Some sewing...

Once in a while, I'd like to do a sewing project. It seems easy compared to a crochet project - you have a finished product in less time. Of course I make only small projects - big sewing projects might not be fun :p So I combined my current inclination, recycling denim fabrics and sewing.

I think it turned out nicely with crochet too...it gets more interesting as I dream up other design possibilities!

Latest in Crochet and other Stuff...

Recently I've made a few interesting discoveries in crochet, aside from newspaper yarn mentioned in my previous post. For one, tapestry crochet. The technique is not new and I've also made a few projects and designs using tapestry crochet. But I'm not good with colors and prints, so I have been looking for nice designs to crochet. While browsing on Ravelry I found some wonderful bag designs using tapestry crochet technique.

These are from a talented artist in Australia, Anne Churches, who specializes in creating rugs and bags. I almost bought a bag, but it would be too expensive with the shipping cost. So I thought I should at least try out one of her patterns. I think it is on an introductory price at $2.50AUD.  I bought one bag pattern, and hope to start on that project soon...

Now for a look at some projects I finished this week. Since we revived the crochet livelihood program at Project Brave Kids, I got inspired to make small items we can possibly work on in the next few weeks.

I've made a couple new designs of small doilies (5 inches in diameter) that can also be used as topper for jar covers.

I also finished two sets of glass cozies using my pattern from a few years ago, Striped Shells Glass Cozy. I published the pattern here. One ball of Cannon or Monaco cotton thread, with partial balls for contrast color will make 4 cozies. This is one set of 4, in green color:

I hope to come up with samples of other small projects, including cellphone cases.

Last but not least, I finally finished the black tunic ordered from me!

Recycled Fabric Crochet Hook Case - free tutorial

I've been looking for recycled fabric projects, especially those wherein I can use old or discarded denim pants I've collected over the past several years.
Now I came up with a quick and easy project for our crochet group. I'm sharing it here as well.
Simple sewing and crocheting skills will be used for this project.

Materials:
Denim fabric or other thick fabric like felt, measuring at least 14 inches long by 1 1/2 inches wide,
1/4-inch garter, measuring 2 1/2 inches long, or,
Button, velcro or snaps for closure,
A few yards of crochet thread or yarn
Sewing needle, pins, measuring tape

Crochet Hook Case
1. Measure the fabric, 14 inches by 1 1/2 inches, and cut without allowance.

2. Measure 6 inches, fold up and pin into place.

If using garter for closure, position the garter at least 3/4 inch from the top of the opening, tuck in the end of the garter in between the fabric.

3. With crochet thread, sew blanket stitch across the sides and top flap.

Finished! You may now add your desired embellishments.

Here are two hook cases I made:

Crochet recycled materials...

I'm amazed that around the world resourceful women (and men) have found various ways of using what others call trash, for crocheting items that will become useful and saleable.
Here are some examples:
1. Plastic bags - Some have made a profit or found it rewarding to crochet using yarn made from plastic bags. (Crocheters named this material as plarn.) Washing, drying and cutting the discarded plastic bags to be used as yarn is a tedious process, but the material is free and its everywhere. A local group here in the Philippines, with the help of U.S. Peace Corps volunteers were able to have a sustainable income crocheting bags and other accessories from discarded plastic bags.

2. Another group of women here in the Philippines with the help of Ann Wizer, crochet with recycled plastic bags.

3. A crochet designer in the Philippines, Moira, started designing and publishing patterns without investing in yarn. She used plarn for most of her initial works and her resourcefulness and creativity paid off with lots of viewership online, earning her income from publishing.

4. Crocheting with Pop-tabs from aluminum cans? I've seen some samples of this, on T.V... I have seen finished items in the mall, and its a bit expensive.

5. There's this Italian artist who knits and crochets yarn made from newspaper! Though it is hard to imagine wearing the items made from newspaper, it can be preserved as a work of art. Maybe we should experiment on this sometime, as we can easily get some old newspapers. I think making them into balls of "yarn" in itself can become a hobby ;)
Here are some of Ivano Vitali's recycled yarn:

6. T-shirt or fabric yarn is a more popular recycled material for knitting and crocheting, since it is easier on the hands and the resulting items are very practical to use. There are some tutorials in making t-shirt, sweater or fabric into yarns and various projects to make or to get inspiration from.
I've started experimenting on this, with an old shirt, an old dress, and a fabric scarf that I don't use. Cutting the material into yarn is harder than crocheting it...
This is a 26-inch square scarf, I don't know what the fabric is made of. It frays a lot and will be a bit similar to fur yarn.

This other recycled yarn I'm getting from an old skirt is more crochet-friendly. Its easy to crochet and best of all it doesn't fray :)

More about recycled projects soon...

