St. Patrick's Day Crochet Shamrocks

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Even though I'm The Crafty German, I've got some Irish blood in me, so I have to celebrate and remember to wear green. But, it can be easy to forget, especially on a work day, so here's a quick crochet project to get in the spirit and ensure you'll have something green on you.

Last year, I had only been working with my company for a little over a month on St. Patrick's Day. It was a small company though so I was already getting along with my coworkers. Apparently a coworker hired a month before I was had the same idea as me, because she brought in pins for all of us and I brought in these crochet shamrocks. 

I modified a pattern I found to make flowers for a hat to make some 3-leaf clovers.  I used 1 piece of yarn instead of two pieces and repeated step 2 for three petals instead of five or six.  Then, I finished with a chain of 6, turned, and single crocheted in each chain stitch.  Lastly, I did a slip stitch into the ring to finish.

They came out really cute and hardly take any time to make!  You can even sew safety pins to the back to make them wearable.

Chase the Chill

I'm a crocheter, as evidenced by earlier posts.  So, I love seeing articles about crocheters and knitters, especially when they're using their skills to do good for others.  That's why I was excited to see this article about a group called "Chase the Chill."

Scarves on every tree (source: abcnews.go.com)

I'd read about the group about a year ago, and had it in the back of my mind since then.  Apparently the group (which has a facebook page) started this "yarnbombing" event in 2010 in Eaton, Pennsylvania.  The group collects handmade scarves and then hangs them up around the community on places like trees and statues.  This isn't just to display artwork though; each scarf includes a tag that says it's free to anyone who wants it.  While the group's goal is a nontraditional form of charity, where those struggling to stay warm in the winter can find a free scarf, anyone who needs or wants a scarf can take one.

Even includes washing instructions (source: abcnews.go.com)

I've donated scarves before and wanted to make prayer shawls, but doing something like this is tempting.  Maybe I'll look into starting a Connecticut chapter!  The article explains that people started a group in Georgia and included hats as well.  I just need to find some interested knitters and crocheters in Connecticut!

Valentine's Day Crochet Hearts with Lollipop Arrows

Holidays are big where I work and we're always finding excuses to bring in food and other things for everyone.  Mostly food.  For Valentine's Day last year, we decorated paper bags and anyone could fill them with treats.  It was a throwback to elementary school days of trading valentines with everyone in the class, but our parents weren't paying for it.  I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day, but I like candy and I love anything crafty and creative.  So, I came up with something to make it more fun.

Me embracing researching foreign laws too much

I'd love to say I came up with this craft+candy myself, and it's possible I did because after a lot of searching, I can't find anyone else who's done this.  I know that my initial inspiration was a pin on Pinterest showing crochet hearts.  Unfortunately, it was misleading and linked to an Etsy Shop instead of a pattern.  I looked around and found an amazing, free crochet heart pattern.  I had tried a few others in my search, but this one wasn't huge, was relatively fast to make, and came out actually looking like a heart.  I took some red yarn I had lying around, put my hook to work, and knocked out enough hearts for my coworkers and then some.

One of many.  The camera makes it look slightly less heart-shaped.

I liked it, but figured that a bunch of yarn in the shape of a heart wasn't the best gift, especially for the male coworkers.  Our team revolves around food, so I knew that was what was missing.  I wanted it all to go together, and finally thought of using something as an arrow through the heart.  It's a classic Cupid-inspired symbol of Valentine's Day.  Candy canes seemed too Christmasy and other treats wouldn't fit.  I even considered Smarties (which I can't have lying around or I will eat a whole bag in one sitting), but they didn't quite look right.  I either found it somewhere, or a lightbulb went off, but I realized dum-dum lollipops would be perfect!

Sweetest arrow in a heart I've ever seen

I got a valentines pack (which unfortunately only has 5 or so flavors...none of which are typically favorites in my experience) and started sliding them through the hearts.  I probably made 20 even though I only needed a dozen or so for work, and the whole thing took 4 or 5 hours spread out over a couple of days.  If you want to do this, it's not a total last-minute craft, unless you want to pull an all-nighter, but it doesn't take forever either.  This would be fun to do with kids too, especially if they're learning to crochet.  It's maybe a step above beginner and good for practicing counting, sc, dc, and hdc.

Finished pile

People loved them.  Some of the women even still have the hearts somewhere.  I can't complain about what I got in my treat bag either!

Nom nom nom

If you're looking for something a little different and handmade for Valentine's Day this year, this heart and arrow craft is great.  Maybe some people can even modify it and improve on my idea!

Have fun and happy early Valentine's Day!

Easy Ornaments 2: Crochet Snowflakes

Even though Christmas is over, it's still winter and there's still some need for last-minute presents.  I needed something fast but nice for my coworkers' stockings at work earlier this week.  I had ornaments in mind, but knew they'd already seen crocheted ice skates (something for a future post) and my go-to ornaments take a little too long.  This was Sunday evening and I needed them for Monday morning.  I'd seen snowflake ornaments and figured those couldn't take too long.  A few patterns later and I found one that was easy to follow and got me 13 snowflakes for work plus 3 larger ones for other people in just a few hours.

