Crochet Plant Beginning

I wanted to make something for mum's nameday. I probably won't manage to finish it in time, which doesn't matter much as it's a rather silly project..

It should be a ground plant. What you can see is foundation chain. 12m of foundation chain :-D

This is how I made the first leaf. For leaves I use half double crochet or double crochet. So I finished the chain and went a bit back with HDC stitches.

At the top I inserted several stitches into each loop so that it made a rounded point of the leaf.

Then I continued crocheting, when I get to the chain I always use HDC as a stem.

Snake Bracelet

A new book came that I had ordered! The Bead Crochet Snakes. I loved the pics on the Net, so I couldn't resist:-)

The main principle is that you thread a cotton this way with threading on a usual thread first. Then you crochet and slide a bead to the piece in some state of progress at every single crochet. The colour pattern can be drawn on square paper and has to be known before you start crocheting (to know how to thread on the beads).

The inside of the mouth is beadless and for the snake to be worn as a bracelet, it is sewn around the tail.

Tapestry Crochet Basics

Another of my projects. I learned to do tapestry crochet and I like it:)
I eventually found out how to make circle. I saw it at Art of Crochet - very nice and flat one. The thing is just that when you increase (by making two stitches in one "heart") you have to watch the previous round - you shouldn't increase above the place where you'd increased before. I start to increase when the centre axis of the stitch doesn't steer for the center of the circle.
I just haven't mastered finishing the rounds - I can't make the endings look all the same and be aligned in a straight line.
This is a bottom of a future pencil stand.

Tapestry crochet uses usually two threads, when only one at a time is visible. The other one is hidden inside the stitches. By changing these two you can get two-coloured crochet.
You can see that my yarn is put on the hearts (the upper part of the stitches). When you insert the hookunder a heart and bring the yarn over it, it's still placed above.

Hold the thread in its position and work with the upper one as usual. Like this you get a nice red round.

When I want to change the colours I do it at the second step. I just loop the yarn of the other colour over the hook and finish the stitch like that.

You can see that now I have a single crochet with an orange tip. This loop will be part of the next stitch. From now on you can continue with orange.

Using this technic you can crochet any picture in two colours you want. I've chosen a picture of a prehistorical hunter and his prey.
If you find a picture on the internet or draw your own, you may easily turn it into a pattern. Open it in Painting, zoom it as much as possible and press Ctrl+G (Show grid). If the picture's too big you can make it smaller by Ctrl+W (I don't know the exact names of the functions as I have the Czech version:) ).
Enjoy!

Crochet without Flower

Sister finally decided that the hat's not loose anymore, so I didn't have to rip as I had expected:-)
If you want to do something like this you might want to mark places where you increase. I tried pins but the fell from time to time.. Fortunately crocheted piece can be easily threaded, that's good not only for decoration but for this purpose as well:-)

Today I finished the hat, if you don't count the decoration (blossom). I made one light brown round of single crochet, two into one big hole in the previous round. Then I had to learn how to make picot from the Net:-)
Picot's a little corner and its made of usually three chain stitches and one slip stitch into the first loop.
I made five chain loops, then pricked into the loop before the previous one. Then three chain stitches and a slip stitch - these are done into every fourth single crochet (you skip two groups).

Crochet's not that bad work:-) When you get the skill it's quite relaxing. And I'm lucky this pattern is rather fast (one double crochet, one chain).
The intended flower will be above one ear.

I hope sister'll like it, the lace is quite strange..

Plastic Bags Recycling

I found a wonderful thing on the Net today. These sea creatures were all crocheted out of a yarn made from plastic bags.
Here you can see the how to.
According to it I prepared a yarn from one green and two yellow sacks. One plastic bag gives up to about ten meters.

Just in a short - you take a bag, fold it several times in a vertical direction, cut off the handles and the bottom and chop the rest into strips. These unfolded make circles that are to be joined with a knot together to form a double yarn.
Here you can see how I enlarged yarn when crocheting. This is the knot - very easy.

This is a little blossom that came into being. To be sincere the photo is much nicer than the flower itself:-P The flash is something..

As far as the crochet, the leaves are all the same - I made a chain, than one round of stitches back, one around this to the tip of the leaf and back again. This round consists of stitches from the smallest ones to the big ones and back. Upwardly the stitches are: slip stitch, single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet and double treblecrochet. The spirals - I made a long chain and single crochets back.

Hat with Other Pattern

I had to rip out all I've done, today I commenced with a slightly different technique. The basic circle of chain stitches, slip stitch; the main pattern consists of one double crochet and one chain stitch. This way little windows come into being, when making the double stitches don't prick under a heart but into the window instead.

It's faster, easier (hit the big window hole is easier than the heart) and airier. I hope she'll be contented this time.

Run Out of Wool

I didn't have enough wool, doing something helps me not to fall asleep in some seminars. It happened after the first quarter an hour. I didn't manage not to take a nap and so I missed some very interesting facts.
This is a piece of 50g. Obviously the hat will eat about a hundred.

My dog's portrait. Actually the hat's a nice hemisphere. I try not to fasten too much so it's quite soft.

Crochet Hat Beginning

I'm making this for my sister - a crochet hat with a flower above one ear. I tried to make a spheric shape but as I have no experience concerning this area I had to undo rows several times..

The technique's quite easy. Here you can see my moves when making a chain. You may start with a knot, you prickle the hook in the knot, pick the wool and pull back throuhg the eye. This is the first loop. Now you have it on the hook and the following ones you'll do just by picking the wool and pulling through.

I made about nine stitches and finished the circle with a slip stitch - prick the hook into the first loop that you made, cast the yarn and pull back through both loops.

The pattern consists of plain double crochet. Make about two chain stitches (a fake first double crochet) and then advance as in the picture. Cast the wool on, poke the needle into the circle, cast again and pull back. Cast, tuck through two loops, cast, tuck two and that's it. Finishing the row is made by a slip stitch again - you prickle into the upper part of the first (fake) double stitch.

In the following rows you don't jab in any circle, you may notice something like an embroidery chain stitch on the edge - prickle under one stitch (they look like little heart:-) ) or just under one thread of the two. I prefer the whole heart.

I hope my explanation's quite understandable. Wanna try it? Start right now! ;-)