Step-by-Step Cozy Home
I’ve always been a very home-oriented person. The day I started working from home, in 1993 I think, was a great day. December 19, 2013 was another wonderful day—we moved into our earthen home, much of it built by me with the help of friends and family. Would you be surprised to learn that “Cozy Home” is one of my favorite designs in Cute Crochet World?
Luckily “Cozy Home” won’t take you as long to build as our earthen house did. To help you along, here’s a step-by-step photo-tutorial for “Cozy Home.” Written instructions are on pages 133-136 of Cute Crochet World.
This is the beginning of the Walls, Row 3. Remember that the ch-2 turning chain at the beginning of a row counts as a stitch. It is the stitch that corresponds to the “first stitch” in the photo. The pattern asks you to hdc in the next 3 sts, so you will place your first of the three hdc sts in the “next stitch” indicated in the photo.
The yellow dots show where to place the stitches of Row 4.
On Row 5, you chain to make the other side of the door opening. The chain includes enough stitches to turn and begin Row 6.
A Front Post hdc (FPhdc) of Row 8 in progress here. Look for the yo for the hdc (this is the second loop from the right on the hook). The hook is inserted from the front of the work around the post of the next stitch and is coming out the front of the work again. Finally, there’s a yo which will be drawn up.
That final yo from the last photo is drawn up here and we have 3 loops on the hook. To finish the hdc, yo and draw through all loops on hook.
This is the very beginning of Row 9. On this side you can see how the FPhdcs of Row 8 formed the “corner” of the house.
The window rows are created with dc sts and ch-spaces. This shows the hook at the very beginning of Row 11.
After Row 15, you’ll work an outline of sl sts around the other three sides of the house. Along the bottom edge of the house, sl st 12 to the “corner” formed by Row 8, then sl st 3 to the door opening, chain 4 to go across the door opening, and sl st 3 to the next corner.
The hook is positioned to sl st up the side of the house, into the free loops of the foundation chain.
Now I’m ready to sl st across the top of the house (top left of page 135). The instructions call for a marker at this corner. I forgot to use a marker, but it will definitely help you find the stitch later when you add the gable and the roof edge.
The walls are finished! Now it’s time for the gable end (the triangular piece between the roof and top of the house wall).
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For the picot gable end, turn to page 136. Counting the base of each picot and the ch-sts between the picots, you have 11 stitches, which is exactly how many sl sts you have along the top of the section above the door.
To join the picot trim to the top of the wall, insert hook into the base of the picot and into the BL of the first sl st along the top of the house. Finish the stitch as instructed. For the next stitch, insert the hook into the next ch of the picot trim and the next sl st along the top of the house, and finish stitch as instructed.
The roof begins with a chain, which is attached by inserting hook into the chain and into the next sl st along the top of the roof.
Here’s the first row of the roof, finished. You will be increasing and decreasing on each row to shape the roof.
The finished roof looks like this.
The Roof Edge (instructions lower right on page 135), finishes the other side of the gable and joins to the tip of the roof. Use the yarn ends to sew the roof and gable edges together.
Remember the long chain you made in Row 5? You have already crocheted into this chain to make the house walls. To make the door, sc into the free loops of this chain, as directed on page 136, “Door.” Begin the row with an sc, which means to place a slip-knot or loop onto your hook, draw up a loop in the appropriate stitch, as shown in the photo. To finish the sc, yo and draw through both loops on hook.
Here’s Door Row 1, almost finished. In the next post, we’ll do some features to make the house a home.
Textile Collecting, Andean Hats
My lovely model, Ella, was almost four years old when I posted pictures of her in our Andean hats in December 2006. Now she’s eleven and a half and too big to wear those hats.
The hats are too amazing and the little girl too cute to leave the remaining photos in my unposted file. Here they are—a tribute to the skill of those knitters of the Andes.
Words are knitted into this hat!
TextileFusion Again!
Finally, finally, I’m making another TextileFusion wall hanging. It will have a narrow band of blue sky and lots of green for the base. After it’s quilted, I’m going to applique Firewheels all over it.
The Firewheel is a two-layer flower project from Crochet Bouquet. In real life, Firewheels are among my favorite Texas wildflowers. They are also known as Gaillardia or Indian Blanket.
In this photo, I hope you can see the patches of darker green toward the bottom, which are already sewn to the foundation fabric. I’m patching in the bright green, where you may be able to see my pins holding the patches in place.
It all has to be finished by October 1st, because the wall hanging will be in the Threads of Texas Quilt Show in Stephenville, TX, October 3-4, 2014.
Speaking of TextileFusion projects, the October 2014 issue of KNITstyle magazine features an article about my knitted, quilted, and embellished wallhangings, with lots of pictures. Daryl Brower wrote a very nice piece about me and my work. Thanks to her and to editor Cari Clement, who suggested the article.
