2014 Project: Weaving Plate Mat

Considering I have bought some new craft tools (here), I was eager to start soonest possible. I try to choose the tool I think the simplest to work with. In the end I decided to try the knit/weave loom.

Some videos on how to work with the loom can be found in youtube. They are easy to follow because the video gives detailed instruction & the way the instructor works in the video is clear & slow enough.

I wanted to weave a plate mat with my cotton yarn (Gründl-Wolle's Cordino), I bought them in Dawanda from Babka1. The price for each skein was €1,68 for 100 grams.

Here's what I've done with the weaving loom:

Should do some more to create a set!

Happy Weaving!

Useful link:
Warp the Loom: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hfYaK-iDGU
Weave the Weft: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_C5YTcDLsQ
Bind Off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW0sDzqTNo8

2014 New Craft Tools

I've been out of activity due to tendinitis since 2 weeks or more. I try to stop crocheting or doing lots of things with my right hand, to give it a rest.

However in the period of inactivity I've been watching some videos in youtube about a new activity different than what I've done before. I'm not good at knitting with needles so I think I will try the knitting loom etc.

Here's what I bought from Rascol website:

1) Martha Stewart's Knit & Weave Loom Kit/Métier à Tisser et à Tricoter (€49,90)

2) Knitting Dolly, some called French Knitting/Tricotin (€5,90)

3) Universal Netting Fork/Fourche à Dentelle Universelle (€5,30)

I have some ideas I wanted to try out, we'll see how it done.

Happy Crafting!

Useful link:
http://www.rascol.com/laine-tricot/tricotin/14753-metier-a-tisser-et-a-tricoter-martha-stewart.php
http://www.rascol.com/laine-tricot/tricotin/9332-tricotin-grand-modele-transparent-avec-epingle.php
http://www.rascol.com/laine-tricot/accessoires/200-fourche-a-dentelle-universelle.php

2014 Infinity Scarf for Myself

Finally I decided to make another infinity scarf for me - yayy!!
I bought 1 skein of Schachenmayr's Bravo Big (BB) & another skein of Bravo Big Color (BBC) in a shop in Mulhouse sometime last year. I didn't know what to do with them.

Unfortunately I forgot to take picture of them.. sorry :(
But it won't be difficult to find in the internet if you want to see which color I used.
I have less than a complete skein of BBC because I used some part of it for the bolero. That's why I decided to have the scarf mixed from BB in camel (00105) & BBC in violet (00083) then I add a little touch of Gründl-Wolle's Alaska in aubergine (12).

I only took me 1 complete day to work on this (6th of January 2014).
However I haven't been crocheting since I finished this project due to tendinitis. I can't do any crocheting for a while, my right arm hurts a lot.

Anyway, I'm taking it easy now. No rush between projects.

Happy Crocheting!

2013 Project: Flower (Crochet)

Remember that I made myself a poncho?

One spot at this poncho has an imperfection on how I did my crochet :p
Hubby said it's not noticable but it does for me.. I tried to find a way to hide it beautifully.

Checking out some videos on youtube about crochet some accessories & I think I can use a brooch from flower to cover the spot. The user name of this youtuber is sheruknittingcom, she gives detailed tutorial on lots of projects, which are very easy to follow. Just be patient to watch every second of her video and crochet as you watch then after several repetition you'll get the idea.

I tried to take a picture of my work each time I did one phase of work but it's just too complicated.
I wanted to be able to recall how to do the flower without having to rewatch the video everytime. Apparently it's not working lol :D

So here are some of the picture and the final products.

Made the same with different yarn:

Size comparison of both flowers:

I haven't attached the blue flower to my poncho, will do that later (when I feel like doing it) :D
These flowers can be used also for hair ornament, I just attached it with a bobby pin or an alligator clip (not sure if this is the correct word). Anyway you'll get the idea.

Happy Crocheting!

Useful link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo5BOGTklOw

2013 DIY Pearl Necklace Chanel's Style

I was having some kind of pearl fever, I wanted to have a classic style pearl necklace. I've been wanting to try to create a jewelry but all the tutos seems to be too complicated for me to follow.
I tried working with colored aluminium wire but I still don't get a grip how to create a wire jewelry.

I found this tuto and it's easy enough for me to understand despite the fact I don't speak portuguese :D

First of all just buy a chain at the length of your wish. Some jewelry suppliers sell chain with clasp hook, some don't. It doesn't really matter. If you buy chain without clasp hook then you can decide what kind of closure you want to use for your chain. The chain I use, I bought it in ebay.

