2013 DIY Roundup Video

I briefly considered rounding up my projects from 2013 into a regular blog post. The thing is, many of my favourite projects are yet unblogged, as awful as that is, because I never got or made an opportunity to take photos I felt justified them. Instead I opted to create a quick round up video to share.

 

Some of my favorite but unblogged projects are the topsy turvy quilt I created for Olivia, the Penelope Peplum Top I tested for See Kate Sew (my husband and I rarely seem to be in the same place at the same time during the limited daylight hours Winnipeg has in winter, but I am bound and determined to blog that yet, even if I have to use my dress form.) and the quilt (and matching set of gifts) I made for my little Heart Warrior buddy Maverick (the fabric bundle I used for that pictured below.) For knitting, there was Shannon’s Dreiecke Hat and Mallory Cowl – which is pictured partway through, I never even photographed it finished on my iPhone. Pfft.  Not to mention my girls matching winter dresses! It seems like the only time I actually get a photographed blog post up of a sewing project is when it’s for a guest post or blog tour, partly because I don’t want to be shmuck and partly because I have a deadline. I need to treat my own stuff like it’s deadlined! I am still hoping to blog all of those things, if nothing else.

This, my friends, is what prevents me from even aspiring to be a Big Blogger. I’m so unprofessional. Maybe in my 30’s I’ll be a grown up. Don’t tell my kids I’m not. They probably suspect it already, I’ve missed a birthday party and a school deadline for Nicole in the last three days alone. But we also had family time, and ballet, and I helped out a friend for a day, and got baby snuggles. I try not to let myself get too wound up in the balls I’ve dropped, there are so many and it’s not possible to keep them all in the air all the time, especially if I’m too busy bemoaning what I’ve messed up when I should be keeping things flying as best I can. All I can do is try, and I can change the future but not what’s already done!

I have a pretty big project in the works right now and I’m definitely dropping a few balls because of it… but it will totally be worth it when Baby V #4 arrives in August! I’m feeling back in good form again already so I’m hoping to get caught back up on home and blog front! Nobody reads blogs anymore at Christmas time anyways, right?

Re-New Recieving Blanket - Sharp Crochet Hook

So Santa (aka the mailman) brought me a Sharp Crochet Hook for Christmas. Let me say, as soon as I saw the idea, I was smitten. I pinned it immediately, and then when Santa (aka Google Chrome) asked me what I wanted for Christmas, this inexpensive little hook was in the mail in no time flat.  To take it for a test run, I decided to take a cute but slightly worn receiving blanket from Olivia and add a sweet little pink cotton shell edging to give it life for the new baby. (Granted, I could have a boy. I plan on doing a boy one as well.)

Basically, the sharp crochet hook is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of a curved hook, the tip is sharp so you can poke it through fabric. I’ve wanted to play with edging with crochet for a while, but the idea of first doing a blanket stitch or punching holes with an awl bored me to tears. My ADD would have none of it. Now this, on the other hand, I can do. It took a bit of getting used to, for tension for example, but after a bit of playing this was my first project. The sharp crochet hook comes with a pattern booklet. Did I follow it? Hahaha, good one. The patterns are adorable, and I’m definitely going to try some of them. But for round one, I went with a continuous 8-shell.

If you’d like to make your own, here’s the pattern:

Receiving Blanket 8-shell Edging

You need:
-sharp crochet hook
-3.25 mm (USD3) regular crochet hook
-cotton yarn for size 3 hook

sc = single crochet
ch =chain
sl st = slip stitch
dc = double crochet
sk = skip stitch

Round one: sc with sharp crochet hook about 1/4” apart around the perimeter of a receiving blanket. Sl st into first sc to end.

Round two: with 3.25mm regular crochet hook, ch 3, do 7 dc in the sl st, sk 2, sc, sk 2, 8 dc in next st. Repeat  (sk 2, sc, sk 2, 8dc) around. End with a shell, sk 2, sc, sk 2 (or flub it a bit, skipping one or three, to make it fit) and then sl st into the ch3.

