Yarn

Dishcloth and Plant Holder Pattern

November 24, 2016 by Yarnovator ·

Who says dishcloths have to be square? This month’s dishie pattern is a beautiful pentagonal cloth made from FibraNatura Good Earth distributed by Universal Yarns. Though I stopped with an 8″ dishcloth, it could be made in any size. It’s the perfect dishcloth for washing and scrubbing as well as gift giving.

This lovely dishcloth would also be great as a doily or as a hot pad.

I fell in love with this design so much, I decided to turn it into a plant holder! The plant holder starts with a pentagonal base, with the side supports crocheted around that. Because of the design, it can hold various sized pots a little smaller or larger than 1.46 quarts.

Plants make a house so homey. Plant some ivy or perhaps some spices. Turn your kitchen into a living space!

Finished Measurements:

Dishcloth: 8″
Plant Holder: 26 x 4 1/2″, holds a 1.46 qt pot

PDF Instant Download Now Available

The Dishcloth+ Series: Pentagonal Dishcloth and Plant Holder is now available in our Etsy Store.

Available Now on Etsy.

Filed Under: Crochet, Dining, Dishcloth+ Series, Home, Home Decor, Kitchen, Yarn, Yarnovator · Tagged With: crochet, dishcloth, Dishcloth+ Series, plant holder

Christmas Pin Loom Project Set

November 10, 2016 by Yarnovator ·

Pin Loom your Christmas decorations and gifts this year! All with only a 4″ square pin loom.

These festive woven projects have you and your friends’ names written all over them. Who doesn’t love a gnome? Add a little snowman to your indoor collection. Decorate with a beautiful wreath and garden flag. Relax on these lovely pillows. It truly is amazing what you can create with squares with a little shaping and sewing.

Each project is made with 4″ squares done in plain weave. (The pattern does NOT include how to plain weave.) Projects range from 1 to 38 squares, making them quick and easy to make.

The pattern includes:

Gnome
Pillow with Crochet Snowflake
Santa’s Belly Pillow
Santa’s Belly Wall Hanging
Snowflake Ornament
Bethlehem Garden Flag
Holly & Berry Wreath
Reindeer Squares
Snowman Squares
Santa’s Pants
Christmas Present
Miniature Snowmen
Step-by-step photos
Step-by-Step written instructions
Templates for the felt pieces

Pattern also includes instructions on how to turn some of these things into magnets, little gift bags, greeting cards, and more.

Projects shown here are made with Red Heart Soft yarn. Not only is it soft, it also has a nice sheen. This is a great yarn for pin looming.

PDF Instant Download Available Now

The pattern and templates for the Christmas Pin Loom Projects are now available in our Etsy Shop.

Available on Etsy.

Filed Under: Christmas, Crochet, Great as Gifts, Holidays & Special Occasions, Home, Home Decor, Patterns for Sale, Pin Loom, Toys, Yarn, Yarnovator · Tagged With: christmas, crochet, decoration, garden flag, gifts, gnome, pin loom, reindeer, snowman, wreath, yarn

Review: Vanna’s Choice from Lion Brand Yarns

August 26, 2015 by Yarnitect (Dana) ·

Review: Vanna’s Choice from Lion Brand Yarns

We raided our stash and used Vanna’s Choice from Lion Brand Yarns in our Twins Face Off crocheted flowers design challenge. Here are our thoughts about the yarn:

This yarn is a workhorse…and we mean that in the nicest sense. It has been one of our go-to yarns for years so it was only natural that we used it in our stashbuster challenge.

Yarn Features:

According to the Lion Brand website: Vanna White, America’s favorite crocheter and Lion Brand’s spokesperson for over 15 years, introduces Vanna’s Choice®, an easy-care, silky-soft premium basic available in a range of beautiful, expertly-coordinated shades.

Worsted Weight: 170 yrds / 100 g
100% Premium Acrylic

Vanna’s Choice Pros:

Lots of color options – there are several fun lines in Vanna’s Choice including: Tapestry and Baby. She also has a Glamour and Sequins line. What will Vanna dream up next? Looks like she’s introduced Mohair with her Complements line. Oh my!
Smooth texture glides across fingers nicely
Pretty Soft
Has a good twist, so doesn’t split very often
Has a medium sheen – not too shiney or too dull
Washable
A portion of the proceeds is donated to Charity (St Jude’s)

Vannna’s Choice Cons:

Even with all the colors available, we still long for more options in yellow

Patterns Using Vanna’s Choice:

Many of our patterns use Vanna’s Choice including those in this month’s challenge. Here are some links to patterns using this yarn:

Floral Heart Throw Pillow – From Twins Face Off
Floral Heart Throw Pillow on Etsy
Flower Door Stops – From Twins Face Off
Crochet Patterns on Lion Brand Website
Knitting Patterns on Lion Brand Website
Crochet Patterns on Ravelry
Knitting Patterns on Ravelry

Filed Under: Review, Yarn · Tagged With: review, vanna's choice

How to Make a Center-Pull Ball of Yarn by Hand

September 5, 2013 by Yarnitect (Dana) ·

How to Make a Center-Pull Ball of Yarn by Hand

how to make a center pull ball of yarn by hand

We’ll show you how to make a center pull ball of yarn by hand…no tools or special gadgets required. This simple technique will keep your yarn stash neat and your yarn tangle free.

yarn wound in various forms

A center pull means that the yarn can be pulled from the center of the ball or skein. The ball stays stationary and does not flop around like it does when yarn is pulled from the outside of the skein.

Yarn comes packaged in several different ways.

Ball – Yarn wound in a round shape that has a center pull (purple ball top left in photo above).
Hank – A loose coil of yarn wound in a large circle with no center pull (red hank bottom in photo above).
Skein – An oblong ball of yarn with a center pull (yellow skein top right in photo above).

yarn in various states

There are several reasons for making a ball of yarn:

The skein is 3/4 used up and its shape is floppy and starting to turn into a tangled mess.
The hank is easier to work with as a ball of yarn.
A project has been frogged (ripped out) and needs to be turned into a ball.
A previous ball of yarn is starting to unravel.

How to Make a Center Pull Ball of Yarn by Hand

thumbs up for making a ball of yarn

1. Lay a yarn tail across your fingers with your thumb pointed up and the tail of the yarn dangling below your little finger. Close your fingers around the yarn. You’ve now got a thumbs up to go ahead with the yarn ball.

first wrap

2. Wrap yarn around your thumb at and angle…I usually wrap it on an \ angle. Wrap the yarn around approximately 10 times.

3. Twist that group of yarn about 1/4 turn to the left (clockwise).

2nd wrap

4. Wrap yarn around your thumb at the same angle \ as you did in step 2, again wrapping the yarn around your thumb about 10 times.

almost done wrapping yarn

5. Repeat steps 3 and 2 alternately until your ball of yarn is made.

how to make a center pull ball of yarn by hand

6. Remove your thumb from the center of the ball and that is where your center pull is.

Note: There are a lot of alternatives for this method of making a center pull ball of yarn.

You can wrap around two or three fingers instead of your thumb.
You can wrap around a knitting needle or crochet hook instead of your fingers or thumb.
You can twist your hand/thumb instead of twisting the yarn.
You can wrap the yarn around a piece of cardboard or plastic bobbin.

We use this center pull ball of yarn method ALL the time. We often find that after the center pull ball of yarn has been used a while, we will need to remake it. The partially used center pull ball tends to collapse and tangle (as seen in the black ball in the photo above).

Filed Under: Tips & Tricks, Yarn · Tagged With: ball of yarn, how to

Crochet Cup Cozy Patterns

October 20, 2012 by Yarnitect (Dana) ·

Crochet Cup Cozy Patterns – Something for Everyone & Every Season

We decided to make a crochet cup cozy or two. But once we got started, we couldn’t stop! As you can see, we made animals, holidays and seasons, not to mention wild, crazy and elegant. There’s literally something here for everyone and something for most every season!

28 crochet cup cozy patterns with recipe or craft included!

Every design we came up has modifications to fit cups, mugs and mason jars….cause you never know when you want the design for tappered cups or mugs with handles.

As we were creating our designs we thought it would be fun to create cute gifts in mason jars. So, every other week for one year, we created a mason jar cozy gift. We’ve consolidated all the cozies, included all three sizes (mugs, cups and jars), added the gift idea (recipe or craft) and created an 80+ page ebook!

Includes 3 NEW patterns, too! We have a vampire, dracula and blue jeans cozy not seen in the Mason Jar Series.

The ebook is now available in the store:

Skill Level: Easy (with a few intermediate stitches)

Vanna’s Choice yarn – worsted weight (4) – was used for our cup cozies. We love the color options in this line. Most cozies were made using a H or J crochet hook, but we used hooks as small as a C and as large as L.

Crochet Cup Cozy Patterns – Animals

When you make one animal crochet cup cozy…more are sure to follow. That was true for us, anyway. These are fun for Easter, Bosses Day, Summer, Thinking of You and Just Because

Here are the designs and their recipe or craft:

OWL – Soap Dispenser
BUNNY – Robin Eggs Candy
DOG – Puppy Chow
BEAR – Chocolate Covered Graham
LADY BUG – Greek Salad Dressing

Crochet Cup Cozy Patterns – Holidays

Some holidays are super fun to crochet into a cozy. We’ll be decorating for several special occasions with these cozies. These are fun for traditional holidays like Christmas, Halloween, Birthday, 4th of July, Memorial Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day and Thanksgiving.

