Friday, April 20, 2012

A Little Pear

I came across the pattern for this tiny pear charm ( http://speckless.wordpress.com/2011/10/16/crochet-pattern-tiny-pear-necklace-charm/ ) and knew I had to make one! So cute!!!!!


And it was perfect timing too, because it goes so well with my new sparkly strawberry!


Love, love, love!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Simple Single Crochet Camera Case

I got two new colours of yarn and was dying to make something with them, and I was also dying to make something to put a little bird applique on....so I made a camera case! The case design is all my own, but the bird is from http://damnitjanetletscrochet.blogspot.ca/2012/01/bird-applique.html - with the exception of my bird's wing. I substituted the heart wing for a more traditional one, inspired by the veined leaf pattern http://windrosefiberstudio.blogspot.ca/2011/08/veined-leaf-free-crochet-pattern.html but adjusted to be slightly smaller (and I'll state how below).



The case was made specifically to fit my camera (a Nikon Coolpix S630) but it could be easily adjusted to fit other sized cameras.

There's a hole in the flap of the case to slide the camera's wrist strap through.



Materials:

Red Heart Soft Yarn, Worsted (medium, [4]), 100% acrylic in Grape (for the body of the case) and Teal (for the bird)
4mm hook for the body of the case
3.25mm hook for the bird (the pattern calls for a 3.5 but I wanted my bird to be slightly smaller)
yarn needle

CASE:

Rnd 1: Ch 30. Join with sl. st.
Rnd 2 - 20: Ch 1, sc in each st. around. Join with sl. st.
Flap, Row 1: Turn the work. Ch 1, sc in each of the next 11 sts. (12 sts. total)
Flap, Rows 2 and 3: Repeat row 1
Flap, Row 4: Turn the work. Ch 1, sc in each of the next 4 sts. Ch 2, sk 2 sts, sc in each of the next 5 sts (the hole for the camera strap is now made - if you don't want this hole, just repeat row 1 again)
Flap, Rows 5-11: Repeat row 1.
Flap, Row 12: Turn the work. Ch 1, sc in each of the next 3 sts. Ch 4, skip next 4 sts, sc in each of the last 4 sts (the button hole is now made)
Flap, Rows 13 and 14: Repeat row 1. Finish off.
Bottom: I wanted the bottom to be flat, rather than just sewing the hole closed, so I improvised a bottom. It's not perfect, but it works; With the camera in the case to easily see the corners, sl st from on corner to another down the long side. Then, sc in the first st next to your sl st along the short side, turn and sc across. Repeat the sc in the next st along the short side, turn and sc across until the hole is closed. (if you have questions I can try and explain it differently...)

BIRD:

Follow the pattern from the link above, but use a 3.25mm hook for a slightly smaller bird.
For the wing:
Ch 7, 3 dc in the second ch from hook, dc in each of the next 2 ch, hdc in next ch, sc in next ch, sl st in last ch. Ch 1 and sl st in same st (you can see this part explained if you follow the link above for the veined leaf). Use the chains on the other side, sl st in the next ch, sc in next ch, hdc in next ch, dc in each of the next 2 ch, 3 dc in next ch (the same one you did the first 3 dc in). Sl st to first dc. Finish off.

Then sew the wing on the bird and sew the bird on the case.
Sew on a button and voila! Camera case complete :)


Easter Basket and Eggs :)

With Easter last weekend I knew I needed to find a good pattern for some easter eggs, and I also stumbled across a great pattern for a basket too! 
(pattern from http://easymakesmehappy.blogspot.ca/2011/03/free-easter-egg-crochet-pattern.html)


I was SO happy with my first little guy, I made a few more. And the basket to put them in of course! (basket pattern from http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/L0136AD.html)


The blue and yellow one went to my boyfriend's mom since it's Ukrainian colours and she has a collection of painted Ukrainian eggs. The rest, and the basket, went to my mom. I got the nickname "the crochet monster" over Easter weekend from my brother. I think I like it :)

I had so much fun making these little eggs, I can't wait to make more next Easter.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Crochet and Metal Necklace: free pattern and instructions :)

I've finally created a crochet piece that's all my own! It's not complicated at all but it mixes my two favourite things; crochet and jewellery :) And I was just dying to use this yarn for something I would wear often, I love this colour.


And, because it was so simple to make, you can adapt it really easily by using different weight and/or colour yarn, making more or less chains or using different jewellery components :)

Materials (I'll list exactly what I used, but as I said, it's really easy to substitute or flat out change anything):

Bernat Craft 'n' More yarn in Ultra Peach (100% acrylic, Med [4], 50g/1.75 oz)
Size 3.75mm hook (US F/5)
Metal jewellery caps
2 moonstone beads
24 gauge copper wire
Pliers with a wire cutter (jewellery pliers are usually best because they don't make marks on the wire and having separate wire cutters makes things easier, but I don't have any of those so I used regular pliers with a cutter)
14.5" of metal chain
2 copper jump rings


1) Chain 70 and finish off (gives a chain of about 14" long), leave a tail of at least 3" - make 7


2) Gather the tails of all the chains at one end so that the ends of the chains are at the same spot.


2) Separate the chains into two even groups (mine made one group of three and one group of 4) and tie the groups together in a simple knot using the tails.


4) Repeat steps 2 and 3 on the other ends, cut off the tails and then slightly twist the chains together (if you lose a but of twist as you work through the next steps, don't worry, you can add extra twist in the last step).


5) Cut about 2" of wire and slide it through the knot at one end.


6) Wrap one end of the wire around itself (I couldn't get a good picture of this one...). This wrap doesn't have to be pretty because the caps are going to cover this part in the end, but here's a great little tutorial on creating a wire-wrapped loop, which is essentially what this is http://www.artbeads.com/howtomawrlo.html


7) Slide the cap onto the wire, and then the bead and then make a wrapped loop; you'll want this one to be pretty :) Try to keep the cap as tight to the chains as possible and wrap the loop so it sits tight to the bead so that the cap and bead don't slide up the wire and reveal the not so pretty ends of the chains.  (Repeat steps 5-7 for the other end.)




8) Attach one jump ring to each copper loop, make sure you've got your chains twisted to your liking and then attach your chain to your jump rings. Et voila! One necklace :)