honeybeehill

Fall leaf coasters

Saturday 3 Oct 2009 by Melissa | 8 Comments
Filed under: Crafty, Crochet, Tutorials

This is a super quick and easy crochet project. I found a pretty ball of Lily Sugar'n Cream Naturals in Terra Firma while I was at Meijer the other day (of all places!! For those who don't know, it's similar to a WalMart or Target store). I liked the color but I had no idea what to do with it. Well yesterday I noticed that we really don't have any coasters for the fall season, so I picked up the yarn and started crocheting! That's what's so awesome about knowing a craft like that. Once you know what you need or want to create, it's no problem either wing-dinging it yourself, or going to the internet to look for a pattern.

These don't really have a "pattern". They are concentric circles of eveningly increasing single crochets. Crocheting in the round is something I learned from amigurumi. I happen to find it a beautiful technique and would much prefer everything crocheted this way rather than fiddling with slip stitches and joining. If you've never done it before, you need a safety pin or stitch marker to use. I use "jewelry" safety pins -- that is, it's a bag of pins I found in the "jewelry findings" aisle at Hobby Lobby. They don't have a ring opposite the clasp, so there's nothing to get caught in my yarn. I put a little bead at the end to make it cheerful.

Use a 4mm hook (G). I made a magic ring (which I absolutely can't teach you how to do because I'm a hack at it myself! Google it!) and then sc 6 in the ring. At the end of each round I place my marker in the last stitch so I don't lose my mind trying to count those stitches! Each round increases evenly by six. If you don't know what that means, here is how I made mine:

Make a magic ring.
R1 - 6 sc in ring, place marker - 6
R2 - 6 sc inc, place marker - 12
R3 - sc inc, sc - repeat around, place marker - 18
R4 - sc inc, 2 sc - repeat around, place marker - 24
R5 - sc inc, 3 sc - repeat around, place marker - 30
R6 - sc inc, 4 sc - repeat around, place marker - 36
R7 - sc inc, 5 sc - repeat around, place marker - 42
R8 - sc inc, 6 sc - repeat around, place marker - 48
R9 - sc inc, 7 sc - repeat around, place marker - 54
R10 - sc around, sl join to previous row - 54
ch 10, sl join to next sc to form loop

The little lip fits nicely around a regular size coffee mug. I added a little leaf embellishment with some cotton from Hobby Lobby that I had scraps of. I don't know a good way to write the pattern out so I just drew a chart. I hope this is self explanatory:

Once you sl join at the end of the leaf, just cut off a tail long enough to tie it to the coasters.

As you can see, the coasters have a kind of six-sided shape to them. This is because the way I wrote the pattern above, the increases occur on top of the increases from the previous row. This is just the easiest way for me to make this shape and not have to think or count very much (like when I'm vegging out and watching Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman on Netflix). But if you want your increases to be more hidden and the rounds to be more... round, you can stagger your increases. Like this:

Make a magic ring.
R1 - 6 sc in ring, place marker - 6
R2 - 6 sc inc, place marker - 12
R3 - sc inc, sc - repeat around, place marker - 18
R4 - sc, sc inc, sc - repeat around, place marker - 24
R5 - 2 sc, sc inc, sc - repeat around, place marker - 30
R6 - 2 sc, sc inc, 2 sc - repeat around, place marker - 36
R7 - 3 sc, sc inc, 2 sc - repeat around, place marker - 42
R8 - 4 sc, sc inc, 2 sc - repeat around, place marker - 48
R9 - 5 sc, sc inc, 2 sc - repeat around, place marker - 54
R10 - sc around, sl join to previous row - 54
ch 10, sl join to next sc to form loop

Now I *think* that might work, but I haven't worked it up myself, so don't hate on me if I accidentally didn't bury those increases more evenly.

One ball of Sugar & Cream made four coasters with enough left over for probably two more. That's a nice use of $1.50 if you ask me! Oh and here's another tip, if you want to make a little bowl, just make several more rows of sc after R10. It'll make a cute little dish and the cotton is quite sturdy! I'm going to get another ball of this yarn next time I'm grocery shopping to make a little box for them.

