I’ve been playing around with color work in crochet lately and I thought I’d share abit about changing colors without that slight 1/2 stitch shift that you get with most crochet work.

The samples in the pictures are all worked in single crochet and, additionally through the back loop of the stitch only, but the technique works as well with straight forward sc, hdc, dc and trbs (us)

Because the whole piece is worked in sc you can assume that every stitch I refer to is a sc.

When changing from yarn A to yarn B DO NOT complete the last stitch of A – pull a loop through the stitch in the row below and then bring the tail of yarn A to the front, yarn over and complete the stitch with color B.

·        bringing the tail of yarn A to the front places it to the back – where you want it – when you work the next row. ALWAYS bring the tail of the color you are leaving behind to the front.

·        Remember that the final yarn over of the stitch actually becomes the “top” of the next stitch – you want those colors to match – hence the yo of the new color in the last stitch of the old.

When returning to color A on the next row remember not to complete the last stitch of color B and to bring the tail of B forward.

When Color A continues past the color change in the row below just carry color B along inside the stitches – as if you were hiding an end. REMEMBER to begin carrying color B inside the stitches ONE STITCH BEFORE the last color change.

The first rules apply when the color changes line up:

·        bringing the tail of yarn A to the front places it to the back – where you want it – when you work the next row. ALWAYS brig the tail of the color you are leaving behind to the front.

When changing colors a considerable distance from the last color change bring a long LOOSE loop over to your stitch with color B and then hide that long incoming tail of color inside the stitches as you work your way across, including the stitch just before the last color change – this one may be tight and a bit difficult but the end result is much tidier that if you leave that bit of loop exposed.

Drop me a comment if anything is unclear and please post links if you use this in a project!

Toots

Sara

Hello again!

I find myself still swirling in the maelstrom of jewelry ideas so I’ll share a quick project with you.  A bitty pair of crochet earrings. Basic crochet knowledge is a must for this one - my favorite book for the home learner.

You’ll need a pair of wire cutters, copper craft wire of your choice, ear wires, jump rings, 2 focal beads, and a size G/6 or 7/4 or 4.5mm steel or aluminum crochet hook. I recommend a dedicated wire crochet hook. Though the craft wire is very maleable it can put some wear on your hook that could be detrimental to further use with snag-tastic fibers.

I have a great old pile of clip-ons that I’ll mine for beads occasionally. Be careful not to set you heart on all the beads visible on clip-ons, many times a significant number of the beads have been glued in place - especially the beads around the clip, but pendant beads are usually good to go.

Cut yourself about 1.5 yards/1.3 meters of the craft wire for each earring. You’ll need to start your crochet chain with a slip knot and do the number of chain stitches that will reach from one side of the bead to the other - for me this was 4. Now slide the long, working tail of the wire through the bead and wrap the beginning short end tightly around this to hold it in place, 3to 4 wraps should suffice, and cut away any excess of the SHORT wire. Wrap the long end of the wire back across the bead so you can resume your crochet stitches.

Chain 2 and turn the piece. One double crochet in the 3rd chain from the hook, 2 double crochets in each of the next 3 chains. Fasten off the last loop and run the remaining wire back through the bead to hide the end. Attach an ear wire with a jump ring and repeat to make a pair.

They remind me of Medusa or maybe a mid 18th century French lady with a wig, me likey. Drop a comment if you have any questions or if you finish a pair - mine took about 5 minutes

Toots

I am looking for new inspiration for future posts, and am inviting you to enter my “Christmas in July” Give-Away. It’s easy to enter…just comment to this post with a craft project for which you would like to see a tutorial.

It can be any thing! Something you have wanted to learn for a long time, something you just saw yesterday!

All comments which include a future craft post idea or request, and are posted before 11:59pm on July 31st, will be eligible. Winner will be chosen and notified on August 1st. The project suggestion that is chosen will be featured in one of my future posts, and on my personal blog Creative Origins (entries accepted there, also). PLUS! The submitter will receive a “Homemade Holiday” Gift Package filled with handcrafted holiday gifts.

See a sneak peek of gift package you will receive here.

I’ve been on a crafting for baby roll lately. All I want to do is make crafty things for my little boy who is coming in August. Maybe it’s partly because baby crafts are small and therefore I can finish them faster! Whatever the reason, I’m having fun. I thought I’d update you on a couple of the things I’ve been making.

One thing I recently made is the baby wipes I mentioned in a previous post. They were very simple to make, once I got the hang of using a serger. Here’s the finished product. They can be used as baby wipes or washcloths.

I also finally finished the crocheted baby hat I was thinking about making. I decided to go with the Baby Cherry Hat, minus the cherries. It took less than 2 hours to make!

Next thing I’m going to tackle is baby burp cloths and baby diapers. I’ll let you know if I find any good patterns or tutorials. Has anyone else been inspired to make baby stuff, or am I the only one?

Since winter has come to New Zealand I have been inspired to start crocheting again. So what better way to start then to have a look around the net and see what great patterns have come out for some inspiration. Here are some links I wanted to share with you:

• First of all you have to go and have a look at PlanetJune’s blog here she has been crocheting up a storm over the last couple of weeks. And you can not really resist these adorable amigurumi.. Have a look around at all the other patterns June writes (some are freebies!) when you are here.

• Another awesome free project can be found here on Little Projects blog. It is a purse organiser so you can stop rummaging for your lip balm, cellphone, keys, change for parking, cards etc and get organised. Its a quick crochet pattern after that just pop it in the washer a couple of times ans taaddaaaa!! Have a look around this blog while you are here there, Jo sells some awesome crochet patterns for bags. The one below is my favourite. 
• Some of you might have already seen this one featured on other blogs but I am so in love with Brie’s work, her blog is called Roman Sock and you can find it here. She has promised to write us a pattern/tutorial about this amazing Acorn so better go and leave a comment.

I hope this got you really inspired to do some crocheting this week. Don’t forget to post a picture in our Flickr Group or for some more inspiration go and join the the Crochet Along they have a new theme every 2 months starting and you are welcome to join anytime.

Eve