Crochet, Crafts, and Creativity!
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I decided to take some time this month to work on some project requests from friends and family that I have gotten over the last few weeks. So here is a collection of what I have made for them!
First up, my friend Rebecca (back in Sept!) asked for a cotton scarf for her and a hat/scarf combo for her cute 2yr old boy. They live in Atlanta so it does not get cold there much (except lately) and she does not like wool so we decided on the Lion Brand Cotton-Ease as the yarn of choice for the things I would make. She also asked for her scarf to be a striped chevron pattern. Not using any particular pattern for her scarf, I finally got the yarn in and this is my striped chevron scarf for her.
It’s your standard 3 dc, dc3tog, 3dc, 3dc in 1 dc, repeat pattern and 2 rows of each color ending with purple on both sides. I really like the grape and the gray together. I used a 5.5 hook for all of the items I made from this yarn, so that made things easy too.
Onto her little kiddo, I wanted to keep a stripe theme for him too so I made a cute toddler size hat and scarf combo.
The scarf was just a simple row of hdc’s and I alternated from using the back loop and front loop. Again, no special pattern used for this one either. The hat I followed the toddler size version of Sweet Stripes hat from over at moogly. So many great tutorials over there btw. I added a pom-pom to the hat cause it felt like it needed it. I followed a short and easy video on how to make them.
Since toddler size items are not as big as adult size items, I had extra yarn so I wanted to make another scarf for Rebecca using all 3 colors. I kept with the stripe theme once again and did a basic ruffle pattern like this one from Lion Brand (homespun is challenging to use for me so anyone that can make anything with it deserves a gold star from me!)
They all go in the mail tomorrow so I do hope she likes them and sends me a photo of her and J in their new accessories!
Next was my Aunt who came out to see me at a recent craft fair and wanted a scarf since she and my Uncle are moving to South Korea soon! Crazy awesome adventure for them I am excited to hear about their time there and hope they fly back to visit as often as possible.
She wanted a scarf similar to this one but not a circle scarf. So since that exact yarn wasn’t available at the moment, I did have on hand that same Red Heard Boutique but in their Mosaic greens and blues color.
I also used a pattern tested with this yarn by fellow blogger yarnaway but made mine 2 clusters shorter since I only had 2 skeins and I did not want it to be that wide. The pattern and yarn go very well together and I love these colors so much I may end up doing one for myself sometime soon. I’ll be giving this to her soon before they leave.
My last current request came from my sister Val who needed a red and tan scarf to go with a new red peacoat she got recently.
I have had this scallop pattern in my favs on Ravelry for awhile so I thought I would try it for her. I used a larger hook than noted because I wanted it to be a bit more loose and slouchy. Luckily I already had the colors she wanted in stock from making a 49ers hat so I used some of my Caron Simply Soft to crochet this up quicker than I thought. I already sent it to her and she really liked it!
Those are all my recent projects to kick off 2014! Now to focus on some more shop items and get ready for a vending event this Thursday!
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Check out my shops newest addition:
Some cute scarflettes!
Scarflettes in a fun wavy pattern!
Come in a variety of colors!
With a hint of metallic!
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Happy 2014!
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The Yarn
Company/Store: Malabrigo Finito
Colorway: #870 Candombe
Weight/Length: Sport Weight/200 yards per skein (I have 4 skeins)
Material: 100% Superfine Merino Wool
I saw this yarn at Uncommon Threads during a sale and had to get the last 4 they had, I knew I was going to make something for myself with this yarn so I kept it until I came across a neat pattern. It is soft and colorful, the colors go from soft to deep but not too much. Just lovely!
The Pattern
Name: Nuts and Spice Shrug – Ravelry Link
Author: Kim Driggs
I found this pattern while I was browsing Ravelry one night and thought it would be a perfect project for this yarn. I had enough yarn plus extra so I thought I would give my first garment a try. I had learned the basic Tunisian Simple Stitch awhile back from a YouTube video so I felt confident I could figure this out. Here is a picture of the first arm I did.
Once I got the basic pattern down it was easy going for the arms and back sections using a 2 section repeat. I was feeling pretty confident at this point, checking the size as I went to make sure it was going to fit me. It worked up pretty quick and in a few days of off and on work I completed it already! Of course it helped that it was over the holiday so I had some extra time.
Final Stats
Size: Based on the pattern I would call this Medium, I upped the initial size to the next larger size recommended because I wanted it to be a bit wider in the arms, which I am glad I did and would likely go up a size again if I made another one just so it is a bit more roomy. It fits though and will be great to use during warmer months to cover my shoulders.
Yarn Used: I used about 2.5 skeins so about 500 yards total for this shrug.
I only made 1 change to the pattern. Instead of following the instructions for the border I opted to do 4 rows of fpdc, bpdc. I tried the border a few times and it was just not looking right for some reason, the instructions were not hard to understand, I just didn’t like how mine was looking. The pattern is nicely written and easy to follow however I do recommend getting some experience with basic Tunisian crochet first before diving into this pattern, it will be easier to follow if you do.
I will get a photo of me wearing it soon too I just missed the light today to get one in before I posted this.
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Join me on Sunday, December 15th for the Indie Holiday Emporium, over 25 vendors and yours truly will be there! The event is both days but I will be vending only on Sunday. Click the photo to be taken to the Facebook Event page with all the details! Hope you see you there!
