Free Picnic Table Decor Idea, Fun Cutlery Holder!

My New Picnic Table Cutlery Holder Project Sheet is on Etsy!..it's so simple I'm going to describe it for you here so you really don't need the pattern unless you'd like to buy it for the photos and details. Fun! It's intended as a way to use scrap yarn and items you have lying around to make a sweet container or gift box.

Here's what you do, for those of you who don't need the details and have flower and star patterns you can already use: 


Choose a straight walled container to use, like a coffee pot or an empty plastic ice cream bucket.


Then make a crocheted dc and chain sleeve for it:


In medium weight yarn crochet a length of chains which circles your container of choice and just touches. Work rows of dc-and chain lattices *(dc, ch 1, skip next st) , joining at the end of each round and stepping up with a ch-4 for each new round. 


Top it off with a row of sc and use it to encircle your bandana-wrapped container. Tuck any extra bandana fabric to the interior of small pots, or let the extra fabric hang down for larger pots/buckets.


I like to crochet little motifs like stars and add them to these picnic pots for a decoration.

If you'd like the actual pattern for this, with materials, details, lots of photos, the star pattern, etc, you can click here to buy it for $2.20 on etsy but if you just want to duplicate it from my instructions above, be my guest! It's also available instantly as a download on Ravelry .And check out my various pattern stores below! Thanks for looking and happy summer!!

___________________________________________________________________

Check out my latest designs at My Etsy Pattern Store or at My Ravelry Pattern Store!
My 4-Chapter Mini Treasury

is also on Ravelry right now for $9.99!

Super Fast Summer Bandana Bag Pattern!

My New Easy Bandana Bag Project is on Etsy today...it's so simple I'm going to describe it for you here so your really don't need the pattern unless you'd like to buy it for the details. Fun! P.S. Use "SUMMER2015" on Etsy to save 25% for the rest of THIS SUMMER!!!!!

Here's how it goes: Use a yarn needle and medium weight yarn to work a running stitch in a circle which almost touches the edges of your bandana. 

Next work a "casing" of sorts of (ch,dc) all the way around, worked on the yarn stitches.

Then form a drawstring strap or length of chains which is about 45" long and weave it through your dc casing to pull your bandana purse shut. Tie the ends of the chained length together and you're ready to add a crocheted flower, buttons, whatever you want.

Perfect for summer, for the beach, for use as a gift bag, a child's present, whatever you can think!! I'm going to hang them on the end of a picnic table to hold plastic forks, YAY!!

If you'd like the actual pattern for this, with dimensions, details, photos, the flower pattern, etc, you can click here to buy it for $2.20 on Etsy. But if you just want to duplicate it from my instructions above, be my guest! And check out my various pattern stores below! Thanks for looking and happy summer!!

Check out my latest designs at My Etsy Pattern Store or at My Ravelry Pattern Store!
My 4-Chapter Mini Treasury

is also on Ravelry right now for $9.99!

Making a Small Crocheted Purse for Summer AND 30% off Crochet pattern ebooks!

You guys, put in coupon code "MAY2012" to get 30% off everything, even the treasuries, on my Etsy Pattern Store . I am going NUTS with polymer clay and felted flowers this week; summer always makes me focus on bags, bags, bags....I need bags to travel with, bags to carry my projects around in, bags MOST IMPORTANTLY because I like to wear sun dresses, and they HAVE NO POCKETS! Why, why, I ask you? Where, I ask you, does one put a phone or a car key?

The solution, summer dress wearers, is a tiny little summery bag...
Just use size 18 nylon string like you can find in a hobby store; a size F crochet hook...
and crochet a rectangle approximately 4" wide by 10" long. Fold it in half, slip stitch the sides together; then Chain a doubled-up strand of your nylon for a long stringy strap. I like about 35", nice and long to loop over the neck so it stays put. That's it! Most crocheters will know how to do this almost without thinking; if you're more of a detail person who wants a pattern, here's One You Can Buy on Ravelry for 4 dollars which includes not only very detailed instructions on the nylon purse (and a bit of a decorative edging), but also some flowers that look perfect with it! (You can see the project above)

You need the nylon string just mentioned, various scrap yarns in cotton, and crochet thread in a couple of colors for the stamens and the edging on the flowers. Size F hook and size 1 (2 mm) steel thread crochet hook are what you'll need, and you only need to know sc, dc, slip stitch, chain, just the basics.

Have a super summer and show me what you're working on! 

BEST PATTERN SALE of the Summer: Susan's Mini Treasury on Etsy!

My Mini Treasury, with my most popular all-original crochet patterns, will be on etsy this summer for only $12.99!  It has the best of the full-size Treasury, with eight baby hat patterns, dozens of flower patterns, crocheted jewelry and 13 animal appliques!
If you'd like to see thumbnails of all of the patterns included, click here on the etsy listing and look at the second photo of pattern thumbnails. This is really the best of the best that I have, all for $12.99 and in 8 x 10 " printable format. More than 220 pages and 50 individual patterns: flowers, tiny purses, baby hats, jewelry, lots of bitty projects for the beach or pool bag!

Ahh summer, I'm going to be doing lots of these little crochet doodles and wet felting them, yeah!!

Send me a note if you have any questions, and thanks!! 

Freeform Crochet Ideas

I guess I need some help with freeform crochet; I'm such a doodler that it appeals to me mightily; but I need to learn lots more about freeform before I do this stuff! All the freeform pieces I see look so much like a great big coral reef sculpture, I love it! In contrast, this piece looks something like a bunch of mold, but I'm getting there! The bullion stitch I get, but I need to take a class or something. I can see that I need to be mixing up open vs. closed shapes, mixing up colors, mixing up different textures, different shapes...but I get lost in the ridiculousness of trying to make a piece of work that hangs together and doesn't buckle. Ah, well, something to aspire to. I'll keep drooling over these pieces of art crochet that I see. Give me your criticisms, I can take it! 

Susan

______________________________________________________

Check out my latest designs at My Etsy Pattern Store or at My Ravelry Pattern Store!
My 4-Chapter Mini Treasury

is also on Ravelry right now for $9.99!

New Brimmed Granny Baby Hat Pattern!

Finally done with the thread crochet brimmed Granny Baby Hat! You can see it here on Etsy, or See it here on Ravelry ...I kind of got tired of flowers on baby girl crochet hats, and loved the stripey-ness of the ribbon on one of these, and also loved the black and white color scheme. So snappy and sassy!

The best thing about some of these baby hats is that they're worked in crochet thread, so they're floppy, cool, perfect for summer (although I must say the holes in the little hats will let bald little baby heads get too much sun!) ...and you don't need to get out reading glasses to work them in thread, because they're loosely crocheted with a nice big size K hook. Love it! That's why they take an hour or less to make.

Let me know if you have any questions and thanks so much for your kindness and support!


Below you can see all of my places where I put my things on the internet:
My Ravelry Pattern Store
my Amazon Patterns
My Etsy Pattern Store
AND...

Check out my latest designs at My Etsy Pattern Store or at My Ravelry Pattern Store!
My 4-Chapter Mini Treasury

is also on Ravelry right now for $9.99!

A curly, big crocheted mum and other crochet ideas

My Single Fall Mum Pattern Now on Ravelry

I love both stylized flowers in crochet - ones that look cartoony and bold - and also semi-naturalistic ones like the one above. Naturalistic usually means more work, sigh. But either way, I'm loving the symbolic and actual physical happiness and cheeriness of flowers! How I wish I could grow them well!

I guess I usually either over water or under water, but mostly not enough sun. What bold huge flowers can grow in the shade, I ask ya?

Anyhoo, thanks to my wonderful crochet customers, you're an inspiration to me! Give me your ideas and suggestions, it's always fun and inspiring. Right now I'm trying to noodle out the idea of bringing together patterns and projects for a super charity; but I keep running in to the problem of a good site for auctioning goods (like crocheted pillows, etc) for a charity. It's definitely a problem on etsy; I suppose the Mission Fish arm of ebay might be the best possibility. What do you think, and are you interested?

Below you can see all of my places where I put my things on the internet:
My Ravelry Pattern Store
my Amazon Patterns
My Etsy Pattern Store

Have a super day!

New Coupon Code for 25% off ALL of my crochet patterns and ebooks on Ravelry!

Easy Baby Hat is now on Ravelry! And... put in "MAY2012" at checkout for 25% off any and all of my patterns on Ravelry, including this one.... (list price is $3.90)

Wow Smokey

This is my favorite picture ever of my cat.

Susan

---------------------------------------------------------
Ravelry Crochet Pattern Shop
Etsy Crochet Shop

Free Crochet Pattern - Rosy Baby Hat in NB and Preemie

I've made my little "Rosy Baby Hat" available here for free for a limited time! You get both the instructions for the tiny hat AND the simply swirly rose which goes with it. I love pairing that rose with scarfettes and small purses, it's a fun one. Worked all in one piece, too. BTW, use coupon code "MAYHALFOFF" on Etsy on May 17 and 18 for 50% off all of my crochet patterns!

It's so simple and easy, and comes in Preemie and Newborn sizes, tiny! Click here to get the pdf "Rosy Baby Hat" .
Work it in thread crochet instead of yarn for summer!! It's been super to have so much fun designing and writing, I'm sure I'll burn out in a little while and have to take a break, but it seems like the muse stays for a week or so.

You can see all of my patterns at My Etsy Store or, better yet, get them instantly as downloads from My Ravelry Pattern Store . For those of you who haven't seen much of my work, I'm all about flowers, leaves, animal appliques, anything small and commitment-free! One big purpose for my crochet is to calm my itchy hands, and if it's too big a project, forget it! So do check out my things and have a super time with your project bag this summer! If you're lucky enough to go to the beach, I know you'll have a bag full of tangled yarns, threads, and hooks with you, right by your feet. Ha!

Ravelry fans, use the link above and type in the coupon code "THANK YOU" for a buy two, get one free deal.



Toodles!

Free Pattern, give me Feedback! Fluffy Puppy Crochet Pattern

Hey, you guys, if anyone can test this and let me know how it works out for them, that would be great. It's so much fun, a fluffy doggie which actually (for me) works up slippery and floppy like a Beanie Baby. I call it "Shaggy Puppy" and you need to have one of those fluffy specialty yarns and some animal eyes from the craft store.
here's the link for the pattern. Here's how it looks when I crochet it:

Everyone check out my Etsy Store where you'll find all of my patterns as instant downloads!

you can also check all of my patterns out on Amazon!!

New 30% off Etsy Coupon!

I'm putting out a new coupon, finally! 30% off anything you buy in my Etsy store, offered with my great gratitude towards my wonderful Etsy customers. Just put in the code when you check out: once you've added an item to your cart, you can enter details about your order. Click "Apply shop coupon code" to open the field and that's where you type "MAY2012"  . It will only be good for the month of May, so use it soon!

Thank you once again, and I hope all my crochet friends enjoy shopping! Best wishes and blessings, Susan

Work those Crochet Baby Hats in Cotton Thread for Summer! Yeah!

Wow, I've been absolutely loving the process of tweaking my baby hat designs for summer. I'm sure lots of people might say "duh", but using those old standby Crochet Cotton Threads instead of yarn is WONDERFUL for a summer option!! Try working your pattern made for a baby (lightweight or no. 3 or "sport weight") yarn in the SAME size hook -- NOT a thread crochet hook. You'll have to use a double strand of the thread, but that's easy. Above you can see how my classic granny baby hat in crochet looks when you work in with a double strand of thread instead of baby yarn. It feels so heavy and supple and cool when worked in that double strand of no. 10!!! Love it! Heavier cotton threads like no. 3 don't work as well, they're rougher. 

The only down side is a loss of springiness, so you may wish to add little ties that tie under a chin. That's why I'm working on that brimmed hat you may have seen in the previous post that incorporates a tie that works well with the hat. That less flexible thread hat might just scootch and scootch until it's off that darling little head, and THEN what good is it, I ask ya?

Here's the pattern you see above on Ravelry - Granny Hat in Newborn / 3 mo / 6 mo ; 

Check out my Ravelry Pattern Store  or, if you prefer, my Etsy Pattern Store

My Sid the Snail on Sale on Ravelry ...It's $2.19, a big markdown. I had to do something to introduce myself to my Ravelry friends, so I'm putting Sid on sale for a little while. He's so much fun, I was just telling a Ravelry friend that it always calls out to me to be sewn of a darling little girl's dress pocket.

My usual price for little Sid is $2.99 for the full size pattern which is printable (as opposed to a Kindle doc).

I slipped on gravel on my new bike and jammed my poor thumb! I'm going to have to put the crochet hook down for a couple of days, I'm depressed! Dangit. That's what happens when you try to act like a kid. Damn!

Anyhoo, here's Sid on the Kindle Store for 99 cents, if that format is what you want! Thanks for looking, and have a blast. 

Ravelry Store and New Jam Packed Mini Treasury of Crochet Patterns

Still fussing over summery patterns, I can't get stuff out of my head fast enough!! And my easel is calling to me, too, what shall become of me??

Anyhoo, am almost done with a summer thread crochet granny style baby hat with a  brim, it's so heavy and cool and non-fuzzy, I love it! I've got to finish writing the pattern and designing the flower and bow that go with it, but should be done in a day or two.

IN THE MEANTIME....I've put together a Kindle friendly (i.e. small format page) 4 Chapter Mini Treasury of my most popular patterns for Ravelry fans...and it's only $9.99!

 It has a chapter with 13 different animal appliques worked in crochet thread , a chapter with 9 baby hats in at least two to three sizes each (they vary), a chapter with four scarfettes and a daisy garland pattern set, and a chapter of summery crocheted jewelry, both simple and more detailed.

You can find it on Ravelry here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/susans-mini-treasury-of-crochet-patterns

Here are all of my Ravelry offerings and also my Facebook Crochet Page!
Ta ta!!

Designing a Summer Baby Hat

I've been consumed with this latest, I'm loving the way that crochet thread makes a super fast baby hat! Here it is on etsy... I thought it would be hard and scratchy, but at least using "Aunt Lydia's" brand no. 10, it's supple and cool, since that fuzziness you get with yarn isn't there. And besides, cotton's the best for summer.

It's not at all fussy and difficult, as it looks at first glance. The whole thing, at least without the flower, takes only 40 or 50 minutes, tops. The shells add a bit of vintage flavor, but the use of a size K hook is definitely super fast and modern, ha!

Let me know if you have any questions, and yes, it will be available in Amazon's Kindle Store. If you click on this link you'll find it.

Here are my various patterns on Amazon's Kindle Store, including this new one....when you see my patterns as Kindle documents, they're smaller in format and they're unable to be printed out, so I sell them more cheaply than the larger printable versions on my Etsy Crochet pattern store . 

Have a super creative week and here's hoping you have some terrific surprises!