Crochet Mae – Page 4

Fiesta Medals

One local festival that trumps any festival I have ever been to is Fiesta. Fiesta is an 11 day event held in the spring in San Antonio, Texas. It started in the late 19th Century as a way to honor those who fought at the Alamo and San Jacinto.

Fiesta medals are extremely popular. Many businesses and organizations produce a medal making them highly collectible. Now you can make your own â€˜medalâ€™ out of yarn and personalize it to your familyâ€™s memories of Fiesta.

Here is a quick pattern on how to make your own crochet medal. Not that much yarn is needed, so it’s a perfect project for scrap yarn. Any size hook should do. I used a 3.5 mm.

Starting with the top piece:

Chain 3
SC into 2nd chain from hook and one SC into last chain (2 SC)
CH 1, Turn, 2 SC (4 SC)
CH 1, Turn, 2 SC into first SC, SC into next 2 SC, 2 SC into last SC (6 SC)
CH 1, Turn, 2 SC into first SC, SC into next 4 SC, 2 SC into last SC (8 SC)
CH 1, Turn, 2 SC into first SC, SC into next 6 SC, 2 SC into last SC (10 SC)
CH 1, Turn, Even row of SC (10 SC)
Finish Off

For the Medal done in the round:

CH 2
SC 6 into 2nd CH from hook (6 SC)
2 SC into each of the 6 SC (12 SC)
2 SC into next SC, One SC into next SC, repeat for the round (18 SC)
Finish Off

Sew pieces together. OPTIONAL – Sew or glue a small piece of felt to the back of it to add sturdiness.

I sewed a button in the middle of the medal piece for decoration. Another idea is to use an applique for the round medal piece. All kinds of ideas to make this really unique.

Accessories

GNOMES!

I have been crazy for gnomes this past year. I blame Gen Con. Well really I blame Gut Bustin’ Games and their Oh Gnome you Don’t board game that had a heavy presence at Gen Con. It looked like a fun game and we even got a demo at their booth. Also our niece took a crochet class at Gen Con to make a gnome/wizard amigurumi. She is a knitter and new to crochet. I made a gnome from the pattern and loved it so I made more.

For Halloween, I made some candy corn gnomes. Their hats are candy corn colored. I also made a few pumpkin gnomes with a green and orange colored hats.

I had made a bigger one with the idea of decorating with it but didn’t get around to it so I just put it in with the others. Naturally it was the first to go. I made some Halloween crochet monsters in 2013. I have some ideas for Halloween 2015 that I need to start working on. My crochet goal this year is to finish all projects early which means having Halloween crochet done by October 1st.

This was a fun project and hopefully will have a reason to make more gnomes in the future.

amis

Bear Lovey

I haven’t made that many pieces for babies. The one finished baby blanket I made took a long time. In fact I finished with literally an hour before the baby shower. My baby booties are usually different sizes. So I just shy away from baby items and just usually buy gifts.

For some reason I decided to make a lovey probably because there are so many awesome patterns out there. This one was for a co-worker. I didn’t use a pattern and felt my bear looks more like a Koala but that is technically a bear, right?

I wasn’t thrilled with it but pleased enough to give it away. I am working on another one but this one from a pattern. We’ll see how it turns out.

toys

Lizard Bookmark Valentines

It’s nice to have a child that appreciates the things I make her. I made her a lizard bookmark from a free gecko pattern. The best thing about this pattern is that it is all one piece. It works up super fast.

My daughter took the bookmark to school where a few kids had expressed an interest in having one. Fast forward to February and I get an idea. I will make lizard bookmarks for everyone in her class.

The biggest challenge was sewing all those eyes and red felt tongues. My daughter wanted to help and completed one. My husband also helped and completed four. So between us all we got all 21 made with a few days to spare before the Valentine’s party.

