If you’re like me and love to crochet jewelry, here is a FREE crochet pattern, compliments of Annie’s and the “Knit and Crochet Now!” TV show. I designed this necklace a few years ago in the “Intermeshing Crochet” technique, in which 2 layers of crochet mesh are crocheted/woven together to make one layer of “intermeshed/interlocked” fabric! To do this technique, you crochet one row at a time, switching back and forth between the rows to make them intermeshed together. It’s a great technique and this necklace is a nice, small project to give the technique a try. You can find the download for this FREE crochet pattern here.
Double Take Pendant Necklace
The pattern includes instructions for the pendant, the chain and the hanging loop. You supply 2 colors of size 10 crochet thread, a size 7 (1.65 mm) steel crochet hook, a needle, stitch markers and a jewelry clasp.
You can read more about this technique, see photos of both sides of the pendant (they are not the same!) and read the corrections to the pattern that I posted in this blog post. Note: If you’re going to make this necklace, please don’t forget to read and/or print out the corrections in this linked blog post. When the pattern was tech edited, the turning chains were moved incorrectly to the wrong rows. Most of the black turning chains should be “ch 4” and most of the blue turning chains should be “ch 2”.
I hope you enjoy this quick project and will share photos of your finished “Double Take Pendant Necklace” with me.
This blanket is made with Red Heart Snuggle Bunny yarn (a super bulky weight 100% acrylic yarn) and a size N-13 crochet hook, making it a quick project to crochet! It measures 35″ wide x 38 1/2″ long, which is a great size for babies. I love how “fluffy” this blanket looks in the photo! Since the yarn is 100% acrylic, the blanket is machine washable, which is a must for baby items! Why not make one for your favorite baby, grandbaby or a baby shower?
I hope you enjoy this FREE crochet pattern. Happy “National Crochet Month” everyone!
In honor of National Crochet Month, I’m going to post a photo and a link to a free crochet pattern every day this month! Here’s the first of 31 free crochet patterns that you may love just as much as me!
Bernat Baby Booties
I LOVE this baby booties design and I’m going to give it a try sometime this month. I love the texture of the post stitches and the functional button band at the top to help keep these booties on babies’ feet! How about you? You can find the FREE pattern here.
Have you ever been working on a crochet project and run into a mistake you made? All of us have (maybe not on every project we make, but on some of them). If the mistake is just a few stitches back, it’s an easy fix. But what if the mistake is many rows, rounds or inches back in your work? Now that’s more difficult and time-consuming to fix! Do you want to take the time to go back and fix that mistake, making the project take longer to finish or do you just want to finish up the project and ignore the mistake? I’ve been in this position many times and I don’t always make the same decision on what to do. I ask myself, “Does this project need to be perfect or is good enough sufficient?”
In my mind, the answer to this question lies in the time-frame that I (or you) have for the project and the intended use/recipient of the project. If this project is made for a family member or friend, I probably want it to be just about perfect. If the project is going to be photographed for a publication (such as in a crochet book or magazine), then I don’t want to have ANY mistakes in it. There is an unwritten Murphy’s Law that says, “If there is a mistake in a crochet project for photography, then that’s the exact spot where the photograph will be taken!” I’ve seen it happen before and it’s not a pretty picture (plus it can be confusing for those who are making that particular project because the project in the picture doesn’t look like what they’re making)!
What if the project is given to a charity and the person who will receive it won’t know who it came from? I guess it’s a matter of personal pride in your work or the ever-present “time constraint” that says “You don’t have the time to go back and fix that mistake; it’ll be good enough”. In my mind, the mistake isn’t as important in this situation and I can live with a mistake a lot easier than I can if the project is going to be photographed for publication. But it’s not always easy for me to leave the mistake alone because I’m a perfectionist (and a recovering perfectionist when it comes to housework, but that’s another story!).
How about errors in crochet patterns? Some designers come up with lots of patterns and quickly self-publish them or sell lots of designs to publishers for their books and/or magazines. They type up the pattern quickly and never proof-read their patterns. Then they move on to the next design and work on it at lightning speed! Well, I can’t work that way and I think that’s wrong (unless you’re the sole bread-winner in your household and need all that income). I think there should be more pride in what we do as designers and/or crocheters (or ask ourselves “Why am I a designer and/or a crocheter”?).
