With all the recent snow here on my mountain it is certainly looking like Christmas– in fact, a White Christmas (can’t you just hear Bing singing?).
Yes, Halloween is over, Thanksgiving is just a few weeks around the corner, and it’s time to think about Christmas. Actually, if you prefer hand-made Christmas presents, it’s already getting to be the last-minute for gift making. Which means you need something quick to make.
Little Christmas Wreath worked in Fingering Weight yarns
My first pattern in my M2H Designs line was Little Christmas Wreath–a fun quick project perfect for the holidays. It makes a great decorative touch on packages and cards, can be made into a fun brooch to wear in celebration of the season, or even works as a napkin ring.
I actually came up with this pattern because of my own need for some quick fun gifts for Christmas. The pattern includes text instructions (US terms), stitch charts and tutorial photographs. You can easily vary the size by working with different yarns, or combining a sparkly yarn with a solid color for a even more decorative touch!
For you that know me well, you know that isn’t a spelling error. I’m really not one for cooking or baking, and no one wants a recipe for Pie from me.
But when it comes to recipes for crocheting creativity that are related to applied geometries, that is a whole nuther story.
Some of you may remember that old equation from your school days of “Pi R square” (and the standing joke was, “No, Pie are Round”). Pi is literally the secret to understanding circles, and the secret to making hats that fit perfectly.
Baby Doll's New Hat
Pi = 3.14 in reality it is a much longer decimal than that. But taking the number to 2 decimal points is more than sufficient for our purposes. In fact, with a little adjustment to our calculations, taking away the decimals all together works too.
I love making hats as gifts and often they are my “go-to” project when I just need some instant gratification crochet. I don’t know that I have ever made a hat from the brim up. I much prefer the ease of working with top down construction.
My favorite thing about working top down is how simple the foundation is. Start with an adjustable slip knot, then chain a couple stitches, work the first round of stitches into the first chain…Voila! You are off and running. Crown down construction also allows for some really simple decorative stitch work for the brim.
There are lots of fabulous hat patterns out there, and you can make sure that your hat fits yourself or your giftee perfectly by using some simple math.
Baby Doll's Head Circumference Measurement
You are going to need a couple of measurements. You need the circumference of their head, which means the distance around their head measured at eyebrow level.
Baby Doll's Hat Depth Measurement
And you’ll need the “depth” measurement, which is referring to the length of the finished hat from middle of the crown to the edge of the brim. Being I like my ears covered by my hat I measure to the bottom of the earlobe.
Target Diameter Measured
Baby Doll’s head circumference is 17.5 cm and her “depth” measurement is 6.5 cm. So my calculation for figuring out how big to work my beginning circle is: 17.5 divided by 3.14 = 5.57 cm. Which I round down to 5.5 cm.
If you are making a gift hat and can’t measure the recipient’s head there are a couple of online sites that have some helpful measurements for averages. TotToppers, Wooly Wormhead,
Some other things to consider when personalizing a hat are preferences of the wearer: how snug they prefer their hats to be, if they want the hat to cover their ears, if they like extra coverage over their ears.
Typically you want a hat to be a bit smaller than the head circumference. This is called “negative ease”. Negative ease depends on the fabric of the finished hat (or garment) to have some stretch to it. The amount of stretch needed is dependant on how much negative ease is planned for.
Target Depth Measured
Once I achieve my target size for the diameter of my circle I will then continue working rounds without increases until I reach the depth (or length) that I want. If I am just winging the depth, I’ll stop when I think I am nearing the length I want. Then flatten the hat so the center of the crown is halved I measure the length.
Now it’s your turn. Using a hat pattern you love see if you can make a hat that fits you perfectly. Or try winging a hat using your favorite stitch in the round.
As is known by many of my stitchy friends and my dear readers of the blog, I have a slight addiction to novelty yarns and crocheting with unusual materials (spaghetti anyone?). So the first time I heard of Jelly Yarn I had to investigate.
The talented Vashti Braha had mentioned it one evening on the Getting Loopy podcast chat room. I was immediately intrigued and decided I must find some of it to play with. Fortunately not too long after that I was at the Buffalo Knit and Crochet Show (August 2009) and Jelly Yarns had a booth.
