Crochet Romanian cord

Here is a quick tutorial video by Naztazia showing how to crochet Romanian cord. This cord works up fast and is useful for making lanyards, keychain wristlets, bracelets, tote straps — so many options for this lovely cord. You can use macrame cord, as in the video, but it also works well with most types of yarn.

 

Weaver's knot yarn trick

I've been using a different knotting technique than this for the past few years to join a new skein of yarn, but my technique leaves a bulkier bump at the join. This weaver's knot technique, demonstrated by Yarnspirations, appears to leave a smoother finish at the join, so I'm saving their video here to help me remember how to do it!

However, try as I might, whenever I use the above method, I ALWAYS have one end that pulls out when I try to tighten the knot.

So, for me, the method below, demonstrated by theweavingloom3304, is the only way I've successfully managed to tie a weaver's knot. 

And I have to say, this technique does result in a much less bulky join than the knotting method I've used in the past, so I need to practice it enough that I'll be able to do it correctly from memory!

This magic knot technique is what I've been doing for years. It has worked pretty well for me, although it leaves a slightly bigger lump where the knot is than the weavers knot appears to leave. Anyway, it's difficult for me to unlearn the habit of using this technique that has worked fairly well for me for so long. 😅

 

Skeleton Doll

This is a fun, easy, and quick-to-make pattern by Ashley of A Crafty Concept for an adorably spooky little crochet skeleton doll, a perfect addition for everyone's handmade Halloween decor!

The written pattern is free on her blog, and she also provides a video tutorial.

Work in progress - paint drying

He reminds me of a simplified version of Jack Skellington, so I have set him on my hearth beside his adoring Sally in pumpkin form. Maybe I can give him a tuxedo coat and bat bow tie later for a little more authenticity (Disney-thentic, ha).

Jack's Lament

There are few who'd deny, at what I do I am the best
For my talents are renowned far and wide
When it comes to surprises in the moonlit night
I excel without ever even trying
With the slightest little effort of my ghostlike charms
I have seen grown men give out a shriek
With the wave of my hand and a well placed moan
I have swept the very bravest off their feet

Yet year after year, it's the same routine
And I grow so weary of the sound of screams
And I, Jack, the Pumpkin King
Have grown so tired of the same old thing

Oh, somewhere deep inside of these bones
An emptiness began to grow
There's something out there, far from my home
A longing that I've never known

I'm the master of fright, and a demon of light
And I'll scare you right out of your pants
To a guy in Kentucky, I'm Mister Unlucky
And I'm known throughout England and France

And since I am dead, I can take off my head
To recite Shakespearean quotations
No animal nor man can scream like I can
With the fury of my recitations

But who here would ever understand
That the Pumpkin King with the skeleton grin
Would tire of his crown, if they only understood
He'd give it all up if he only could

Oh, there's an empty place in my bones
That calls out for something unknown
The fame and praise come year after year
Does nothing for these empty tears 

 

How to triple any yarn as you go

I just came across this video by Crochet with Tuula Maaria for a fascinating technique: How to triple any yarn as you go: The continuous looping method. 

I bet this would also work for knitters. 

Most of my stash is worsted weight stuff, but the cool thing about this technique is that it will work with whatever yarn you have, if you have a project where you need the yarn to be bulkier.

Check it out!

 

Pen Pocket for my Doc

At my recent checkup, my doctor, who is an active duty officer in the Air Force, was complaining that she didn't have anywhere to carry her pen in her Class B uniform blouse. (The Air Force women's Class B uniform blouse doesn't have any pockets.)

My husband mentioned to her that when he's wearing a shirt without a pocket (which almost never happens anymore), he would clip his pen so that it was sticking out between the buttons in the front button placket. My doc thanked him for the suggestion but pointed out that wearing a pen that way would not only technically make her be "out of uniform," but that it also wouldn't sit as well on a woman (breasts, obvs). I included a random photo from the internet, below, to show (more or less) the way my husband was suggesting she could wear her pen, except that this picture doesn't show the pen's clip holding onto the front of the button placket the way my husband was describing.

My doc was wearing an ID lanyard, however, so the idea that popped into my head was to sew a pen pocket for her that could be attached to her lanyard and was made from a similar-color fabric as the light, almost baby blue of her uniform blouse (in the hope that the color would make it less conspicuous). The only way I would ever be able to exactly match the fabric color is if I were to buy a woman's Class B uniform blouse at the AAFES clothing sales and cut it up to use the fabric to sew the pen pocket. So I'm hoping that the fabric I used will be a close-enough match.

