News and Updates

Posts have been few and far between lately - and you can be assured that means real life has gotten in the way of blogging!  Unfortunately, what's been going on in real life has not been pleasant, but we manage.  Hopefully, I will be able to resume posting more frequently soon.

The first bit of news is in regards to my Squidoo articles, where I had published a number of how-to's and printable instructions.

Squidoo has now been shifted over to Hubpages, and my articles are now there.  As I understand it, the old links will still work, but will just be diverted to the new site.

I have yet to go over my articles to see how they translated in the shift, to see if I need to do any modifications.  Please feel free to visit my new Hubpages profile, check out the articles, and let me know if you have seen any problems. 

The other news is in regards to my classes.  I am still teaching one day a week.  There are old classes dropped and new classes added.  Unfortunately, with what's been doing on at our home, certain people have taken things beyond that level and I have found myself and my family stalked in public.  For my safety and theirs, I am not going to post my class schedule on the blog anymore, nor will I post about any vendor sales I might be involved in.  Thank you for understanding.

Meanwhile, I have been working on my inventory and do have photos ready to share; just need to find the time to write posts about them!

For those who have kept up visiting my blog while I've been on hiatus, thank you.  It's nice to see the hits still coming, even when I haven't been able to post often.  Much appreciated!

Until I get a chance to post more, here are some photos to follow up on my last post, a Tunisian stitch tablet cover that is one of the new class projects.

The above photo is the tablet cover after the seams have been sewn, but the ends have not yet been finished.

As you can see, it looks pretty floppy and loose.

 What the side seem looks like from the outside; I just whip stitched it.

 A closer look at the side seam, with a bit of a view of how the inside looks.

This is how the project itself ends.  Once the yarn ends are sewn in, it would be considered finished.

I modified the length of the project to fit my own tablet.  As you can see, even with the tablet inside, it looks loose and floppy.

Because it is very loose and floppy. 

So I added a couple of rounds of single crochet to tighten up the top edge, then slip stitched into the bottoms of those rows to add some stability.

No more rolling, no more flopping, and the single crochet and slip stitches tighten up the opening, making it a bit more snug.

The additional rows made it fit more snugly to the tablet itself as it was put in.

It also added a bit of length, giving the tablet a bit more protection.

My daughter pointed out that the colour changes made a pattern that looks a bit like the Batman logo! *L*

I have photos somewhere, though not in my computer, of another modification I made.  I crocheted a strip in Tunisian simple stitch, bordered with single crochet, and with a button hole at one end.  I sewed it in the middle of what is now the back of the tablet cover.  On the front, I sewed on a button (my daughter pickets a yellow button with a smiley face on it!).  This way, there's no chance of the tablet accidentally sliding out.

The body of the tablet cover is still a lot looser than I would have preferred, despite the fabric panel being exactly the same width of the tablet before the side seams were closed up.

If I were to make another one for my tablet, I would probably make it about an inch narrower than the actual size of the table.  The Tunisian stitched fabric seems to have a lot more give to it than I expected.

In Progress

Working on a sample for one of my new classes;  the Tunisian crochet tablet cover, modified slightly for gauge. 

I love how the colours aligned themselves.

Sent by mobile.

Catching up on my crocheted projects, part eighteen

Finally, something different!



Here's a collection of smart phone cozies I made.  They're different sizes to fit different types of phones.  The middle one in the bottom row is Tunisian stockinette stitch.  It was done as a rectangle with the sides sewn together. The one above it is so dark, you can barely see the cables!  That one was done as also done as a rectangle with the sides sewn together.  The others were all done in the round, some beginning from a flat base just two rows wide. 

I'm having a lot of fun making phone cozies.  They're a great way to expriment with stitches, textures and cables, are quick to work up, and leave you with something useful in the end. 

Catching up on my crocheted projects, part eleven

Finally, moving away from hats!

Here's a cheery little evening bag I made.  Rather different then my usual bags.

For a bag, I prefer to use a sturdy, durable acrylic, like Red Heart Super Saver.  It's the sort of thing that can handle a lot more use and abuse.



I started this bag by making a flat, rectangular base, then worked up the sides in the round.  The textured area is alternating dc and sc stitches - I can't remember if it's called the seed stitch or the moss stitch.  The flap was made by first working a few straight rows for the part that covers the top of the bag opening, then reducing on one side only.  I tried to line up the plain and textured sections in the body of the bag.  The button loop is just a chain loop that was covered when I worked sc around the edge opening.  I also did a row of slip stitchs just inside the edge, using the slight holes formed when working the sc edge.  It not only tidied up the look of it, but strengthened the edge of flap at the botton loop.



