I'm not good at crocheting. I decided I wanted to learn about 7 or 8 years ago. And so Sarah, from Undiscovered Virtues, showed me how. It was really funny. She was about 13 years old at the time. (By the way, she was quite the hysterical kid). She would tell me, "put this thingy here, and then put this thingy here, and then make it look like this." It was great. I still figured out how to crochet though. But I haven't worked at it very much over the last several years. This is why I'm not good at it.
I started crocheting a scarf, with the idea in mind that I would give it as a Christmas gift. It took me several hours to remember how to crochet, and I kept starting a couple of rows, and then unraveling them because they didn't look right. Finally I consulted YouTube and realized I was missing a couple of stitches. Ha! After that things got better. When I was about half way through the scarf, I realized that my stitches kept getting tighter and tighter. No matter how much I tried to keep things loose, I couldn't seem to make the rest of the stitches look as loose as the ones in the beginning.
So this is how my scarf ended up. Notice the bottom layer of the scarf? See how one end is larger than the other. Yeah. Oops. Apparently it's been quite a while since I last crocheted...about 4 or 5 years.
Although this is not terribly noticeable, I decided not to use this as a Christmas gift and keep it for myself. The looser end really bugged me, but I was definitely not willing to unravel the whole thing and start again. Then I got an idea - what if I cinched up certain parts of the scarf? So this is what I did.
It was a pretty easy fix. I simply threaded a large plastic needle with matching yarn, tied the opposite end of the yarn onto and edge of the scarf, and wove the threaded yarn straight across to the other end, and tied off the yarn. Simple. Then I repeated it three more times in various areas of the scarf to make it look uniform throughout.
Not so bad, right??? Well...I think so. I'm thinking I should cinch it a couple more places, and maybe a little tighter? Just a thought.
So the next time one of your projects doesn't turn out quite right, get creative and see what you can do to recover it! :)
I've spent the last couple of weeks crafting to my hearts delight. Actually, I'm stuck on the couch most of the time to let my ankle heal, so I've been working on knitting and crocheting projects. This has kept me from losing my mind while confined to couch.
Here's one of my favorite projects that I've done lately.
I've seen tons of photos on Pinterest for knit and crocheted mohawk hats for kids. I've been wanting to make one for my son, but I'm not that good at crocheting, and I have no idea how to knit. But one night while laying in bed and thinking about those hats, I figured out how to make one - with a knitting loom! (I've come up with some of my best ideas while laying in bed. Seriously!)
A knitting loom is a round circular frame, that allows you to "knit" by weaving the yarn around the pegs. I love this thing! I have a package with 4 different size looms and also includes a hook and large plastic needle. I've made so many fun things with these looms. Last year I made a couple of infinity neck scarves with them.
Anyway I started this project using the green loom, which has a 7.5 inch diameter. I used the red yarn for the brim, and the "Mohawk" and the blue yarn for the hat. The actual instructions for using the loom and weaving the yarn around it are included with the loom. I got my loom at Hobby Lobby.
The brim was the trickiest part of the hat. It took me three times to get it right. The first two times I wove the yarn too tight and actually broke the yarn and then ended up cutting the broken brim off the loom. Oops.
Making the Mohawk hair was easy, but a little time consuming. I made several small long and loose pom poms and hand stitched them down the center of the hat.
Here's how to make a pom pom:
Using a 2.5 inch piece of cardboard, wrap the yarn around the cardboard approximately 20 times.
After wrapping yarn, cut yarn leaving about inches to spare.
With a large needle, thread the long end of the yarn underneath the wrapped yarn, and tie a tight double knot at the bottom. (Note: if your knot is not tight enough, the yarn will fall out once it is made into a pom pom.
Next cut the wrapped yarn on the opposite end of the knot.
And there you go - a pom pom. Now make a bunch more. Use the long end to hand stitch the pom poms down the center of the hat to create the Mohawk.
Here was the final result. It was cute, but I wasn't satisfied. I wanted the brim to be longer (up and down). And when I put it on The Toddler's head, it was a bit tight. So keeping this in mind, I made him another hat using the 9.5 inch knitting loom with yellow and green yarn. The yellow brim was approximately 20 rows of stitches, and the green part was 22 rows of stitches.
I'm much more satisfied with the second hat I made, and The Toddler loves it! He wears it all the time. It's such a great feeling when I make something for him that he actually loves. :)
Total time for making a hat : about 8 hours.
Total cost for me: free - I had both the yarn and the looms.
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