I recently completed an iPad case tutorial for The Craft Cotton Company using their new lovely floral sketches fat quarter set. I added on a pocket for storing a USB cable – no excuse for misplacing them with one of these cases!
Link to this free tutorial and many more on their blog:
http://www.craftcottonblog.co.uk/single-post/2016/09/27/IPad-Case
I’ve been meaning to make some pattern weights for a while now and just haven’t got around to doing them. Now that I have got them made I wish I had got them made sooner – they are absolutely brilliant for holding patterns in place while cutting out without having to mess around with pins which also often leave marks in the fabric. In fact I was so pleased with how well these worked I went on a bit of a making spree and at current count have about 30 of these little gems!
What’s even better about these weights is I made them all with just scraps of fabric out of my stash and anything that can help use up some scraps is a winner with me!
Pattern weight pattern:
I made two different sizes of these weights, so had had some longer ones for long pattern sections. The method to make both sizes is the same, the only difference being the size of paper template used.
Materials
Fabric scraps
Ribbon scraps
Thread
Pins
Scissors
Paper
Pencil
Ruler
Aquarium gravel
1- Make your paper templates, 7×7 cm for the smaller weights and 10×7 cm for the larger rectangular ones and cut out your fabrics.
2- Cut your ribbon into 7cm pieces
3- Fold a piece of ribbon in half and place with its raw edges just over the raw edges of a piece of fabric placed right side up.
Place a second piece of fabric right side down on top of this and sew down the side, along the bottom and up the other side.
Cut diagonally accross at the bottom 2 corners to help with getting a nice sharp corner after turning.
4- Turn the right way out, and fill with gravel.
5- Fold in the top edge by 0.5m and match the two side seams together, slip stitch to close.
Now make as many as you need, and maybe just a couple more incase you run out while cutting out a pattern…think I definately got carried away, don’t think I will be running out any time soon!
I always have problems wrapping up bottles as gifts, although to be honest anything that isn’t a square box tends to give me problems! I can never get the paper to look right without it tearing a few times and rather than just buying a paper bottle bag I thought I would make one. I wanted to make something a bit different to my previous crochet bottle holder that I made so I thought I would do a fabric one using some very cute Craft Cotton Company penguin fabric.
I am really impressed with how this came out, I might do some smaller ones for some beer bottles I have as gift too – obviously I don’t have enough things I need to make in time for Christmas already!
Drawstring bottle bag:
Im glad I have managed to get some time to get this frog hat made, the colder weather is starting to creep in and it won’t be long before I will be needing a hat to keep the chill at bay!
I saw this frog in Vanessa Mooncie’s book Crocheted animal hats and it stood out above of all the wonderful hats as the first I needed to make – I know for a fact many more of these hat makes will follow – they are just brilliant, I’m not too sure which to do next but I need to get cracking as I’m hoping to make some more of these as Christmas presents for friends, although I think I may be running out of time – in sure they won’t mind getting them a little late!
I have seen quite a few fabric pumpkins on my Pinterest feed lately and really wanted to make some for Halloween. It was only while rummaging through my craft drawer yesterday looking for some wool when I suddenly realised I still had some orange and green The Craft Cotton Company fabric left over from when I made the hexagon patchwork spider (Brights fat quarter bundle). I knew this fabric would be perfect to make some, so I got cracking making them. I really need to sort out my craft drawer – there’s all sorts hidden away in there!
The tutorial I followed was on:
http://thompsonfamily.typepad.com/thompson_familylife/2009/11/fabric-pumpkin-tutorial.html
I chose to make three pumpkins in total, each different in size:
First – 7×14 inches
Second – 4×8 inches
Third – 3×6 inches
These were so easy to make and they look great, I think might make some bigger ones to go with these!
Halloween wouldn’t be complete without some cackling witches lurking about, so I thought of doing these witches hat decorations, it should keep people on their toes – you never know when the witch might come cackling back to get it!
You could do these as big or as small as you wanted, I opted to do mine quite small so I could get quite a few dotted about the house. Also the colour of the band around it could be any colour that you like best. I opted for purple and green for mine as I like those colours for Halloween.
