Summer Doll Outfit

A very simple circle skirt, pieced from scraps from the children's skirts. Paired with my go-to top for dolls, a crochet cardigan. I added a covered button, mainly to hide all the mistakes on the neckline of the cardigan.

Ravelry pattern linked from my notes here. I don't know why I made so many mistakes. I have made this pattern twice before. I mis-counted the v-stitches and it ended up too small too. I added a row of spaced double crochet as button bands.

I am going to try to lengthen this into a dress one day.

Granny Square Blankets

I bought this lovely DK cotton when I first got into crochet and it was time to use it up. Some doll beds were coming for Christmas, so it was nice to give something handmade to go with them.

I decided to start a Granny Square and carry on in alternating stripes until I ran out of yarn. I did the two concurrently so that they would match, and be about the same size. I like that they are almost the same, but not identical.  I had 6 colours of the cotton and I also added a scrap of bamboo that toned well. I left out a lime green, so I had turquoise, light blue, hot pink, cream, mid pink and lilac. I used the cream for the border in a fan stitch.

I've decided that, as much as I love creating Granny Squares, I don't love the bitty look of them. After much Ravelry browsing, I have decided that the best way to make them work is to repeat the same colour for at least two rows, if not three, and to ideally use colours in the same tones. I think this makes them look more coherent. 

Blankets are delivered, so I'm retiring from Granny Squares. For now.

Another doll hat and top

This is a direct re-run of the previous crochet outfit, just in a different colour. It is made from DMC Petra Crochet Cotton 3. I love the teal colour.

This was given away to a friend, and Big Sis made the white skirt herself!

Crochet Scarves

These two scarves have been crocheted out of sock yarn, hand dyed by a fibre artist in Vancouver, Yoriko, who works at a studio in Granville Island. We had fun browsing the yarns and choosing the skein.  The lovely blues of this one made it an easy choice. The 100% wool, sock yarn was not as easy to make up into something nice. There is no drape at all, and I had a few false starts to come up with something. I first knit a chevron shape, then crocheted a ripple stitch, but both were as stiff as anything and used huge amounts of yarn. So I reverted to my trusty double-crochet-with-chain-stitch to make up this open weave.

It's not the greatest yarn for scarf making, but she hasn't complained that it is too scratchy. Perhaps the lesson is that sock yarn is really meant for socks!

Summer Doll Outfit

Now that Winter has taken a firm hold of the skies above this rainy, dark island, it is the perfect time to make a summer outfit for those dolls.

This pale blue crochet cotton has been giving me the eye ever since my mother salvaged it from the kerbside rubbish pickup in Australia. It is a lovely weight and colour and I am so delighted that I could take something that was being thrown away and enjoy the process of turning it into something new that will be enjoyed in turn.

First attempt = #fail

Since I didn't know how much was on the ball, I started with a doll hat. Pattern linked from my Ravelry notes. I do like these Elaine Phillips doll patterns, generously given away. The gauge was way off. I made the whole hat with the 2.5mm hook and it came out ridiculously small.
I didn't swatch, I just pulled it out and remade with my favourite size hook, the 4mm. It came out great.

The pattern has the crown continuing to increase as it moves down towards the hat band. This changes the shape into more of a bonnet, the brim re-enforces that effect. I liked the hat much better once I had added the ribbon, which pulled the whole thing in a little more. I left off the last row of the brim because I wanted to conserve yarn. This size frames the face nicely and a larger brim will get floppy quickly.

The Summer Top is made from the same yarn, in the same style, by the same pattern designer. It actually uses less yarn than the hat. Those dolls have big heads. Luckily they don't mind wearing a top that is a bit sheer, but this wouldn't transfer into a human garment without a lining, or a vest underneath.

I upsized my hook again and mistakenly increased too much over the first few rows. I used them up in the sleeve caps, which have 4 fan stitches each, instead of 3. Lucky I did, because the sleeves are a perfect fit, if not a little on the small side.

I added a few more repeats of the shell stitch down through the body, about two extra, to take the top to just below the doll's waist.

I liked the outfit so much, I bought some more crochet cotton (3 ply) to make more! I love this yarn! Every time I discover a new yarn, it becomes my new favourite. Then I buy loads of it so I can have matching colourways to make new things. I restrained myself with just a turquoise and a white this time. Reasoning that the second ball is required to reduce the cost of shipping for both. (£8 for one, £12 for two - should have got three!) When it arrived, I thought it was way to thin and almost sent it back. But when I compared it to the original baby blue, it was exactly the same.

The skirts are made up from some scraps of broderie anglaise that my mother in law had stashed. It was a long, skinny scrap, looking a lot like a table runner. I used 3 widths of it for the skirt and made French seams. I wanted a ribbon tie waistband, but that would be too fiddly for children, so elastic it was. I kept the length below the knee. I'm going to help Big Sis make one of these for her BFF.

Crochet Ballet Bun Net

I had a tiny scrap of cotton yarn and it was the perfect colour to match the light blue leotard that my girls wear to ballet. I decided to make a bun net.

I searched for a pattern that was extremely net-like. Most of the ones I found were lovely, but had far too high a yarn:hair ratio. They looked too much like tea cosies. Instead, I made up my own version using triple crochet with lots of chain stitches in between.

Here are my notes (terms are US crochet terms):

Row 1: Chain (Ch) 8, join to form ring.

Row 2: Ch 7, *Triple Crochet (Tr) into ring, Ch 3* 5 times, join with slip stitch (sl st) to 4^th Ch at beginning of row. This makes a "wheel" with 6 "spokes".

