Christmas Presents

This was my first Christmas while knowing how to crochet, and so needless to say I put this skill to good use!

Above is what I made for my mother. 

The scarf is the same infinity scarf pattern I had used before because while I was making the first scarf my mom commented how much she loved it. I really like the yarn I used for this set. I found it in a local yarn shop in a small town about 30 minutes from where I live. My only complaint is that they tied to pieces of yarn together in the middle of the skein! UGH! You can see the awful red to suddenly purple transition in the picture. Luckily you can hardly tell when it's worn.

I used about one and a half skeins for the scarf and so decided to make this headband with the extra. Turns out I had the perfect amount! I created this by using a double crochet stitch with an I hook. It was very quick and easy.

This next set is what I made for a gift exchange at a family Christmas gathering. The rules were that it had to be a unisex gift, so neon orange and neon green totally work, right?

Matching hat and scarf! As you can see, I didn't exactly finish before my family had to leave... However, I did manage to barely get it done in time. Whew!

I was tired of making an equal size stripe pattern (plus I had less green than orange) so I decided to try out stripes of different sizes, and I really like how it turned out. Double crochet stitch with an I hook.

Lastly I am making a hat and scarf for each of my grandmas! Below is the hat I have finished.

This was the first time I worked with chunky weight yarn and I didn't realize how much quicker projects take when you use it. Too bad it's more expensive. I used my hat pattern from a previous post, same number of stitches in a round and everything. This made a looser hat, which was my goal.

And because it was Christmas, I had to include a picture with the tree! :)

Infinity scarf post: http://linz-craftingadventures.blogspot.com/2012/11/infinity-scarf-surprise.html
Hat pattern post: http://linz-craftingadventures.blogspot.com/2012/10/neon-green-beanie.html

Octopus Army

As the pattern says these octopuses are cute. Very cute. They do only have 6 tentacles though. These were made for my friends for Christmas and I've still got about three more to make...

I hot glued buttons on for the eyes since these are all going to young adults I don't need to worry about them being torn off and eaten (at least as far as I know). The mouths were made using black yarn and a yarn needle. Each octopus is different.

This one is for my friend who is studying abroad in New Zealand so I had to get her's done. The bow could've been a little higher but still very adorable.

For my boyfriend. Holding a quick and easy crochet heart :)

My first octopus. He didn't have a home so he will be staying with me, which is very ok. Since he was my first one I couldn't get all the tentacles to fit (oh no!), but I figured it out for the other ones. Needless to say, when the pattern says you have to squeeze them in to get all of them to fit, it's not kidding.

These are the other three octopuses!

This one is for one of my guy friends. And no, I had nothing to do with the color choice, it was all him. I am a huge fan of the top hat.

This one is actually for the same friend that received the dinosaur I made. The dinosaur's name is Ned and now he and this octopus can be best friends!

The last one! Yes he has three eyes. He's based off the purple pentapus from an episode from season 2 of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

These guys!! Adorable.

Octopus pattern: http://whimtasticalcreations.blogspot.com/2011/04/cute-little-octopus-amigurumi.html
Top hat pattern: http://whimtasticalcreations.blogspot.com/2011/04/top-hat-and-bows-pattern.html

They're Coming

What are they? You'll find out in about a month! :)

Infinity Scarf Surprise

She has no idea yet, but as a frequent reader of my blog she'll find out soon. My best friend of 13 years is an absolutely amazing person, and significantly more fashionable than I am. I hadn't created anything for her yet and I'd been seeing a lot of infinity scarves around campus lately and they look like something she would absolutely love. So combining this pattern (http://yarnchick.blogspot.com/2011/10/simple-shell-stitch-infinity-scarf-free.html) with some black, sparkly yarn will do the trick! :)

I really liked this pattern because of the shell stitch. It's unique and the scarf pattern almost has a vintage feel to it (as described by my boss). If you were to undo the scarf so that is was straight, it's approximately four and a half feet long.

Hey, look, it's a vertical infinity symbol!

The great thing about this pattern is that pretty much every female I've shown it to has said how pretty or neat it is!

So...surprise, Natalie :) Thanks for being an amazing friend!

Neon Green Beanie

As eluded to in an earlier post, I was working with a friend's basic beanie pattern, and I've finished!

Yay! I did modify his pattern a little due to the fact that I crochet tighter than he does. I looked a lot of places for a beanie pattern that I liked but didn't find any, so here is my friend's pattern with my edits.