I've never tried to write up a crochet pattern, so please let me know if anything is confusing or you know, wrong!

Two-patch Pouch tutorial

Sunday 23 Aug 2009 by Melissa | 5 Comments
Filed under: Crafty, Tutorials

Two-patch Pouch

I recently got a bunch of little 4.5" zippers and I became obsessed with figuring out how to make a little pouch with a zipper running down the middle. I knew I wanted to do something that would use up some scraps, so I wanted two patches on one side and the rest of the pouch made from linen. So now that I've got it figured out (and I've got four of these under my belt to get this far!), I figured I'd share it with you.

Here's what you'll need:

Supplies!

2 pieces of coordinating fabrics for the patches - 2.5" x 3.25" each
1 piece of linen (or another fabric for the body) - 6" x 6.5"
2 pieces of muslin or lining fabric - 6" x 4.5"
1 - 4.5" zipper (the zipper part is 4.5 inches, the total length of the fabric around the zip should be about 6")
Approximately 14" of bias tape

I recommend you starch and iron your fabrics before you cut them -- and if possible, use a rotary cutter to cut your fabrics. Of course you will need scissors and a sewing machine (see my sewing machine review here). Also, a fabric glue stick will make your life much, much easier!

You will sew with a .25" seam allowance for the whole project. Good luck!

The first step is to put the two patches together and sew along one of the short ends (sew along the edges that are 2.5" long).

Iron the patches open and put it right-side down against one of the lining pieces so they line up on the 6" side. If your lining piece has a right/wrong side, put the right side together with the right side of the top fabric. Do the same with the linen piece.

Sew the patches to the lining and the linen to the other lining piece with a .25" seam allowance. Turn and press.

Now you're going to sew your zipper on. For this pouch, the zipper is not enclosed between the top fabric and lining, but rather sits neatly under them both. I have found this was the neatest way I could sew them. If I were sewing a pouch that had the zipper on top, I would have enclosed it, but for this pouch, this way just made the most sense.

Position the zipper underneath the 2-patch piece and muslin and sew down the top. Do the same with the linen.

Next open the zipper (this is IMPORTANT!). Put the right sides of the patches and linen together (pull them away from the lining fabric) and sew together with a .25" seam allowance. You'll have something that looks like this:

Take a picture of the little gremlin who is pestering you because he thinks the six-hundred dollar camera you're holding is a toy and desperately wants to "Push but-ton?" and take "Pick-ture?"

Now put the right sides of the lining together (make sure your zipper is down!) and sew them together. Now turn the whole thing and you'll come up with something like this:

You'll notice that the top of the pouch seams along the side of the patches (which will be the side of the pouch) while the lining seams along the middle back of the pouch. This is because when I tried to seam both lining and top fabrics at the same place, it was too bulky in that spot when I attached the bias tape and turned. This method makes for much nicer corners on the finished pouch.

(You can also turn it so it's right-side out at this point if you want to see how it's going to look.)

Now, see that little metal piece at the end of each zipper? Using that as a guide, even up each side of the pouch so that there's .5" of material beyond that little metal piece. Use a rotary cutter if you have one.

Now snip off about 7" of bias tape and baste it to each side of the pouch. Bias tape has an uneven fold so that there is more fabric on the back side of the tape. This is to make sure you catch the backside when you're sewing. So make sure you put it on right!

I like to use a fabric glue stick when I apply bias tape. It makes it much easier to turn under the edges. To hide the end of the bias tape, fold it under from front to back and tuck it underneath on each side.

Now stitch the bias tape on. The closer you stitch to the edge of the bias tape, the neater the corners of your pouch will be. Turn your pouch and poke out your corners.

You'll have to pull on your pouch and iron it a bit to get the shape right. The linen tends to pull funny. I bet it would work better with a lighter-weight fabric, actually.

Add a tassle with some linen scraps and tiny rick rack. Sit back and marvel at your ingenuity!

This is my first sewing tutorial, so let me know what you think! I'll do my best to answer any questions you might have! I have some more photos of the finished pouch at my flickr page.

