Kid Crochet!

My son turned 4 earlier this month. His 6 year old sister wanted to make him a gift for his birthday. She loves to crochet like mommy so, we went to her book, Way to Crochet, and picked out the perfect little gift. He needed a little wallet for birthday money and those special quarters that 4 year olds love! So, we sat down together while he napped and crocheted a wallet. Since she is new to crocheting,  here is what I did to really help teach her actual crochet and not just playing around with the hook and yarn (we do this too at other times). She made the beginning chain and I worked the first row into it since that is usually the toughest row to work. We pulled out my row counter and she would click it at the end of each row. She knew how many stitches to make so she would count as she did her row. I would then do the next row to make sure everything was going smooth and to help the project not seem to daunting for her. We had a great time and I found that method to work perfect. It kept her attention and didn't overwhelm her. In no time we had a cute blue wallet. She went to the button jar and picked out the perfect button. I sewed this in place and then we put the little surprise in a gift bag. When birthday party time came he was tickled with his wallet. And, Clara (6 year old) felt great about the gift she made!

We love the book Way to Crochet. It has 20 super kid friendly projects. They are all quick and easy. It starts with very simple things like chain shoe strings and builds up to (simple) back packs and such. I highly recommend it for teaching your kids crochet.

 For the wallet we used Brown Sheep Serendipity Tweed. This is a great durable yarn. It is a wool/ cotton blend. We have made toys with this before too. I will post some photos below!

Blocking

My Cap Sleeve top is finished and currently being blocked! I didn't quite have enough yarn to do the lace on the sleeves. But, it was just one row and not a big deal to leave out. What was most important to me was the lace around the bottom edge. A nice feature on this top is that the neck edge has beading elastic running through a row of single crochets so that you can easily adjust the neck to fit. What a great idea!

If your are new to crochet/knitting, you might be wondering what I mean by blocking. When you finish your project, your stitches sit kind of...wonky. Jasmin on the Knitmore Girls put it well when she said that it looks like a cow chewed on it. The way you tame your stitches and get them to lay beautifully is by blocking them. You take T pins (I ordered mine from knitpicks) and pin your finished object in the desired shape to a foam mat. I use these exercise mats. Then, take your iron and hold it just above (not touching) your object. Move it around steaming the whole thing. The stitches will immediately begin looking better. Let it set pinned to the foam until it dries completely. You will now have perfectly tame stitches!

 Another little idea, although I am sure many out there do this already, is to use your leftover bits of yarn to make a blanket. I got this idea from my mom. Thanks mom! I used the bit from this to make my foundation chain. I am going to keep it simple. This blanket will be made up of double crochets in the back loop only. It will be fun to see how it looks with all of the different sized yarns and textures. This way I make use of my scraps and I will have a blanket full of memories of each thing I made with those yarns. Here is my chain ;) It's a start!

Golding Pattern!

 Introducing Golding the Bouncy Fish! This is a very special little amigurumi because he is filled with a tennis ball! He is very easy to crochet. The pattern uses single and double crochet. The only "more advanced technique" would be the adjustable ring/loop. This technique is not at all tricky and leaves your amigurumi with no holes where your circle begins. Here is a link teaching the adjustable ring/ loop technique. I am offering a special coupon to blog readers for 50% off of Golding's pattern until 9/9/14! Just enter Golding50 at checkout and your pattern will only be $1.50!