Free Pattern: Crochet crayon pocket

Because sometimes, ziplock bags and cardboard boxes just won’t do for your traveling tot.

This entire project is worked as one piece until the top piece.

Starting with a magic loop, single crochet 6 times into the loop.

Bottom:
Rd1: 2sc in ea, (12)
Rd2: (2 sc in 1st st, 1 sc in next 1 st), repeat 6x (18)
Rd3  (2 sc in 1st st, 1 sc in next 2 sts), repeat 6x (24)
Rd 4 (2 sc in 1st st, 1 sc in next 3 sts), repeat 6x (30)
Rd 5 (2 sc in 1st st, 1 sc in next 4 sts), repeat 6x (36)
Rd 6-10 Sc in ea st. (36)
Rd 11 Sc in 1st 18 sts, ch 1, turn

Opening:
Row 12-23 Sc 36x, ch 1, turn.
Row 24 Sc 36x, ss to join. DO NOT TURN

Resume:
Rd 25- 30 Sc in ea st (36)
Fasten off.
Weave in the tail.

Top:
Repeat rounds 1-5 of the bottom. End with a long tail.
Use the tail to stitch the top onto the bottom using a tapestry needle.

Finished pocket should measure about 5 inches long and 2-3 inches wide. The gauge is not important as long as your stitches are tight and the crayons don’t fall out!

Next up: PLARN

As if my recycling adventures had not reached an all time high with my upcycled t-shirt yarn bag, I’m am now venturing into the realms of recycled grocery bags!

I never saw a tutorial for making plarn, so I figured it out just for you – all four of my dedicated readers. <sarcastic grin!>

Since WA has new laws going into effect soon about the use of plastic bags at stores, everyone is really into using the reusable grocery bags. Instead of throwing my plastic shopping bags into the recycle like I usually do, I’m now turning them all into plarn and I’m going to make reusable grocery bags out of the grocery bag plarn! (The irony here is killing me!)

Plarn is super easy.

1. First: be sure your grocery bag didn’t hold something gross like chicken because it’s not really going to be launder-able.
2. Next: flatten out your bag and pull the corners so the plastic is nice and square.
3. Then: fold up the sides so the handles are together.
4. Cut the handles off.   
5. Cut off the sealed bottom piece.
6. Cut 2cm “strips” from the folded bag.
7. Link the “strip/loops” together so they are one long series of loops.
8. Repeat with lots of bags. 50? 100? use your whole cabinet full.
9. Pretend they’re not loops, roll into a “plarn ball.”

How to make t-shirt yarn?

I’ve had a couple of requests for how to make t-shirt yarn. Its pretty simple and only a little messy. There are lots of tutorials made by fabulous bloggers out there. This is the one I used:

I usually do it at the table and then the little fuzzies that come off the t-shirt yarn as I’m pulling the strips into yarn fall on the bale instead of me or the floor. This makes clean up easier and faster. Of course if you have hardwoods instead of rugs then the floor would work fine and swiffer solves all measures of fuzzy problems.

Enjoy!

T-shirt yarn becomes a bag.

Wonder what I did with all that t-shirt yarn? Enter bag:



The bag took about 8 t-shirts worth of yarn and is about the same size as the purse I usually use (the one my grandma quilted for me!) See the fun tassle I added. Oh yes, I'm Really stylish now. Tehe.

What do you think?

More t-shirt yarn

Just raided the t-shirt drawer to make more yarn. Any ideas for what I should make?

Here’s my list of projects so far:

1. Tote
2. set of multi-colored coasters

I guess you could say it’s a short list?

T-shirt yarn experiment

This is my first time trying to make t-shirt yarn to crochet with! I found this lovely tutorial HERE and it was perfect!

Now if I could only find my crochet hooks I would be able to get to work! AHHh! Where could they be?

Baskets of groceries, bundles of fun

As my Sweet Pea gets more and more excited about copying everything I do, I’m trying to keep up with her interest and make fun toys to go along with her age.

Right now I’m in the middle of a big project to make a bunch of crocheted food items for her before we get her a play kitchen. We’re thinking to get her the kitchen (or DIY make one!) before Christmas next year so I’m not feeling stressed at and just taking my time.

