Crochet News: A Quick And Easy Idea For A Doily

Thanks to Craftgawker.com I found a blogsite called "These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things" and a post called "Quick And Easy".  It is a short post but well deserving of your attention.

Olivia, the blog owner of Favourite Things posted an idea for using doilies that most of us have laying around or stashed in our linen cupboards.  It's a simple yet very creative idea for displaying earrings!

Simply put a doily in a embroidery hoop that matches it's size (or  better) .  Olivia's doily looks like it fits in the hoop perfectly but mine did not but I like the effect anyway.  It gave my earring hoop a lacy pretty edging:

I added ribbon to the outside of the hoop and tied the little bouquet of silk flowers to the top.  That's it!  So easy!  This is really only suitable for the "hook" type of pierced earrings, I tried with other styles but it was a lot of trouble getting them on and off the doily without the whole thing crashing down.  Maybe I'm just clumsy. ha ha. 

Isn't that about the easiest, prettiest thing you ever saw?  Thank you Olivia!  Please follow the link to her post and leave a comment to tell her what you think!

Have a great day and God bless you and yours!

Crochet News: The Find Of A Lifetime! Crochetology.net!

I had the pleasure today of stumbling across a site I've never seen before and I'm sorry to say I have no idea how I got there, just that it was what I like to call a "God shot".   (A God shot being something that happens only due to divine intervention.)  I know God knows my heart and my desires and what makes me happy in my little world.  He knows I've been trying to put ideas together that lay in my heart and my mind's eye but I do not have the crochet intellect and experience to put my ideas and longings to hook and thread.  I've tried, believe me, and I've got a dozen or so projects that I started and then had to stop because I hit a hitch in the road and could not progress to complete the projects.   Crochetotology.net put an end to the end of my projects.  Fatima opened my eyes, taught me things I thought I knew.  Now I have guides to the following (and a lot more!)

•  More About The Square  details how to use a square motif to make a long sleeved top.  Includes a motif pattern in diagram.  (You'll have to follow the previous link to see the top Fatina constructed and how to do it yourself.)

• From Doily To Dress An excellent post explaining her procedure for turning any crochet doily pattern (new, vintage or antique) into a wearable dress or other garmet.  This is something I've had in my mind to do but couldn't quite "get it".  Thanks to Fatima I'm going to be able to use some very old (possibly antique) doily patterns to make beautiful wearables!

There's also wonderful, beautiful stitch and motif patterns available such as one of my favorites:

• Georgiana a hexagonish motif that  I think would make a beautiful top or skirt, or scarf.

Crochetology.net : The Art, The Pattern, And The Language Of Crochet.  That it definitely is!

If you want to learn, go there.  If you want to make something beautiful, go there.  If you're curious as to what I'm so excited about, GO THERE! 

Crochet News: I'm Actually Blocking My Project!

Can you believe this?  I am actually blocking and starching (is that being redundant?) my snowflakes.  Well, one snowflake anyway:

I just finished crocheting Snowflake 41 from the Big Book Of Thread Ornaments

I strung tiny red beads onto my crochet thread before I started the snowflake and added them as I went along wherever I felt like.  Midway into crocheting and beading I had the thought that the beads could possibly weight down the ornament, making it droop when hung on the tree.  (I have no experience with this so bear with me).
I added many beads to the middle and less as I went along and actually like how it turned out.

Following the instructions I've read on many a crochet blog or craft web site, I:

• soaked my snowflake in fabric starch (100% strength for maximum stiffness)
• squeezed out the excess starch
• laid the snowflake flat on some paper towels and rolled it up to get a bit more of the extra starch out
• placed waxed paper on top of a sturdy cardboard box lid
• used nickel plated pins to shape and hold the snowflake
• waited
• and waited 
• and waited for the dang thing to dry!  
• ate dinner
• went to bed
• woke up in the morning
• waited for the starch to dry
• decided the old saying "watched water doesn't boil" is TOO true
• started working on a completely different project knowing that if I forgot about this one completely it would magically and suddenly dry when I wasn't looking
• realized I was right about the last bullet-ed step above
• forgot what I was doing and started pattern browsing

When I remember what I was blogging about in this post I'll let you know how it turned out.
Signing off to pattern browse some more and try to remember what the heck I forgot about and to practice being a serious grown-up, a discipline I never mastered, thank goodness.

