Crocheting on a Zipper: The Easy Way

A few months ago, I came across this pattern for adorable bobble clutches from Liz Makes. They are so adorable and sweet looking that I had to make some. Plus I'd never crocheted along a zipper before so I thought it was a good opportunity to try something new. I love that you can crochet right along the zipper without needing to sew it on after, but man is it tough to get the yarn needle through the weave of a zipper! I think the first one took me an hour and left my arm aching from trying to force it. After some brainstorming with my mom, we came up with a really great solution that makes the whole process a breeze: hole punching the zipper! I used a 2mm hole punch which you should be able to find at most large craft stores with other punches. Here's how I did it:

Step 1: Gather your supplies. You'll need a zipper, 2mm hole punch, ruler, yarn needle, yarn and a washout marker or light pencil.

Penguin Winter Crochet Pattern

Hey everyone! I wrote a new pattern that I think you'll enjoy.. It's a penguin pattern! Aren't they so cute? I just love them. You can find the pattern on Etsy, Craftsy and Ravelry.

Or, if you're not as crafty, you can buy the finished product in my Etsy shop. Enjoy!

Hoping to have more goodies for you soon!

Crochet Bow Necklace - Free Pattern

Hi all! Hope you're having an enjoyable weekend. As I work on changing my Etsy shop over to primarily a crochet pattern store, I thought I'd share a cute free pattern that's super simple and quick. Below you'll find a written pattern followed by a photo tutorial to help if you're new to crochet. Enjoy! And be sure to leave a comment if you have a question.

Supplies

For this pattern, you will need a small amount of lace weight yarn, a size "G" crochet hook (4 mm), a yarn needle, scissors, jewelry chain and findings (clasps and rings), and wire cutters and benders. On the bottom right you'll see some necklace backs, which are optional and will only use if you want your bow to be able to slide on the chain.

Crochet Bow Necklace Pattern
Ch 45
Row 1: Single crochet in 2nd chain from hook and each stitch across. (44 stitches)
Fasten off and weave in ends. Fold into a bow shape and wrap center with yarn. Knot end and weave in ends. Attach to necklace.

Crochet Cushion from a Twin Sheet - Free Pattern

This project originally came from wanting to make a crocheted floor poof. I thought that a twin size sheet would totally make enough fabric yarn for something that big ... Wrong! It did, however, make enough yarn to make this 12" couch pillow/cushion. See below for instructions on how to cut the sheet and the pattern for you crocheters.

Make a Light Box for Under $20

Winter makes me lazy. I get out of work and the sun has already set, it's cold, and I just don't feel like doing much of anything. The only free time I had to take photos in natural daylight for my shop is on the weekend (which I never think of doing at the time) or on my lunch break. And the lunch break photo session doesn't happen often. So when I came across this tutorial to make an inexpensive light box, I made it right away. No more excuses, laziness!

Here's what you need and about what it'll cost you:
A big box, the squarer, the better (Free)
A piece of poster board ($1 at Dollar Tree)
White muslin fabric to cover the holes (I already had this but you can buy $2 a yard cheap stuff from JoAnn's)
Two lamps (Standing lamp was $5.99 and clip on lamp above was $9.99 at Target)
Daylight bulbs - 60 watts ($5 for a pack of 4)
Box cutter, tape, scissors

Buy your lamps before getting your bulbs so you can check the maximum wattage your lamps can handle. I bought 100 watt bulbs before finding that the only lamp that could support that bulb would cost $30.

Follow the tutorial here to put it all together!

Here's the first photo I took without any adjustment:

And after a little adjustment in iPhoto to brighten it up:

Not perfect, but it'll get there. I might take the photos into CameraRAW or Photoshop to lighten up the shadows more. But overall, it's a success!

Crochet Bow Pattern

I've been making bows like crazy! They're really simple to crochet and look super cute with a high bun, as an accessory on a bag or for clipping back your (or your girl's) hair. I'm going to add a whole slew of them to my Etsy shop so if you don't know how to crochet, you can buy some cute bows soon here.  This is my first crochet pattern, so if you have and questions or need clarification, leave it in the comments and I'll respond!

Little Bow Pattern
Worsted weight or cotton yarn, size 4mm hook
American terms: ch=chain, hdc=half double crochet, hk=hook, st=stitch, sc=single crochet, sl st=slip stitch

Main Rectangle:
Ch 20 or desired length of bow.
Row 1: Hdc in 2nd st from hk and each across. Ch 1. Turn.
Row 2: Hdc in each stitch across. Ch 1. Turn.
Rows 3-4: Repeat row 2.
Sc around entire rectangle, with 3 sc in each corner, to create a finished edge. Fasten off.

Small Middle Rectangle:
Ch 10. Work on one side of chain. Sc in 2nd st from hk and each across. 3 sc in last ch. Sc in each st returning (down the other side of the chain), ending with 2 sc in the final chain. Sl st to first st. Fasten off with a long tail.

Pinch the main rectangle together and sew middle rectangle on using the long tail. Fasten off.

Strong Bad Crochet

Have any of you seen Homestar Runner before? My sister and I used to watch it all the time on the computer growing up and thought it was hil-a-ri-ous! Strong Bad was mine and my sister's favorite character. 