Being a perfectionist, as I am, has its good points and bad points. I don’t design as many projects as some other designers, but I design what I like and I hope others enjoy making my designs. I don’t want to have errors in my patterns, which often confuse those who purchase and make those designs, so I give my patterns my utmost attention to make sure they’re correct before I sell them.
Note: If you find a mistake in one of my patterns, please let me know so I can correct it and forward the corrected copy to everyone who has purchased that pattern. I strive for “perfect” patterns, but I’m only human and an error can creep in from time to time.
If you have a question about one of my patterns, please e-mail me and ask me your question(s). I love to help others understand crochet patterns and I learn a lot about how patterns can be interpreted differently. This, in turn, helps me write my patterns better! If you’ve purchased one or more of my crochet patterns and you like the way it’s written, please let me know (or write a review on this website). I like to know both the good and the bad!
So what do you do when you find a mistake in your crochet project? Do you go back and fix it? Do you leave it alone and say to yourself, “The Amish intentionally make a mistake in their handwork because only God is perfect”? Do you make the same mistake over and over to create a “design element” in the project? Do you hide the mistake by crocheting a flower and sewing it right onto the mistake?
How about when you find an error in a crochet pattern? Do you give up, ask a friend for help, or try to figure it out on your own? With the plethora of free crochet patterns available these days, there are lots of errors in crochet patterns, making it difficult and often frustrating to finish the project with enjoyment. It’s truly enjoyable to find and work with error-free patterns!
We’re all human and mistakes/errors happen. So how many mistakes/errors are “acceptable”? I think that answer is going to be different for different people.
I’d love to hear from you about how you deal with mistakes in your crochet projects and errors in crochet patterns! Let’s all learn and grow together!
Happy crocheting,
Susan
P.S. Voting is now open for The Crochet Awards! You can cast your votes here.
And Crochetville is holding their annual National Crochet Month Blog Tour again during the whole month of March (that’s just 2 days away now!). You can read all about the designers who are participating and the daily prizes here.
Have you heard of “The Crochet Awards”? They used to be called the “Flamies” or the “Flaming Hook of Justice Awards”. They were started by Laurie Wheeler, the founder and fearless leader of The Crochet Liberation Front. Each year, many crochet designers, bloggers, yarn companies and more are nominated for these awards. Anyone can vote for their favorites in each category, starting on Feb. 23rd. You can even nominate your “wildcard” favorite starting on Feb. 16th. For more information about The Crochet Awards, check out this page.
To see who won in last year’s awards, check out this page. Here is one of my favorites from last year’s awards:
It is the Happypotamus, designed by Heidi Bears! Isn’t it pretty with all those vibrant colors? This design won in the category of Best Pillows or Cushions. If you’d like to make one of these, you can find the pattern for sale in Heidi’s Ravelry shop here.
Now back to this year’s awards. The Crochet Awards are being split up into quarterly awards in order to feature more great crochet stuff! All of the nominees for the first quarter of 2015 are listed on this website. This quarter’s awards are all about apparel, from jackets to scarves and everything in between! To see all of the categories for each quarter of the year, check out this page.
I’d like to share a few of my favorite designs that are nominated for the first quarter of 2015.
This is the Fun in the Sun Cover-up by Marly Bird that is nominated in the category of Best Beachwear (swimwear, coverup). It was published in the Summer 2013 issue of Love of Crochet magazine. I like this design because of the nice motifs that Marly used and the possibility to wear it as an everyday top (with the addition of a solid top underneath, of course). It looks very comfortable and easy to make, too.
This is the Jordan Sleeveless Pineapple Top by Vicky Chan that is nominated in the category of Best Tank/Tunic Top. I like the relaxed look of this top and the crochet pineapple is one of my favorite designs! I think this top would look great on many different sizes and figures! You can find this pattern for sale on Ravelry here.
This is the Fall Leaves Wrap by Jessie Rayot that is nominated in the category of Best Shawl/Wrap. I LOVE the colors in this wrap and the way it wraps around the neckline. You can see this pattern and purchase it from Jessie’s Ravelry shop here. This is the same wrap that Jessie entered in the 2014 CGOA Design Competition (and won first place in the accessories category), but in different colors:
I was one of the 3 judges in the CGOA Design Competition last year at the CGOA Conference in Manchester, NH. It was a blast! This year, I’m one of the 2 co-chairs who are putting the design competition together. The other co-chair is Bobbie Matela from Coats & Clark (also a CGOA Board member). We’ll have all of the details for this year’s design competition very soon, so stay tuned for that!
