Watermelon Circle Purse (crochet)

Fruit-themed items seem popular right now. Everywhere I look there are fruit-ish clothing and accessories. Such a fresh idea for Spring!



I made another circle purse with 7" zipper. This time I decided to play around with some design ideas for the yarn colors and went with "watermelon". I am pleased with the way it turned out and during the process I thought of several other ideas to try. Not going to spoil it yet, but if I get around to making them too, I will post photos! :D

Clover Headband (crochet)

With St.Patty's Day coming up just around the corner, why not make a clover headband?? The headband pattern is from one of my older posts here and for the clover, you can just google a free pattern and find one that you like. There are tons out there of different styles of clovers and shamrocks. Some have the rounded leaf like I used in the photo, and some have the leaf with more of a heart-shape to them. Whichever you prefer, just sew it onto the headband and you're ready to go!!

Amigurumi Giraffe (crochet)

No, this isn't the making of an amigurumi horror movie....but it looks like it could be one! These are all the pieces it takes to make Mr. Giraffe in the photos below. :)


Strike a pose!


Let's see the other side!


Extreme close-up! :D

Once again, using the same book as the last few animals posted. I am using 100% cotton yarn Sugar & Cream brand. I love working with it and it produces a nice, crisp look. The eyes are 6mm safety eyes. I don't know why, but none of the craft stores around here sell those, so I buy mine either on Ebay or Etsy depending on how many I need.

I showed this giraffe to my sister and she said he needs a scarf or a necktie or something, so I may be adding more to him when I get time. :) But for now he gets to go "au naturel" hehe.

Amigurumi Baby Seal and Alligator (crochet)

This baby seal is a good example of how something that didn't come out quite right can be fixed! The photo on the left is the finished seal from the pattern. (Which is from the same book as yesterday's monkey post). Notice how the body is twisted a bit and the flipper is up in the air? It isn't really supposed to look like that. So either the pattern was funky or I did something wrong while making it. BUT...I did some brainstorming and decided to make a little ball to attach to his flipper and tada- it looks like it is supposed to be that way. :) Originally I was thinking of making a ball to put on his nose anyway but this works out better to balance him out.



And an alligator!!! :D I love the green colors and the teeth on this guy. He worked up pretty quickly and I didn't have any issues with the pattern. (same book) I think if I did it again, I might consider giving him longer limbs that have a bend in them like the real ones but it is still adorable this way and probably less scary-looking. haha :D

Amigurumi Monkey and Banana (crochet)

Hmmm...I still don't have a name for this guy, but I am very pleased with how it turned out. The pattern is from a little book called "Vanna's Choice Easy Crochet Critters". It was $4.95 and I ordered from Amazon.com and it came in yesterday so that is the first thing I decided to make from it.

The banana was not part of the pattern. I figured he needed something to hold and that sounded logical, so I just sorta made it up. I wish I would've written down what I did because honestly it's one of those things I don't think I could repeat and get the same results twice. lol Here is another angle:






Close up of the teeny banana!

Triangle Shawl (crochet)

The whole shawl folded kinda in half...


Close-up of the bottom "corner"...


This is the freebie pattern I used to make the shawl. :) I am pretty sure you can go to the Red Heart yarn website and get it on there directly. I left off the tassel when I made mine because I thought it looked kinda funky but if you like it, go for it! Overall it was about a step above beginner/easy but wasn't difficult. The most challenging part were the first few rows making sure you get everything in the right place, but once you do that..the rest is just repeating so it's pretty straight forward.

My whole household (and myself included) has been sick the last several days so that's why there's been a break in my posts. (Sorry about that) :( But this is what I worked on during that time when I felt up to it, and finished it up this morning. :) Hopefully I can be back to more regular posting again :) Go away, flu!! :P

Vintage-Inspired Circle Purses (crochet)

Over the last 2 days, I made these two little purses. They don't have handles or anything, so I guess they'd be called a clutch. They have 7" zippers along the top that match the color of the yarn and were hand-sewn into them after I finished crocheting. Let me tell you how much fun it is to sew in a zipper!!! (ugh).


And here is the open view. :) I really love how they turned out and the yarn I picked (Carron Super Soft, fairly inexpensive and 100% acrylic but you'd never know it by how soft it is...) was perfect.

Anyone who has tried to make circles before with SC stitches probably knows how it starts to turn into a hexagon shape after a while...I found the trick with keeping it rounded was to add rows of (1 sc per st) in between the rows of increases. Then do several rows (3 or 4 at least) of just (1 sc per st) at the end of increasing. These purses have 16 rows altogether (as an example).

If you can crochet a circle and want to try this out, simply follow the rule of thumb above and make the circle as big as you want...then make one more and stitch them together around the edge, leaving a zipper opening. Add a zipper of whichever length you want that would go good with the size of purse you made and voila! Done :)