Row 3: Ch 7, *Triple Crochet (Tr) into row 2, Ch 3* 11 times, join with slip stitch (sl st) to 4^th Ch at beginning of row. One Tr into stitch below, one into Ch between. This doubles the size of the "wheel" and the number of "spokes".  (If a larger diameter net is needed, repeat this row, doubling the stitches again.)
Row 4: Ch 7, *Tr into top of each Tr from row 3, Ch 3 between* 11 times. Join. This turns the corner to start the sides of the net by keeping the number of "spokes" the same.
Row 5: Same as Row 4. To make the net deeper, this row can be repeated as many times as needed.
Row 6: Ch 4, *Double crochet into row 5, ch 1* Once into the top of each "spoke", once in between. Join. This creates an edge for threading the elastic and/or ribbon.
Finishing: Thread elastic and sew into a loop and/or thread ribbon and leave ends loose for ties.

Making this was very fast, but I don't love triple crochet. Maintaining the tension is hard and my stitches were quite loose and loopy. But it is a perfect way to use up those last few scraps of crochet cotton.

Felt pouch, with tutorial

I had a gift wrapping emergency this week, so I decided to make my own gift pouch.

Here’s how I did it:

Supplies:

1 x felt rectangle

1 x piece of fabric (half a Fat Quarter is about right, depending on the size of the felt)

1 x snap

Thread

Yarn for crochet decoration
Button for decoration

Instructions:

   1.       Cut lining fabric so that it overhangs the felt by 1cm on all sides.

   2.       Fold the sides of the lining fabric inwards by 1.5cm, wrong sides together. Press. You can make mitred corners if you like.

   3.       Pin the lining fabric to the felt, wrong sides together and topstitch in place.

   4.       Hold the lined felt so that it is facing you in “Portrait orientation”. Fold up along the bottom just over 1/3 of the way up.

   5.       Stitch along sides of folded edge, reinforcing at the top edge. You now have an open envelope.

   6.       Fasten with a snap. If your snap is very large, or strong, you might need to include some interfacing inside the lining fabric before you attach it to the felt.

   7.       Decorate the front flap. You could sew a collection of buttons on the front, embroider a motif with embroidery thread or yarn. I made a crochet flower with a button centre. Pattern linked from my Ravelrynotes.

Crochet Cotton Scarf - Happy Mother's Day, Mum!

I found this lovely variegated cotton yarn in a dollar store in Australia. Dollar stores have some great craft ingredients. Mum offered to buy it for me and I have loved being able to make it up into a scarf for her!

From the first, I wanted to make a crochet scarf from it, and I really wanted to do it as a zig zag crochet project. The colours came out beautifully, but the fabric was very dense, way too firm for a scarf. It made me think of a placemat!

So I needed something looser, a pattern that would make a fabric with drape.  One of my favourite qualities of cotton yarn is its drape, and it would be a shame not to show that off.

Crocheting into the foundation chain is tedious work! I made it harder still by making the scarf too wide. I really like the way that the variegated yarn pools in the wider section, but I had to switch to adding to the side of the scarf so that I would not run out of yarn, and to make it a better width for a summer scarf. You can see the change in direction in the picture below. It looks a bit like I meant it when it is worn. Two different patterns for the two tails of the scarf.

I think crochet is the perfect technique for a scarf. Being uniform produces fabric with no wrong or right side, so it does not matter which side shows when the scarf is worn.

Happy Mother's Day, Mum! I love you! X

Little Yarn Bags

I've been making some cotton bags as gifts for my nieces. I love the colours in this cotton yarn and cotton is one of my favourite fibre types of all time. Great stitch definition and drape.

I have one crochet and one knit bag to show off here. They are both about 25 stitches across, the crochet is double crochet and the knit is garter stitch. The knit came out really stretchy and the crochet is very firm. Completely different fabrics from the same yarn and the same hands. I find this fascinating.

Ravelry links to the knit and the crochet have all the details.

Granny Square Doll Blanket

After my first crochet class, I came home and cast on (hooked on?) for more granny squares. I don't normally buy acrylic yarn, but this seemed like the right yarn for this sort of project. I added the pink, green and turquoise to my stash, plus worked in some scraps from other projects. 

My class gave me enough information to be able to go away and figure out some other techniques for myself. For example, I figured out the joining method, with help from the internets, and joined these using a slip stitch on the right side. I would like to try this in a contrast yarn some time. The edging scallop is made from a set of single and double stitches: single, 3x double, single.

My squares are a bit uneven, I guess my tension is off, plus some of the scraps are different weights. I'm not too bothered about the waviness, it's fine for a practice project and blocking is not going to work in acrylic.

I'm looking forward to using up many of my scraps in such a fun way.

Crochet Granny Square

My first crochet - I made a Granny Square!

I went to a class at a local craft workshop, Tea and Crafting, and learned to crochet by making a Granny Square. Who knew that this is the perfect thing to teach beginners how to crochet? I've been wanting to make these for ages, and now I know.

It's not perfect, and the colours would not be my first choice, but I am pleased with it and am giving myself extra credit for getting out there and learning a new craft skill.

I had looked up online crochet tutorials, but I think this is a craft that is best taught in person. I could make an endless row of chain stitches, but nothing else. This has given me the foundation to think about other stitches and patterns and maybe turn this into a craft in regular rotation around here.

I even went home and worked out single crochet to add a row of stitches to my brown jumper. Next up, I'm making a series of squares, which will probably end up being a doll blanket.