Crochet Book Cover - Tote

It looks so blue. The yarn looks like a cross between gun metal and teal. It's much darker then pic shows it to be. Inspired by my mother who reads constantly. Not that I'll ever get the nerve to give it to her, but it's designed with her in mind. I wanted something that could eliminate one more thing to carry when we went to the park. The book cover is not a set pattern so much as measured pieces.

I looked at lots of textured stitches for the body of this project. I didn't save the page and cant for the life of me remember what the stitch was called. I know you chained of your length in multiples of 3 and added 1. Then it was sc, ch 1, dc in same space, sk st  and repeat across. dc in turn ch, turn ch 1. That is the repeat line the actual first row was a bit different but I cant remember it. I'm slipping I normally  bookmark anything I'm even just trying out. HA! scratch that, suddenly I remember I hadn't cleared the browser history. Described only as "Stitch Pattern 1" It is an interesting stitch. BTW heads up for that site if you cant read something because its behind a banner highlight text n paste it to a word pad or something. The one piece section that makes the outside of the book cover measures 10" tall and 15" long. I used worsted weight yarn and an H hook. My starting chain was 34chs and the stitch is unusual enough to me that I couldn't count the rows afterwards and be sure of the count. (18 if I had to guess)  Measurements are based off an average Hardback book. The strap is one long pieces, with one join point. Its 3 sc repeated and then a sc along both edges. I finished the length and went down the side all the way to other end around end and down other side leaving a tail to join.

You could have the inside flaps that hold the book plain or matching the outside I was in the mood for something different. These are based of of Beth in Texas video tutorial for a Stained glass window  square. Mine is only 2 stacked not 4 to make the square. Once finished the 2 stack I added 2 rows of sc boarder to bring it up to size. That pieces of green in the center is a bookmark with 2 joined hearts.

 That is a piece of a dress that went on to better things like a purse lining I used the intact zipper and sewed the surrounding material into something that looked like a pencil case. This was sewn along the zipper edge that would peek out of the sleeve to a piece of plastic craft. The back edges were spot sewn to hold them in place. The plastic craft gives the piece better shape and allows you to slide the book cover under without bunching the zipper pocket. Also they remove so you can throw it in the wash if needed. So now there is a secure place to carry ID, cash or cards along with your book. I was going to add a key loop but it weighted the piece. Still keys could always be clipped to the handle.

After the sc that joins the main piece and the inside flaps there is a row of hdc in back loops only around all but the spine to cover edge of pages a bit when closed. I have yet to add a latch of some sort, probably a toggle.

sunflower pin cushion

 One empty fruit cup and a sponge. Cut up the sponge to fill cup.

Add fiber fill to close up holes. Technically i guess you could use all fiber fill, but I like the stiffness of sponge. This is a very dry sponge btw,

Make a circle in dark brown of dc the size of the bottom of fruit cup and increase 3 rounds. Stretch over bottom of cup. Make tan circle in tight sc to cover top. Sew 2 pieces together.

 Join golden yellow , sc, ch2, sk st and repeat. 2nd and 3rd rounds sc in ch space. Last round picot, kip st, sl st. (picot - ch3, sl st in 3rd chain from hook

Kinda cute huh. Would make a cute cupcake too. Mine is in use now and i lurve it.

Crochet Monkey Blanket for baby

The quest for teachers gifts has been put on hold. My mother and I received an invitation to a baby shower the other day. So I went into baby blanket mode. My mother will most likely make a blanket. Did I mention its for my cousin's girlfriend and they were having twin girls? Yeah. I've known, I don't know why the invitation surprised me. So we have a week. Mother may get a blanket done and a IOU for the second. Of course if she can find a yarn she a) Likes, it has to be multi colored with purple in it (? I don't ask anymore) and b) it's obviously been awhile since she bought yarn because it "way too expensive". Remember when making a homemade blanket was thrifty as well as 'made with love'. Mom has arthritis in her hands and while crocheting used to be enjoyable now she can only do it in small spurts before it pains her. I would have offered us to 'go in together n make stuff' but I'm really not that crazy anymore. I also have an, she's my mom's cousin, I never remember what that makes her to me...second cousin? Anyway she crochets as well. I remember because my son received a blanket made by her. (which I still have..it was nice) So this chick is looking at getting a few crochet items for her shower. We are not cheap...OK mom is cheap, I'm just broke...no really Broke!broke. I dug into my stash to see what I could actually make. The twin part makes it hard cause double everything means double yarn which even among my tubs I don't have enough to do 2 or anything identical. But then I never liked giving twins the same stuff anyway. And like I said the babies will be getting a few items perhaps I could look for something slightly different. So began my Internet surfing for ideals. Inspiration struck after viewing this design

