Gnome Baby

I saw a tutorial for a crocheted gnome hat here months ago.  I decided that Chloe would HAVE to be a gnome.  I also liked the fact that the hat would come in handy for winter wear.

I guess I got carried away with thinking about the hat and didn't think about the rest of the outfit.  Less than a week before Halloween, I realized that gnome baby would need little gnome clothes.  I decided to cheat and use the bapron pattern I used before in this post.  A little collar and a fake apron, and she was ready.

Floor Pouf Tutorial

In case you missed it over at So You Think You're Crafty, here's my tutorial for the floor poufs from Round 2!

Supplies used:

1 floor bean bag

stuffing from the bag

1/2 yard of fabric per pouf

1/2 yard of  fusible interfacing per pouf

crochet thread

yarn (about 4 ounces of medium weight per pouf)

Part One - Cutting up the bag

Cut a hole along a section of the zipper seam of the bag (I did this because the zipper was stuck).  Empty the stuffing into garbage bags. It's definitely a two person job, and it's best to do it outside.

Caution: This step ended up being really messy.  I imagined styrofoam pellets.  Instead, we found tiny styrofoam granules and foam powder.  Yikes.

When you've emptied the bag, cut it apart at the seams.  This will probably leave you with two large circles and one long strip of material.  I used the width of the strip to determine the size of my circles.

Trace circles onto the wrong side of your material.  Mine were about 25 inches across.

I ended up with 10 circles.  Enough to make 5 poufs.

Part Two - Sewing the Pouf

I wanted to gather the edges of my circles to make my poufs, well... poufier.  Using my sewing machine didn't work because the thread broke when I tried to create the gathers.  I was afraid it would, so I wasn't surprised.  Hand basting the edges was a little tedious, but it worked.  I used a heavy duty thread.

One thing you need to remember when hand sewing your edges, is that you need to leave an opening.  I wanted to gather the opening as well to make sewing the hole closed at the end easier.  So I just had to gather the two sides separately at the opening.

 When you have your hand basting done, pull on the thread  and gather as much as you want.  I just pulled until my sides came straight up.  Tie it off when you have it how you like it.

With your sewing machine, sew around the circle twice (be sure to leave an opening).  This will help keep your poufs from splitting open.  They're bound to get some rough treatment.

Flip your pouf inside out.

Stuff the pouf.  Since our filling was so messy, my husband created a makeshift funnel with a pipe and a milk carton to help with this part.  We worked as a team to stuff as much foam as we could get in each pouf.  We didn't want them to flatten out.

Sew the opening closed by hand..

Since I had some styrofoamy powder in mine, we tried to seal up the seams to keep it from coming out.

"Why yes!  I do dress myself!"

There's your pouf!  You could be done if you like it like that.  Or you can cover it.

Part three - the cover

Take your 1/2 yard of fabric and decide how big you want your circles to be.  Mine were about 17" (or the size of a Sit 'n Spin, ha!)

For each pouf, you need to cut 2 circles from fabric and two from interfacing.

Once you have cut your circles, sew one fabric circle and one interfacing circle together.  You want the bumpy side of the interfacing to be on the outside when you sew.  Sew all the way around your circle.  Don't leave an opening.  Snip the seam allowance every few inches all the way around, making sure to not cut your seam.

Pull apart your layers of fabric and interfacing.  Cut an X through the middle of the interfacing, but be sure not to cut your fabric.  Turn your circle right side out through that opening.  Press the fabric and interfacing together.  This will also close up that X you cut in the interfacing.

If you don't want to use interfacing, just hem around your circle.  I just HATE having to try and get perfect circles when I hem, so I use this method.

In order to make your circles ready for crocheting, hand sew a blanket stitch all the way around with your crochet thread.  I couldn't bring myself to measure out each stitch, so I just eyeballed it.

Use the blanket stitch on all the circles.

For the crocheting, I used a size I hook and medium weight yarns.  One of my yarns was thinner than the rest, so I switched to an H.  You'll just have to play around with it and figure out what look you want.