So when she randomly suggested one day that I crochet a Strong Bad and sell it for mad money, I decided to make one for her for her birthday. Given the limited number of Strong Bad crochet patterns on the interwebz, I made this up from scratch. I'm kicking myself now for not writing down the pattern, but I thought it was worth sharing anyway. :)

Doesn't the light in the background look like the backdrop from a 90's school photo? An ode to the 90's popularity of this little guy. I totally did that on purpose ..

Yay for geeky crochet! Hope you're having a great week! 

Crochet Hook Holder

If you've looked at my Etsy shop recently, you probably noticed that I've been doing quite a bit of crocheting. Who doesn't like a cute little octopus? Or some flower coasters? No one, I say, no one. *Side note: Over the weekend I told my senior neighbor that I crochet and she kind of laughed about it. I know it's kind of dorky and something stereotypically for older people, but I love it anyway! My husband would tell you that he experiences the full scope of my crocheting endeavors because they cover (and I mean cover) our coffee table for weeks on end. I've decided recently to get a little more organized, for both of our sakes. All of my crochet hooks were housed in a recycled jar covered in a crocheted cozy, which worked for the time, but the jar was knocked over often, it was noisy (metal in glass..) and I had to transfer all the hooks into my tote to go places. p.s. Check out this tote:

I made this tote almost exactly like I saw one online for knitting. And, obviously, it's just a joke! I had someone concerned about me taking this in public because I might offend people..!

Now THIS was not in the original: I made some nifty slots to put my hooks in on the go.

Moving on. I saw this tutorial online a few days ago to make a clutch for crochet hooks and supplies, and thought it was such a great idea.

I made it the same day. Here's what mine looked like:

Not too shabby, right? It looks super cute, but here are a few issues I had and how I remedied them. The first issue was that my hooks have bamboo handles and are much larger than the ones the author used.

This means wider slots for hooks, which means less hooks in the holder. It also meant that the fabric bunched up a lot more when the hooks were in the holder, making it all ripply. Not cute. The clutch was also really floppy. I decided at this point to make it like this canvas roll up storage for some of my paint brushes. I cut off the button, and rolled the whole mess up to see where to sew the button again. I like it SO much better. It's a good throw and go option too.

If you decide to make this, you can just wait to put the button on until the end and decide if you'd like it as a clutch or roll up. Just make sure to only sew the button on through the first layer of fabric.

Here's another issue I had: You'll notice in the photo above that the inner-most hook slot is empty. That is where the scissors are intended to go. This is clutch not meant to be turned upside down. The scissors fall out. And you wouldn't want to drop scissors on your cat, your foot, or like a knife into the floor, would you? (I did two of these three .. I'm not telling which) Here's my solution.

Velcro it up! I did this after the fact so it was a big pain hand sewing everything on, but if you add the little flap just after you sew on the slots for hooks, it would be super easy! I also added a little patch to hold straight pins, since I use them a lot for temporarily holding on octopus tentacles before I sew them on.

That's it! Easy storage for crochet hooks. It took me around an hour to make from start to finish .. plus a little more for the hand sewing additions after the fact. Check out Little Birdie Secrets' full tutorial here!

A Circular Scarf for My Sister

This present I loved! It was one of the main gifts for my sister for Christmas. It went together relatively quickly and turned out looking nice. I'm thinking I'd like to make one for myself!

If you attempt to crochet this, make sure you watch your gauge. I didn't (this being my second project I didn't know how important it was) and even with ten added stitches, it turned out about eight inches short. It still looks great and can be worn hanging as a single loop or doubled over, but it might be worth it to do a sample gauge check.

Here's where you can find the pattern. I used the same type of yarn as the pattern calls for, Caron Simply Soft, and it took two skeins.

Mom's Lacy Scarf

I hope you're all having a great holiday season! I've had a fantastic week off of work just relaxing, visiting with friends and family, crocheting, and reading. It's been so nice! I'm not looking forward to going back next Wednesday and kind of wish I would've taken off all of next week too, but it really has been a nice break.

For the next few weeks, I'll be sharing with you the presents I made for my mom and sister for Christmas, as well as a few things I crocheted for myself. Today is this lacy scarf I made for my mom.

This was my third crocheting project ever (check out my first project, the basket) and I have to say it wasn't too difficult.. I didn't have to restart at all, and was able to just chug along once I got the pattern down. I used Patons Lace because it was the only brand of lace yarn I could find at JoAnn's. This yarn worked out well because my mom loves blue and it's also a very easy yarn to work with. It only took me one skein to create a 50" scarf, plus there's quite a bit of yarn left over.

You can find the pattern for free on Ravelry here (you will have to sign up for a free account but it gives you access to all kinds of patterns)!

Ravelry

If you're a crocheter or a knitter and haven't been on ravelry.com, you should really take a look at what they have to offer. I've only been on there for a couple weeks and I've found free patterns for the hat I was making in my last post (I'll share that soon!) and two gifts for Christmas. Here's a screen shot I took of a search for mittens that my sister and I are going to make together:

It's so easy to find what you're looking for, because you can specify cost, if you want crochet or knitting patterns or both, and if you require a photo. There are many, many more search options, too. You can save your favorites, browse projects and yarns, and connect to other yarn lovers. You have to register but it's free, and gives you access to everything. Take a look!