Monday, February 24, 2014

One Hour Project- Crochet Bow Headband

Crochet Bow Headband


I have been wanting to try this tutorial for the longest time. You can find the tutorial here Crochet Bow Headband . It's so simple and quick to work up, I would say an hour or less.

This tutorial says you can use any stitch you want. I chose a single crochet stitch or (sc). She didn't give any instruction on the pattern, so I thought I'd explain what I did.


Materials 
embroidery needle
yarn ( I used RedHeart Shimmer in hot pink)
glue gun


Pattern
Start by chaining 7
skip the first ch and (sc) in the next 6 stitches, ch1, turn
*(sc) in each st, ch1, turn - 6 st.
Continue from * until you reach the desired length for the bow. The tutorial says 16" long, that is what I did.



I hope you enjoyed making this as much as I have! Happy crocheting!




Friday, February 21, 2014

Our trip to Niagara Falls

Left to right: Danielle, me, Taylor and Samantha

 I haven't talked much about my family. I thought, why not introduce them to you by showing you some pictures of our trip to Niagara Falls. Have you ever been? It is amazing! So beautiful to see. We did the whole tour and it was worth it. Hope to go there again this summer.



Shadow

Three girls, yes. We thought our chances of having a girl with Danielle were high.. Nope. Even our dog, Shadow is a girl, but I wouldn't trade them in for anything. I guess you can say my husband feels a little out numbered. We adopted Shadow in January of last year. We really lucked out on finding the perfect dog.

                                    


Last but not least my husband Steve. We've been together for 16 yrs. and married for 12. I don't know what I'd do without him. <3




Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Scalloped Potholder/Hot Pad






I love this scalloped potholder/hot pad pattern !  I was a newbie when starting this, so it took me a couple tries to get it right. This pattern requires knowledge of the (sl st) slip stitch, (dc) double crochet, (fpsc) front post simple crochet and (fpdc) front post double crochet. If you need any help with this pattern, just leave me a comment. :)

Friday, February 14, 2014

Happy Valentines Day Crocheters!

Zigzag crochet pattern!

While we were hit with a nor'easter this week, I was busy getting together a chevron/zigzag pattern for a cowl/infinity scarf I wanted to make. I'll have the pattern up soon, so keep a look out! I just love chevron and this scarf is going to be so with the fashion of today. One solid color! I'm not a fan of wearing multiple color chevron, reminds me of an afghan to much.

This is light enough to wear durng the Spring. I'm using Vanna's Choice acrylic in the color linen. I'll have that pattern up soon! Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Slouchy Hat Pattern



Slouchy hats can be made for boys and girls, men and women. I love the look of them! I was looking for the perfect free crocheted slouchy hat pattern, but couldn't find one, so I made my own pattern. I like the cinched look in the back instead of seeing the rounds and I wanted thick ribbing in the front. This is my first attempt at making my own pattern, so if you have any questions, I will be happy to help you along, just leave a comment on the bottom of this blog entry.

Here is a sizing chart to help with the headband ribbing. With my hat, the boy I was making it for just turned one, so I made the headband 15" long.

              
             Headband Sizing Chart
           

Age     Head Circ.   Headband size
Newborn 13" - 14" 12"
0-6 months 14"-17" 13"
6-12 months 16"-19" 14"
1-3 months 18"-20" 15"-17"
3-12 yrs. 20"-22" 17"-18"
teen/adult 22"-24" 18"-20"



Now that you know what size crocheted headband you will need, let's get started!



Materials
1 skein of worsted weight yarn ( I used Red Heart in cafe latte)
Size US J and I hooks
Yarn needle

Notes: This hat is worked from the bottom to the top. I based the ribbing size on a headband sizing chart that I found. See above. I determined the height for this slouchy hat by a standard beanie size for a 12 mth. old (7 inches) and just added 3 extra inches (10 inches). At 9 inches, I changed to a size I hook so cinching would be easier. 2 rows of hdc and alternating with sc and sc2tog closer to the end.




Pattern

Ribbing for hat:

With a sized J hook chain as many as you like to reach the desired thickness of your band. I liked my band to be thick, it gives it a nice look. I chained 10.

Rw1: sc in each st to end. ch 1 and turn

Rw2: *sc in second chain from hook in blo (back loop only) to the end Ch1, turn ...(9sc) Repeat from * until desired length is reached.


To finish, line up the stitches of the band on both ends. sl st in each st. Turn headband inside out so that the seam is on the inside. Ch 1


Body of Hat:

round 1: sc in each stitch around. sl st to beginning sc.

round 2: round 17:  hdc in each st around. No sl st needed from here. Just work in continuous rounds to the desired height. My hat at this point was about 9" so I changed to the I hook.

round 18-19: Using the I hook, continue hdc around. You will notice the hat will start to taper in. This is what we want so we can cinch the hat in the end.

round 20: sc, sc2tog, sc, sc2tog, sc, sc2tog to end of round

round 21: sc in each st around

round 22: sc, sc2tog, sc, sc2tog, sc, sc2tog to end of round

round 23:  sc in each st around.

Finishing: leave a long tail of about 15" to be safe. tie off and weave the tail into the stitches along the top of hat. Pull tight to cinch. Weave the tail inside the hat.




Saturday, February 1, 2014

Adorable Hello Kitty Crocheted Hat!


My daughter asked me to make her a Hello Kitty hat. I searched the web and found the cutest Hello Kitty hat pattern and best of all it was free!





I used this pattern here from Crochet in Color http://crochetincolor.blogspot.com/2012/03/hello-kitty-hat-pattern.html  I found that I do like the continuous round much better than joining like she mentioned in the pattern. If you know how to make a beanie cap already, this tutorial is great for you!

Friday, January 31, 2014

Learning to crochet. My first projects!


When starting crochet, I thought it was super hard, but all that is out there with free tutorials on blogs or youtube help a ton! You learn as you go and you learn from every mistake you have made that helps you improve. Here are a few of my started projects:



My first project was this headband I made for my daughters using simple crochet (sc)

.



Notice the peace out symbol in the back..tee hee..








I wanted to go bigger, so I made my oldest this crocheted Philadelphia Flyers bag! I learned about picking up and dropping color a little later on the correct way. This came out great and I was able to learn how to line the bag with fabric! I followed this tutorial here from bobwilson123 on youtube   She uses continuous rounds. Instead of using 2 strands of yarn to make the bag stand up, I use one strand and just made the handles a little bit longer. The emblem and number is chained on.





Introduction

Hello, I'm Jessica and I'm a stay at home Mom of 3 girls. I live in Pennsylvania. I always enjoy learning new crafts and I would like to share them with you. I will eventually be posting some tutorials on how to do some of them. My most recent hobby is crocheting!