UPDATE:
Here's the finished, almost dry product of all that waiting and wondering and worrying...

This last photo was taken before the snowflake was dry after starching.  For a follow up on my first block and starch project, see next newer post....

Crochet Pattern - Sunny Snowflake

For ease in printing this pattern or others I've posted,  or elsewhere on the web, here's a comment Viola left on one of my patterns that may help you:

"...As for the printing, if you do a "print preview" first, you can select only the pattern pages. I just tried it and the print is small, but nothing in the pattern was cut off...."
(signed),
Viola's Hook
----
Thank you Viola!
-----


Sunny Snowflake Ornament


Small amount size 10 crochet thread (Aunt Lydia's or other)
Size 10 steel crochet hook,
Size 7 steel crochet hook
Small beads, optional


I already had some beads on my thread and used what I had (6 beads) for this project, kind of by accident.  Beads are optional, you can place them anywhere you like while working along to give your sunny snowflake some shine.




String desired number of beads before beginning work.


With size 10 hook, ch 2


Round 1:  (sc, ch1) inside second chain from hook 6 times.  Join with sl st to first sc.  (total 6 sc, 6 ch1)

Round 2:  ch 4, dc in first st, *ch 1, dc in next st; repeat from * around, ending round with ch 1, sl st into third ch of beg ch 4 (top of ch dc)

Round 3:  ch 6. * tr in next ch 1 space, ch 3, repeat from * around, ending with tr in last ch 1 space, ch 3, sl st into third ch of beg ch 6 to join

Round 4: ch 1, * sc, hdc, sc in first ch 3 space and in each ch 3 space around, join with sl st to first sc this round.

Round 5: Use size 7 hook for this round! sl st to first hdc;  *sc in hdc, ch 3,   tr in next st, ch 3, skip 1 st,  sc in next, ch 3; repeat from * around and join with sl st to first sc and fasten off.

Weave in ends, block and starch as desired, attach red or white ribbon and hang!
In case you didn't click the previous link "starch as desired", it is a link that will take you to Crafters Love Crafts site page that tells several different ways to stiffen your crochet projects including instructions for using liquid starch or fabric glue (recommended), spray starch, sugar (low recommend), salt, etc.

Delicate Butterfly Doily Finally Finished

 I started this project - Delicate Butterfly Doily.... well, I guess it's been months ago now, and last night I sat down with it, determined to finish it off.  It has been hibernating in my pile of WIP (works in progress) for quite some time.  I am struggling with forcing myself to finish the WIP that I put aside before I begin anything new.  Yea, like that's going to happen!  Give me a break.  ha.


The beginning of the butterfly is posted HERE, if you care to take a gander at it.


I stupidly thought it was okay to use a crochet thread size 3 just because it was a pretty color.  It's okay to use size 3 thread - just not with a size 7 crochet hook.  If you're going to use the size 3 thread I recommend using a larger hook, possibly a 5 or even a size 3 hook.  The pattern itself doesn't have a material list so it's basically up to you.  The crochet bug that posted the pattern used size 10 thread and a size 7 hook which sounds like it would be great for the butterfly but it'll come out smaller than the one I made.


Here's the updated photos, please let me know if you've made this public domain pattern.  It's beautiful and I would love to post your photos of your delicate butterfly doily to show off here for others to be inspired and just say "Ahhhh, isn't that pretty?"  (grin)

Notes are below photos...

