Signs to Look For in a Well Written Crochet Pattern | Plus AmigurumiAnimals

Crochet pattern-writing is a craft I'd really like to be better with.  That involves designing of course, this I have to work on. *wink*  Surely, there are so much more to learn.  Daily, I find new stitches, new techniques.... and the design choices are endless.  Truly, there are many, many talented artist out there. One day, I would like to be included in their ranks. Hoping, ever hoping, that one day, my blog will be as good as theirs. 

That involves posting USEFUL material, right?  Understanding that for a crochet pattern to be useful, I should, not only be able to convey the design in photos, but also give out clear instructions that can easily be followed by others.  In the hopes to fulfill this, I have been working on patterns from books, magazines and from fellow bloggers, studying how they make their patterns as I translate their written ideas into tangible results.

Very Versatile Layered Flower Brooch | Free Crochet Pattern

 Very Versatile is not an overstatement.  Fasten a scarf, liven up your outfit, decorate a purse... a hat... or add it to a gift wrap (or give it as a fabulous gift!), even to accessorize a headband... - this layered petals flower brooch is a do-all pin!

Wouldn't you agree that a brooch really help fasten that nice scarf together?  Not only that, you can make twists and turns and wear your scarf any way possible if you have a nice pin to hold it in place.  Of course, that nice pin should be big enough to hold a thicker fabric together - such as the Star Stitch Hoodie Capelet (Free Pattern available here too.)

Best of all, this brooch is really easy to crochet (an excellent scraps buster too!)... Please read on and check out this free pattern.  Kindly feel free to share this pattern with your friends by linking to this blog.  And you may also leave comments in the end, that would be super awesome {wink}

The Pink Bow | Very Easy to Make Crocheted Hair Clip

"Beauty is being the best possible 

version of yourself on the inside and out."

This sweet pink bow is a delicate touch of beauty for your outfit.  It's perfect for any day, even to lighten up the mood of an otherwise grey day... not to mention, how can one be so sad working with this girly color.  Wear it and get lots of compliments.  Or give it to your girlfriends and they will be delighted to receive this girly gift from you.

This is also an excellent way to use up scraps of yarn - of course, you can make this pretty pink bow, really, in other colors... lol...  And best of all, it is super easy to do.  You really just need two basic crochet skills:  single crochet and double crochet.  IF you need help on this, just click on them to see my simple YouTube Tutorials.  You'll be crocheting like an expert in no time!

Star Stitch Hoodie Capelet | Crochet Free Pattern

The sun was really shining brightly today, it's beautiful.  The cheerful sun rays offset the freezingly cold -22 degree temperature outside. Something about a sunny day makes everything seem happier, don't you think?  The snow sparkles brightly like little shiny diamonds.

I thought it was a perfect day to sport my newly stitched hoodie scarf.  I call it that and then a friend told me, "I love your capelet..." She must have seen the pleasant puzzle in my face so she continued, "You know, like a mini cape that ladies of old use to put on top of their gowns?" Ah, I like the sound of that... Capelet it is!

How to Crochet a Magic Ring | Basics of Crochet for Beginners

I hope that you are enjoying how to learn Crochet with me.  In the last post, I posted several videos about some basic stitches that can get you started with crocheting.  In this tutorial, you will learn how to do a Magic Ring.

A magic ring is very useful when making close-knit crocheting - socks for example, hats and mittens.  You don't want a hole in your mitten, right?  Learn this magic ring technique and it will be useful for other projects too such as making stuffed toys and amirigurumis.... Have fun ladies!

xoxo, Maya

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The Basics of Crochet for Beginners from a Beginner

Michael Jordan, 

when asked what makes him so good at basketball answered: 

"I mastered the basics."  

In this post you will learn a few basics of crochet. I present to you these videos as a beginner myself, sincerely hoping that together, we would learn from them.  Here you will learn: How to hold your yarn and hook and how to crochet some basic stitches like the slip knot, chain, single crochet, double crochet and treble (or tripple) crochet.  I hope you will find these videos informative and satisfying.

