The Crotchety Crocheter

Hooded Ruffle Cape

2014-06-25T18:32:00.004-07:00

A couple posts ago I talked about the pricing formula. I happened to mention a certain project that I was on. I made a hooded ruffle cape from a pattern that I found on Ravely.com. This pattern is available as a free download. It's really simple to make, just a bit time consuming and takes A LOT of yarn.

Seriously. The yarn that I used is amazing. It's called "Thrill" by First Love and its only available from Hobby Lobby. It's so soft and slinky and oh how I love it. I misread the instructions at first and thought that it said I would only need 5 skeins of yarn for it. After the fifth skein ran out, I went back to the instructions and saw that it said I would need 14(!!!) skeins! Back to Hobby Lobby! Nope. The yarn is so awesome, that it was on back order. For six months. But I was able to get the yarn I needed and eventually finished the project.....just in time for summer!

Here is my lovely mother modeling the cape for you:

Cables in Crochet? No Way!

2014-06-25T18:07:00.000-07:00

I have always been jealous of knitters and their ability to put cables into their work. Well, no more!! I present to you a very good video on putting cables into your crochet project!

Livin' the Dream

2014-06-23T07:27:00.001-07:00

Whenever I sit down to crochet for long periods of time, I think about selling the things I make and earning a living off of doing something I love. But I know that's just not possible. In today's economy, people are becoming thriftier and aren't willing to pay a lot of money for something even if it is homemade.

I came across a blog that has a really accurate pricing formula and it makes sense. Sometimes. The blog can be found here. It goes like this:

Seems easy. But let me tell you about a project that I'm working on. It's called a hooded ruffle cape and it's amazing. The materials alone has cost me $85 so far. And as for time? It's taken me forever, but only because I've been back in school full time and the yarn was placed on back order for six months. I misread the amount that I needed for yarn and way, way, way under purchased. So let's say, since I'm a pretty fast crocheter, that it took me a full week to do. 40 hours. 40+85=125.
$125 JUST for the cost. Then the wholesale price would be $250. And retail price? $500! I just seriously doubt anyone would pay that kind of price for what I'm making. Don't get me wrong. This cape is so soft and so big and so amazing and I love it. I just know that I wouldn't spend $500 on it if I saw it somewhere.

This pricing formula would work well for small things that can be finished quickly and don't take much materials to make. For instance, scarves, hats, baby goodies would be good examples.

Stay right there for the finished product of my hooded ruffle cape!

Finishing Off and Weaving in the Ends

2012-11-12T08:09:00.001-08:00

I have mentioned before that I've been crocheting since I was a preteen. Do you also remember me telling you that I didn't have anyone to help teach me and I sure didn't even know what the Internet was!!!

I figured out how to finish off, that didn't seem too hard. After I looked it up (today), I realized that yeah, I've been doing it right all along!

When you have that last loop, just cut the yarn off and leave about a 4 or 5 inch tail. Pull the tail through that loop and pull gently. This makes sure the end is secure and won't come unraveled. I recently saw a video where the woman chained once before pulling the tail through to make it super secure. Whatever, that works too.

The next step is.....weaving in the ends! I always thought I had it figured out. I would just wind the yarn in and out of stitches and then pull it tight and cut it as short as possible. Boy. Wow. That's wrong. Just horribly, horribly wrong. My ends came out all the time! I just didn't get it!

Next thing I know, my son has this blanket that he calls a nee nee. He loves that thing more than me I think. That blanket has been through sooo much. He once puked in it and still snuggled up in it. Ugh. That night was awful. I had to bathe him and wash the blanket and he wouldn't stop screaming until he had it again. Anyways, this blanket has been washed a whole bunch. Not once has an end popped out. This disturbed me. What is this sorcery?!?!

I had to figure this out. This was not going to get the best of me. How is it that I, a person that can make pretty much anything I see by looking at a picture, can't figure out how to finish the job??? To the Internet!!

Here's a lovely little video from RedHeart:

And now my friends, that's how you do it! I'm a weaving in the ends champ! I would also like to say right now that if you are reading this in the past and I made something for you and the ends came out...let me redo it, I know better now and I'm sorry.

Ta-ta for now!!!

Coffee and Cuddles and Cozies!

2012-11-07T09:03:00.000-08:00

I've been making a whole slew of coffee cozies lately. I cannot get enough of them!! I got the idea while browsing through the free patterns on the RedHeart website. The pattern is called the "Goodnight Mug Hug" or something like that. I didn't exactly like the moon and stars idea, so I used the foundation to create my own.

For instance, I realized that it's just a simple single crochet wide enough to cover the mug (but leave some space to put your mouth on there! Eating yarn is gross, ask my toddler!) and long enough to wrap around. Make sure that it is not too long. You want to leave some space so that you can attach a button on one side and make it tight by buttoning. Then you can create your own by making any design you want!

