Crocheted Scrubbie Pattern

While I was working on the ruffled flower pattern I thought that when it was all fluffy it would make a good scrubbie done in larger scale. So I made one in a similar style, just a bit more ruffly but still just one layer.

I think I used one ball of yarn total, but it may have been slightly more then that. It's done in worsted weight cotton with a size H hook. If you use a size G I'm sure you can do one with one ball of Sugar'nCream or Peaches & Creme yarn.

The soap in the picture is a bar of hot processed Vanilla Bean soap from SingingWolf Soaps. More on that after the pattern. This is a very simple pattern, and the scrubbie, made out of cotton isn't really scrubbie but it's nubbly and feels good to shower with.

With a size H hook, chain 40, slip stitch in first chain to make loop to hang it from.

Round 1: In that chain, ch 4 (counts as first dc and ch 1) *dc in same stitch, ch 1* repeat ** 6 more times for a total of 8 dc, sl st in 3rd chain on first ch 4. (makes a ring of dcs and ch 1 in the first stitch of the ch 40 loop)

Round 2-4: Sl st to first ch 1 sp, ch 4 (counts as first dc and ch 1), dc in space, ch 1, dc in space, ch 1, dc in space, ch 1, * in next space, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1* repeat ** in each space around. Slip stitch to join round in 3rd ch of first ch 4 of the round.

After you've done 2 more rows the same way, you've got a lot of increases and it gets very ruffly and ball like. When you join the final round, break off and weave all ends in. 

It's pretty quick to make. If you use acrylic yarn or anti-bacterial yarn instead of cotton, I think it would work just fine in the kitchen as a dish scrubber or tawashi.

Becka, the creative mind behind SingingWolf soaps sent me a box of her soaps knowing that I'm a real soap junkie. I love artisan soaps that are mildly superfatted and made with all sorts of good oils for my skin. Her soaps are lovely to use and my children and I have been using them since we got them. I've noticed I don't have to use lotion as often while using her soaps, and they work well on my hair with a vinegar rinse afterwards. I can't recommend them enough. My husband uses Dr. Bronner's Peppermint and doesn't think clean is clean without a tingly feeling and she's working on formulating a soap for him and his love of his peppermint.  Actually, my daughter "borrowed" my bar of English Rose and I wound up trading a bar of Dragon's Blood with her to get it back. I love love love rose scented soap. 

You can find an almost complete list of free patterns for crochet that I've posted in the past here or by checking out my Ravelry page on the right.

Pi Day- Pie labels or gift tags

Pi Day is coming up, and today I drew some 2 inch circle tag pies that can be used to label jars of homemade filling or as small gift cards with pies you give as gifts. The example above is 5x7 inches at 100 ppi if you want to use it for a card or something. The tags themselves are 300 ppi in PDF format. You can download HERE.
The actual tags themselves have a circle of pie crust on the fruit pies so they can be written on and look like this.

Have a wonderful Pi day! We usually have pizza and pumpkin pie to celebrate. 

Shamrock printable box and coloring page

I hope you like it. It uses my 3x3x1 inch box template. Print at 100 dpi on cardstock, score and pre-fold for best results. Click on images for full sized versions.

I actually did the coloring page first, and decided I like the design so much I should put it on a box. Here's the coloring page. You can use it for embroidery, woodburning, beading and other crafty purposes, or print it out to color. 

Buttons and bottle caps

Sorry it took a couple days. The buttons I used on the easy ruffle flower came to me very bright brass. I originally got them to use for crochet projects for my son who really really loves crocheted things and locally made art. Having a 19 yo son who likes it when I make things for him can be a little challenging at times.
I darkened the brass by holding them in pliers over a candle. If you move it around, you get a warmer, richer color. If you actually hold the buttons in the flame long enough to blacken, then wipe them off and hit it with a sealant you get that lovely patina that's on the button in the center of my flower.

There is a lot of glare in this picture, but the first button is unheated. The other 3 are heated to various degrees. The last one I sanded the hammer and sickle just a bit down to the base metal under the brass after darkening it which brought out the design a lot more clearly.
Now my daughter wants me to do it to enough of the bigger buttons to replace all the buttons on her overcoat which means I'll need to order more buttons! The buttons are from American Science and Surplus.
Bottle caps!
I posted a bottle cap necklace project at Beadwork at BellaOnline. No resin. I used Ranger's Glossy Accents which worked out very well.

The bottle cap on the Captain Jack necklace is from a bottle of Jack Black Blood Red Cola, which my daughter loves. Usually we make our own sodas from scratch, but occasionally we will buy non-corn syrup sodas. The Black Jack is a weird one, all the ones I've found online are corn syrup sweetened, but the one she drinks is cane sugar. They come in different bottles though, the long neck style bottles seem to have the corn syrup, the more old fashioned bottles that the Turnip's soda come in are cane sugar sweetened. All that to say (in a very long winded way) that the bottle cap has a skull and cross bones on it. Sometimes the cap just lends itself to what's going in it. When I showed it to my husband this morning, he was very sleepy. When he got home from work and took a look at it again he said "OH! Captain Jack SPARROW! I couldn't figure out why it looked nothing like John Barrowman!"
We have a couple local breweries, and one of them uses the Made In Alaska label on their bottle caps. I think I need to make some Alaskan themed necklaces.

Ruffle Flower Crochet Pattern

 

Ruffled Crochet Flower Pattern

This is such a very easy pattern, worked out of thread it makes a nice very fluffy accent for an accessory. I think worked out of worsted weight yarn it would be a great tawashi. Adjust hook size to match yarn type. 

