm not stopping there! I also have some delightful crochet-bag-pattern-making plans for this cotton yarn right here:

I found out that an art store in town, Blick Art Materials, carries many colors of Lily Sugar and Cream. Score! Cotton-y goodness, here I come.

Intuitive Crochet

Do you like to follow crochet patterns? Most of the time I do. I like the recipe of them, the way that all of the instructions fit together to make a finished object. I like written instructions best but I also enjoy charts, tutorials, and other step-by-step procedures that help me make string into stuff. I also love sharing my own crochet patterns, both paid and for free. Just like the scientific method, I can share my steps with other crafters (sometimes in totally different countries!) and they can get the same result.

Although I prefer patterns in general, at times I feel like crocheting intuitively. What does it mean to crochet intuitively? It means that you are using what you know about the stitches and how they fit together to make objects without writing or following a pattern. Some people call this style of crochet "freehand". When I'm teaching someone to crochet for the first time, I find that intuitive crochet is the best way to go. It helps you to gain confidence in yourself as a crocheter. It also makes it easier when you later start reading patterns because you have a better frame of reference.

Here is a hat that I made when teaching someone to crochet in the round and do regular increases. I added the fun brim and flower as well. Though I love the challenge of writing patterns, every now and then it's nice to just make something without following or leading. Just doing.

What about you? Do you prefer to crochet from patterns, or do you prefer to crochet intuitively? Do you like both equally?

Fresh Air Scarf

Are you enjoying spring? I sure am! It's finally sunny off and on out here in the PNW. There are cherry blossoms and bees and duckies. Yay!

To kick off spring, here's a new pattern. It's my Fresh Air Scarf! Light and airy, it's the perfect project to make and wear on a beautiful, breezy day. Thanks go out to my radiant friend Claire for modeling!

The new pattern is available on both Ravelry and Craftsy.

Yarn Scrap Project: Swatch Bow

What do you like to do with your yarn scraps? There are many awesome large scrap projects out there. Bags and blankets are some popular options. However, sometimes you just want to use up your tiny balls of yarn without all of the fuss of changing to a new ball over and over again. What to do? Today I want to show you my very favorite scrap project. They are girly, they are fun, and they are instantly gratifying: Swatch Bows! Here's the scoop.

Here's my leftover bit of Mountain Colors from the review I did. So pretty! Can't let any of it go to waste.

Start by working up a rectangle. You can make your rectangle in any stitch you desire. In fact, this project is excellent for trying out new stitch patterns. I like half double crochet (pulling through all three loops is just so satisfying), so that's what I worked up for my example bow. When you crochet your rectangle keep in mind that the wider it is in comparison to the height the skinnier your bow will be. Experiment to find out how full you like your bows. After you weave in the ends on your swatch, cut a length of yarn for wrapping, about one yard long.

Pinch the swatch in the center and tug on the sides to shape your bow as you do. 

Position your loose yarn strand under your bow with about five to six inches on the short side.

Now for the center wrap. Wrap the long side around the center over and over until you have about 6 inches left. Move back and forth from left to right and back again as you wrap to make sure that the center is even.

Weave in both yarn ends tightly on the back side of the bow.

Voila! Now you have a sweet little bow. You can use your bows for so many things; magnets, hair clips, pins, embellishments on other projects... endless possibilities! If you're selling items at a craft show these bows are great because they are quick and pretty. Experiment with textures and materials to make all flavors of bows. Yay!

Nautical Baby Blanket

When I was in college I was in a sorority, Delta Gamma to be specific. Delta Gamma's symbol is the anchor, so many of my sisters got into anchors and other nautically-themed items. One of my lovely testers, Burgundy, asked me for some ideas regarding a nautical blanket pattern. As you can imagine I was totally ready to jump on board (ba dum ch). I present to you the Nautical Baby Blanket, complete with anchor!

I am really proud of this pattern for several reasons. I love the way the color waves and the texture waves interact with each other. I love that the anchor applique is a bit larger than what's currently available and is worked in one piece. Finally, I love the special technique that's used to give the border a corded look.

The Nautical Baby Blanket pattern is available on Ravelry and Craftsy. Work one up for your little sailor!

Seaspray Mandala

If you haven't already gotten in on Attic 24's community mandala project for Yarndale 2014, there's still time! As far as I know Lucy will be accepting mandalas until the end of June. I participated in last year's Yarndale project and had a lot of fun.

Although she has several options available for mandala making, I decided to contribute my own free-hand mandala. No pattern this time, just random crochet fun. I can't wait to send it off to the UK in the next few days. Here's my Seaspray Mandala.