Feel free to ask if that is at all unclear and I’ll try fix it up for you, and if Santa happened to forget that you’re a hooker, at $10.99 with the book and $6.99 without, the Sharp Crochet Hook is barely a splurge so much as skipping a coffee or two.

(disclaimer – I was not paid for, asked for, or given free product for this. I – uh, I mean, Santa – bought it and loved it.)

Lovely headband is lovely

Isn’t this headband just adorable? If you don’t think so, there’s probably something wrong with you; you might want to get that looked at. For those of us in good health, this sweet little number is by Ummashin’s Goodies. I’ve featured her before, like a year ago or something, because I stumbled on her etsy shop and a) her goodies are adorable, and b) I kind of want to shower her little models in kisses.

A while back I won a giveaway on luvinthemommyhood for Ummashin’s Goodies, and I’m pretty sure you probably heard me squealing. Think back, remember that one time you thought you heard a weird noise and you couldn’t figure out what it was and then you forgot about it and went back to rummaging through the fridge? That was me, winning that giveaway. I let Nicole choose, and she chose this hat. She loves it, but I have yet to have photographed it.

Well, last week I was grabbing the tissue paper the hat had come wrapped in to reuse it, when suddenly out pops this adorable headband! I was so surprised/pleased/embarrassed! I fired off another quick thankyou email, how generous is Hannah!

Both of these items are beautifully handmade. I strongly recommend you check out Ummashin’s Goodies if all this crochet nonsense has you yearning for some handmade goodness but you just don’t have the time to do it yourself, or if you’re curious what twenty years of crochet experience will get you.

(Spoiler alert: Quality, that’s what it will get you. Quality.)

And thus ends my little frolic with playing around with lots of post-processing. Let me know what you think, maybe I’ll do it a little more often. It’s kind of fun. I do still love the crisp bright stuff the best, of course!

Crochet Bootcamp Part 3 : DC and HDC

I did two things in one video in a desperate and terribly lame attempt to pretend like I haven’t totally ignored this series for weeks. Shazam, look over there, is that a bunny? No? Oh. Jazz hands!

And a moment of suspense… will I say anything weird? Just kidding, that’s not suspenseful at all, we’d be more shocked if I didn’t. As a bonus, I have a sinus-cold-voice, just a little bit. Yes, definitely send me the classic home remedy for the common cold… cupcakes. Shhh shh shh shhhhhh…. don’t argue.

I call the ch1 and sc stitch both the chain one stitch in this video. Also, you should ch3 on the end of the dc and ch2 on the end of the hdc. This is why I blog and not vlog. It’s much easier to edit out my brainfarts. I don’t normally have to THINK so much when I crochet!

Aw, man. I should have done this a few days ago when I had pretty nailpolish. Wait, the weathered/distressed/vintage look is ‘in’, yes? Okay, I’m trendy.

So, what kinds of things can you make with your newfound knowledge?

This Swirly Twirly Scarf, for example! (free pattern/tutorial) … when the instructions say ‘skip one chain and two double crochet in each chain until the end’ what that means is skip the next space, then do a double crochet stitch in the next two spaces, and then skip the next, and then do a double crochet stitch in the next two spaces. To bind off, you just do a chain stitch at the end, and then snip your yarn and pull it through the chain-one space and pull tight. I’ll do a video of that next, it sounds kind of scary now that I’ve ended every video telling you to pull your yarn to undo.

Crochet Bootcamp Part 2 – sc

Today we have the single crochet stich, referred to in patterns as sc. Between ch and sc stitch, you actually have enough to make any basic item!  (Those are the stitches my Oma taught me, and I made items using just them for years and years!)

With just these stitches, you can make a scarf, a dishcloth (pick up ‘Handicraft cotton’ and whip yourself up some dishcloths for yourself or for gifts, el cheapo!) even a basic blanket or purse. Actually, you can even make yourself hats, whether in the round or created with two rectangles seamed or slip stitched together.

