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Sale at my Ravelry store. Buy 2 get the third pattern free. Use coupon code JUSTBECAUSE. Hurry up because the offer is valid until May 31st only.
I have a shawl to finish, so instead of working on it, I made bookmarks
The pictures are quite self explanatory. Crochet a flower, square or whatever motif you life. Cut out a peice of felt for the back and cut elastic that is long enough to go around your book from on edge of the motif to the other side. Sew the elastic to the felt and then sew them to the crocheted motif.
Quick, satisfying and very practical because they are less likely to fall out like regular bookmarks do.
One of the most common questions I get is How do I make a base for my bag? After a bit of trial and error I came up with this technique, I hope it helps. The instructions are in PDF format which you can get by clicking the image or the link below. This is the method I used in my Uncubed bag pictured below and the bags have held up quite well
You can download the file by clicking this link MakeARigidBase
If you are a geek then you can just call this creating a restore point. I always have a hard time ripping rows and then picking up the stitches again especially if there were yarn overs and the stitches keep getting twisted so I sometimes just end up ripping the whole thing. Why waste all that good knitting when you can just save your knitting at a point where you are sure that has no errors and just rip to that point.
You only need a little piece of painters tape (or any tape that won’t leave a gummy residue on your needles)
A length of scrap yarn at least twice the length of your row.
Your knitting, I like to work this on a wrong side because they usually have less yarn overs or none at all.
Wrap the end of your scrap yarn with a small piece of tape. Don’t use too much or it will get bulky and your stitches won’t pass so easily over it
If you are using circular needles then it might be a good idea to do it where your cable starts. If you are using straight needles wrap it a couple of inches after the tip.
Now just knit or purl the row as you normally would, your stitches should just slide over the tape and scrap yarn. Once your done all of your stitches will be knit over the yarn. Tie the ends so the yarn doesn’t fall off. If you need to go back to that point all you need to do is rip and the scrap yarn will stop you from going any further and moving the saved stitches to your needle again will be much easier.
Since it is supposed to be WIP wednesday and my only WIP is a pair of socks that is taking forever and more I decided to make more WIP project bags because every knitter/crocheter needs more bags to keep those naughty WIPs in check (oh and more bags never hurt anyone did they?)
I was inspired by all the lovely Bias Tape bags but decided I wanted something deeper and with more closure but without actually using a magnetic snap or a zipper. So after a couple of trials I present you with the WIP Biased Project Bag.
Here is a tutorial on how to make your own
| First Make sure you have all your materials ready
You are going to need fabric for the outer and lining part of the bag.
The pattern which you can download WIPBiasedProjectBag
About 40 inches of bias tape. If you want longer handles you will need more
10 inches of elastic
Patience and about an hour of your time (more if you are going to make your own bias tape)
Print out the pattern, tape it and cut it out.
First cut 2 pieces from the outer fabric and 2 pieces from the lining. Don’t forget to cut on the fold where the pattern says you should. |
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| Place one piece of lining and one piece of outer right sides together and sew together at the top straight line.
Repeat for the other pieces of lining and outer fabrics. |
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| Turn them inside out and press the top seam (you could skip the pressing but trust me, it will make your bag so much better and easier to sew the elastic casing in the next step) |
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| Sew a straight line across the top slightly wider than your elastic. This will be your elastic casing for the top of the bag. |
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| Insert the elastic and sew at each end so it doesn’t move. Remember to back stitch a couple of stitches on top of the elastic so it is nice and secure. |
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| Open the pieces so that the two right sides of the outer fabric are facing and the two right sides pieces of the lining are facing each other. Sew the curves base of the bag for the lining and the outer. Make sure you do not sew the curved sides |
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| I added this picture so you can see where the stitching starts and it should end at the same point on the other side. |
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| Turn the bag right side out so the lining is inside the outer fabric part of the bag. It is starting to come together, we’re almost there. |
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| Starting at one of the side seams start pinning your bias tape. Keep going until the edge where the elastic starts, make sure the bias tape properly covers the edge and then pin the bias tape together to make the first handle. When the handle is as long as you would like start pinning the bias tape again. Make sure that both handles are the same size and pin to the other side.
Now sew that bias tape togther |
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| Congratulations! If you are still here that is. You have a new WIP bag. Now run along now and make something amazing |
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If you do make one I would love to see it. You can upload your pictures to this Flickr Group.
Happy Making!
Remember last post I showed you my Hello Kitty Pouches, well today I am sharing the tutorial on how to make them, but instead of a Hello Kitty, it is a teddy bear pouch, because, first I don’t want to see another one and second I respect Sanrio’s trademarking and that stuff. The Teddy Bear is my design so feel free to use it, if you do I would love to see it, you can now add your images to the new Flickr Group.
You will need:
- Brown felt
- Beige, black and white felt scraps
- Embroidery floss in matching colors
- A zipper
- The pattern [ ZipperedTeddyBearPouch Pattern ]
- An hour
| Cut out all the pattern pieces. For the face remember to cut out the zipper slit in only one of the pieces |
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| Place the ears and eyes and move them around until you get a face you like. |
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| Using embroidery floss back stitch them onto the face. You could glue them on, but I prefer the hand sewing. |
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| Pin the zipper underneath the face and pin them together. Very carefully try pulling the zip open and closed to make sure that it is pinned correctly. |
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| Sew all the way around it. You can sew right through the zipper. |
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| Trim off any extra length of zipper |
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| Place the two face pieces wrong sides together and sew all around. ? |
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| And voila! You have a new zippered teddy bear pouch that you can use as a pencil case, makeup case |
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For an ad space here drop me an email jessyz [at] chocolatemintsinajar.com
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So the DPN hugger was born. Or maybe it was just me procrastinating and not actually knitting, I guess now you know why it took me so much time to knit the first one. 
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