How to Hold the Yarn and the Hook
Just in case, this is what i said:
"Let's do that again." and "Pull it up a bit."
I realized I said those to fast and it sounded funny :-)


How to do a Slip Knot


How to crochet a Chain




How to do a Single Crochet




How to do a Double Crochet




How to do a Treble Crochet





Michael Jordan wanted to be good at basketball and he did what it takes to fulfill his desire.  We want to be good at crocheting too: to make really pretty pieces of clothing, accessories, gifts.... the list is endless... We can follow a pattern that someone else made, or we can start making our own patterns.  Do it just for fun or maybe start a small business... pass the time or earn some money... The possibilities are really endless.  To be good at something, first we have to know the basics.  

Some of you may already have been doing crochet for many years, just don't know what the technical terms are for the steps and techniques employed in crochet.  Well, that's okay.  But if you want to learn more, I have put up a series of mini video tutorials that I thought might help.  Please bookmark this page for future reference and share it with your friends.  I hope that you would continue to learn and enjoy crochet.

These series of brief video tutorials are designed for crochet beginners.  These are my first video tutorials so I welcome all comments, even violent reactions. *wink* 

Please feel free to email me or leave comments down below if you have any questions or suggestions.

xoxo, Maya

Flower Stitch Infinity Scarf | FREE Crochet Pattern for Beginners (with Annotations)

You've seen these pictures in this blogs very often now... Would you like to give crocheting this lovely scarf a try?  You only need three stitches in the pattern: chain, treble stitch (1 stitch higher than a double crochet) and slip know.  Pretty easy, right?

Here is my first ever written pattern.

FLOWER STITCH INFINITY SCARF

Crochet Pattern

Materials:
Crochet Hook Size 6.5 mm
Worsted weight yarn (size 4) - or any color of your choice really...
Tapestry Needle
Stitch Marker

Skills Needed:
Chain
Treble Stitch (5 together with 1 chain)
Slip Stitch

Chain
With one loop on the hook, either from a starting slip know or from the previous stitch, yarn over and pull the yarn through the loop.

Foundation chain - Set of chains and stitches that will form as the basis ("foundation") for your scarf.

Yarn Over 
To wrap your yarn around the hook

Treble Stitch or treble crochet
With one loop already on the hook, yarn over twice = 3 loops on hook. (see image b on the picture below)
Then insert the hook on the space that you want to make the stitch on.
Yarn over and pull the yarn through the space = 4 loops on the hook.
Yarn over and pull the yarn through 2 loops = 3 loops remaining on the hook.
Yarn over and pull the yarn through 2 loops = 2 loops left on the hook.
(Note: To make the flower stitches in this pattern, you will be chaining together a chain-5 with 3 or 5 treble stitches. In that case, you will pause here and leave the last loop of the treble stitch in the hook.  This will be closed when you do your final chain to stitch all the corresponding treble stitches together.  Please see the Beginning Flower Stitch and Flower Stitch images below.)

To make a full treble stitch as in the foundation chain:
Yarn over and pull the yarn through the last 2 loops = 1 loops remaining on the hook.

Slip Stitch
With one loop remaining on the hook, insert the hook into the chain-space to be joined (as in to close a ring or to finish a row, or to fasten off your work)  yarn over and pull the yarn through the chain space and the loop that was in the hook. A slip stitch does not result in added height.

pattern notes

·    Join stitch at the end of each row using a slip stitch.

·    Work only on the right side of your scarf. (Do not turn your scarf at the beginning of any row.)

·    Skills: Chain, Treble Stitch (4-6 loops together), Slip Stitch

Flower Stitches – please see instructions on Row 1 (Each row forms half of the flower stitch.  Hence, you will begin to see the full shape of the flower after the second row)

crochet away (procedure)

1.      Foundation Chain – make 40 

a.       Begin with a slip knot, Chain 5

b.      Treble stitch at the beginning of chain 5. 