My Jelly Yarn Purchase
Jelly Yarns is owned by Kathleen and Nick Greco, super nice people and lots of fun. Their booth was a bright fun corner of the market floor. I was especially excited to find Glow-In-The-Dark and glittery Metallic (sparkles!) Jelly Yarn. I purchased a couple balls of the metallic and one of their “Glow in the Dark” colors.
If you can’t find Jelly Yarn in your area check out their website at JellyYarns.com (it’s also a great place to explore tips about using Jelly Yarn and to see the latest fun stuff they have planned).
The yarn is available in 3 different weights and 14 colors. Kathleen works with their manufacturer in Pennsylvania (another thing to love, this yarn is made in the USA) planning and developing new colors. She also creates wild wonderful knit and crocheted art pieces and patterns from Jelly Yarn.
It is a bit strange to crochet with at first. The yarn is 100% Vinyl, reminding me a bit of the lanyard lacing type stuff used to make woven key chain fobs in summer camp (way back when). This isn’t “yarn” in the fibery sense, but it is very flexible and I love the sculptural quality of it. It is fantastic for beaded crochet with big hole style beads.
Kathleen recommends using a hand lotion or hand salve on your hook to improve the “glide” of the yarn over the hook and thru stitches. Her favorite salve to use is Burt’s Bee Hand Salve. She also recommends the use of a metal hook like the Susan Bates Silvalume. I found I didn’t need the lotion or salve when using my Clover Soft Touch hooks especially as I wanted a loose stitch structure. I do like the salve for tighter projects though. The finished fabric is very elastic with a structured quality and a slight grippy feel to it.
When I returned home from the Buffalo show I made some single crochet bracelet “worms” for my boys from the Glow-In-the-Dark yarn. I also strung a bunch of blue toned beads on the Silver Icing sparkly yarn with the intention of making some fun jewelry items. Unfortunately life got busy like it does and I tucked it away to work on later. This past Monday I was having a clear out of my working space and re-discovered the ball of yarn and decided it was time to play with it again.
So here is the fun and slightly funky bracelet pattern I came up with. Enjoy!
Glittery Beaded Cuff
designed by Andee Graves
Materials:
Jelly Yarn (100% Vinyl) in Silver Icing color. Fine weight
Size J (6 mm) hook (I used my Clover Soft Touch – the matte finish of the metal seems to help)
79 – Size E beads (I used Blueberry Pie Mix [color 01] from Twisted Sistah Beads)
Large yarn needle for weaving ends
Gauge: 6 sc and 7 rows = 2 inches
Special Stitches
Beaded Single Crochet (bsc): Bring bead up close to work, insert hook in st, keeping bead to back of work yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull thru both loops on hook.
Double Beaded Single Crochet (dbsc): bring bead up close to work, insert hook in st, keeping bead to back of work yo and pull up a loop, bring second bead up close to work, keeping bead to back of work yo and pull thru both loops on hook.
Pattern Notes
My cuff is 2″ wide (5.1 cm) and 7 3/4″ around (19.7 cm). If you want yours longer for a larger wrist just add un-beaded rows at the end and beginning. If you want more beaded rows add 5 beads for each additional bsc row and 12 beads for each additional dbsc row. Remember you will need an odd number of rows in the end to make the finishing seam work correctly.
Jelly Yarn isn’t a fiber yarn so taking care of the ends is a bit different. Vinyl will stretch thinner and then relax back into its original size, so knots tied tightly in this yarn tend to stay put. Read the details in the finishing closely to keep your bracelet from coming undone.
Instructions
First string all the beads on your yarn. This is easy to do because the yarn is stiff enough to act as your needle. If you have extra beads you might want to add a few just to be sure you’ll have enough for this project.
Foundation: Chain 7, turn.
Row 1: Sc in back bump of 2nd ch from hook, sc in back bump of each ch to beginning of ch. [6 sc]
Row 2: Ch 1, turn, sc in each st to end of row. [6 sc]
Row 3: Ch 1, turn, sc in first st, bsc in each st to end of row. [1 sc, 5 bsc]
Row 4 – 12: Alternate repeating Row 2 and Row 3, ending with a Row 2.