Materials:
1 skein 4 weight yarn (you won't use the whole thing)
size I crochet hook
stitch marker
yarn needle

Directions:

Mark your last stitch in a each round with stitch marker, this pattern is worked continuously so don't join your rounds!

Rnd 1: 10 sc in magic ring (very helpful tutorial here! http://www.planetjune.com/blog/tutorials/magic-ring-right-handed/) (10)
Rnd 2: 1 dc in each sc (10)
Rnd 3: 2 dc in each dc (20)
Rnd 4: *1 dc in dc, 2 dc in next dc* repeat (30)
Rnd 5: *1 dc in next 2 dc, 2 dc in next dc* repeat (40)
Rnd 6: *1 dc in next 3 dc, 2 dc in next dc* repeat (50)
Rnd 7: *1 dc in next 4 dc, 2 dc in next dc* repeat (60)
Rnd 8 until end: 1 dc in each dc around (60)

Continue the hat until it reaches the length that fits your head!

IMPORTANT: When you reach the last four stitches of your last round. 1 dc in next 2 dc, 1 hdc in next 2 dc, 1 sc in next 2 dc, slip stitch in last dc. Fasten off and weave in loose ends.

Congrats! You finished! :)

In the very near future this hat may receive ears and spikes and become a dragon hat. Stay tuned!

Camo Scarf

I'd just like to start this blog post off by saying this is easily the ugliest thing I have ever crocheted. However, there's an interesting story behind it:

When I first started to crochet I was at Hobby Lobby shopping for yarn with my boyfriend. He's in airsoft so when he found this camo yarn he insisted that I make him a scarf from it. 

It took me awhile to tackle this project because I knew that working with a yarn this fuzzy was going to be difficult. Turns out I was right and that it is essentially impossible to see the stitches and so there was a lot of guess work in the beginning of the scarf...

Hence why the end is so flaired. About halfway into the first skein of yarn I realized that two was not going to be enough for a decently long scarf, so it was back to Hobby Lobby. Unfortunately in the time between me buying the yarn and starting the scarf, Hobby Lobby had discontinued the style of yarn! In order to try to avoid a crisis, I went with the most similar yarn I could find. 

Essentially the only thing the yarns had in common was the color. Rather than give up I just finished the scarf.

Only one of the ends is accidentally messed up; I tried to make the other end look similar. It's not as easy as it looks. Either way though it's finished and he likes it so that's all that matters!

Also, a special thanks to my boyfriend for his photography for this post! :)

Vertical Stripe Scarf

Recently I realized that even though I have been crocheting since the beginning of this year, I had yet to make something for myself. Back in March I'd gotten some yarn from a local yarn shop intending to make a scarf for myself, and since it's already gotten below 32 degrees multiple nights, I decided to finally make it.

I decided to do something different and work this scarf lengthwise. Definitely a good decision, because I am very happy with the result.

The yarn I used was a lighter weight (about a 3) but I still used an I size crochet hook. To start the scarf I chained somewhere in the ballpark 200 stitches, although that could be easily adjusted. Next I turned and double crocheted one stitch per chain all the way across. This process is repeated for a total of 12 rows. Rows 1, 2, 11, and 12 are dark green (the foundation chain row does not count as row 1). Rows 3, 4, 9, and 10 are orange. Rows 5-8 are pale green.

To make a tassel I cut three strands of the yarn (approximately 10 inches each), folded them in half, and knotted them through the outermost stitch on the end of the scarf. I used one tassel per row on each end of the scarf.

I actually have a decent amount of yarn left from this project so hopefully after I learn a friend's basic beanie pattern I can make a matching hat!

Dinosaur!

Being a geologist means I LOVE Dinosaurs. A lot. I found this pattern (located here: http://amigurumibyknotty.blogspot.com/2010/05/longneck-dinosaur.html) for a long-neck dinosaur early on in my crocheting career, and I've been dying to make it ever since.

I finally did, and I am very pleased with the result! If any of you have been reading this blog you might notice that this is the same yarn used in Joy's birthday scarf. I used it in this pattern because this dinosaur is for a fellow geology undergrad who is graduating this year (I just got it done way ahead of time!). When I was working on the scarf she noticed it and decided she really liked the colors and the sparkle and so declared I should make her something with the extra, hence this dinosaur.

The reason one of his legs is purple is because I originally thought I wasn't going to have enough of the teal color. Turns out I did, but my friend decided she liked the idea of a purple prosthetic. (He got into a really intense fight with some raptors) My friend will have to careful though, or I might steal him for myself!