Since today is Sunday, you also get to see my Sunday Stash!

These are all fabrics I've gotten in swaps from the Craft Room Destash group on flickr. I love love them all. I think I'm going to make Freyja a little hat with the umbrellas and I see the Panda's and the flowers becoming change purses.The flower fabric is actually my favorite fat quarter in my whole stash right now... so it just might be too painful to cut into it right now!

Enjoy the tutorial and let me know if you'd like me to post other tutorials in the future!

Review: Hamanaka Rakuraku double-ended crochet hooks

Friday 21 Aug 2009 by Melissa | 3 Comments
Filed under: Crafty, Reviews

I remember I wanted to learn how to crochet because I kept seeing all these granny squares tutorials pop up (mostly on whip-up) and I thought they were pretty darling. It was the day before my birthday and I had got some mad money in the mail from my inlaws, so I went to Hobby Lobby and bought five balls of yarn and one crochet hook. It was a Clover Soft Touch hook size H. Once I learned my basic stitches on that, it was impossible for me to pick up those cheap-o aluminum hooks and use them. I was completely spoiled.

I've done quite a few projects since then (which I unfortunately can't show you till next month because they're surprises for swaps) and once I realized that I was totally obsessed with crochet, it became necessary to get more hooks. Well Hobby Lobby only sells them in two sizes, G and H. So I ordered a full-set of 8 (C-J) on eBay for around $20. GOOD DEAL.

Well then I won a give-away on the whip-up blog -- a $50 gift certificate to mwendas.etsy.com. I have to say, I really love this shop. Fridah, the owner, is very helpful and friendly. I have ordered from her previously and she even helped me track down some Japanese patterns I had been searching all over the internet for! I had been intrigued by the Hamanaka double-ended crochet hooks she sold. So I figured I'd try them out since I wouldn't be losing anything.

I got them a few days ago and I've been using them exclusively ever since! They are super comfortable to hold -- I would say better than the Soft Touch. They're pretty smooth too, although they have a shiny finish and are slicker than the Soft Touch, so it took me awhile to get used it it. I really like how the hooks are pointier than the Soft Touch too.

Now I wouldn't say that they will completely replace my Clover Hooks. The Hamanaka set is five hooks with two different sizes on each one -- so I have ten sizes to my eight Clover sizes. The Hamanaka set was also expensive. I don't remember how much exactly she had them listed for, but it was right around or at $50 and you'll find that pretty even across the board if you do an etsy search for the hooks. Now I guess $5/hook isn't too bad, but these aren't something I would have bought for myself -- especially since I already have a Clover set. I'm scared to lose one of the Hamanaka hooks too because it'll be expensive and inconvenient to replace.

But they are really nice and the more I crochet with them, the more I like them -- so maybe if I did lose them, I would replace them! Or at least cry a lot.

The hooks came in a little plastic box, but it wasn't very cute so today I made a felt case to slip them in. I appliqued and hand-embroidered the bee and machine-embroidered (my first attempt) the rest. I put some fabric yoyos on the front. I think it turned out pretty cute!

I've got three (yes three!) amigurumi in the works -- but they're all for swaps, so no pics till next month! Other than that, I've been working on some hand-sewing projects and cutting fabric for pouches and bags for an upcoming craft show. School starts a week from Monday, so I've got to get my butt in gear! I've got a cute little pouch tutorial that I'm going to post on Sunday!

Happy Friday!

Sunday Stash

Sunday 2 Aug 2009 by Melissa | 1 Comment
Filed under: Bloggy memes, Crafty

Today's Sunday Stash pick is some red and blue repro prints from my stash. I absolutely adore 20s and 30s repro fabrics. They're probably my favorite. I love the small patterns. They're great for little patchwork projects and for baby items. I keep a few of my repro FQs in a little craft kit that I take with me. It's just a little box with my yoyo makers, some hand-sewing thread and needles. I also have some yarn scraps and crochet hooks in the box now too. But anyway, I really like to just sit on the porch and make yoyos with these kinds of fabrics.

