Thursday, February 28, 2008

pirate bag



Made and listed this cute bag today! Find it here

I love making these bags! There are so many fun and different fabrics out there to choose from :)

Thursday, February 21, 2008

knit caterpillar scarf pattern



I loved the colors of this yarn and instantly thought of a caterpillar scarf!


Supplies:

1 skein each of of Lion Boucle (2.5 ounce/70 gram) in lime, tangerine, and blueberry
1 pair of size 11 (8mm) knitting needles
tapestry needle to weave in ends
2 wiggle eyes or buttons


With blueberry:

cast on 6 stitches

Knit into the front and back of first stitch (increase made). Knit across.

Increase in the first stitch of each row until you have 16 stitches on your needle.

Knit across for 12 rows

Knit first two stitches together (decrease made). Knit across.

Continue decreasing in the first two stitches until you have 6 stitches on your needle again.

Cut blueberry

First segment done

With tangerine:

Repeat as for first segment

Cut tangerine

With lime repeat first segment


Repeat first segment and change colors after each segment until desired length. My caterpillar scarf has 9 segments and measures 7 inches wide and 66 inches long.


I attached large wiggle eyes with fabri-tac glue. You could also use pom-poms or buttons for the eyes.

Monday, February 18, 2008

Crocheted Long Stem Roses- - - free pattern



I wanted to make a dozen roses for my step-daughter for Valentine's day. I surfed the web and couldn't find a pattern I liked...so what's a crocheter to do ~ make one up. I took inspiration from a few different patterns I came across and came up with these:





Supplies:

small amount of worsted weight yarn in flower color
small amount of worsted weight yarn in green for stem
green pipe cleaner (chenille stem)
g hook
tapestry needle
scissors

Stitches used:

chain (ch)
slip stitch (sl st)
half double (hdc)
double (dc)
treble (trc)


Rose Base:

Using green:

Row 1 - ch 13, hdc in 3rd ch from hook and in each ch across, ch2, turn. (12 hdc)

Row 2 - hdc in each st across. On last hdc, drop green (do not cut-you will use this later for stem) and pick up red (leave a long tail for securing base later) . weave in beginning tail



Rose:

Row 1 - ch 4, turn work; trc in same st, 2 trc in each st across. (24 trc). Fasten off. weave in end tail.



Roll rose jelly roll style (slightly staggered). Secure the rose by threading a tapestry needle with the beginning long tail and tacking in place to secure. Fasten off.














Stem and leaves:

Here you can decide if you want to use the full length of the chenille stem or cut it in half. I used a half piece in my examples.


Using the green yarn you left attached while making the base, insert hook into the bottom of the rose base. Hook the yarn and pull through. Now you will ch until your chain is the length of the chenille stem you chose plus 2 extra chains for turning. Turn. Hdc in the 2nd chain from the hook and each ch until you reach the base of the flower. Cut green leaving long tail to sew the stem together. Using your tapestry needle and the green tail, take a tacking stitch in base of rose. This will prevent any gaps where the stem and base meet. This also gives it extra support.





With the chenille stem laying on top of the green hdc row you just created, use your tapestry needle to sew the last row of hdc and the base chain together forming a tube around the chenille stem. Fasten off and weave in end.


Leaves (make 2):

With green, ch 6, sl st in the 2nd ch from hook. Sc in next st, (hdc, dc) in next ch, (dc,hdc) in next ch, sc in next ch. Fasten off leaving long tail. Weave in beginning tail.

Secure leaves to stem wherever you like them.





You can make the flower portion any color you choose. Check here to see what the different colors represent.







Make and sell all you want, please do not sell the pattern.