I love beads. If I could I would completely cover projects with beads. Even though I know that 1) the project would be very heavy and 2) it might really not be in good taste.
Beaded Bracelet for Crochet Club
A recent fun project I did with my Crochet Club kids was to make chains with beads. We used plastic pony beads. They are easy to thread onto worsted weight yarn and come in a variety of colors.
I decided it would be fun to make a “fancier” version for myself. I purchased some Czech Glass Beads Size 2/0 in rainbow colors and some Patons Silk/Bamboo #3 thread to string them on.
I’m sure there are other ways to string beads on thread or yarn, but the method I like is to use a dental floss threader. You can find them in the toothcare area of most pharmacies.
Making a Beaded Chain Stitch
To make my necklace I strung a bunch of beads on the thread, though I ended up only needing 25. Using a H-8 (5 mm) hook, I chained 8 then slip stitched into the first chain, after making 10 more chains I slid the first bead up and chained around it (first bead chain made). I alternated bead chains and regular chains until I had used 25 beads up.
My length of beaded chain now measured approximately 15 1/2 inches from the loop at the beginning. I made 11 more chains and fastened off with a 6 inch length. Using the ending length I sewed a button to the chain and wove the end in. Then wove the beginning length around the loop to act as reinforcement for the buttonhole.
Less than 30 minutes after starting this project I have a lovely necklace. If you are needing a quick gift during this holiday season this is a fun one that can be made with a wide variety of beads and thread or yarn options. Have fun experimenting.
Well the first day of December has begun by dumping a load of snow up here on the mountain (a bit over a foot at the moment). I guess Mother Nature heard me complaining that I wasn’t feeling very Christmassy (is that a word?).
Pinecones in Snow
It now looks like a classic Christmas card out my window. A steady flurry of flakes in the air, a foot of fluffy snow on the ground and un-plowed roads have contributed to the overall effect. All I need is a horse-drawn sleigh and I’m set.
Of course it could be Santa’s doing. I’m guessing he really didn’t want to wreck his nice sled on our dry snowless roofs. The weather dudes are promising at least a week of the wintry temperatures we are currently enjoying. 16F in my backyard at the moment.
Living here on my mountain is beautiful, but definitely makes it difficult to think about designing garments or other crochet items for warmer seasons.
Currently my design brain is thinking about fluffy warm lap afghans and throws that are quick to stitch up. One of the Christmas gifts I want to make is a throw, but I need something that won’t take too long.
I’m thinking Caron’s Dazzleaire will be perfect. Because the yarn is rated a “bulky” yarn with a recommended hook size of L (8 mm). With the fluffy “halo” of this yarn I’m thinking that I might be using an even larger hook, say a N or P hook (10 -11 mm). Worked in a simple open stitch pattern the halo of the yarn will fill in the open spaces and help create a warm breathable throw that can be enjoyed even when the weather isn’t quite this nippy.
One item on my gift list started, hopefully this “snow-spiration” will last long enough for me to make some real head-way on the rest of my planning for the festive season.
As part of my celebration of Thanksgiving week I am counting my blessings again. One that I really celebrate is having so many caring friends in my life. Especially uplifting to me is the number of them that share my passion for all things yarnie.
This past Saturday I was down in Denver for my monthly pilgrimage to The Lambshoppe for Pajamma Jam. On the magazine rack there was the new publication from Interweave Press “Interweave Crochet Accessories” that my design, Isosceles Scarf, is in. This is my first design for Interweave and it was quite fun to have it in a magazine that is available at many LYSs.
Photos courtesy of Interweave Press
It is a special favorite with me as well because I got to use a bit of geekery in the design of it as well as in the naming of it. How often to you get to use geometrical terms in crochet pattern names (well, if you are me, as often as possible).
My wonderful stitching friends were all very excited for me. It is such a joy to have people who believe in me and have faith in my ability to keep on reaching for my dreams. I know that my successes in the future will be in part due to the lift they give me with their love.
