Archives for December 2020

Wrap it up!

Wrap it up!
  • Look what I made from grocery delivery bags!

SO last summer I ordered most of my groceries because of Covid. Actually it’s weird that I never had ordered groceries ever before since I hate hate hate going to the grocery store. But anyway I received a lot of frozen groceries in these silver, bubble wrap bags and of course being a person who likes to make things I thought “these are cool! I’ll save these for some sort of art project.” And so they have been in my basement ever since. You see, when you are a creative person it can be really hard to throw things away: instead of seeing trash, you see an objects potential…. if only you had the time. Haha. Well, in this case I did turn garbage into something beautiful and useful and now I”m feeling just a little bit smug about it.

I’m gifting a lot of handmade masks to people this Holiday season, and was looking for an inexpensive (well, ok, free) way to wrap those presents. And then I remembered the silver bags in my basement- perfect!

These little packages only use the silver bags and a little string (or in my case hemp yarn) to tie it all together. I made a cute pompom/snowball thingy to top some of them (and hide the place where the package is tied together) and I also made another version with a lovely flower on top. You will need to use a yarn/darning/tapestry needle for the flower, but otherwise you just need pencil and paper (for the pattern), sharpie for tracing, scissors, a silver bag, and a 15-20″ piece of string/strong yarn. When you are wrapping your gift, you could use one small piece of tape- but you might not even need that.

So here is what I did…

  • I made a paper pattern (out of another Grocery bag!) with these dimensions.

This is about the biggest size wrapping that I could fit out of my bags (with scraps leftover to make the pompoms).

  • I rounded all of the corners a bit and put a hole in each of the 4″ ends (about 1″ from each end).
I used a sharpie to trace pattern onto bag.

Then I cut out my shape. It was surprisingly easy to cut through both layers of the bag at the same time, so I did that and made 2 at a time. I cut the small holes near each end by folding the end in half and cutting out little notches along the fold. Set this aside and make a pompom or flower for the top.

For the pompom:

I cut the bottom folds of the bag into long strips by cutting off the ends.

I got 4 long strips from the folded part at the bottom of the bag. I needed 2 pieces for each pompom.

I folded each long strip in half the long way, and cut little lines stopping about 1/4″ from the folded edge. The fringe was cut in 1/4″ increments. You will need to do this to two pieces- for one pompom.

You will need to pop all of the bubbles that go down the center line of each piece (where my thumb is). This allows you to tie the pompom very tightly at the center.

Then gather up that long strip by pleating it back and forth. Its totally ok for it to not be pleated perfectly! You will need to do this to the second strip as well and add it to the first. This makes the pompom fluffy!

Tie a 15″ piece of string or strong yarn very tightly around the center of the pompom and knot securely. Do not trim the string/yarn. You will use this to tie your package together.

Fluff up that pompom!! And trim it a bit if necessary to make it look nice and round. But do NOT cut the string/yarn!

For the flower:

Draw a spiral that looks something like this on a silver bag. This spiral measures about 8″ in circumference.

Cut it out with scissors. Cut along the inner spiral as well.

Cut out petal shapes as shown, leaving them connected at the bottom near the spiraling line. This doesn’t have to be perfect.

Thread a tapestry/yarn/darning needle with a 15-20″ piece of string/strong yarn and sew a running stitch along the bottom edges of petals as shown above. Each stitch is about 1″ long.

Pull on the string/yarn to gather up the petals, spiraling the petals as you do this so that they sit on top of each other. Tie the yarn ends to each other in a knot. Do NOT trim ends as you will use them to tie package together!!

Wrapping the present

Place gift in center of wrapping and fold up two sides (the ones without the holes. You can use a piece of tape to secure it here. Or if your gift isn’t very big, you probably don’t even need to tape it.

Bring the last two ends toward each other (the ones with the holes). Thread one strand of string/yarn (from the pompom or flower) through one of the holes in package (from outside to inside) and then thread the same string/yarn end up through the other hole (from inside to outside) and tie string/yarn ends together in a very tight knot. Cut ends of yarn leaving about 3/8″ tails (these won’t show).

Yay!!!! Your present is wrapped! Now tell me you don’t feel just a little bit smug.

