Triangle Bunting Tutorial

I know, I haven't caught you up yet with lots of things I promised to relate.  But, I thought you might like a new little photo tutorial first.

Even though there are many things I should have been doing instead, the urge to create something entirely new, an original triangle for a new bunting, I simply had to make this happy little bunting instead.  Of COURSE I had to share it with you - so enjoy.

Oh - and I made two - so if  you are more of a bluesy person rather than a multi-color person, maybe this inspires you.

For this project, I reached up to my stash of Sugar&Cream and Peaches & Cream worsted weight cotton and whatever balls or yarn fell down on my head are the ones I used - no lie.

This project used a size 7 - 4.5mm crochet hook.

So that's it.  I don't write patterns well.  So, I use a lot of photos to show and explain.  One day, I will learn to write a diagram.  I think this would be an easy pattern for trying a diagram.  I try to make the photos close up so that you can see the stitches.

This pattern uses American crochet terms.

So now go and make yourself a little bunting.  How happy you feel.

Enjoy!  Sher

Pitt Coasters - a College Gift

About a month ago, I crocheted some coasters for my son and his friends at the University of Pittsburgh.  Pitt's colors are dark blue and gold.  I had to improvise on some of the coasters with a bit of yellow but I prefer the color scheme of the gold.  The coasters were a request from his friends.  They are reportedly well-used on the coffee table in the dorm room.  Although no step by step pattern is shown here, any basic circle or square shape could be used with a bit of cotton yarn in collegiate colors to create the same sort of gift.  Enjoy the inspiration!  Sher

Sherbet Waves Blanket

Hello!

The last time I posted it was back to school time - now it's full on Autumn (tho. today seems more like summer weather and my fall/winter clothes are still packed away in the attic).

At the end of the summer (and right before my vacation) I started a baby blanket project for my cousin.  Her baby shower is this weekend.  She is having her first baby, a girl.  I could not attend the shower but my gift is somewhere riding in the back of a brown truck en route to the shower location.

The blanket is NOT a pattern of my own creation.  I found the pattern on pinterest and saved it in my blankets and pillows board.  You can follow me on Pinterest or just some of my boards if you'd like.

I didn't take many photos of the making along the way - not sure why.  But it was a fun and easy pattern with a lot of color and texture and it was a joy to create.  The name of the original pattern is: Wavy Baby Blanket and I found it here on Carina's Blog.  The blog has the pattern in a non-English pattern but also a translation is included.  I had no trouble following the translated version.

Here are the specs on MY version of the blanket which I have named Sherbet Waves.  This Sherbet Waves blanket is of the girl variety as I would have chosen other colors for a boy.  As recommended on the blog, I opted to use an odd number of colors in my pattern repeat.  My pattern was an 11-color repeat.

The yarn I used is Red Heart Creme de la Creme.  Although it is a worsted weight, I would consider it a light worsted.  I used a G Hook (4mm).

I chose soft and bright girl colors and mixed those in with a variety of off whites and a khaki color.  Though I cannot find my order form from the yarn and I have misplaced some of the skein wraps, my color repeat was:

off white (pink hue)
dark pink
off white (yellow hue)
lavender
khaki
off white (ivory)
light pink
khaki (the only color I repeated because I wanted more of this color)
bright yellow
true white
mint green

I didn't use an entire skein of any color, but almost.  I used a bit more than one skein of the khaki ( I had 2 of those).  I don't know the number of yards in the skein as it's not listed on the label but the skein is 70.9 grams and is a light-weight worsted, not quite as small as a dk or sport.

The yarn is 100% cotton, and though the finished product it a bit stiff, I think it will be less so after washing.

I'd suggest weaving in the ends as you go - the pattern calls for a color change at the end of each row.  I didn't and had SO many to weave in at the end.  UGH.

The reason this blanket isn't just a shell stitch blanket is because it has a row of single crochet in between each shell row.  The pattern has a 4 row repeat which is easy to memorize after just a few stints thru.  My finished blanket was about 32" long and 26" wide.  I chained 142 stitches to start.  You can do any length because the pattern is listed as groups of 14 + 2.  The finished blanket had about 150 rows.

I love it when patterns list all their data like yarn and hook size and patter repeats, etc... it makes for SO much easier math if I want to change size or use different yarn so thanks to all of your who give lots of pattern data on your blogs.  I find that when I add pattern data to my blogs, it gives me a great record to remember what I myself have done if I ever want to go back and use a pattern again.

I hope you enjoy this pattern - I will probably post a link to it on Ravely (follow me here) as well.

Perfectly Pastel: Crochet Wreath Coming Soon...

I've been inspired by these:

Pastel flowers and whites!  Soft, whisper colors.  Not typical for me - I usually like brights and browns and big, big color.  But lately I've found inspiration from the palest of spring flowers.

I was also inspired by this:

A sweet little teal towel that my mom sent me as a gift.  It's so pretty and white and full of soft lovely herbs.  I haven't been able to bring myself to use it for drying off the dishes.  It's just been hanging in the kitchen looking lovely.  And see that little butterfly in the upper left hand corner - well that little guy was the inspiration for a whole new pattern (coming soon too)!

