Crochet Backpack

I’ve lost my Tinkerbell backpack. I always used it when I went to Disneyland. It was just the right size and fit comfortably. I have no idea where it went. I think it’s around here somewhere ready to be found. I thought about buying a new one. Then I spied all those crochet squares I made for the Craft Yarn Council course I took. An idea took hold.

What to do with all those samples has been on my mind off and on since I finished the course. A blanket? Nah, I have lots of those. Purses? Maybe… A backpack? Yes! I started rummaging through what I had, thinking I could mix and match, but when I actually tried to put pieces together, I was disappointed. Why oh why did I use so many different colors and types of yarn?!

I managed to pull out 8 squares that were the same color red and lilac. I made two groups of four and crocheted them together. Then I made a long strip of tunisian crochet for the middle part of the backpack.

I’m currently working the top with red Caron One Pound Yarn.

Not sure how I want to finish the closure yet. Zipper? Flap? Or pull top? We’ll see.

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Update On Giveaway Crochet Baby Sweater

I’m so excited to share news of what became of the baby sweater I made for the Craft Yarn Council course. I had to make a baby sweater as my final for the program.

Final sweater (Not my pattern)

Before making that final baby sweater, I made a tester-sweater to make sure I knew what I was doing. Here is the life-size crochet doll I made wearing the tester sweater. It was too small for her! But being a doll, she didn’t care. 😉

I usually only make clothes for my crochet dolls but I’ve been known to make a cami or two, and maybe even a sweater coat. 🙂 These items have only been worn by me or my family, never by anyone else. Sure, I’ve made hats, headbands and scarves that others have worn, but not actual clothes.

So imagine how elated and humbled I am that that baby sweater is being worn and loved by a beautiful toddler. A toddler that is not related to me and that I had never met. Squeeeeee! Her mom (over at sparkscrochet) entered my first (and only) giveaway.

She posted about an adorable C2C blanket she made and was kind enough to include a pic of her toddler wearing the sweater. I hope you check it out! I love her blog and think it deserves a shout-out AND I want to share my joy. Even if I someday end up making clothes that are worn by a gazillion people, it will never be the same as this two year old loving and wearing something I  made.

So thank you sparkscrochet for sharing that adorable pic of your baby girl wearing the sweater. 🙂

Blogaversary Crochet Giveaway!

My First Giveaway!

In honor of my three year blogaversary and also passing two levels of the Teacher Certification course from the Craft Yarn Council, I am giving away two of the projects I completed in the course.

First, let me say how appreciative I am of my blogging community, those that follow me and those that I follow. So many of the blogs I follow have been such an inspiration for my own blog and I can only hope that my blog has inspired someone else’s. Here’s to another wonderful blogging year!

Item 1: Crochet baby sweater

It’s technically a baby sweater but it can be used on a large doll. Sized for infants 12-18 months in Barnat baby sport (3) acrylic yarn.

Item 2: Flat crochet doll

This is my first giveaway so it’s a bit of a learning curve for me, which is why I haven’t done one already (even though I’ve wanted to for a bit). I think the biggest fear is that no one will want what I’m giving away, followed by the fear that I’m not doing it right. This being the start of a new year, I don’t want that holding me back. I’m going to dive in and give it a shot and learn as I go.

Unfortunately, this giveaway is only for the USA entrants. International shipping is a bit beyond my reach.

How to win

I want to keep it simple. Just leave a comment stating which item you’d like to be entered for (you can be entered for both if you like). I want to make sure you get something you want. 🙂

There’s no need to ‘follow’ or ‘like’ anything but if you’re not a follower already, I hope you take a moment to look around and ‘follow’ and ‘like’ if you enjoy what you see. 🙂

Good luck! (For me too!)

Official rules

• No purchase necessary
• Void where prohibited by law
• The number of eligible entries received determines the odds of winning
• This giveaway is limited to those over the age of 18 for both privacy and legal reasons
• Winners will be selected randomly and I’ll run the contest until January 19th, 2018 -I’ll announce a winner on Jan. 22, 2018
• By entering, if you win, you give me permission to announce your name or handle on my blog and Instagram
• Prizes will be mailed to recipients’ addressess
• The two winners will be announced on Jan. 22, 2018 via a blog post. Winners will be notified via WordPress or via Instagram Direct and must provide an address to mail the prize

Freebie Friday – Tunisian Crochet Phone Case

I haven’t done a Freebie Friday in a while, mainly because I haven’t had as much time to dig around the internet for cool patterns (or write up my own). But since I was tasked (forced) to make something for CYC course, it seemed like a no brainer to share it. Ok, no one tasked (forced) me. Making your own pattern was optional, but since I went ahead and wrote up my own pattern, here it is. 🙂

Tunisian crochet mobile-phone case

Craft Yarn Council Teacher Certification Level 2 Passed!

It took a while but I finally received my pin and certificate for level 1. I had already sent in my level two swathes and was waiting to hear about my exit call for level 2 to go over my work. This time around, I didn’t pass right away. Overall, my master teacher had good things to say. She commented on how good my weaving in of the tails was. I was glad because I was a bit obsessive about it. She said it was obvious I loved tunisian crochet because that swatch was great and my lesson plans were based around a tunisian crochet phone case of my own design that she liked.

She asked if I published my designs and I replied that I don’t. She said I should publish my tunisian designs. Was that my heart skipping a beat? I think it was. I was floating.

Then came the crash to earth. She said most of my swatches were excellent but she did have a few comments about some of them.

Tunisian Swatch – CYC Level 2

I was diligently working on my swatch of Tunisian crochet for level two (Craft Yarn Council teacher certification). It wasn’t hard. I know how to do Tunisian crochet. I LOVE Tunisian crochet. Then why did it take me so many tries to get it right?! The square itself was easy enough. I had that down and had my perfect five inch square. The trouble was the second part of the the instructions. I needed to cross-stitch my initial on the square. Again, I know how to cross-stitch on Tunisian crochet.

The problem was trying to do it the way they had it in the manual. Personally, I like going from the back to the front of the fabric but the instructions had you doing it under the loops or something. I’d seen this before and always just did it my way. So I needed to practice. Luckily, I had a reject square that didn’t come out the right size the first time around.

First, I had to decide on the shape and size my initial would be and then I had to practice it their way. I’m not sure why, but I ended up with a huge ‘Y’. It didn’t say the letter had to be big but I went BIG. I practiced the cross-stitching and placement on that reject square. I undid the cross stitch a few times but I was finally satisfied and was ready to do the cross stitching on my good square. The size was good and the stitches looked good and I had the cross-stitch down and then I noticed it was off-center!