Start by crocheting onto one of your circles.  Crochet into the blanket stitch like it is a previous row.  I double crocheted once or twice in each stitch, depending on how big the stitch was.  The first pouf took me a while to get right, but it was all smooth going after that.

Because there are no set sizes, I don't have a specific pattern.  Just keep crocheting rows until you think you're getting close to attaching the other side.  You'll want it to be snug.  Everything will loosen up after use.

To attach the second circle, I went into the blanket stitch (of the second circle) on the last step of my double crochet. When you go to pull your last loops through to complete your double crochet, grab onto the blanket stitch and pull it through with the other loops. Do this all the way around. 

Weave in the ends and you're done!

We've been enjoying our poufs.  They've been great for imaginary play, foot rests, and extra seating.  They stack up nicely in the corner and we love them.

Time Out Cowl - Finished.

There is still some time to make a Time Out Cowl as part of the crochet along at Maybe Matilda.  You can see a post summarizing everything here.

I finished mine.

I tried to stick to the pattern so I could really say I made the "Time Out Cowl."  I'm really liking the ones I see over on the Flickr group that are shorter.  I might end up making a second one.

Owl and Hedgehog

My niece is having a birthday.  I thought I would use a few crochet patterns from a newly acquired amigurumi book More Cute Little Animals to Crochet by Amy Gaines.  

 You can check it out at Amazon here, but I got mine on sale at JoAnn.

My niece's room is decorated with owls, and her bedspread also has a hedgehog on it.  I was happy that both patterns are available in the book.

These patterns are easy to follow for anyone with some crochet experience.  There is a pattern for a large and small owl, hedgehog, skunk, squirrel, snail, gnome, and a bird mobile that I can't wait to make.

30 Day De-Stash #30: Easter Bunny

Ah!  The last de-stash craft....

I think I bought the pattern for this bunny two years ago.  It was right before Easter and I wanted to hurry and make one.  I guess something came up because the only thing I finished was the head.  It's been sitting "decapitated"  in my drawer since then.  I knew that now was the perfect time to motivate myself to finish because I had one last craft to do and Easter is on Sunday.

I love all of Owlishly's patterns.  I would buy them all if I could.  I have a hard time spending money on patterns, no matter how cute they are.  If anyone wants to selflessly buy me a pattern, though, I'd totally make you a free doll with it.

You can find her patterns on Esty here or (if you're impatient and want immediate download) here.

I made a few Chester the turkey dolls last year.  They were even cuter.  I just might have to buy Georgie the grapes boy too.

The instructions are pretty easy to follow.  A beginner with some experience could follow it.  My only problem was using embroidery floss to make the hair.  Argh!  I had to cut it off 4 times.  My suggestion would be to make and practice on an extra head  beforehand.  Or buy three things of the floss instead of one...

30 Day De-Stash #26: Crochet Hook Case

Looks like I have to make two posts today. I started this crochet hook case last night, but it didn't get finished until this morning.   It was a little trickier than I thought to get the idea in my head to become a reality.

With a little patience and a lot of hot glue, I ended up with this:

I have a lot of crochet hooks.  Of some sizes, I have doubles.  A few triples or quadruples if I needed them for a group project of some kind.  I've looked around for a crochet hook holder that could hold them all.  I couldn't find one that even came close.

This holder has a few flaps sewn inside to hold more hooks.  It comes with a pocket for yarn needles and paper clips and another to hold mini-scissors.  In the back are a few big spots for those plastic "speed hooks."  I was happy to find that I even have some extra spots in case I need them.

I made a crochet hook case a while ago and it just never worked.  The hooks were always slipping out.  That's still the case here, sadly, but at least there's a zipper to help keep them in when I'm carrying the case around.

As long as all that glue holds, I think we're in good shape.

30 Day De-Stash #17: Slippers

Today's craft is the last of my "Pay it Forwards."  In January, a post on Facebook circulated for a few days about agreeing to make a craft for the first five people who commented on it.  You had until the end of 2011, but I had planned on getting mine done by the end of March. I'm a little late, but they're finally done.  This "pay it forward," and two others that were just waiting for a ride to the post office, will go out this week.  It feels good to be done and to have kept a promise.

