Ground Owl Seed Bead Chart

As a life long fan of owls, I was delighted to find ground owls living near by..

I plan on stitching it on to a fabric to creat a charm or key chain that will hold up a bit better.. they can easily be made into earrings by adding a beaded hoop to the top of the head or metal ring.

 

  used round size 11/0 seed beads and nymo beading thread

Lady Bugs Loom Bracelet

 This is another item to check off my list of things I have wanted to make for ages now..
 I have loved Lady bugs for as long as I can recall..


very simple chart, works up fast.. braided closure so super easy on that score as well ..

I use round ( size 11/0 ) beads, so the chart looks a little squared off.. 

I made the chart using a free download of Bead Tool 4.. I don't use the same colors as they have listed so I only use the color chart, not the number or names .. pick your favorite brand/type of beads and go for it.. 

Loom Beading Bone Heart Paw

.Pulled out my beading loom.. been really missing weaving but have no were I can set up my table top loom right now, besides I've gone and pulled out all of my beads over the last few weeks.. only thing I could do was start bead weaving lol

I had only made a couple of bead loom weavings in the past.. I jumped into straight stitch and brick stitch right away..  it offers a freedom that looming doesn't in exchange for speed.. I adore free form works.. yet I love working up charts.. easy answer made my own :)

I am relearning bead weaving skills as it had been close to a decade.. my charts will progress as I do.. I do plan on jumping around between crochet beading, crochet, knit and weaving.. playing it by ear each day.. so stay tuned to see what's next ;)

here is the chart .. I don't have counts of each color yet after I get all of that together I will offer a pdf on Esty..
made with size 11/0 seed beads of iffy quality as I am just getting restarted I thought I might as well use up some of my lesser beads until my skill warrants higher cost beads lol 

Earring Bead Charts

 Brick Stitch


size 11/0 seed beads
Haven't had the time to get counts on the beads yet, but here are a couple of charts I've been playing with

just add 6 beads to the top to form a loop for you ear hook
used nymo beading thread ans size 12 needle I believe

Green and Gold Crochet Rope Chart

Evil Eye Crochet Rope Chart

Scrubbies in stock

Back by popular demand.. 
                Scrubbies now in stock in my Etsy shop
                    ( click link on side of posts )

 I have bee asked so many times to make more scrubbies
Friends and family are hooked.. so much so they started to gift them as gifts...

I will admit I love them myself.. after years of using the same ones mine died.. ok the puppies getting into the laundry basket may have had something to do with that..

my bath pouf was a casualty in a separate incident.. time had finally come to set aside all other projects and make another batch of scrubbies..

a few changes have been made to make them even better than before...

Now each one has a worsted weight soft cotton side. The opposite side is still made from vintage acrylic.. but I was lucky enough to get my hands on some of the most coarse yarn that I have come across...  more than a dozen skeins.. not a pleasure to work with but as far as scrubbing goes well worth it.. I would not want to do a big item out of these however lol
I added the cotton to all of them.. in the past I only made a few here and there, as hubby kept stealing mine and taking them out to his shop to wash tires and such, I saw no since in it.. around here..
After my poor bath pouf was lost I kept forgetting to grab another one.. I had just made a larger scrubbie to use up the last bit of cotton in that color way.. I thought why not..
 IT WAS PERFECT..
a bit of body soap on the cotton side.. only needed to put soap on it once.. the scrubbie side was just enough to exfoliate comfortably...  hence the next change.. they are bigger now..

right now I have sets of three on my shop, will be adding other choices soon.. 

Easy Twisted Headband

Easy Twisted Headband

This formula can be used with any weight yarn and corresponding hook size, as such no sizes are given as well as yardage or gauge.

The photo is showing Hometown USA by Lion Brand super bulky weight ( 6 ) using a L11/8.00mm hook

I have used single crochet, double and half double all with good success.

Written in American terms

Stitches

Ch = chain

hdc = half double crochet

1) Chain as many stitches needed to go around your head keeping it just a bit snug, chain one more for your turning chain



2) hdc in all chains.. you can use the bar or top loop I've done both but like the looks of going through the bar... turn

3) ch 1, hdc to end, turn



repeat row 3 as many times as you like to reach half the thickness you want



once you have half the thickness you want, fold in thirds with the live stitch in the center of the folds. Place a marker at that fold. See photo below

Hdc to the marker, count how many stitches you have undone, chain that many plus 1 for turning chain.

Turn, hdc into second ch, hdc to end of row

Repeat row 3 until you have the same thickness as the first half.

Fasten off leaving a tail about 12 inches long for seaming.

Seam edges to the beginning edge, making sure to “twist” them.. placing the top panel of the split side along the bottom part of the beginning edge and the bottom panel over the top panel. See photo.

Weave in ends.

Sashay yarn ponytail holders

 

I was gifted a rather large box of Red Heart Sashay Boutique yarn among many other brands of similar yarns.. I made a couple of scarfs with it..

while they claim to work up fast, that was not my experience

  it never failed that I would have to set it down and walk away.. pick them up and pull the stitches out .. ugh.. way too much effort for an item that wasn't selling anymore..