 The pattern was relatively easy to follow as long as I didn't have any distractions and was able to concentrate intently on each word and abbreviation in it.
Keeping careful track of the stitches and rows I made made it go along smoothly.  Once I forgot what row I was on and it was hell trying to figure out where I left off. 
Mark your pattern and your work as you go along and it should be okay.  (The rows are hard to count as they aren't in a straight line - advanced crocheters may not have a problem with this but I can see where a beginner might.  Keep in mind this pattern is do-able for a beginner, but definitely a good challenge.)

Washcloth Crazy; An Entire Slew Of The Dang Things by Anitalite

I don't know what's come over me or when it all started.  I never gave a thought to crocheting anything but doilies until I joined Ravelry and Crochet me.  Well, doilies and collars.  Okay, and scarves.  I forgot about the scarf phase I went through.

Thanks to the internet I've discovered a whole world of crocheting.  Pattern browsing, bookmarking, and downloading inspired me and motivated me to branch out from my cocoon of doilies (and collars and scarves, don't forget).  I found it fun and actually kind of creative to make jewelry and dishcloths or washcloths from cotton thread and yarn.

There are so many new and wonderful colors to choose from, the possibilities of making dish washing more pleasurable and washing one's face feel feminine with a lacy cloth instead of the stained, grimy things my boyfriend used for rags while working on his lawnmower.   I just purchased five kitchen towels - all look alikes - all very feminine looking, hoping my boyfriend would not want to use them for his macho, hard core work in the garage and yard.  Yea, R-I-G-H-T! 

So... I made these and will make kitchen towels I think, as soon as I restock my Lily's Sugar (or Peaches) and Cream cotton crochet yarn....  Take a looksie at the fun I had:

This is the latest washcloth.  I like to put a flower in the middle of these so we can use that part for a bit more scrubbing action if we want.

Side view,







Top view

Okay, Next please!

(This is one of my favorites)

I can't decide if this is pink or purple or some other pinky-purple color I don't know the name of yet.  The flowers and pattern of this reminded me of sweet peas.

Here's that pinky-purplish color again.  I like how I made the center of this one, it makes a great scrubber and the lacy part is soft and gentle washing and still gets the job done.

This one reminds me of that cute as a button flower that grows everywhere, impatients.  Again, a nice little scrubber flower in the middle, lace for gentle washing.  The outside ruffle is just for looks, lol.







And now for something  completely different...

Zebra guts??  The Lily's color is "licorice" but I think it looks more like zebra guts.  My daughter loves zebra stripe and this washcloth was an experiment to see how Lily's Ombre would turn out with this stitch.  Yep.  Zebra guts. ha.

And finally, for now, yet another experiment in zebra,

Looks like this zebra got drunk and then threw up.  I tried a tiny chevron stitch and well, you can see how that turned out.  (where did I go wrong???)  ha.  Both the zebra cloths still function as well as the others, they're just a bit much to face in the morning for an A.M. face wash.


That's all for now!

WIP, Free Vintage Pattern Link, Purple Butterfly Doily

Here's one of the items I'm working on for my eshop.  The vintage pattern is free and can be found here:  Delicate Butterfly Doily.  by Anne Haliday 

I did my best to adjust my son's digital camera so you could see the deep dark purple of this thread but still the picture  doesn't do the depth of color much justice.

This pattern is for someone who has some experience crocheting, there are a few parts that could be confusing and it is easy to get disoriented if there is any distraction that draws your attention from your work.  Marking the pattern as you go along would be very helpful, of course.  Me?  I'm too lazy to print the pattern out from the 'puter so I spend a lot of time backtracking my work to find my place in the instructions.  Dumb, huh?  Oh well, at least I don't have to get up, walk across the house, plug in the 'puter and press a button!  That would really take a lot out of me.  Straining my already tired eyes trying to figure out what is what and which is which and where is where is SO much better!  (yea, R-I-G-H-T!)  That's what I get for being a lazy butt.

Preliminary photos, showing the body, lower left wing, and partial upper left wing.  I would like to make the next one work out so the wings are outlined in black and there are more colors in the wings but for the first one, this'll do.

