Cowl

 Ok, first, forgive the awful pictures! It was late at night right before I wrapped up Christmas presents to head to the post office the next morning... hence the blank stare and bathroom mirror pictures.Now that you're forewarned and informed that, no, I do not consider bathroom mirror pictures to be anything above lame...

Finally I made something out of the beautiful yarn from the ugly sweater in my up-cycled sweater blog. A Christmas present for my mom. I made a cowl and I wanted it to be very warm so I used two strands of the yarn together and the biggest hook I have. I chained until it was the length I wanted, joined, and then crocheted away. No real pattern, just a mixture of sc, dc, hdc... though I did keep the stitches consistent for each row. I crocheted until it was long enough to bunch up nicely and be drawn up like a hood if desired. Then I took a single strand of the same yarn to make the band that garthers it together. For the band I just made rows of 10 dcs until I liked the length. I found two little buttons that fit perfectly through the dc stitches and sewed them on so that the band is removable and adjustable as desired. The flower I sewed onto a pin so it is also removable.

And that's all folks. A kinda quickie blog with a kinda non-pattern today but I loved the results so thought I'd still share this one. Take it and make it your own if you so desire. :)

Basket Liner

For a while I had been wanting to give my 6 year old her own sewing basket. I thought she would love it and it would inspire her all the more. But I have to be honest that one motivation was to keep her from getting into my sewing stuff all the time. I got a little basket at the thrift store for a dollar and cleaned it up but wanted it to look nicer. So I decided to make a liner for it. I thought it would be very simple. I learned an important lesson. You have to have a lot of patience when working with a basket. It's probably not a true circle/square. It's probably not the same height all around. The handles are likely not attached symmetrically. I found you have to measure much, be generous, and make it to fit. I'll show you how I (finally) succeeded. This project could have all kinds of applications- baby baskets, gift baskets, a lovely basket for the bathroom to keep towels/soap etc in, all kinds of pretty storage opportunities!

Basket Liner

All you need to make a basket and liner are the basket, fabric, and ribbon.

Ideas for a child's first sewing basket contents:

Metal safety scissors, or thread scissors

Pincushion, pins, needles, yarn needles

Thimble

Needle threader

Seam ripper

Thread/yarn/embroidery floss

Small bag of buttons

Water soluble fabric pencil/pen

Measuring tape

Fabrics- I used squares of fleece that she can cut to any shape and sew together without fear of fraying. Felt might work well too.

Step 1- Measure, measure, and measure some more. Measure the diameter of the bottom of the basket (above left.) Don't just measure one way! Even if it looks circle it's not likely perfect. You want to use the biggest measurement and add 1 inch for seam allowances. I found that the diameter of the bottom of my basket was an inch larger than the inside of the basket so I just traced around the basket on my fabric and cut out the circle (above.)

Step 2- Measure more. Measure the circumference of the bottom and outside top of the basket (left) and add 1 inch for seams. Measure the height of the basket plus the amount you will want your liner to go over the side of the basket (below) plus 1 inch. Write down these measurements as you will need them for the next step.

Step 3- Mark out and cut out the fabric for the sides of the basket. The circumference of the bottom of my basket plus 1 inch was 18 inches. The height of my basket, plus overhang, plus one inch was 6 inches. So measure out an 18 inch line 6 inches away from the straight edge of the fabric and trace this line (right). The circumference of the outside top of my basket plus one inch was 26 1/2 inches. Measure 26 1/2 inches along the straight edge of the fabric. Make sure to center this line above the 18 inch line. Then use a straight edge to make lines (below) to join the edges of the top and bottom lines. The shape should be about what you see below... depending on the shape of your basket. (Hint: When in doubt, be more generous, you will fit it to the basket later.)

 Step 4- Pin the circle piece to the 18 inch side of the 2nd piece, right sides together, and sew with a half inch seam (below.)

