So, this is a bit of a red face moment for me! I’ve been crocheting for YEARS. I am testing a new cover for a living room chair and I’ve been a good doobie and measured the cushions and all, and I have it all carefully managed right?

Umm that would be no.  I wailed through my first skein of yarn (I talked about this a day or so ago in this post) and actuallY I thought I was doing pretty good (this is a gift for friend for Christmas) ….. so yesterday (don’t ask why) I decided to measure the piece I’d completed.  Boy, I am glad I did (I think so anyway)… Turns out that for some bizarre reason or another the piece is 1 1/2 inches narrower than it should be.

So I have to start it again - no matter what I can’t make up 1 1/2 inches in just adding stitches (since I’m using a single crochet).  So last night while I was watching television I started crocheting the new piece from the old piece -I didn’t bother to unwind it - just as easy to work from the piece that’s done….

So today’s reminder: Don’t wait til you finish a skein of yarn to take a measurement!  Measure after you’ve done a row or so that way if you need to start over you can do it easily!

Will let you know later what the outcome is - I also changed crochet hook size … which by the way I’m going to do a post on so listen up!

Happy crocheting!

I mentioned in another post that i made a little ‘pouch’ to hold my yarn and hook and keep my dog away from it while I worked. You might be wondering what in the world I was thinking! But, it was really pretty simple!

So here’s the drill:

I typically work with 5 - 6 oz skeins of yarn and often work with at least two (2) sizes of crochet hooks - I really wanted something I could use at home (this is not really recommended for travel purposes!!) to keep the yarn ‘beast free’.

My ‘finished’ product is wide deliberately - this allows me to use a larger size ball of yarn later if I want to!

So here’s what I did - I used a Size L crochet hook (yep it’s a tad large) and I used yarn that I didn’t particularly care for the color (someone gave it to me) and I made two 7″ x 7″ granny squares (whether you use one color or a number makes no difference!) and put them aside.

Now, I want to ‘join’ them so I made three strips using my Size G hook and a single crochet stitch that were 7″ wide and of course 7″ long.  These I used for (a) the bottom (hand stitch to the two squares).  Now I want to make my ’sides’ so I just attached the remaining two strips (by the way all 3 are different colors!) to the squares to form the sides.  Poof - this part is easy.

Now I don’t really want yarn running against yarn inside this bag right?  No problem - I found an old piece of sheeting down in the basement and I cut it into one large piece that I hand stitched in (though you could use a machine I imagine).  Yarn ‘rolls’ really well against sheeting. You could also use nylon, rayon or any other number of scraps you’ve got laying around the house - don’t use wool or any type of fabric that doesn’t ‘give’ and definitely do not use a T-Shirt material!!

So now the top is wide open right?  Nope.

Make another 7″ wide by 7″  long strip - now here’s the catch here you’re going to use a large hook (I used the N) and you’re going to use a double crochet.  Follow me for the reasoning here!

So go ahead and attach this at ONE END of your bag opening.  To keep it closed you can use velcro, snaps, buttons, whatever works for you - but take care to do this all along the opening.

So you’re wondering how this is going to work? Well, there’s a reason I used a double crochet!  Thread your yarn through a stitch, close your bag and work away!!

Where to put the hook(s)?

Well you have a couple of options - you can put your hook(s) literally right into the bag (remember it’s lined) but that’s a bit of a nuisance isn’t it? So here’s what I did.  I made a little ‘pouch’ that is the length of my hook(s) with a little flap (I used single crochet and I used a G hook) and will hold three (3) hooks.  I made a similar ‘pouch’ to hold my scissors and tape measure - and I stitched them all into the inside of the bag (they’re also lined with the sheet material).

The end result: I have a neat little bag that I can keep on the floor or on the couch that the beasts can’t get into my work!  BTW: I am working on a granny square project so what I have been doing is taking a skein of yarn and my hooks with me when I travel around and this bag is wide enough to hold the smaller squares too.

So have fun with this!  Happy Crocheting!

OK this is about the quickest and easiest pattern you’ll ever see!

This one doesn’t matter how big or small you want it, it only depends on what you want to fill it with.  Whether it’s a bell or catnip, make it appropriate for your four legged friend!

I used a Size F crochet hook and I crocheted a square that was 3″ long and 2″ wide using only single crochet stitch.  (It’s VERY tight) - I used some leftover yarn from another project.

Then stitch 3 sides closed using your hand needle (use a yarn needle and yarn for this and it doesn’t have to be the same color).  Turn it right side out!! Fill it with the toy or whatever of your choice - I used catnip.

Stitch the last side closed and Ta Da! It’s done!  Result: One happy beastie

My dog (like most pets) thinks the whole world revolves around him (and typically this is pretty close to right!) so I need to warn you about a few things when you’re crocheting with a pet around!

A)  Get the yarn out of the skein! He LOVES the paper on the skeins of yarn - now aside from the fact that it is not particularly good for him it’s also a nuisance to have him pulling on it while I’m working!

