My Pattern for Fingerless Mitts

by Donna

During our giveaway so many people said we should have patterns in our shop. None of us had written patterns before. I have occasionally made things without patterns but I had never written the directions down. So I thought I would try. It won't be listed for sale in our shop but it will be listed here on our blog as a free pattern.

These fingerless mitts are really easy to make. They are for an adult but I liked them so well I think I will try to come up with a child size version.

Dawn and Kelly tested them for me. If you find any problems, please leave a comment so I can update the pattern.

Since the pattern is three pages long, we've turned it into a PDF. It's available here. That link will send you to Scribd, which is hosting all our free patterns.

Have fun with them!

Bookmarks - Dr. Who, American Flag, Rose

by Kelly

While putting away crafty supplies, I found these bookmarks. In my life I have read thousands (tens of thousands? EEP!) of books, and over the years I've found any number of unusual bookmarks left in books from shops and estate sales - sticks of gum, coupons twenty years out of date, and once even a dollar bill folded into a tiny sailboat.

I personally have used pennies, brochures, and the common stray bit of paper, but I rarely use an actual bookmark. They are fun to make, though.

Dr. Who

Colonial Flag-those stars were a pain

Rosebuds

How many books have you read in your lifetime? There's an interesting thread at the MobileRead forum discussing this. The one number that I found for an average was 100 books per person, but it doesn't seem to be backed up by anything.

I'll have to ask my Mom if she's ever thought about this. She's been reading every day since 1936 :)

Easter Basket Crochet and Knit

by Kelly

Easter means different things for different people. For me, as a kid, it was all about an Easter basket full of chocolate, jelly beans, and the occasional stuffed bunny or yellow chick. Sometimes there would be a single Cadbury Creme Egg hidden somewhere in the green plastic grass...until that memorable Easter Sunday when I discovered that Cadbury Eggs were too sweet for me. That was my first clue that I was growing up.

Creme Egg Creatures Pattern

If you're feeling brave, check out this link for Cadbury Creme Egg recipes...especially interesting is the Cadbury Creme Egg Benedict.


Of course, spring also means the first flowers of the year...

blitz68 on Etsy

and of course it wouldn't be Easter without chocolate bunnies...

Blah, blah, blahhhg

Just Crafty Enough

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Spring flowers

Easter also meant that the narcissus would soon be blooming, which was my cue to watch for the other flowers that my mom had planted all around the house. After the narcissus would come the lilacs (my favorites) and the Mock Orange, then the tulips, and so on, all through the year, until the marigolds signalled the beginning of fall and the end of flowers for the year.


Of course, sometimes it would be nice to have spring flowers regardless of the weather ...

blitz68 on Etsy

And finally, it wouldn't be Easter without a chocolate bunny, so here are two free knitting patterns from Just Crafty Enough and Blah, Blah, Blahhg. Either would be adorable tucked into a basket...

Blah, blah, blahhhg

JustCraftyEnough

Amigurumi Animation

by Kelly

I've always loved visiting Mochimochi Land (which strangely enough isn't about Japanese mochi)for the cute crochet creations and tutorials on how to make them. She also has kits, like the one pictured below, available for her teeny amigurumi creatures.

Mochimochi Land

 

Now, however, there's another reason to stop in regularly - amigurumi animations!

When I visited on Christmas day, I saw this cute Santa animation. And the trend continues! Visit her blog to see more, including a new Valentine's day animation, involving candy hearts and mini cupids. Too cute!

Shop Favorites

by Kelly

During our recent giveaway, we asked people to pick a favorite item from our shop. Surprisingly, almost everything in our shop was someone's favorite, but by far the favoritest favorite of all was Stephanies' White Spiral Afghan.

Second runner up were Dawn's Spa Scented Washcloths.

 

 

 

Many people asked how these were made. Her method is actually quite clever. Go to this post to see what she did...

Crochet for Kids

by Kelly

I know that Steph has been trying to teach her little girl how to crochet. Unfortunately, Steph is a righty and her daughter is a lefty, so that makes things a little tricky.

But that started me thinking about what kind of things a little girl would like to make. Well, doll clothes spring to mind, of course. But what else?

Luckily there are quite a few sources for this kind of thing. The Crochet Guild of America is a great place to start - they have a prepared list of free teaching materials and ideas.

eHow  also has a great tutorial showing how to get started, along with links to easy patterns and projects and even a printable 'graduation' certificate from the Yarn Council of America. 

But where to go for patterns?  This is a bit of a grey area for free pattern sites. Projects that kids could make themselves are mixed in with things like toys and clothes that are sized for children. 
 
Lion Brand Yarn has a couple of pages of free patterns. Sometimes Lion Brand requires a sign in, but these particular patterns seem to be readily available. Yes, there are some complicated amigurumi patterns that would make suitable  toys for kids, but there are also great small projects, including a doll afghan and a Harry Potter scarf bookmark.

Lion Brand Yarn

 


For less of a mixed bag of patterns, it might be better to look for a book. And where are lots of books to be found? Why, Amazon.com,  of course!

Amazon.com

Patterns in this book range from a cupcake shaped pincushion to a sweater with a hood. Stitches are limited to single crochet, with increases and decreases, so as not to discourage kids with too much of a learning curve. Personally, I haven't even made a sweater yet, but have mastered more than single crochet. Maybe I'm not pushing myself enough.




Of course, trying to find patterns that boys would like to crochet is a whole other problem. There are sports hats and  Hacky Sacks, (do kids still play with those??), but not much variety. But the Internet is a big place, so there may be something out there that I missed.


Meanwhile, how about something fun for both girls and boys - a kids playground in Japan, made entirely with crochet? I think this is still installed at the Hakone Open Air Museum, which sounds like a cool place in it's own right.

Crochet Today

Pretty amazing, right? But I have to say that I would hate to be the one keeping that place clean. That sounds like an art in itself. I'm picturing a really big vacuum cleaner...

New Things in the Shop

by Donna

Congratulations to Kimberley R. for winning our giveaway. I couldn't believe all the comments we received and I hope all of you continue to monitor our blog and make comments on our posts. We certainly got lots of new ideas to make for our shop. To start, I have made a pair of fingerless gloves and they are now listed in our shop. Here is a picture of them. I used a free pattern from this site. I really love the way they look. The only thing I would do differently if I made them again would be to add a couple more rows to them to make them a little longer.

I also listed this chenille scarf. I have never worked with chenille. The yarn looks like it is made with a lot of fibers on a string. I found that you have to be careful with the yarn. If you have to take stitches apart the fibers separate and often the stitches knot and you can't get them apart without breaking the yarn. I couldn't get my foundation chain the correct length and when I tried to take it apart, fibers knotted up and I had to cut the yarn off and start again. I will use chenille again but I learned something.

The finished scarf is made from the pattern at this site. It is very warm and pretty and I love the bumpy popcorn detail down the middle of the scarf.