This is Bearghan developed by Pat Liles and published on YarnCrazy Crochet World, a blog by Chris Simon. Cute huh? The expecting Mom is registered at target and babiesrus so I took a quick run through all the cute and PINK stuff she picked out. Her bedding was purple butterflies but I'm thinking that was for the grandma she loves purple. Most of her baby equipment ie. stroller , highchair, etc. were dark to neutral colors. Grey, brown, tan, green were predominant and not much pattern. Nothing that screamed I'm covering my kids room in Elmo, Disney characters, or Winnie da Pooh. The only thing recurring , besides enough pink to make one ill, were butterflies, monkeys and a few elephants. So instead of a bearghan I made a monkeyghan. (still working on the elephantghan)

Ha. He's cute huh. The squares are from the same blog except for the peach 4 fillet hearts which is from the blog The Left Side of Crochet. the author's name is April and the pattern is Pink Crush.  They are 12 inch squares and any squares you like will do. I tried to pick one's that weren't too open or light. I couldn't resist the butterflies though. This is more of a roll around on the floor blanket but I'm expecting her to get cute baby wraps. Oh and the head is actually two pieces so its more like a hood. Cant you just see 2 Lil girls running around their mom with these over their heads pretending to be animals. (OK maybe it's a boy thing.) I like the hood. it's a relatively small blanket so it would work well in a stroller or something. Ideally it's for a toddler I'd say. But you never can tell what kids or mom's will like. And they are different then anything else she'll get just cause there really isn't anything else like em out there. Below are pics of each square and the elephant hood piece I started on. The second blanket will be same squares in same or similar colors depending on yarn consumption.

Ether's Square by Chris Simon

Pink Crush by April

Butterfly Garden by Chris Simon



Supernova by Chris Simon





Cable Hearts by Chris Simon





There is a link on Chris' Bearghan directions for the half granny squares to what looks to be an older blog of Theresa Richardson and if you watch you tube crochet tutorials you will recognise that name.

 So this is my elephant hood. That is the second nose the first one looked more like a squished pig nose.

Well there they are. People either love or hate my for aye into designing. I hope they can appreciate them at least. I think the girls will like them. Who knows they might be that blanket you hide in your closet till you get old enough to actually pack it away and admit its a keepsake...lol

Pieces: The hood - h hook - ch3, 8 dc in 3rd ch from hook, *ch3, dc in same, dc around with 3 in top center, 2 dc in last dc* repeat between *'s for each row. My hood was 10 rows. After last row do not turn ch2 and dc across bottom edge.

Faces - eyes- d hook - ch2 8 sc in 2nd ch from hook finish off with long tail for attaching

monkey ear - h hook - ch2, 5sc in 2nd ch from hook. turn, 2sc in each sc, turn, sc in next st, 2 sc in next st,hdc in next 2, dc in next, 3 dc in next(top of arch), dc in next, hdc in next 2, 2sc in next, sc in last, do not turn, sc across bottom edge. Change color sc around, sc around to 2oclock 2 sc in that sc, then sc to 2 top most sc, 2 sc in ea of 2, sc to 10 o'clock position, 2 sc , single sc in each to end of round. Same next round except top most is 2sc in st, 1sc in next, 2sc in next, don't forget 2sc at 2 and 10 positions. Make 2

eye area (tan) - d or g hook - ch2, 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook, 2sc in ea sc around. make 2 leave 8 in tail on first, don't fasten off second cont around in pattern (sc in st, 2 sc in next) leave last st un-worked and sc in other tan piece same pattern around, when get to join skip center st and start new pattern (sc in next 2 st, 2sc in next) around. When back to join skip center st and cont on other side sl st when reaching join again and fasten off. Leave tail to attach to hood. Use first tail to sew together joint area between circles

nose - ch 2 , 6 sc in 2nd ch from hook, 2sc in next 2 st, 2 hdc in next, 2sc in next 2 st, 2 hdc in next fasten off with tail to attach

Mouth area - d or g hook - ch 2, sc 6 in 2nd ch from hook. do reg increase rounds to make a circle.(pattern 2sc, 1sc/2sc,1sc,1sc/2sc,1sc,1sc,1sc and so on increasing 1sc between each round) last 2 rounds are sc in each. leave tail to attach. This should give you a raised circle. You can stuff with a bit of filling or cloth. Sew in place pushing sides in just a bit so it holds cupped shape.