Here’s the first round up on free patterns I’m using:

 

1. Sandwich from Yummi-Gurumi by Craft foxes

2. Cupcake by Anapaulaoli

3. Pancake Breakfast by the Craft Frog

4.Eggs by Easy Makes me Happy

5.Sausage links by tots and bottoms

6. Sweet Little Cake by KTB Designs.

Crochet Hearts

I found this fabulous pattern to make crocheting festive for Valentine’s day and I wanted to share it!

The linked picture above give the pattern. SOOO easy. I’ve been making them while we watch tv at night. My husband thinks they’re cute. Here are the ones I’ve made:

I’m going to hopefully have enough by valentine’s day to fill one of my vases (so my hubby won’t feel the need to spend bunches of cash on flowers that will die)

5 down…. 50 more to go!

Heart Wreath

I saw this:

on the idea room from a couple of years ago and decided to use what materials I had to make something similar.
So I took my pile of red t-shirts

and a wire hanger
and cut out a bunch of circles… and then kept cutting out circles (I used 2 whole t-shirts and some scraps!)

And then went crazy with my glue gun!
Here it is half done:

I would stick some glue on it and then kind of squeeze the shirt scrap until it was the shape I wanted.
And several hours and at least 6 glue sticks later: Tada!

Some V-day fun.

I’ve had bunches of fun this January trying to create some fun décor for valentine’s day. And here’s what I’ve come up with:

I have three projects that I’ve been working on. The easiest and most fun was my wire heart garland:

I took wire – mine was copper, but and wire will do – you could even use green floral wire if you have a mind to mix up colors! – and wrapped it in circles then shapes into hearts. I made twelve of them, not caring what size they were. They all ended up about the same size, but varying thicknesses.

Then I tied them to some ribbon and hung them up over my office area!

And now the kitchen/office is just a little festive!

Someone has a birthday soon!!!

Our Sweet Pea is turning 1 in about a little over a month and to get ready for her birthday I’m making this sweet craft! The linked website has instructions, but they’re a little vague so I’ll get a nice tutorial up when I’m done for those of you who want to try it out but (like me) need pictures to go a long with the instructions.

Car Seat Strap Covers

We got a super deal on a convertible car seat about a month ago from Target. Unfortunately, the model we bought didn’t come with covers for the shoulder straps. My Sweet Pea is just so sensitive that the straps started to bother her immediately.

So this morning I decided to make her some strap covers. Now, a lot of tutorials I’ve seen have the strap covers in a nice easy square shape. I’m sure that this is an easy method for being successful at this project, however, I’m in the mood for a something different and decided to make mine the same shape as the strap covers on Sweet Pea’s infant car seat (we have a chicco – the strap covers are half circles). If you want to make square ones, click through on the image below for easy directions – but be sure to read this post for tips on how to make the process even simpler!

If you want to make circles, like mine,  keep reading.

Materials:

• Four circles cut from your choice of fabric. You could upcycle some old t-shirts, baby blankets, burp cloths, or just use some craps that you have lying around.
• Edging – double sided bias tape if you’re in a hurry,  or, use some of the material that you’re upcycling and make your own bias tape. You’ll probably want a bias tape maker if you choose that route.
• Four circles of cotton batting… or if you’re like me and too cheap to go to the fabric store, you can use some scrap felt that you have lying around.
• 4 inches of velcro

Step 1. Cutting out your shapes.

I recommend you use a pattern. A big cereal bowl will probably do nicely. Fold and pin your fabric then trace your bowl. Do this twice so you’ll have four pieces of fabric. Repeat for the felt/cotton batting.

Step 2. Sewing your pieces together.

Start by pinning the fabric together with felt/cotton batting sandwiched in between, right sides facing out. It should be four layers thick. Sew three to four seams at even intervals to attach all the materials together.

Step 3. Attaching your edging

Pin the binding (or your homemade edging) to the edge of the circles the whole way around. Be sure to fold under the edge that lays on top as you finish pinning around the circle. Sew along the edge being sure to sew through both sides of the binding and all four layers of your strap cover.

Step 4. Attaching your velcro

Cut the velcro into pieces that are about 2 inches long. Sew the hooks and the loops to opposite edges of the same side of your strap cover.

Step 5. Enjoy!

Attach to your carseat, stroller, carriage, pram, or bike seat and enjoy! I hope your little ones find these to be as comfortable as they are stylish.

 

But wait, you say. home come your tutorial had no pictures? Haha. That because I did mine a little differently than the other tutorials online. If you are using a basic cotton fabric or upcycling a t-shirt, definitely use the directions above. However, if you happen to have a nice fleecy fabric scrap on hand that was left over from last year’s halloween costume… then by all means follow the directions below.