Here are the designs and their recipe or craft:

HEARTS – Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
LEPRECHAUN – Sweet / Sour Grapes
AMERICAN FLAG – Apple Pie
CUPCAKE – Turtle Cake
PUMPKIN – Spicy Pumpkin Seeds
MUMMY – Mummy Pretzel
SANTA – Peppermint Bark
TUXEDO – Chocolate Covered Almonds

Crochet Cup Cozy Patterns –Seasons & More Holidays

It’s fun to get into the spirit of the seasons, even sports seasons. With these cozies we’re celebrating Spring, Mother’s Day, Earth Day, Football (Baseball and Basketball) Season, I {heart} Yarn Day, Administrative Professionals Day, Chinese New Year and more!

Here are the designs and their recipe or craft:

DAISY – Planter
BASKETBALL –Caramel Corn
FOOTBALL – Party Mix
PLUM BLOSSOM – Fortune Cookie
FLOWER – Bath Salts
HEART – Yarn Ball Bowl
CAUSE RIBBON – Potato Soup

Crochet Cup Cozy Patterns – Wacky and Crazy

We had so much fun creating cozies that we couldn’t resist making some quirky designs as well. Some of these designs are season and just for fun like Halloween, Talk Like a Pirate Day, Father’s Day, Casual Friday’s and Just Because.

Here are the designs and their recipe or craft:

SMILE – Sugar Cookies
MUSTACHE – Beef Rub
JEANS / PANTS – Smores
PIRATE – Strawberry Lemonade
VAMPIRE – Red Velvet Truffle
DRACULA – Goulish Popcorn

Crochet Cup Cozy Patterns –Available in the Store

This crochet cup cozy ebook is now available in the store. All the patterns mentioned above are included plus Fall Leaf (dirt and worms) and Radioactive (spiced tea) cozies not pictured! What a screaming deal!

The mason jar versions of these patterns are highlight free on this blog in our Mason Jar Series (except Dracula, Vampire, Mummy and blue jeans which are only available in the ebook). You can get your copy of the ebook in the store.

Ebook includes 28 Designs.

includes Cup cozy directions
includes Mug cozy directions
includes Mason Jar cozy directions
includes a delicious recipe or fun craft for each design
3 New designs not seen in Mason Jar Series – Dracula, Vampire and blue jeans
80+ pages in ebook with step-by-step instructions

Filed Under: Adult, Animals, Boy, Child, Christmas, Crochet, Cup Cozies, Flowers, Football, Girl, Great as Gifts, Halloween, Mason Jar Series, Patterns for Sale, Thanksgiving, Yarn, Yarnitect, Yarnovator · Tagged With: animal, bear, bottle, cable, can, caution, christmas, coffee, cozy, cup, cupcake, dog, fall, flag, football, Halloween, heart, holiday, jar, jeans, ladybug, leaf, leaves, mummy, owl, pants, patriotic, pumpkin, radioactive, santa, season, seasons, snowflake, sports, spring, summer, thanksgiving, valentine

Crochet Monkey Baby Blanket and Toy Set

October 18, 2012 by Yarnitect (Dana) ·

Crochet Monkey Baby Blanket and Toy Set

Welcome new baby with this fun crochet monkey baby blanket and toy set. This pattern comes with the baby blanket, security blanket and three crochet block designs.

Perfect for newborns and little tykes, these three Lil Monkey accessories will get lots of use for years to come. Mix and match the colors to coordinate with baby’s nursery.

Crochet Monkey Baby Blanket and Toy Set – The Pattern

The crochet monkey set comes with three accessories: baby blanket, security blanket and toy blocks.

Skill Level: Easy

1. CROCHET MONKEY BABY BLANKET

Perfect for baby to sleep on or to be wrapped in to keep warm.

This simple blanket is crocheted in Rows with a simple single crochet ch-1 pattern. It’s dressed up with a crochet monkey face in one corner and mini hands in another.

Measures: 37” x 29”

2. CROCHET MONKEY SECURITY BLANKET

Perfect for giving sweet little kisses to baby. And great as a security blanket for when the little tyke gets a bit older. This Lil Monkey can be carried by the arm, head or blanket. The satin edge makes it fun to rub between baby’s fingers. It’s the perfect bedtime buddy!

The stitch on the security blanket matches the larger baby blanket. The head and arms are crocheted in the round.

Measures: 9” x 9” when open