Lacy yellow scarf

This weekend I made this lovely lacy scarf. It was very easy and quick to crochet and if you want to make one too then the pattern is called angel crochet scarf by Amanda Perkins and is free to download from ravelry or the natural dye studio.

The pattern uses 2 ply lace yarn but I used DK yarn so I upped the hook size to 8mm (after a bit of trial and error) and the finished scarf has a width of about 27cm (11″). The photos below show detail before and after blocking.

Before blocking

After blocking

Filed under: clothing, crochet, instructions, crochet, crochet pattern, instructions, pattern, scarf

correction for email subscribers

Just after I published the vintage phone case pattern yesterday I noticed a slight error on how to make the button holes. This was corrected straight away but if you receive posts by email then you will have the original post in your inbox so this is just a warning to either work from the online version of this pattern or make sure you take note of the correction below:

BUTTON HOLES

To create a button-hole wait until after you have just completed a dc and tr. Instead of missing one stitch, chain 2 and, skipping three stitches of the row, continue as normal with a dc and tr into the 4th stitch. Try to space your button holes evenly along the row. My button holes were created during the third row.

Sorry about that!

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Filed under: Uncategorized

Vintage style phone case

“ANOTHER phone case!?” I hear you cry. “Are you insane woman – you have about twelve already!”

well yes, that is true, but my excuse is that I just changed my phone. I now have a lovely shiny new BlackBerry and while it is the correct size for some of my phone cases it has a rubberized case and so doesn’t really slide into them easily. So I decided to make a lovely lined case and this is the result. I think it’s my favourite one yet – lots of the others are colourful and fun but I just love the colours of this case and the stitch used makes it look interestingly vintage.

I’ll be using English crochet terms so have a look at my conversion chart if you’d prefer American terms. Read through all the steps before you start so you can decide where you would like to put the button holes.

The stitch is a variation on the grit stitch and it creates a nicely dense fabric – here’s how to do it:

Step 1. Chain slightly longer than the length of your phone/camera/iPod/laptop etc. making sure you have an even number of stitches. (if your phone/camera is quite thick then chain the length plus the depth). Now chain an extra 3.

Step 2. tr into the 3rd chain from the hook.

Step 3. *miss one stitch, dc and then tr into the next stitch. *repeat to the end of the row but on the last stitch just dc.

Step 4. Turn, chain one, tr into 2nd stitch from hook (ie. miss the chain you just did and tr into that last dc of the previous row)

Repeat Steps 3 and 4 until the piece is long enough to wrap around your phone and overlap enough to button closed. Fasten off (leaving a very long tail for sewing on your lining later).

BUTTON HOLES

To create a button-hole wait until after you have just completed a dc and tr. Instead of missing one stitch, chain 2 and, skipping three stitches of the row, continue as normal with a dc and tr into the 4th stitch. Try to space your button holes evenly along the row. My button holes were created during the third row.

LINING

Cut a piece of complementary or contrasting fabric to be just slightly larger than your piece of crochet. Create a hem all the way around (to prevent fraying) by folding under the edges and pinning to the crochet piece. Using your tail of yarn whip stitch or blanket stitch all around the edge. I think the whip stitch is quicker and easier but the blanket stitch would look fantastic if you wanted to use a contrasting colour to sew on the lining.

From the other side cut a slit in the lining at the position of the button holes and whip stitch all around the holes. This is where you can fine tune the size of the holes to fit your chosen buttons. Make the slits bigger and stretch the hole slightly to make bigger or whip stitch more tightly to reduce the size of the holes.

FINISHING

Fold up the opposite end of the piece from the holes and sew down each edge (I just whip stitched again) to create a pocket for your phone. You can choose to make this pocket big enough to completely, or only partly cover your phone. Mine only partly covers the phone so I can check the LED for messages or missed calls without having to unbutton the case or take the phone out. The lid folds over and overlaps so the phone is still completely covered and protected (doing it this way also means you can see more of the lovely lining material).

Now put your phone in the case and fold over the flap to decide on the best place to sew the buttons. When sewing on the buttons try to only sew through the crochet and not the lining – this looks nicer and means there are no knots rubbing against your phone on the inside. Instead, hide your knot between the button and the case.

