Partly Cloudy: Crochet Pillows for Kids Tutorial

I’m never sure when we can officially declare “summer is here”. Even though I’ve been carelessly sunburned twice already (I should really be more careful), there have been many days when it was quite cloudy, or even worse - sand stormy (yuck!). Given that the weather hasn’t stabilized yet on “hot, humid and unbearable”, I have to check what the weather will be every day, so I can decide if it’s long pants or shorts for the kids. And there it was that inspiration struck me and I HAD to make a partly cloudy set of pillows.

As usual, I started with no specific recipient in mind, and my children took them over as soon as they possibly could. So I guess we’ll have another set of pillows to fill the kids’ beds (as if we don’t have enough junk dolls in there already).

In order to make the partly cloudy set you will need basic crochet-in-a-circle skills, so while making all the pieces might take a while, it shouldn’t be very difficult.

Sunburst Granny Blanket: All Done!

I’m finally done. And it’s not even May yet, I might still have a chance to use it this year on a cold evening!

Sunburst Granny Blanket - previous posts

So, in conclusion:
1. I missed slightly on the amount of yarn I needed. I ran out of yarn before the last two circles and had to go get a refill on two colors, probably because I had two yellows and they weren’t distributed evenly across the other colors. I was left with some extra yellow and ran out of the other colors.

2. I missed not so slightly on the amount of white yarn I needed - I ended up using 2 entire extra balls of white yarn.

3. At the end, I decided to finish the blanket with 4 rows of 2 hdc, ch 1 (2 hdc, ch 2, 2 hdc in same space for the corners). I did 2 rows in white, 1 row in yellow, and 1 row in darker yellow. I think it really added a nice touch. But, I had to get two extra balls of yarn for the yellow finish (I didn’t have any left).

4. I didn’t weave in the ends as I went, and ended up working very hard to weave in the ends for 96 squares. If I ever make another granny blanket (I’m definitely taking a break for now), I will definitely weave in as I go. I recommend that strategy for everyone!

Sunburst Granny Blanket: Joining as I Go

Those are all 96 circles for my granny blanket, in their final arrangement.

I made 16 groups of 6, each group included all 6 variations of 3 colors. I arranged the first two rows to include one representative of each group, in an eye pleasing manner (making sure that adjacent circles didn’t have too many colors in common). Then, for the next two rows I chose circles where the outer color was the same as the second color in the first two rows, and for the third set of two rows I chose circles where the outer color was the same as the center color in the first two rows, while keeping the same order of groups. This made the color matching much easier (I only had to do it once for the first set of rows), while still keeping a lot of variation. For the last 6 rows, I simply copied the first 6 rows. I was afraid of how long this process might take, but I was done in no time, and am quite happy with the result.

Then I got a whole bunch of stickers, and marked each circle with its row number and position so I would know in which order to attach them.

I’ve already completed two entire rows, yey!

I couldn’t take a good panoramic shot, so you’ll have to suffer with my bad pictures. I have no idea how I’m going to take good pictures of it when it’s done…

365 Project: Day 243 + Granny Blanket Stuff

That is my bag of finished granny-circles-ready-to-become-squares, 14 sets out of 16 that I need. The system that I used was - take 3 colors and make all 6 variations of ordering those 3 colors, that way I hoped to keep the yarn usage even between the various balls of yarn. Well, it worked. Almost. I finished 5 circles from set number 15 (remember, I need 16! I’m so close!) and I ran out of light blue yarn at the very last final circle. Then I realized that the lighter shade of yellow wouldn’t carry me through set 16 either. So, I guess it’s back to the yarn store. Oh no… #not.

Here you can see my count-down to 16 sets, and the unfinished and very sad 15th set, with my fabulous cat sayings WIP drawstring bag.

Sunburst Granny Blanket: Some Progress

If I’m going to be sick at home, I might as well get some work done on my sunburst granny blanket. Right?

Sunburst Granny Blanket: Revised Pattern and Choosing Colors

After last time, I started to realize that this project was going to cost me a lot of money and time. I thought how I could save some of both, so I decided to revise the pattern slightly.

One square doesn’t really photograph well, but all in all, much better than the brown experiment, don’t you think?

Here’s my modified pattern:

Materials:

• Super bulky yarn, 3 colors + border color (I’m using white)
• 6.5mm crochet hook

Abbreviations & Notations

• ch – chain
• dc - double crochet
• hdc - half double crochet
• st – stitch
• yo - yarn over
• [ ... ] - repeat instructions in [ ] as many times as specified.  
• double cluster stitch - [yo, insert hook in indicated st and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops] twice, yo and pull through all 3 remaining loops on hook. For first st in round, the ch 3 replaces the first yo and pull through.
• triple cluster stitch - [yo, insert hook in indicated st and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops] 3 times, yo and pull through all 4 remaining loops on hook. For first st in round, the ch 3 replaces the first yo and pull through.