When I was in the hospital having the bebe, my friend Amanda sent me a package with some hex papers and some cute fabric scraps. I've been practicing with the cuuuute scraps she sent. The linen fabrics are harder to make hexes out of.

I think I'll use these to embellish some pants for Sullivan. They seem to be boyish, right? I've got a few scraps of Heather Ross goldfish in bags fabric that I think I'll fussy cut some hexes and use them to embellish a backpack for him.

I can't do any sewing today though and I have to resist the urge to pick up my crochet hooks too. I have a paper to write and a few hundred pages of Don Quixote to tackle! Yikes!

What's in your stash today? Happy Sunday!

Sunday Stash & flickr groups you might like

Sunday 26 Jul 2009 by Melissa | 2 Comments
Filed under: Bloggy memes

I've still got half an hour left of Sunday -- so this is my Sunday Stash post! I thought in the course of this post I'd also introduce you to some of my favorite flickr groups.

In case you have no idea what this Sunday Stash thing is about -- it's a group on flickr where members post a picture of a tiny bit of their craft stash every Sunday -- and blog about it even. Of course it's a great group to browse if you like drooling over pretty fabrics (like I do).

These pretty American Jane fat quarters I got in a swap on the Craft Room Destash group on flickr. This is a swap group where members post craft stuff they don't want anymore or fabrics they have available for swapping. When you see someone else post something you want, you just ask them to look over your stash and see if there's anything they're interested in swapping for! It's super fantastic. I've taken part in over half a dozen swaps with various members of this group and I've gotten some great fabrics I love in exchange for some great fabrics I probably wouldn't have used otherwise. I've also traded craft books in this group. I have a whole set on flickr of craft things I'm willing to swap out -- in hopes of getting new craft stuff of course

Most of my favorite flickr groups are swap groups, actually. I am doing THREE swaps in August. The first is for the A Little Fabric, A Little Chocolate group. You can see by the photos in the pool that this is a high quality swapping group. Every month we're assigned partners and based on their flickr photos and a little survey, we put together swap packages for each other that consist of three fat quarters and some chocolate and extra goodies. This swap is always my favorite one. I was really sad when I didn't sign up for July because I thought I'd be too busy with a newborn to do fabric shopping (I was right). It's really great to get such a nice surprise in the mail and the fellow crafters I've met through the group have become great flickr friends of mine.

The second swap I'm doing in August is similar to the first. It's for the Fat Quarter Swap with a Twist group. For this group we send themed monthly packages to our swap partners. The packages usually contain a few fat quarters, some kind of handmade item and extra goodies. The August theme is "shades of blue" and we're required to send a blueberry recipe to our partners (along with the fabric and handmade stuff). I've done this swap for awhile now and I highly recommend it. I find the themes can be harder to work with, but I do enjoy the challenge of putting together a nice swap package.

The third swap I'm doing is for a new group I've just joined. The Amigurumi group on flickr is absolutely full of stunning inspiration -- and since I've become mildly obsessed with crochet lately, I spend a lot of time looking at this pool. It's a good way to find designers and bookmark etsy favorites and I've found some nice patterns -- both free and for sale. I think that Amigurumi appeals to me more than making softie toys with fabric right now because I love making toys for Sullivan and it's a different kind of activity for my hands -- and it feels good to take a break from the sewing machine. There is an August swap going on where secret partners send an Amigurumi and extra goodies to each other. This is an international swap too. Looking at some of the swap examples posted it should be a really awesome swap. I'm sort of intimidated, but I just purchased some patterns on etsy to try and I've been practicing my tension and stitches by making toy eggs all week! I'll review the swap better once I've actually taken part in it though!

I absolutely love swapping and I love swapping on flickr because it just seems more personal than swap-bot (in my experience). Of course, be safe and use common sense when giving out personal information on the internet!

I'll post some of my other favorite flickr groups at a later time!

In the meanwhile, I'm doing fine and so is Freyja, Sullivan and Aaron. My mother-in-law is visiting this week, so we are busy busy! But I'm hoping to have some time to post some blogs and get caught up on comments. Four minutes till next week now! Happy Monday everyone!

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