These Sour Apple poms by Dannisdesignscrafts on Etsy add the perfect finishing touch! This is a really fun and quick pattern to crochet, and it doesn't require very much of each color of yarn. Love it!
When my husband went through his old denim work shirts a few years ago to throw away the ones that were the most worn out, I grabbed the ones he was going to toss into the trash and stuffed them into a bag for safekeeping.
"They might be worn out to you, but there is a lot of good fabric there," I said.
He just rolled his eyes, but he didn't object. 😂
Ever since that day, I have been planning to use these old shirts to sew an apron for myself.
However ... it took me a lot of years to finally get around to making it. Obviously. Ha!!
The Dawn Apron, pattern by Lydia Naomi
After we were able to spend time last year getting my craft room mostly set up, this year seemed like the right time for me to start diving into doing some projects that I had been putting off, like this apron.
I already had the fabric on hand, so the next step was to find a pattern to follow.
I've had a snap-front cobbler's-style apron for a long time that I like and would probably be an easy design to replicate. My mother-in-law was a big fan of this style of apron.
Examples of snap-front, cobbler-style aprons
But I also like the look of the Japanese-style cross-back aprons, so I decided that that was the type of pattern I wanted to make.
I spent a lot of time digging around online for Japanese cross-back apron patterns. There's a surprising amount of variety to be found among patterns based on this basic shape. Then I came across this video by Canadian fashion designer Lydia Naomi for how to sew her Dawn Apron pattern.
Lydia's pattern had all the features I wanted in my Japanese cross-back apron: full length coverage in front, at least two pockets, and good coverage in the rear. Links to purchase her pattern are listed below the video on its YouTube page, or you can find them on her website, lydianaomi.com.
This was my first venture into the brave new world of 21st-century patterns being delivered electronically by PDF. Mind. Blown. (!!!) I did read some comments online where people were having trouble figuring out how to assemble all the pattern pieces after printing them out, but I didn't have any trouble. If you need some extra help, Lydia also has a video tutorial for how to work with the PDFs. Lydia's pattern pieces are numbered, and if you trim off all the page corners (as directed) and tape them together in numerical order, everything comes together very well.
Lots of trimmed-off corners and pattern pieces taped together in order
Pattern pieces all taped together and separated into cohesive parts
My next challenge was to deconstruct the old shirts to start piecing together the scraps to make new pieces large enough to cut out. I started by using one of the shirt fronts, with its button placket and chest pocket, as the top-front part of my apron.
Starting to reclaim denim from the old shirts, including one old shirtfront
This project gave me my first opportunity to use the overlocking stitch function of my Bernette B38, which is a standard sewing machine, not a serger. Because this apron is made out of denim, I wanted to avoid the heaviness of double-folded hems. Using the overlocking function, I could finish the raw edges of the fabric in a way that made folding it under unnecessary, similar to the way a serger does.
Every time I needed to patch two pieces together, I would seam them using the overlocking stitch, then press the seam allowance to one side, and then topstitch the seam allowance to secure it to the panel. I think the extra, random topstitching looks cute with the denim material.
But then, as I was patching pieces together, suddenly I realized that I had accidentally sewed two pieces together with one right-side up and the other wrong-side up. Ooops!! Making a mistake like that means I'm tired, and it's time to close up shop for the day to go rest.
Right-side up on the left; wrong-side up on the right
The next time I got back to working on the apron, I ripped out the seam where the pieces were facing different ways, sewed them together the correct way, and then carried on.
Front panel pieces assembled and ready to cut out
Front panel folded and cut out, shown wrong-side up
Pockets cut out and edges overlocked
After that one mistake where I sewed the pieces together facing the wrong way, the rest of the project proceeded pretty smoothly.
I used parts of a total of three old shirts to patch together the pieces I needed for the apron. I even ended up with some "novelty" pockets on the back by using those parts of two other shirt fronts. 😊 I'm really pleased with how the apron turned out.
This is a great pattern for using up scrap yarn from your stash. Each hedgehog requires only a small amount of yarn (plus a pair of 8 mm safety eyes, about 68 pony beads, and the other supplies).
For my first two hedgehogs, I used glitter pony beads that I've had in my crafting stash for at least 27 years. I originally purchased the beads to adorn some Pocahontas costumes for Halloween/dress-up playtime that I sewed for my daughters back in the 1990s.
My daughters on Halloween in the 1990s wearing the beaded costumes.
Now, all these years later, I can give them each an adorable hedgehog
made with the same beads along with a printed photo of them wearing the
Pocahontas costumes when they were little. That's a nifty full-circle
moment in my book! 😁
So tiny and cute!
Little hedgehog feet.
Little hedgehog bum.
The pattern also has a link to an Etsy listing where you can opt to purchase a printable "carrier" for gifting your hedgehogs, which gives them a cute finishing touch.
I'm very excited to announce that the 10th anniversary updated version of my Shawlcowl Pullover pattern is now live! If you've already purchased the pattern, you should have received a message by email and/or in your Ravelry inbox with a link to the updated version 3.0.