Witches hats pattern
In black
4mm hook
For the base:
Make a magic ring, ch1, 6dc into ring
Round 1: 2dc into each dc
Round 2: 2dc into same dc, dc. Repeat around
Round 3: 2dc into same dc, 2dc. Repeat around
Round 4: 2dc into same dc, 3dc. Repeat around
Round 5: 2dc into same dc, 4dc. Repeat around
Round 6: 2dc into same dc, 5dc. Repeat around
Round 7: 2dc into same dc, 6dc. Repeat around
Round 8-9: dc around
Fasten off
For the pointy hat part:
Make a magic ring, ch1, 4dc into ring
Round 1: 2dc into each stitch
Round 2-3: dc around
Round 4: 2dc into same dc, dc. Repeat around
Round 5-6: dc around
Round 7: 2dc into same dc, 2dc. Repeat around
Round 8: 2dc into same dc, 3dc. Repeat around
Round 9: dc around
Round 10: 2dc into same dc, 4dc. Repeat around
Round 11: 2dc into same dc, 5dc. Repeat around
Round 12: dc around
Round 13: 2dc into same dc, 6dc. Repeat around
Round 14-18: dc around
Fasten off leaving long thread to attach to the base, stuff the pointy hat part, then sew the hat to the base.
Band around hat:
In your chosen colour:
ch4
Row 1: dc into 2nd ch from hook, dc along rest of row
Rows 2-34: ch1 (doesn’t count as a stitch) dc along row
Fasten off and leave a long thread to attach around the hat at the base.
Smaller hat:
In black
4mm hook
For the base
Make a magic ring, ch1, 6dc into ring
Round 1: 2dc into each dc
Round 2: 2dc into same dc, dc. Repeat around
Round 3: 2dc into same dc, 2dc. Repeat around
Round 4: 2dc into same dc, 3dc. Repeat around
Round 5: 2dc into same dc, 4dc. Repeat around
Round 6: dc around
Fasten off
Pointy hat part:
Make magic ring, ch1, 4dc into ring
Round 1: 2dc into each dc
Round 2: dc around
Round 3: 2dc into same dc, dc. Repeat around
Round 4-5: dc around
Round 6: 2dc into same dc, 2dc. Repeat around
Round 7: dc around
Round 8: 2dc into same dc, 3dc. Repeat around
Round 9: dc around
Round 10: 2dc into same dc, 4dc. Repeat around
Round 11: dc around
Fasten off leaving long thread to attach to base. Stuff the pointy hat part, then sew onto the base.
Hat band:
In your chosen colour:
ch3
Row 1: dc into 2nd ch from hook, dc
Row 2-21: ch1 (doesn’t count as a stitch), dc along row
I have thought about doing a Pom Pom pumpkin for a while now and this year I have finally got around to making one. I wasn’t too sure how well it would turn out but thought I should at least give it a go and see how it went! I must admit I was quite surprised with how well it came out – although I think the next one I do will be a bit bigger, I think it will look even better in a bigger size. This little guy will look great mixed in with a few bigger ones! What I love about this is you could put whatever face and eye detail on you like making each one completely different.
Pom Pom pumpkin
Cut out two cardboard circles, I drew around a juice bottle to get the size I wanted, then I drew around a 2p coin in the middle of the bigger cardboard circle and cut it out. The bigger the pumpkin you want – the bigger you should make the size of the cardboard circles. Place these two cardboard circles on top of each other.
Next cut a long length of wool in orange. Hold on to the loose end on the cardboard circle then wrap the wool around the cardboard. Once you have first few rounds completed and the two cardboard circles are not going to move you can actually wrap around a few threads together at the same time to speed up the making a little bit, I did this with three threads together. Continue this process until the circle in the centre of the cardboard is completely filled, towards the end you might find you need to thread the wool onto a needle to get it to go through. You want to make sure this centre is tightly filled otherwise it will easily fall apart.
Next take 8 30cm lengths of green wool and wrap around the centre of the Pom Pom strands between the two pieces of cardboard making sure it is tied tightly – this is what holds the Pom Pom together. Now cut the threads – making sure they are longer than the Orange wool (by about 2cm) as these make up the stalk.
Next remove the cardboard and there’s your Pom Pom!
The eyes:
Cut out small white circles in felt for the eyes, then using black wool sew the felt into the Pom Pom making the centre pupil of the eye at the same time. To do this tie a knot into one end of the black wool, thread the other onto the needle and pull through from the back to the front, then sew back to the back and sew into the centre of the Pom Pom and then back out into the eye to secure it to the pumpkin. Now affixed, sew from front to back on the white felt a few times to make the pupil. Fasten off and repeat for the other eye
Mouth:
In black felt cut out a mouth into the style you want, and sew onto the Pom Pom using black wool.
