Remix

Changed up the blog a bit. It's a bit girly, but it'll do...for now.

How to Crochet Hearts

Stitches from the Heart, one of the charities I work with, gives out heart pins when they go to fairs and art shows. This is how to make those pins.

I modified the Big Tiny Heart pattern I found on the Julie-K website.

The first thing you'll need to know how to do is make a magic loop. Planet June has a great tutorial for this. It's technically not necessary to use the magic loop method. You could use a basic chain 4, join w/slip stitch to first chain. But it is much easier at the end, if you used a magic loop. If the Planet June page doesn't help enough, Bernat has a YouTube demonstration here.

Little Crochet Hearts Pattern:
Yarn: Whatever scraps you have laying around. Really. Any yarn will do.
Hook: I tend to use a hook 1 size bigger than the yarn calls for, but I crochet tightly.
Gauge not important for this project.

Stitch:
HDC: Half-Double Crochet
SLST: Slip Stitch

Start with a Magic Loop
Chain 2
8 HDC into loop
Join with SLST to the first HDC
5 HDC in the next HDC
HDC in the next 2 HDC
(HDC, chain 2, HDC) in the next HDC
HDC in the next 2 HDC
5 HDC in the next HDC
SLST into original chain, fasten off

Tug on the end from the center of the magic loop to tighten the circle. Pull the outside end downward. Double knot the two ends together tightly to shape the heart. Leave the ends long enough to tie another knot around the pin backing for stability.

I get my pin backs from Michaels and JoAnn. I open them to tie the ends to it while gluing. I use tacky glue, but hot glue also works. Once I've tied and glued the pins to the back, I cut the ends of the yarn so that it won't be visible when worn.

Crocheted Afghans

Lukey's Afghan

Lion Brand Yarn's Marble Baby Throw pattern has been my go-to pattern for quick gift items. I really like that it is quick and easy, like granny squares are, but doesn't require any piecing together. So, I've made quite a few at this point.

Ava's Afghan

Carnival Throw

Another pattern I like to use is Lion Brand Yarn's Carson City Afghan, though the pattern is a lot small for my liking, so I generally double or triple it.

Jair's Baby Blanket

Grandma's Afghan

Mom & Dad's Afghan

I've been slow to update my blog, but busy with my hooks and needles. The captions are all links to my Ravelry pages for each, if you're interested in the yarn or patterns I used.

Success and Failure

My Ravellenic Games Team Ravatar

Official Ravthlete Ravatar

My official Scarf Hockey Medal!

The 2012 Ravellenic Games are over. I completed one project and received a lovely badge for it. Success!

 

 

 

 

Rose Tyler BoomTown Scarf

Unfortunately, I did not complete my other event(s). Most specifically, I did not finish Tinker Bell. She's still technically not finished. The pattern was just too confusing, leading me to have to frog a couple pieces, then start them over. Tinker Bell is still not finished, but I'm hoping to power through and get it done this weekend.

Tinker Bell's Current Condition. Boo.

So, I didn't get everything I intended to done for the Ravellenic Games, but I learned a lot about knitting. Specifically yarn overs, decreasing, and that ribbing in the throw(?) method is painful for a girl with tendinitis. Because of that, I'm thinking I may have to switch back to Continental. I'm almost a week out from the contest and my arms are still hurting.

Jackson's Afghan

Picture courtesy of  www.bnd-photography.com

A couple months ago I made an afghan for my cousins' baby. He's finally here to see it, and in one of his newborn photography sessions, he showed it off. (Well, it showed him off.) I thought it was very cool to see something I made in a professional photograph. And my newest first-cousin-once-removed is pretty cool too.

The afghan is based on Lion Brand's free pattern for Marble Baby Throw. Instead of switching colors for stripes, I held three yarns together. For yarn and pattern information, check out my Ravelry project page here.

Ravellenic Games Update

Nothing is finished yet. And now I've run into some pretty major tendinitis pain, not unexpected, though I didn't really foresee just how much of my arm would be in pain due to knitting. I'm using the throw (?) method, which may or may not be called English. At any rate, I think going forward I'm going to have to re-train myself to use Continental because there is less movement, which would be key for me.

The Tinker Bell pattern has been kicking my ass. Not because it's hard, but because I don't understand half of it. I'm fairly certain it was translated from another language and there are quite a few places that I literally have no idea what they are asking for. I've googled and everything.

Ravellenic Games - Day 5?

Rose Tyler's BoomTown Scarf - Progress

So, I'm not sure what day of the Ravellenics this is. I can't decide if Friday the 27th counts, or not. Regardless, this post is just to show the progress I'm making on the Rose Tyler scarf. It looks really pretty, though I'm not sure it looks enough like the original. The yarn coloring is finally getting to what I thought it would look like and not so pastel, so that's good. I'm just a little bit frustrated that it takes so much time to make. Knitting is slow. Plus, I'm not quite good enough to watch the Olympics while I'm knitting, so the events I actually want to see, I'm having to put it down. (Go Team USA Swimming/Gymnastics/Tennis/Beach Volleyball!)

I'm using a Yarn Bowl to hold my yarn. It was made by my friend Ariel's dad. And it is full of awesome. I've gotten so many compliments and tons of people want one. One person literally said to me: "Oh, when I start knitting, I will definitely use one of those." So, the actual crafting of scarves and sweaters and animals isn't enough to entice them to start, but a pretty bowl to hold yarn is. :)