 Step 5- Place the liner inside out into the basket and pull together the edges of the sides and pin them and sew.

Step 6- Make slits to accommodate the basket handles. Place the liner in the basket again and mark the appropriate place and depth for the slits. Cut and then sew the edges of the slits with a zigzag stitch to keep from fraying (above.) At this point I also trimmed some extra edge at the top to make it more even and left enough for an even seam.

Step 7- Put the liner into the basket again and turn over the upper sides and pin. Make sure your seam is folded over far enough that you'll be able to thread the ribbon through it. And sew.

Step 8- I put a safety pin on the end of the ribbons to pull them through the top seam of the liner. Then insert the liner into the basket, tie the ribbons below the handles and you're done.

I gave this to her for her birthday and, of course, right away she started sewing things for Christmas.

Merry Day After!

Well, for the last few weeks I've been way too busy doing, and most of it secret presents, to write anything. But what that really means is that I've got TONS of content now so look forward to lots of blogs! For my first here, I'll let you in on a pattern I had a lot of fun making up for my little nephew. Enjoy!

Jingle Turtle 
(So named because he has little jingle bells in him that made a delightful tinkly sound when the baby shakes it.)

Notes: Make sure to run the yarns from color changes on one side of the working piece, the "back" when crocheting in green/color A and the "front" (part facing you) when crocheting in tan/color B. I used a G hook and the tan was Simply Soft yarn, the green was Vanna's Choice yarn. This pattern can be make with or without turning at the end of each row. If you don't turn, the results will be the photos above, if you do turn, the seam is a bit less obvious.

Body
Row 1: With color A, 5sc in a loop, tighten the loop, sl st into 1st sc of this row. In color B ch 1, turn
Row 2: With color B, 2 sc in next and each around, sl st to 1st sc of this row. In color A ch 1, turn (10 sc total)
Row 3: With color A, sc in next stitch, 2 sc in next, repeat around, join with sl st. In color B ch 1, turn (15 sc total)
Row 4: With color B, sc in next 2, 2 sc in next, repeat around, join with sl st. In color A ch 1, turn (20 sc total)
Row 5: With color A, sc in next 3, 2 sc in next, repeat around, join with sl st. In color B ch 1, turn (25 sc total)
Row 6: With color B, sc in next 4, 2 sc in next, repeat around, join with sl st. In color A ch 1, turn (30 sc total)
Row 7: With color A, sc even around, join with sl st. In color B ch 1, turn
Row 8: With color B, sc even around, join with sl st. In color A ch 1, turn
Row 9: With color A, sc even around, join with sl st. In color B ch 1, DO NOT turn
Row 10: With color B (for the rest of the body), sc blo in next 3, sc 2 tog blo in next, repeat around (24 sc total)
Row 11: sc in next 2, sc 2tog in next, repeat around (18 total)
Row 12: sc in next, sc 2tog in next, repeat around (12 total)
Lightly stuff with little jingle bells and stuffing
Row 13: sc 3tog x 4
Finish off

Head
Row 1: 5 sc in loop, tighten the loop
Row 2: 2 sc in each around (10 total)
Row 3: sc even around (10 total)
Row 4: sc, sc, sc2tog, sc, sc, sc2tog, sc, sc (8 total)
Row 5: sc2tog, sc, sc, sc2tog, sc, sc (6 total)
Row 6: sc even, sl st last stitch of this row
stitch on smile and eyes, stuff and stitch to body

Legs x 4
Join yarn to body with a sc, ch 3, 2 sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next, sc in next, join with sl st back to body

Tail
Join yarn to body with a sc, ch 3, sl st in 2nd ch from hook, sc in next, sc in next, join with sl st back to body

Finish off ends, I like to reinforce the tail and legs by sewing them to the body more securely with the ends.

Let me know if you find any errors please. With all my patterns feel free to use for personal use, gifts, and charity. Please don't sell the finished product though. Thank you!