elephant eyes - same as monkey

elephant trunk - d hook - ch2, 6 sc in 2nd ch., 6 rounds of sc in each stitch. Then increase on one side and decrease on the opposite side of same round this will bend trunk a bit. Then start adding st to round, very gradual increases. only top side start making longer st. while rest of round remains sc. I did  4 hdc increases, then a round of sc, then dc increases. Stuff the trunk with fill or fabric. The stitching should hold the shape. I wouldn't add pipe cleaners and such so as not to injure the child.

elephant ears - ch2 , 6sc n 2nd ch from hook, next row was hdc on top, sl st on side and dc on bottom. fasten off. Change color. After a round of sc, the shaping was done much the same hdc on top, sl st on side, and dc on the bottom. I forgot to bring gray around the entire ear at least once so I made sure the gray covered the pink when i stitched it to the hood but sc there would have made a neater join. BTW the ears are only joined by the center of the ear so they can move a bit

My squares were outlined in white sc, except for center square was in dc (size issue), the bottom 2 edges of head and inside 2 edges of half granny squares were also lined in white sc. All the pieces were then laid out and wiped stitched together. The last piece assembled is the hood over the head because that is stitched together as you do 1st round of boarder st. Start boarder at either end of hood joining so you can turn at hood for however large a boarder you plan. If you want the "lacy" edge just attach hood first , then turn at hood until last round and cont over hood join. I suggest back loops only for hood edge.

Remember croc stitch purse - It got lined!

Remember this? Croc or mermaid tear stitch purse. Well I finally lined it. Its lined in a silver satin material. I only had black thread at the time though. :(

The lining was actually made way back at Christmas.

*BTW that nice gather on the inside pocket is part of the waistband of the old satin shorts the lining used to be. I'm all for using ready made seams

The zipper was what really stumped me. So not knowing any other way I trimmed the pink zipper I bought and hand stitched it into the purse. Top edge looks good huh. Go me! Then I stitched the lining over the inside edge to cover the zipper stitching, again by hand. It's not something I'll ever use. LOL Into the tub it goes. I'm just so proud of my first zipper.

Seth's crochet German Shepard

Now for the project that got me posting. I completed it in a few hours. I wanted to have it on the kitchen table waiting for my son. He's had a rough time of it. We are all trying hard but Seth's new motivation is a puppy, a real live puppy. he's picked out a German Shepard and given it a name already. The school got him a picture to remind him of the prize when he gets his work done and I printed a pic out for him at home and that is when I thought I could whip out a cute crochet pal to keep him company till the real thing is earned. The pattern is German Shepherd by Beth Webber and can be found on her blog. She is very talented and has a lot of designs she shares, including her manga creations.

I didn't have the plastic looking eyes so I made my own out of brown and black crochet thread.  I also added a bit more brown to the right ear and to the tops of the back legs. Plus the red collar, Seth's favorite color...this week.

No pipe cleaners so that's a trimmed bending straw in the tail.

Ain't he CUTE!  Love you Seth!

Red Collar: ch 30, hdc in 3rd chain from hook, hdc across to last 2 stitches, sc, then sl st in last. fasted off and weave in end. This end of collar should be somewhat pointed. Join with hdc forth from end, ch 4 sl st in bottom of same hdc, sl st to end, ch 4, sl st in top of ending hdc, sl st to starting st, fasten off and weave in ends. The chain 4's act like belt loops, thread the "pointed' end under loops.

Pot Holder Crazed

Yeah guess what my mother was getting for Mothers Day! Yeah well she doesn't like my crochet much so they will probably end up in the bin of stuff I don't know what to do with.

Too cool. Was interesting to work on you had to manage all four colors at once. Moving forward each color a few stitches at a time. This is rather large 10 in across

This is the back I didn't want to do another spiral. Same 4 colors plus an extra tan and then both pieces where joined with a white edging. (reverse sc) It's nicely thick too, so I guess it's more likely to be used as a hot pad.

 This was a cool design. It's made in one piece. You start with the center yellow and work outward. It works up like an envelope when you pull the sides apart it folds flat to a square. It's a very quick way to make a double think pot holder. Down the center of the red on the other side is the join. It's about 8.5 x 7.5
I think I might have ended it early another row or so and it would have been square.