Notes:
I like to join as I go, which means that I stop after round 3. Then, when all the semi-finished squares are ready, I crochet the 4th row and join as I go. I will explain about this technique later in the series. If you’d rather complete the 4th row and then sew the squares together, that’s just as acceptable…

Instructions:

Round 1 (requires 3m of yarn): With 1st color, make magic loop, ch 3 (this counts as first dc). 15 dc. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. Cut yarn.

Round 2 (requires 5m of yarn): Join 2nd color with sl st between any of the dc in the 1st round. ch 3, complete double cluster st, ch 1. [double cluster stitch between next dc, ch 1] around. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. Cut yarn.

Round 3 (requires 8m of yarn, instead of 11m): Join 3rd color with sl st in any of the ch 1 spaces in the 2nd round. ch 3, complete triple cluster st, ch 2. [triple cluster stitch in next ch 1 space, ch 2] around. Join with sl st to top of ch 3. Cut yarn.

Round 4 (requires 8.5m of yarn): Join 4th color with sl st in any of the ch 2 spaces from the 3rd round. ch 3, 2 dc in same space. [3 hdc in next ch 2 space, 3 times. 3dc, ch 2, 3dc in next ch 2 space]. When you reach the first ch 2 space, 3dc, ch 2, join with sl st to top of first ch 3 (to complete the corner).
This round turns the circle into a square.

I’ll spare you the calculations (you can to the first post in the series to see how I calculated the amount of yarn I would need of each color) and get to the final numbers: I would need 1536 meters of colored yarn (all colors) and 986m of white yarn. Originally, I was going to get 4 colors, but when I got to the store I decided that 8 colors would be much more fun!

Yes. That is a pile of 26 balls of yarn. Incredible. Each ball contains 110m of yarn, so I have plenty to spare (assuming I didn’t make any gross calculation mistakes).

8 colors can be combined in 324 different ways, but I only have 96 squares, so I guess I’ll have to come up with some method of making sure I keep the colors well balanced and the amount of yarn from each ball even so  I don’t run out of too many colors… I’ll share how I decide how to do this when I know myself…

Until next time, happy crochet!

Sunburst Granny Blanket: Getting Started

This may not look very exciting, but that’s because it’s just the first step in an enormous project to make a crochet granny square blanket. I used some left over (from various crochet teddy bears and dogs) brown yarn to make a test square. First, to get an idea of the size (this is a giant 15cm X 15cm square) and second, to estimate how much yarn I will need.

I was originally inspired by this hex-bag project from future girl. I even made my own version last year. But - it’s a cold winter, and unfortunately, I can’t cuddle inside the bag…

Things I made (but don’t deserve their own post)

Monster Mushroom Crochet Doll Tutorial

After I made my daughter a rubber crochet ducky, my son got jealous and requested a monster. We’ve been playing Super Mario on our Wii, so I was inspired by the mushrooms when I designed this monster.

Well, as usual, I’m happy to share. So here goes:

Crochet Winter Hair Band Birthday Present

For my friend at Muffashionista. Happy birthday!

The flower was made using this tutorial over at LollyChops.

The head band was made as follows:

With worsted weight yarn and a 5 mm crochet hook, ch 12. hdc in 2nd ch from hook. hdc across (9 times), ch 2, turn. [10 hdc, ch 2, turn] until the band reaches the desired length. For a nice finish, ch 1, and sc evenly along the long side of the band. When you reach the end of the first side, bring both edges of the band together and slip stitch across through both layers to join. Continue sc evenly around the second side.

Keep your ears nice and warm stylishly during the winter!

Quack-Quack: Crochet Duck Tutorial

Do I really need to explain why I wanted to crochet a duck? They’re so cute, and my daughter loves them. I knew that she would love it, and I was right! She absolutely insisted to take it to day care and won’t let it go long enough for me to get a good picture. See?

This pattern took a little “figuring out”, because I wasn’t sure how I was going to get the curvy tail shape, and I really wanted to make it one continuous piece instead of making separate body and head pieces and sewing them together. Well, here goes:

Boy’s Hand-Me-Down to Girly Coat in 15 Minutes

We got out all of my older son’s winter clothes from when he was two-ish, filtered out anything that had a truck on it, and were left with plenty of winter clothes for my daughter.

When we got out the winter coat I thought that we could pull it off, all we needed was to make the light blue coat just a bit more girly. So what I did was make a very simple crochet flower using this pattern.

I hand sewed the flower over the monkey-robot-something applique, and now I hope I won’t get too many “Aww, what a cute boy” remarks…

Just in case, I’m putting the money we saved aside for a psychologist when she grows up (all I ever wore were hand-me-downs from my brother!)…

שמאל, ימין ומה שביניהם, או: למה אני חופרת בעברית אבל תופרת באנגלית

הסיפור שלי מתחיל בכיתה ד’ בשיעור מלאכה, בזמן שבבית הספר ה"שוויוני" שלי הבנים למדו נגרות, הבנות למדו לסרוג ולתפור. סרגתי צעיף ותפרתי סינר, ושם זה נגמר. בהמשך, ניסיתי ללמוד לסרוג כיפה, אבל לא לימדו אותי בצורה מספיק מדויקת, וזה לא הלך בכלל. מאז פיתחתי סוג של פחד ממסרגה אחת.