Heart Ornament - Free Pattern

I started out using the granny heart pattern by decafgreentea on Ravelry** which can be found for free, here

With a size 7 steel crochet hook and some red bedspread-weight cotton crochet thread, I made the first two rounds as the pattern goes. 
when the pattern calls to change color, I attached white, did the next round...

Wanting the heart to be more lacy to go with my other ornaments, I chose not to do the fourth round in that original pattern.

Here's what I did instead:

(Instead of changing color, stay with white and)
 
 sl st to the ch 3 space at top and left of heart. 

*(ch 3, sc in space) twice. 

 (ch 3, sc in next sc) 8 times
(you'll be about midway to point of heart)

(ch 3 sk 1 sc, sc in next sc) 4 times

ch 3, dc in point of heart, picot (ch 3, sl st in first chain), sl st in same dc, dc in same sc as first dc,

(ch 3 sk 1 sc) 4 times

(ch 3 sc in next sc) 8 times

ch 3 sl st in V of heart (top) and then sl st to join to last sl st in beg of this round.

fasten off and weave in all ends.

After this round the heart will measure approximately 2" X 2".


I looped red satin ribbon (1/8") through the space in the dip in top of the heart, tied a tiny bow, and instead of letting the ends hang down (which took away from the heart itself) I tied the ends in one slip knot above the heart for a loop to hang on my tree this year.
(I can't wait for Christmas.  Our tree is going to be even more beautiful than it was last year!)

I may try adding one more round (or two?) to make it a bit bigger but it's very cute as it stands at 2".

Note:  If I need to make corrections to this let me know, I'm not very experienced with writing patterns and I'm horrible telling people how to do something.  lol.

** Ravelry is a wonderful site that unites knitters and crocheters (some call us "hookers" - tools of the trade, lol) in a close knit (trying to be punny) community that offers solutions to your yarn obsessions (knit it! crochet it!) and a multitude of awesome free patterns, groups that cater to a specific interest or need, designers, tipsters, forums, and a way for you to easily (I MEAN EASILY!) post your own yarn creations, keep track of your progress in a project, save favorites to your own file so you can get back to them after you've gotten through the fifty projects you already have going, interaction with a lot of really cool people (NOT just ladies, men too.)  There are female, male, teenage kids, elderly, middle age, you get the idea.  There are over 2500 members online at any one given time and there are over 10, 000 members in all!    That makes for a lot of people to meet, patterns to download and try, projects to discuss, designers to get to know, and friends to make who share the same intersts as you do. 
If you haven't checked it out already I strongly suggest you do.  Someone spent a lot of time making sure this site is extremely user friendly! 
There's so much at Ravelry that is awesome, helpful and beautiful, I can't get it all down here so you'll just have to see for yourself.  (smile)  Go Here

Blue Scallops and Shells Crocheted Doily

I need your help! If you recognize this doily pattern and have the information for it, please let me know what the name of the pattern is, who the designer is, and if possible, what book it is in! (Just add a link or the book info to the comment section on this page)
My boyfriend's mother wants me to make her one after she saw this one and I can't for the life of me find the book it is in!

Thank you thank you thank you!

Crocheted Double Pineapple Doily

This is from the same pattern book as the "Roses" doily, in the Leisure Arts Pattern Leaflet # 702 by Margaret Rost.

As was the Roses doily, this one went along quickly and the instructions were easy to follow. This was one of the first doilies I attempted and the one that got me hooked on crocheting something other than scarfs and blankets.

Crocheted Doily "Roses"

I loved making this doily for my mother. I used a rose pink for the flowers and light green for the little leafs around the flowers. This pattern was easy to follow quick to complete. It is very beautiful in photo and more beautiful in real life. Our cat Bella loves it too (as you can see). She loves to lay on it, I wonder if she can feel the love that went into when I made this for Mom and that's why she lays there? Hmmm.

This pattern is from the Leisure Arts Leaflet Number 702 by Margaret Rost.