I used Martha Stewart Extra Soft Wool Blend in two colors and a 5mm hook for my mandala. I wanted to pretty it up a bit so I also attached some small pearls by running thin wire through the stitches. The pearls were leftovers from my jewelry making days and I was really happy they got some use.

Community crochet projects are so exciting! I love it when people can share their love of crochet with one another. There are two more upcoming community crochet projects that I'll be writing about soon. Stay tuned!

Mary Jane Slippers

Knitting may be the best choice for sock making, but crochet makes some darn cute slippers. There are many awesome slipper patterns available for purchase and for free on Ravelry and Craftsy. I decided to take a crack at a popular free slipper pattern by Lisa Gutierrez, her Mary Jane Slippers.

 

The best thing about this pattern is that it's really easy to customize it to your desired size. I used Martha Stewart Extra Soft Wool Blend and a 5mm hook to make my slippers. While they look good and are cozy for lounging and walking on carpet, I wouldn't recommend them for walking on hard floors. The stitches are just too big to be comfortable for that. The original pattern calls for Wool-Ease which may or may not be better to walk on. I may work up another version of these slippers with a much smaller hook and DK or even lace weight yarn to see if that makes them more comfortable for hard surfaces. In the meantime this is still an excellent pattern that the designer has so generously offered for free and I'm pleased with my FO. You can find these slippers on Etsy.

Kiss Me Bag

Oh, cotton yarn. So necessary and yet so hard on your hands. Some cotton blends or very high quality woven cotton yarns are nice and soft, but really durable cotton can do a number on your fingers. I had some extra cotton and wanted to find a project that wouldn't be tight and stiff. The Kiss Me Bag turned out to be just the thing. The finished product is not as awesome as I'd hoped, but the pattern was certainly enjoyable enough and used up my cotton skein. I turned my bag inside out because I prefer the other side of the shells.

What are your favorite ways to work with cotton?

Crochet Ball Pattern

My father-in-law knows how to juggle. It seems like juggling as a hidden talent is dying out. How many young people in your life know how to juggle? Anyway... per his request, I crocheted Buddy some hacky sacks to help him out with his juggling practice. I didn't feel like following someone else's pattern this time and whipped up my own instead. Balls made from this pattern could be used for a variety of things: juggling, playing hacky sack, tossing games, etc.

I used about one and a half skeins of Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton to create the set. Since Kitchen Cotton calls for a 5mm hook on the label, I used a 4mm hook to make the balls extra tight. It hurt my hands a little to crochet with cotton so tightly, but it was worth it. The fabric is very stiff and the beans inside do not show through. Here's what I did...

Start with magic circle.
Round 1: Work 6 sc into the ring. Sl st into first st to join. Pull ring closed tightly. (6)
Round 2: Ch 1, do not turn. Work 2 sc into each st around. Sl st into first st to join. (12)
Round 3: Ch 1, do not turn. *Work 1 sc in first st and 2 sc in next*, rep around. Sl st in first to join. (18)
Round 4: Ch 1, do not turn. *Work 1 sc into each of the first 2 sts, work 2 sc in next*, rep around. Sl st in first to join. (24)
Round 5: Ch 1, do not turn. *Work 1 sc into each of the first 3 sts, work 2 sc in next*, rep around. Sl st in first to join. (30)
Round 6: Ch 1, do not turn. *Work 1 sc into each of the first 4 sts, work 2 sc in next*, rep around. Sl st in first to join. (36)
Round 7: Ch 1, do not turn. Work 1 sc into each st around. Sl st in first to join. (36)
Rounds 8 through 12: Rep Round 7.
Round 13: Ch 1, do not turn. *Work 1 sc into each of the first 4 sts, work 1 dec*, rep around. Sl st in first to join. (30)
Round 14: Ch 1, do not turn. *Work 1 sc into each of the first 3 sts, work 1 dec*, rep around. Sl st in first to join. (24)
Round 15: Ch 1, do not turn. *Work 1 sc into each of the first 2 sts, work 1 dec*, rep around. Sl st in first to join. (18)
Round 16: Ch 1, do not turn. *Work 1 sc in first st, work 1 dec*, rep around. Sl st in first to join. (12)
Fill the bag with dry beans. I used dry pinto beans. You can fill it as little or as much as you desire. I filled mine just until the beans were touching the top of the inside of the bag, a little over 3/4.
Round 17: Ch 1, do not turn. Work 6 dec. Sl st in first to join. (6).
Fasten off, leaving a tail for sewing. With a yarn needle, weave in and out of the stitches of Round 17 all of the way around. Pull tightly to close the ball. Weave in the end securely.

