A Crochet Christmas

There was a LOT of handmade stuff going on at our family Christmas this year and MUCH of it was crochet!  There were also a lot of really cool DIGITAL gifts.  I've posted about it on my other blog HERE.

Are you ready for the big reveal?

These little crocheted cork toys are so cute!  I got the idea off of Pinterest.  Do you follow me there?  If not, click here and choose follow.

I got the idea for the Cork Warriors HERE.  And you can click HERE for the gnome babies.

Next up:

 

I used THIS BUNTING TUTORIAL but I made the triangles bigger by continuing in the same pattern for several more rows.  I also outlined each triangle in white with single crochet and added letters hand cut from felt and attached to the bunting with a very strong fabric glue.  I also stiffened the buntings with a product called StiffNQuick.

 

And there's more (yes, I was very busy making - and I was loving every minute of it!):

 



I began this stool cover using a pattern from Made in K-Town. Here is the link to the pattern post.  I started with the spring mandala and when I ran out of pattern, I just continued it on my own, making up stitches as I went until the stool was an appropriate size.  To make the stool "tuck under" and stay on the top, I decreased a few stitches in eachof the last 3 or 4 rows until I could just squeeze the cover over the stool seat.  After that, it just stayed on tight on it's own.

Not done yet...

 

I made two pillows for my daughter.  Each side of each pillow is a different pattern so she won't get bored with them.  I didn't write down the patterns because I was kind of making it up as I went along.  The pillow on the left is done in linen stitch in rows.  It's basically sc, ch 1, sk 1, sc, repeat and then the next row, sc in the ch 1 space and ch 1 over the previous row's sc.  There are a lot of links on the web for how to do linen stitch.  The pillow on the right is basic granny squares in a join as you go method.  I used the join as you go by Lucy at Attic24.  If you crochet - I'm sure you know her but here is the link to her process.

Here is another page showing the flip side of the pillows:

 

The back side has a patchwork chevron pattern - more work than it was worth.  I actually made triangles and sewed them together to create the chevron pattern the way you would a quilt - then I did big cross stitches to highlight between the rows.  The other pillow back is a variation on the linen stitch using 2dc instead of 1sc, but performing a similar pattern.  The pillows are totally crocheted closed, so they aren't removable without cutting the joining row of crochet to take the two sides apart.

 

Still not done (in fact there will be some crochet projects I can't show you because I forgot to photograph them both before and during Christmas!):

 

 

 

 

I was REALLY pleased with the way these hats and scarves came out.  There are two sets and one set was made for each of my college boys.  In the photo shown, they have switched their crocheted items.  They each gave one another a tee shirt representing their college, so they thought it would be funny to switch the gifts I made for the photo.

 

The hat on the right is called the brain waves hat and it was an AWESOME pattern and free too.  In fact the designer has other patterns I really liked as well.  I found the pattern on Ravelry.  Here is the link.

 

For the scarf on the right - the wavy one, I started out making THIS PATTERN (also from Ravelry and FREE) but after a few rows, I went on and did my own thing which worked out quite well... I added some fringe before I ran out of yarn.  I believe that yarn was a wool/acrylic blend that I picked up at JoAnns.

 

For the hat on the right I played around with two patterns and kind of combined them.  They were also both from Ravelry.  ONE is here and THE OTHER is here.  Of course, I didn't write down any of my variations as I had a lot of gifts to make and I was kind of taking it as it went.

 

Here is another shot of me modeling the items on the left:

 

 

Yet more!

 

 

This scarf for my sister was a great pattern.  I used this pattern to teach my beginning crocheters at the adult school course I taught this past fall.  She looks really cute in the pink.  Here is the link to the pink scarf pattern.

 

Here I am modeling the pink scarf since the photos I took of my sister were a bit blurry -

 

 

 

This Christmas, everyone got into the crochet action and here are some things my daughter crocheted and gave as gifts:

 

 

My daughter Sydney crocheted the scarf for Anna and made up the scarf pattern herself.

 

 

The crayon melt pictures are all over pinterest, but adding the crocheted touches was my daughter's idea.  Aren't these awesome?  And she managed to make these gifts while working two jobs and attending grad school.

 

A few final Christmas crochet items from me:

 

 

My aunt got a book mark (they are easy to mail).  I sent her the ripple one.  For the ripple bookmark, I used the ripple blanket pattern by Lucy at Attic24.  Get that HERE.

 

The granny square bookmarks are ones I just made up - one went to my daughter and another went to my German daughter (Katrin, who lived with us as an exchange student). 

