As a Thank You to Sugar the Samoyed’s family for sharing Sugar’s fur for my fiber study, I sent them a crocheted heart and the remainder of the yarn.
I designed the leather heart using Adobe Illustrator, then cut it from vegetable tanned tooling leather. Having precision cut holes was awesome to make a blanket stitch around the edge. I then crocheted into the stitches using a single crochet in the back loop.
In February 2015 I finished crocheting a driver cover for my Dad, in the shape of a black Labrador head.
The neck is a crocheted rib, the ears are single crochet triangles, and the rest is single crochet in the round with a small hook in the style of amigurumi (although I don’t think I knew that word at the time). The nose is stuffed, but the skull is provided by the head of the golf club.
In February 2015 I finished a crochet project for my Dad that has a basket weave looking texture for a hat and scarf.
The technique uses front post and back post double crochet stitches in sets of three. It is actually an easy texture to achieve, but I recommend not using black yarn while trying to learn to count the stitches and rows. Also, size up any wool hats, as wear causes light felting, which shrinks the hat.
In January of 2015 I was examining the construction techniques of Irish crochet, a type of free form lace that has a rich texture.
Padding in crochet is carrying a thicker cord, or multiple cords, along inside the crocheted stitches. The padding cord also gives more control of the shape of the crochet because it can be pulled tighter and lock in curves.
Back in December of 2014 I decided to combine crochet and jewelry making to create a light weight but bold necklace with pearlized cotton in shades of purple.
In 2014 I really had started to embrace taking pictures of my creations. I even took a picture of the CD case I repurposed into a guess-thwarting jewelry box.
I’m pretty sure since this is purple it went to my Mom. I’ve done more crocheted jewelry since. It is much lighter than traditional bold jewelry pieces, but does have to be laundered, starched, and laid flat to dry on occasion. I can personally tolerate a crocheted necklace for a little longer, if it isn’t too tight.
