Crafting 101

I wanted to stick this post in here for awhile, but haven’t been able to. I have a wonderful friend Allena (who you can find here and here) that wrote an easy LTC Scarf (Learn to Crochet Scarf). I didn’t know she made one until she mentioned it and I wanted to give her a plug! Also, to show how easy it is, I made one myself! I had some yarn leftover from a lapghan I made and I had a friend mention she loved that yarn and the colors so I decided to make her a scarf.

The yarn I used is Vanna White solid and one that was variegated. They looked really good together. I have never used that type of yarn, well, not something so fancy as Vanna White, but it was nice and at least at Wal-Mart it wasn’t too expensive.

So bad to the scarf, it was so super simple! I finished it in about an hour, that’s how simple it is! I used several different skeins of yarn, but you can use just the one and have it made in less than two hours. It’s also a great small and easy project to keep in your bag for when you are on the go. You can get the pattern here (it’s a Ravelry link). Again, if you haven’t joined ravelry yet, you must and LMK your ravelry user name so I can see what you’re doing!

I threw in a few pictures of the scarf. I think it looks really nice and it’s short to wear with just a nice outfit, but you could add more rows to it to make it thicker or add more chain stitches to make it longer. Anyways, it was fun and easy to do!

My apologies for not posting the last ten days. March got a little bit busier than expected, kids got sick and more. But I have several posts planned for this week to wrap up what we need to learn. As promised, this post is all about the different stitches in crochet. I hope that it’ll be a post you will bookmark for reference and I’ll post a link on the side for the future. Enjoy!

Crochet Stitches:

Basics:

ch: chain
dc: double crochet
hdc: half double crochet
sl st: slip stitch
sp: space
tr: treble  (sometimes called “triple”)

Advanced:

bphdc (back post half double crochet): Yarn over, insert hook from back to front to back around post of half double crochet one row below, yarn over, draw up a loop, yarn over, draw through all 3 loops on hook (this is worked on even # or wrong side rows)
bptr (back post triple): Yarn over twice, inserthook from back to front around post of stitch on previous row and pull up a loop, (yarn over and draw through 2 loops on hook) 3 times.
fphdc (front post half double crochet):
Yarn over, insert hook from front to back to front around post of half double crochet one row below, yarn over, draw up a loop, yarn over, draw through all 3 loops on hook (this is worked on odd # or right side rows)
fptr (front post triple): Yarn over twice, insert hook from front to back around post of stitch on previous row and pull up a loop, (yarn over and draw through 2 loops on hook) 3 times.
hdctbl: Half double crochet worked in the back loop
hdctfl: Half double crochet worked in the front loop
For even more stitches that actually combine several of the basic stitches to create a unique look to your work, check out the extensive Crochet Stitch Directory at Crochet Pattern Central.  They have lots to show you!

I hope that you are enjoying working on the basic stitches of crochet. How did the videos work for you? I hope well! I hope to be able to show you more stitches with the videos on the other difficult stitches. The hubby and I are working on a little bit better set-up for making the videos.

So, if you haven’t done the pattern already, check out the Learn Your Stitches Coaster pattern that I wrote last week for learning the basic stitches.  I have the pattern on Ravelry too so if you make it and you’re a member of Ravelry, please let me know!

So besides posting the link to the pattern, I wanted to give you a run down on all the other stitches that are out there in crochet. I found a few lists, one on About.com, another one on Just Another Crochet Site, and another one at Needle Pointers. They are all great and let everyone know all the stitches out there and give explanations. So I wanted to post them here. But since I want to make it all in one post without any other jibber-jabber, I’m going to post those tomorrow. So you have to tune in tomorrow for that!

Please, please, please ask questions if you have them and if you’re making things, I’d love to know. Show me the pictures too! Hope you have a great weekend! TTFN!

As promised, Day Two of Crochet 2.0! I know we are running late, but better late than never! I have included the two videos on making double crochets and triple crochets. Tomorrow I will talk about the pattern that I used created by me! I would love to see any pictures of projects you’ve made with the pattern. Enjoy and please leave any feedback good or bad!