 

The striped scarf bookmark went to my 6 year old nephew, Quinn, who is currently reading the Harry Potter series.  I thought it looked like a Gryffindor scarf!  I didn't use any pattern for that - it's just single crochet for 3 rows and then switch colors.  I did sc around the entire outside edge and added fringe to one edge however.

 

Finally, if you remember a few weeks before Christmas - I gave a little sneak peek of my holiday wreath.  Well, I haven't written up all the patterns but most of them I either found on pinterest and can be accessed through this pinterest board or I found photos of and figured out the patterns on my own - and again, I was so busy and rushed I didn't write them down - but many of the patterns were very cute so I may want to make them again - and in that case, I will record what I do!  The teeny tiny stars as well as the holly and red berries are again from Lucy at Attic24. You may be familiar with my other crochet wreaths in this series... I made a summer wreath and blogged about it here (which I entitled spring wreath but eventually felt it was more summery) and also a fall/autumn wreath which I simply LOVE! 

 

Here are the closer up and also the final results from my Christmas themed crochet wreath.

 



 

 

 

So I hope you liked my little walk down crochet lane at my Christmas house!  Did you notice that my photos of the crochet projects are digitally scrapbooked?  Did you also notice the beautiful Nordic papers that I used?  You can purchase the digital nordic artwork for use with my awesome Creative Memories Storybook Creator software package HERE or you can purchase universal Nordic digital art for use with photoshop or other digital scrapbook packages.  Happy Hooking for the Holidays!  Sher

Autumn Crochet Wreath

Today, the weather is PERFECT.  It’s still warm and will reach a high of 71F degrees.  The sun is shining and the air is crisp and clean.  Today, my front door deserves its new décor, autumn décor.

I like seasonal change and am glad to live in an area of the world that has four seasons.  Autumn (aka fall) is probably my favorite.  Even so, I have enjoyed my brightly colored flowery crocheted wreath SO MUCH, that I was hesitant to change it out with something more befitting of the season.  But I did.  AND, I think I MIGHT just love it MORE!

Maybe you read about my Spring/Summer wreath in THIS BLOGPOST HERE.

Keep reading, if you like my Autumn Crochet Wreath, you can make one to grace your own door!  I’m sharing the how to right here in this post.

First, the inspirations. . .

1.       I was hanging the laundry and glanced down at the unknown squash vine that had sprung up from some rotten pumpkin/squash/gourds I’d buried in the spring.  Right next to the fence was the CUTEST little yellow gourd.  It survived the squirrels, wove itself through the fence and presented itself at my feet.  I picked it.  It was so cute, I knew it was time for a new wreath.  I love how bright and yellow/orange the gourd is.  It’s fall colors are apparent but its brightness was unexpected.

 

 

2.      Scrolling through PINTEREST, I found some brightly colored crochet flowers from someone’s ETSY site.  I don’t normally save ETSY pins because I’m usually looking for patterns, not purchases, but I saved this pin for its color inspiration.  My vision of my wreath was building.  I also liked the shape of the ETSY flowers, their large dark middles and their floppy petals just looked like fall to me.  They reminded me of something between a sunflower and an mum.
 

Next, the how to…

I decided to repeat the same TYPE of wreath I had made for my spring/summer wreath, so I followed my own wreath pattern here.  I used 3 colors of I LOVE THIS YARN (by Hobby Lobby).  It’s worsted weight acrylic.  I was encouraged to use it because it’s lovely to work with – aka not splitty.  I was also happy with how well my spring/summer wreath held up on the door, so I knew I’d get a good result.  I chose a burnt orange color, a dark-ish green and a mellow yellow.  I used a 4.0mm crochet hook.

I crocheted the two sides of the wreath identically.  Then, with wrong sides together, I used the yellow and crocheted the two insides of the wreath together.  I used a single crochet and went through both loops of the inner edges of the wreath.  I then added a second row of single crochet.  I didn’t decrease any stitches on the second row.

Once the two sides were joined in the middle, I dug into the recycle bin and found a cardboard envelope from a recent UPS delivery.  I traced around the inside and outside of my wreath, I traced each circle smaller than the wreath itself.  Then I cut out the cardboard donut.  I inserted the cardboard donut in between the front and back of the wreath and sat down to create some crochet appliqué!

Thinking back to the ETSY flower, I constructed a similar flower and created a pattern that gave me the look I wanted.  I used autumn colors of cotton yarn, mostly dk weight, for the appliqués.  I used the same 4.0mm hook for all of the appliqués. 

I’m calling this flower Little Mum. 

NOTE:  All my patterns use American Crochet Terminology

 

Little Mum:

With dark khaki green, Classic Cotton dk, make a slip knot and chain 2.