Blink Beanie

Blink Beanie

Sometimes after finishing a project that used a bunch of brain-power I just wanna coast a bit through my next project. It still has to be fun and exciting, mind you, but it can’t involve much thinking. This hat checks all the boxes, and best of all goes from hook to head in less than one movie. Did you hear that procrastinators? You can still make this a handmade holiday!

I had a hook and two skeins of yarn, then I blinked and I had a hat.

If you’ve ever crocheted with a super bulky yarn before, you probably know that your work can get really stiff really quick. You can avoid this problem by going up a few hook sizes for added drape… but then you have sizable holes between your stitches and HEY some of us live in Minnesota. We can’t be walking around with big holes in our hats in the wintertime! So I did a LOT of swatching to find the perfect chunky-yarn stitch pattern: the yarn-over-slip-stitch through the back loop. OMG I am so totally in looooove with this stitch. It’s stretchy, returns back to shape remarkably well, and has enough drape to make a hat- not a helmet– when worked up tightly enough to avoid the big-hole blues. YUSSSSS!

Okay I know the name of this stitch pattern has a lot going on, but I promise it’s super easy! This is an advanced-beginner level project, but for you seasoned crocheters out there: you won’t get bored. You’ll be like: oh cool, a chunky hat! Oh this is fun- a new stitch- and it really is stretchy, just like Brenda said it would be! Oh interesting- there are short rows to shape the top! And wheeeeeee! it’s done. Now I need to make another one. Because it’s that fun! (Well that was what happened to me anyway).

So here ya go- all of the directions are right here!

Materials
Approximately 88 yds of super bulky weight yarn. I used We Crochet Tuff Puff: 100% Wool, 44 yds/100g; 2 skeins per hat, shown in colors Chartreuse #28058 and Cactus Blossom #28057 (See notes regarding pom-pom yardage).

About 1 yard of embroidery floss (or thin yarn) in similar color for pom-pom tie

Tools
Size P (11.50 mm) hook (or size needed to obtain gauge)
Tapestry/yarn needle
3.5” piece of cardboard (for pompom)

Gauge
6 sts and 6 rows =4” in yo-sl-st blo patt.
OR: Work hat directions through Row 4. Piece measures 10” wide and 2.75” tall including foundation chain (see photos)

Finished Measurements
Hat measures 18.75 (21.25)” in circumference, and 10” tall. Chartreuse hat (21.25”) was modeled on 22” head.

Special Stitches
Working into the bottom of the chain: work under the horizontal dashes (directly opposite the “v”s that you normally work into).


Yo-sl-st: Yarn over, insert hook into next st, yo and pull up loop and then pull loop through both loops on hook (1 yo-sl-st made).Working through back loops only: Instead of working under both loops like normal, work under only the back loops (leaving the front loops free).

Working through back loops only (blo): Instead of working under both loops like normal, work under only the back loops (leaving the front loops free).

Abbreviations:
Blo= back loop only
Ch= chain
Sl st= slip stitch
St(s)= stitch(es)
Yo = yarn over
Yo-sl-st = yarn over slip stitch (see Special stitches above)

Notes:
2 skeins of Tuff Puff are enough for one hat (including pompom), however if you want a contrasting pompom, you will need 2 skeins of main color and additional yarn for the contrasting pom pom (aprox 16 yds). The larger size hat will have a slightly smaller pompom as there are fewer leftovers after making the hat. The Chartreuse hat pictured is the larger size and the Cactus Blossom hat is the smaller size. This means that the pompom made from the leftovers of the Chartreuse beanie is a bit smaller compared to the other pompom. I made 2 hats and switch-swapped the pompoms for some contrast-fun. This way the bigger pompom could be attached to the bigger hat.
This beanie is made sideways in turned rows, then slip stitched (or seamed) to form a tube. Short rows shape the crown of hat. Turning chains do not count as a stitch.

In order to check gauge, begin working hat directions, and check gauge when working Row 4. Continue to monitor gauge, and/or try on your head after working the slip stitch seam to check fit before fastening off. Adjust hook size if needed. Because the yarn is so thick, and there is a big size difference between hooks this large, you may need to crochet a bit tighter or looser than you normally would in order to match gauge and/or adjust hat size. 

Directions for hat begin here:
Ch 17.
Row 1: Beginning with the 2nd ch from hook and working into the bottom of the chain, yo-sl-st into each chain -16 sts.