Sylver Designs has some great crochet patterns for slippers.  She has some for babies, toddlers, youth and adults. I've purchased a few from her and liked them both a lot.  You can check her out for yourself here.

These are the Adult Mary Jane Skimmers I finished up today.

30 Day De-Stash #14: Amigurumi penguin

I don't mind keeping full skeins of yarn around.  You can make a lot of different things with one skein of yarn.  It's the little balls I have left after a project that are hard to keep track of.  They're always falling out of my yarn bins and rolling under dressers and tables.

My favorite way to use them up is to make little amigurumi figures.  They take very little yarn, and they're so fun to play with.  My favorite feature of amigurumi is the financial aspect.  Making toys from leftover yarn is SO cheap.  Remember when I made this Elmo for my son?  I couldn't find a similar version for less than $20 at the store.  I just used leftover yarn pieces, so he was pretty much free.  Can't beat that. 

Today, I wanted to get rid of little balls of black and gray yarn.  I used a pattern found in Leisure Arts Easy Crochet Critters found here (I bought mine on Amazon, but they have them in craft stores), and made this little penguin.

I can tell he will fit right in here in our house.  Look where I found him just minutes after I gave him feet.

A penguin after my own heart.

This little lady was something I made a few months ago.  She comes from the same book of patterns too.

30 Day De-Stash #8: Crocheted Baby Hat

One quick and easy baby gift I like to make is a crocheted hat.  If you use a thick yarn, you can whip one out lickety split.  Today I made this one, then added one of the flowers I made on day 6:

If you don't know how to crochet, I encourage you to learn.  It's one of my favorite things to do.  It's relaxing (usually).  It allows you to make inexpensive but awesome gifts. It's fulfilling to take a ball of yarn and turn it into something you can be proud of.

30 Day De-Stash #2: RAG RUG

Rag rugs are the ultimate stash busters.  They can use up a LOT of fabric.  They're a great way to use up old sheets for rugs in laundry rooms and playrooms where a durable rug is useful but doesn't need to be super fancy.

Rag rugs take more fabric than I supposed.  I had this much fabric, torn into 1- 1 1/2" strips (It's a great workout for your arms, by the way).

I crocheted for over an hour and realized the rug wouldn't be as large as I wanted.  I added another ball of fabric to see if that would help.  It still wasn't as big as what I hoped it would be.  I even threw in a little yarn.  Nope. My problem when I got to the end of my fabric strips was that I had planned for a bigger rug and ended up with a long, skinny rectangle. 

I was on a deadline for making my day #2 post.  I also didn't feel like re-doing it.  I admit that I got a bit desperate.  I took scissors and cut my long rectangle into three pieces.  I put them together to make a smaller shape that could go by my front door.

At this point, I had just used my last pieces of fabric to crochet around the outside of the rug to keep all the loose pieces together.  Because I cut through rows of knots, I'm going to have to do some extra work to secure all the ends.  Even after I do that, it won't be even and pretty enough at the sides for me to want to use it (where people will see it).  

So my plan is to dig through my fabric and see if I can find enough of one kind of matching fabric to make a large bias tape type edge for the rug.  Think that will work?

One thing I liked about my rug was that I would occasionally put a piece of leftover trim in with the fabric.  It allowed me to use up some of my stash, and at the same time give the rug a little personality. 

A lot of people make 1 1/2" strips and use the big "Speed" hook.  I wanted to keep my knots a little smaller so I used a size N hook and single crochet to make the rug.  

I feel bad that it's only day 2 and I didn't get my project all the way done.  I promise to show you the finished project when it's done.  Soon.

Melts in Your Mouth Man

This week my nephew turned two. I asked Lance to call his dad for ideas on what he likes so we could find a gift for him. Among other things, his dad told us that he likes m&m's. No surprise there, I guess. Most two year-olds probably like m&m's.

My only problem was that I couldn't find a pattern to sew/crochet one. Several recent projects involved all the things I needed to know to create my own crochet pattern, though, so I decided I'd make it up as I went.

