Tiny blooms

Hi everyone!

Today I want to share with you a little pattern. It’s a very easy, fast (less than 5 minutes) to stitch crocheted flower I created while a was trying to find a tiny decoration to add to some of my pieces.

As you probably already know, my crochet skills are quite limited. I can only make very simple designs, provided I also have the help of excellent tutorials. You can therefore imagine how basic a pattern I created myself can be, so keep your expectations low.

Well, now, if you didn’t stop reading the post yet, I infer you are very motivated, so let’s go straight to the step by step instructions*:

1. Make a magic circle (wait, what? Seriously? Was this supposed to be an easy pattern? I can’t do this!  - This was my reaction when I first encountered this enchanted crochet creature, so, if you are a beginner like me,  you will find the super-easy video I used to learn how to make it right below the instructions)
2. Chain 3
3. Make 1 double crochet in the loop
4. Chain 3
5. Attach to the loop with a slip stitch
6. Repeat from step 2 (4 or 5 times depending on the number of petals you want. In the first picture below, you can see flowers made with 5 petals, while the ones in the second have 6)
7. Weave the leftover thread through the stitches or use it to attach the flower as decoration

* Since the design is truly trivial, probably many other people have already made it in the past, so please, if you know of some pattern/tutorial already published, leave them in the comments, and I will quote them (I really do not want to steal anybody’s work!)

For any further doubts about stitches, you can read my post on how to start crochet here (and, if you have more doubts, please leave a comment and I will do my best to help you ;-) ).

As for every crocheted creation, you can change size and texture by using different yarns (you can read this post to find out more on the topic). In the first picture below, for instance, the brown bloom was made with a thick cotton yarn and 3mm hook, for the purple one I used a thinner yarn and 2.5mm hook, while for the blue one I worked with a thin mercerized cotton thread and 2mm hook.

But now that you finished your tiny beauty, what can you do with it? I love to embellish my flowers by sewing a 4mm bead in the center and then attach them to any creation I can think of. In the last picture, for example,  I glued them to some Easter eggs decorations I crafted last spring (you can find out more about them reading the full  post here), but they can also be attached to Christmas decorations, gloves, wreaths, or anything you can think of, just let your imagination fly…

…and have a creative day!

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Painted Easter eggs

Hi everyone!

As spring was starting to move its first steps and Easter was quickly approaching, a couple of weeks ago I decided to prepare some decorations to adorn my room and remind me that winter was slowly ceding way to sunny and warmer days.

I therefore went into my inspiring creative cabinet and started going through my assortment of wooden trays, boxes, hearts, wreaths, glass dishes, pots….and there they were: three plexiglass eggs I purchased years ago (and I, of course, forgot I had).

They were just perfect for my little project, so I started decorating. First of all, I used some cream color rice paper and decoupage glue to cover the whole surface. After everything was dry, I decided to paint small flowers with acrylics. Easy you would say, right? Wrong! That proved to be incredibly difficult! Rice paper is permeable (much more than regular one) and, as soon as the brush touched it, all the color started to be drunk by the thirsty foundation, so no way to make long strokes. But that was not all! Rice paper also has a very irregular surface, so I was constantly challenged by bumps, hills and valleys. 

Basically, if you are a beginner with decorative painting (as I am) you either breathe, try to keep calm and dig out all of your patience, or you just give up! I chose the first approach, but once my perseverance was all gone, the results were still not close to be good enough.

After my little painting disaster, I therefore decided to try adding some nice details that would turn the attention away from my design flaws. I attached ribbon bows in matching colors, made a few tiny crocheted blooms (you can find the pattern to stitch them here) and embellished them with small beads. Of course, the law stating that beads just solve everything proved to be right even in this hopeless occasion...

…and here they are, my little (finally decent) Easter eggs!

Have a lovely day!

My favorite parties: Under the Table and Dreaming -  Between Naps on the Porch - Dwellings - Creatively living - The dedicated house - Rain on a tin Roof - Its So Very Cheri - DIY Showoff - The Stories of A2Z - Coastal Charm - A Stroll thru Life - My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia - Stone Gable - Cozy little house  - Knick of time -Savvy Southern Style - Ivy and Elaphants - Green Willow Pond - No Minimalist Here - From my front porch to yours - Craftberry Bush  - The Brambleberry Cottage - French Country Cottage - Common Ground - The Charm of Home - The shabby nest - Romantic home - Sunny simple life - The cottage market

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Cute snowflakes

Hi everyone!

 

Today a new post on snowflakes for the January theme. First of all, I want to share a very good video I found on youtube, teaching how to crochet a small model that took me about 8-10 minutes to complete. You can then attach it anywhere: a pin, a pair of earrings, or a Christmas wreath (as I did here).

You can also change the yarn size, in order to obtain very different results. In the picture below, the large one is made with an acrylic 3-ply thread and a 4mm hook, while the other three are created with a size 2,5mm hook and different types of cotton yarn. I really like the one on the top, for which I used a yarn containing a very thin shiny pearly thread.