Step-by-Step Frost Flower
The Frost Flower on pages 112-113 of Crochet Garden doubles as a snowflake if you crochet it all in white. The pattern is pretty straightforward, but a few pictures will help you visualize it. Look for a Frost Flower table mat project here.
Round 1 of the Frost Flower sets up the six petals. The large loop will be completely covered by the stitches of the next round.
Round 2 includes clusters of hdc, dc, and tr. Note that the instructions for the clusters (“Special Abbreviations” on page 113) include a ch-st to close the cluster. So when the pattern says “2 dc-CL, ch 3,” you make the dc-cluster, ch 1 to close it, and ch 3.
Why did I write it that way? I don’t know. It must have seemed correct at the time.
I crocheted Round 3 in light blue yarn, so you could see it better. The bumps are hdc-picots: ch 3, hdc in 3rd ch from hook. If you want the Basic Frost Flower, you’re done after this round!
Now for Round 4, which changes the Basic Frost Flower into a Fancy Flake. First, take a close look at the middle of the flower. The yellow lines in the photo show the small triangles formed by the ch-2s of Round 1 plus the ch 2 between petals of Round 2.
Each petal of Round 4 is worked around one triangle, which comprises
- the ch 2 at the end of a Round 1 petal,
- the ch 2 between petals of Round 2,
- and the ch 2 at the beginning of a Round 1 petal.
To begin Round 4, locate the ch 2 at the end of a Round 1 petal. Fold the flower at this point, so you can work around the ch-2. Begin at the centermost edge of the ch-2 and work toward the outside of the flower: with a slip knot on your hook, insert hook under the ch-2, draw up a loop, yo, complete the first sc, sc 1, hdc 1.
Now you’ve finished the first part of the first petal.
The next part of the petal is worked around the ch-2 between petals, which in my flower is white.
Crochet the final part of the petal around the ch-2 at the beginning of the next Round 1 petal. Then go on to the next petal of Round 4. Getting into position to crochet the next petal feels uncomfortably tight, but it will work.
Round 4 is finished, and we have a Fancy Flake.
Here’s the Fancy Flake, seen from the underside. You can see the bottoms of the stitches of Round 4 in six little triangle shapes around the center.
The Search for a New Planet Continues
In the last installment of our #cutecrochetworld story, Rog and Pam were looking for new planet, where they could settle down. Finding the perfect planet was more difficult than they thought.
The perfect planet for crocheted life as we know it must not be too close to the sun (too hot), nor too far away (too cold). This sun is way too close! The planet’s distance from the sun has to be just right.
“Our new home planet can’t be too large, because the gravity would be crushing,” said Rog. “Nor too small, or we might come completely unravelled in the low gravity,” added Pam. Together they said, “What we need is a Goldilocks planet.”
“Here I am!” said this beautiful metallic fish. No, dear fish, not Goldi-LOX!
“Hi Pam and Rog. My name is Goldilocks. I’m not a planet, but I’m an interplanetary real estate agent. I can help you find the perfect new home. I can manage your relocation, from selling your present home, to hiring movers, to making sure your new home is in good working order when you move in.” Pam and Rog said, “Alright!! Please, Goldilocks, plan it!”
Goldilocks previewed dozens of planets before reporting back to Pam and Rog. “I think I’ve found the right planet for you!” she said. “Its size, its distance from the sun, and the size of the sun are all just right! Not only that, it has abundant wool and other fibers, upon which all crochet life depends.”
“Also,” interplanetary real estate agent Goldilocks told Rog and Pam, “this planet is protected from collisions with asteroids and comets, by a larger planet nearby. It is called Cute Spoon Doll World.” Rog and Pam met some folks from Cute Spoon Doll World. They were really nice!
“What’s the name of this Goldilocks planet?” asked Rog and Pam. Their interplanetary real estate agent said, “Cute Crochet World.”
Find instructions for making all these motifs and more in Cute Crochet World: A Little Dictionary of Crochet Critters, Folks, Food and More. Follow Rog and Pam on Instagram @suzannthompson for more frequent updates.
Many thanks to the book Earth Matters, ed. David de Rothschild, for teaching me about Goldilocks planets, among other things. Earth is a Goldilocks planet, too.
Giveaway at Lark Crafts!
Enter for a chance to win a copy of Cute Crochet World and a motif from the book! To enter, visit the Lark Crafts blog, and leave a comment by Friday, July 11, 2014.
The motifs are the Vintage Television, a Martian Costumed Kid, and Gingerbread People. The patterns for all these motifs are in the book.
Good luck!
Knit Upholstered Stool
We loved the skips of England, low-slung dumpsters parked temporarily in front of houses where people were cleaning out or remodeling. We would stroll by, glancing nonchalantly into the skips, looking for interesting furniture or other treasures that were, for the moment, someone else’s trash.
Charles brought home this oaken stool from a skip one day. It needed refinishing and a new top. He stripped and refinished the wood. I provided the upholstery.