Filed under: crochet, instructions, crochet, instructions, mobile phone case, pattern

Underwater Baby Blanket

So I’m going to be an auntie soon and I just found out it will be a little boy. I decided to make a baby blanket for him and here is the result. I used chunky yarn because I didn’t want to spend weeks and weeks on it. I wasn’t thinking I was going to write up a pattern for this so I didn’t pay much attention to what I was doing so this will be less of a pattern and more just general guidelines for the bits I can remember. For the blanket itself I used this helpful ripple tutorial. I’m not going to try to tell you exactly how many to chain etc. because I’m sure I went wrong and it only turned out ok by luck! Anyway as is fairly obvious from the photo you need blue for the water (I used two 100g balls of chunky but while it said to use a 6mm hook on the label I went for an 8mm hook to make the blanket less dense and more breathable) then change to lighter blue or white for the sky. Then it’s just up to you what you populate your sea with. English crochet terms as always, look at the conversion chart for American equivalents.

Big fish.

1. Create a magic ring with 6dc

2. 2dc in each stitch (12 stitches total)

3. dc, dc, chain 1, turn

4. dc, dc, chain 3, turn

5. 2tr, 3tr, fasten off.

Little fish.

1. Create a magic ring with 6dc

2. chain 3

3. dc in 2nd chain from hook

4. chain 1

5. dc in same stitch as step 3.

6. fasten off.

Seaweed.

1. chain the length you would like your seaweed.

2. chain 1, turn, dc the second chain from the hook and each stitch of chain.

3. chain 1, turn, dc the second stitch from the hook and each stitch.

4. chain 1, turn, dc each stitch but whenever you want a tendril (leaf?) of seaweed do the following:

4a. chain the length you like your leaf/tendril

4b. chain 1, turn

4c. slip stitch the 2nd chain from the hook and the next few stitches.

4d. dc the next few stitches until you are about halfway back to the base.

4e. htr the next few stitches.

4f. tr all the rest of the stitches until you are back to the base.

4g. dc into the next stitch along from where you started the leaf/tendril.

5. dc each stitch until you reach where you would like your next leaf then repeat 4a – 4g.

6. continue in this way to the end of the row. fasten off.

I’ll update this post with more of the bits when I have chance to think about what I actually did! I’m sorry it’s not a more structured pattern today.

Filed under: crochet, other, baby blanket, colourful, crochet, fish, seaweed, underwater

Seamless fingerless glove pattern

This pattern is for seamless fingerless gloves with a ribbed cuff. Worked in one piece and with instructions for several different finishing decorations. The matching scarf shown below is the mini scarf I made a few weeks ago.

The instructions include numbers (of stitches/rows etc) for a medium-sized glove that should fit most people but instructions are also given to increase/decrease the size if needed and you are encouraged to try the gloves on regularly and adjust for a perfect fit. Because of this the gauge I’ve given is a good ballpark figure but not essential to achieve exactly.

Instructions are included for both left and right-handed crocheters.

Fully illustrated, detailed instructions for these gloves are available for £1 (that’s about $1.64 at the time of writing). You can either buy now via paypal or purchase through Ravelry:

If you have any questions or want any help with this project you can email me at cultofcrochet@gmail.com and I’ll have plenty more free patterns soon so do keep checking back.

Filed under: clothing, crochet, instructions, crochet, crochet pattern, gloves, instructions, pattern, pdf download

DIY cycle helmet

Not much crochet going on this week I’m afraid. the weather’s been far too nice :) So instead I dug out my bike and thought about buying a helmet. I found some Sawako Furuno helmets online – flowers and wonderful leopard print!

Two things stopped me from buying that leopard print helmet – firstly no actual shops near here sell them and I’d really want to try it on before buying and secondly there is the huge price tag of over £70 (then delivery on top of that). So the other day I saw just some basic black skate helmets in my local cycle shop and I decided to get one and have a go at painting it. The result is above – I actually had an idea for a much more elaborate design but when I found my paints I realised I only had a couple of colours so this was a trial run until I get more. I think it looks quite good as a first attempt and the paint is acrylic so waterproof but also should hopefully come off quite easily when I want to give it a new look.

Filed under: Not crochet, cycle helmet, DIY, flower, paint