 

 The fractal flower is another hyperbolic accent.  I like using these to cover the seam that forms when working in the round.




The handle was made using Tunisian Stockinette Stitch, just 4 stitches wide.   At this width, a regular hook can be used.  I find it makes really nice handles.

More photos here.

 

Special Olympics Canada - Tunisian scarf

It took me a while, but I finally finished the scarf I was making for Special Olympics Canada Winter Games, and here it is!



I was able to use my Denise Interchangable Crochet Hooks for the first time for this project.  It's the first time I've ever seen an 8mm hook, so that's the size I chose to make this.  I worked it using a Tunisian double crochet, however I worked the hook as with the Tunisian Stockinette stitch, in between the vertical bars from front to back instead of the front only.  Between the size of the hook and the stitch, it made for a very open fabric.

Tunisian stitch naturally tends to go on the diagonal, which can be blocked straight.  I used that tendancy as part of the design, instead. 

I'm really happy with how it turns out, but would never do a scarf like this again!  With all the colour changes, there were so many ends to work in; two for every band of colour for a scarf that ended up being more than 6 feet long!  Not an easy thing to hide and anchor all those ends in such an open design.

I'm happy with how it turned out, though, and I hope whoever recieves it enjoys it. :-)

I was able to finish a second scarf before I finished stitching this one.  I will be writing that one up as a free pattern in another post.

Coasters

The local crafter's group I'm part of is doing a swap, and the item this time around is a pair of coasters.  We're all partnered up and can  made coasters in whatever style we want, then get together to swap them out at a later date.

At first I was thinking of making coasters out of painted tile or little tile mosaics.  I still like the idea, but in the end I decided to make them using my double ended hook and a front post Tunisian stitch I came up with.  I've looked at different Tunisian and double ended hook stitches out there, but have not found anything quite like it.  It makes me wonder if I've come up with something new. 

I started off by making 4 inch squares in red and white.

At this point, there's no front or back except for the colour difference.

The pattern is similar to Tunisian Simple Stitch, except that it's worked around both vertical bars, front to back. 

Working the next colour's front post Tunisian pushes the previous row to the back, making for a deep ridge and making the colours more one-sided.  The result is a very thick, dense fabric.  I've made a few simple squares in this stitch and have found they make great coasters and hot pads.  I've entertained the thought of making a bunch of squares and sewing them together to make a small floor mat or stadium seat cushion.  Because of how dense the fabric is, it becomes more difficult to work the larger it gets, so small squares are perfect.

This stitch has a lot of stretch on the bias and vertically, but has almost no stretch horizontally.

There's plenty of loops on the edges to work into for finishing.  In working the edging, I did single crochet worked into the middle loops of sides.

I worked two rounds of single crochet for the edging, which also created a front and back on the coasters.  This made for a fairly solid coloured block on the front, so I slip stitched around in contrasting colours to break it up a bit.

Then I slip stitched another round, working farther outside the edging than the first slip stitched round on the front, in matching colours.  I felt this made the back look less obviously "the back," and makes them more reversible.

Even with the edging, there's still a lot of stretch on the bias.  There's still vertical stretch, too, but the edging cuts that down a fair bit.

This gives a better view in between the raised edges, showing there the stitches were wrapped around the posts to create this effect.

I'm going to look around some more to see if this stitch is out there somewhere.  If not, I'll see about posting a tutorial on how to do it.  I really like this stitch and have a number of squares and rectangles done in it hanging about the house.  I've got one right next to me that I use as a coaster, and it works out so well, I figured it would be great for the swap.  They can take a lot of rough handling, too.  The cotton can handle a lot of heat, and they're easy care, too - just toss them in the regular wash.  They take a bit longer to dry, though.

I hope my swap partner likes them.

My husband is awesome.

I am just a lucky woman!  I have such a sweetheart for a husband.

In working with the new rosewood needles he bought for himself, he discovered that... well, his hands sweat.  When they start sweating, that affects the wood.  So he decided to get himself a second set of needles so that he could switch between them, letting one pair dry while working with the second pair.

So off we went today to River City Yarns to see what they had.  At first he didn't see the rosewood needles and he was going to get a birch pair, but when he found the size he was after in rosewood, he got those instead.  They're quite a bit longer than his first pair, but that's okay.  As long as they're the same size (he's using 5.50mm).  I think the birch would have been lovely, too.  He did 10 inches of scarf yesterday and is now at 20 inches.  He's really loving the wooden needles.  Much nicer to work with than the plastic and metal ones we already had.  (Earlier today we were sitting in a coffee shop, him with his needles, me with my hook.  Some guy ended up sitting with us as we chatted about sharing knowledge of crafts and skills.  It was great!) 

