Tutorial Thursday: Spring Cleaning Scrubby

Hello! Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday Thursday! The next few weeks are all about Spring Cleaning! Not so exciting perhaps, unless you consider cleaning out your yarn stash equally as necessary as scrubbing down the kitchen, which I do.

So to start with, you can clean out the stash AND clean the house with these lovely scrubbies! One in knit, the other in crochet, depending on your preference. Now you have an excuse to go for the yarn stash before scrubbing!

Tutorial Tuesday: "Swiss Dot"

I really love seed stitch, but depending on the yarn, sometimes it can be a bit much. I wanted a dotted look, but less compressed... Now, I have been playing around with patterns quite a bit, and after doing the striped cup cozy I thought I would apply the same method with dots.


What I came up with were two Swiss dot inspired patterns:

"Swiss Dot" No. 1 is a bit of a closer dot and works well for smaller items, like cozies.

"Swiss Dot" No.2 is a bit more spread out and subtle, and good for scarves or blankets.

Below are both "diagram" patters, as well as written patters, for each.

Tuetorial Tuesday: Simple Slouchy Beanie

It's been a while since I have posted a tutorial, and I had recently promised one on a seed-stitch cup cozy. Well, I used that cozy today and it was too big for a standard paper coffee cup. It fit around, but it would slide, and eventually stretched a bit and fell off when I set the cup down... So, I finished this post instead, which has been pending and unfinished for a while now...

Some of you may remember my post on Instagram several weeks ago with a beanie pattern I came up with. I was inspired by this video on making your joining stitches in double-crochet in the round nearly invisible - I was quite interested in this as I had just made a number of beanies for Christmas and was not really pleased with the gap at joining. So, here is the result of my experiment:

The Simple Slouchy Beanie uses double crochet, single crochet, and slip stitch, in the round. There are increases and decreases, but nothing fancy.

Tutorial Tuesday: a man hat

Hello! It's been ages since I posted anything...

Well, I survived finals, and now I am busy making hats for the (little) men in my life.

I scoured the internet for visor hat patterns for my nephews and this is the one that I decided to go with.

Photo from www.redheart.com

It is the Streetwise Hat pattern from Red Heart Yarn - it's a free pattern on their website. I sized it down a bit for my nephews, or I should say nephew, because I have only completed the hat portion of one so far. I wanted something that was a little more interesting than just single crochet hat, but also something that would be simple to make.

You can follow the hat-making process on Instagram if you like - @themadewithloveproject

I am starting another cap too, a knitted one, but that one is top secret until after Christmas...

Happy crafting!

Stephanie
MWLP

Tutorial Tuesday: the simple cowl

I am proud to offer you an original pattern and tutorial this week!

It turns out that I have become rather hooked on crochet! I ended up watching a number of tutorials on YouTube recently and I got inspired to try my hand at making a cowl.

To get an idea for size I wrapped one of my scarves around my neck to see how long I would like it. Then I took it off and grabbed my measuring tape - it was somewhere in the area of 30"-36". As I was making the chain I checked the length along the way by wrapping it around my neck. I started off with a 6.5mm hook and two strands of worsted weight yarn, but it was much too stiff! So, I unraveled, scoured the internet for other cowl patterns and found that a 10mm hook is ideal when using two strands of yarn, and I happened to have a 10mm hook on hand! So I started up again and it turned out great!

The pattern uses the following stitches:

SS (slip stitch)
SC (single crochet)
HDC (half double crochet)
DC (double crochet)

Matterials*:

1 skein* of Loops & Threads Impeccable yarn (Michael's brand)
     (note: I just made this with Caron Simply Soft and I love it!)
1 10mm crochet hook
1 stitch marker*
1 large-eye yarn needle
Tape measure
Scissors


Method:

Using two strands of yarn at the same time, the outside and inside strands, make a chain that is approx. 32" (or desired length) and join with a SS, taking care not to twist your chain.

Row 1.   SC into each chain, marking the final stitch with your stitch marker.

Row 2.   Chain one (don't turn, you are working in the round) and HDC for the entire row. Mark your final stitch. SS to join to the beginning of your row.

Row 3.   Chain 2 and DC into every stitch. Mark your final stitch. SS to join to the beginning of your row.

Row 4.   Chain 1 and HDC into every stitch. Mark your final stitch. SS to join to the beginning of your row.

Row 5. Same as 3

Rows 6-10. Continue alternating between HDC and DC, as in the rows 4 (HDC) and 3 (DC), ending with the HDC.

Row 11.   SC into each stitch, marking your final stitch. You will not need to "join."

Row 12.   SS into each stitch around, taking care not to make the stitches too tight. Bind off, leaving a tail, pull tight and sew in the tail.

Tighten the tail from the slip knot where you began and sew in the tail.

Your finished product should be about 18" flat, 36" around, and about 7" tall.

* 1 skein refers to the solid color ball with 277 yards of yarn - other styles of Impeccable have fewer yards of yarn. If you us a different yarn you might need more than one skein (i.e. Vanna's Choice is only 145 yds., so you would need two skeins). UPDATE: I just made a cowl with Caron Simply Soft and I LOVE IT - it has such a nice weight to it, and the yarn is set up for pulling from the outside and the inside for convenience. It also has more yardage than Impeccable, so you can make the cowl a bit taller if you like. For a stitch marker I typically use a paperclip, but in the pictures above I just used a strand from the tail. You can use a piece of yarn in a different color, a safety pin... whatever you have.

You could also make this 60"+ so that you can wrap it twice. And you might want to try stacking stitches rather than doing every-other, or throw in some single-crochets, or maybe even the treble stitch.  Have fun with it!

If you have any questions regarding the pattern, please leave a comment or send me an email at TheMadeWithLoveProject {at} gmail {dot} com.

If you try this pattern I would love to see the pictures! Tag me on Instagram or share a link in the comments. Thanks!

Enjoy!

Tutorial Tuesday: Beanies for Breast Cancer

Hello! So sorry I missed last week - it was a pretty hectic week between midterms and apartment hunting...

Anyway, this week I am bringing you a link for a video tutorial, as well as a link to the written pattern. This is for a basic beanie done in the half-double crochet, and it can be adjusted to any size head and any yarn (or, "wool," as Clare calls it). Clare offers nice clear instruction that is easy to follow.

Photo from claresaddictedtoyarn.blogspot.com

Here is the link for the video.

And here is the link for the written instructions.

If you are concerned about having the right size, you can go here for a sizing chart.


Now, for the beanie pattern that I am working on: I have not started just yet... I need to get some double pointed needles in the right size. The last time I went to the craft store they didn't have the size I needed in stock, so I need to go back or find a yarn shop. But, since next week is the final Tuesday in October, I will do my best to have it for you!

Happy crafting!

Tutorial Tuesday: Beanies for Breast Cancer

I am sorry to say I do not have my own pattern for you yet... It has been a hectic week and I still need to buy the right needles.

picture credit Lion Brand Yarn, lion brand.com

But I do have another slouchy pattern for you! This one is from Lion Brand Yarn and seems like a nice simple project, all in knit stitch. I love slouchy beanies - probably because I look terrible in the tight ones - and they are pretty popular right now, and this one just looks so cozy!

Hopefully I will be able to get those needles today and have the pattern up in a week or two.

Take care!