Yarn Container Idea

Have a great Sunday everyone. Isn't it wonderful when hubby and your kid support you in what you do? My son handed to me an empty protein container for my yarn, and hubby help me drill the hole on the cover. Son gave me one of of his eartips to line the hole so it won't scratch or shave my yarns when I pull it from the container. Have a blessed day everyone. InsyaAllah.
#feelingwonderful

Vintage Dolie

I am supposed to make flower of the week and I am two weeks late already but I can't say no to a friend who asked for a pattern to make a vintage table cloth. I have made 2 different versions of the dolies but this seems closer to her liking and she doesn't mind I am blogging about it.

Description: 

The inspiration for this dolie came from an antique pattern crochet book.  This dolie can be used alone as a decoration, a coaster or you can make as many as you like and join them together to make a bedspread or a tablecloth. Joining the dollies is not included in this instruction.

Terms: American

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

Yarn: Cotton, sport/fine, lace, crochet thread size 5 in two colors.

Total yarn weight:  about 25 grams

Hook: G/2.25 mm 

Gauge:  6.5 inches at its widest points after blocking

Finished Size: 6.5 inches at its widest points after blocking

Stitches Used:

Yo = yarn over

Ch = chain

Sc = single crochet

Dc = double crochet

Sl st = slip stitch

NOTE:  This pattern is worked in round. 3 ch at beg counts as 1 dc.

PATTERN

Make 5 chains.

Join with a sl st to form a ring. Ch 3.

Round 1: 15 dc  into the ring, sl st to join. (16 dc)

Round 2: *Ch 13,  sl st into the 7th ch from hook or 7th ch from chain base. 

Sc into each of next 6 st toward the base, sc into each of next 2 dc of round 1; rep from * till end of round. Sl st to join, cut off yarn.  

Round 3: Pick up the 2nd color. Sc into any st between two long tentacles looking chain stitches, sk 3, ch 3, sc into the 4th st from the base of chain, ch 3, 15 dc into ring, sk 3, ch 3, sc into the opposite side of previous sc, ch 3; 

rep from * till end of round, sl st to join. (8 partially done petals)

Round 4: Working toward the tip of the petal, ch 3, *dc into next dc, ch 1: rep 14 more times.

Dc into next sc of previous round (in between two petals); rep from * for the remaining petals,  sl st into tip of first ch 3 to join. (8 partially done petals)

Round 5: [*Sc into ch-1 sp of next petal, ch 3, sc into same sp; rep from * 13 more times. (14 pc)] rep till end of round, sl st to join, bind off. (8 petals)

Pink Dolie by Lola Pool 2014

Decorate the centre with ribbon or beads as you like.

Enjoy your new vintage looking dolie :-)

Thanks to Dien Angreini Sagita for asking me to make this. I enjoyed it very much.

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Please DO NOT re upload my files by any means to another blog or website. All my photographs are copyrighted. 

Thank you.

My First Time Dying Silk Yarns

Salam and hello everyone. I learned silk batik panting but working with the yarn is new to me and here is the result of my first experience doing this. I showed my work to the owner of a famous silk shop and he said he is impressed with my designs. It was very encouraging hearing his comments considering these are my very first  time playing with this luxury fiber. I used iDye from Jacquard diluted in water/vinegar solution (1 liter of water for 100 ml white vinegar).

Picture above from left:

1. The light purple/light green was pre-soaked in warm water for 1 hour, painted, set aside for 1 hour without steaming, hang to dry (no steam, no heat). I washed the silk after it dried to check the color, no dye in the water at all.

2. The dark purple, yellowish and green was pre-soaked in water at room temperature for 1 night, painted,  steam 30 minutes, hang to dry.   

3. The red was pre-soaked for 2 hours. I put the dye inside a pot with 1.5 liters of water to dissolve, once it is warm right before boiling, I carefully lay the skein inside the pot and turn the fire very low to prevent it from boiling for 30 minutes then let it cool. Once it was cool I was it with cold water 3 times. 

