Tag: Crochet

Crochet video tutorials: How to crochet

Aynaria 12 Comments

Although I learned how to crochet when I was eight-years old, it’s something I didn’t actively do until at the end of last year. One of the ladies, from my quilting group, showed me several stitches, but she went so fast…. it didn’t stick.

Upon arriving home I logged onto YouTube and discovered YouTube user Geek Crochet, she also uses the name Crochet. What’s great about her videos is part of them are done in slow motion, which is perfect for those who might need to see the stitch done at a slower place.

I’ve included the videos in comments now and again, but I’ve decided to dedicate an entire post to her videos. Check out and enjoy!

Video Tutorial: How to make the crochet chain

Video Tutorial: How to make the single crochet

For those who want to learn more, check out more of YouTube user, Crochet’s, beginning crochet videos.

Crochet: Crocheted Yo-Yo afghan

Aynaria 6 Comments

Initially, I started making small crocheted rounds, to serve as facial scrubs. Although I don’t use them on my face — I just use a washcloth. I know a few people who do purchase those tiny discs to cleanse their face.

Yo yo afghan 1

Which got me thinking… Wouldn’t it be great if I made them some reusable discs? It’d be environmentally friendly, and save them some money too, since they’d just have to toss the crocheted discs into the laundry. Of course someone that of this too. They’re called ‘crochet scrubbies’ .

While making my ‘scrubbies’ I thought how neat it would make an afghan out of all those tiny circles. A few days ago, I discovered what I was calling ‘crochet rounds’ were also known as ‘Crocheted Yo-Yo’s’. I discovered this term, when I was searching for ‘circle afghans’. I didn’t find too much on that, but after some digging via the Google search engine I stumbled upon, ‘Crochet Yo-Yo’s’.

…and that’s how I learned about a Crocheted Yo-Yo afghan!

 

Of course after I made numerous discs, I stumbled upon a Crocheted Afghan tutorial. I’ve listed them below, enjoy!

Crocheted Yo-Yo Puff

Tutorial: Crocheted Yo-Yo afghan

  1. Flat braid Yo-Yo joining
  2. Net stitch Yo-Yo joining
  3. Hexagon Yo-Yo joining

Crocheted afghan, modified backpack, and a hand-sewn quilt… oh my!

Aynaria 1 Comment

Tomorrow, I have a few items to share for Work in Progress Wednesday; One is my first big crochet project that I’m slowly creating… So what’s the project? It’s a Yo-Yo afghan! Tomorrow, I’ll post pictures of my work in progress, along with tutorials I stumbled upon yesterday.

Three happy kids

The other work in progress item is actually finished, now.  I modified my daughters Monster High backpack. My daughter loves the Monster High dolls. Shocking, since she really hasn’t paid too much attention too dolls until last spring. I purchased the Monster High backpack before the school year started. I won’t be purchasing anything like that again.

This backpack would be fine for kids having a sleepover,  carrying extra items, but it’s not ideal for a kid who has a lot of books/homework. My daughter is in third grade, and the students carry several books home daily. Because of the amount of books she was carrying, the stress from having those books crammed into her backpack broke the cheaply made zipper.  I remember when zippers teeth were made out of metal. Grrr…

Part of the backpack transformation involved, removing the old zipper with my seam ripper.  The old zipper was upgraded to a heavy duty metal zipper that I ripped out of and old computer bag that was given to me but I never used. My Macbook Pro is 17″, that computer bag only fits computers up to 15″.

I keep my MackBook Pro in the  Brenthaven 17-Inch ProLite III shoulder case. Even though I didn’t need it, I held onto the smaller computer bag, ‘just in case’ and this time, being a packrat paid off, since I was able to utilize the old zipper in my daughters backpack.

After machine sewing the zipper to my daughters backpack. I added one embellishment. I made a crochet yo-yo, and attached it to her backpack. She loves her ‘new’ backpack

In other news…

Because of the amount of time and detail it’ll take to make the numerous crocheted Yo-Yo’s, I most likely will be holding off, making a quilt, until my Yo-Yo afghan is complete.

I’m hoping I can start working on a simple hand-sewn quilt by July. I had every intention to start working on a hand-sewn quilt sometime this month. I’ll have to put that on hold until July before I start. With my local quilting group, we have two quilters who hand sew their quilts. They’ve brought in some of them, and they’re absolutely breathtaking. Knowing that I have some experts right at my fingertips will come in handy if I run into any problems.

Crochet; Herding cats

Aynaria 12 Comments

Cats, cats, everywhere…. if my daughter had her way she’d have our house filled with felines.

My daughter absolutely adores cats. She’s been begging me for the longest to get a real cat, but thus far mommy isn’t budging! We have a few pets already; Shih Tzu, two guinea pigs, and one goldfish. So no… I not opening our home to any more animals.

Before the guinea pigs we had four ferrets, that we’d gotten from a local ferret rescue shelter. I absolutely adored them, but I have to admit that once they passed on — I wanted pets that didn’t do too much. Guinea pigs fit the bill nicely.

Amineko yellow 1

Since my daughter knows I’m not budging on a live cat… she’s settled for the stuffed cat toys — for now! I can live with that. High on her priority list are the incredibly cute crocheted cats. Above you can see the amigurumi cat, that I’m crocheting. The majority of it is finished, but I still need to complete a leg, tail, ears, stitch on the eyes, nose, and mouth.

Hello My Name is Amineko

A few weeks ago, I picked up the crochet book, Hello my name is Aminkeo: The Story of a Crafty Crochet Cat. This book differs from many crochet books I have, in that it tells a story (through pictures of crocheted kitties) about a crocheted cat named, Amineko and his friends, and their escapades.