Round 1.  6 sc in 2^nd chain from hook, sl stitch to join w/ 1^st sc

Round 2.  2 sc in each stitch from round 1 (12 st).   Slst to join.  Add new color (I used light khaki classic cotton dk).

Round 3.  *Ch 2 (counts as hdc), 2 dc, hdc in same stitch, sl st in next 2 stitches, repeat from * until 6 petals are formed, fasten off.

The Little Mum is about 1.5" X1.5" in its finished size.  Flower size will vary with yarn weight and hook size chosen.

I wanted flowers of varying sizes.  So I created a flower pattern that is bigger and uses brighter colors.  I used five of these bigger flowers in my final wreath. Three have green centers with yellow petals, one has a yellow center with green petals and the last has a khaki center with red petals.  

 

I am calling this bigger flower Big Fall Mum: ( I got a little carried away with my flowers and made them different petal sizes…added more stitches to rounds 2 and 3 so I could add more petals or an extra slst to remove a petal – the original size has 9 petals)

Round 1. Ch 2 with color for flower middle.  6sc in 2^nd ch from hook.  Sl st to join with 1^st sc

 

Round 2. *2 sc in each stitch (12 st), join w/ sl st in first sc.

 
Round 3. Ch 1, sc in same stitch, * 1 sc in next stitch, 2 sc in next stitch.  Repeat from * and join w/ sl st when you get to the first ch of round. (18 st)

 

Round 4.  Join new color for petals.  Ch 1, sc in next stitch and in all remaining stitches in round (18 st), join w/ sl st in first ch of round. 

Round 5.  *Ch 2 (counts as hdc). 1 dc, 2tc, 1 dc, 1hdc in same stitch.  Sl st in next two stitches, repeat from * until 9 petals are formed.  Join w/ sl st to 1 ch, finish off

The yarn I used for the yellow and green big fall mums is Knit picks Cotlin dk in chartreuse and canary.   I also used CotLin dk in tomato for the red petals and the Classic Cotton dk in light khaki for the middle of that one.

The Big Fall Mum I made is about 3" X 3" in it's finished size.

 

Next up – a few Pumpkins (my little gourd was the inspiration for these).  The yarn I used was Knit Picks CotLin dk in clementine, chartreuse and canary, for the stem I used a ball of Martha Stewart worsted weight cotton in light brown.

Round 1.  Ch 4 (counts as first chain plus dc).  15 dc in first chain, sl st into 4^th chain of starting ch4).  (total of 16 dc stitches counting the first chain 3)

Round 2. sc and hdc in the next stitch.  2 dc in each of the next five stitches. hdc and sc in the next stitch. sc in the next stitch, sc and hdc in the next stitch. Crochet 2 dc in the next five stitches. hdc and sc in the next stitch. Slst to the beginning sc. This is the center top of the pumpkin.

Round. 3. 
Sc in next stitch,
hdc in next stitch,
2hdc in next stitch,
hdc in next stitch,
2 dc in next stitch,
dc in next stitch,
2dc in next stitch,
dc in next stitch,
2 hdc in next stitch,
hdc in next 2 stitches,
sc in next 2 stitches,
hdc in next 2 stitches,  
2 hdc in next,
dc in next,
2 dc in next,
dc in next,
2dc in next,
hdc in next,
2 hdc in next,
hdc in next,
sc in next 2,
sk 1 stitch,
sl stitch into dip at top of pumpkin.

 

Detailing:  Next, I added “ribs” to the pumpkin.  Ribs use slip stitches that go through the pumpkin.

If you don’t like ribs, you could just use a running stitch or back stitch.  It would look something like this (which is the back side of my stitching).

 

Start at the top of the pumpkin and enter the stitch space between rounds 2 and 3.  Poke the hook from front to back into the pumpkin at that place.  Wrap the new color yarn around the hook so you pull one loop through to the front of the crochet. 

Now push the hook into the pumpkin front to back in the next stitch space. 

Yarn over and pull a second loop through to the front. 

There are now 2 loops on your hook.  Pull the 2^nd loop through the first as you would a slip stitch. 

Next, push the hook through the next stitch front to back, yarn over, pull the second loop to the front and through the first loop.  Repeat the slip stitches in each stitch space between rounds 2 and 3. 

When you get to the bottom of the pumpkin, continue stitching between rounds 2 and 3 from the bottom, around the right side and back to the top of the pumpkin.  When you get to the place you started, continue on around the left side of the pumpkin working in the stitch spaces between rounds 1 and 2. 

Continue all the way around the right side of the pumpkin and up to the starting point.  At the top of the pumpkin, continue a final row of stitches towards the outside of round 3.