Next thing to have is the head pin. I use some head pins with 30mm length since my chain doesn't have big holes on them. You'll need these pins to stuck the pearls in. I bought mine in ebay, they seemed like a good price to me.

Third is the pearl itself. I decided to use the white pearls diameter 6mm. I bought them from website butinette, they come in a box (inside there are approx. 2500 pearls but who's counting?). I like using golden - they make it rich to the appearance :) I have bought golden pearl but haven't used them yet.

Here's how the head pin look with the pearl on when I attached them to the chain:

Happy Crafting!












Useful link:
Pearl Necklace Chanel Style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWXkPb17t1o
Chain: http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251240428007&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649
Head Pin ("Clou/Tige"): http://cgi.ebay.fr/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=251220947111#ht_500wt_963
Clasp Closure: http://www.ebay.fr/itm/LOT-4-FERMOIRS-5-MM-A-RESSORT-AVEC-ANNEAUX-DORE-ARGENTE-CHAINES-COLLIER-BIJOUX-/190819276949?
Pearls: http://loisir-creatif-fr.buttinette.com/shop/article-FR-fr-BU/24000-25000-25090-(48856,67808,31058)/Perles--6mm-nacre-31058.htm

2013 Christmas Cards & Gift Packages

Christmas was in the air and I wanted to make something different for my in-laws (*).

I crocheted scarfs for grandma/mom/sister-in-law but I thought nice homemade cards & nice homemade packagings would add some heartfelt value to the gift.

As usual I found my inspiration from youtube as well as from someone's blog.

I never consider myself to be good at drawing but I really like it so I thought why not give it a shot?

For my beloved hubby

I call him "my baby bear" so it will only be suitable if I make a card with a bear with a big heart!

I found a tuto to draw a bear as well as the tuto to make heart by origami, on youtube.

 

For grandma-in-law

Surprise box

I drew the tree on a piece of paper, first the draft by pencil then add some line by black pen. I decided to color the drawing by using the same pen and leave it as it is. The tuto for drawing the tree can be found in youtube.

To create the box I found a link in youtube, normally it's suppose to be 3D suprise cards (if you put several layers inside) but I wanted to do it simply.

For my mom-in-law

I thought it might be amusing to make a 3D card. I found a way to make the 3D christmas tree from a video in youtube.

The packaging for her gift is something simple, it's nothing but a fold & glue work. I don't think anyone need to have any tuto for such kinda simple thing.

For my sis-in-law

In the region where they live (west of France), they have rarely cold coldest winter with lots of snow. I find it funny if I can send them a snowman :D Where I live we can achieve winter until -20°C.

I made a bag from the same wrapping paper as for my mom-in-law's but instead of closing it as an envelope, I made 2  sets of handle from crocheting white yarn.

Happy Crafting!

Useful link:

How to draw Teddy Bear:

http://www.drawingteachers.com/how-to-draw-a-teddy-bear.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTFlLXPBX8k

Heart Origami: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZMqIZ99qpk
Surprise Box from 3D Card: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFErdoR3j0k

How to draw a Christmas Tree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iz3g0-w2D-8

3D Card Christmas Tree: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qun0NRt3ZK0

3D Present Box (idea comes from 3D card tuto): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XNV9oVf_pU
How to draw Snowman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2vtPqtaqMw

2013 Project: Poncho for myself

I never had a poncho before, odd isn't it? :)
I thought it would be nice if I could make something for myself, something I can wear inside the appartment during my online classes (I took German & Japanese class by skype).

There are hundreds maybe thousands of tutos about how to make a poncho. Some of them are quite complicated to follow. I think some people find it not too easy to transfer their knowledge to others, some has bad video quality (unfocus images or the video moved a lot). These problems made me decided to find a simple tuto to follow, as simple as possible so the quality of images will not be a problem.

As usual I don't follow 100% the tutos.
Normally I just learn to understand the construction and when I have understood what needs to be done to built my project then I start working on my own.

