Author: Caryn

Sleep caps

On By CarynIn Craft

Awhile ago I made my Dad a nålbound wool cap with ear flaps. He recently had a haircut and found that sleeping in the wool was too hot, so requested a lighter version of the cap to be on his gift list. Nålbinding is inherently warm, and works best with wool or easily felted fiber, so I changed not only the fiber, but the method of construction. I had some very soft 100% cotton yarn, which is difficult to nålbind, but very easy to crochet. My favorite cushy crochet stitch is a half double crochet, so this is what I used to make a spiral round cap with ear flaps. The yarn was self-striping, and I used a shell stitch above the ears to start the flap then decreased before the flap, and increased around the flap. This was very much a stitch by feel construction.

Photo description: Striped crocheted hat with ear flaps on a table.

I had more yarn, so decided to make a second hat. I tried for a smaller size, but half-double crochet hats don’t narrow as quickly as double crochet hats, so the crown size needs to be significantly smaller. I forgot this fact, and ended up with a hat the same size, just without ear flaps. So I sent both to my Dad to try as after haircut sleep caps.

Photo description: Striped beanie style cap on a counter.

Adding a zipper to crochet

On By CarynIn Craft

I wanted my owl bag to have a zipper, so I took a zipper from my stash and made a line of chain stitches a yarn needle and matching yarn on each side of the zipper.

Photo description: Purple invisible zipper with one side done with a line of embroidered chain stitch, in front of the bag to be zippered.

I then used a slip stitch to crochet the zipper to the inside of the bag, leaving one row as a lip at the top (mainly to help hide the zipper and stitches.)

Photo description: Finished zipper installation shown from the top of the crocheted bag.

Mosaic crochet chart

On By CarynIn Craft

Next for my mosaic crochet experiments is to attempt a chart of an image rather than a repeating pattern. I used the knitting chart app to plot out an owl, with the goal of making a small bag. I used a smaller hook to produce a dense fabric, and made the base as a long oval with increases on the ends in each row.

Photo description: Densely crocheted long oval in the foreground with calico cat and iPad in the background. The oval has been started with a chain, then four rounds added with increases on the ends only.

To make the walls of the bag, I worked in rounds of back loop single crochet, alternating colors, and dipping down with double crochet to block out color in the previous row. My original chart was close, but I had to make some adjustments as I went due to technical aspects. Here is the final chart.

Photo description: 25×28 grid with purple and white owl graphic.

And here is one side of the bag.

Photo description: Mosaic crochet bag on its side showing an elongated owl pattern with pink and purple stripes on the side.

It is still recognizable as an owl, but does have a different look since the mosaic crochet does not produce perfectly square color blocks, at least at my current level of understanding. This phenomenon occurs in charted knitting too. I found the reverse side of the crochet intriguing, as it was almost a negative of the front.

Photo description: Inside out bag with the light pink predominant rather than the purple, and the color blocks are split by row.

Since I worked in the round, I didn’t cut my ends, but took them up to the next row as I circled. This way I had less yarn ends to weave in (yay!)

Santa hat sparkle

On By CarynIn Craft

To be festive, I added a string of colored led lights to a sequined Santa hat. The cool part? The lights show through the white faux fur brim. The battery pack fit inside the brim in the back, and I wrapped the lights loosely around, then used white thread to make a basting stitch around the brim to hold everything in. The long stitches will be easy to undo, should I need to remove the lights, and I left a gap just large enough to slide the battery pack out.

Photo description: Santa hat showing a gap in the basting stitch between the hat and brim, with the corner of the battery pack visible.
Photo description: Red and white Santa hat with silver sequins on the brim, and colored lights showing through the faux fur, next to a spool of white thread and a needle.