Row 13: Ch 1, turn, dbsc in each st to end of row. [6 dbsc]
Row 14: Repeat Row 2. [6 sc]
Row 15: Repeat Row 3. [1 sc, 5 bsc]
Row 16: Repeat Row 2. [6 sc]
Row 18 17: Repeat Row 13. [6 dbsc] Aug 27, 2016: Thanks to June T. for pointing out that Row 17 was missing. I had mis-numbered the rows. Eep! It’s been on here wrong for nearly 5 years!
Finishing: Pull beginning and ending tails to tighten slip knot and ending knot. Using tails sew top of Row 28 to bottom of Row 1, sew half way for each tail so they meet in the middle of seam. Tie a square knot with the 2 tails. Weave the loose ends of the tails back toward the sides of bracelet and cut off so ends don’t show.
I am offering this pattern for free so the only tech-editor for this pattern is me. Please let me know if you run into a snag with the pattern.
I’ve been such a busy little designer the past few months that I almost forgot I had 2 new designs coming out in the Autumn Issue of Crochet! Magazine.
Back in 2009, when I sold my first couple of designs, I would call one of my established designer friends all excited with each one. She celebrated with me, but told me that one day I would be so busy with design work that I would forget that I had designs coming out in a publication. Funny to realize her prediction has come true only a little over 2 years later.
Sparkling Lace Shrug - DRG Publishing
This shrug was inspired by a Free-Form garment I made for the Fashion Show at Chain Link 2009. I hadn’t created a pattern for it at the time but the lovely Carol Alexander finally persuaded me to create something for Crochet! based on it. I had used yarns that were discontinued for the original, so she and I had a fun time finding yarns that would work. Once Carol and I had the yarns picked though it came together beautifully, and I wrote my first sized pattern.
Crystal Eyelet Table Runner - DRG Publishing
My house is quite small, and my two little boys tend to dominate it, so there isn’t much use for decorative touches on the table. This is my first ever attempt at a table runner. I’m looking forward to using it on our table at the holidays, the one time a year that I can justify “dressing-up” my table.
The Autumn 2011 issue of Crochet! Magazine should be available on newsstands and in subscriber’s mailboxes soon. Meanwhile you can see a preview of the magazine at the Crochet! website. I hope you enjoy making these designs as much as I did creating them.
One of the challenges of crocheting or sewing garments for myself is getting a good feel for how the garments will hang on my body. A handy aid for this is a dress-makers dummy (also called a dress-form).
A few years back a neighbor was getting rid of her dress-maker’s dummy. I was happy to adopt it, but found that the dummy wasn’t a good match for my body measurements. Still I’ve become fond of her over the years and named her “Betsy”.
Betsy has been very handy for photographing finished designs or helping me to visualize how design elements can be combined for sketches of potential designs. Unfortunately, Betsy is far more generously endowed in the chest area than I am. Genetics being the luck of the draw I seem to have taken after my Mom’s side of the family instead of my Dad’s when it came to chest dimensions.
So I’ve been haunting the JoAnn’s website and drooling over the variety of dress forms they have available. Then one happy Sunday evening I discovered the one I really loved was on sale!
A week later this box arrived. Inside was my wonderfully adjustable new dress dummy (she doesn’t have a name yet). I happy took her out and started measuring and adjusting the various dials to create my twin.
Of course the ego-deflating aspect, of having a dress dummy you can adjust to your exact measurements, is you get a very realistic view of what you body shape really is.
Oh well, at least I’ll get a good fit for my garments and it will encourage me to get more exercise.
I’m so excited to share that my first throw design is available from Caron Yarns. The Teen Throw uses Caron’s Simply Soft and Party yarns to create an exciting and fun throw to add some bling to any teenager’s room.
The Spiral Hearts that decorate the corners were an embellishment that I came up with in 2008 as part of a challenge on Jenny Dowde’s Freeformations group on Ravelry. Jenny is always setting fun challenges to inspire stretching our creativity.
I’ve had many requests for a pattern for that project, so I’m very pleased that this pattern is available to the public via Caron’s website.
