The Crafty Princess Diaries

Tammy Powley’s Crafty Weblog

March 27, 2011
by Tammy
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Weekend Crafting Links

The Crochet Dude
Drew announced his “Carnation Bouquet Afghan Project” – looks like a FUN way to crochet for charity! There is also a way to win something from his product line The Crochet Dude Collection!

About Family Crafts
Even if you don’t have spring weather where you are, you can celebrate spring with these flower coloring pages.

The Card Album
See how to make a jackalope card with a bunny and deer punch.

Aileen’s Musings
Aileen offers you an Altered Composition Notebook tutorial this week; stop by and check it out.

Eileen – The Artful Crafter
Eileen shares directions for sewing a secret pockets hanger cover. This clever organizer can also be used to organize outfits.

Carmi’s Art/Life World
Following up on last weeks post Carmi prepared a two part sachet making tutorial.

Craftside- A behind-the-scenes peek at our crafty world
This week at Craftside there is a free vintage octopus clip art, idea for using steel wool for doll hair, a unique redwork crazy quilt and a tutorial on how to make mini art collages.

Stefanie Girard’s Sweater Surgery
See how to get your rubber duckies to take flight with some recycled plastic.

March 26, 2011
by Tammy
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Craft Sales at JoAnn’s This Weekend

I’m getting ready to make a baby blanket for a friend, so this was a great excuse to pick up some yarn deals at a great sale going on this weekend at JoAnn’s. I ended up getting some Bernat Baby Softee yarn for 25% off and some Lion Brand Sock-Ease for buy one ($9.99) and get the second for 50% off. Plus, with a special coupon I got in my email, I received an additional 25% off the entire purchase. That means my Bernat yarn was $2.52 a skein (normally $4.49), and the Sock-Ease skeins were $7.45 and 3.74.

There are also some good deals on jewelry supplies and fabric. I think the last day of the sale and the ability to use the 25% off coupon is tomorrow. I’m so glad I got in on this, and as luck would have it, I managed to get to the store fairly early for a change and didn’t get stuck in those horrible lines JoAnn’s usually has on weekends like this.

March 25, 2011
by Tammy
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Crochet Chain Stitch Ideas

Now that I’ve taught a few people how to crochet, I’ve learned how critical the chain stitch is for them. However, there is only so much you can do with crochet chains or so I thought until I found this very cool video of the Double Stitch Twins who show a few things you can do just with chain stitch. I especially like the picture frame. That is super easy and would make a nice gift too. Plus, those new to crochet can get lots of chain stitch practice in and have something they can actually make with the zillion foot chain they end up making!

March 24, 2011
by Tammy
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Baby Beanie Hat with No Slip Stitch

Finally, I discovered a very simply baby beanie (aka hat) pattern requiring no slip stitches but instead is worked in the round that I think my craft club members can do. It is a single crochet hat from the Art of Crochet by Teresa weblog. Not only is it very easy to understand as far as the pattern goes, but it is very forgiving in case you mess up on counting the rows. She even has a video that shows you how to make the entire project, which is awesome for beginners or even me 😉




I like how it turned out. The only down side is that it takes much longer to make than my tried and true hat that I’ve been making for awhile, but hey, it got me to expand my crochet horizons some.

March 23, 2011
by Tammy
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Yarn Skeins, Balls, and Hanks, the 411

I have been trying to think of a way to easily break up some yarn skeins into maybe two or three balls each as a way to help spread the yarn love some among craft club members. My initial approach was to use yarn scraps to teach them how to crochet and then hand over a full skein when they are ready to actually make something. However, while members usually have good intentions, I’ve learned that sometimes the end product does not materialize, and I’ve essentially lost yarn.

I don’t think there is going to be an easy way to do this, but I thought I’d check YouTube just in case to see if I was missing some cool trick for turning skeins into balls. As I did, I found this interesting video from Vicki Howell about the difference in how yarn is wrapped or packaged.

March 21, 2011
by Tammy
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Crocheted Baby Hats, Hats, and More Hats

Along with crocheting baby afghans, our club is also working baby hats. I haven’t made these in a while, and though I’ve been trying to find some different patterns for me to attempt, I keep coming back to this one from the Tying Knots in Yarn weblog. It’s such a great pattern. It is easy to follow, the stitches are simple, and the results are wonderful.