B)  Keep the ball out of his reach! Now this is a bit of a challenge - my dog burrows into everything. It’s not unusual for me to find a puppy treat in the middle of the yarn <sigh>.  So, I actually crocheted a little bag to use to hold one skein of yarn and it has a little pocket on the outside to hold my hook (I’ll share the pattern with you later).

C)  Distraction works! Ya, I don’t play fair - I keep a tennis ball hidden under my lap so that I can toss it to him when he gets too annoying!

And just for fun - here’s his photo!

So I told you about this ‘3 lbs.’ of white/off white yarn I bought on eBay.  I discovered another problem with it.  The stuff smells to high heavens (which for some reason I didn’t notice before).

So I just sprayed all the skeins with Febreeze and I’ve got it on the porch but that’s not what this post is about!

I decided that I can use those mixes easily by covering the sofa.  Now if you’ve been following my posts you know that the living room furniture has these removable arms which present a bit of a challenge but here’s what I’m thinking about doing.

The couch (like most) has three cushions (and it’s currently off-white).   When I did the love seat I used beige/and beige blend and I’ve decided to use that other yarn I got in a similar auction to do the chair. Now that yarn is a beautiful blend of beige, blue, green, salmon.

So, how to make the most of these white yarns?  Simple: I’m going to take all the ‘leftover’ beige/beige blend and this other blend and I’m going to make 5X5 granny squares (using a size F hook) and I’m going to create white ’strips’ to go between them.

I’ll let you know when I get started and if I can get my webcam to work I’ll show you the project as I go along!

Happy Crocheting!

So I am wrapping up the slipcovers on the love seat and I have been putzing around with the other yarn that I just bought - remember those? I talked about them in this post.

So, here’s what the decision came down to. Let’s talk about the really nice one first:

I have a chair that’s exactly like the love seat (i.e. those arms are a pain in the rear) that could also use some covering.

So, I dug out my favorite Size I crochet hook and played around with it a bit yesterday. It appears that 1 skein of yarn will allow me to cover 1/2 of the seat cushion (I assume that means 2 will allow me to cover the whole thing) using a single crochet.  Remember this yarn is really nice and what’s especially nice is this - it has a lot of give and it doesn’t lend itself well to tight stitches.

I’ll let you know in a later post what the deal is and how it comes out (I still have to figure out how to get the darn thing to sit on the seat right so I’m playing with it at the moment)!

So I live with a dog and a cat.   Now I anticipate the cat playing with the yarn when I’m working but I don’t expect it from the dog.  He’s a baby - he’ll be 3 before you know it - but he has *no* idea he’s a dog most of the time.

So when I pick up my crochet he picks up the mischief.  He plays with the pieces I’m working on, he buries his nose in skeins of yarn and he jumps in my lap to play when I’m working <sigh>

I gave up - I made him a little crochet toy (I’ll share the pattern with you later on) to keep him busy …. and yes, I filled it with catnip!

Oh the tangled mess!  I decided (because I’m notoriously cheap) that I’d buy some yarn from eBay.  So I went online and I found what appeared to be two fairly good buys: One was a lot of 4 skeins of a multi yarn (without labels) that seemed rather nice looking at the pictures and the other was 3 lbs of whites/off whites. I figured I’d find something to do with them after.

So I bid 7.00 on each of them - and I won both auctions. The shipping was more than the auction but we won’t go into that.

The multi-print is BEAUTIFUL yarn.  It’s soft, it’s silky and it’s *very* easy to work with.  I’m in the process of making a decision about what to do with the 4 skeins but I’m leaning towards a chair cover which I will share the pattern with you later.

Now the white/offwhite on the other hand what a **)(*()* mess.

I got this box - there are like 4 skeins in it that actually have paper on them (which is really ok) but the bigger problem is that there is a mix of blends, there are partially worked on projects and there are a ton of tangles.

We’ll see what happens with this mess later I’ll fill you in under “Saga of the whites”!!

So, I decided to crochet a couple of scarfs for gifts for Christmas. I found these great Red Heart(T) yarns, one of them called “Candy Print” which is a nice blend of pink/red/white (obviously for a ’she’ scarf) and the other called ‘Fall” (also a Red Heart).  Well I have to tell you - I have never spent more time ripping out a project as I have this first one (I started with the Candy Print.  I have started this scarf at least 8 times and inevitably I wind up with a Z in my pattern because I missed a stitch someplace and then ‘found’ it again.

I’m going to try it again today and will update you later on the results!

So, I decided for Christmas to work on some slipcovers for a friends sofa. This particular sofa is really a love seat (I’ll get to the sofa later).  If you saw our website you saw the pattern for these (it’s here). Now, here’s the thing: I started this to write up this project originally to write up the pattern.  What I didn’t tell you about the sofa in the pattern is that the arms are also cloth covered presently and they’re the type that slip out of the frame.

Well, genius here decided to make crochet covers for the arms too - but that left me with a ? about how do I make them work!  Tada!  I acutally used elastic - and instead of focusing on one color what I did was I made them 1/2 from each of the colors I used in the original pattern (the solid tan and the blend). They’re perfect.  Took a while to get them just right but they’re not bad.