Note: Make 40 (make more or less depending on how long you want your scarf to be) 
   

c.       Lay your work on a flat surface, make sure there are no twists/kinks on the chain. 

Slip Stitch to form a ring. (see image below)

2.      Row 1

a.       Beginning Flower Stitch. - 1 chain-5 and 3 treble stitches together = 4 loops together.
 (You will begin to see the flowers form on round 2)

i.                    Chain 5 (see image a)

ii.                  Treble Stitch into the same stitch as the chain-5, leave last loop in hook (total: 2 loops remaining on hook, see image b)

iii.                Do 2 treble stitches on the next joint, leaving last loops on hook (total: 4 loops in hook, see image c and d)

iv.                Yarn over and pull through all 4 loops (see image d and e).

v.                  Place stitch marker on the last resulting loop.  You will slip-stitch into this joint at the end of the row. (see image on b. Flower Stitch on the next page)

b.      Flower Stitch into remaining stitches around. 1 chain-5 and 5 treble stitches together = 6 loops together

i.                    Chain 5 (see image a below)

ii.                  Treble Stitch into the same stitch as the chain-5, leave last loop in hook (total: 2 loops remaining on hook, see image b below)

iii.                With 2 loops already on hook, do 2 treble stitches into the same joint as the last stitch of the starting flower stitch, leaving all last loops in the hook (total: 4 loops remaining on hook, see image c below)

iv.                With four loops already on the hook, Treble stitch into the next joint twice, leaving all last loops in the hook (total: 6 loops remaining on hook, see image e)

v.                  Yarn over and pull through all 6 loops (see image f).

vi.                Repeat flower stitches (i-v) on remaining stitches around.

c.       Last Stitch of the row.

i.                    With one loop remaining on hook, chain 5.

ii.                  Treble stitch on the same chain as the chain-5. (total: 2 loops remaining on hook)

iii.                Slip hook into the joint marked with a stitch marker, yarn over and pull through all loops.

iv.                Inspect your work occasionally in order to ascertain that the flowers are not missing any petals (or too much).  To correct an error, simply remove hook and pull the yarn gently until the error is unraveled.  Start those stitch all over.  

3.      Rows 2-10 – Repeat Row 1.  Work on the right side of the scarf only.  Do not turn your work at the beginning of each new row.

a.       Starting from Row 2, you will start seeing the flower form as the second half is stitched.

b.      You may add more rows depending on how wide you want your infinity scarf to be.

4.      Finishing

At the very last row (after 2.c.iii) Fasten off: Chain 1, pull yarn to about 4-6 inches.  Cut yarn and weave all ends using a tapestry needle. 

You may download a PDF file of this pattern through Etsy.  It won't let me post for free so you will need to pay $0.99... Don't worry, maybe in the future I will learn how to include downloadable PDF files in my blogpost :-)  Possibly Ravelry as well?  I tried but it did not work this time... soon perhaps.

Etsy link to PDF file: click here

I welcome any comments, suggestions or questions.  This is my very first pattern so I would appreciate your feedback to make it better.  I also have my first video tutorial in the works... We'll see what happens... *wink*

Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope that you will have fun crocheting!

Take care...
xoxo Maya

p.s.

I also have an Instagram account, please follow?
http://instagram.com/woven_hugs 

Crochet | Bedspread Project Ideas

Scarves, Headbands and Earwarmers, Hair Accessories ~ In a matter of a short time, I have learned to crochet some of these and I am loving it...  Well, there is much to learn - really much more! But, I do love what I know so far so much that I am able to accumulate a little stock to support a small Etsy shop {It's hard to stop once I do my first stitch ~ "just one more row."}  Moving forward, I thought of following through on a new motto:

Dream Big!

“You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.”

CROCHET | A New Year, A New Obsession | Plus a New Etsy Shop

Good morning everyone!  I hope that you are all doing excellent.  Wow, it's hard to believe that one year passed by, all too quickly and now it's another year...  Anything special going on in your part of the world?