While at River City Yarns, we looked at quite a few other things.  Including yarn that my younger daughter described as feeling like kittens.  Soooo soft!!

Looking through the tools, I was thrilled when I asked about hairpin lace tools and they actually had some!



I am now the proud owner of a Prim Universal Netting Fork.  The woman at the shop told me that hairpin lace tools are very hard to come by, so when she finds them, she takes what she can!



The packaging opens up and gives some pretty decent instructions.  This is the only tool I was missing for my course, so I'm pretty happy.  If that was all I got today, I would have been quite pleased.

Then after paying, my darling husband shooed me and our daughter away so he could buy what he was hiding behind his back.

Uh oh... ;-D

While waiting in the hall, I was actually able to guess what he bought.  You see, in the process of helping someone else, one of the staff opened up a kit that really caught my attention.  I told my husband that this was what I wanted for Christmas.  I could have happily waited that long, but he's a generous sort, and this is what he bought me.



This is a set of Denise Interchangeable Crochet Hooks.  It's got 12 heads, 7 cords, 2 extenders and 4 end buttons.

First awesome thing about this kit.  The hooks can fit on either end of the cords.   There are no duplicate hook sizes, but spares can be purchases separately.  This gives me the option for a flexible double ended hook, which is something I was wanting.  Also...



See this?  See the openings at the ends?

Yup.  I can thread cord through those and turn them into knooks!!  Though I think I could actually just use the cords in the kit, and not add an end button.

Which means that, in one kit, I now have not only several tools I was wanting - flexible Tunisian hook, flexible double ended hook and a knook - but I have them in a selection of 12 sizes.

I am so thrilled!!!!  I can't wait to get started with them.  I must resist, though.  After I'm finished my course, then I can start playing!

Though I will be able to use some of these for my course later one. :-D

Did I mention I have an awesome husband?  Let me say it again.

My husband is awesome.
:-D

Oh, and...



Cat.

Just because.

Tunisian bag - work in progress

So I decided I wanted to make a new bag.  I finished one not to long ago, but haven't got around to taking photos of it.  I keep forgetting.  My daughter has been using it, which makes me happy. :-)

For this bag, I had a few things I wanted out of it.  I wanted the body of the bag to be very sturdy and dense, with some stretch to it, but which wouldn't stretch out of shape, wear out quickly, or need a lining to prevent things from poking through.

To meet the sturdy requirement, I decided to make the bag in Tunisian in the round, with a stockinette stitch.  This would require my double ended hook (a 6.00mm) and two yarns.

Yarn was the next concern.  I wanted something smooth and durable.  I considered using paracord, which comes in quite the variety of colours now, but decided it would be a bit much for this project.  Before going shopping, I went digging through my stash.

I didn't have to go shopping.

The first potential yarn I found was a Super Value Skeins yarn in a pale lilac, that I got from a friend.  Not the Bernat Super Value, but something made in Turkey.  I can't find anything online about it, and the label doesn't have much on it.  It's a 60% acrylic 40% cotton, machine washable and dryable.

The other thing I found was this.




This photo was taken after the body of the bag was finished (yes, that's it in the background) so it's a fair bit smaller than when I started.  We found it at the Reuse Centre, so I have no idea what it actually is.  I think it might be macrame cord.  Whatever it is, it fit the bill!

For the foundation chain length, I thought about how I wanted to use the bag and settled on an chain of 80.  I wasn't sure yet if I would just close up one end, envelope style, or give the bottom some width, but figured this would still give me the width I wanted. 

I at first experimented with using the lilac for the foundation or the blue cord, as well as with Tunisian Simple Stitch (TSS).  I settled on making the blue the predominant colour and started with it, bringing the lilac in with the other end of the hook.  Using Tunisian Simple Stitch, the second colour would have been a lot more visible, and I decided I liked the second colour as something that was hinted at, rather than really obvious.  TSS also was a bit more floppy than I wanted. The stockinette solved both issues.

It had been my intention to take photos at the very start of the project, but that didn't happen.  One of the fun things about working with Tunisian is the curl.  It seems to curl a lot tighter when working in the round, too. Instead, here is a photo after the body portion of the bag was completed.




The depth was something I eye-balled, keeping in mind that I still wasn't sure how I would finish the tops and bottoms.  At this point, whatever I wanted to do, that curl was going to be a pain! *L*



This is a detail of what the foundation chain looked like at the bottom.



And this is what the top looked like after unrolling.