I’m getting sidetracked again! Oh well. Such is my life! Here’s another of my favorite designs that is nominated in the category of Best Cowl:
This is the ZigZag Blues Cowl by Yuliya Tkacheva (I believe she’s Russian and is living in the UK). I love this cowl because of the zigzag design done in all front post and back post stitches! It’s brilliant and has lots of texture! You can purchase this pattern here.
The last of my favorites that I’m going to share is the Summer Sprigs Lace Scarf by Esther Chandler. This scarf is nominated in the category of Best Scarf. I love the lacyness of this scarf and the pattern is free on Esther’s website here. If you scroll to the bottom of her blog post, you’ll see the pdf downloads of the pattern and charts. I haven’t made this scarf yet, but 166 people on Ravelry have made it! If you’re not a Ravelry member, you really should join! It’s free and has links to more patterns that you can imagine! Here’s the Ravelry website.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at The Crochet Awards. And I hope you’ll take a few minutes and vote for your favorites when the voting goes live in 10 days. There are so many talented crochet designers all around the world and it’s nice to give credit to those whose designs are the best in their classes! Until next time…
Do you enjoy crocheting for the holidays? I definitely do! During the past 15 years, I’ve designed quite a few heart-shaped crochet patterns! So in honor of Valentine’s Day, I’ve compiled a list of my published Valentine’s Day and/or heart-shaped crochet patterns for you (and a few are FREE, too!). If you’re like me, you’re looking for a new heart-shaped crochet pattern to make for this Valentine’s Day (before it’s here and gone!). Why not crochet something for your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day?
Valentine Placemat Set
1. Valentine Placemat Set (published in the Feb. 2010 issue of Crochet World magazine). This filet placemat set was made with size 20 cotton crochet thread.
Wiggly Hearts Rug
2. Wiggly Hearts Rug (published in the Feb. 2010 issue of Crochet World magazine). This rug was made with Red Heart Super Saver and LusterSheen yarns.
Heart Swag
3. Heart Swag (published in the Feb. 2010 issue of Crochet World magazine). This swag was made with size 10 cotton crochet thread.
Filet Heart Coaster
4. Filet Heart Coaster (available for purchase on my website here). This coaster is made with size 10 cotton crochet thread.
Heart Coaster
5. Heart Coaster (FREE pattern download on my website here). This coaster is made with worsted weight cotton yarn.
Valentine Earrings
6. Valentine Earrings (published in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Crochet Today! magazine). These earrings were made with size 10 cotton crochet thread.
Justify my Love Coasters
7. Justify my Love Coasters (published in the Jan/Feb 2013 issue of Crochet Today! magazine). These coasters were made with Red Heart Super Saver yarn).
Wiggly Valentine Hot Pad & Coaster Set
8. Wiggly Valentine Hot Pad & Coaster Set (available for purchase on my website here). This set is made with size 10 cotton crochet thread.
Bruges Lace Heart Centerpiece
9. Bruges Lace Heart Centerpiece (published in “Crochet Beyond the Basics” book in 2014 by Rita Weiss and Susan Lowman, published by Leisure Arts). This centerpiece is made with size 10 cotton crochet thread.
Easy Cell Phone Cosy & Heart-Shaped Key Fob
10. Easy Cell Phone Cosy & Heart-Shaped Key Fob (FREE pattern on the Red Heart UK website here). This set uses Red Heart Detroit Color yarn, which is a 100% acrylic, light weight yarn (#3) that is available in the UK. If you live in the US, you could easily substitute Red Heart Anne Geddes Baby yarn or Red Heart Baby TLC yarn instead.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at my Valentine’s Day and heart-shaped crochet patterns. There are TONS of other published Valentine’s Day and heart crochet patterns out there by many talented crochet designers. Why not find the perfect pattern and start your Valentine’s Day crochet project(s) now (before it’s too late!). And if you’d like to learn a new crochet technique (such as wiggly crochet, filet crochet or Bruges Lace crochet) at the same time, what are you waiting for? Start learning something new right now!