Here’s what’s said about the author…

Born in Tokyo 1967, Nekoyama has been a life-long lover of cats. Cats and their endearing mischief have never failed to cheer her up. She created her first Amineko by accident and has never looked back. Today, she and her husband are the proud parents of many Aminekos. Nekoyama’s first book, A Day In the Life of Amineko, was published in Japan in 2005.

If you own a cat, I’m sure many of you will get a kick out of some of the cat like issues these crocheted cats encounter. I was impressed at how well the author did in mimicking a live cat behavior. I’ve had several cats throughout my life. My daughter loves this book, and has even taken it to her Lutheran school. I imagine to show it off to her classmates.

The direction on how to make these adorable kitties are included near the back of the book. It also has instructions for making additional accessories; fish, squid, and I think a sleep sack. Although I’m still new to crochet, I found the directions quite easy to follow.

Daughter: “Mommy, can you please make me cats in light grey, black, brown, white, red, and green?”

Me: (Mock horror) “All of those! Are you planning on becoming a cat herder?”

Daughter: (big grin) Yep!

Me: (fake grumbling) I’ll be busy for a while! We’ll see…

Daughter: Yeah!

From Wiki…

Herding cats may refer to:

  • An idiomatic saying that refers to an attempt to control or organize a class of entities which are uncontrollable or chaotic. Implies a task that is extremely difficult or impossible to do, primarily due to chaotic factors.

I’ll definitely post pictures once I finish my first crocheted amineko. Eventually I’ll get around to making her some additional amigurumi kitties. As mentioned in my housecleaning post, I picked up the audiobook 11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King. It came in handy, while I was reorganizing my bedroom. I’m halfway through it now. I’m loving the story, reminds me of Kings earlier work. ll be listening to that, while crocheting the adorable cats.

Edited to add:

Work in Progress Wednesday

I completely forgot it was Work in Progress Wednesday, I’m linking to the following works in progress…

  1. SimplyCrochet
  2. Tami Amis WIP
  3. Ambassador Crochet
  4. Yarn Along
  5. Frontier Dreams

Know your worth: Harlan Ellison — Pay the Writer

Aynaria 5 Comments

 

Harlan Ellison: Pay the Writer

Recently on Ravelry, there was a discussion about knitting and how much one should charge for their work. I’m not selling any of my crocheted items yet. I’m still learning, but I do see many crocheters and knitters undervaluing their work. Well, guess what? This applies to any profession. When I got interested in paper crafts, I saw it there. I do a lot of freebies for family and friends. I also volunteer my time to assist with local charities and I also make hand crafted items that are donated to various organizations.

If I ever get to that place where I do sell my crocheted designs — you won’t find me underselling myself. Those who do undervalue their work can make it challenging for those who are selling their work at a legitimate price, since some buyers might assume they’re getting ripped off. Talk about frustrating! I’ve experienced this when approached (by some people) about technical writing assignments, and in the past when selling my beadwork and sewing designs, however, I never undersold my services.

Anyway the discussion on Ravelry made me think about Harlan Ellison’s rant Pay the Writer. Now Harlan’s a bit more colorful than I’d be, I don’t swear, and you won’t find me threatening anyone, but watching the video you get the point. Although he’s speaking from a writer perspective, this can be applied to other professions also. With myself it took a lot of research, to ensure that I receive fair pay for the work I do.

Finished object Friday; Crocheted (dread)loc wrap

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Since I opted to black out my websites in protest of PIPA/SOPA I didn’t have the opportunity to participate in Work in Progress Wednesday, however I have finished the dreadlock wrap that I was working on last week. I added about two inches to the back of the wrap, and I added a flower. A crocheted beaded cord was created and woven into the back part of the wrap, to cinch it close.

I’m pleased with the effect, and look forward to making more crocheted head wraps. Over the past several years, I’ve sewn numerous head wraps, and purchased a few crocheted tams also. As much as I love the crocheted items I’ve purchased, it’s nice to be able to make my own.

Headwraps; Crocheted loc wrap

Aynaria 8 Comments

Opal 3

Last evening I crocheted this simple head wrap for my locs. It’s the same head wrap I wore while volunteering at the homeless shelter. If you look closely, you’ll see a pair of earrings. I made them myself. It’s one of my simpler beaded creations. The sweatshirt is my favorite; warm, roomy, and oh so comfortable! I wear it often.

I was planning to take photos (eventually) but my daughter beat me to that and snapped the above photo. I wasn’t aware she was taking the photo. In this picture, I was looking in the Ultimate Crochet Bible: A Complete Reference with Step-by-Step Techniques (C&B Crafts) for a finishing crochet stitch; I’ve settled on the shell stitch to edge the front of this head wrap.

suituapui says:
December 29, 2011 at 12:50 am

How about a photo of you wearing that? LOL!!! Imagine here in our hot country, we have those young guys wearing things like that – trying to be trendy by blindly imitating the ways of the west. Not very smart, I would say…
suituapui recently posted..Pamper me…

In the comment section of my post, Happy Hooker: Crocheted my first (human) hat, Suituapui had mentioned that I should actually wear some of my crocheted items within the photos, so here’s one of them. I do post photos on my Facebook page, I don’t post as many here on Celebrate Life.

Suituapui, has an amazing food blog, perfect for the foodies out there. He shares plenty of delectable photos, and tales of his foodie adventure that will keep you returning to his site for more.

I still have a few additions I’ll be including with this head wrap… one or two crocheted flowers will be added, with beads woven into the crochet stitch. And perhaps a beaded crocheted cord to cinch the back opening? I’ve sketched out how I’ envision the updated head wrap, the only thing left is to start hooking.