Here is the pattern that I used. You can follow it to make your own chocolate candy man or any circle shaped guy. I'm kind of reminded of those Little Mr. and Little Miss book characters when I see the body before I add the face.

Let me know if you have problems or see any mistakes.

Circle Man Crochet Pattern
Created by Celeste Bishop 11/2010
Supplies Used:
Hook: G
Yarn: Sugar n’ Cream (any medium weight yarn will work)
Stitch marker
Yarn needle
Circle body (make 2)
With red (or desired body color)
Ch 2, sc 6 in 1st chain
Row 1: 2 sc in each stitch around (12 sts)
Row 2: *2 sc in first, 1 sc in next* around (18 sts)
Row 3: *2 sc in first, 1 sc in next 2* around (24 sts)
Row 4: *2 sc in first, 1 sc in next 3* around (30 sts)
Row 5: *2 sc in first, 1 sc in next 4* around (36 sts)
Row 6: *2 sc in first, 1 sc in next 5* around (42 sts)
Row 7: *2 sc in first, 1 sc in next 6* around (48 sts)
Row 8: *2 sc in first, 1 sc in next 7* around (54 sts)
Row 9: sc in first 4, *2 sc in first, 1 sc in next 2* around (60 sts)
Row 10: sc in each st around
Finish off
Legs (make 2)
With white (or desired shoe color)
Ch 2, sc 6 in 1st chain
Row 1: 2 sc in each stitch around (12 sts)
Row 2: *2 sc in first, 1 sc in next* around (18 sts)
Row 3-5: sc in each
Row 6: sc 2 tog 6 times, 1 sc in next 6 (12 sts)
Row 7: sc 2 tog 3 times, 1 sc in next 6 (9 sts)
Row 8: ss around (don’t make it too tight)
Change to flesh color
Row 9: work in the stitches created in row 7, sc around (9 sts)
Row 10-20: sc in each around
Finish off
Arms (make 2)
With white (or desired glove/hand color)
Ch 2, sc 6 in 1st chain
Row 1: 2 sc in each stitch around (12 sts)
Row 2-4: sc in each around
Row 5: *sc 2 tog, sc in next* around (6 sts)
Change to flesh color
Row 6-15: sc in each around
Finish off
To Assemble:
Embroider or appliqué any face or designs to body.
Stuff arms and legs.
Pin arms and legs in place on body.
Sew around edge of body with yarn. Leave an opening for stuffing.
Stuff the body and sew it closed.

Elmo

My son loves Elmo. I'm not really sure why this love started, because he loved Elmo long before he ever saw Sesame Street. Elmo shows up in a lot of his books, on sippy cups and even his toothbrush, so maybe that's why.
I looked for an Elmo doll for his birthday last month. All I could find were the really hairy Elmos. After seeing what happened to my son's current favorite toy, "Monkey," with his matted fur that's full of fuzz, and dried grass, and who knows what else; I couldn't bring myself to make a purchase. Plus, Elmo dolls cost more than I think they should. I have a hard time paying 20-30 dollars for something that's just going to be dragged around and slobbered on (or worse, Monkey has been in the toilet...)

I decided to look around online for a pattern to crochet Elmo. I found exactly ONE pattern. I didn't like how Elmo's mouth was open so WIDE in the pattern, but I couldn't find another, and I didn't want to take the time to try and make it up. In the end, I made the doll as instructed then sewed the mouth closed a little on each side with red yarn. It seems to have done the trick.
The only problem I had with the pattern was on the black part of the mouth. When I made it as big as it instructs, it's WAY too big for Elmo's mouth. I ended up leaving out several rows. My logic was that if Elmo's mouth opening is 23 stitches across, the mouth insert ought to be the same. So I suggest following the mouth pattern until you have 23-24 stitches and then stopping. I also recommend that you follow the advice to put something stiff inside the head to keep the mouth flat. It looks a lot better that way.
I'm saving Elmo for a few weeks until the baby comes so big brother can have a new someone to cuddle as well. I'm pretty sure he's going to love him though.