4. The red and blue same method as no. 3.

5. The far right  was pre-soaked in water at room temperature for 1 night, painted, steam 30 minutes, cool, dry flat.

A friend in crochet group lent me a valuable tips: "Put the colours on, cover and 'cook' in 

the microwave for 2 mins at a time until the colour has been taken up/exhausted. Rinse in 

warm water. Dry." Thanks to Robyn Cobby for her kindness to share her tips.

I understood now why you should never hang your silk to dry. The water will pull the yarns down resulting in an uneven texture. I will remember this next time: Lay flat your silk yarn to dry.

Silk yarn in its natural color and after dying/painting

Testing out the result firsthand. 

Next batch Silk of India insyaAllah... 

Thanks Laurensia Debyana for  videotaping it for us. Sorry for the video turned dark in some part in the middle because light went off. Yeah, light do went off about dozen times in our place, but we are still very lucky because in many more places in the world in fact they have no electricity at all.

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If you like what you see and made something from my free patterns, please credit me by mentioning my name and my blog and provide the link to my blog. Please DO NOT re upload my files by any means to another blog or website. All my photographs are copyrighted. Thank you.

Flower of the Week No. 2 - Lotus

Last week I posted about making one flower a week. So here I am posting this before this week ended. Hey, it's Finished by Friday:-) 

This week flower is Lotus as many friends in our LCG (Lagos Crochet Group) requested. If you are following my post and make the Lotus flower with me,  feel free to make yours with any color combination of your choice. It would be interesting to see purple, amethyst, white and orange lotus blooming... 

You will need: scrap yarns in these color, white, pink and dark pink.

The flower is worked in round. A round of petals was added at the back of the previous petals by making a round of new foundation chains.

Hook: F/3.75mm

R1: Using white, 2ch loosely, 8 sc into 2nd ch from hook. join with sl st.

R2: *(Ch 2, work 3hdc bobbles

Working toward the bottom of the petal, sl st in same sp as the bobble st, 1sc in next sc) 7  times. (8 petals)

R3: Working behind the petals, (sc into the ch loop under the center of next petal, 2 ch) 7 times. Join with sl st to first sl st. (8 ch-2 sp)

R4: Insert hook into any ch-2 sp, pick up pink, (sc in next ch-2 sp, ch 5, work 3tr bobble, pc, ch 5. Working toward the bottom of the petal, sl st in same ch-2 sp); repeat 7 more times, sl st to first sc. Cut off pink. (8 petals) 

R5: Working behind the petals, *(sc to ch loop under the center of first petal, 2ch) repeat 7 more times—8 ch-2 sp. Cut off pink.

(I must admitted I may have forgotten to take the photograph of the Round 6 but the instruction is as below).

R6: Insert hook in any ch-2 sp, pick up dark pink, *(sc in next ch-2 sp, 6ch, work 3dtr bobble, 1ch, sl st into the previous ch-1 sp. Working toward the bottom of the petal, 6ch, sl st in same ch-2 sp); repeat 7 more times, sl st to first sc—8 petals. Cut off yarn leaving 15cm tail.

Flower center: Using eyelashes, leaving 10 cm tail, loosely make 2 ch, 4 sc into 2nd ch from hook. Join with sl st to first sc. Cut off yarn leaving 10 cm tail.  Tie a knot using the two ends. From behind the petals, insert the hook into the center of the flower all the way through the front, pull the tail from the eyelashes all the way to the back of the petals. Gather all the tails at the back of the petals and tie a knot to secure and dub a drop of nail polish to the knot to secure.

Backing fabric:  Using dark pink, 2 ch loosely, 4 ch, 16 dtr into 2nd ch from hook. join with sl st to 4th of ch-4. Cut off yarn leaving  30 cm tail.  Thread the end into a yarn needle, stitch the backing to the  back of  the flower then stitch the pin into the backing.

If you like what you see and made something from my free patterns, please credit me by mentioning my name and my blog and provide the link to my blog. Please DO NOT re upload my files by any means to another blog or website. All my photographs are copyrighted. Thank you.

Mulberry Silk is Coming to Crochet Rockstar

I am very excited to let you know that these luxury Mulberry Silk is coming to Crochet Rockstar soon InsyaAllah. Please follow me for more info in next few weeks. InsyaAllah we all can enjoy these silk yarns at affordable retail price soon.