As for me... at the outset of winter, I started a new hobby.  Tadah! Crochet! It seems to be becoming a trend for me these years - Starting something new everytime winter is beckoned.  Yay or Nay?  I dunno :-) Two winters ago, I started NailArts.  Last winter, I started this blog... Now, yup! Crochet.  

Well, when you live in a very quiet city, there's a tendency that your imagination will go wild and you tend to be more creative - that is if you expose yourself to the right kind of influence and you channel your energies well.  Uhmm, I'm not an expert.  lol... Baby sitting kids and providing companionship for the elderly can result to doing a lot of arts and crafts and I am totally fine with that.  In fact, here you see, I enjoy it...

Crochet is taking off as one of the best and well known craft these days and I decided to jump into the bandwagon.  As you may have already read from my previous post/s, it started as an innocent gesture to give a gift to a friend.  Not only the finished item that she could wear for warmth during our walks together but also to spend time with her - hopefully creating beautiful yarn fabrics - to spend the time productively, you know?  

Then, I always get carried away when I succeed at making something - It escalates into a full blown obsession. I self diagnosed my self and the prognosis? OCD:  Obsessive Crochet Disorder.  Yup, it's curable, but it can be difficult to overcome.  There are also complications such as yarn and notions addiction and frequent store-visits syndrome.  Be careful, it's contagious.  Wearing my projects to give my outfit a pop of colors attracts undue attention from friends and family.  Before you know it, you will be holding craft evenings at your place and finding yourself teaching others how to do it... The virus is totally invasive and others can get infected very easily.  You have been warned!

From one successful headband to warm my ears and my friends came imagination: "I can make this for so and so friend..." to "Ah, next winter, I'm going to have my own table at the craft fair".  "Oh, I don't even know where the craft fair is..."{hahaha!} "Maybe, I can write patterns and sell that."  See what I mean with imagination going wild?  I only started crochet a few weeks ago but it seems that my disorder is already terminal. wahaha!!!

To do this and that, I need this and that... Of course, I have to collect the needed tools and notions to fulfill a project, right? {You can say NO but I'll cry, hehehe.}  The adventure begins in going back and forth to the craft store, collecting my tools and some yarn using the ever reliable "40-50%-off-one-regular-priced-item" coupon and there's the ocassional "save-20%-on-all-purchases" - that makes me nutz!  Hubby probably spent more on gas than the actual savings I get. Admittedly, it does feel good to get things on sale, right? Thankfully, the craft store is close by his favorite gadget store... problem solved!

This endeavor, I think, is creative at its best.

First: Paint your nails so that it looks good while crocheting. (I think I have this, just got to find the enthusiasm since crochet had taken over. wink ;)

Second:  Learn to crochet and compose patterns. {Ah, the journey is always an adventure!} Learning how to crochet came natural to me, easy-breezy... But writing a pattern?  Now, I think this is heavyweight brain activity and requires earnest skills. {Suddenly, I don't feel bad about the price I paid for my first patterns... hmp}

Third:  Learn a little bit about photography to attract others to your project.  This is a little tricky for me.  Any tips?

Fourth:  Learn to be a model, hahaha... Have to let others see how your project looks like, right? This is difficult... although some are quite natural at it.  I'm not. #workinprogress

Fifth:  Learn social media talents to connect with others in the business, get inspiration and eventually market your skills.

Sixth: Embrace creativity.  I am thinking creative gift tags, handmade thank you cards ... {Hm, I am also thinking about revamping my blog and turning it into a website - need a good banner... design... color scheme... Filming YouTube tutorials... etc ... etc ...  Oh dear, talk about getting carried away, eh?}

Seventh: Be open to possibilities, think positively and never give up! 

Eight:  Set up GOALS, with priorities in their proper place and a PLAN OF ACTION clearly spelled out.  This requires balance and focus.  This I have to really work on.  Evidently, from this post, you can tell I am bit of a scattered-brain. eeek!

Ninth, Tenth....

In the end, I think this could make a well rounded talent in you {me}... lol...