 

I got so tired of it I used many skeins as bulky yarn and crocheted it on an Q hook.. looks cool enough but takes a lot of yardage

I still had dozens of skeins left.. many just a single skein of each color.. not enough to make a bulky scarf or ruffled for that matter, some of the colors just didn't go together well enough to use on one item

 

I had seen how ponytail holders were being made from them.. but they were always finished off in my opinion.. rather sloppy..

Pulling the whole yarn through the last stitch and just leaving the end hang loose.. or tied in a big knot ..

both of which come undone with wear..

 

I just didn't like the look.. plus I dislike making anything that can't stand up to wear ..

truthfully one of the big reasons I dislike the ruffle scarfs patterns out there as well, if you pay for an handmade wearable item it should hold up for at least a washing..

I just don't like it..

 

I don't wear my hair up ever.. so the though of the ponytail holders passed pretty fast lol..

Until my sister came over wearing one.. with ends tied together.. making a pretty item look half done..

 

ok fine time to make a few..

if nothing else something to put on the table for market.. or a quick gift

 

I have sewn the ends of all of the ruffle scarfs I made in the past.. with the end kind of tucked under itself.. another reason they took me longer ;)  I'm telling ya I don't like loose ends LOL ..

 they still didn't look great to me..

 

with working in the round I hoped seaming them together would give it a more "finished" look

 

 

Sewing thread was too thin to do a good job..

crochet thread size 10 however works great..

 

I have many colors to match up with the Sashay yarn but not quite enough..

so embroidery floss for those.. ( 3 strains not the full 6 )

 

takes more time to sew them than to slip stitch around elastic band.. but worth the effort..

  

 

 I used about four yarns of Sashay yarn, size H8/5.00mm hook to slip stitch each..
some yarns looked better with less.. some more..
I just worked until they looked full..

 

Next I seamed the ends together.. after tying the end of the thread or floss I was using to seam with to the last slip stitch "live" loop .. I sewed a few stitches around that slip stitch just to be sure it wasn't coming undone..

 

 making sure to "capture' all of the loose ends ... I tucked them in a bit as I seamed.. making sure not to get too bulky

 

  I also trimmed of the longer edge of the Sashay yarn so it would sew up evenly.. and not hang lower

 

that was it.. nice and smooth.. no worries about hiding the knot under the ponytail .. not as fast as other methods I am sure but hopefully they hold up well... now to get someone to try them out and maybe even a photo with one in use

 

 

Basic dish cloth, scrubby and small round cloth/coaster pattern set

 
                                   Basic dish cloth, scrubby and small round cloth/coaster

I have recently been gifted some 2oz. size skeins of 100% cotton yarn, worsted weight.. as I am sure they most likely will bleed when washed, I decided to make simple dish cloths and scrubbies for home use .... although I have made these for gifts and for sell with color fast yarn they go fast..
Each set uses less than one skein of the cotton and a few yards of Tulle. I have used the scrubby yarn by Red Heart and love it.. either work well, but if you want a lower cost option go with the Tulle, I buy it by the yard and cut into 2 inch wide strips, no need to worry about perfect cuts as it won't show when done..
here's the basic patterns...
gauge doesn't matter

cloth
H/8-5.00mm
the cloth is worked it double half crochet, with a single crochet trim
mine is 7.5 inches wide and about 9 inches long with trim

chain 24, double half crochet for 21 rows or so.. I had enough left over to do another row or two, ( I do crochet on the loose side.. )
instead of cutting the yarn and fastening off to do the trim I passed the skein through the last loop to fasten off and chained one doing a single crochet ( 3 around corners ) around the whole thing..

scrubby
I used 3 sizes crochet hooks
N-9.00mm for the Tulle.. if you cut it into smaller strips you can get away with a smaller hook size but I find it tends to break if you pull your stitches to snug them up..

size J/10-6.00mm for the first round off cotton

and size K/10.5-6.50mm for the single crochet trim


using tulle and size N hook
chain 4, slip stitch join into the first chain
chain 3, double crochet 11 into ring
fasten off.

I switched to size J hook and cotton yarn using 3 strains at a time check out how to with one skein here .. in any of the double crochet stitch of the last round join the cotton chain 3 and double crochet in the same place.. 2 double crochets in each stitch going around, join with a slip stitch
for a smooth trim without the need to increase I went to a larger size hook.. size K
chain 1, single crochet around and fasten off...

I still had a bit of yarn left over .. not wanting it to get mixed in I decided to use it up with a small round cloth, about 4.5 inches
can be used as a face cloth or coaster ( after testing for color bleeding if using this yarn )

size J hook
1) chain 2, single crochet into the first chain 10 times, slip stitch join into the first single crochet
2) chain 3, double crochet into same space, 2 double crochet into each stitch, slip stitch join into the top of the chain 3
3) chain 3, double crochet in same space, *1 double crochet in the next stitch, two double crochet in the next* repeat* to end join into the top of the chain 3
4) ch 1 single crochet into the same space, 2 single crochets in each stitch around fasten off

  

hats in etsy shop

Added finished items to my Etsy shop... just in time for the holidays

 $20.00 each

etsy shop