Felted Stitch Markers

I was so happy when this idea came to me and I want to share it with you. I was knitting something that needed a whole bunch of stitch markers and ran out so I used yarn scraps and tied a circle with them, then my project had all these scrappy ends sticking out. Fast forward and I was working on the Pleats Purse and spit splicing a new skein on and remembered the scrappy ends and it came to me. It may sound silly but it's like when life gives you lemons ... well there was bunch of yarn scraps and now they are stitch markers. I love stuff like this.

So first, get your scraps of feltable yarn, like 100%wool.
Hold the ends and wrap them around your finger, here it's my pinkie finger, the finished markers will be the size of this finger.

Then take the ends and wind them around, in and out of the circle, like you did with grass when you were a kid to get a ring. Btw, this is a great project to do with kids.

Then place it back on your finger and wet the yarn. Or if you want to spit-splice it together, spit on it.

Now start to roll it back and forth using your fingers. This will cause friction and felt the yarn.


Keep going. It may take a few minutes.


Keep going until the yarn looks like it has felted together.
Now take it off and voila! Press it between a towel to dry.
Place them on a larger needle or dowel to block in a circle shape until dry.
Felted stitch markers. I hope this makes you as happy as it makes me!

Pleats Purse - Knit Version

Here is the knit version of my Pleats Purse pattern. After the original crochet version came out, there were some requests for a knit version, so after many hours and revisions I am proud to present the Pleats Purse - Knit Version. It uses a fun cast on and is a fairly quick project with great results! I am grateful to have it tested by legknit aka Sue, StarKnits aka Allena, and TrulyBlessed aka Debi from the Free Pattern Testers group on Ravelry.

Fortune Cookie Bag

I'm so excited that my Fortune Cookie Bag is being published in Interweave Crochet Fall 2009! I'm thrilled that it's featured in the five projects Inside This Issue. It's a fun little project - a simple shape is felted then cleverly folds into a bag. Pre-order now or on newsstands October 6, 2009.

Pleats Purse

Here's a new purse pattern, the Pleats Purse. Wanted a pleated purse for a while now and thought about sewing one in canvas or leather, then I thought why not a felted one. I knew exactly what I wanted, just had to work out the dimensions and stuff, took three tries to get it right, can't frog, ya' know. It turned out great, will be my fall purse.

Multi-tote

Oh why are the simplest things harder than we expect. My latest bag pattern, the Multi-Tote is an easy pattern. But it was not so simple to make it work! Conceptually it seemed very easy, but I had to frog it so many times to get the lines and proportion right, so that it would fold properly and in the right place. But all that extra work paid off, I'm so happy with the bag, love using it, especially with the felted purse organizer.

Purse Organizer

The new website and blog is finally up! Thanks for your patience during construction. To celebrate, I'm posting this new free pattern. It's simple and easy, and so functional. I've noticed that unless I sew a pocket into the lining of purses, for the most part they are one giant bag. Well, I have a bunch of stuff, cell phone, lipstick, lip balm, hand sanitizer, biz cards, receipts, and more and it all gets jumbled together. I remembered seeing a purse organizer on tv and found it on the internet, then thought it would make a good felted project. It was so fast and easy to crochet it up, then I threw it in the washer a couple of times, blocked it and it was good to go. It works great. I can load all my stuff in it, roll it up and stick it in my purse, easy. Plus, it's so easy to change purses now. Don't know how I lived without it before. Download pdf instructions here.

Felted Tote

Here is the perfect crochet tote for all the stuff we like to carry around -- crochet projects, books, diapers, etc. It felt like it took me forever to work everything out, one of the hardest patterns I've worked on and I'm not sure why. Originally I just wanted a bigger bag to carry all my stuff that I couldn't or didn't want to put in my purse. And it seemed like it would be quite easy to construct, unfortunately all these hurdles kept popping up and I had put it on the shelf for a few months until I could figure it out.

One day I spied it out of the corner of my eye and I knew I had to finish it and I had these ideas to work it out and one thing led to another and it turned out great! Nice and roomy with lots of pockets for my crochet hooks and stuff. Thick and sturdy but not as heavy as leather.

tags crochet felted tote

Clogs and more

It feels like I've been working on these slippers forever, but really just since last Christmas. My feet were so cold and sometimes the ribbing on socks really irritates my ankles so I decided to make a pair of slippers. I searched the internet and craft store for patterns and even made a few that turned out pretty nice.

I wanted a smoother feel so I looked for a felted pattern. Found some really nice knitted patterns for clogs and booties but I couldn't knit. Out of frustration I decide to come up with my own pattern. I experimented with a few clogs but they were sadly misshapen, so as the weather warmed they were relegated to a pile in the closet.

In September I thought about the clogs again and decided to tackle the problem from a different angle. I used a pair of well worn leather clogs as a model and worked on mapping the proportions and translating it to crochet. Then I approached it as a piece of sculture. I took a few years of sculpture classes and here's what we did, we put the model in the center and then work the 2D view, then turn 45 degrees and work that view, and so on and so on until you go all around and it looks as you wish.

So I did this and the pile of rejects grew and I was really committed now and one day I fished it out of the washer and it looked good! I made another one and it was still good! Then it was easy to make different varieties. The boots took quite a bit more but they were really worth it. I could make endless more varieties with fancy trims and hardware. I am very pleased with this pattern, I feel like it is my best so far.

Pattern available here.

tags: crochet felted slippers boots

Wool Cable Purse

I signed up for the Crochetville purse swap so there are purse possibilities swirling around in my head. I made this wool version of my cable purse and it turned out so nice I'm keeping it for myself. If my swap partner likes it I'll make one especially for her.

*pattern available here (edited to add).

Tags: crochet purse

Cupcakes

It's been so hot lately, too hot to go out, so I've been keeping busy by crocheting. Here are a few little cupcakes I crocheted, although a couple of them look a little like ice cream cones.

Tags: crochet cupcakes

Sudoku Holder

I got an electronic Sudoku game and I've already dropped it a couple of times so I made a felted holder for it using some leftover wool. I used the Rose Square motif pattern from The Harmony Guide to Crocheting Techniques and Stitches by Debra Mountford and adjusted for size of game. Here's the before felting.
Technorati tags: crochet

Felted hat

I've been wanting a felted brimmed hat for a while now so I crocheted this using a dyed ball of KnitPick's Wool of the Andes. Then I threw it in the washing machine and after three loads, a felted hat. Here's the yarn and hat, pre-felting.

Technorati tags: crochet felting

fingerless gloves

I've been thinking about blogging for a while now, but somehow I got it into my head that it should be very specific, i.e. food, crochet, etc. and it felt very limiting. So I decided to just go ahead and include whatever I'm working on. Lately I've been into dyeing and felting wool. I dyed a ball of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes using Kool-Aid and food coloring. Wasn't sure how it would turn out but was pleasantly surprised with the results.

It got cold this week so I decided to make a pair of fingerless gloves. I used the pattern in the current issue of Interweave Knits Crochet and felted the gloves. This is one of the gloves, before and after felting. They keep my hands nice and warm.