Version 3.0 of the pattern includes instructions to make three beautiful but slightly different variations of the Shawlcowl Pullover, as well as the bonus instructions for how to add length to all of them, should you wish to do so.
This is the Shawlcowl 3 knitted in Red Heart Super Saver Ombre in the True Blue colorway. It includes the added length, whose steps are explained in the version 3.0 pattern, and also a 2/4 picot bind off (links to picot bind-off instructions also in the pattern).
If you haven't tried my pattern yet, here's a button with a link to where you can purchase it, even if you don't have a Ravelry account:
Thanks so, SO MUCH for your support, everyone! 💜 Words are inadequate to express how grateful I am to each of you for all the beautiful Shawlcowl projects you've made and shared over the past 10 years, as well as all your messages with questions and/or words of encouragement. Here's to another 10 years of this fun pattern!
I first released my Shawlcowl Pullover pattern in April 2014, and in the years since then, I have had some requests to write up instructions for how to add length to the original pattern, and I will admit that this was something I had been thinking about doing even before anyone asked me about it.
Challenge accepted!
Although I totally overlooked (oops!!) the opportunity I had earlier this year to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the release of Shawlcowl Pullover, I decided that it’s never too late to release an updated version of the pattern that includes these bonus, optional instructions for how to add length to the design.
Version 3.0 of the pattern will include instructions to make three beautiful but slightly different variations of the Shawlcowl Pullover, as well as the bonus instructions for how to add length to all of them, should you wish to do so.
The updated pattern will be released soon on Ravelry. So if you already own a previously released version of the pattern, keep your eyes out for Version 3.0 to land in your pattern library. And if you haven't already purchased the pattern, head on over to Ravelry and grab your copy now — you'll also receive the Version 3.0 update in your pattern library as soon as it's available!
Thanks so, SO MUCH for your support, everyone! 💜 Words are inadequate to express how grateful I am to each of you for all the beautiful Shawlcowl projects you've made and shared over the past 10 years, as well as all your messages with questions and/or words of encouragement. Here's to another 10 years of this fun pattern!
I decided to try knitting my Shawlcowl Pullover design in a lighter weight fiber than the pattern calls for. This Hobby Lobby cotton yarn is labeled as size 4, but it's thinner than worsted weight, so to me it feels more like DK. Using the stitch count in the pattern for the large size cowl worked perfectly at this gauge. The finished size of the neck opening is 24 inches. The colorway is Emerald Pine in I Love This Cotton.
Here's a strand of the cotton yarn, on the left, next to a strand of gray DK yarn for size comparison.
I also decided to add one extra lace repeat and a picot bind off to dress up the edge. I used the twisted stitch version of the 2/4 picot bind off from this video tutorial by Nimble Needles. I'm happy with how it turned out. These Shawlcowls look great just worn as an accessory, but they also make wonderful "stealth bibs" to protect your blouse while you're eating! 😄
With the extra lace repeat and the picot bind-off, I used about 1.25 skeins of yarn.
I had this one skein of colorful Red Heart Super Saver Color Block yarn in the Party Time colorway that I wanted to use to make something for Rose. Orange is featured prominently in the colorful skein, and orange is one of Rose's favorite colors.
At first I tried to see if there was enough yarn to make something to wear, like a "Housecoat of Many Colors" sort of thing. But the one skein wasn't enough for that, and apparently the colorway was discontinued, so I couldn't buy more.
Not enough yarn to make a cardigan or blanket
So then I had another idea: Why not make a giant Timothy T-rex for Rose by holding the colorful yarn double with a neutral gray and using an 8mm hook? And that's how this giant Timothy was born.
Timothy and friends
The pattern specifies to use 10mm safety eyes, but I didn't have any safety eyes on hand, so I used two 25mm black buttons from this kit that I found on Amazon. It has black buttons in a bunch of different sizes, so they are useful for lots of various projects. So far I have used these buttons for eyes on a few recent amigurumis: my Zoey Zebra and also my Halloween Melly Teddy Ragdolls Gabby Ghost and Bobby Bat.
Holding the two colors of yarn together and working at this large gauge with an 8mm hook, my finished Timothy stands about 15 inches tall. I hope he will make a nice, snuggly companion for Rose!
This is my very first project using fingering weight yarn! And if that weren't a cool enough fact all by itself, the yarn I'm using is a lovely ball that I found at a thrift shop for only 99 cents! How's that for cool?!
The yarn didn't come with a manufacturer's label on it, so I have no idea what brand it is or even what the fiber content is. It kind of feels like it has cotton in it; it might even be 100% cotton, for all I know. I just liked the color - it reminds me of the faded grayish blue of denim blue jeans, and I think it will make a lovely Zuzu's Petals cowlette. This is a paid pattern designed by Carina Spencer.
Because the width of the neck opening was only 16 inches when I reached the end of section 1, I knew I would need to keep adding width to make it be possible to pull the cowlette over my head. I decided to work two more 12-row repeats, hoping that would bring the width to something closer to 20 inches wide, which I figured would be a dimension that would fit better over my head. That meant my final stitch count at the end of section 1 was 151.
