Star Wars Crochet Beanie

I wanted to give my husband something he wouldn’t expect for Christmas. We decided not to have wish lists last Christmas to shake things up a bit, but that left me wondering what I could give him. There are people I can make crochet gifts that I know would love them. He’s not necessarily one of them, but if it’s something he wants, then he’s all in. He’s into Star Wars and he often complains that his head is cold when we are at Disneyland so an idea was born, and I took a chance.

I found a graph on Pinterest that I thought would work. It involved using Fair Isle crochet and boy did it take me forever. Ok, not forever, just forever for me. I still finished in a couple of days. However, it was super frustrating not to work as quickly as I usually do. I kept messing up too.

First, I had to readjust the pattern because I used a thicker yarn. That wasn’t too bad, but it did require work and math and all that jazz. Then, I forgot to to repeat the pattern and had to undo hours of work. But after all that, and probably because I had to redo my work, I got better and faster on my second-go-round. I also messed up on the Tie Fighter design and then had to compensate and adjust the pattern again on the fly because there was no way I was going to start over a third time.

In the end, I was happy with the hat, and if my hubby didn’t like it or didn’t want to wear it, I could always wear it. That was my devious plan all along, because I love Star Wars too! But he liked it, so I guess it’s his afterall.

Check out the pattern here. I am not affiliated with this site.

Baby Yoda Crochet Mask – We Won!

I was asked to share how the Baby Yoda crochet mask did in the contest at my sister’s work. We won! Sadly, and for reasons unknown, they didn’t post the doll sporting the mask. But still, my sister won anyway, although I’m convinced that if they had used the right picture, we would have had a bigger lead! But I digress, we won!!!!

I asked my sister to take another pic of the doll wearing the mask after the win. I think the doll looks pretty happy, even though she didn’t get to make her debut. 🙂

2019 Small Crochet Graduation Hats

It’s time for our 5th graders to leave our program and our school, as they get ready to go off to middle school. Every year, I make them a little crochet graduation cap  in the school’s colors. It’s my small way of letting them know I enjoyed knowing them and hope they remember me as they continue on in life.

This years presentation of the little caps was my favorite so far. I bought jumbo-size Jawbreaker lollipops and made the hats so they would fit snuggly. I used styrofoam cups and a styrofoam ball. The kids thought they were snow cones! Yeah, they did look like snow cones. 🙂

The kids really liked them. I wrote a post and I made a YouTube tutorial about it when I originally made the hats. Here’s a look back at some of the previous years.

Crochet Fairy Costume – Outfit

As usual, I like working under a time crunch. I had a full week to finish my crochet doll fairy outfit for the Renaissance Faire. We go every year and we picked a weekend that was going to be relatively cool since I was representing in full-out crochet. I wasted no time and planned what would be done on what day.

Day 1-4

The corset/bustier whatchamacallit and arm cuffs

This actually took me longer than I expected but it was relatively easy. It was time consuming but easy. The top is just rows of single crochet, alternating between two rows of purple and black. The black skirt was double crochet with an increase round and back post stitches thrown in. The black skirt took the longest because the yarn was so darn thin and took forever to work up, but patience won out and I got it done. I also worked on the frame for the wings.

I was bouncing back and forth between the wings and the dress.

The frame for the wings were two wire hangers that I joined. I destroyed many wire hangers trying to get a good look. And what did I go with in the end? I took two hangers and just twisted the hook parts around each other and stretched the bottom of the hangers out. Sometimes simple is best, especially when you’re in a time crunch. I single crocheted around the whole thing. I set it aside for later.

Day 5

The skirt (goes under the black skirt)

The skirt did actually take me just one day,  a day of non-stop crochet, but just one day. 🙂 This was similar to the black skirt in that it was mostly double crochet. The waist got some single crochet but that was it. Oh, and the bottom edging was done in picots.

Day 6

I couldn’t decide how I wanted the wings to look. I had all sorts of notions but went with something simple and fast. Honestly, I felt like I was just slapping things together but it ended up looking pretty. The flowers were last minute touches that I think made the wings look complete.

My daughter said it looked like eyes so I added the flowers so it wouldn’t!

Day 7

Aaahhh, the hair. I left the hair for last because I had a clear picture of what I wanted and how I was going to achieve the look. I had planned on making a thin headband. I knew it would get hot so I didn’t want a full beanie with yarn all around. A ponytail could be achieved with strands around the border. My first attempt was a fail. Not enough coverage! I had to add more rounds to the head band and a second layer of strands, but that did the trick. Last but not least were the ringlets. I didn’t even secure them well because it was close to midnight and I wanted to sleep! I secured them just well enough so they wouldn’t fall out during the day. I reasoned I would permanently attach them after the fair.

I ended up loving it!

Overall, I was thrilled with how everything turned out and I made it in time for the fair!

I’ll write about our adventure in my  next post. Spoiler alert, the wig and wings were a big hit!

 

More Tunisian Crochet Phone Cases

Birthday season is finally over in our household. It gets kicked off right after Christmas with my son’s birthday, followed by my husbands birthday. Then immediately after (now February) by my birthday, and lastly, my daughter’s birthday a week later. This year, we had a party for my daughter and celebrated with friends and family. This is where I gave away the tunisian roses case to my sis-in-law.

My other friend had requested a phone case as well, so I modified a different tunisian crochet case I already had. I was going to make her a new one, but she liked that one, so I fixed it for her by adding more rows so it would fit her phone.