I am doing the “Snoopy Happy Dance” because it finally feels like summer up here on the mountain. I’ve had all the windows in the house open to encourage a lovely breeze and the thermometer may have actually registered over 85F a few times.
With all this warm weather I’ve decided to do loads of house and yard tasks and a good scrubbing in the shower was a neccesity after all that sweating. While showering I was thinking about my on-going search for the ideal exfoliating bath scrubbie.
I used to purchase a product call the “Buff Puff” at the local drugstore. It was gentle enough for my sometimes fragile skin and yet effective at helping remove the layers of “ick” that accumulate far too quickly. Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to find them anymore.
I have played on and off with crocheting my own scrubbies, but haven’t been all that happy with the results. Generally, the best have involved cutting up strips of Tulle type fabric to crochet with. After my shower the other day though…inspiration struck.
I taught crochet to my youngest son’s pre-school class this spring and had taken some colorful balls of Lion Brand’s Thick and Quick Chunky yarn for them to use.
This is a very fun 100% acrylic yarn that has some “tooth” to it, yet is quite thick and I theorized that it would be absorbent to lather up nicely without holding onto the moisture so long to become a mold farm. The yarn is also very washable and can go thru the laundry.
It was time for an experiment. I used a simple hyperbolic formula to stitch up a mid-sized scrubbie. My quick little pattern is below. Stitch up a few for yourself or as gifts for friends. If you want them bigger, just add rounds until you like the finished size, though remember with more rounds you get more ruffles.
Summer Shower Scrubbie – by Andee Graves
Materials:
Lion Brand Thick and Quick Chunky – Green Mountain (approximately 14 yards)
Susan Bates P/11.5mm hook
1 Large locking stitch marker
Pattern note: All rounds are worked spirally. Use a stitch marker to mark the last st of each round, moving up as each round is completed.
Instructions:
Round 1: Starting with an adjustable slip knot, chain 2, 6 sc in second chain from hook. Place stitch marker in 6th sc.
Round 2: 2 sc in each st of round 1. [12 sc]
Round 3: 2 sc in each st of round 2. [24 sc]
Round 4: 2 sc in next 23 sts, sc in next st, sl st in next st, ch 6, sl st in next st and fasten off. [47 sc, 6 chs]
Finish by weaving in the beginning and ending tails, and it’s bath time.
I received some exciting mail recently. My designer copy of the new Go Crafty booklet from SoHo Publishing “Friendship Shawls”. The booklet will be available at JoAnn Fabric and Craft stores.
The book contains patterns for 10 different wraps to crochet. I designed the “Spice Island Lace Drop Shawl” on page 18. It is always so fun to see how one of my finished pieces will be styled for professional photography.
These are photographs I took of the shawl on my dress form before sending it off to Caron Yarns. It is worked in their “Spa” yarn, which is a favorite of mine for shawls and transitional weather scarves.
Hurray! My latest published design is available on newsstands soon. You can find the pattern for the “Right-Angle Wrap” in the July 2011 Issue of Crochet! Magazine.
I love how this design came out. It is made in a silky Bamboo blend sock yarn – Panda Silk from Crystal Palace Yarns. So it provides a touch of warmth when you are dealing with air-conditioning everywhere, yet it is lightweight enough to fit in a pocket when you are back outside in the heat of summer.
It was super quick to stitch up with a larger than usual hook for the yarn weight and a simple 2 row lace repeat. It could be a great gift project, prayer shawl or special treat for yourself.
Funny, when I first decided to pursue crochet design work I thought it would be a long while before I would be really busy. I was wrong.
I’m certainly not complaining about being wrong, in fact it has been a delightful discovery that I can be as busy as I would want to be. But it does mean life is a bit of a juggling act.
I just finished up a very large project that will be coming out in Fall of 2012, and I am currently working feverishly on 3 more design projects that are all due within the next 3 weeks for Fall and Winter publication.
The bad part of this is the poor blog gets a bit lonely. Time to write is one part of the issue, but having projects that I can share progress reports and pictures of is the other part. Everything is Top-Secret until publication.
So the photo today shows some of the tools of my design work, minus the yarn and swatches.
Mamas2Hands 