Week of 4/1/2015: Be a Fool!

Happy April Fools' Day!

It's a great week to have some fun with Your Weekly Crochet Challenge. The challenge is to crochet a jester hat or slippers for yourself or a little one.

Here's a photo of my hat, it's the Crochet Tripod Hat from Yarnspirations:

It's toddler sized, and I'll be giving it to my niece. I added bells on the points just to drive her parents crazy!

I enjoy a good prank, and this is one of my favorites (courtesy of prankked.com):

What is your favorite April Fools' prank?

Join us on Ravelry for the discussion

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Week of 3/25/15: Let's Have a Ball!

This week is all about yarn and different yarn weights. Our weekly challenge is to crochet a project using different yarn weights within the same project.

I made a skinny scarf for my project:

It can also be worn as a cowl:

It was pretty simple to make. I used 8 strands of different yarns held together as one, and I finger crocheted a simple chain out of them. The chain twisted in several spots, but I didn't care, I actually like how twisty it looks.

It was fun to make, and I have a lovely skinny scarf for next fall and winter. (I am so done thinking about winter! Let's get spring springing!) This idea would be a great project for a last minute gift, and is also a great de-stash project.

What project will you crochet with different yarn weights?

Join us and Let's Have a Ball!

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Week 46: Make a Row Counter Bracelet to Keep Track of Your Projects

This week the 52 Week Crochet Challenge is to make a row counter bracelet. For inspiration and a great how-to, check out this great tutorial by Sutherland Studios, click here.

I decided to go in a different direction with my bracelet. I used silver tone oval shaped memory wire, and two sizes of beads. The smaller beads (6 mm) are for counting rows 1 through 9, and the larger beads (8 mm) are for counting rows in groups of ten. This bracelet will count up to 99 rows.

To keep the beads centered on each strand, I glued very small silver beads on each side of each bead row, making sure to leave enough room between the beads for attaching a lobster claw clasp. I think the silver beads are actually crimp beads, although I did not crimp them, but used BeadFix glue by Beadalon to secure them. This glue worked very well and dried quickly.

I am using a fine silver chain with small lobster claw clasps on each end to keep track of both sets of row counts. In the front view photo above, you can see where I have them attached, and that I have 51 rows completed. I mark the rows right to left, and one clasp is to the left of one small bead (which equals 1 row) and the other is attached after 5 large beads (which equals 50 rows). The nice thing about using these clasps is that they are very secure and you won't lose your place, even when you take the bracelet off.

Here's another photo to give you a better idea of how I constructed it. On each wire end I used round nose pliers to make small loops so the wire won't scratch my wrists.

Material list:
Silver tone oval shaped memory wire
9 small beads (6 mm)
9 large beads (8 mm)
4 silver crimp beads
2 lobster claw clasps
Silver tone chain, approx. 2 inches long (make sure it's long enough to mark both bead rows, end to end)
2 small jump rings (for attaching the chain to the lobster clasps)
Jewelry/bead glue

Tools:
Wire cutter
Round nose pliers

I hope the challenge this week has inspired you to create your own row counter bracelet. Your bracelet just might become one of your favorite and most often used tools.

Enjoy, and thanks for joining me for week 46 of the 52 Week Crochet Challenge

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Be sure to check back in the coming weeks for an announcement 

about new Challenges for 2015!

Week 29: Celebrate Fall With Colors or Leaves

It’s hard to believe that Fall is almost upon us. It starts September 23rd, and in celebration, this week’s Challenge is to crochet some fall leaves, or to create a project using fall colors. This is an easy challenge for me, because they are my favorite colors.

I am lucky to have a replica of my maternal grandfather’s family tree hanging in my living room and I’ve used it for my color scheme.

I also have a round braided rug that has the same colors in it. I’ve started a new 12 point star afghan that will highlight these colors. I’ve been playing around with the stripe pattern, as well as what yarns and colors I’m going to use. I’m still kind of undecided, so we’ll see how it goes.

I’ve made several of these star blankets, from baby size to huge afghans, and they are a blast to make! Several women in my crochet group have made them, and we all agree that the pattern looks difficult, but is quite easy to do. It’s a great time of year to start a large project like this, and as the days grow colder, it’s nice to have it on my lap while working on it.

How do you plan to celebrate Fall?

Thanks for joining me for week 29 of the 52 Week Crochet Challenge!

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Week 26: Organize Your Project Bag and Crochet Kit

These days I tend to travel with a much lighter project bag. A friend of mine gave me the lovely tote bag you see pictured. She made it herself out of a chicken feed bag and I love it immensely! It's very roomy and will even hold an afghan. I have a smaller tote that I carry inside the bag that is meant to be used to hold wine bottles, but it makes a great yarn organizer instead! It holds up to six skeins of yarn and I can tuck my kit and hook in them also. The organizer also makes it a fast job to change out my tote bag too. Lately I've been busy crocheting mittens, texting mittens and fingerless gloves to sell in my other Etsy shop, RedBerry4You, this holiday season.