My daughter picked out some Valentine’s cards and came up with a way to ‘deliver’ each bookmark with the card. The lizards were a big success. It’s kind of cool to think in this day and age of so many toys out there kids can appreciate an enjoy something handmade.

toys

Thing One or Thing Two Wig

March 2nd is Dr. Seuss’ birthday. I have done two Dr. Seuss related crochet projects. One I did last year I crocheted a Cat in the Hat hat and tail for my daughter. Even before that I had made a Thing One and Thing Two wig for my niece’s twins. Here is the Thing One hat:

I started with a crochet beanie in single crochet. Then I took a feathered boa and sewed it in a circular pattern to the hat. It was the twins’ first Halloween and I think they wore the hats for thirty seconds but it was a lot of fun to make them. I sewed the feathered boa because I didn’t want to use glue since babies would be wearing it. Also that way the boa could also be removed and then the beanie could be worn by itself making it a more versatile piece.

Fun project and always nice to do something for others.

Accessories

Yarn Stories

Here it is Black Friday. I went to two stores for Black Friday: the local gaming store and the local yarn store. These are my two favorite places to shop. This year we are giving games as gifts or I am crocheting a gift. It feels so good to have a plan and not stress about gift buying.

While at the favorite local yarn store, there was a couple in there that were chatting it up with the woman working there. Both the people – a man and woman – knitted. She bought her yarn and then he bought his – so they may not have been together but just shopping together. Anyway the guy mentions that he knits to relieve stress which is ironic to me because knitting raises my stress level. That’s why I crochet. He mentioned that his male cousin also crochets, too and he would have to bring him by if he came in for the holidays.

Then another gentlemen stopped by because he didn’t know the yarn store existed. He was on a service call but his wife crochets and had been looking for a yarn store. So he got their information to give to her and said she would probably be in that day or the next.

I absolutely love both of these stories. I love hearing people talk about their love of fiber arts or people being supportive of their loved ones. My favorite local yarn store is awesome so I’m always glad to be in there and know new people are constantly coming into the store.

Yarn is cheaper than therapy and knowing others find joy in fiber means they will stay in business for a long time.

Uncategorized

Turd Blossom

Totally inspired by Star Lord from Guardians of the Galaxy when asked what he was doing (he was dancing around) he replied something like I am distracting you you turd blossom. Turd blossom was one of those phrases that from the moment I heard it I knew it would forever be part of my vocabulary. So in honor of this, I made my own version of a turd blossom in yarn and gave it to my husband for his desk.

It’s a simple cone and a tube of single crochets that I did sewed around the cone. I also did a small flower to represent a blossom. Fast and simple. It’s amazing how the smallest crochet projects can bring so much fun especially for items that you won’t find many places if anywhere.

amis

LPS Backpacks

Crochet backpack for LPS toys — Backpacks for Littlest Pet Shop

Littlest Pet Shop fever has hit our house. My daughter has always loved LPS but since we’ve discovered LPS blind packs we have really gone crazy for the cute animal figures. Lately we have been playing a game of school with the LPS figures so naturally they need backpacks. So I was commissioned by my daughter to make 15 crocheted backpacks for the small toys.

They are a little too big, but she wanted to be able to place something into the backpacks. She is happy with it so that is all that matters. Keep the client happy, right?

Accessories

Summer Food Amigurumi

Summer is in full swing here. I had a request from my daughter for some small ice cream treats. She made a menu of crazy food items like tuna cream, sunny delight, and other wild stuff that was ice cream. So I made a few little items for her to complete her ice cream shop. I made the big Popsicle first then she told me that they needed to be small since the ice cream shop was for her small animals. I made the other pieces smaller.

She was pleased for the most part. I made a bowl of cream and a removable fish. She told me the fish was supposed to be gray, so I need to re-do that. It’s fun to make her items and to be challenged to make something from her imagination.

Foodie

April Goals

Each month is a new start. A chance to do all those things you thought you would do the previous month. My crochet list has grown pretty long and daunting. So it is high time to have some monthly goals to finish works in progress and start new ones.

This month I have these projects to complete:

Ten bunnies for Easter – they are small so hopefully each one won’t take that long to complete

Summer shawl – This is a gift for a friend’s birthday in May. This project is of the utmost priority.

change purse – I really want to make a small coin purse for my purse. Really I am just looking for a container to keep smaller items in not necessarily change.

Each weekend I will update my progress.

WiPs