More crochet projects for February

Here is another projects update!
From hats to cellphone cases, now here are some scrunchies ;)

Two scrunchies I finished in two days. I love this pattern by Moira, the resulting crochet fabric is exactly what I want for a scrunchie - not too lacey or frilly and not too thick. And as a bonus, Moira invented a way to unlock the finishing seam so you can replace the garter when it is worn out. As we know crochet is very durable, but the elastic inside can wear out and will need to be replaced. This is the ultimate scrunchie pattern, try  it and see for yourself!

Now back to cellphone cases, I just finished another one!
I love the animal theme and I love the natural colors...I'll try to make more variations.
Here's my bear cellphone case:

Can't help but say, its soooo cute!

Another puppy cellphone case

Finished another puppy cellphone case and made it pose on the scanner...hehe. 

While I intended to make items to sell, I'm not making much progress since I've been making stuff that I could use myself. Both of these puppy cellphone cases are protecting my two cheap cellphones ;)

Puppy with heart cellphone case

While browsing online, I saw some cute cellphone cases. I got inspired and went on to crochet with one of the animal design inspiration in mind. Here is what I made:

Construction starts at the bottom, and continues in a spiral to the top, then ears and handle is crocheted continuously. The paws, muzzle,and eyelids are crocheted separately and sewed in place. Then a tiny heart is sewed on its hand.
It could even stand on its own, though I really didn't plan on making it that way ;)

Valentine Crochet

There are now dozens of free crochet patterns at CrochetPatternCentral with a Valentine's day theme.
Here's one that I chose to make. I finished it in two hours while watching t.v. :)
Its a smaller version than the original, since I used thread (two strands) and 2.5mm hook. It resulted in a finished project that's about the size of my hand.

Most of the time I use someone else's pattern, I get inspired to make my own.
Since I love miniaturizing crochet stuff, I thought I should make the smallest heart I could crochet.

I wrote up the pattern for the tiny heart here.

See, there are so many lovely things you can crochet when you don't have a love life :p 

Crochet round-up for the week...

After finishing a sort of challenging project in January, I decided this month of February I'd be working on small items. I was hoping to stock up on items to sell, but as of today I've only finished two caps, a coin purse (which I want to keep!), and a doily that was a match for my vase. Hmm...I'd have to really focus on making more items.

The oval mat now with a simple, neat edging:

Crochet Caps!

Recently I've decided to spend some time making items to sell. I've missed several chances to sell finished items, when all I had to offer were patterns. I couldn't decide what to make until I talked with two ladies at the mall, who wanted to learn how to crochet. I showed them samples of my work, mostly hats from my free patterns. Their excitement over the hats inspired me to start making more. I think hats are saleable - even though its warm here :p For the younger people, the Warm Cap with Brim appeals the most. One of the ladies didn't want to take it off her head, and wanted to borrow my sample. Since I made a rule for myself not to lend my one and only sample, I set out to make another one. I bought brown acrylic yarns (not exactly the shade I wanted, though).
I couldn't wait to finish it and share it with my new recruits ;)

Crochet cellphone cases

I spent some time yesterday looking for ideas for cellphone cases to crochet. I plan to make several of them in my spare time, so I could have some items ready to sell...
One of the designs I want to make is this Cell Phone Amigurumi by Karla Fitch. I plan to make it a cell phone case instead.
I found other design inspirations, and will try to make my own version. But first, here's a variation of my Chic Cellphone Purse

I was going to make a cellphone purse, but I made it into a coin purse instead (more details here on Ravelry). I'll have to write down the modified pattern, and include it in my original pattern ;)

Oval Mat

I found this oval mat free pattern at Gosyo and thought this would do for now.
Made with smaller hook and size 5 yarn, 4 rounds of the pattern is enough for my vase. I could add a decorative edging later on...

Crochet a day - Oval doily

January is over, what have we made for the love of crochet?

I've just finished a project that I couldn't share yet...other than that, I didn't crochet much in January.
(I wasn't able to submit to a couple of crochet publications calling for submissions. I wanted to, but things got in the way again, and the deadline passed.)
I know I don't crochet as much as I should, having made this hobby into a business. Oh well, this time I'll try to stay focused on this business.
For this month of February, I challenge myself to take up crochet everyday - whether its a new design, a crochet project, a free pattern, anything crochet-related. I will be posting about it as often as I can, maybe even daily - for this month.

Today's crochet started out in search of an oval doily.
I have this small vase, which my Mother gave me about 25 yrs ago. Its made in Japan, and is oval-shaped. I tried using a dainty round doily, but it didn't look so right.