You can also create these small cute decorations with beads. The examples below are made following a beautiful pattern by Sandra Halpenny, also author of the book Beaded Lace Snowflakes Ornaments, (see full book review here).

Enjoy the pictures, and come back soon!

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Love Snow wreath

Hi everyone!

I made this decorative wreath for Christmas, but I think I might keep it around also for January, because I really love it (and I hope you will too! :-) ). 

I bought the wooden wreath and heart separately (the first at Søstrene Grenes and the second at Føtex, but I think they can be found anywhere around Christmas), then I added the cream ribbon, by weaving it through the branches with a large-eye needle.

I made the crocheted roses, snowflakes and other flowers with cotton yarn of different types (some tutorials to make crocheted flowers here, on crochet snowflakes here, and more information about yarns here) and then I attached everything to the wreath using brown wire and adding the jingle bells and the two brown felted roses. 

Enjoy the pictures! And links to more tutorials on crocheted flowers soon!

 

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Small crochet flowers

Hi everyone!

Finally, the first post on crocheted flowers :-) !! 

I love these little beauties for how fast you can make them and for their versatility. You can basically do anything: you can attach them to a pin,  scarf, hat, sweater,  box, basket, Christmas decoration…anything!

I will soon post some examples of creations I made with them, but right now, let’s learn how to crochet them! Here are the 4 best small and quick flower tutorials I found on youtube, together with some comments and pictures about my experience with different yarns. In order to not make a too long post, I will refer to different types of yarns with the names and numbers I assigned them in the PREVIOUS POST. All flowers are made with a 2.5mm hook, unless otherwise indicated...enjoy!

1- SMALL DAISY: this flower is so cute, and takes very little time and expertise to make. Even if you are quite a beginner, you can finish it in approximately 5 minutes. I really like the look of cotton. On the right, the brown flower is made with a medium cotton (number 3), the cream one with an acrylic yarn (number 1) and number 3 with the mercerized very thin cotton (number 5). You can adjust the size of the hole in the center by pulling the tail passing through it. You can also weave it through in many rounds in order to make a small bump, which will make the center look more 3-dimensional.

2- SMALL FIVE PETALS: this also takes about 5 minutes to make and looks so nice once finished! I recommend to chain 5 instead of 3 in the first round, as it will make it easier to go on to the second round, and you will always be able to pull the tail and close the center. The tutorial presents 2 ways of making the flower: the regular, with 2 chains at the second round, and the rounded petals, with only one chain. In the picture on the right, the 2 brown flowers are made with the rounded petals method and using a medium cotton (number 3) for the lighter and a thick cotton (number 2) for the darker one. In the last case, a size 4mm hook was used. The pink flower uses instead the regular flower pattern and a mercerized very thin cotton (number 5).

3- VIOLET: I love, love, love this one! It also takes only 5 minutes to make, and I can just imagine how beautiful a bouquet made of different colors would look. The examples on the right were done with a thin cotton (number 4) and a mercerized very thin cotton (number 5) respectively. I really like both of them. You could also add some small beads to the center in order to give a more complete look or make them in different sizes and textures and then compose them in layers.

4- MEDIUM FLOWER: what I really enjoy about this pattern is its versatility. You can make different sizes and looks by changing few elements. It takes a bit longer than others to finish (5 to 15 minutes, depending on the number of petals and other choices). The light brown in the picture, for instance, was done chaining only 5 per petal in the second round and chaining 2 instead of 3 before and after the double crochets in the third round. In general, you can reduce the size of the holes in the petals, by reducing the number of chains in the second round; you can give petals a more rounded shape by chaining 2 in the third round; you can make fuller petals by making more than 3 double crochet in the third round; you can change the number of petals and you can pull the tail going through the center in order to close it. On the right, the dark brown flower was made with a thick  cotton (number 2), using a size 4mm hook; the lighter one used a medium cotton (number 3) and the pink a mercerized very thin cotton (number 5).

You can play with different colors, sizes and textures and, even better, you can layer the

flowers to create an infinite number of combinations. Attach them where you want and give more color and joy to your life!

Happy crochet!

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Crochet yarn

Hi everyone!

I know I promised a post on flowers…and this doesn’t look like it…sorry! Before getting to the fun things, I just want to point out some little issues, mainly concerning thread. Ok, this is getting boring, I know…but I will try to keep it short. Maybe you can just skip the post, but personally, I found that figuring out these things really helped me a lot.

First of all, I had an issue with the way I was holding the thread: after crocheting for a while, my left hand was a bit sore (ok, I’ll admit, I basically couldn’t open it). It might be because my hands are tiny, but keeping the right tension of the yarn was incredibly difficult. I found out that there are at least a dozen different ways and videos on how to hold the thread and to improve tension (so maybe it wasn’t just me!!). The following one shows the way that works for me (but you can just look for “crochet holding yarn” on youtube and find the best for you!)

Ok, now that holding yearn is easier (or at least, I hope it is), let’s talk about the yarn itself: you can find it in any color, material, thickness…there are so many possibilities, that it gets very difficult to choose (yes, I would buy all of them too, but no, you have to choose!). 