With the lilac naturally sitting sort of on top of the work, I decided to work around it.  Carefully dropping the lilac off the hook and onto a stitch marker, I worked a round of sc in the blue.  I put the hook through the vertical loops as if I were doing the stockinette stitch, then finished as a sc instead, which encased the lilac in the stitch.  This left a fairly open space under each stitch.  Before completely the round in blue, I switched my hook from the blue to the lilac.  I just needed to do a few stitched in the lilac to get it past the start of the blue so I could finish the blue round.  I slip stitched the lilac around the vertical posts the sc were worked through, closing up the gaps and giving the edge more structure, which helped get rid of the curl.

After doing the round of sc, however, I didn't stop there.  After joining the round, I did 1 ch and, without turning, did a round of ss into the round of sc, under the top loops.  See below.



The finished top edge, showing the start/finish stitches.  At the very top edge, you can see the front loop of the sc stitches, which have been pushed back slightly by the round of blue ss.  This gave the edge more width and stability.  The slip stitches in both the blue and lilac were finished by pulling up the last loop, one space back from the first loop, and cutting the yarn with a several inch tail on the inside.  After threading a yarn needle to the tail and removing the hook, the tail of the yarn was brought to the front though the next space, though the loop, pulling the loop closed slightly to match the size of the ss loops already down, then the tail was worked around the very first ss, back through the loop of the last ss, and through to the back of the of piece like an embroidered chain stitch.   The ends were then woven into the back to finish off.



Here is a view from the inside, at the join.

By this point, I had settled on making an envelope style back.  When flattening the tube, I made sure the join was at one side, where it would be least visible.

Now to the bottom.



Once again, I combined sc and ss.  Here is the first row of sc that closed up the bottom.  I positioned the stitches so that there was one stitch on each edge.  With an 80 stitch foundation, this meant 1 stitch at the start, where I joined the blue cord, 38 stitches across the bottom, carefully lining up the front and back (which got progressively easier as the curl was straightened out), then finishing with a single sc at the end.  I then did 1 ch and turned the whole thing...



... and worked slip stitches under the top loops of the sc all the way across.  At the last stitch, the yarn was cut and pulled through the loop.  Before taking the tail to the inside to finish off, I made sure to tack it down thoroughly with a couple of stitches on the outside, then flipped it inside out to finish off.



This is what the bottom seam looks like on the inside.  It just disappears into the Tunisian work.

Only now do I realize I didn't take a photo of the entire bag after the top and bottoms were finished.  Excuse me while I go take care of that!

Done.




Here is the completed body of the bag, waiting for the straps.  I've decided to make a pair of straps that will be long enough to wear across the chest.  I haven't quite decided how I'm going to attach them to the front and back of the bag; I might use some of the decorative buttons we have, or a funky knot.

I'm also still debating whether or not I want to add embellishments to the bottom of the bag.  I'd been thinking perhaps some beads, a fringe, decorative loops... I don't know yet.  The more I look at the bag, however, the more I'm thinking to leave well enough alone.  I'll know better once I've got the straps done and attached.

My thoughts so far:

I'm really happy with how this is turning out.   The blue cord is much more durable than the yarn, which makes it ideal as the primary colour.  The contrasting colour is just hinted at, and flashes a bit more when something moves the fabric.  Though not as visible, it adds a lot to the physical structure of the bag.  I had considered using the lilac for a more decorative contrasting edge at the top, but more and more, this is a piece that says "keep it simple" to me.

About the only thing that has me thinking more about the body is practicality.  In thinking of how the bag would be used, I'm seeing the need for pockets on the inside.  Or something to help keeps things a bit more organized.  Not sure how I would go about doing that, if at all.

Meanwhile, I'm working out the first strap, but will see if I'm happy with it before I write more. 

Tunisian in the round - Purple Swirls hat

I wanted to do a variation of the bottom-up Tunisian hat I'd made before.  Part of what I wanted to do was see how far I could go with the Tunisian stitch decrease rounds before I had to stop using both ends of the hook and switch to regular crochet to close up the top.

For the yarn, I went with Bernat Alpaca in Plum and Lavender and worked with a 6.50mm double ended hook. 



I also wanted to make the hat larger than the first one I'd made, so I started with a base chain of 70 in the darker colour.  This photo is after about 5 rounds in Tunisian Simple Stitch.





A closer look at how the side was building up.






Though this is what I was actually working with.  The tight curl makes it quite the challenge to work with!  It also made it a challenge to judge when to start decreasing my rounds for the crown of the hat.  I wanted to make sure it was a deeper hat then previous, and had to keep resisting the urge to start the decrease rounds too early.






Here you can see the first few decreased rounds.  Since I started with 70 stitches, I worked the decrease stitches evenly in sevenths, so the first decreased round brought the stitch count down to 63, then 56, and so on.