After watching the videos, what questions do you have? What can I help you with? I hope that they are good explanations of the stitches. I learned by watching others so I feel that’s the best way to learn. Now, if you learn better reading something and looking at pictures, check out our lessons from last year where I have pictures and I have it all typed out for you.

http://crafting101.today.com/2008/06/02/day-two-crochet-craziness/

http://crafting101.today.com/2008/06/02/day-three-crochet-craziness/

http://crafting101.today.com/2008/06/02/day-four-crochet-craziness/

http://crafting101.today.com/2008/06/02/day-five-crochet-craziness/

Today we will be learning about making a chain in crochet and making a single crochet stitch. Both are pretty simple to do, you just have to learn to do them! For today and tomorrow, grab an size crochet hook between G and I to use and some yarn that you have laying around the house. I am using a size I hook and some cotton yarn, but you can use some scrap yarn. I have created two videos for you to watch to help explain how to do these stitches. Please watch both of them, starting with the making a chain video before watching the single crochet video.

After you watch these two videos and the two tomorrow, on Friday I will post the link to a pattern to help practice these skills. If you were here before when we worked on crochet, I posted a pattern called Learn Your Stitches Dishcloth . Since it posted, I’ve had several people make the dishcloth and were successful at helping themselves or others learn how to crochet. That makes me really excited! (If you’re a member of Ravelry, check it out here.)

I would appreciate any feedback you have regarding the videos. This is the first time I’ve done these type so I’d love to know how to do better! Thanks and good luck!

Again, I’m still waiting on the videos to be approved (really didn’t think it’d take this long, I promise!) So I have written another pattern for you to learn your stitches. Last year I wrote one that created a dishcloth, this time it’s a coaster. It’s a little bit larger than a normal coaster, but I guess there’s no set dimensions for a coaster, are they? But here you go! Enjoy! Send pictures if you finish it! View this project on Ravelry!

Learn Your Stitches Coaster

Copyright 2008 by Pamela Foreman

This is a great quick and easy project to learn the basic stitches of crochet! You’ll have this worked up in less than 20 minutes!

Materials:
Cotton Yarn, one skein will make at least four
G, H or I hook, depends on the size you want

Directions:
The ch stitch at the beginning of each row is the beginning stitch for that row.

Row 1: ch 16, sc in 2nd ch form hook, sc across (15 sc)

Row 2: Turn, ch 2, dc across (15 dc)

Row 3: Turn, ch 4, trc across (15 trc)

Row 4: Turn, ch 2, dc across (15 dc)

Row 5: Turn, ch 1, sc across (15 sc)

Row 6: Turn, ch 2, dc across (15 dc)

Row 7: Turn, ch 4, trc across (15 trc)

Row 8: Turn, ch 2, dc across (15 dc)

Row 9: Turn, ch 1, sc across (15 sc)

Row 10: Turn, slip stitch across (15 ss)

Fasten off, weave in ends.

So March 1st is here and the month of March means it’s time for Crochet 2.0! I’m super excited about this month because it’s all about crochet and I love to crochet! I have been working on some crocheting videos that I hope you will enjoy and use them to learn the simple stitches and to learn the more difficult ones.

So for this month, we’ll be working some simple patterns, most of which I’ve created and some I’ll be linking to. I just made a cute dishcloth using a neat stitch that raises up the crocheting to make a neat pattern. Using unique and unusal stitches in your work makes things a lot of fun!

I want to mention a website that I just found during the last week that I hadn’t seen before and I’ve seen a lot of websites! It’s called NexStitch and they have a lot of video tutorials plus some crocheting background and patterns and more. I enjoyed looking over their website. I found a really neat scarf pattern that I’d love to try and you can get the pattern here. The only thing is it uses Tunisian crocheting techniques which I have tried before with no luck, but that’s one of the things I’m going to try and teach you guys to do. I feel that this pattern is simple enough for me to learn and if I can learn it, anyone can!

So I hope that you’ll hang out for the month of March and learn some new techniques. Oh, and I have an awesome friend, Allena, and you need to check out her website for lots of crocheted items that she creates and sells all the time. She has lots of patterns too! Have a great day and if you’re getting snow (like us!) stay warm and go play in the snow!