The big thing to remember when you’re making something square or rectangular (or sometimes in the round, but we’ll get into that later) is to make one chain stitch on the end of every row – in a pattern, this will read something like “sc across, ch1.” If you forget to do this, your item will slowly get smaller and smaller across as you turn around and crochet in the first space. I had some brainfarts while making this video and if I refer to the single crochet stitch as Single Chain Stich or the yarn as String, please just shake your head sadly and move along.

Once again my Safeway card and Airmiles make an appearance. They are the guest stars. Do not question it. They will show up once more, possibly, depending if that last video turned out. However, the next video I post will be about the slip stitch, and that one isn’t recorded yet.

I’ll do a little roundup soon of crochet patterns that are fairly basic and easy for beginners, and then I’ll let y’all come to a vote and I’ll end of the series by going through the pattern of choice with you. I’ll include pay patterns in my roundup, but obviously none of those will be an option for the final video. ;) (And rest assured, there will be editing on that final video, and the shell stitch video as well. I’m not going to have you sit through two hours of me crocheting a baby hat or anything.)

If you’re interested in crocheting your own scarf right now (and who wouldn’t be in spring, right? Right!) all you need to do is grab your yarn and the size of hook called for on the label. (In Bootcamp 1 I linked to a site that walks you through the label.)

Ch as many stitches as you’d like your scarf to be wide, then turn and sc across. Ch1 at the end of the row, turn, and sc across. Repeat and repeat and repeat until your scarf gets as long as you’d like it to be. Tadaa! Not only did you make that scarf yourself, you designed it yourself as well!

See, so easy.

I’ve had a request for a bigger version of the button picture. I’ll tell you what. Request denied. But mainly because it is a very grainy low-qual picture. To prove I have no fear of looking ridiculous – as if leaving my house from time to time doesn’t do that all on it’s own - I will share with you Outtake Number 11 (approximately) from the Intro video.

Crochet Bootcamp Part 1–knotting and ch stitch

Yay, a cute name! And button, button, who wants a button?! I am groaning inwardly at the fact that I’m going to generate some code for that button in a moment in case anyone feels like linking up. The things you do for love. I am quite capable but, like the spreadsheets I was coding for my husband earlier, I really hate doing it and thusly feel the need to demand praise and recognition.

<a href="http://www.onthelaundryline.com/search/label/crochet%20bootcamp"><img title="crochetbootcamp" border="0" alt="crochetbootcamp" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXLQuiuRmR4aT1SEzZ0In15RRPiw2afbcSRS_dwfSxmbKnGRhOstKRdosVAwvw1XWIW-t9Q-YY757ctRLpEypmIgET94Y7aaq5aJpz2dZgd2ZS0gh_ExvO8OMvDcfpfKfqSBb6rVjmwK5s/s1600/crochetbootcamp%5B6%5D.jpg" /></a>

Copy and paste that into an html form to put this button on your site, the Crochet Bootcamp posts will be the ones that show up when you click the link. Shiny! (And yes, my chin is something to be feared and respected.)

I found a nice little post online about reading your yarn labels, so I won’t rehash but will simply direct you here. Bear in mind that I use the metric system, if you are American you’re going to have to ignore me if I use measurements like 4.5. That link, however, does not appear to be tainted by metricisms.

To start with, your best bets for yarns are a cotton or an acrylic with a satin feel. You don’t want anything with varying thickness – varying color is just fine. In my experience, cotton will be easier to work with, the satin acrylic will be easier to pull out your mistakes.

Now, I find that if I’m doing a lot of crochet (or knitting), I would rather be working with a natural yarn than an acrylic one. I find when I work with acrylic yarns, I will get almost a ‘burn’ of sorts from the yarn rubbing my hands much faster with acrylic than anything else. Now, bear in mind, I’m talking about after logging in hours and hours over the course of a few days. Don’t get alarmed or anything.