If you decide to try it, let me know how this simple ball pattern works out for you!

Criss Cross Stitch

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! I'm really excited and certainly very thankful. My favorite dish at Thanksgiving is the green bean casserole. What's yours? To start preparing, today I am making the dessert ahead of time. It's not pumpkin pie, but a pumpkin roll. I like pumpkin rolls because they are a delicious twist (ba dum ch) on the traditional. Sometimes it's nice to mix things up a bit.

For a different take on a common stitch, why not try the criss cross double crochet stitch? This technique is sometimes called cross-over double crochet and it is exactly what it says on the tin. It is worked in sets of two stitches, with the first double crochet worked in the second stitch before you backtrack and work the second double crochet into the first stitch from behind. Here is an excellent tutorial. I would definitely suggest this stitch to a beginner because they will utilize skills they likely already have with a little twist to make it interesting. Also, the motions performed will help to prepare you for around the post crochet if you haven't tried it yet. I'm in a perpetual state of stash busting. This criss cross project was great because I made it for a tall girl and it used up a lot of yarn!

To finish I added a simple picot border. Fringe might have looked nice but the scarf was already so long that I didn't think it would be a good idea. This stitch has a nice rhythm and a modern look to it.

Bird's Nest Bowl Set

Crochet bowls and baskets have always interested me. I like that they are flexible and soft while still maintaining enough rigidity to be functional. After filtering through the available patterns, I finally selected Tamara Kelly's Bird's Nest Bowl Set to play around with. Happily, I happened to have a skein of the exact yarn that she calls for in the pattern, which was nice. Here's how they came out.

I made two of the four available sizes. Bowls like these would be great for kids' toys, random clutter, electronics cords, and more. They were fun and fast, so I recommend this as an instant gratification pattern. Gotta love the texture too, one of Tamara's specialties. Why not hook some up yourself?

Divine Hat

Here's one of those patterns that it seems like everyone is whipping up! The Divine Hat is the best kind of project, simple to make but with an impressive finished product. It's no wonder the pattern has skyrocketed in popularity. Sometimes I feel like my stash will never truly be busted, but I'm making headway! I took care of a good amount of Jiffy with this hat. Please excuse my little peanut of a head, it can't help but be a bit nutty and I've never looked good in hats.

It worked up pretty quickly and the repetitive nature of the pattern allows you to do other things while you crochet. If you check this pattern out on Ravelry you can see the thousands (!) of hats that people have made. Pretty amazing!

Thinking Outside the Fence

Crochet doesn't have to be limited to accessories, blankets, and amigurumi. I have made a habit of looking for patterns that take crochet in different directions. My father-in-law has a sweet Australian Shepherd named Daisy that he adores, so I had the idea to make a leash for her. I used a nylon-wrapped cotton 1 ply cord to make the leash so that it would be durable but also slightly flexible. She is a well trained dog. A crochet leash is probably best for a small to medium sized dog that is well behaved rather than a large dog.

The cord was a bit difficult to work with as it kept twisting itself up (darn 1 ply), but I really like the way the leash came out. Single crochet was the obvious choice for a tight finished product. When the handle was the size I wanted it to be I simply worked one row of single crochet through my original turning chain before continuing on with the length of the leash. I did my last row around the "D" of the clasp before reinforcing both the clasp and leash connections with a yarn needle. The swiveling clasp was purchased on Amazon. There really is a lot of interesting hardware available to help us crocheters in our creative pursuits. What non-traditional items have you worked up?

Wheel of Dreams Baby Blanket

I have an event coming up at the end of next week (which I will tell you all about after it happens!) that I am working hard to prepare for. Part of my preparations include me attempting to finish three of the patterns I've been thinking about and working on. This means not only creating the item itself, but also taking the time to capture in-progress pictures and writing instructions for the pattern PDF. I have been crocheting so much that I'll probably get tendonitis if I'm not careful, but the show must go on! Today I finished the first of the three patterns on my list. Here is my Wheel of Dreams baby blanket.

 

As you can see, the pattern heavily relies on Catherine's wheels, which are super fun to make. I'm happy with the way the blanket turned out. I hope to use the applique pattern I wrote in later projects as well. What other color combinations would look nice? I chose the two blues so that the blanket would look like the sky. The pattern is available in my Ravelry store. 

Ranna would like you to know that she was very helpful to me while I wrote this pattern. Indeed, she often acts like a second shadow to me and "helps" me with all of my daily activities. 

I'd like to pretend that I'll take a break for a day, but I know I won't. There are too many awesome things in my head that I need to bring to life with my hooks! Stay tuned for more original patterns and a recap of my upcoming event. Ta ta for now!