My sister saw that I was handing out phone cases and wanted one too. She liked the stitch on the tunisian one, so I worked on hers during the gathering. I finished just before she left.

Tunisian crochet simple stitch phone case

My other sister didn’t want to be left out so she picked out some yarn and I promised to make her a case.

Finished after the party using Tunisian knit stitch.

I started it before the party was over and my other sister (yep, the one who got one already) liked the new stitch and wanted another one. She told me to pick some nice colors and make her another one. We settled on purple and whatever looked good with purple.

Made after, after the party using Tunisian knit stitch.

It was a busy night (and next couple of days) but I always feel good when I make something useful for my family.

When Crochet Goes Wrong – Tunisian Crochet Roses

I recently came across a YouTube video on how to make tunisian crochet roses. I thought they were super cute so I gave it a try. Once I was done trying, I had to decide what to make with it. A phone case sounded like a good idea at the time.

I practiced the stitch at work and turned that one into a phone case first. Meh, I didn’t like it. The kids liked it so I threw it in the prize box.

I place the seam in the middle of the back instead of the side. I think it worked better.

I vowed to make the one at home look better. Meh, it came out worse but it covers the phone just fine. The sides bunched up in a way that made it turn inward when I sewed the sides together. I was doomed from the get-go. Then, I totally missed the mark on the bottom of the case. It looks more like a stocking.

I seamed this one on the side and that didn’t work out so well.

I guess that’s what happens sometimes when  you’re eyeballing things instead of having a clear cut plan. It’s a cute pattern though. Not sure if I’ll use it again, or even for what I would use it again, but it sure is cute. My sis-in-law liked it so I added a little more to the top (not shown) so it would fit her phone. She’s happy with it so I guess it’s a win.

Golden Rainbow Crochet Doll

I haven’t made a crochet doll in ages but I’ve recently given myself a swift kick in the pants. I know that sounds kinda mean but I absolutely needed it. I had projects that needed seeing to and no one was seeing to them. With the end of the year bearing down upon me, I just had to kick it into high gear.

Finally! A doll is born.

First up was my sweater/coat/cardigan. I gave me the stink eye and threatened that there would be consequences if I didn’t get that sucker done and lo and behold, I finished it and was finally able to give it to my sister.

Next up was the Christmas tree. We have an artificial tree, and it was buried way, way, way, deep in the closet under Halloween boxes, Easter boxes, computer boxes and all kinds of other miscellany. I just didn’t want to go through that clutter-jungle. To add insult to injury, I would need to figure out exactly where I was supposed to put the tree. My kiddo moved back in and I consequently had to find new places for many of my things, so the tree spot was no longer available. Upon announcing to my hubs that the tree would remain in the closet of doom, he revolted. The tree had to go up he said. I said, you know the way too and pointed to the closet.

Crochet Cardigan/Sweater Finally Completed!

For those who didn’t believe it would ever happen (mainly me and maybe my sister who it’s for), I finally finished plugging up all those holes in my first ever crochet sweater (coat, cardigan). It’s been three years in the making, and I just couldn’t let another winter go by without finishing it.

What an incredibly stupid thing to do! I can’t believe I actually allowed myself to plug up all those holes. I would definitely not recommend it to anyone. It took so long to do each square and was tiring on my hands. I could barely tolerate doing two squares a day. That’s why it took me so long to finish it. I don’t usually abandon my crochet projects like that. Sure, I get tired of something and don’t want to do it anymore, but that’s a true abandonment. I give up on it with no intention to finish it. I’m ok with that.

This, THIS, was different. I wanted to finish it. I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. It was so easy to just say I would do a few more squares another day, and then ignore it. I would have days of motivation and thought, “This is it! I’m going to finish!” I would do a few squares, think it wasn’t so bad and that I would do a few more the next day and then, you guessed it, nada, zilch, less than zilch.

But then, winter was coming (ok, winter was here), a third winter since I’d started. How could I face my sister again without a finished sweater! How could I let her go cold another winter?! I had to finish!

And I finally did. I had a laser sharp focus and didn’t work on anything else and it finally happened. I wish I could say it was all worth it, but it wasn’t. Halfway through, I thought about just ripping out all the plugs I had already done and just sewing on a fabric lining. I couldn’t bring myself to cut out all that hard work though. When I was done, it looked pretty, but all those plugs make it drape differently. I don’t like it as much as I did before the plugs. Maybe all that work makes me biased against that dumb sweater. Hopefully my sister will like it better than I do.

But alas, it is done and I bid it adieu.

Finished Crochet Coraline

I’ve been working hard on the Coraline crochet doll so I could get to my next project at work. I’ve really enjoyed making her but am glad she’s done. I’ll probably make different versions of her to see what I like best, but then again, maybe I won’t. Sometimes I just make something and move on, but I really like her, so we’ll see. 🙂

Before she had a nose 🙂

And then she got a nose and went out in the garden.

 

Student Crochet Corner

After only two weeks into the school year, one of my 4th grade students made this:

At the end of the last school year, she had been practicing single crochet. She walked in this year, a brand new 4th grader, and immediately started crocheting. She wanted to play with color and made several rows. I taught her how to weave in ends (she had a lot). I explained that she’d need patience and not to rush through it. Once she finished (she did indeed have patience), I brainstormed with her on what her work could become. We settled on a phone case and I know she was very proud of it. I was very impressed as well. 🙂