 

I changed where I worked the decreased stitches compared to the first hat I'd made.  Instead of starting the new decrease in the same place as previous round's decrease, I started the decrease one stitch ahead of the previous decrease. ( I hope that makes sense!)  This caused the distinctive swirl to form in the opposite direction from the previous design.

I was also quite surprised to be able to work the Tunisian stitch pretty much to the end.  By that point, I was switching back and forth on the ends of my hook every couple of stitches.  The final bit was closed up while sewing in the yarn ends to finish them off.

For some reason I can't remember anymore (I actually finished this some 3 months ago), I didn't take any step by step photos of the rest.  Oops.

While the body of the hat was worked in a spiral, the base was worked in joined rounds, using only one end of my double ended hook.  The first round was just single crochet into the remaining loops of the foundation chain, working from the outside of the hat.





This view shows the transition from working the body of the hat in a spiral from the foundation chain to joined rounds, where it looks a bit like a bump.






After joining the first round of single crochet, I turned the piece to work from the inside for the double crochet bobbles.  The bobbles are 3 double crochet together, separated by one double crochet.  After joining the round I turned to work from the outside again and worked three rounds of single crochet, with the lighter purple in the middle round, without turning until the end of the third round of single crochet.  Another round of bobble stitches was worked from the inside, then the last round was done in single crochet from the outside.






That last round of single crochet pulls the edge in quite nicely, making for a snug and comfortable fit. 

I'm quite happy with this version.

Revisiting Tunisian in the round: step-by-step child's hat

I've decided to take part in our co-ops annual craft and bake sale again, so I'm making more winter wear for my inventory. 

It's also a great excuse to try out new things and work out the kinks in old ones.

For this hat, I went back to doing Tunisian in the round, working from the top down, in Tunisian simple stitch.  I wanted to see how close to the beginning I could begin the Tunisian.

For the yarn, I went with Bernat Alpaca in Stone and Fern colourways.  My Tunisian hook is a 6.00mm, which is the size recommended for this yarn.




I'm rather happy with how close to the middle I was able to start the Tunisian stitch.  I started with a base 8 ring in sc.  For the first while, I could only pull up about 3 loops on the hook at a time before I had to switch ends, which made things a bit tight, but I much prefered this to having a larger disc in sc.



In this photo, you can better see the increases, and how much the work curls in on itself. 

I played around with the increases a bit, starting with 8 increases per round until there were 48 stitches in around, then did a single round with no increases before switching to 6 increases per round until I worked it up to 60 stitches per round.



Here's a closer view showing the increases in different places.





Working the sides at 60 stitches per round.  The gauge using Tunisian made for a size suitable for an older child or small adult.  For an larger adult sized hat, I'd have increased to anywhere from 5-10 more stitches per round.

That tuft you see on the left side is a flaw in the yarn.  I pulled it to the inside with a hook later on, so it wasn't so obvious.




An inside view.  At this point, the sides of the hat were built up as far as I wanted and I was ready to start on the brim.



I decided to take advantage of the hat's natural curling tendency and work up a brim in slip stitch, which would then be worn rolled up.  I started by dropping the dark yarn completely and doing a round in the lighter colour, sc into each vertical bar.  You can see a closer view here.



Then I dropped the light yarn, picked up the dark and began slip stitching into the sc round.  I worked in a spiral, alternating colours with each round, for several rounds, then tried it on.

It didn't work.

The slip stitched rounds were significantly tighter than the Tunisian stitches.  There was no way it was wearable.  Away they went!

I still wanted to do a slip stitched brim, though, so I broke out my 9.00mm hook.



Using both yarns on the hook, I worked a round of sc into the vertical bars, then began slip stitching.  In this photo, the first round of sc is done and the slip stitch round is just begun. 

The larger hook and doubled yarn worked out much better.



Here is the finished hat.  (Well, almost finished.)  The two yarns together made for a random pattern in the slip stitched portion that I rather liked.





When worn, the brim is meant to be rolled up like this.



Here's an inside view, showing where the yarn was finished off.

I decided that it needed more, though.  Using the left over yarn, I worked up several spirals.




I did pairs in each colour of varying lengths, working with foundations of 10, 12 and 15 chains, leaving long tails at the start and finish for attaching to the hat.  At this point, I hadn't decided on how many I would end up using.  To attach them, I tied the start and finishing tails together in an overhand knot as close to the crochet stitches as I could, threaded both ends into my yarn needle, pulled them through the hole at the very top, then stitched them into the inside.  I just kept adding them, alternating colours, and ended up using all six.



I think it looks rather cute. :-)