Lyba - 01

Reeled-01

Reeled - 02

Queen - 01

How to Calculate The Length of a Yarn the Easy Way

The label on the yarns usually says the weight and the length in each ball. But what if you are using some left over yarns or yarn stashes and had no idea of the length of them while your project says you need a certain length to complete?

Well here is the easiest and quickest way to find out. All you need is a tiny amount of yarns cut from the ball you wish to calculate and a digital pocket scale which is available at Amazon.com from under USD10. If you have no access to Amazon, check for it at shops which sells jewelry supplies. This tiny scale usually can measure the weight up to 100grams. The reason why we use the pocket scale is because it is used to measure the weight of jewelries and the accuracy is very close to the actual weight, and secondly we don't have to cut such a long thread to measure.

The scale in the picture above indicates that the weight of the yarn which is 1 gram.

Now let measure this tiny yarn and see what we get. It says 45 in or 114.3 cm.

Now let check the weight of our stash... It says 19 grams. It means the length of the yarn is 

19 x 114.3 cm = 2,171.7 cm = 21.8 M  or 23.75 yards.

Now let's try with different thickness of yarns. The previous yarn was a Light Worsted yarn. This one now is a thicker yarns, also came without label. All I know is the ball when it was new was 100 grams.

The scale says 1.26 grams, 

and it measures 55.2 inches

This ball ball is 49.25 grams

Now let's do the math: 1.26 grams = 55.2 inches

1 gram = 55.2 : 1.26 = 43.8 inches

49.25 grams = 49.25 x 43.8 = 2,157 inches

---> round it off to the nearest 10 inches=2160 inches

2160 : 36 inches (1 yard) = 60 yards.

Easy peasy right? 

If you like what you see and made something from my free pattern, please credit me by mentioning my name and my blog and provide the link to my blog. Please DO NOT re upload my files by any means to another blog or website. All my photographs are copyrighted. Thank you.

Joining Blocks using Raised Zipper Stitch Method

I accidentally found this new stitch while working on my crochet ball projects and I was quite happy with the way my project turned out after using it. The first ball project I used needle and thread but I wasn't very happy as it looks a bit weak although technically it is quite strong as I double both the thread and the stitches was done twice. Here is the first ball I made...

... and here is the second ball.

Which one do you like better?

I have created a video tutorial on how to do the stitch if you would like to learn.   I am not happy with the quality of the video, it's blurry although on my iPhone it was ok and it was just cut off near the finish line. Obviously I need o learn more about videography and uploading Youtube videos. That being said, I hope you still get the idea how to join this stitch. The pattern for the pentagon and the ball is free till September 26, 2014 from  Ravelry. Included in the pattern is the chart and step-by-step pictures to guide you in making the pentagon and to stitch them together to form a pretty crochet ball.
If you have been crocheting for a while chance is you might not need to buy new yarns for this project. 25 meters in total is approximately what you need to make one pentagon and you only need to make 12 of them.

If you like what you see and made something from my free pattern, all I ask is that you credit me by mentioning my name and my blog and provide the link to my blog. Please DO NOT re upload my files by any means to another blog or website. All my photographs are copyrighted. Thank you.

Row of Daffodils

Daffodils, crochet and photographs above and below by © Swathi Bopanna 2014.
Yarns: Vardaman 4 ply

Thanks Swathi Bopanna for testing the pattern. These look really awesome.

This pattern is available as a free Ravelry download

I made this flower as an entry for the FB group Passionate About Crochet theme “India Independence Day.” The bright colour of saffron gives a very nice touch to the pure white I am using and the green softens the shades, giving a pleasant looking piece of crochet art. One complete stem takes about 60 – 90 minutes to make. There are two options to finish the flower; ruffle and thin edging and both patterns are included.

Stitches Used

Sl st = slip stitch

Sc = single crochet

Hdc = half double crochet

Dc = double crochet

Standing sc = standing single crochet

Yo = yarn over

Reverse Sc: Reverse single crochet

This pattern has  been tested.

If you like what you see and made something from my free pattern, all I ask is that you credit me by mentioning my name and my blog and provide the link to my blog. Please DO NOT re upload my files by any means to another blog or website. All my photographs are copyrighted. Thank you.