Upsized Crochet .. again

Hi there,

I've been experimenting with upsizing again....at E's suggestion....

Here's the result...upsizing the small flowers in fine crochet thread with 1mm beads to these large flowers with 6mm beads...

Here's a crochet tip for crocheting with double strands of yarn...you don't have to buy 2 skeins -- just take one end out from the inner core of the skein, and the other end from the outer edge of the skein....saves you having to buy 2 skeins if you just needed one!

Have fun experimenting! Here's to a great week ahead!

Serena

Upsizing Crochet

Hi there,

It's been a busy year so far (yes! it's barely begun!)....

It was great to hear from E who ordered some crochet flowers done in fine cotton thread (like those in this blog post). She loved the little flowers and suggested that they be made in a much larger size.

For those of us who love craft, I'm sure you'd agree that 'upsizing'requires a different approach in each craft genre. For crochet, simply 'multiplying' the 'numbers' in the crochet pattern won't do the trick. One might need to re-write a pattern just to get it in a larger size. Thankfully,  there's also an easier way:

The wonderful thing about crochet is that if you just change the yarn type and crochet hook size, you can 'upsize' or 'downsize' any pattern you like! (Much easier than re-writing the pattern!)


I did some 'trial runs' and thought I'd share with you the results of my 'experiments':

The SAME yarn type and pattern was used for all 3 flowers. A 2.5 mm crochet hook gave the smallest flower. Changing the hook size to 4.0 mm resulted in the larger red flower. To really upsize without changing yarn type, just crochet with 2 strands of the yarn at the same time using a larger sized hook (eg. 5.5 mm) -- that gave the purple large flower.

Have fun experimenting!

Serena

Work in Progress

Hi there,

I've been busy trying to finish up a project for my daughter -- one that was actually started in April! It is probably the most ambitious piece of crochet 'engineering' I've attempted... and one that got interrupted by lots of other stuff..

Now that there's a lull period amidst the hustle and bustle of work .....it's time to finish it up. Shan't tell you exactly what it is yet except that it's a bag-like thing....
but here's a picture with a crochet tip I've gathered from my crochet 'adventures':

I've found that when crocheting a bag in ONE piece, putting a row of slip stitches (on the exterior) between the last row of the base and the first row where the body begins helps to define the base. In the picture, the top section has the slip stitches whereas the bottom section has yet to have the slip stitches.
[Do pardon the 'pink thing' in the foreground...it's a paper clip which I've used as a stitch marker...useful thing I've learnt from Alice aka 'futuregirl'. She also has a great tutorial on a lovely bag : "The Starling Handbag" -- an excellent example of a bag where the base and body are made in ONE piece. Thanks Alice!]

Enjoy!

Serena 

A Tale of Two 'Elasticities'

Hi again!

It's so encouraging to realise that some of you who are reading this might be half-way across the world... :)

On one of my usual forays to Chinatown few weeks ago, I came across a pretty pink elastic that was so soft, yet had just the right stretch without being too tight...(perhaps some of you might be thinking: "Elastic??'...). Yep...elastic...but this is pretty elastic, not boring white and stiff ones that we usually use in our gathered pyjamas pants...

As you can see, even mama kangaroo agrees that the pink one is nicer..

I bought up all the stock that 'aunty' had left in her shop....

Now the first thing that came into my mind when I saw it was: "BABY".

Here's what I used that pretty soft, pink elastic for:

Each band has a length of 14" and stretches to 17". The elastic is double-stitched at the joint. The crocheted flower and beads/button are all sewn to the band and positioned such that there is a flat seam on the side which rests on baby's head.

It's such a pity my princess is too 'overgrown' to model these headbands....can't wait to see them on a cute little princess...

I enjoyed making them so much that I made 6!

An alternative headband would be a completely crocheted one. The ribbed stitching [crochet tip: achieve this by using just the back loops only] give good elasticity to the band without being overly tight -- important for baby! As usual, I like the idea of having options, so these have 'changeable flowers'.

Each band comes with 6 flowers in 2 sizes.

Hope you like them!

Serena

Crochet Cover for Snap Clips

Since my princess was a little girl, I have bought countless snap-clips for her. They are probably the easiest to use on a little girl, especially for one who did not have much hair as a toddler.

As she grew older, she also developed a preference for them as she found them much easier to use than crocodile clips. With the snap-clips, she could pick her own clips and 'dress herself'.

Snap-clips were the first type of hair-clips I attempted to put a 'crochet' spin on. Deciding the embellishments such as flowers, butterflies etc was EASY...but ...making a cover for it....Hmmm

Of course I could have easily glued/sewn to pieces of triangular felt pieces together..but NO...this stubborn crochet-crazy mule decided she should CROCHET a cover for it.

Since much time has been spent figuring out how to make a crochet cover for snap-clips, I thought I would share some general guidelines for making your own.

For the example shown in the photos, I used the DMC cotton embroidery floss (all 6 strands of it) with a 1.25 mm crochet hook. I find that it gives a nice 'thickness' to the cover and love all the colours that DMC have. Crochet thread size 20 is also nice.

Hope you find it useful!