The EASY WAY:

Step 1: Cut your fabric out.

Use a bowl, same as above, but for this version you only need 2 circles.

Step 2: Sew an edge to keep your fabric from fraying.

Fleece is nice because it generally doesn’t fray. To give your straps a nice edge and to keep them from coming apart, sew around the edge of each circle.

It will look like this when you’re done:

Step 3: Attach Velcro

Just like above, make sure that you attach the hooks and looks on opposite edges of the same side of the circle. Yep, just sew it on. I used scrap velcro so mine are a little small, but they work great!

It should look like this when you’re done:

And like this when folded over:

So simple! I think it only took 20 minutes. This is a great option if you’re short on time because each strap is just one piece of fleece.

Add embellishments if you choose, or go plain and make it match your car seat. Enjoy!

1, 2, 5, … 8, oh wait, what’s next?

I found this fabulous tutorial for making beanbags and had such a blast making them that I had to share. I think this would be a really fun way to learn to count, so I put numbers on mine. What I love about this process is how versatile it is! You could put shapes, numbers, letters, messages, or really anything on the bean bags - and they were SOOO easy to make. Unfortunately, because they have beans in them and can’t be washed I don’t really recommend them for children under 3. BUT! if you substitute the beans for plastic pony beads I think that would solve the problem.

I also know that I don’t cut straight so instead of cutting the fabric out, I used pre-cut quilting squares from Jo-Anns. Enjoy!
Linked up to these parties!

Tea Towel Dress

Have I mentioned that my sewing machine is a piece o’ junk? It took me all day to figure out why the tension was messing up (a key to this AWESOME easy dress) but I finally figured it out!!! I’m so excited.
I used to have a dress like this, but I think mine was maroon, or maybe it was yellow? Anyways, I remember thinking it was soooo comfy. I can’t wait to see how Sweet Pea looks in this fabulous dress!
 
Note: The tutorial I’m linking doesn’t say to use normal thread for the top thread, but you do. ALSO, if you have issues with your bobbin tension the shirring will NOT work. I learned this the hard way. Luckily, I also found great tips for fixing my bobbin tension and I shouldn’t have that problem any more!!! Hooray!!
You will all LOVE THIS TUTORIAL.
Happy Dress Making!!

Organza Flowers

I take no credit for this craft idea. Actually I have no idea where it came from, but a friend of mine showed me how to make these a couple of months back and just this week my husband asked me if I would make some for our Sweet Pea. How cool that my husband is actually asking me to make something specific next!
<3. He’s awesome. I should make something for him next….

On to the craft!

For this activity you will need:
about an 1/8th of a yard of your choice color of organza.
A needle and thread
3-5 tiny beads.
Oh yeah… you need scissors too.

Start by cutting out 3-4 circles of different sizes from the organza. No need to be exact. We’ll smooth out the edges in a minute. In fact, sometimes a bumpy circle makes a cool flower. I just did circles because I didn’t feel like being overly interesting. If you try it with a bumpy circle, I’d love to hear how it turns out!

** This is NOT a kid friendly activity, so make your all your bitty ones are napping or playing elsewhere while you craft!!***

Light your favorite candle. I like one with a scent, but if your sensitive, the scent is only for pleasure and in no way related to the craft.

Carefully melt the edges of each piece of organza by moving it slowly in and out of the flame. You’ll start to see the edges curl up. Be careful that you don’t melt the edges too much. After you try it a couple of times you’ll start to see how much is too much and how much is just right. It all comes down to your personal preference.

Layer the the pieces together so that they create a flower.

Using the needle and thread, run a stitch through all the pieces of fabric. Run the needle through a bead to string it into the stitch.

When you finish your stitch, try to insert the needle as close to the thread as possible so that your stitches don’t show.

Repeat for 3 – 5 beads.

Sew onto your favorite hair band or a round of hosiery (they work great for baby headbands!) and voila!

Here’s hoping that April showers bring more May flowers your way. Happy Crafting!

Achoo!!!

We've had a bad case of the sniffles this week that just don't want to quit! Since we've been out of commission and unable to be crafty ourselves, this week's craftiness is brought to you by my friend Bekah's  Etsy Shop. She's a genious when it comes to upcycling!

I think this is such a perfect (and fun!) way to teach your kids how to cover their mouths when they sneeze.