The pink kit pictured is The Knit Kit that I purchased online. I can't remember where I bought it, but it was on sale at the time. It is a bit pricey, but I find myself relying on it so much that if I ever lost it I would replace it right away. It has a row counter, tape measure, yarn cutter, scissors, and a small compartment that holds my yarn needles, yarn threader and stitch markers. It also has a crochet hook that knitters use to pick up dropped stitches, but I consider it back up, just in case ;) Oh yeah, and it's pink!

The most important part of my project bag and kit are that they keep me organized and always ready to get to stitching. How do you organize your projects?

Thanks for joining me for week 26 of the 52 Week Crochet Challenge!

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Week 20: It's Christmas in July!

This week's challenge makes me feel like I have a chance to get ahead of my holiday crochet projects. One tradition I have is that I like to make a Christmasy potholder to give as gifts to family members. Last year I considered doing something else, but at Thanksgiving dinner my sister-in-laws were talking about them, wondering what the potholder would be. Well, that pleasantly surprised me, so I got busy and found a pretty snowflake potholder. Unfortunately, I didn't give myself enough time, so at the last minute I was crocheting like a mad woman, driving myself nuts.

This year I'm hoping July is early enough! I considered designing my own pattern, but then I found this from the Country Meadow Settings leaflet by The Needlecraft Shop.

I think I'm going to make the Cardinal. It's Christmas colors but not too Christmasy, but a pretty winter theme. I've already made the front piece of one and the cardinal for it, but my bird is too big, so I'll have to adjust my hook sizes. I'll post pics when I have one finished.

Merry Christmas in July!

Thanks for joining me for week 20 of the 52 Week Crochet Challenge!

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Week 10: What Was Your First Completed Crochet Project That You Made?

The first complete crochet project that I finished was a baby blanket and a stuffed bear to go with it in. This was in June of 2002. This was also the beginning of my pattern organization (which you can read about here).

I have absolutely no idea where the blanket pattern came from, but it is a basic rectangular blanket. I think the stitch pattern is probably something like the cobblestone stitch (sc in next, dc in next, working on an even number of stitches). It has that look to it also. The bottom chain is much tighter than the last row, which is common for newbies and this made the blanket crooked. But I was (and still am) terribly proud of that blanket. It was a gift for my newborn niece and I made it with my own two hands. I loved every minute of making it (maybe with an ounce of frustration in there somewhere!), but I FINISHED it. I had a big sense of accomplishment, which made me want to make something to go with it.

The bear is an even bigger accomplishment for me because I think it was quite complicated for a second project. The pattern is Boo-Boo Bear from Irene's Crochet Class website, which sadly, is no longer available. But, I have my copy that I printed out and made notes on.  I think it turned out really cute, and I made a bib for the bear too.

Here's a picture that I had to scan because the original was photographed on film (remember that? lol).

I've crocheted hundreds of projects since then, but I won't ever forget my first (and second). Not only was it special to me because of that, but it was a gift for a loved one, a new life in our family, and what a happy celebration that was!

Thanks for joining me for Week 10 of the 52 Week Crochet Challenge! 
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Week 7: Make a Scrap Project From Your Yarn Stash

I have to admit that I've been enjoying this weeks challenge for awhile now. When I was creating the 52 Week Crochet Challenge I happened to be in need of a new project, and a scrap project was just the thing. I decided on a blanket and this is my work in progress (WIP):

The blanket is crocheted using the half double crochet stitch, which I've come to think of as my Goldilocks stitch. (It's not too tall and not too small, it's not too loose and not too thick - it's juuuuuuuust right.) What I really love is that there is no thinking involved, other than which color I'm going to choose next. As for the colors, I chose a range of greens, purples, and blues for the stripes. I only have a few guidelines that I decided on, which came about as the work progressed:

• I am using a light blue color consistently throughout, between the color stripes.
• The light blue stripes are 5 rows, and usually the first and last are partial rows.

That's pretty much it. Here's a closer look:

As for my ends, I'm not going to weave them in, and I'm not working over them as I go. I've knotted the ends together on the wrong side and I'm going to trim them short so I'll have little tufts on the back of the blanket. I think it will be a fun and interesting look. I will post more pictures when I'm finished.

Thanks for joining me for Week 7 of the 52 Week Crochet Challenge! 
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Patons Pattern via Pinterest

Previously I posted of my newly found fixation with Pinterest. I was quite taken with a crochet hat pattern I came across and had to make it for myself. I chose to make it in the heather gray color of the original, and I found the pattern easy to follow and well written. It also includes a symbol crochet chart for quick reference, which I love!

Here is my finished hat:

And below is the original pin from Pinterest. This will link you to the pattern by clicking on it, or you can click here for the Patons pattern (login is required, but it's free to sign up).

Source: patonsyarns.com via Julie on Pinterest

It was easy enough for me to embed this into my blog. I clicked on the pin from my original board that I had pinned it to and was then given the option to embed it. I clicked on the embed button, copied the html information, then in my blog post I changed from compose to html view. I then pasted the html code and that was it - fantastic!

I really enjoyed making this pattern and my next project will be a pair of fingerless gloves to coordinate with my new hat. Perhaps it will be another pattern found through Pinterest?