End of section 1 with 103 stitches
End of section 1 with 151 stitches
As I got toward the end, I was worried about losing at yarn chicken (running out of yarn, in other words). So I skipped the optional purl round and instead went directly to the cast off. But then, after casting off, I could see that I did actually have enough yarn left on the skein to be able to do the purl round, so I tinked back the cast-off round and added the purl round before casting off again. I just knew that I would always regret not having the purl round in there, if I didn't add it, because it really does help straighten out the edge curling, even before blocking.
Before blocking
I could have saved myself the trouble of tinking back if I had weighed my skein when working the last few rounds. If I had weighed it, I would have been able to know that I'd have enough to work the last optional purl round before casting off. Live and learn! But it was pretty close!
I really like how well my first Haiku Cardi turned out. (See it in the blog post prior to this one, or at my Ravelry project page here.)
Dye lots are still a thing, y'all - sigh
I wanted to make the pattern again, but this time I utilized garter stitch to emphasize the stitch definition in the triangle section and also to alleviate some issues I had before with the front placket and sleeve edges wanting to curl. The plackets in garter stitch lie much better without any additional persuasion (i.e., aggressive blocking).
I ended up with 275 stitches across the bottom after rejoining the fronts to the back, which is a few more than the pattern called for, but a minor difference like that doesn't really matter in a project like this.
On this project, I learned the hard way that dye lots are still a thing, which is unfortunate, because the only way I had access to this Denim colorway of Red Heart Super Saver was by buying it through the mail.
Left and right fronts done
Of course, I don't know anything about how companies like Red Heart mass-produce their yarn, but it seems to me that in the 21st century, with the preponderance of all things digital, that companies ought to be able to exert better control over their color reproduction, to the point where dye lots are no longer necessary. (I'm only talking here about BIG companies; naturally I wouldn't extend the same expectation onto smaller or indie yarn producers.)
My stockinette gauge
So, anyway, I very clearly was given a skein from a different dye lot, which cuts a visibly darker line at the top of the lower portion of this cardigan. Nothing to be done about it now, so I'll just consider it a "design feature." Bah-ha-haaaa.
Oops!
I also had an "oops!" moment after rejoining the fronts to the back to start working the "skirt" of the cardigan. You can see the "oops" in the above photo, where I accidentally got one row of the garter stitch pattern wrong. Le sigh!! It's OK, though ... not terribly noticeable.
Considering my ongoing chronic pain issues, coupled with the fact that I'm not a particularly fast knitter, I'm amazed that I was actually able to finish knitting two of these in less than four months. 😊
As I said, I really like how well this project turned out, and using the garter stitch edgings worked particularly well. I'm going to enjoy wearing this.
We live on a lovely little cul-de-sac with six neighbors, and every year at Christmas we exchange small gifts. This year we are gifting pint jars of locally produced jam, but I wanted a little something extra to tie onto the jars, and this pattern for Rustic Tree Ornaments by Regina P Designs was the perfect finishing touch.
Each tree requires only a small amount of yarn, and I can complete the crochet portion of the work in a mere 20 minutes or so, making it possible to whip up several of these in a single evening.
Each one also uses a small amount of 24-gauge floral wire and about 7 or 8 beads.
I'm using 10mm beads made of olive wood harvested in the holy land to add a layer of deeper meaning to the ornaments. I found the beads on Amazon. The "certificate of authenticity" was included with the beads. I scanned that into a digital file and then printed it onto Avery stickers that are 2 inches by 3 inches, so I could add the stickers to the reverse side of the gift tags (which are printed on Avery business cards).
This is a paid pattern by Salena Baca Crochet. Her Ombre Wrap pattern is designed to be a shawl, but I'm going to see if it's possible to add armholes to this to convert it into a lovely vest.
I decided to use some pink and purple scraps from my yarn stash to make this, and I tied them all together with a unifying color: the Taupe colorway of Big Twist yarn.
For the pockets, I found a pattern for a mesh square in keeping with the feel of the base shawl's mesh fabric. It's by Jayda in Stitches on YouTube at this link. If you're trying to make a similar project but don't like the tutorial I found for a mesh square pocket, you can browse on YouTube for another mesh square pattern. There are many others on there.
My squares are 9 rounds in the mesh pattern plus a round of SC for the edging (HDC across the top edge), making a pocket of about 11 inches square. I worked 2 SC edge stitches over the chain spaces and skipped working anything in the DC stitches, to help keep the pocket edges from developing a "ruffled" or lettuce-edge look, with 3 stitches in each corner space. (Sometimes working slightly fewer edging stitches along a crocheted edge is better to help everything lie flat than working stitches one-to-one.)
I like the way the pockets turned out. My only problem is that I genuinely suck at sewing on patch pockets. I try the piece on, and I carefully pin the pockets in place so they are positioned evenly, and then when I'm all done sewing the pockets on, they're always uneven. Grrrrr!!! Oh well.
