Crochet Beaded Necklaces

 These necklaces are relatively simple to make and depending on the colors, could be for a boy or a girl.

Materials:

• Approximately 30 Beads
• Size 5 crochet thread/cotton
• A needle
• Crochet hook

Steps:

1. Use the needle to thread the beads onto the crochet cotton
2. Chain 3 stitches
3. Add a bead in the next stitch by sliding it up to the hook and incorporating it in the yarn over
4. Chain 6 stitches
5. Repeat steps 3-4 until no more beads remain
6. Chain 3 stitches
7. Finish off
8. Knot the tail to the beginning tail
9. Use the needle to weave in the ends

IC15 - London - Crown for 18 Inch doll

With the Olympics under way, the theme for the Iron Craft Challenge is London.  When I think of London, I think of Big Ben, West Minster Abby, the Queen and scones.

So for this challenge, I decided to make a crown.  Originally I was going to make it from wire, but the silver colored wire I have is too difficult to crochet with, so I reverted to crochet thread.

RD1: Use the chainless base and make the equivalent of 44 stitches. Join to make a round (careful not to twist it!)

RD2: Ch5 skip 3 stitches and sc in the 4th stitch of the previous round. Repeat around until there are 4 stitches left in the first round, ch3 dc in the same stitch as the first chain.

RD3: ch 5, sc in the middle of the next ch 5 loop, repeat around (end with a slip stich at the base of the first ch 5 of the round).

RD4: sc3, picot, sc3 in the first loop, ch 6, picot, ch6 and slip stitch in the sc between the two loops of the previous row), repeat around, join, fasten off.

Weave in ends then block and stiffen.  to block mine, I rolled a newspaper up (so it was the same diameter as the inside of the crown), covered it with plastic wrap and then slipped the crown on the outside.  I then took some straight pins and pinned it in the correct shape all the way around.  After that I brushed on some white Elmers glue and left it dry.

Iron Craft 20: To a Tee

T-shirts are pretty much a staple in my wardrobe.  I wear them well over half the time.  So I've got a number of them and I've also got a number of them that are sitting there unworn because they have holes in or are stained.  So, I was really looking forward to this round.  I just needed to decide what to do.  I googled a lot and found this site.  Perfect the shirts there actually look a little more dressy afterwards.  So I gave it a try.  I took a blue t-shirt, put it on, marked where I wanted to cut it and then broke out the scissors.    I encountered a few problems in the process. One, I only ended up with enough "yarn" to go half way around the shirt's neckline, but fortunately I was able to finish the front.

 Two, my stitches don't look nearly so smooth as the ones in their picture, I don't know if it's something with the way I cut the strip or if there's something else I did wrong.


 The neck opening it a little larger now than I really am comfortable wearing. I knew it would be wider when I made the decision on where to cut, but I was planning on having several rows of crochet.  My daughter tells me how much she likes the shirt every time I have it out though so maybe I'll try wearing it some time.

I really would like to try the one at this site too.  I've got a shirt in mind, but need to double check that it fits right.  Or, maybe one of the other Iron Crafters will submit something even better!

Wire Angels

I've been contemplating this idea for years (litterally), but never took the time to do it.  Ever since I first tried crocheting with wire.  Priscilla has these really neat angels that are granny squares,  I made them one year for Christmas gifts (out of yarn).   But I got to thinking that they might look really neat if they were crocheted out of wire and as a bonus, you wouldn't need the pipe cleaner to help with the shaping.

Then, over at Iron Craft, they have a weekly challenge (announced on Thursdays) and I've been wanting to participate for a while but haven't been inspired, until now.  This week's challenge is to make something gold.  Ah Hah!  I've got gold wire and a bit of time.  So I present to you my first ever Iron Craft challenge project. I'm hoping to be able to keep doing these this year, I love the idea.

I didn't actually follow Priscilla's pattern, just used the basic idea.

I made two grannies with 32 gauge gold beading wire (I got this at the craft store a while ago).

Then, I took one of them and made it into a cone (so I took the top side and the right side) by wiring them together (I just used the tail that was hanging there).  The other one, I folded in half to make a triangle and ran the wire down through the holes in the middle to help it stay folded in half.  For the head, I crocheted a circle with three rounds of dc and then wove the wire through the stitches in the last round to gather it. And for the arms I chained the length I needed and then went back and did a sc in each stitch.

Then, I used  the tails to fasten them all together.

Again, I need to work on my pictures, sorry they're so blurry, but my camera battery died so I need to charge it.