Project started: around 18th Nov 2013

Here's the poncho on me:

I worked all with double crochet by crochet #5,5.
To create this poncho I used 10 skeins of Phildar Goyesca (blue), 5 skeins of Schachenmayr Aventisto Cotton (grey). The clear blue line comes from a leftover skein from my other project here http://pekerjaantangan.blogspot.fr/2014/01/round-medium-pursebag.html

I bought 10 skeins of Phildar Goyesca in a bag from an old lady in a "vide-grenier" (I keep on using this word because I don't know what is the exact translation in English). The yarn is in a very good condition and the color is wonderful as you can see here:

The grey yarn from Schachenmayr Aventisto Cotton is also a wonderful yarn, a very lovely texture to work with. I bought the Schachenmayr yarn from German's ebay (seller name redacer65). The link is available on below of this page. The price is interesting & the delivery is good. If you want to buy this yarn and you live in Europe you can consider buying from her/him. Here is picture of the yarn:

I can't say it took me 2 weeks to finish the project because at some point I ran out of grey yarn and I was waiting my order to arrive. In between times I also was working on the 2013 Christmas Gifts for Hubby & his family, you can check the project here:
http://pekerjaantangan.blogspot.fr/2014/01/2013-christmas-gift-for-hubby.html
http://pekerjaantangan.blogspot.fr/2014/01/2013-christmas-gift-for-my-in-laws.html

Happy Crocheting!

Useful link:
Tuto for Poncho from Bobwilson123:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOxqkpYoz8Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yXDDX5hLwg
Redacer65's ebay (Schachenmayr Aventisto Cotton):
http://www.ebay.de/itm/50-gr-Aventisto-Cotton-von-Schachenmayr-Sonderpreis-/221282032446?ssPageName=ADME:L:OU:FR:3160

2013 Christmas Gift for my in-laws

Ruffle Scarf (for grandma & mom - in-laws)

Both scarfs are from similar texture of yarn & they are made with same technique. You can see how to work with this type of yarn on useful link below this page.
I was inspired by this video, done by Mikey (Michael Sellick) as he worked with the Sashay Yarn from Red Heart Boutique. I don't live in the US, I live in France that explains why I don't use the same yarn as Mikey.
I bought these yarns in website Le Coin des Bonnes Affaires (link available below).

1st scarf (for grandma)
Brand: Baya Star, Color: Colvert Argent
1 skein only for 1 scarf; Worked with crochet #5,5

Note:
I think as long as you can get the crochet hook through the texture you have the freedom to work with whichever size you want.

2nd scarf (for my mom-in-law)
Brand: Laloo; Color: Gris Fuschia
1 skein only for 1 scarf; Worked with crochet #5,5

Braided Scarf (for my sister-in-law)
I use 1 skein of Laloo's yarn (same brand & texture as the scarf for my mom-in-law). However instead of crocheting with a crochet hook I decided to crochet with my finger.
My inspiration comes from a youtube video by Kristen from GoodKnit Kisses (a very cute name!) - I have the link to the video as usual below this page.
I decided to make it 'heavier' I add other skein of yarn and made some braides. Then I braided them together (1 braide of Laloo yarn + 4 braides of different color of yarn, I use 2x white braides to enlighten the scarf).

Brand: Laloo; Color Automne

Happy Crocheting!

Useful link:
How-tos:
1st & 2nd scarf: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSXcLvBQwK4
3rd scarf: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8Bx2wUt6Fs
Materials:
1st scarf: http://www.lecoindesbonnesaffaires.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=baya+star
2nd & 3rd scarf: http://www.lecoindesbonnesaffaires.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=laloo

2013 Christmas Gift for Hubby

(Another) Infinity Scarf for Hubby

Started: 8 December 2013
Size: 24cm (width= x 1m40cm (total length)

He was asking to have another infinity scarf he can wear when he puts on his suits.
I have a couple of Schachenmayr's Valiani yarns however it was not enough to finish this scarf.
Therefore in order to finish the scarf I bought more yarns from butinette website.
Total use of yarn: 4 yarns
I work on double crochet except for the finishing frame on the edge of the scarf, they are on single crochet.

Happy Crocheting!

Useful link:
http://loisir-creatif-fr.buttinette.com/shop/artikelsuchen*-FR-fr-BU/-(56909,75360,24116)/Laine-Schachenmayr-Valiani-24116.htm?sucheurl=%2FErwinMueller%2FSearch.ff%3Fquery%3Dvaliani%26filterGeschaeftsfeld%3Dbu%26m%3Dbu_fr%26productsPerPage%3D20%26xml%3Dtrue

2013 Gift for a friend: Round Medium Purse/Bag

Start: 6 November 2013

I made this as a gift for a friend. It was a simple project to be done in a day (max. 2 days)..
I have lots of mix yarns I bought in a "vide grenier" - that's why I like to find small project to use these yarns.

Below you can find the link to the source of my inspiration, I took the liberty to work with different size of yarn and different size of pouch. I do this a lot. The most important thing for me is to understand the basic technique and find a way to reproduce them into something I want to do.

Happy Crocheting!

Useful link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzLgRFPwQVE