Engineer castle

My husband wanted an Army Corp of Engineers castle on his truck, but subtle. So I ordered some matt black outdoor vinyl, converted the public domain svg (scalable vector graphic) file to a Cricut cut file, and used my Cricut cutter to cut the sticky vinyl.

Engineer castle in vinyl

To transfer the cut image to a permanent location you need to use transfer tape. Take time to line up the image with the guidelines on the transfer tape. I had to take a couple tries on this, which means I had to cut and weed (take out all the vinyl I didn’t want) twice. Please learn from my error! And when lining up the image in the final location, soapy water doesn’t work with intricately cut out vinyl, so go slow and use your guidelines. (By the way, soapy water works great for solid vinyl. It allows some wiggle room to set the design, then you squeegee out the water and the vinyl will stick. The soapy water with this cut out just nestled cozy in the openings and wouldn’t go away.) You know what? If you do intend to do this, just cut two or three images to start with, or maybe tape an image to the inside of the window so you have more guides. Hindsight is 20/20.

Subtle castle sticker

The result was awesome. Really hard to photograph because the window is reflective and the castle is not, but very cool to walk up to the truck and see the castle because of the difference in sheen.

Stash buster: pom poms

The last of my acrylic yarn stash! I just had bits and bobs, so made pom poms.

Scrap yarn pom poms

Pom poms are great for playing indoor “snowball” fights. They are also useful to get the attention of someone who is wearing headphones. Or just not paying attention. Not naming names (teenagers). I used my oops bag to hold the pom poms. I suppose some people use them in crafts. I like the throwing option.

These pom pom makers from Clover are the best I’ve used

And my stash is busted!! (Ok, ok, the acrylic stash. I have a stash of cotton and one of wool, but that is not the issue here.) Now back to spinning!

Stash buster: ear warmer

I had some left over yarn from Germany, not enough for a hat, but I found a new stash buster! A headband style ear warmer! Perfect for not-quite-a-skein projects. I made a chain to fit my head, then alternated rows of double crochet and half double crochet. Because the beginning chain has very little elasticity, I finished the other edge with slip stitches. The balance came out nicely. I also did about 20 single crochets at the back side so it would fit better under my hair. Yay for new stash busters!

Crocheted ear warmer

Another cloche hat

My friend gave me some beautiful single-ply, wool blend yarn from Germany (viele Danke!) I wanted my own cloche style hat, so used half double crochets to make a circle, continued without increases to make the sides, then alternated rows of increases and no increases to make the brim. It came out nice and warm!

Cloche style wool blend hat

Oops bag

This is my Oops bag because I started out making a hat, but made it too big, so just kept stitching until the skein was almost gone and finished with a row of 2dc 1ch to make holes for a ribbon to turn my failed hat into a drawstring bag.

Double crochet drawstring bag

I’m still experimenting with the two yarn spiral start, and thought it would be fun to go from both ends of a color block cake.

Crocheting from the inside and outside of a yarn cake

I chose to use a double crochet (dc) stitch because the counting is easier than a half double crochet.

Open drawstring bag showing spiral base

The holes for the drawstring are a little off set, since I was working in a spiral, but it isn’t really noticeable when the bag is closed.

To summarize my process (American notation): In a magic circle, cast on 2 sc, 2 hdc, 1 dc with yarn 1. Cast on 2 sc, 2 hdc, 1 dc with yarn 2 (10 stitches total). Row 1: Yarn 1: inc in each Yarn 2 stitch, Yarn 2: inc in each Yarn 1 stitch (20 stitches total). Row 3: Yarn 1: (1 dc, inc) repeat 5 times Yarn 2: (1 dc, inc) repeat 5 times (30 stitches total). Row 4: Yarn 1: (2 dc, inc) repeat 5 times Yarn 2: (2 dc, inc) repeat 5 times (40 stitches total). Continue adding dc between increases until circle is desired diameter. Then dc round, alternating yarn 1 and yarn 2 (this is more obvious than it sounds when you get going!) until you get to the desired length. To make the eye holes for the ribbon, using yarn 1 (1 dc, 1 dc, chain one and skip dc) go 1/2 way around. Do the same with yarn 2. 1 hdc, 1 sc, then single crochet (sc) around half with yarn 1 and repeat the other half with yarn 2. Fasten off and weave in ends. Weave ribbon through the holes (two strands of ribbon starting on opposite sides makes a secure drawstring).