crochet and other crafts
Let’s make this short and sweet, coz the photos say it all!
This was a custom order that I was very excited to make! I just love making blankets more than I can use them. The hardest part was picking the colors. So many to choose from, but could only fit 8!
Here’s another gift! I love finding these cool blanket patterns, but I have more blankets than I could use in a lifetime.
For this project, I decided to use yarn I already had in my stash. It’s a mix of brands, but they seem to have come together very nicely!
This gift is not meant to be given until Christmas, but I thought I’d get a good start since my favorites I’ve made can take as long as 2-3 months. A day or two into the project, I realized I’m nearly halfway done! This is also when I found how to do a join-as-you-go technique for hexagons, and I just had to go into overdrive out of excitement!
I used less yarn than I thought I would per hexie, so I think this would make a good scrap yarn project! But let’s save that for another time!
This week’s FO are reusable water balloons from Left in Knots! I tried them first as is with a 9.0 mm hook but came out too big for a child, so I omitted a row and switched to an 8.0 mm hook. But after trying them in action, I decided to put that row back with the 8.00 hook. And they came out great!
Once they’re made, all you really need for your fight is a bucket of water! They absorb about half a cup of water each, so you can cause the same amount of damage as traditional water balloons.
The best thing about this is the clean up! They are machine washable and dryable, and leave no trash on the battlefield.
This afghan has been completed for a while. But since this was given as a gift, I did not want to risk ruining the surprise by posting too early!
This project had some ups and downs, and some learning experiences. First lesson was when using multiple colors for squares (in this case, hexagons), work by color sections and not one square at a time. Doing so helps break the monotony and makes you feel it is a quick project.
Another lesson is to not put projects down to hibernate for too long. For me, this gives me an excuse to postpone and get lazier and lazier to finish the project. My inner procrastinator comes out too much.
But overall, this turned out to be a great throw!
This time, I want to share my thoughts on another favorite yarn: Vanna’s Choice by Lion Brand.
Vanna’s Choice is a worsted weight/”4″ yarn made with 100% acrylic. This is a soft premium acrylic yarn and very consistent. The current retail price is $4.39 per skein.
Unfortunately for me, my local store stopped selling this yarn right after I discovered it! Luckily, some colors are cheaper on Amazon.com and go on sale quite often on LionBrand.com.
My favorite use for Vanna’s Choice are blankets! Shown below is my Sophie’s Universe Blanket. Although this project is not exclusively Vanna’s Choice, the yarn got along just fine with the other brands.
Vanna’s Choice is also full enough to use on amigurumi and stuffed toys. With the right hook and tension, the yarn holds filling well and is still soft enough for babies.
Care instructions for Vanna’s Choice is to machine wash and dry.
My general rule for crochet items in the washing machine is to put the cycle setting at the most delicate setting available, with the water set at the cold temperature. For the dryer, the lowest temperature as well. Every once in a while, my items accidentally get put in other settings like “permanent press,” but they still manage to survive. My ends stay woven in and (so far) there is little to no piling, depending on the use. They also have not lost any softness.
Overall, this yarn is great! Although it is on the pricier side, it is well worth to splurge if you want to make that extra special gift.
My current go-to yarn is Red Heart With Love, and I would like to share my thoughts about this yarn with you!
Red Heart With Love is a worsted weight/”4″ yarn made with 100% acrylic. This is much softer than Red Heart’s Super Saver economy line, and the quality is much more consistent. The current price range on Amazon is $4.50-9.45, depending on the color. Basic colors tend to be cheaper than bolder and multi color skeins.
One of my favorite With Love projects is the Mermaid Tail Blanket. This one shown below is crocheted using two strands at a time. One strand each of the colors Lilac and Waterlily. Being a soft acrylic yarn, the end product turned out to be squishy soft! Very comfy!
Red Heart recommends this yarn to be machine washed and dried. Blankets I have made with With Love has survived this recommendation. My general rule for crochet items in the washing machine is to put the cycle setting at the most delicate setting available, with the water set at the cold temperature. For the dryer, the lowest temperature as well. Every once in a while, my items accidentally get put in other settings like “permanent press,” but they still manage to survive. My ends stay woven in and (so far) there is no piling. They are still soft as ever!
Shown above is my daughter’s Magic Rainbow Blanket. Although this project uses different brands and types of yarn, Red Heart with Love still helped a lot to make it a soft and comfortable blanket. This yarn is soft enough to use for wearables like mittens. Shown below is the Mommy Hold My Hand Mitten. It’s thick enough to provide warmth, but soft enough to not be scratchy.
Overall, I love this line of yarn! Very reasonably priced, great selection of colors, and versatile! My most common projects for this yarn are blankets and amigurumi. I personally try to stock up when it is on sale or (since I’m in Hawaii) when there’s a free shipping offer on the Red Heart website.
I have finally finished Luna’s blanket! And photos are finally here!
For this blanket, I used Moogly’s Magic Rainbow Baby Blanket pattern. I added enough squares to make it fit a twin size bed. Used various yarns like Red Heart Super Saver and Vanna’s Choice. Pretty much whatever I seemed to have enough of in my stash. For my full list, click here. Again for this project, I used my favorite hook, Furls Odyssey.
I altered the last couple rounds of the square so I don’t have any ends to weave in, I just crocheted over each color change. The only sewing in I did were the ends after joining each square to another.
This pattern is pretty easy. You don’t need much experience in crochet. As long as you know how to read written patterns, you’ll be fine. The squares are easy to memorize once you get the hang of it, maybe 5-10 squares for me.
This project I actually regret not doing sooner. The box of yarn I intended to use served as our nightstand for a few weeks.
The blanket went along faster than I thought it would! It only took a few days to complete and used only a little over half of the yarn I expected to use. The pattern could not be any easier to follow. (project info below) Great last minute project!
I’m not usually one for words, but this project inspired a yarn review in the making! After finishing the fin, I could not get over how squishy it is so far!
Something by Vera 