This past Friday I hosted the December SFEtsy Team Meet and Make at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles!
The craft design I chose was a little cone shaped Christmas Tree, check out the promo photo for my example below.
I got the initial idea because one thing I always enjoyed doing going up was decorating our Christmas tree at home with all of the ornaments we made as kids over the years. We always opted for the homemade ornaments over store bought ones, they always were more interesting and sentimental.
I drew up the shape, got some felt and cut out a bunch of shapes from a magazine while I was designing my prototype. After a few different attempts I was successful with the way it came together and wrote up instructions and the cutout shape I used. (Links to files at the bottom so you can make your very own ornament!)
The museum gave me a budget to get supplies so I was able to get many colors of felt, holiday paper, threads and other decorations. Check out the supply table we had set up for everyone to use.
South Bay SFEtsy Team Leader Jen (Mama’s Magic Studio) was there to help!
We had a great group of crafters show up and they made some amazingly creative trees, here is a gallery of trees that were all made at this event. I am so impressed with what they came up with and so proud they shared their Friday evening with me!
Thank you so much for those that came out, I had a great time seeing all the cute ornaments you made!
Want to get the instructions to make your own tree ornament? You can download the PDF’s for yourself:
Written Instructions: Craftsbyionyka-HolidayTreeOrnament1
Tree Shape Cutout: Craftsbyionyka-HolidayTreeOrnament2
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Company/Store: Tess Yarns (bought at the Feb 2013 Stitches West yarn show)
Colorway: Variegated white to light gray to medium grey (the label does not specify a name or #)
Weight/Length: Superwash Merino/570 yds
Material: 100% Wool
I wish I had taken a photo of the yarn before I balled it up, it was beautiful, but I forgot so you will have to imagine these whites and grays looking like this prior to me winding it up.
Now I want this color too….
I tried about 6 or 7 different patterns before I opted to try something similar to the pattern I used for a few of my scarves already. I used the Aquatic Blossom pattern as my base and altered a few key elements.
First, instead of the foundation chain being [ch5, then tr in first ch, repeat] I shortened it to [ch3, then dc in first ch, repeat], this created a shorter star pattern that I like better for this yarn. I wanted it to not be too airy or be able to see through the stitches. For the rest of the pattern I followed it like normal but instead of triple crochets I used double crochets. It created this really neat ripple pattern with the stars and the color changing in parts also looks like wide stripes.
So far I am liking this pattern, I have done 3 full rounds, it will be a circle scarf. 570 yards is a lot so I will see how thick I end up making this and maybe I will have some left over for a few bracelets or a headband hopefully. Either way I love this yarn and the monochrome colors, hence its name! More photos once its finished!
Final Stats
Size: 6 inches wide by 57 inches in total length, 8 total rows were made with this 1 row repeat pattern.
Yarn Used: I had a lot of yarn left over from this project so I also made a hat to go with it! So I can estimate that I used approximately 300 yards for the scarf. I love how it started to zig zag the colors as the rows were built. Very happy with how it came out, its light but warm!
This item is For Sale! Link to Etsy Product Listing!
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Another memorable holiday traditions at our house growing up was taking a drive out to Hozak Farm (I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA) the weekend after Thanksgiving to hunt and cut down our perfect Christmas Tree. *queue opening scene from Christmas Vacation* ok so it wasn’t totally like that, but at times it was really cold and snowy, others chilly with no snow, just depended on the year. The event included a wagon ride into the tree farm to spend what seemed like forever trying to decide as a family which type of tree we wanted and which one of that type we were going to select.
Eventually we would decide and my dad would saw it down and would get it trucked back, wrapped in twine and put on the top of the car. After that we were pretty hungry so luckily the barn there is set up for great sandwiches and soups along with hot cocoa. We would bring the tree home and put it straight into the tree stand and wrap my moms quilted tree skirt around it. I found a rather old photo but you can see the skirt in it fairly well.
So again, I knew another fun holiday accessory I wanted to crochet was a new tree skirt for us to use. Since I moved out I have not always been able to have a real tree, most apartments did not allow them and I initially did not approve of fake ones. This year we may end up going the way of artificial but either way our tree will have an authentic homemade tree skirt at the very least!
I browsed a bunch of options and decided on this one called SmoothFox’s Christmas Tree Skirt. I liked it for the versatility of the stripes and the basic shape.
I used a random stripe generator I found thanks to a tip in a comment because I had 4 colors to use and wanted to mix up the colors a bit. Here is what I came up with.
I used 4 colors of Red Heart Super Save yarn so it can be easily washed if needed, and since I had a bunch left over from the stockings, it made sense to make them all match a little too.
I purposely did not make it super large yet to see how it fits with the tree we get, I can always add a few rows if I need to. Once we have a tree I will get a few pictures of it when the new skirt on. I am very pleased with how it came out, the patter was easy to follow and takes shape nicely.
Post Update: 12/21/13
We finally got our new tree up and decorated last weekend so here is a photo of the tree skirt.
When I get time, likely after the holidays, I need to add about 5 or 6 more rows to it so it is a bit wider, it barely covers the tree base right now. I did add 3 buttons to the closures so it stays closed better. I attached a chain 5 to the edge of 2 rows like a button hole and attached the button on the other side. I will get close up pictures of that once I finish adding some rows later on. I do like how it looks though!
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays!