Coworker Snowflakes

I found the pattern at the Attic 24 blog (note it uses UK, not USA crochet terms) and altered it slightly for some of the snowflakes.  The star-like ones were the first 2 rounds as the pattern explains.  The other ones are Round 1 followed immediately by Round 3.  I wanted them all about the same size, but wanted some variation.  One is bigger because I used a larger hook by accident.  I also didn't stretch and set as the pattern suggested because I was short on time, but they still came out pretty good.  At the very least, it's clear what they're meant to be.

The pattern does not make them ornaments (it doesn't have the loop of string to hang them), but that wasn't a hard fix.  There are 2 options:
-Finish off as the pattern says, cut a piece of yarn a little longer than the loop size you want, and tie it to one of the points.
-Do not cut and finish off normally.  Instead, when the last stitch is complete, cut the yarn several inches from the last stitch.  Thread the yarn through the chains to one of the points.  Once it's through the chain at the point, tie the yarn to itself close to the point.
I like the 2nd option because it's all the same thread and it looks neater and more stable.

It's a really fun pattern, and is right around the beginner level.  You only need to know how to chain and single crochet.  Just remember that once the initial loop is formed, the first round is done in the loop as a whole, not the individual chains that make up the loop.
I'd definitely recommend this for anyone who has a basic grasp of crocheting, especially if they are strapped for time and have extra white yarn lying around.

Have fun and a belated Merry Christmas!

A "Blanket" Apology

So, first thing - I need to extend an apology to anyone who has been reading this blog at all over the past half year.  I've basically dropped off the face of the earth this summer.  I hate making excuses, but I've been busy with my Princess duties (the blog about which has also been neglected), 2 jobs (I got a new job, yay!), and many things with friends and family and of course the 2 guys in my life (Spartacus and my boyfriend).  I do have some crafts with pictures to share.
I also apologize for the text and its size in this post.  I've tried editing it through html and the "compose" tab, but nothing will fix it.  If anyone knows how to fix it, I'd love some help!

I'm pretty sure I owe a bunch of craft things and about a week straight of "Musik Monday".  So, here's my promise:  Next week, there will be a new post each day, starting Monday for pseudo-Musik Mondays.  Also, by the time I start up with school again (Aug 20...way too soon), I'll post at least 1 crochet, 1 nail art, and 1 random craft - starting with this post.  It's clever title should give a hint.

Recently, a really good family friend (he's basically like a 2nd brother) and his wife had a baby.  I was fortunate enough to be invited to her baptism and the celebration after.  I knew I had to give my own gift even though my entire family was attending, so I figured that the best thing I could do was crochet.

I scoured the interwebs looking for an adorable, yet unique pattern for a baby blanket - something that a kid can use for a long time.  I came across a pattern for an alphabet baby blanket.  (Warning, the link will download the PDF of the pattern - it can also be found here under "Alpha Magic Afghan")  I took my sweet time from about mid-June, then when it was a week before the Baptism I knew I had to work fast.  I crocheted hours every night after work while going through the whole Once Upon a Time series (shameless plug for an awesome TV show).  I finally finished just in time! 

I'm so glad you can see the letters

*More after the jump*

May the Fourth be with you! (Yoda Crochet)

It's Star Wars Day!  As many a geek will say today, "May the fourth be with you".
According to wikipedia, the phrase dates back to a pun in a London newspaper headline in the late 70's.  There's more to it though.  This was the most interesting (and amusing) part of the article for me:

"In a 2005 interview on German news TV channel N24, George Lucas was asked to say the famous sentence "May the Force be with you." The interpreter simultaneously interpreted the sentence into German as Am 4. Mai sind wir bei Ihnen ("We shall be with you on May 4"). This was captured by TV Total and aired on May 18, 2005.^[5]"

In honor of the day, I finished what I started a while ago from this Yoda crochet pattern.  It took a while, but partially because my crochet skills are rusty.  I love amigurumi (making little figures pretty much), but I always run into problems when I'm crocheting in 3-D.  I had to start this over a couple of times before I got it right.

Finished Product - Step-by-step pictures after the break

Simple Scarves

The lack of posting is due to school keeping me a lot busier this semester than expected.  I'm sure there will be a few huge breaks in time between posts.  Apologies in advance.

This post has a great scarf pattern at the bottom to show how sorry I am :)

Anyway, I realized that I needed to get something for my boyfriend's family for Christmas.  This was a lot closer to the holidays than I'm willing to admit.  I'm pretty proud of what I gave his brother's family: A Where's-Waldo-esque book but with the Characters from the Cars movies for his nephew, booties and a little headband I crocheted for his niece (I wish I had taken pictures, I was so proud of how they came out...and that they fit her), and for his brother and sister-in-law a precious moments figure of a little blonde boy next to a box of tools screwdriver in hand working on a snowman with a John Deere hat on - it was such a spitting image of their son that I couldn't resist.

I made the reindeer ornament in another post for his aunt...then realized I had nothing for his sister and brother-in-law!  I didn't find anything in stores and time was running out.  Then I thought, "duh, you taught yourself to crochet.  Use that craft little brain of yours!"

So I did.  I made 2 scarves using the same stitching pattern.  They came out (thankfully) looking pretty different though.

Pictures and pattern below:

Laid out next to each other.  I made them pretty long since nobody in his family is short I knew I could.