I began searching for patterns on Ravelry, looking for oval shaped doilies. I also looked at my books - most of the oval ones are huge and intricate. I don't plan to spend much time to make this doily, but I want it to be nice and to complement the vase. I then searched for anything oval, and I saw this flower. I made the flower, but I've yet to make an oval doily :p

Winding yarn for crochet

Here in the Philippines, we don't have much variety of yarns to choose from for our crochet or knitting hobby. For those who are able to order yarn from abroad, or receive it as a gift, a hank of yarn is luxury!

In 2007, I received this special silk yarn from Argentina, from my friend Vik. Its so lovely! I'm still saving it until I'm sure I've got the right project...

For me, a hank of gorgeous yarn is just so nice to look at and so wonderful to feel, its like I don't want to turn it into something else! But if I really need to use it for a project, I'd have to wind it into a ball...
Winding yarn manually is easy once you get to practice it. A gadget isn't necessary, but if you have a swift and a yarn winder it would save you some time.
Note: Skeins of yarn are tied together at intervals to prevent tangling. Do not untie the skeins until you are ready to wind the yarn into balls.
Here are the simple steps to manually wind yarn.
First hang the skein on the back of a chair so the skein forms a circle, cut or untie the knots.

Pick up one end of the yarn and begin winding. You can follow the steps here, or do as I did:

I used the cardboard tube found at the center of the Cannon threads from my previous projects. If you can't find one, a toilet paper tube cut into half can also be used ;)

Wind the yarn evenly on the center of the cardboard, then continue winding diagonally, while slowly rotating the cardboard in the opposite direction.

Continue in the same manner, and you can see the yarn will form neatly into a ball.

In a few minutes, you're done!

Good to be Back!

Its been more than three months since my computer broke down...turned out, the computer is still ok and only the electrical outlet was defective! So now I had to change its location and plug it on another outlet. While doing that I rearranged furniture and stuff and also got to clean some neglected areas and corners of the house. I think that's a good way to start the year! However, much as I'd like to take control and put everything back to "normal", I didn't get so lucky...my older son got sick last week. He's now well but still on sick leave, and now my younger son is sick! I feel like getting sick myself, but I've got no time for that. Soon as my family is well, I'll be focusing on my crochet projects and designs. I'm so eager to get going again! I also have some tips and tricks that I haven't shared yet...
Meanwhile, that's a picture of me and my SIL last Christmas, featuring my own design using Cannon threads. I finished it a year ago. Pattern will be available in print, soon (I hope!)

The Year 2011 in Crochet Stuff

First of all, Happy New Year everyone! Thank you once again for your continued support :)

Its been a long while...I took a little trip down memory lane. I went to the Internet Archives and found a view of my old blog:
http://web.archive.org/web/20051231102443/http://mycrochetstuff.blogspot.com/

and here's a not so far away flashback:
http://web.archive.org/web/20080512203610/http://mycrochetstuff.blogspot.com/

Hmm...looks like not much has changed in appearance, since I started in 2005. But I did work on a lot of crochet stuff, when life didn't get in the way :p I have a lot more free patterns now, a lot more published patterns and more patterns for sale :)

Here are some statistics:

Blog followers: 304
Likes me on Facebook: 409
Ravelry Designs: 88
Ravelry Projects: 458
Free patterns: 34
Self-published patterns: 83
Printed patterns by Coats Manila Bay: 7
Published pattern in a magazine: 1
Published patterns in a book: 2
Published in Crochet Calendar: 5 yrs.
Total patterns sold on Ravelry since May 2008: xxx
Total patterns sold on Etsy since Nov 2007: xxx
Total blog visits since May 2005: 1,021,728
Total page views is 1,972,841
Blog advertising income received in 2011: $xxx.

Well, there's still a lot of room for improvement; I'm showing the numbers for comparison at the end of 2012. Hopefully I will get rich in 2012...haha!
As this year ends, I'm just thankful that I'm still doing what I love to do, and promise myself to devote more time to my designs and to teaching and sharing crochet whenever the opportunity comes.

Here's another look at my crochet designs and projects in 2011:

Striped Scarf with Knotted Fringe

Summer Shells Scarf
     free pattern

Lacey Shrug project

Crochet-covered button

     free pattern   

Summer Crochet Band  - free pattern

 

Mini Booties Souvenir

     free pattern

     Blooming Flower Motif Shrug

Flower Accent - free pattern

Coin Bracelet
     free pattern

Dachshund Amigurumi

   free pattern 

Puppy Cellphone Charm project

Scottish Terrier Amigurumi projects

Santa Dog Amigurumi projects

Christmas Star Ornament
     free pattern

I couldn't show here yet some designs I finished...hopefully those will be happily introduced in the coming months :)