Photo above shows where to begin working into bottom of chain.

This shows the first yo-st-st in process: all that remains is to continue pulling through the other two loops on hook.

After the first row is complete it should look like this.

Stylus shows where to insert hook at beginning of Row 2 (into the back loop).

Row 2: Ch 1, turn, yo-sl-st blo in next 12 sts leaving last 4 sts un-worked- 12 sts.

After Row 2 is completed (leave last 4 sts un-worked).

Row 3: Ch 1, turn, yo-sl-st blo in next 12 sts- 12 sts.
Row 4: Ch 1, turn, yo-sl-st blo in next 12 sts, modified yo-sl-st blo (this joins the end of short row to working row below to make short row end less noticeable-see photos further down the page), yo-sl-st blo in next 3 sts of row below -16 sts.

Checking row gauge during Row 4- just before working the modified yo-sl-st.

Checking stitch gauge during Row 4- just before working the modified yo-sl-st.

To make the modified yo-sl-st blo, see photos below.

Insert hook through row below as indicated here by stylus. Yo, then pull up loop…

then insert hook through back loop of stitch from 2 rows below, yo…

and pull through all loops on hook.
(One modified yo-sl-st blo made.)

After completing Row 4 piece should look like this.

Row 5: Ch 1, turn, yo-sl-st blo in next 16 sts.
Rows 6-25 (6-29): Repeat Rows 2-5 five (six) more times.
Rows 26-28 (30-32): Repeat Rows 2-4 once again, ending at top of hat.

This shows hat after working Row 28.

There are two options to seam the hat: crocheting a slip stitch seam OR hand sewing with a whip-stitch. Crocheting is faster and creates less of a gap between ridges of stitch pattern, however it does create a little bit of an indentation along the seaming line. Hand sewing makes a flatter seam, however it takes longer and there is a slightly wider gap between ridges in hat.

The above photo allows you to compare seaming techniques. The chartreuse hat has a slip-stitch crocheted seam, whereas the Cactus Blossom hat has a hand stitched seam.

Crocheted Seam:
Ch 1, turn as if to work another row.
Fold hat so that foundation chain is directly behind last row worked. Working through the blo of the row in front (last row worked) and the flo of the row behind (foundation chain), Sl st through both edges at the same time to seam hat.
Fasten off. Turn hat so that sl st seam in on the inside of hat.

Photo shows beginning of crocheted seam.

Hand-Sewing the Seam:
Fasten off leaving long tail for sewing. The last row you worked is a Right Side row. With Right Side facing, butt up foundation edge to edge of last row worked. Using Yarn tail and yarn needle, whip stitch edges together as shown in photo below.

Photo shows hand-stitched seam method.

Closing top of hat:
Thread a yarn needle with a new piece of yarn and weave needle through the top edge of hat, catching each of the “v’s” and also catching a stitch between each of the “v’s” as shown in the photo below. Pull tight to close top of hat.

Showing the closing of the top of the hat. Notice how needle goes through one leg of each of the “v’s” and also catches the stitches between the “v’s”.

Finishing
Weave in all ends. It is best to use yarn needle to split through the yarn strands when weaving tails in place. Block.

Blocking tip: Wet block your hat over a balloon balanced on a mug. This creates a nice shape without crease lines. Inflate the balloon to a size smaller than your head- it shouldn’t stretch the hat at all.

Re-shaping the top of hat: squish it and pat it into place while it is still wet to reduce the appearance of holes near short row ends.

Pompom
Cut 2 pieces of embroidery floss or thin yarn to 18” and set aside. Wrap yarn loosely around piece of 3.5” cardboard about 40-50 times (or until you run out of yarn). Before removing loops from cardboard, tie each 18” piece of floss/yarn tightly around loops near center of cardboard (one on each side of the cardboard). Carefully slide loops off cardboard and tie one of the same 2 pieces of yarn around the center of the loops, this time around both sides- make sure you tie a very tight knot. Use scissors to cut all of the loops of the pom-pom, being careful not to cut either of the two longer strands that were used to tie the pom-pom together. Fluff pom-pom, and trim ends of pom-pom into a nicely shaped ball. Using yarn needle and long strands of floss/yarn, attach pom-pom to top of hat. Weave in ends.

See? Wasn’t that fun? I thought so.