A few weeks ago (on January 10 and 11), I attended the TNNA Trade Show in Phoenix, AZ. If you’ve never heard of TNNA, it stands for “The National Needlearts Association”. You can read all about TNNA here.
It was a great show! There were hundreds of booths filled with yarn, crochet hooks, knitting needles, books and lots of knit and crochet garments to drool over! It was “eye candy” for creative people! There were also needlepoint companies there. I used to do some needlepoint and counted cross stitch in the 80’s and 90’s, but I don’t do it anymore. I’m having too much fun with crocheting and knitting now!
A typical aisle of booths at the TNNA trade show
The TNNA Trade Show is for people who are professionals in the needle arts industry to show their products to other companies looking to purchase their products. There were lots of yarn shop owners there, as well as magazine editors and designers. I attended the trade show to see the different yarns up close and to speak with the yarn company owners/reps in person. I submitted a book proposal to a publisher a few months ago and I wanted to see some of the yarns that I might be able to use for the book. I also wanted to meet the people from the yarn companies face to face.
I saw many other knit and/or crochet designers there: Brenda Bourg, Linda Dean, Karen Whooley, April Garwood, Andee Graves, Melissa Leapman and Michelle Hunter. And I also saw Marcy Smith, the editor for Interweave Crochet in one of the yarn booths. I had lunch with Kj Hay, a fellow knit and crochet designer and a good friend of mine one day, too. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos with any of my friends (I guess I was too preoccupied with the gorgeous yarn to remember to take photos!).
In one of the booths, I met a lady named Bonnie Bishoff. Bonnie is an artist who creates beautiful shawl pins from polymer clay. Here are a few pictures of Bonnie in her booth, along with her shawl pins:
Bonnie Bishoff in her TNNA booth
Bonnie Bishoff’s shawl pins
And here’s me wearing the beautiful leaf shawl pin that I bought from Bonnie at TNNA on Sunday:
This shawl pin is so pretty and will coordinate with a lot of the knit and crochet shawls that I’ve made over the years!
Of course, the shawl pins are even prettier in person than in these photos! You can see more of Bonnie’s designs on her website here. Bonnie’s shawl pins are available at many yarn shops around the US. To see if your local yarn shop carries Bonnie’s shawl pins, check out this page.
I met some new people at the trade show, too. One of them was Erin Slonaker. About 9 years ago, I worked with Erin when I was tech editing crochet patterns for Crochet Today magazine. Erin was the assistant editor, along with Brett Bara, who was the editor of the magazine. Now Erin is the editor in chief of Yarn Market News, a magazine for people in the yarn industry. I didn’t get a photo of Erin, either. Darn!
Another new person who I met there was Trisha Malcolm. Trisha is the editorial director of Vogue Knitting magazine. I just had my first knitting design published in the Winter 2014/2015 issue of VK, so I was excited to meet Trisha! Here we are in the Vogue Knitting booth on Sunday afternoon:
Trisha Malcolm and me
Unfortunately, the shawl I chose to wear that day grew on me while I was wearing it. It ended up getting stretched out and hanging pretty low by that afternoon! I think I’ll be more careful how I wear this shawl in the future!!!
All in all, I had a great time at the TNNA trade show! It was great to see old friends and to make new ones, too! And it was wonderful that the show was so close to home!
Speaking of close to home, the Knit & Crochet Show (aka: CGOA Conference) is going to be held in San Diego, CA this July! I hope to see many of you there and to meet some more new friends! To find out more about CGOA and the annual CGOA conference, go to their website here.
This is the story of my first published knitting design. It’s the beginning of September when I’m writing this blog post. But I’m posting it now because the pattern has just been published in the Winter 2014/2015 issue of Vogue Knitting magazine. My design is #9 Mosaic Blanket on pages 48 and 49 in the magazine. Here it is for you to see:
Mosaic Blanket (knit) from Vogue Knitting magazine Winter 2014/2015 issueMosaic Blanket (knit) from Vogue Knitting magazine Winter 2014/2015 issue
Now here’s my story about this blanket…
Back on August 15th, 2014, I got a phone call and an e-mail from an editor at Vogue Knitting. She explained that they were doing a special interview with Barbara Walker, a “guru” in the knitting field, especially in mosaic knitting. Since I learned to knit in July, 2013, I’ve been devouring knitting books and continually learning new knitting techniques. I’ve always loved mosaic crochet, so mosaic knitting was one of the first techniques I learned, along with lace knitting, which I also love! I checked out one of Barbara Walker’s Mosaic Knitting books from my local library in the Fall of 2013 and quickly learned this fascinating knitting technique. So I said “yes” to taking on this mosaic blanket project and waited somewhat “impatiently” for the yarn to arrive. It took a whole week to get here, which was a lot longer than I had hoped it would!