All the colors I was using were in the same group. My mothers curtains are orange with a pattern and I really like the sunset colors

Which lead me to design this one. Basic tapestry crochet. I worked out the sun set design on some graph paper. With the border this one is 10"x8". It's not double thickness, although it could have been but its all single crochet so it is a tight enough stitch to use as a pot holder. I had really planned for these to be decorations. But my mother went by as I was working on this shaking her head. Yeah, so I gave up.

Of course I had patterns yet to try out and this one looked so cool. Left is the front, below the back. And I cant decide which way I like it better. The black it raised so this is more of a hot pad. You could even put it under a cake plate and it would look cute.

It's 10" across

I wish I'd taken a shot of the back of this one as well. It's interesting looking.

These make quick little projects and I'll bet I will be making more. Is there some charity giving away pot holders to naked kitchens?

Owl

This was supposed to be stuffed. at the time I couldn't find my stuffing. Its sitting on a cd spindle and I kinda like it. Maybe the teacher can use it as a puppet or to hide a candy jar?
That blue shows really bright/light in the picture its darker, like a cornflower blue.
The chest is gray and the back is a baby blue/gray mix. Why blue? cause that was my mothers first comment. Why not? some people like blue, besides the colors looked nice together and I had them, there in my stash just waiting to be used.

Yeah the back was supposed to be more of those crochet fingers there but the pattern was confusing as heck. Hooter is the name of the pattern BTW and was on a site of free owls for foster kids.

So my back is done in a soft pretty blue/white gray mix and in the croc tear stitch. Its interesting looking if nothing else. And soft enough to pet.

I didn't follow the pattern too much at all. As it does NOT produce the owl in the photo. So I tried to copy the pic as best I could. The main thing I'd do differently would be the join of the back/chest the eye area is OK, but the back of the cowl looks goofy. Hope the teacher likes it. I think he is pretty cool.

Apple

An apple for the teacher. Isn't it cute. The shaping is amazing. There are even those 4 bumps on the bottom. OK so it took some squishing to get it like that too. I was looking for something to make my son's teachers. he has been more then a handful this year. There is one male teacher and I have no clue. So apples always work right. I had made him a cup cover(think hot coffee sleeve) with an owl on it. Owl is the school mascot but I cant find the thing now. Poof , it just vanished

Pocket Purse

Looking for something to do, I was visiting some of the YouTube sites I like and Onevirtuouswoman had a new tutorial on a viewers original pattern and I thought it sounded like a cute lil project to keep my hands busy for a bit.

I didn't line mine as I was intending to use it for cards not change. And I didn't have a button handy so I made one out of the yarn I used for the project. The button is multiple sc in a ring and you continue around the circle overlapping the sc until the button is the right size. It comes out firmer then I was expecting. I also added an extra row to the flap end with sc , into hdc and back to sc to give it a bit of a V shape and then ended with a reverse sc just to give the edge definition.

**I used to be very meticulous with documenting where I got patterns or even inspiration but no one really visits my pages so if you happen by and cant find where I've said something was comment and I can get back to you however you provide with links or addys

Key Lanyard

I am so tired of never being able to find my keys. This lanyard lets me hang my keys over the side of my computer chair or if they don't make it there I at least have about 2 ft of bright material to spot them by. Just a few keys on some rings can fall ANYWHERE

Bright orange and blue, my high school colors. Really simple to make. I don't remember how many chains I started with but my lanyard is long. I wanted to not only wear it around my neck but able to loop it through a purse handle and anywhere else I ended up sticking it. So simple. Start with orange or center color chain off the length you want your lanyard and add 4 st. (add wont matter unless you want an exact length). dc back over chain, fasten off after last st and weave in end. Using blue , or outside color sl st back over dc thru both loops, sl st twice in end and continue around other side. fasten off at end with a tail to sew end together. Place a ring on the lanyard and stitch the end together, slid the ring to the join and sew behind the ring to keep it in place, BUT not too tight because that ring needs to slid freely if your putting keys on it.(I have a latch hook I use it just clips on) You don't have to secure the ring but the thought of the keys sliding all over the place is annoying to me.  The stitches give an interesting patten. I wasn't to concerned as long as it was sturdy but the two sides contrast nicely. You can see both sides in the pic if ya look. I its sturdy and works for the purpose.

I missed April

Still lots going on here with my little one. I've made a few things just never got around to posting them. So I'll post a few I have around now. I made my son something this evening I was eager to show off. :) So on with the April projects in May...