For this thread flower, I used size 10 thread in 2 shades and a size 7 hook.

With main color, ch 8 sl st to join in a ring

Rnd 1: ch 1 (does not count as first sc), 8 sc in ring, sl st to join

Rnd 2: ch 4 (counts as first dc and ch), dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1 in same st, *in the next st, dc, ch 1, dc, ch 1, dc, ch1* repeat ** around. Sl st to join in 3rd ch on starting ch 4. (3 dc in each st)

Rnd 3: sl st to ch 1 sp, ch 4 (counts as first dc and ch), dc in same space, ch 1, dc in same st, ch 1, *dc in next space, ch 1, dc in same space, ch 1, dc in same space, ch 1* repeat ** around, sl st to join in 3rd ch of initial ch 4. (3 dc in each ch 1 sp)

Rnd 4: Repeat round 3 

Rnd 5: Change color if you wanted an accent color in a ch 1 or sl st to ch 1 sp. Ch 1 (does not count as first sc) sc in sp, ch 3, sc in next sp, ch 3, repeat around joining round with sl st. Break off and weave in ends.

For mine, I made a head band using a simple pattern.

Ch 8

Row 1: sc in 2nd ch from hook, ch 3, skip 2 stitches, sc in next st, ch 3, sc in first ch

Row 2: ch 5, sc in ch 3 loop, ch 3, sc in next ch 3 loop, ch 2, dc in last sc

Row 3: ch 1 to turn, sc in dc, ch 3, sc in ch 3 loop, ch 3, sc in 3rd ch on ch 5 from previous row

Row 4: ch 5, sc in ch 3 loop, ch 3, sc in next ch 3 loop, ch 2, dc in last sc

Repeat rows 3 and 4 until it's as long as you want for what your making.
Last row: Ch 1 to turn, sc in dc, ch 2, sc in ch 3 loop, ch 3, sc in 3rd ch on ch 5 from previous row
Break off and weave in ends.
Switch to contrast color, and sc across bottom. If you need a loop for a clasp, button, or elastic, this would be the time to add it. For the elastic on my head band, I used 2 sc, ch 3, 2 sc to make the 7 stitches. 2 more sc in corner. Work the sides by ch 3, skip dc,sc in sc, repeat until you reach the end of the side, 3 sc in corner, sc across short edge, 2 more sc in corner, repeat the ch 3, sc up the other side, 2 sc in last corner, sl st to join with first sc.
For my headband I made it 15 inches long  and used a narrow elastic stitched into the holes I left in the ends to join it.
Then I sewed the flower to the band attaching it with 5/8th inch button. The button I used is a USSR brass button I got from American Science and Surplus.
My next post, I'll explain how I got the gorgeous patina on the bright brass button.

Reviews I wrote in the last week

These will open in a new window. If they are helpful please vote yes on the review page!
Fiction-
Shalador's Lady by Anne Bishop. It's the last installment in the Black Jewels series.
Waking Up in the Land of Glitter by Kathy Cano-Murillo The Crafty Chica! Her first novel, it's very sweet.
DIY/Craft books
Delight in the Details by Lisa M. Pace, a paper crafting book that's just gorgeous
Martha Stewart's new sewing book, a huge book full of sewing techniques and simple projects
Non-book items
Rival Hot Pot Express, an inexpensive little electric pot to boil water in
Tazo's Passion Herbal Tea
Tazo's Wild Sweet Orange Herbal Tea
Market Spice Tea
Murray's Sugar Free Shortbread Cookies
my new sneaks! I found my pair on superduper deep clearance for 12 dollars.

Well.. back to working on my current crochet project!

Book Review- Delight in the Details

Lisa M. Pace wrote this lovely book Delight in the Details for card makers, scrapbookers and paper crafters.
Her style is towards the very ornate and elegant. The projects and ideas in this book are just gorgeous and impressive while being very simple to make, do and adapt.
It's a lovely book printed in full color throughout, and it's very inspiring.
The first chapter is about making a nice place to create in. Her studio is gorgeous and her ideas for organizing supplies is inspiring and lovely. From crystal dishes and spoons filled with glitter to old cupcake tins with natural weathering to keep beads in, there are some wonderful ideas for making your work space beautiful and functional.
The first few projects deal with sparkle and shine, detailing several ways to add sparkle to projects. Detailing how add glitter edging, completely covering things in glitter, adding subtle touches to patterned paper, using mica, wire and other embellishments. My favorite projects in that chapter are the shiny alphas which put me in mind of holiday decorator accents and the wire spray of flowers made with beads and wire.
The next chapter is paint and ink, with instructions for using chalks, waxes, and alcohol based permanent inks. This chapter is full of ideas that I'd never thought of. I've used waxes to refinish vintage frames for hanging in my house but never thought of them for smaller frames for paper crafts. The crackle paint distressed letters are lovely. My favorite in this chapter though hands down is the texture paste design which creates an embossed image that's accented with glitter and crystals.
Pattern and Texture come next, also full of wonderful ideas. My favorite in that chapter are the crepe paper rosettes and the miniature banner which I really plan on using very soon. The ruffle edging project would be amazing in a bridal card or a baby shower project.
The last chapter, Vintage Finds is full of ideas for little trinkets, old buttons and things of that nature. The button bouquet would be a lovely dimensional accent to a scrapbook cover or a box using buttons from favorite clothes. The vintage paper leaves are a nice idea for old books.
The whole book is amazing, cover to cover, with ample examples of what can be done with the basic techniques.