I began this challenging blanket right away when the yarn arrived on August 25th. The yarn came in hanks, so I quickly wound a few hanks into cakes with my trusty umbrella swift and ball winder. Then I sat down and knit a gauge swatch so I could calculate how many stitches and rows would make the targeted 50” x 60” blanket.
Mosaic blanket gauge swatch
I calculated that I’d need to knit approx. 340 rows to make the blanket 60″ high. Since the deadline to get the finished blanket needed to be at the publisher’s office no later than Sept. 19th, that meant I should aim for finishing it by Sept. 12th, to allow time for shipping it from Arizona to New York. I wanted to aim for a few days earlier than that to finish it, so I decided I should knit between 20 and 24 rows per day. At first, my knitting speed was 6 rows per hour, but later on, it slowed down to 4-5 rows per hour (I’m not sure why, but it did!). I calculated it would take me approx. 17 days to knit this blanket at 20 rows per day, which was within the deadline of Sept. 12th. Each hank of yarn had 70 yards in it and was enough to knit 10 rows in the blanket. So that meant 2 hanks of yarn would yield 20 rows total, which was one day’s work. The yarn (Debbie Bliss Paloma) was a real pleasure to knit with, being 60% alpaca and 40% wool. It is a chainette yarn, which means that it’s like a knitted I-cord already. This yarn is as light as a feather and knits up to make a fabulous blanket that isn’t too heavy, but has lots of “bounce” to it. Here’s a few photos of the yarn:
Debbie Bliss Paloma yarnDebbie Bliss Paloma yarn close up
I learned some things while knitting this blanket. The first thing I learned is the necessity to use stitch markers between pattern repeats, especially in mosaic knitting with lots of pattern repeats across the rows. Without those markers, I would have messed up royally across the rows. The markers helped me see the different “sections” of the row and keep my stitches worked properly, which is essential in mosaic knitting. As you can see in this photo, I used scraps of yarn for makeshift markers, since my largest markers were not quite big enough to go on these large needles (I used size 15 circular needles for this blanket). The yarn markers worked great and didn’t cost a thing, either! So the next time you need some stitch markers, why not make your own out of contrasting scraps of yarn?
Homemade stitch markers
I also learned that once the blanket got big (like around halfway through when it was around 30” long), putting it on a clean table and knitting it there was easier than having the weight and thickness of the blanket on my lap (especially in the hot summer months!). I folded the blanket in half widthwise and sat on one side of the table to knit the first half of the rows. Then I simply moved to the other side of the table and folded the blanket in half lengthwise (so the top of the blanket was on the other side of the table, as well) to knit the second half of the rows.
Mosaic blanket being knit on table
In mosaic knitting, you have to pay attention to what you’re doing all the time. It doesn’t help when your mind wanders and you knit more stitches than you need in that particular part of the row! How do I know this? Because I’ve done it myself, of course! And you have to pay attention to whether you’re working a right side or wrong side row because you slip your stitches with the yarn held in back on RS rows and with the yarn held in front on WS rows. While I was working on the blanket, I noticed a slipped stitch I had worked with the yarn held on the right side instead of on the wrong side while I was working the next row. So I fixed that mistake by simply moving the yarn to the wrong side on the next row before slipping that stitch again. If you don’t notice the mistake on the following row, though, it’s another matter!
Most mosaic patterns are written with charts, which I love, since I’m a visual person. I use a magnetic board with magnetic strips so I can place one of the strips ABOVE the row I’m currently working. This allows me to see what stitches are supposed to be BELOW the stitches I’m currently working. This also helps to find and fix any mistakes quickly before they’re too far back to fix!
Every now and then, I laid out the blanket to check for any mistakes so I could quickly fix them. In mosaic knitting, most mistakes are VERY OBVIOUS!!! While I was working the WS rows, I would check the RS to make sure I didn’t have the yarn held on the back (the RS) instead of on the front (the WS), like it should be.