I love making Pom poms, any chance and I’m making them. They are so easy and quick to make, perfect for Halloween decorations! I made some spiders last year but wanted to make a few more, this time I have stuck to using black orange and white but you could use any colours you like. Also size wise you can make these as big or as small as you please – I have made some really large ones before and they look great.
This little one looks quite mean in these photos – he looks so much happier in person! Although the mean face is actually perfect for Halloween! Now to make some more Halloween themed Pom poms!
Pom Pom spider instructions:
Cut out two cardboard circles, I drew around a juice bottle to get the size I wanted, then I drew around a 2p coin in the middle of the bigger cardboard circle and cut it out. The bigger the spider you want – the bigger you should make the size of the cardboard circles.
Place these two cardboard circles on top of each other.
Once you have first few rounds completed and the two cardboard circles are not going to move you can actually wrap around a few threads together at the same time to speed up the making a little bit, I did this with three threads together one of each of the three colours I was using.
Next cut a long length of wool in one of you chosen colours, I started with dark blue. Hold on to the loose end on the cardboard circle then wrap the wool around the cardboard, when this length runs out continue in your next colour, my second was orange. Continue this process until the circle in the centre of the cardboard is completely filled, towards the end you might find you need to thread the wool onto a needle to get it to go through. You want to make sure this centre is tightly filled otherwise it will easily fall apart.
Once the centre is full it is time to cut around the Pom Pom to remove it from the cardboard. To do this cut around the edge of the cardboard, making sure you cut in between the two cardboard pieces. Next take a length of wool and wrap around the strands making sure it is tied tightly – this is what holds the Pom Pom together. Next remove the cardboard and there’s your Pom Pom!
Now for the legs:
You need 8 legs in total, therefore you need 4 lengths of wool. I chose to do all the legs the same colour but you could do them in the different colours used.
Once the wool for the legs has been cut thread a length onto a needle and sew through the middle of the Pom Pom. I did mine 35 cm long for the size of spider I made, I like the legs to be long and dangly too! Repeat this for the remaining legs.
Finally – the eyes:
Cut out small white circles in felt for the eyes, then using black wool sew the felt into the Pom Pom making the centre pupil of the eye at the same time. To do this tie a knot into one end of the black wool, thread the other onto the needle and pull through from the back to the front, then sew back to the back and sew into the centre of the Pom Pom and then back out into the eye to secure it to the spider. Now affixed, sew from front to back on the white felt a few times to make the pupil. Fasten off and repeat for the other eye
Loop:
If you want a loop to be able to hang it up, take a long length of wool, tie a knot into one end, sew into centre of Pom Pom then leaving a long loop see back into the Pom Pom and fasten off.
All finished!
I’m currently working on quite a big crochet project that I have had on my list for a while and have been trying to ignore! Progress has been going well with it, until that is I ran out of wool!! This always seems to happen to me, and even worse there was no more of this wool left at my local shop so I will have to wait until some more comes in! I can’t deny I was pretty gutted as despite putting off this make I was actually quite enjoying it and I can’t wait to share it once it is finally finished. On the plus side while I was in another wool shop a few days later I saw some wool which I just had to buy: King Cole tinsel chunky, and alongside a hedgehog which had been made using it, it was just adorable so I decide to get the wool and the pattern, then I ran into a slight disappointment – it was a knitting pattern, noooooo!
However I decided I would get the wool and the pattern (King Cole tinsel chunky 9015) and see if I could adapt it to crochet. It’s only when I sat down to do this I realised the mountain of a problem I had set myself, I had a look online and a few websites mentioned that each knit and purl row would be equivalent to a single dc row. So I decided to try this on a large hedgehog. Then I hit another snag – the wool was an absolute nightmare to use, I couldn’t see where I was wanting to go and counting how many stitches I had completed was pretty much impossible! I almost gave up with it a few times, but I really liked how the wool looked when made up into something so I persevered with it and eventually managed to get it finished.
This large hedgehog looks absolutely nothing like that in the pattern! The body has come out too short and the nose too long – no idea how I have managed it, but it’s why I shouldn’t have tried to convert a knitting pattern to crochet and should have tried to make my own pattern. However despite looking nothing like it should do I this I think this hedgehog looks brilliant, I’m really pleased I actually stuck out and finished it and it really makes me smile!
I still have another ball of this wool left in a different colour, the next hedgehog I do will be with my own crochet pattern – no more attempts at converting a pattern for me!!