I asked her if adding a pen pocket like that to her lanyard would make her be considered to be "out of uniform," and she didn't think that it would, so we agreed that a pen pocket on her lanyard could maybe work for her.

I told her I would sew one for her and bring it to my next appointment (whenever that is! LOL! I don't actually see her very often).

After searching around online, I settled on this tutorial by Ashley Hough for how to sew an elastic bookmark, because the pen/pencil pouch portion of the tutorial was a close match to what I had in mind to give to my doctor. The only real difference with mine is that instead of sewing the pouch to the long loop of elastic, I added a button hole to the top flap for the lanyard's plastic loop to fit through. (This was the first time I'd ever used the button hole function on my new sewing machine, so that was exciting, too. I think it turned out pretty well and was a lot easier than the way I used to have to sew button holes.)

The finished dimensions are about 6.5 inches long by about 1.75 inches wide. It has two pockets, so it can hold two pens or one pen and one pencil. It was a quick and easy project and only required just a small amount of fabric. I also added featherweight fusible interfacing to the back of both pieces of fabric to help them hold their shape. 

I hope my doctor finds this little accessory helpful while she's on the job!

Easy, perfect DIY bow

My friend Pam would have loved this. She used to be the hairbow-making queen! 💜

@thejibrizyshow How To Tie The Perfect Bow #bow #tie #nickiminaj #icecream #fyp ♬ original sound - The Jibrizy Show

Iced Gingerbread Russian brioche messy bun hat

I have made this hat pattern a couple times before (here and here) and really enjoy it. It isn't exactly standard brioche; the technique is easier than brioche but still results in a beautiful, squishy, reversible, two-color project, so I love it.

The color scheme I've chosen here reminds me of iced gingerbread, so that's what I'm calling this hat. 😊

The biggest difference this time is that I stopped decreasing after the 48-stitch section to leave the top of the crown open as a messy bun/ponytail style hat. I used a 5mm crochet hook to cast off the knitted stitches into a round of 48 SC, and then worked one more round of SC with a few decreases to get the final stitch count down to 40 stitches.

The language of the video is Russian, but it's easy to follow along with the designer, Katerina Mushyn, as she knits in the video, so even if you don't speak Russian, don't be afraid to try this pattern. She also provides written instructions in both Russian and English in the video and on her website.

Video tutorial: https://youtu.be/iPabTSvzu04
Written pattern: http://prjaga.com/vyazanie-dlya-zhenshchin/shapka-beret/komplekt-bordo-shapka-i-snud-spicami

It's also helpful to use a row counter that has main/subcounter functionality with this project. I used this free browser-based Row Counter App.

 

BOO! My skull balaclava mask free tutorial

Boo! Happy New Year!

Sure, I might have my holidays a little mixed up, but I felt inspired to crochet a skull mask/balaclava on Dec. 31 while waiting for the clock to strike midnight for the new year. I got the idea from the ebook "Manly Knits."

I started out making a basic hat shape in double crochet.

I made the hat length a little longer than standard so that the bottom of the "hat" portion sat just below my eyebrows. At that point, I measured how many stitches wide I would need an opening to be to accommodate both of my eyes (side to side) and continued adding rows to the hat going back and forth (turning my work when I got to the end of a row) to build height on either side of the large space for my eyes.

I had to try the hat on several times during this process to tell by feel when the eye hole space was tall enough for me to see through easily. Then I chained across the gap (using the same number of chain stitches as the number of stitches wide my eye hole space was wide) and joined the chain with a slip stitch to the top of the next double crochet stitch on the other side of the gap.

Then I continued in the round to add a couple more rows of double crochet, making 1 dc in each chain across the eye space, then finished off.

To fill in the vertical space between my eyes, I tried on the hat and placed a stitch marker on the stitch in line with where the inner edge of each of my eyes was in relation to the top of the eye space. Then I reattached the working yarn to a stitch with one of the markers and worked double crochet stitches just until I reached the stitch with the other marker. Then I turned my work and added a couple more rows of double crochet until the height of the section I was working matched up to the total height of the eye space. I broke the working yarn, leaving a long tail, and whip-stitched the center piece I just worked to the bottom of the eye space.

For the finishing touches, I reattached the working yarn to the bottom edge of the mask and worked a few pointy teeth. Lastly, I used a small amount of black yarn to embroider on some nasal "holes," and voila. Creepy enough for you? Bwah-ha-haaa.

This means I already have my Halloween costume ready for when, 10 months from now, come Oct. 31, I will be handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters. It even fits comfortably over my glasses.