Isn't he too cute!?

Surprisingly, I managed to make this guy in about a week! I guess that's what happens when classes haven't started yet and you have free time...

Hogwarts House Color Bracelets

Finally, finally, finally, I am proud to present my Hogwarts bracelets!

This is a very simple design and so they were not difficult to make, I just needed the idea. This is the standard flat friendship bracelet style. In the order of how you want the colors to appear in the bracelet you make two knots with the beginning string on each of the following strings from left to right and then repeat with the next string on the outermost left. That is a very bad explanation so here is a better tutorial of the basic idea: http://www.dltk-kids.com/crafts/friendship/mbracelets.htm

The bracelets were made with 4 strings folded in half to give us 8 pieces of string to knot with: 3 of the base color and 1 of the accent color. The pattern I used was: 2 rows base, 1 row accent, 2 rows base, 1 row  accent, 2 rows base (and repeat).

The following colors were used for the houses:

 Gryffindor: Scarlet and Gold

Ravenclaw: Blue and Bronze 

 Slytherin: Green and Silver

Hufflepuff: Yellow and Black

If there is any confusion (which I'm sure there will be) or if there are any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will address it!

Flower Beads

I was cleaning my room recently (I know, big shock!) and came across a bunch of old jewelry, including these anklets.

Now I've had these since I went to Mexico when I was in grade school and I always thought they were really cool so I thought, hey, maybe I should try to learn to make them.

Above is my first attempt! Pretty good I think, although a lot larger scale than the originals.

I figure it's initially easier to work with larger beads in order to fully understand the pattern. That way, when you have to work with seed beads you can actually know what's going on without straining your eyes too much!

I think that the larger flowers will probably become a key chain because I'm personally not that into chunky jewelry. I am working on a bracelet with this style right now and so I'll post that when I finish! And since this bracelet is pretty cool I'll try to write a pattern of sorts to share with y'all on the interwebs.

Update (8/20/12): Here's my completed seed-bead sized bracelet!

Full bracelet

Close-up of the pattern

Close-up of the clasp

A special thanks to my friend for whom this was made: she gave me all the materials! The beads were strung on beading wire and the clasp is a clip clasp (I believe that's correct). It took about 3 hours, but it takes less and less time as you get closer to the end. I would not recommend using beading wire though because it was very difficult to start the bracelet because the wire was too strong. I haven't had time to make a pattern yet, but I will put it up as soon as I have!

Button Bracelets

Long time no see! I promise during my long disappearance I continued to work on some small projects; get ready for several close-succession posts!

Over the summer I taught my three roommates to make friendship & hemp bracelets. One of them saw a bracelet on Pinterest that used a button as a center piece and challenged me to learn how to make it. Although I changed the style slightly, I really like the result. 

These are the two bracelets that I made for myself. Each bracelet uses three hemp strings through each hole. It is a little difficult to get all three through without having some fraying, but in the end the band looks nicer because piece you braid with has the same number of strings.

The most difficult part of the bracelet is definitely the knot at the end with the clasp button. For mine I ended up threading two of the strings in and out of the clasp button. Then, I tied the knot right underneath the button using all of the strings. It's important to tie the knot as close to the button as possible to keep the threads in the button from wearing out as fast.

Although I braided my bands there are a lot more options. My roommate knotted the band of one of her bracelets like you would a friendship bracelet, so there's lots of room for experimenting! If anyone makes a button bracelet and creates a band a different way I'd love to see it!

Headbands Galore!

Woo-hoo, new project!

All colors and sizes!

Toning it down a little bit...Here are some lovely headbands that I made. I'm told they're fashionable by people that are, so I decided to trust them (I know literally nothing about fashion.) This was a very simple project, after I learned the double crochet stitch used in the pattern. Each headband took around 4 hours to complete, and that might be an over-exaggeration. This piece is made in two parts; the band and the knot.

 Here's a little closer shot of the knots.

I found the pattern for the headband here: http://allaboutami.tumblr.com/post/18110601640/knottedheadband

It was easy to follow, but I must crochet tighter than the author of the pattern because I had to use 75-80 chain stitches for the headband, and about 12 for the knot. Otherwise, I don't have too much to say about this project. I am, however, still working on my Hogwarts bracelets. I've finished Gryffindor, Ravenclaw is ten rows away from being done, and then it's just Hufflepuff and Slytherin left!