I have had a few club members ask for a pattern that works in the round because they aren’t thrilled with the seam you get on these, but so far, I haven’t found anything that was on the super-easy level. Plus, once I wash and block these hats, you really don’t see the seam like you do when you are making it. I think some of their issues was that they are still pretty new to crochet and don’t understand how to tighten up the tension when moving up to the next row.

We are going to be sending off our first batch of donated baby items soon, and between a few members who are making hats and the hats I’ve been making, we should have at least a dozen or so to include with the afghans as well. Yeah!

March 20, 2011
by Tammy
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Weekly Craft Links

Eileen – The Artful Crafter
Eileen reviews Chapter 4 of Cyndi Lavin’s eBook, Every Bead Has a Story.

Mixed Media Artist
Cyndi found a new product to help out with her fabric books…

Stefanie Girard’s Sweater Surgery
See how to make an Easter egg locket necklace.

About Family Crafts
Follow these tips shared by Sherri to successfully color on fabric.

Aileen’s Musings
Aileen offers you a couple of Easter Egg projects to inspire you!

Carmi’s Art/Life World
Carmi makes a sweet sachet with fabric she printed herself.

Craftside-A behind-the-scenes peek at a crafty world
This week at Craftside there are tutorials on how to make a custom car windshield sun shade, carve novelty erasers into cute rubber stamps, paint pale skin tones, some history about sheet music, and a crazy quilt made with techniques from the book Designer Bead Embroidery.

March 19, 2011
by Tammy
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Crochet Comfort Gift

This is a set I made for a good friend of mine who has been going through some tough times over the past year. It’s a crocheted scarf, beret, and fingerless gloves set. The scarf is just easy to to double crochet stitch. The fingerless gloves are from a pattern I found on-line, adapted a little, and have used many times now, and this is about the third beret I’ve made using a pattern from the September/October 2010 issue of Crochet Today. I used Vanna’s Choice yarn in a rich burgundy color.

It’s warming up now, so she may not get a ton of use out of these now that we are already half way through March, but you never know when a little cold snap can happen. I’ve packed these up and have them ready to ship out on Monday.

March 18, 2011
by Tammy
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Crochet Square Logic

Spring semester ends in early May, so the club is working on getting all our crochet baby items finished up and ready to donate to Healthy Start. We already have two crocheted baby afghans made from squares that members made already stitched together, and these are the last of the squares. Of course, we have 8 squares and need 9 to make a blanket. As the club’s fearless leader, that means I need to get a square made!

One of the issues we’ve discovered from doing these squares is that it can turn into some kind of logic question because we have probably about 10 active members, each making squares and various other items in an assortment of colors. Once the basic crochet lessons were over and members started making squares, I just let them select a yarn color of their choice with no thought to a master plan or design. Once we started getting enough squares in to connect them, we realized, hmm…how are we going to arrange the squares?

In these last 8 squares, the purple squares are not of the exact shade, but I’m going to go ahead with it, make one pink square, and assemble them all into our third blanket made from squares. It’s actually kind of cool because it is almost like a patchwork quilt, and since different squares are made by different members, you end up with a project that we all worked on together.

March 15, 2011
by Tammy
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Another Glove to Try

I have been having on-going hand issues for awhile now. First it was carpel tunnel on my right hand. I got a brace to wear at night, and it helped a little. Then my left wrist started really hurting when I did weird things like turned a door knob or turned my steering wheel to the left. Finally, I went to the doctor and had some X-rays done on my wrist. I was hoping it was also carpel tunnel, but it felt so different, that I had a feeling it wasn’t. Unfortunately, I was right.

It turns out that my wrist pain is caused by arthritis, and other than pain meds from the doctor, which I passed on, there’s not a thing anyone can do for me. I bought another brace for this wrist and wear that at night now, and that helps some, but during the day, I was still having pain, even when I took aspirin or ibuprofen. So I finally decided to try out one of the softer wrist braces, and so far so good. I’m able to do a lot more, and the pain level is cut down some. It definitely is not sexy looking, but I’m hoping this will keep me crafting (pain free) for awhile at least.