Crochet Flowers and the Beginnings of a Scrumble - just a few pics

 I have been making time each morning to do an hour of freeform crochet. Sometimes I also find time in the evenings but if I consciously carve out time in the mornings, I'm sure to do some "making" every day. I decided to check out a couple of crochet books by Nicky Epstein from the local library. I'm starting with "Crocheted Flowers" and simply going through the book and trying every flower I find interesting. Last night I started embellishing - the makings if a scrumble!

Pic of the Day - Yarn Wound

Actually, it's Pics of the Day because I liked them both! I'm so in love with the colors in this new lot of yarns I bought yesterday. Arranged in this vintage tin, I could probably just sit and look at them all day! But it's wound and ready to go so I guess I know what I'm going to be doing to tonight after work... Yay! :)

Pretty Yarn and a new Crochet Hook

I've been doing lots of freeform crochet lately. None of it (thus far) is destined to become a finished project - just practicing. Something I began to notice during my practice was that my hand and arm would get really tired and often hurt after crocheting. Since I have arthritis in my neck which affects my right arm and crafting ability (I can no longer do bead embroidery - holding that tiny needle just about KILLS me!) the pain was not unexpected. An ergonomic crochet hook was fast becoming a necessity!

My search for the right hook lead me to my local indie yarn shop - Yarn Soup - owned by my friend Sara. She let me try out a couple different hooks and I found one I liked - a 3.5mm Addi hook! I think it will work great for me and make crocheting WAY more comfortable. I also found some beautiful yarn being sold in luscious color collections. I bought two "Beautiful Soup" collections from Wonderland Yarns: Pot No. 2 and Pot No. 8. Not only did I find exactly the new hook I needed and some incredible yarn to create with, it also felt pretty dang awesome to support a small local shop. Please always try to shop small and local - the extra cost is SOOOO worth it. Cities and towns with small independently owned shops are simply nicer places to live.

Here are some pics of my treasures - can't wait to get started!

A few more Freeform Crochet Scrumbles and some tutorials!

Here are a couple more attempts at freeform crochet from yesterday evening. They look more like doilies than scrumbles but maybe I will add some bits around the outside to make them more interesting.

The first starts with a puffy button (tutorial from sheruknitting.com) and then a round of popcorn stitches (tutorial from Crochet Guru). I added a round of double crochet (spacing as needed to keep the round laying flat), a round of single crochet and then a wavy trim which combined popcorn stitches, chain stitches and single crochet (I'm pretty sure I didn't invent this one but I couldn't find a tutorial on it - sorry!).

The second one started with a magic circle (yes, it's actually called a "magic circle"! Here's a nice tutorial on that from Crochet Guru) and then a ruffle (this stitch I learned while following along with the tutorial from sheruknitting.com on YouTube). When watching the video, make sure to keep going so you can learn how to add a framework behind the ruffle. Then you have something to build the next layer on. Next came a layer of double crochet - again, spaced so the round would lie flat. And finally, a granny square sort of trim around the outside using double crochet and chain stitches.

I'm still learning how to change yarn colors. I'd love it if you couldn't pick out where the new color starts. I'll just keep checking out tutorials and books - I'm sure that info is out there! Let me know if you find it, OK?

Some Freeform crochet

After the rush, rush, rush of the holidays, it was nice to settle in on the couch with a hot toddy, "Sleepless in Seattle" and my trusty poodle, Ogie, to try my hand at some freeform crochet. Having done some in the past, I just needed a little refresher course that didn't require too much mental energy on my part. There is a great series of videos on YouTube by sheruknittingcom that I enjoy. She crochets SO FAST it's almost mesmerizing to watch! Luckily, I can pause and rewind as needed.

I picked out one of her freeform scrumble tutorials and followed along (click for part 1 and part 2). It was a nice kick-start.

Here's what I ended up with - not as pretty as hers (really, what did I expect?) but fun none-the-less!

Do you know of anyone who has some great freeform crochet tutorials available online? Please share links in the comments! Cheers :)

Spring themed Inspiration Kit for a COLD day!

I don't know what the weather is where you are but here in Iowa it's COLD!!! 2 degrees Fahrenheit and falling... *brrrrr* So, while I love to have snow and hot chocolate for the holidays, I'm thinking a little dose of Spring might be good right about now.

Here is a new Inspiration Kit to warm you up! Lots of goodies tucked into a collectible Paas tin from 1991. the litho art is by Norman Rockwell. Here are few shots for you to enjoy!

(Click on any photo to be taken directly to the listing)

Weaving

In an earlier post I shared this photo of all my beautiful yarn organized:

The reason I wanted to get it all organized was so it would be easier to access when I wanted to do this:

 

 

I like weaving almost as much as making Pipe Dolls and will show you my very handmade weaving set-up in a future post. My weavings are fairly small (12" to 20" in overall length) and fit nicely into tight spaces that long for a bit of sprucing up. You can find these and other items crafted by me in my Etsy shop - ArtfulLivingOTB