I tried different types, and here I will tell you about my experiences. On the right, you can see the different threads I used and…I am sure you are wondering what a bobby pin is doing there…don’t worry, I’m not totally blind or crazy, I didn’t mistake it for yarn!...I just thought it would be useful to understand the thickness of the different types…sooo...let’s start!

1- Acrylic yarn: (peach color, the first one from the left). Even though most videos for beginners would advise to use this, I wasn’t extremely happy of its performance. It is a 3-ply (meaning it is made of 3 threads twisted together) quite thin yarn (to crochet with a 2 or 3mm hook). It is a bit hairy and fluffy, almost like wool, so once you make a stitch, it is very, very difficult to go back in it (for instance in order to slip stitch in the previous row) because you do not clearly see where the center is. Also, I was not very pleased with the final result: flowers are hairy and not very soft…I would really not advise to use this type of yarn.

2- Thick cotton: (brown). It is very easy to work with. It is a 4-ply cotton yarn. I used a 4mm crochet hook. The down side is that, being so thick, you cannot really make tiny flowers, but in order to start, it is a great choice.

3- Medium cotton: (pink). This cotton is quite strange: it is a 6-ply cotton. I use a 3mm hook to crochet it. Even if, at first sight it might seem easy to work with, it actually is not! The  6 threads are very thin and not twisted together well. What happens is that when you insert the hook into a previous stitch to add a row, the yarn splits, and it is very difficult to pick up all the threads it is made of. I like the effect once the work is finished, mostly for flowers. It is not a shiny cotton, and you cannot clearly see the stitches, so the attention falls more on the overall shape of the flower than on the single loops. Basically, the final effect is good, but working with it is a nightmare.

4- Thin cotton: (cream). This is the perfect cotton! I love, love, love it! It is a 4-ply, soft, nice yarn. I use a size 2.5mm crochet hook with it. And it is so, so nice: it does not split, because the fibers are twisted very well together; it makes nice fluffy flowers, without showing the stitches too much; and it is opaque..the perfect docile little yarn!

5- Very thin cotton: (violet). It is very thin (a 2.5mm hook works perfectly), 4-ply mercerized cotton…mercer…WHAT?...don’t worry this only means that it was treated in order to give it a shiny, pearly look and also make it a bit stronger. It is very comfortable to work with, but I do not like the shiny effect on all the flowers. Being so pearly, stitches show a lot, so I use it for flat flowers (like violets) and I love the effect it gives to coasters and doilies, but for 3-dimensional flowers such as roses or dahlias, I prefer to use a more opaque one.

So, summing up this post (which was supposed to be a short one, I know, I’m terrible!):

• Find the way that works best to hold your thread as you crochet
•  I find cotton to be the best fiber to use in crochet
•  Look if the threads are twisted well together, as twisted threads make it much easier to work on previous rows
• Use pearly-looking (mercerized) cotton for flat flowers and opaque one for 3-dimensional one

…these are, of course, only my opinions, and I remind you, I am only a beginner. So I would love to hear yours: please, comment and let me know what you think, which are your favorite yarns, if you have questions…

Happy crochet!

…to be continued

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)

Start crochet!

Hi everyone!

Today I will talk about crochet! Well, I started crocheting only a few weeks ago, so I am a total beginner, but I really want to tell you about my crochet journey up to now and to keep you updated on my progress, so that if you want to start too, you can have the encouragement that took me years to find!

Yes, years! The only person I ever saw crocheting until some weeks ago was my aunt. She works very, very, very fast: I could see her yarn and hook moving at the speed of sound in a totally mysterious and apparently random way. What was coming out was beautiful, but it looked ridiculously complicated to make!! I asked her to teach me, and I tried, but what came out looked more like yarn with which a cat had been playing for a couple of hours. This was probably also due to the fact that I am left-handed, and she is not, so reflecting every single move was not easy. Well, when that happened I was 15, but that was enough to push me away from crocheting for many years, until….

a couple of weeks ago! I was at the supermarket with one of my friends and she was looking for yarn. I asked her what she needed it for and she said…guess what?...right, crochet!! I was surprised and very curious, so I asked how she learned and she simply answered “youtube”. Seriously? That easy?...ok, That was it! If someone else with no experience could learn, on youtube, I could learn too…so I went to the craft store, bought 2 hooks (different sizes) 2 different types of yarn…then I got home and started!

Yes, I actually started right away!!! It took only half an hour to figure out how to make a basic flower followed by half an hour of bumping my head against the wall (not really…but that gives the idea of how stupid I felt) for not having tried before…that’s how easy it is!

First, you need a couple of good videos teaching the basics. Here are the ones I used (as I said, I am left-handed, but I followed the advice given in the video and tried with my right hand. This makes perfect sense, as all the tutorials showing how to make projects are so much easier to follow if you are working as the person in the video!)

 Then you can start with something easy, like flowers (I love flowers!)

…but wait!!!...I can’t tell you everything today!!

…flowers in the next post!!

Happy crochet!

…to be continued

P.s. If you don’t want to miss any crafty project, remember to follow the blog by clicking on the “join this site” button in the right column ;-)