So far, I've made a bunny one (the button being the tail) and a heart one and a special order from my teacher mom. She wanted them to be in her school colors with the mascot.

Lovely.

The bunny face


The bunny tail. Isn't it cute?!

My bunny cozy will be available on my Etsy store very soon! I plan on making different designs and I'll have those available for sale soon too. I'm very excited about all the wonderful strides I've been making in my crocheting.

Did you know that I have a Facebook page now too? I can take custom orders there! Check it out here!!

Once again, thank you guys so much for taking the time to read my blog and I hope you've enjoyed today's post!

Beachin' pants!!

2012-10-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it's the fact that my oldest is an 8 year old, or that she has ADHD, or that this is a special thing only she does. This kid has no idea how to dry herself off properly! For instance, she used to throw fits because getting dressed after a shower was so hard, but that was because she wasn't dry! Her hair would still be sopping wet and I'd have to do it. Now she's a swimmer. All year round she swims Monday through Friday. It's great and she loves it! I don't like how she can't dry herself off and gets my seats all wet.

Problem number 2. She is skinny skinny. She has always been a picky eater and her biology dictates that she stay toothpick sized. I feed her TONS of high fat good foods, but it just doesn't stick with her. I wish I could say the same! Because she's so skinny, she gets freezing cold from being in and out of the water. In a heated indoor pool. In the summer. Yeah, it's just that bad.

This brings me to my solution. What if she had sweatpants and a hooded sweatshirt made out of a towel? This way she doesn't have to wrap the towel around her body and try to figure out a way to hold it up while carrying her gym bag. Also putting on actual sweatpants and sweatshirt would be too hard to put on while wet, because we know how hard it is to dry off ;-)

Now I don't do anything that is really hard to figure out. I grabbed a pair of pants that actually fit her and saw that it was made up of four of the same type of shape. So I traced them and cut out the fabric from a beach towel that has never seen the likes of a beach. See? This doesn't look so hard!

Then I just sewed up the sides, down the fronts and in the middle. Then I folded down in the front to put some elastic in. My husband said "just make them drawstring instead and use some leftover scraps of fabric for the string." Brilliant!! No. Not really. Maybe because I didn't make a big enough hole for the "string" to slide through or maybe because towel on towel doesn't slide very well. Whatever. The next pair I make will be using solid colors (to hide all my mistakes) and with an elastic band. I will also be using solid colors next time because as you can see, I obviously can't figure out how to align the designs...

But here they are!! The beachinist pants around!

I know that I said this would be a crocheting blog, but occasionally I like to sew or knit from time to time. Not that I'm any good at either one!

Howdy!

2012-10-12T07:26:00.001-07:00

So. This is my first ever blog post attempt. Are you scared yet? Because let me tell you, I am terrified!

I'll start with talking a little about myself and why I am doing this. I am a 27 year old stay at home mom of three/ college student. That being said, if there are any typos or grammatical errors, please forgive me. I should know better, but I am constantly distracted by the 2 year old tiny tyrant and my sweet 10 month old baby. Ok, so I titled this blog the Crotchety Crocheter because it just seems fitting to me. I have been labeled by my husband and father as "the youngest old person" they know. Yeah, its pretty bad.

I love love love crocheting. Can you tell? I have been trying to and learning all about crocheting since I was about 10 or 12. I am a pretty visual learner so the books I tried to learn from made no sense to me at all. And you know what? When I was learning to crotchet, we didn't have the internet where all the information of the world was at my fingertips! See that? Old person phrase. That probably won't be the last time you see something like that! So anyways, I tried and experimented constantly with different stitches and tensions until I could make something cute. Which never happened. I was a kid with a short attention span, so sue me. It wasn't until my early 20s when I was trying to quit smoking did I actually finish a project. It was a simple granny square blanket that I actually finished!

You know that phrase "a face only a mother could love"? That's this blanket. All those projects I attempted as a kid were deconstructed and used to make this monstrosity! I know that the colors are awful and its hideous, but it's mine and I love it. So stop laughing. :-)

From there I still lacked the motivation to actually make anything. Plus I was a working mom and in college. Jump to 2010 and I am a stay at home mom. I'm actually making stuff and it looks cute! I don't have any pictures to show you because I've given most everything I've made away. Now I am back in school, but my love of crocheting is still around and I'm sticking with it this time!

I want to have this blog to help others learn in ways that I never could as a kid. I plan on having tutorials, projects, patterns and anything else you guys want me to put up here to help you learn. Just ask! I have no idea what I'm doing and any and all input is appreciated!

Go here for the yarn that I used

Thanks for taking the time on me.

Til next time!