Pinterest # 8

Every once in a while and if my hand will allow I want to crochet. Knitting has been wonderful to learn and I can see myself improving but when you want to make something yarn worthy quickly crocheting is the ticket. Today I bring you the tea cozy.

With the amount of tea I drink you'd think I would have had a cozy for my pot ages ago. Usually I grab a tea towel and wrap it around my pot which isn't really a flattering way to serve a cup of tea to guests.
The pattern comes from The Green Dragonfly and the cover itself is more of a guideline pattern for your pot which I had to rip and and start a couple of times till I got the right size.

 I also kept my pot handy to make sure that I was getting a nice fit. You want snug but not too snug so it fits easily over the teapot.

The rose pattern was easy to work up as were the leaves and after attaching my flowers my teapot is ready for tea! 

 The total time to make it was only a couple of hours which makes me feel silly for using a tea towel all the years. :) 

Summer and a Rag Rug.

The dogs days of summer. We really aren't having those days and for someone who likes the heat, I'm actually surprising myself and liking these cooler days and nights. I'm also realizing that summer is not my favourite season. Oh sure I love fresh veggies from my garden that only summer can bring on as well as the lushness of the trees but I'm finding myself a little excited that the nights are getting shorter.
In trying to reason out all of this in my head and I think it comes down to the fact that I miss doing handicrafts at night. The hours of daylight kept us outside till 9:30pm and from there we went straight to bed. (yup we know, we're old.)
So this past weekend we got to use the Avion on its maiden voyage and see what quirks it had. Its got a few but its seriously missing rugs and a few throw pillows among some other more major things but I can deal with those later.
A friend of mind had requested a tutorial on rug making so heres goes my best attempt to teach you without the aid of video.

Supplies needed.
1 giant crochet hook

Cotton Sheets( The amount will vary depending on the size of the rug you want to make. With this rug I've ripped up four so far; one set of double sheets and one set of single sheets. I've also sprinkled in other pieces I've had laying around for contrast colour. This is also a good time to use up scraps or sheets that are stained.

First thing rip or cut your fabric of choice into 2 inch ( 5cm ) widths. I've gone smaller but I'm not happy with the results. This width gives you a nice thick rug.

The knot. Heres where I'm hoping pictures are enough.(please ignore my gardening fingernails lol)

First lay two end pieces end to end over each other. Next cut through both so you have a button hole size slit. Take one end and pull through the hole. Pull till you've created a nice tight knot. Now continue to making knots then wrap them up into a ball.

Once you've got a good size ball (and I mean good size) you can start to crochet.

                   With your ball, chain the desired length you want your rug to be.

Now here's where I do things a little differently from some I've seen. I use a slipstitch  instead of a single crochet.

 I like the look better and its a tighter stitch too which is what I want for rug making. Makes standing up to washing much better too.

So gather up your supplies and crochet along with me and hopefully by the end of this week I can show you how to finish off your lovely creations. :)

Optimizing 2 of the 3 R's

As most of you know ( and if you haven't guessed by now) I'm a big reuse, recycle, compost kind of a girl. Its my goal this year to reduce my carbon footprint, even if its by a tiny bit. And I believe I'm off to a good start, doing just that. I've already reduced my garbage output, and my gardens are going to thank me for all the lovely compost I've dumped on them this winter. I've not bought one stitch of new clothing, only made myself new things with stuff I've already had or if i did buy new, it was a renewable resource like wool to make sweaters.  Oooorrrrrr I've boughten from the thrift store!!!

One of these lovely printed vintage sheets is going to be my Easter Skirt!

So far I've made jama pants, and kids spring/summer/fall hats. Aprons and a skirt is up next. There are a couple of things to remember when buying them. Top sheets are the way to go for sewing, but don't discount the bottoms, even if they are slightly worn. Tear them up and crochet yourself a rug! You could put these lovelies on your bed as well. Some are like brand new, and were probably saved for special guests, and who wouldn't want to crawl in between these pretty little things. :)

Third time not a Charm.

About a year and half a go I bought a pattern from etsy and try as I might I could not get my hat to look like the picture of my boughten pattern. Every time I crocheted it, it looked like a Gilligan hat. I was going for a cloche. So I set it aside in frustration and ignored it, and thought "that'el teach it."
Last week for the third (or maybe fourth) time I thought I'd try again. I double and triple checked my yarn, my hook and the pattern and guess WHAT!!.... another stinkin' Gilligan hat. No cute little brim, that is supposed to just come to the top of my eyes just a a hat with an absurd brim waiting to jump ship.

So, what's a girl to do? Try and make her own pattern, thats what.

I took some things that I liked from the boughten pattern, checked youtube for other suggestions, checked the internet for more suggestions and came up with this.

( by the way, not a fan of selfies, can you tell)

Its not perfect and still needs tweaking, but I finally feel closer to what I was looking for. So here's what I'm hoping to do, get it to where I really, really like it, and then share the pattern with you!

So you also may be wondering why not just find another pattern? It's because I can't seem to find one like this. 

I'm kind of picky and sometimes picky can be a good thing or bad thing. I haven't decided which one this is yet. :)

Wrist Warmers

As mentioned before my fetish for BBC programming led me to watch the Pbs mini-series "Little Dorrit" by Charles Dickens. Since I'm always on the look out for new ideas while watching these shows, I noticed wrist warmers in wool and lace were worn by actresses. Looking up a bit of a history on them its seems they've been around for centuries and worn in colder climates of the European North. The best explanation as to why wear a wrist warmer is very similar to that of a hat. It traps the warmth in the wrist thus keeping your fingers warm and able to carry on working, even outside.
Over the last couple of years they seem to have come back into fashion again, with patterns for them popping up on the internet and pinterest, so not exactly new, but I have not attempted them yet.

So sitting by the cozy fire last night, listening to the wind howl, I grabbed some wool and a crochet hook and made these. (yes they are the same height hehe)

For a first attempt and no pattern I'm ok with this. I added a little ruffle to them along the bottom to finish it off, and it only took me an hour to finish the pair. Hmmmm Stocking Stuffers??:)

Etsy Shopping

My chair has been put on hold while I wait for some supplies to arrive( I had to buy some new tools), so wanting to keep my hands busy, I went Esty shopping for some crochet patterns. I haven't been a fan of Esty in the past but I'm quickly becoming one since Ashley started a website and Esty shop.
I was originally looking for a sock pattern which I found and bought, but I also found some hat patterns that I really liked and made some for my Amy and M'lynn.

I made them from a 100% wool so they said, they are super warm.

And they're slouchy, which was something M'lynn was looking for. This pattern also worked up really fast and I think I'll modify it a bit and make some spring hats for the girls from cotton.

 But for now, on this blustery day I think I'll cosy up with a hot chocolate, a blanket and give hat pattern number two a try. :)