Sometimes it’s hard to concentrate on a mosaic knitting project. It was much easier to work on this blanket with music playing than while watching a TV show because I could concentrate easier with the music.
Here are a few photos of a mistake I made and that section after fixing the mistake. I’ve added an arrow to where the mistake is located to help you see it better. Basically the gray horizontal line should have been a white vertical line! So I had to ladder down and fix that mistake before continuing. If I had looked at the blanket sooner, I wouldn’t have had to ladder down as many rows (approx. 18-20 rows)! It’s sure better to be able to fix a mistake by laddering down rather than having to rip out several hours of work, especially when you’re on a deadline to get it finished!
Mistake in blanket before fixing itAfter fixing mistake
Okay, so can you answer a question for me? Am I a “glutton for punishment” for knitting a project this big or am I simply a knitter in search of a “challenge”? What do you think?
I hope you’ll give mosaic knitting a try. If you’ve never done mosaic knitting before, it might be best not to attempt a project this big for your first mosaic knitting project. Make something smaller, like a mosaic coaster or dishcloth first, to help you learn this technique. Then you’ll be ready to attempt something larger! And if you’d like to see a preview of all the fabulous projects in the Winter 2014/2015 issue of Vogue Knitting, check out this link.
Do you make New Year’s resolutions every year? What is your track record on keeping those resolutions? Like many people, mine isn’t so good! In the past, I’ve resolved to read one book per month, but since I’m not much of a reader, that doesn’t last very long at all! I’ve also resolved to exercise every day, but I’m lazy and I start skipping some days, so that one doesn’t last long, either (or gets modified to a more realistic resolution like exercising 3 times per week)! Why do we set such unrealistic expectations at the beginning of the New Year? I guess we want to improve ourselves in one way or another. That’s not a bad thing to do, especially when we realize where we’re lacking in our lives. Improving ourselves is a great goal and I think we should always strive for improvement! If we don’t strive for improvement, we stagnate and start smelling! Just kidding! But I think improvement in our lives is always a positive goal and I’m all for improvement in my life!
For our New Year’s resolutions in 2015, how about setting some more attainable goals, like learning a new craft or learning more stitches and/or techniques in a craft we already know? Now that’s a New Year’s resolution that would be easy for me to keep! How about you? And it would satisfy the goal of self-improvement, too!
So for my New Year’s resolutions for 2015, I resolve to learn more knitting and crochet techniques. I also resolve to finish more projects than I currently finish and to finish some of my UFO’s (for crocheters and knitters, UFO does NOT mean “unidentified flying object”, it means “UnFinished Objects”). If you’ll notice something about my goals, they aren’t terribly “specific” on how many new techniques I’ll learn or how many UFO’s I’ll finish up in 2015. So these goals are attainable (without being unrealistic)! I guess they’re more of a “guideline” than a goal, but that’s okay with me. At least I can strive for them!
I just did a search on Ravelry.com for UFO groups and there are lots of them! There’s even a group for procrastinating knitters (like putting off the seaming or knitting the 2nd sock)! I’m all in, since I’m a procrastinator, too! In fact, I have 2 books from the library on procrastinating, but I haven’t finished reading them yet! Dare I say that I’m procrastinating on reading them? Unfortunately, nobody has posted in that Ravelry procrastinators group for 2 years! I guess they’re all procrastinating about posting!!!
Don’t get me wrong: I finish lots of crochet and knitting projects every year (projects for publication and personal projects, too). I haven’t kept track, but I estimate I’ve finished 10-25 projects this year, ranging from small to large. Here are photos of a few of the published projects I’ve finished this year:
Nantucket Cowl from Dec 2014 Crochet World magazineEasy Cell Phone Cosy & Heart-Shaped Key Fob from Red Heart UK websiteMosaic Blanket (knit) from Vogue Knitting magazine Winter 2014/2015 issue
Each year, I start some new projects that I don’t finish (at least I finish more projects than I start, so it’s not ALL bad!). If I keep adding to my UFO’s pile, there will be too many to finish in my lifetime! So it’s time to get them out to decide which ones I should finish in 2015! I think I’ll organize them today or tomorrow and make some decisions on how/when to proceed with each one!
