Category: Crochet

Posted on

Christmas Pudding Ornament

One of these days–I’d really like to make a true-live, authentic plum pudding…you know, to see what all the fuss is about.  I mean, seriously, it’s in all the old books at Christmas time and I’d really like to know if it’s amazingly scrumptious, or…nasty. Either way, at least I’ll know.

For now, however, I’m satisfied with this little ornament that looks like a pudding. It’ll just have to do.

If you’d like to make one yourself–go right  HERE to Planet June for the free pattern. It whipped up in an afternoon and–as you can see–is just adorable.

And it will bide the time until I find a real one to share with you–for better, or worse.

* Oh, and if you need help with crochet techniques–click on the Crafting Tutorials tab and scroll to the bottom where you’ll find some handy crochet How-To pages. That should help.
Good luck!

Posted on

Gathering Color

The incredible colors of Autumn are all around us now…at last…at last.

I’ve been working on a few new colors of my own these days. Fascinating to think that all those little specks have a story of their own.

Taking bags to make…more bags does seem like a funny thing to do–if you think hard about it.

So I don’t.

It just feels good to take something that filled a purpose…

and give it another one. Only this time, it’s purpose will be much less fleeting–and be useful for years to come. And if it turns out beautiful and fun as well–that’s a big plus.

New, fun colors coming up in the shop–very soon!
 
Posted on

T-Shirt Yarn Pumpkins

Remember the fabuloso “yarn” we made a few weeks back out of old T-shirts? Well, I’m happy to report that all that old stuff was given new life. Seems only fitting that if something is going to come back from the “dead” as it were–they should do it close to Halloween…

and reappear as a couple of sweet pumpkins–don’t you think?

I used the pumpkin pattern found at Planet June from a couple of years back. Of course, to work with this stuff–you’ll need a bigger hook than is suggested in the yarn pattern. The H hook felt the most comfortable to me, but you’ll have to mess with it.

Seriously, I do hope you’ll try playing with this fun stuff, because there is just something cool and spooky about bringing something back to life.

Beats Frankenstein any day.

heh.

Posted on

Pumpkin Boy Hat

Stepping up production of the pumpkin hats in the shop. They seem to be a hot item this year–wahoo!

This one’s a bit more of …ummmm…a boyish pumpkin. Note the bolder stitching…

and the blatantly missing scallops. No lacy lady here folks–never mind the background. This is a manly pumpkin hat–I tell you, though still made with the same soft Peaches & Cream Cotton that I love–in Burnt Orange.

But in the next few days I’ll be posting some more additions to the shop for the men-folk called the “Big Hunk” and “Little Hunk” lines. And soon…oh, I promise—so soon, we will have the “Lovely Ladies” additions to our hat collections–for us grown gals.

All because you asked. So please, my friends…stick around.

I love having you in my world.

Posted on

T-Shirt “Yarn” Tutorial

I know what you’re thinking–you’re thinking, “t-shirt what?” You heard me. I said, T-shirt yarn. Get a load of this…

Oh, yeah…it’s cotton “yarn” made from a spiral cut T-shirt. I first saw this done over at Polka Dot Pineapple and was intrigued because, well…

does everyone on earth have a huge pile of orphan T-shirts that nobody wears, but they can’t seem to part with…

or is it just me?

So let’s get real green and do something useful with some of them…shall we?

Start with a regular t-shirt that has lived a good life…no guilt now. It’s going on to a better place…really.

Cut off the bottom hem.

Now cut the top off just under the sleeves…

so you have a tube of fabric.

Fold it nearly in half, leaving the under side sticking out about an inch.

Now cut from right to left all the way up to and just past the top fabric, but leave the one inch margin of the lower fabric uncut. Repeat about 1 inch apart. Now unfold the fabric…

it should look like this.

The easiest way for you to hold the fabric and cut it into one continuous strip is to slide your arm through the two layers of fabric 1 inch uncut margin running along the top of your arm. I drew dotted lines  showing where you’ll cut your fabric–but you don’t need to draw the lines. You’ll be amazed at how fast you can figure this out and it’s really fun too, and for some reason deeply satisfying.

If you need more instructions click HERE for a sweet little diagram and bag pattern.

When you’re finished cutting, you’ll have one long, long, strip of fabric. Are you ready to make it more “yarn” like? Here goes!

Going down the entire length of your fabric, take a hold of it by one end and gently stretch it. It will magically curl up and behave it’s self just like it should. Very obedient stuff, I tell you.

Next, roll it into a ball and think of the stuff you can knit or crochet or weave with it. I’ve seen trivets, handbags and rugs…

but that color is too…too…orange not to be used properly.

Fear not. I’ll show you as soon as it’s finished. In the meantime–

go dig out the old shirts. The stack’s about to shrink.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Gr-Sig-right-size-e1547674736862.png