With all this inspiration, I headed off to audition the yarn stash for a part in a new wreath -

And I gathered a soft palette of dks and worsteds, mostly cottons.

I added a few of these (CLICK HERE FOR FREE PATTERN).

And after a few weeks of pattern making, designing, hooking, stitching, and weaving in the ends, they are all coming together for their big debut.

The wreath is done and all the patterns are up - tutorials made etc...   Go HERE to see the final wreath post. Go HERE to see the butterfly tutorial.

Tea Light Cozy Tutorial - Part 1

This lesson is Part 1 of the tea light tutorial.  This lesson will cover information about crochet yarn/thread and carpet warp.  It will also give the other tools needed for the project.  I hope this lesson is helpful.

For this project I used a very thin cotton crochet thread.  However, it isn't really crochet thread at all, it's carpet warp.  I first discovered carpet warp when some crafter posted a photo of their craft room.  Amongst all the shelves of crochet supplies were big spools of carpet warp.  I was able to just make out the name Maysville on one of the spool tags and looked it up to see what it was.

So - get yourself some cotton carpet warp!

Here's some info about cotton carpet warp:

My product is called Maysville Carpet Warp 8/4 from Webs Yarn Store (online or in person in Northhampton, MA).  I got mine online and had no trouble with their ordering process, delivery or customer service.  Although they do ship internationally, I'm sure there are stores that sell cotton carpet warp in plenty of other countries, so check your local listings if you are outside of the USA.  Carpet warp comes in several sizes.  What I used is sized 8/4 tho. apparently that is termed 4/8 outside the USA.

The site states: we offer a wide range of colors of 100% cotton Maysville 8/4 carpet warp. Use carpet warp for creating rag rugs and lots of other weaving projects.

I also found an article about carpet warp on Craft Gossip.  Another source for carpet warp here.

If you get confused about yarn that falls in the finer ranges - you are not alone.  This chart MIGHT help you.

The carpet warp is just slightly thinner than Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread #3 and definitely thicker and more sturdy than a size 10 crochet thread.  I wish I had a skein or fingerling/sport or laceweight yarn to compare to the carpet warp.  The carpet warp is 100% cotton and feels like more of a sturdy string than a soft yarn.  Crochet thread has a sheen to it that the cotton carpet warp doesn't have.  I like using the warp because it doesn't slip and slide as much as crochet thread.  Also, the twist of the carpet warp is much tighter than the twist of the crochet cotton.

If you are going to use a fingerling weight yarn, I'd suggest a sturdy cotton for the utilitarian nature of the project - and I'm guessing you'll want a more string-ish and less hairy fiber so that when your tea light cozy is near a flame, there will be less chance of danger.  I'd also suggest creating the first three rounds of the project and making sure your guage gives you the same result as mine.

One thing I didn't realize is that the Maysville cotton that I have been using is maybe not colorfast.  I did have an instance where I sprayed my carpet warp with some Stiffen Quik and the red ran a bit into the white.  Apparently the cotton 8/4 carpet warp sold by Camilla Valley Farm may be a better choice for you - they state that their cotton warp is colorfast.  If I'd known, I'd probably gone that route when I bough my supply.

That said, the warp comes in huge spools and it will take a long time to use up your supply so your investment is probably pretty long-term use.

Some other tools you will want to have for this project are a size B crochet hook, a darning needle for the ends (I used my regular darning needle as the tapestry needle I tried was a bit small for taking the warp through the eye) and a pair of scissors.

Next, you'll want some tea lights.  The ones I'm using are a really inexpensive pack of lights.  I purchased it years ago on the clearance rack of a 5 and dime type store after Halloween.  The pack contained 100 tea lights!  It was a whopping $1.  I've also seen them at Ikea in big packs at a low price.  I would guess that tea lights are a somewhat universal size, but I don't know that for fact.

So, assignment number one is to gather your supplies.

For my tea light cozies, I created just about the entire cozy in one color of warp and then did the final round in white.  You could of course make a striped cozy - switch colors on any of the rounds if you opt for stripes.  I didn't want to bother weaving in all those ends on such a tiny little project so I left mine mostly in single colors.

Click HERE TO MOVE ON TO PART 2 of the Teeny Tiny Tea Light Tutorial - we'll start right in on Round 1.

Another Easy Scarf Pattern in Crochet

I loved the Skinny Spring Scarf so much that I created an even skinnier one for summer.  I also chose a really brightly colored variegated cotton yarn to celebrate the happy, sunny season.

This scarf is just as fast and easy as the spring scarf and again, takes just one skein of Lily-Sugar and Cream cotton yarn.

The instructions in pdf can be found on Ravelry as a FREE download.  Click this link to go to the Ravelry pattern.

Here's what the pdf download pattern looks like. 

As always, my patterns are shared with you freely, so please don't ever sell them.  Also - link back to my blog if you share this post.  AND if you make the super skinny summer scarf - I'd love to have you share YOUR version!

Next up - I created THREE purse patterns... once I get them written up, I'll share those too.