The knitting was left over from a piece I made on my Ultimate Sweater Machine. After fusing interfacing to the underside, I machine stitched a grid at about one-inch intervals across the stabilized fabric. Following instructions from a library book, we reupholstered the stool.
That was in the late 1990s, and we’ve been using it ever since!
How to Needle Join a Round of Crochet
This tutorial is written using U. S. crochet terminology.
Every circle in this photo is made with one round of half-double crochet. Can you tell where the round begins? Can you tell where it ends? If you have an eagle eye for detail, you probably can. But thanks to the needle-join, most casual observers will see a lovely edge, uninterrupted by the unfortunate bump of a slip stitch join.
Needle-joining is simple technique. It’s sometimes called an invisible join, and for good reason. Here’s how to do it:
When you finish a round of crochet, do not join with a slip stitch. Instead, as soon as you are finished with the last stitch of the round, cut the yarn and use your hook to pull the final loop up and out of the last stitch, as in the photo above.
When I say “a round of crochet,” I’m including these little circles, afghan motifs worked in the round, a slip-stitch outline around a motif, a flower motif, or a cowl–any round of crochet you would normally join with a slip stitch.
Thread the cut yarn end into a tapestry needle. In the case of hdc and taller stitches, insert the needle from front to back under the chain top of the second stitch of the round. (The first stitch will be a chain equivalent, so skip over that to the second stitch.)
If the round begins with sc, insert needle under the chain top of the second sc.
If the round begins with sl st, like the brown border of the Kiwi pattern from Cute Crochet World, skim the needle under the first sl st without catching the crochet underneath.
Take the needle back into the top of the final stitch of the round, angling it toward the back of the piece.
Turn the piece to the wrong side.
If the last st was a hdc or htr the two loops just under the top of the stitch. In the photo above, looking at the wrong side of the piece, you can see the needle going under the top loop and the next two loops. Gently pull the thread through.
If the last st was a sc, dc, or tr round, the needle should catch the top loop plus the very next loop on the wrong side. Gently pull the thread through.
Turn the piece back to the right side. Adjust the loop you just made to match the size of the other chain tops of the round.
Weave in the end. I like to weave the thread end continuing in the direction of the crochet round. Finished!
Another Example
Here’s a slightly different situation where needle-join gives a great finish. This is the retro-flower “Circles within Circles” from Crochet Bouquet:
Read the entire “Circles within Circles” tutorial here.
Corrections to Cute Crochet World
Errata for Cute Crochet World
Cheese Sandwich on a Kaiser Roll, page 57
- Third column, second paragraph, 4th and 5th lines down should read “transfer ch-2 lp of Rnd 2” not Rnd 1.
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Same page and column, end of Rnd 6 should read “join with a sl st to ch2 at beg of rnd and end off OR cut yarn and needle join.” The words “and end off, or” are missing in the printed instructions.
Useful Tip: Take your copy of Cute Crochet Worldto your nearest copy center and have it spiral bound. For a few dollars, your book can lie flat.
If you have questions or comments, please email me at suzannthompson at live dot com or send me a message through Ravelry (my tag is textilefusion). Thanks!
Suzann Thompson
Author of Cute Crochet World
Step-by-Step Baby Carriage
Louanne is going to crochet a Baby Carriage for a baby shower gift. Great idea! She needed help visualizing how the pattern worked, so here are some photos. Find instruction for crocheting the Baby Carriage on pages 106-107 of Cute Crochet World.
Even though you begin the Baby Carriage with a chain loop, work the pattern in rows. At the end of Row 1, the piece looks like this. The shaping is accomplished with stitches of different heights. Once you have finished the stitches of the row, ch 4 and turn.
The first treble stitch of Row 2 goes into the first stitch of the previous row, because we are increasing on this row. So essentially, the first stitch has two stitches in it—the turning ch, which counts as the first tr and another tr. The pink dots show each stitch that you will work into. Some have two sts in them, some only have one.
When you’re finished with Row 2, the piece looks like this. The hood and bed are curved, because you increased in those areas. The bottom of the carriage is flat, because you used short stitches and you didn’t increase.
Once again, after you ch 3 and turn, work the first dc into the first stitch as instructed in the pattern and shown in this photo. Then work around as noted in the pattern.
When Row 3 is done, you have the shape of the baby carriage.
Row 4 adds the handle. To make lovely edges, you will be slip stitching along the top of the bed and the edge of the hood, as shown in the picture. To finish this piece beautifully, stop your slip stitches at the 2nd st of the turning ch-3 at the beginning of Row 3. Cut the yarn and pull the end of the yarn out of the last sl st.
Skip the 3rd st of the turning ch of Row 3, bring needle under the chain of the next stitch as shown in the photo.
Insert the needle into the top of the last sl st, bringing it out toward the back of the piece. Adjust the stitch you just made to be the same size as the rest of the sl sts.
Weave the yarn end in at the back of the work. Add wheels and you’re done!