I have been crocheting a lot on my down time.  My crazy idea of selling my skills somehow? Yes, I'm following through on that, baby steps ~  Beginning from setting up my own Etsy shop account.  It is still very much under construction but it's functional.  I hope that you would visit me there and let me know if something catches your attention.  We can work on the ever coveted sweet-deal, hehehe.  The shop will be updated as I am able to make more items.  Here's the link to my shop. 

My Etsy Shop:
https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/jempanzee

If you are signing up on Etsy for the first time, use this link so you can get a free $5.00 gift card for use in my Etsy Shop {or any shop, really}:   http://etsy.me/1Azjj3v

After, you sign up, please be a dear and check out my shop.  

I also set up a new Instagram page:  http://instagram.com/woven_hugs

And a new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Jempanzee 


I may be updating my Pinterest too, very soon. This is serious monkey business you see... hehehe...

So... a new year, a new obsession, huh?  What's yours?
 

Warmth in Bloom | Crochet Fashion Scarf and Earwarmer Headband

In this cold winter months, keeping warm can also be fun and stylish.  When I saw this great pattern from a magazine, I immediately wanted to make it. {That involved of course, buying the magazine too, :p }  Before this, I have only crocheted headbands based out of a video tutorial on YouTube.  The tutorial was so informative and basic, it carried me through every little step that made it easy to follow.  Watching the tutor do the steps assured me that what I was doing was right.  This is my first time attempting a project out of a written pattern.  You might imagine how intimidated I was.  But this cute scarf is too pretty to pass on.  I had to try.

Every so often, I second guess myself: "Does this look okay to you?"  I asked my hubby.  Of course he would proudly say, "It looks beautiful!"  I'd take it, as if he knew exactly... er, anything at all about crochet... :-)  I would actually feel reassured and I'd move on pleased.

 

Weaving Warm Hugs for the Cold Winter Days 2

     Another year is almost gone, one other is fast approaching.  We hear it all too often, “Time goes by fast…” or “Where have all the time gone?” I hope that it has been a pleasant year for you, so far.  

     As the normal day to day passes by, we slowly welcome Old Man Winter, almost reluctantly, of course.  It’s cold.  Yes, for me, that is quite the top most reason.  {But a snow storm never made me lonely.  It's so pretty, how can one be so sad?} Fortunately, I found yet another hobby that will help weave out some nice warm hugs to keep warm – for the whole family and friends.

Weaving Warm Hugs for the Cold Winter Days

As the year goes well along, we entered a new season again... yup the dreaded winter months.  It's not all dark, cold and dreary though... snow is a sure beautiful delight.  In order to enjoy it, we have to keep ourselves bundled-up, all nice and toasty... so I thought of "weaving some warm hugs"... Okay, okay, it's not really weaving (yet), I tried my hand on crochet and here is what I came up with.  Decent job huh?

I saw a young girl wearing a crocheted ear warmer once and of course, I wanted one for myself.  Oh sorry, not that I'm covetous, or anything like that... just want to keep warm... lol... The price, though, didn't agree with me. "Make one?" A voice inside of me whispers. It presented a challenge to creativity, so, "why not?". "How hard can it be?" I thought... Hence, I used my Michael's Store discount coupon and bought me some yarn and hook... What do you think?

Here's a photo of the head band / ear warmer.  It is fastened with a button at the bottom... Oh my, that sounds weird doesn't it... hehehe.

I'll be posting the free pattern soon.  Cause you know?  I'm that cool, lol... 

And here's the infinity scarf that I made.  Yellow?  Wasn't sure about it the first time, I thought it would be more of a spring or summer color.  Of course, it is... But why not for winter too?  It does a great job in cheering up a bland black outfit... (Yup, most of my winter coats are black :-)

I'm working on the pattern and will post as soon as it's done... I want to make sure it is easy to follow, lol... It was easy to make.  Writing the pattern, on the other hand, is a lot trickier. I'm enjoying crocheting so much that I may set up an online store.  Would anyone be interested?

Have a great day everyone!
May you be filled with love and hope.... and lots of warm hugs...

~*Maya*~