Just like sewing, you also want to watch your yarn labels for washing instructions, especially if you’re dealing with something meant for babies/children. As a general statement, it’s safer to lay crochet or knit garments flat to dry rather than put them in the dryer, but some yarns do handle dryers better than others. Wool will felt, so don’t do it unless you’re aiming for that.

I did two takes of this video. One of them had my safeway card in it, the other one I called the knot a noose and Nicole started screeching. So, Safeway card it is. Yay!

The first stitch we’re learning is the chain stitch. In a pattern, it will be noted as ch. For example, when a pattern says “ch 9” they mean to make your knot and then chain nine stitches. Reads much faster when you write it as ch 9, eh? (translation for non-Canadians: “Reads much faster when you write it as ch 9, doesn’t it?)

Intro to Crochet Bootcamp video series

First of all, I bet you $5 that I say ‘blathering idiot’ more times in this video than you have all week. Don’t forget, I do accept paypal.

Note: I now have a cutesy name. And button. Tadaa!

If you’d like to start a specific project right off with the lessons as reference, you’ll want to start off with whatever hook and yarn the project recommends. For a first project, I recommend starting something that calls for a hook no smaller than 4.5mm. You can find crochet hooks tons of places, including Wal to the Mart. Also, I recommend starting with either a cotton, a bamboo, or an acrylic with a ‘satin’ feel to it. Anything that says ‘satin’ on the label is likely to be easier to work with. Don’t start with anything textured, and don’t start with a blanket. Go for something small, something that screams ‘instant gratification’. A little baby hat can be worked up in a matter of hours, even if you have to pull half of it out three times for mistakes. Trust me on this one.

Friday Favourites

Welcome to another edition of…. FRIDAY FAVOURITES!

(In my head that is said in a pleasing and incredibly enthusiastic male voice. )

-How cool is this, two beds in a closet! I love how creative some people can be with small spaces. By local standards, our around-1000-square-foot home is about average, but I know that it is considered a small space in some quarters. I’ve certainly got nothing on this level of ingenuity!

-This video tutorial over at the Make Bracelets Blog. I used it to make both of the above bracelets. The upper one fits my wrist and uses hemp, precious stone beads that I have no idea what they even are anymore, and a charm. The lower one is I think waxed cotton, plus seed beads and another charm. A very different look – and size, if you think about the fact that the blue/green one has seed beads and how tiny those are – both done using the same technique. I love it! And pretty easy to catch on to.

-This cookie-stuffed cookie recipe that Shannon from luvinthemommyhood literally just emailed me. I think I just gained 5 lbs licking the monitor while typing that out. Or maybe that was from scarfing down half an ice cream bucket full of cookies so I could start making them. hmm.

I don’t have much this week, I’m behind on my blog feed since I’ve been doing a lot of doing lately. I think I have to watch my naughty mouth when I’m doing though because the 3 yr old across the table from me making a playdoh family out of giraffes? She just muttered, “aw, shit” under her breath when one of her giraffes didn’t work out.

Awesome.
I may have to homeschool her just so I don’t embarrass myself.

Speaking of Nicole, my favourite Nicole-quote of the week would have to be this one:

"Olivia will be the dragon and I will FIGHT her!!" "Uh, no." "But you said we could play together!"

And my favourite (?) Olivia-thing of the week would be that her newest way of letting us know she is feeling crabby? Gnawing on your face. She literally growls little babygirl growls and chews on your cheek / chin / forehead / whatever she can reach. It’s pretty hilarious, I’m not gonna lie.

(Just to end off with a picture. Hat is Aesthetic Nest Best Baby Cloche of course, and heck ya she’s in an exersaucer, didn’t you know my 3 month old could support herself standing in an exersaucer? This kid, I tell ya.)

