Friday, June 16, 2017

MelodyCrochet Podcast Episode 5 - Crochet, Knitting, and that evil machine

Episode 5 of the MelodyCrochet podcast was just published!









I want to thank everyone that has subscribed with a giveaway! Head over to the MelodyCrochet Podcast group to enter the giveaway for a copy of the Sunday Shawl Pattern from Alia at The Little Bee!



This week we talk about a new place I visited, I share an amazing swap package that I received, I go on and on about sewing on that evil machine and discuss my sons birthday last week!



Tea: Chai from Trader Joes (Nom!)



Here is some information on the projects that I discussed this week!

Willowfall Cowl by Remade By Hand

Malabrigo Sock in Light of Love on Size 5 Needles.



Sunday Shawl by The Little Bee 

I Love this Cotton on a Clover J Hook



Mystery Machine Sock

Regia 6-Fadig (means 6 Ply...aka Sport) on Size 1 Chiaogoo Twist interchangeables on the mini wire.



Unicorn Yarnachino Yarn

My Creative Garage



Beach Bag - Free pattern!

Zeens and Roger on the Hobbycraft website (link on Ravelry)

Caron Cake in Fairy Cake on a G hook



My shorts pattern was NewLook A6271 ...I omited the waist band and just cut the waist two inches higher than suggested and did a fold over elastic tunnel.



My skirt pattern was just traced from a skirt that fit me in a way that I like.



Pineapple Tank

Red Heart Baby Sheen on an F Hook



Speckled Space Socks

MelodyCrochet Sparkle yarn and size 0 Addi Turbo Sock Rockets



Bendy Arrow Shawl

Malabrigo Sock in Dewberry (Purple) and Indicieta (Green)



KALS/CALS



Brontealong with LoveSockWool



Summer Romance Along with Crochet Luna and Crochet Cakes



Let me know what you think and what you are working one! Take good care and see you next week. (((hugs)))








Wednesday, June 7, 2017

MelodyCrochet Podcast Episode 4!

Did I mention that I started a podcast? No?! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to leave you out. But, the idea of starting was a little overwhelming. Very little organizing or admin was done because I didn't want to make it any more work than it was for fear that I just wouldn't do it. But I did it! And I'm really glad that I have. I also started a little ravelry group for the podcast, please come join us! It's my next bit of admin to attack. I would love to hear from you for support as I learn. 

I will be posting show notes there and here. I will just link to hear from the group. I tried to just do the notes on there but I am so much more used to formatting on this platform. I will also be posting more here about my projects. I have been making quite a bit. I just have not been writing much about my endeavors. What have you been working on? I'd love to hear! But here is the show notes for episode 4!






Finished Objects

Ripples of Happiness by Sucrette (she has the most amazing blog...it makes me want to crochet everything in my home!



WIPS



She has the most colorful instagram feed! She will make you want to crochet every pattern in every colorway that you see! So pretty. 

Bendy Arrow by Charlotte Bory of the Charlotte and Gus podcast!

housed in a bag that was gifted to me and made from this pattern:



New Stuff!

In this episode I talk about these new-to-me items!

Chiaogoo Twist Interchangeable Knitting Needles in Mini needles and cable
Regia 6-Fedig Sport weight sock yarn 
Daiso Crochet Hooks 
Project bay from the Target Dollar Hot Spot. 



Dream Knitting:

Campfire Cardigan Jess Coppom



KALs/CALs
#Brontealong with LoveSockWool podcast


Summer of Romance Crochet and Knit along with Crochet Cakes Podcast and Crochet Luna Podcast (#SRCAL)

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

I crocheted a blanket!

Hi guys! Hope you are all doing well. 

Things are good here. I do love when summer comes. But the oncoming heat is no excuse not to gift a little girl with a blanket. Hopefully,  she will be able to enjoy this blanket for years to come. 

And here it is! I hope that Waverly loves it. :) 


And the supplies!

I was able to use a hefty mix of worsted weight acrylic from my stash for this: 

Hobby Lobbys Crafters Secret - A35 - Purple, A Grape Fit 
Hobby Lobby - I Love This Yarn - Lavender, Teal, Pink and Tropical Pink Red Heart Super Saver Solids - Lavender Big Twist - Value - Light Teal 


and I used my trusty size J clover hook!

The pattern that I used was the Ripple of Happiness pattern by Le Monde Du Sucrette. This beautiful, free and SUPER wiggly ripple pattern went so fast!





Please note that I do use affiliate links. The Amazon links give me a little money if you purchase anything. Which is awesome and GREATLY appreciated. The other links are all just for your information purposes. Sadly, the ones to the stores directly do expire...if that happens I will try to take care of the link as soon as I know about it. 