Again, work all the way around the left outer row of the pumpkin. 

When you get to the bottom, make one stitch into the stitches above and then dip back down again to continue aroud the right side of the pumpkin.  The dip will accentuate the fact that the pumpkin isn’t perfectly round. 

When you complete the final stitches and are again back to the top center of the pumpkin, cut your thread with about a four inch tail.  Thread the tail onto a wide eyed needle and poke it back through the point where all the stitches cross.  Weave ends in the back.

Pumpkin Stem:  Chain 5.  Sc into the 2^nd chain from the hook and each remaining chain.  Fasten off.  Leave 2 tails, each about 3 or 4 inches long.  Pull each tail thru the pumpkin from front to back at the center top of the pumpkin.  Tie the tails together.  Weave in ends.

Next, I decided to add apples to my wreath.  I am calling the apple appliqué Wonky Apple.  The apple is not really that wonky, but it’s not perfectly symmetrical, as I don’t find apples to be perfectly round, so I wanted it just a bit off.

To make the Wonky Apple, I used CotLin dk in tomato and Classic Cotton dk dark green khaki.

Wonky Apple:

Round 1.  Ch 4 (makes first chain plus 1dc).  14 dc into first chain made. (total 15 dc) Join w/ slst to top of first chain 4.

Round 2.

Sc into next stitch,
hdc into next stitch,
2 hdc into next stitch,
2dc into next st,
dc into next st,
hdc in next stitch ,
slst in next stitch,
hdc in next stitch,
2 hdc in next stitch,
dc in next stitch,
2 dc in next stitch,
2 hdc in next stitch,
hdc in next stitch,
sc in next stitch,
sl st in next stitch.   Finish off.

Stem:  Join new color at top center of apple.  5 sc. Sc in 2^nd chain from hook and rest of sc, sl st into top center of apple, finish off.

 Once all the appliqués are made (I used 2 pumpkins, 2 apples, 6 little mums, and 5 big fall mums in varying petal sizes), arrange them on the wreath.  When you are happy with your arrangement, use T-pins to hold the appliqués in place.

 

 

Remove each appliqué one by one, weave ends in towards the middle but don’t cut them off.  Thread them through a wide-eyed needle and pull them through the wreath.  Tie the ends together to hold the appliqué in place.

Once all appliqués are tied down, they will be easier to keep in place in order to stitch them down more securely.  For the stitching I used strands of embroidery floss and pearl cotton that matched my yarn colors as closely as possible. 

Because the wreath is still open on its outer edges, it is easy to work between the layers of the wreath to sew them down. 

With each appliqué, leave a 3 inch tail of floss when you start stitching.  Take your thread through the inside the crochet stitches so the floss won’t show. 

I like to fully secure each appliqué but I also leave some edges and petals somewhat detatched so the pieces have movement.  When you've sewn the entire applique, tie together the 3 Inch tail with the other end of your floss.  You don’t need to clip the ends close as you can just tuck all the threads in between the wreath and the cardboard donut.  They won’t be seen.

 

When all the appliqués are stitched down, single crochet around the outside edge of your wreath to close it.  Make sure to tuck in all loose ends and yarns as you go.  I used on single crochet row to close the wreath.  I went through both loops of each single crochet on both sides of the outer wreath edge.  You can add a second row of single crochet if you prefer a thicker outside edge.

For the hanging hook, chain 21.  SC in the 2^nd chain from hook and all other chains to end.  Join the two ends with single crochet.  Leave tails.  Attach the hook to the back side of the wreath at the top.  Weave in all ends.

 

TaDAH!  Happy Autumn Crochet Wreath!

 

 

 

 

Sewing and Digital Scrapbooking

You may not think so, but sewing, quilting and digital scrapbooking just might go hand in hand!

Check out the SherYourScraps blog for a post about how these two hobbies work together -

This is page 1 of a four page post about how to combine the two efforts.

Blog Blast! Easter Day Applique

Since my two middle boys were up in the Catskills having a visit with my daughter at her college on Easter Day - the rest of us at home were pretty lazy.  We didn't have a big celebration or an Easter egg hunt or even a special meal. 

But, my hubby did get to work on his current building project (a new shed attached to the back of the house to house our bikes and stuff)

and I got to sit and sew. 

Since my applique class ended, I have to admit, I had put my blocks aside.  But I hadn't taken them off my mind.  I had already cut out all the pieces and prepared everything to complete block 4 so I set right in on the stitching

Block 4 required piecing two-part leaves (a lesson for later) and a bit of off block construction - not to mention the creation of some long bias strips for the stem parts.

It turned out pretty well.

Here's how it looks (sideways):