If you don’t have yarnie friends that you get to spend time with I highly recommend that you join the online site: Ravelry. For many years I had no-one to crochet or knit with, then I found Ravelry and I have found yarn friends far and wide because of it.
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!
Okay, we all know Charlie Brown never really saw the Great Pumpkin, but I always loved Linus’s faith in the idea.
And I love Halloween, Jack-O-Lanterns, Pumpkin Pie and all things pumpkin related. So of course there has to be some pumpkin crochet in my life.
First let’s take a look at some of the wonderful fun crochet pumpkin patterns out there. If you are a Ravelry member, use their pattern search to find loads of marvelous pumpkin patterns, clearly I’m not the only pumpkin fan. You can narrow your results by using “Pumpkin” “crochet” and checking the “toys and hobbies” category in the advanced search function.
One of my faves is this lovely little pumpkin from Planet June created by the talented June Gilbrank. Which can also be made into an adorable little Jack-o-lantern.
Or the Pumpkin Time Garland by Karen Wiederhold (note: she is from the UK but it looks like her pattern instructions are in US crochet terms). I think adding some face pieces to these pumpkins could create a fun garland for a Halloween party, but left plain they would be great for a decorative garland at your Thanksgiving feast.
Of course with the busy Fall we have been having here I didn’t have time to crochet up any pumpkins. Instead I stuck with our tradition of carving real pumpkins on the day before Halloween.
Yesterday I got out the box of carving tools and my boys and I started working on our pumpkin art.
The boys were a little grossed out by the slimy “guts”.
So Mom got the job of cleaning out the gooey stuff and separating out the seeds. The seeds will be cooked up tomorrow for a tasty snack.
Once the pumpkins were ready to carve things got too crazy to photograph the process, but we ended up with 2 gorgeous pumpkins.
They will look very nice with our window display tonight. Being the temperatures here on Halloween tend to dip below freezing we put our pumpkins in the front window with lights in them.
The winner of the Crochet Dude Crochet Organizing case is Kristin. Congrats Kristin! I’ll be sending you an email to get your address to send it off to you in the mail.
Packing for my annual trip to the CGOA Chain Link conference is always an interesting experience.
First I need to choose a minimal amount of clothing. I want to have plenty of room when heading back to fit all the wonderful yarn I won’t be able to resist.
Then choose crochet items to go with clothing. Why haven’t I made more stuff for myself lately?! Ugh!
Look desperately thru sketch pad and stash for quick projects and yarn to make up a few nice items. Get lost and distracted by the stash, the sketch pad and the stitch dictionaries.
Completely cover guest bed with the various items I want to include.
Re-discover pieces I forgot about, check to see if any will work for this trip. Realize that I’ve got 10 more ideas I want to create proposals for to bring with me. Realize there are only 5 days left until I leave for Greensboro. Run around in circles screaming with waving arms, frightening the cat and amusing the children.
After finished with above exercise resume packing in a calm and orderly manner. Make sure not to forget the chocolate.
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.
I love teaching others about crochet and how to crochet. I love it because teaching new crocheters (or mostly new crocheters) brings me back to my own beginnings playing with yarn and hook, as well as giving me the opportunity to look at crochet with fresh eyes.
During this summer’s school break I have been teaching crochet weekly to one of my son’s school friends and her grandmother (who knew quite a bit already). My young student had been taught some of the basics from her grandmother, like chaining and single crochet stitch. We have been playing with shaping in crochet and working in the round.
It has been so exciting seeing this young lady take-off in her creativity with crochet. She even sallied forth and made a hat without any pattern. I was so happy to see the results of her experiments.
This fall the 3 of us will be organizing a Crochet Club as a weekly afterschool group for other students and community members to play with hooks and yarn.
I hope for those of you that crochet and knit that you give yourself the gift of sharing your hobby with others every chance you find. It is a fabulous confidence builder for everyone to be able to create something with their own hands as well as being a skill that they can pick up again at any time.
Then you too can delight in returning to your own stitching beginnings and gain new excitement and understanding of your craft.
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.
Mamas2Hands 