Gifting

I love gifts. And I love giving them. It is a secret of mine (ok, well not anymore) that I LOVE giving handmade gifts to little girls and see their little eyes light up. Maybe it's because I didn't really enjoy the flowered and lacy and really cute things when I was a girl that much. Maybe I'm reliving it a bit now.

Anyway, I made a cute drawstring purse for a little lady's 3 year old birthday this weekend and a little bunny to put in it. The bunny I made from this website that I found through www.ravelry.com. http://www.clover.co.jp/kyan/knit/amigurumi.shtml It's in Japanese but I was able to figure it out from the diagram. Maybe sometime soon I'll write about how to crochet from a diagram/chart. I find it fun as I'm a very visual person. It's been useful several times for me as many foreign patterns use them. For now, here's the purse pattern though. Enjoy the free pattern!

Little Lady Drawstring Purse

Things to know for this pattern- sc, hdc, dc, sl st, sc2tog, magic ring, blo (back loop only)

I used red heart super saver yarn for the bag, sport weight yarn for the ruffle, and a mix of sport weight (dark pink) and simply soft (light pink) for the drawstring and flowers. I used a size H crochet hook. Finished height was 6” and finished diameter (of the bottom) was 5 ½”

Row 1- 12 hdc in Magic ring (12 hdc total)
Row 2- 2 hdc in each hdc around (24 total)
Row 3- hdc in next, 2 hdc in next, repeat around (36 total)
Row 4- hdc in each next 2, 2 hdc in next, repeat around (48 total)
Row 5- hdc in each next 3, 2 hdc in next, repeat around (60 total)
Row 6- hdc in each next 6, 2 hdc in next, repeat around (72 total)
Row 7- sc blo in each next 5, sc2tog in next, repeat around (60 total)
Row 8- join with sl st blo, ch 2 (this counts as a dc), 2dc in blo same st, sk 2, 1 dc in blo next, sk 2, *5 dc in blo next (shell), sk 2, dc in blo next, sk 2* repeat between *s 8 more times, 2dc in blo same stitch as ch2, join with sl st to blo 2nd loop of ch 2 (10 shells, of 5dc each, total + 10 dcs total= 60 total)
Row 9- ch 1, sc in blo same st, sc in blo each around, join with sl st to 1st sc (60 sc total)
Row 10- ch 2, 2 dc in blo same st, skip 2, *shell in blo next, sk 2, dc in blo next, sk 2*, repeat between *s 8 more times, 2 dc in blo same stitch as ch 2, join with sl st to blo 2nd loop of ch 2
Row 11- repeat row 9
Row 12- repeat row 10
Row 13- repeat row 9
Row 14- repeat row 10
Row 15- repeat row 9
Row 16- repeat row 10
Row 17-repeat row 9
Row 18- Drawstring row- ch 3, sk next, dc blo next, ch 1, sk 1, *dc blo next, ch 1, sk 1*, repeat between *s around, join with sl st to blo of 2nd loop of ch 2.
Row 19- repeat row 9
Row 20- repeat row 10
Row 21- Ruffle- Change color, ch 1, sc, ch1, sc in same stitch (through both loops, not blo), *sc ch 1 sc in next st*, repeat between *s around, join with sl st. Finish off and work in ends.

Flowers (make 3)- In a magic ring, *ch 1, hdc, hdc, ch 1, sl st* repeat x5, tighten magic ring and finish off.

Drawstring- Cut approx 5 feet of 6 strands of yarn. Twist together 3 and 3 strands into a rope. Weave through row 18 and pull ends to make them even. You can tie them together to make a purse or to make it a backpack pull the ends through holes at either side of the shell at the very bottom of the bag and tie together inside the purse (see pics below) This was made for a 2yr old but the model is a petite 6 year old so you may need to make the rope longer depending on who you are making the bag for.

With all my patterns feel free to use for personal use, gifts, and charity. Please don't sell the finished product though. Thank you!