Olivia – 6 days

I have decided that although we’re a day short, I am going to jump the gun and decide I survived The First Week. It was a little touch-and-go for a minute there… Olivia had some problems feeding and I didn’t realize it at first, it looked like she had a perfect latch but her mouth was so small she actually wasn’t latching on properly on her own. So Olivia wasn’t sleeping at night AT ALL, and at one point she was basically nursing for 12 hours straight. Plus I was getting rather hurty. So I decided to do a little research online and figured out the above problem and how to remedy it. She needs a little extra help getting started but now we’re smooth sailing and she gained 5oz in the last three days! She’s sleeping more normally, I’m sleeping, period, and add in that my sister took a ‘shift’ from 9pm to 3am Saturday night… let’s just say, Sunday morning when I was showering, I was singing a version of that song "Human Again” to myself in the shower. “Human again… I feel human again…” It’s amazing the difference a few days can make. Saturday morning Chris shot me an annoyed look because I hadn’t written a grocery list for him (he did our groceries yay) when he’d asked three days in a row, and that was enough to have me fighting back tears. Saturday evening I looked like a zombie and my mom was pointedly handing me a bowl of refried beans to dose my burrito with a hearty helping of iron. Then I went to bed at 9 and slept off-and-on until 3, was up with Olivia til 5, and slept again until 8. Cue the music. Nicole is still very excited about having a baby sister. In fact, today she told me, “Mommy, when I’m bigger and I have big boobies I want to feed Olivia.” I didn’t see the point in explaining that idea away, she’ll figure it out on her own I’m sure.  Still a tiny bit of jaundice around her eyes from the bruising she got being born so fast. My bruising from the many attempts to get an IV in still looks pretty brutal, I wish I healed up that fast! Until she’s all cleared up the bassinette gets to be by the window for a little sunshine therapy. Now that her feeding issues are resolved, holy man, SUCH an easy baby. I mean, she’s a baby, its still taking me all day to write this post in bits and pieces. But she barely cries, she’s easy to soothe, very content. I didn’t realize what a little screamer baby Nicole was until now. If I have more, I’d like more like this one, please. Seriously, if she’s crying? And you talk to her in a normal voice? She stops crying and stares at you like you have the most fascinating point ever. Forget whatever she was upset about, mommy is talking! I like it.  check out that hair! Long fingers… not from me, I have chubby stubbies. A little room to spare in the hat I freehanded… Not too bad though> Nicole and Olivia. Nicole got my chubby stubbies. I will do a nursery tour soon! Here’s the bassinette by the livingroom window. I added the bottom ruffle while I was not-busy being overdue.

Best Little Girl Cloche

Nicole was getting a bit jealous of the baby crocheting I’ve been doing, so I let her pick out a yarn and a pattern to whip her up a hat. We wound up with Bernat Cottontots in Blue Berry, and the Best Little Girl Cloche from Aesthetic Nest. I’m not sure if the pattern is sized a bit generously or if it was the substitution, but I found the size 3/4 fit her a little bit generously. I would definitely recommend sizing down one if you wind up using Bernat Cottontots. She’s been all about the blue lately, whenever I let her pick her own stuff out she chooses blue every time lately. It used to always be pink… HOT pink. I can’t help but be sad at the idea that she might be over her ‘pink’ stage already! Sigh… It’s too bad that I can’t wear blue. Nicole stretched the hat out after this photo shoot, and now it would fit MY head! I’m a little scared to try and shrink it up in the wash, I don’t know if the yarn would maybe pill up a bit if I tried shrinking it. Some does, some doesn’t. I’m going to just crochet another one in a smaller size. This free pattern is also available in baby sizes. It’s very cute! It involves sc, hdc, and dc stitches, as well as chain stitches. Easy-peasy! Not at all hard to follow, either. Check the pattern out in its various sizes, newborn and all the way up, at Aesthetic Nest. (PS, I love her older daughter’s haircut. I wanted the same thing for Nicole’s recent cut but couldn’t remember where I’d seen it. Then I found her website back looking for this hat pattern! Saved some inspiration pictures to show our hairdresser for Nicole’s next cut.)