How about you? What resolutions are you making for 2015? Are you going to learn a new craft? Are you going to learn some new crochet or knitting techniques? Are you going to finish some projects before starting a new one? I’m definitely NOT going to say that I’ll finish ALL of my UFO’s before starting something new! I know myself and I’m very easily distracted by other things, like new projects! Plus I don’t like to set goals that I can’t keep, no matter how hard I try!
Whatever your resolutions (or lack of resolutions) for 2015, I wish you all a very Happy and Healthy New Year!
Are you someone who loves decorating for Christmas? Do you love to make your own ornaments? I’ve been making Christmas decorations and ornaments for as long as I can remember. I really love crocheting ornaments for our tree, especially with cotton crochet thread. Christmas ornaments bring back such wonderful memories, especially the ones that my 3 sons made at school and church when they were growing up. My sons have all grown up and moved out now, but I still love the ornaments they made. However, we’ve downsized our Christmas tree and I have an abundance of ornaments that won’t fit on our smaller tree! So what’s a mom and crafter to do? Well, I guess I have to pick my favorite ornaments and/or rotate them each year so I can enjoy them anew each year. Or if I had more time and energy, I could buy several more small Christmas trees and have more than one decorated tree in the house (or buy a bigger tree again)! I learned long ago that I’m allergic to real pine and fir trees, so we only use an artificial tree in our house. It’s not quite as nice as a real tree, but it’s better than the misery of the allergy symptoms I suffer if we have a real tree!
Last night, my husband helped me put up and decorate our small Christmas tree (it’s only about 4 feet tall at the most). Yes, it’s kind of late in the season (only 9 days before Christmas), but better late than never! Since we don’t have any little ones at home any more, there’s not as much incentive to decorate for Christmas as there was when they were growing up.
Here is our decorated Christmas tree this year:
It’s not the nicest tree and I’m not the best Christmas tree decorator, as you can see! I’m more of a minimalist when it comes to decorating a Christmas tree, I suppose. But I enjoy seeing the Christmas tree in our living room just the same.
Here are some of the handmade ornaments on our Christmas tree this year:
As you can tell, I like snowflakes and snowmen! Can you tell that one of the snowflakes is tatted, not crocheted? I tatted that one many years ago. I like Victorian ornaments, too. I crocheted the 3 Victorian ornaments from the Leisure Arts leaflet, “Victorian Thread Ornaments” by Anne Halliday (she’s one of my favorite crochet designers!). Years ago, I held an ornament exchange with a bunch of friends. I held it for 3-5 years, so I have some really nice handmade ornaments from my friends over the years. It was a ton of fun! We would each make a different style of ornament, making one for each of that year’s participants. Then we’d get together one night before Christmas and exchange them with each other. Most of those ornaments are in the box of handmade ornaments because they won’t fit on our current small tree. If I could, I would decorate a whole tree with just those handmade ornaments that we swapped over the years (but I’d need a larger tree to fit them all!).
I’ve made a bunch of Christmas decorations over the years, too. This is the Christmas manger scene that I made from fabric a very long time ago:
I made this from a pattern in a book/leaflet. I used fabrics, fiberfill, craft hair, cardboard, ribbons and fabric-covered buttons (for movable joints). Here’s a closer look at Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus:
This set includes the 3 wise men, a shepherd, 2 angels, 2 sheep, a donkey, a cow and a camel. It doesn’t look as good as it did when I finished it, but it’s not too bad for a 15-20 year old decoration!
I love stiffened crochet snowflakes. I think they turn out wonderful and look fabulous on the tree, especially since the white of the snowflakes contrasts so nicely against the green of the tree. And there are so many nice crochet snowflake patterns to choose from, too. If you’re interested in giving crocheted snowflakes a try, check out my blog post from last December here. And you can also check out my tutorial on stiffening crocheted snowflakes here. One thing I’d like to stress in this tutorial is to remember to include a large enough hole on one of the points of the snowflake when you’re stiffening it so you can insert the hanging wire or thread! Why do I say this now? Because I realized I didn’t leave a big enough hole in some of the snowflakes I stiffened last year! OOPS! I suppose I could have forced the hanging wire into the snowflake, but I didn’t want to mess up the snowflake, so I set those snowflakes aside for another day/year.
I’m sure many of you have made some Christmas ornaments and decorations over the years. What kinds of Christmas ornaments and decorations have you made? Which are your favorites?
I hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas this year!