So I found these on the internet and they are too CUTE! At least I think they are! You can purchase them here, but when I saw them, I was like, I can do this! Basically, they are two pillows with hearts on them and a rope between the two hearts showing that you two are linked together with love. See the little black images? Those are the man going across the rope to his woman standing on top of the heart. Isn’t that romantic? I would love to make these for my hubby and I. He’d probably be like, what were you thinking? But I wouldn’t care!

To make these, I’d take two plain white pillow cases. I’d also get some red cotton fabric and cut out two heart shapes. Simply sew the hearts on to the pillows or you can even purchase some of that heat glue tape stuff so you can iron it on. To make the man and woman, you can find some images online you like or use pictures of yourself. Color them in black in a photo program and print them out on fabric paper. Use the heat glue tape stuff since sewing that might be impossible! For the rope, you could use ribbon and sew or glue it on. I’d say you could make these in an afternoon especially if you don’t sew them, but use the glue stuff.

So hope your weekend is going well. Mine has so far! TTFN!

So I know that Valentine’s Day is over, but it’s never too early to start thinking about next year or adapting these ideas for other gifts throughout the year. For example, see this cute picture? It’s a cute Valentine’s card for girls (you can view how to make these here), but I can adapt these to make some shamrock barrettes that are green or Christmas trees at Christmas and you can do little bunnies at Easter. See? It’s that easy! I know my girls would love these!

I wanted to share this website with you: FamilyFun.com. For all the Valentine’s gifts, check them out here.  If you’ve been following me for awhile, you know I’ve found some neat ideas on their website. But I never realized which website I was actually going to. Ever had that happen? You search for items all over the internet and findlinks here and projects there, yet never really pay attention to where you’ve started from and where you’ve ended? I do this a lot! Anyways, while at piano lessons last night, my friend Christy showed me the Family Fun magazine and she was showing me some ideas in there that she wanted to use for an upcoming event at church. I was like, what’s this magazine? So not only does Family Fun have their website, they’ve got a magazine too! I just had to share!

Now, I don’t think that I ever showed you what I got for Valentine’s Day. Well, I actually got them on Friday the 13th, my husband (who doesn’t celebrate the holiday) said these weren’t for Valentine’s Day, they were just flowers because I love you, but they happened to arrive around the holiday. I personally didn’t care, I got flowers which only happens a few times a year so I’m blessed!  I thought they were very pretty and they even came with a balloon that said “I Love You!” which was cute.

So I hope you are doing well. Sorry for missing a few days. The holiday weekend threw me off some! Hope you are enjoying whatever weather you are having. It’s raining/snowing here which makes for a mess if you are out in it! Fortunately, we are warm inside the house! TTFN!

While I’m not a huge fan of chocolate, it seems to be the thing to give on Valentine’s Day. But, it can get pricey if you have a lot to buy!

So this is what I do. Go to the dollar store and purchase their baking molds in the shape of hearts. They are usually either 50 cents or $1 each. Then head over to the grocery store and buy a box of chocolate squares to melt. You can choose which type of chocolate you want: white, dark, medium, etc. Once you are home, melt the chocolate one cube at a time according to the package (if it doesn’t melt after the first 30 seconds, do it for another 30 seconds. NEVER melt chocolate more than 30 seconds at a time for the fear you’ll burn the chocolate and your bowl!!!) Once it’s melted, place the chocolate in your molds and let them set for about an hour or so, depending on how deep or how big your mold is.

The one in the picture is one I made the other day. I let it sit overnight just to make sure it set and wouldn’t be liquid when I pulled it out. I actually used some foil heart-shaped Jello molds I had on top of the fridge.  I took medium dark chocolate and put that on the bottom to about halfway up the mold. Then I let it set it a little while I melted the white chocolate. I poured it on top of the chocolate and with a little bit of chocolate that I had left, I did some swirls on the top. After it was ready, I wrapped it in plastic and tied it with a red ribbon!

If you have a bunch of small ones, you can put them into a cute Valentine’s bag a deliver them that way. I made some of these at Christmas too, but used snowman shapes and Christmas tree shapes. So don’t be afraid, try it out!