[זו תופעה די רווחת - לסרוג כיפה זה דבר קל מאד, אבל משום מה תמיד ההוראות הן “להוסיף עיניים לפי הצורך” ואם הכיפה מתחילה להיות גלית “להוסיף פחות עיניים”, כשלמעשה יש חוקיות מאד ברורה לגבי כמה עיניים צריך להוסיף בכל סיבוב. ואז, מן הסתם, זה לא יוצא טוב, ואת חושבת שאת לא בסדר ו”את לא מסתדרת עם מסרגה אחת”.]

כעבור מספר שנים, פרצה לחיינו שפרה, בעונה הראשונה של האח הגדול בישראל, שבין שאר המשימות וההתרחשויות המרתקות, הפיגה את השיעמום ע”י סריגה על עצים. בעקבות כך, מגזיני הסטייל בישראל התמלאו בכתבות על סריגת רחוב, סריגת בובות וסריגה בכלל. גם אני נסחפתי בזרם, הוצאתי את המסרגות מהבוידעם המטאפורי ושיחזרתי את הכישורים הבסיסיים עי”י סריגת צעיף וכובע. אח”כ אזרתי עוז והחלטתי לסרוג בובה. בתמימותי, חיפשתי הוראות בעברית ולא הצלחתי להבין דבר: סריגה תמיד מתבצעת מימין לשמאל, אם כך מה היא עין ימין ומה היא עין שמאל? עשיתי ctrl+shift וחיפשתי באנגלית. ומצאתי.

שתי מסרגות

Winter Hats 2011 (2): Easy Crochet Hat with Ear Flaps

Noam asked for and got a dragon hat. Hodaya can’t speak yet, so she got what I felt like making. Basically, the simplest crochet hat possible, made from such nice, soft, pink yarn (which has made several appearances in past posts).



The hat is super simple to make:

Winter Hats 2011: Crochet Dragon Hat Tutorial

Every year, around this time, I make the kids new winter hats. I’m always just a tiny bit late, because I think of it only when it starts getting cold, which is by definition too late. Hodaya’s hat is a pattern I tried last year, but the size came out wrong and ended up being too big at first, and too small later on (well, really too short). Hodaya’s hat is not quite ready yet, I’ll be sure to post it when it is…

Noam’s hat is a dragon hat of my own design, based loosely on Toothless from “How to Train your Dragon”. It’s really simple and I'm willing to share what started out as a general outline and turned in to a quite detailed tutorial, of how I did it (after the jump).

Mini Crochet Birthday Cake Tutorial

I just thought I’d make a small something for my mother’s birthday tomorrow (well, really – in about 30 minutes). I won’t be able to see her on her birthday, but a bit of cake would be nice, right?

Crochet Cat Toy/Scarf Tutorial

A while ago I got a truck load of yarn from my mother. The black yarn is always useful, and the turquoise and light blue were used in a boy’s baby blanket I made as a gift. Here I am, “stuck” with about 5-6 balls of grey yarn, without an idea what to make. I asked some friends and readers, and everyone suggested various grey animals: mice, elephants and cats. I already made an elephant once and wasn’t happy with the result (I need to think of a better design than the pattern I used). Mice can be cute, but I really like cats, so I decided to go in that direction. Maybe I’ll make a mouse for the cat to play with next…
I made the body flat because I thought it was softer and more cuddly that way, but it can also be made into a cute scarf if you make the body long enough. You could also make it into a pillow by making 2 body pieces, stuffing them and sewing closed.



So, here’s how to make her (it’s definitely a she):

Timmy the Lamb - Crochet Doll Tutorial

My son loves Timmy the Lamb. I agree. Stop frame animation is one of my favorite animation types, and this one is styled so nicely. The stories have little or no speech, so they are appropriate for younger ages, but the story has enough nuances to be interesting to older children and grownups as well.
Timmy the lamb is not to be confused with Shaun the sheep, who may or may not be related to Timmy. They are similar, but Shaun has wool on his head and Timmy does not.
No sheep were harmed during the making of this project. The Timmy doll is made entirely with synthetic yarns.

So, let's get started.

Dr. Martens Baby Booties Pattern (Crochet)

Because I love Doc Martens shoes so much and since I have no idea where to get them in Israel, I decided to live vicariously through my baby daughter and make some for her. Unfortunately, there were no patterns available, so I decided to write up my original pattern.

Gauge: I used worsted weight yarn and a 4mm crochet hook to fit a 5 month old baby.
Materials: brown & yellow yarn for sole, black yarn for laces, red (or other color) yarn for shoe.

Baby Ball Beginners Project - Tutorial (Crochet)

I used worsted weight yarn and 4mm crochet hook, but really - gauge is not important for this project. Just make sure the stitches are tight enough so that the stuffing doesn't show through.
You can change colors at any point to make an interesting pattern.

You can learn basic stitches here.

abbreviations:
ch - chain
sc - single crochet
st - stitch
idec - invisible decrease. Instructions for this can be found here.