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Little Goth Doll




I made a doll for our dear friend Kate. She wanted a voodoo doll and I wanted to make a cute one. Here is the compromise. I found a pattern and just mimicked it. I would have followed it but it was a little pricey and did not look like anything that I couldn't duplicate.

While I was working I wrote up the pattern. It will work for this and any type of doll that you might want to make. Just change up the colors. I will be making many more. It was so much fun and worked up so quickly!

I used less than one ball of each color in I love the Cotton from Hobby Lobby. I think that cotton is the best yarn to use for amigurumi. It keeps its shape and cleans up well. It feels really nice when you are making it and photographs beautifully. It takes color best when you are adding detail shading. Use a brush, not your fingers. It's hard to tell in the above picture...but her skin is shimmery ivory. I tried to capture that but it really messed with the color. So here is a close-up that captures it a bit.


In other news we are so pleased to see signs of spring. I have already bought roses and berries to plant. The weather still has a chill but the sun is out and the birds are singing. In the morning it is hard to get out of the big warm bed but when I do the drives to school at sunrise are right out of a picture. I just want to photograph and share each one!

I am on the hunt for a good couple of purple yarns to make my next shawl out of. I want a variety. I am dreaming up a fade shawl. But I might make Arabella next instead.

xo,
Melody

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Bun Hat - a free pattern



Messy Bun Hat

There are a ton of bun hat patterns popping up everywhere. But they were lacking a little something for me. I went ahead and took the inspiration and made it my own.

I used Unforgettable Yarn from Red Heart 70 grams/200 yards total. That it is less than one ball but this hat is worked holding two strands together. I was making more than one hat (of course!) so I just held two strands together from separate balls of the yarn. If you are just making one hat I would divide the yarn prior to starting your hat...this is not a great hat to work from both ends of the ball on, in my opinion.

Surprisingly, since I worked from the outside of both balls the yarn colors changed in the same way at the same time so you can hardly even tell I held two strands together when looking at my hat. Next time I will be making one where I start on different colors. I love my Tealberry colorway and would love to see those colors play together even more.

I work in rounds for the body of this hat. I do not slip stitch, chain 2. I just work in a spiral all the way up. The decreases I make are taken at the seam in back. To make this easy to see I put a locking stitch marker so that I have a mental reminder of where the back seam is.

So here is what I used!

1 ball of Unforgettable Red Heart Yarn separated into two balls.
I hook
H hook
Locking Stitch marker 
Yarn Needle to weave in the ends

I used these stitches and abbreviations!

sc - single crochet
sc blo - single crochet through the back loops only (when looking at the top v that a stitch makes, you are working only in the branch that is farther away from you.
hdc - half double crochet
dec hdc - decrease half double crochet
yo, insert into next stitch, yo, pull back, yo insert into the second stitch, yo, pull back, yo and pull through all of the loops on the hook.

And here is what I did!

We will start by making a long strip of sc in the back post only that will fit around your head. It will be 70 rows of 8 single crochets.



With your I Hook while holding 2 strands of yarn together chain 9, turn
sc in the second chain from the hook and across (8sc)
*ch 1, turn, sc in each stitch across (8sc) in BACK LOOPS ONLY*
repeat * to * 68 times. Do not Fasten Off.

This ribbed band of 70 rows should fit nicely around the head of most teens and women. Its stretchy!

When your band is complete place fold in half lengthwise (like in the picture above) with right sides facing and single crochet these together to form a loop. This is your hat band and will look much neater in a color changing yarn that it would if you used a Back Post/Front Post Double Crochet. I make alot of baby hats this way too because they grow so quickly. This stretchy band makes it so they can wear the hat longer.

Now to make the body of your hat!

Continuing with the same I hook and the same yarn strand (still held double) that you had not fastened off after seaming up the band.

1) chain 2 and HDC in each stitch along the side of your hat band across (70) place marker as the start of the next row.
2) *hdc across until the last 4 stitches before marker, half double crochet decrease 2 times*
3-7) repeat * to * 5 times. Change to H hook
8-10) repeat * to * 3 times

We have decreased 2 stitches per row for 9 rows now. We are down to 52 stitches and the hat is nearly done. We will now decrease a bit more aggressively so it really hugs the top of your head to show off that messy bun!

11) hdc, dec hdc around to the marker
12) dec hdc around to marker.
13) sc around to marker, slip stitch into the first stitch of the row and FASTEN OFF! *confetti*

Weave in your heads, take a picture, post it to Instagram and tag me (Im MelodyCrochet).

Keep warm guys!

With love,

Melody

There are affiliate links in this pattern. Thank you SO much if you use them. I only link to things that I have used and enjoy.






Friday, June 24, 2016

Back from the Sticks

Hi all!

Lately, I have been polishing off my knitting lessons. I am feeling secure enough to leave the emersion and venture back into crochet without forgetting everything that I learned about knitting. I figure I will keep knitting to socks and crochet everything else. I miss my hooks.

Happy Mail:

I have been a swapping fool as of late. Just ravenous to send and receive.


Today this beautiful package arrived from a project bag swap on Ravelry!


She sewed an amazing and beautiful bag fromt he Hue Loco tutorial. (I love Nicole and her yarn and her bags and her videos). I cannot believe my swapping partner isn't a seasoned seamstress. She claims to be new to the art. I am thinking in a past life she sewed alot. 

The yarn that she gifted me awesome, too! The two balls on the left are Deborah Norville Serenity Sock in Violas. SO pretty and soft. I use the nude to dye on sometimes. I just love the way it knits up. 

The two balls on the right are hard to see in my picture. The yarn is dark but gorgeous. Its Patons Kroy Socks FX yarn in the Celestial Colors colorway. This Kroy Socks has a tougher feel but it makes up some socks that last and after a few washings they bloom into some really great feeling socks. Great for my family because we are not kind to our socks. This is what it looks like in the light:



Those colors are just magical to me. I love purples and blues. I cannot wait to get started!

I am not sure what type of yarn that big ball in the middle is but it looks like it will stripe up beautifully. I think it will be the next sock on my needles. 

AND I received this package yesterday from a Craftster swap. Her name is LinyV321 and she does the most beautiful embroidery. Our theme was "monsters":


Above is my youngest looking REALLY excited about the package because he is just like me. REALLY excited about receiving packages.  Below is a picture of all of the amazing goodies that were inside of the package. Such a thoughtful package. I am loving that dishcloth. 


Feeding the Stash:

Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable in Tealberry

Two days ago I was walking through Michaels needing absolutely NO yarn. Then I saw this staring up at me innocently. It was like a kitten. Super soft and needing to come home with me! It has teal and shades of deep purple set off by ashy browns and peachy creams. I almost crumbled when I saw it. It is beautiful! In the picture below it is becoming a knitted shawl but that just won't work out.

It turns out I like Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable a lot better crocheted than I do knitted. I am almost certain that I will be trashing the used portion. You don't frog Unforgettable...its a nightmare to frog. It leaves you with a fuzzy, unshiny mess and it snags terribly while you are ripping out the stitches. Nothing short of a wrestling match. I have used maybe $1.50 worth of the yarn. I can trash that portion without it hurting.

I was thinking that this would make a pretty Virus Shawl. In my opinion, that looks better in more gentle variegations. The stark dark and light of this colorway would distract my eye from the Virus Shawls charming details. More thought is needed. Do you have any suggestions?


Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable in Tealberry
Purchased at: Michaels
$6 a ball
100g/3.5 ounce ball is 280 yards
Worsted Weight
100% acrylic
You CAN machine wash it. But I wouldn't. A quick sink wash in handsoap, lay it flat on a towel, roll the towel up to get all of the moisture out without making it misshapen. Lay it on a dry surface after the towel and it will be dry in no time because it is acrylic. I have several items made from unforgettable they are all still in great shape with all their rich colors years later.

Where we have gone:

The library. It's been super hot. Playing in the backyard works for me. I have made a goal to go exploring once a week for the summer. Preferably on Thursday. I even bought this cute backpack my exploring days! I nabbed it at Platos closet for $16. I was pretty thrilled. I love that shade of blue!

That being said today was Thursday. I knew it was exploring day and for the life of me I could not remember where I wanted to go. I may need to jot these things down as they come to mind.

What I am watching:

I just finished binge watching Gilmore Girls. I had never seen it before. It was really cute and I am looking forward to the revival that they are promising will be around soon! That was pretty beefy to watch. It was 7 season of 22ish episodes each. I am thinking that I will try Hart of Dixie next. I like lighthearted stuff while I am crafting.

What I am drinking:

Aside from my tons of coffee? I have been all about Tea Pigs Mint and Licorice tea. Its so sweet and amazingly spearminty. If you want to try it then I hope that you can find it near you because I cannot find any online for a reasonable price. Buying it at Central market I only paid $4 for 15 cute silky tea pyramids.


Thank you for stopping by and catching up. I hope that you have an amazing week. (((hugs)))



Please note that I use affiliate links. If you use them I really appreciate it.

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