Yay for Wire Crochet! [Book: "Wire Jewelry" by Chrissie Day]

A BLESSED YEAR 2012 to you all.

Welcome back to The Cabby Crafter's blog.

One of my goals this year is to learn & relearn techniques and what better way to start than by reading a book on Wire Jewelry by Chrissie Day.  I do yarn crochet and have been fascinated by the intricacy of this artform done in wire.

Wire crochet utilizes the same stitches as with yarn crochet however, it is more challenging for the hands.  After practicing the stitches using fine gauged wire, I decided to add beads - actually, just a bead.

I used a round light blue ceramic bead.

This piece may be used as a pendant, brooch or as an element for a nice jewelry.

It measures 37mm or ~1.5 inches.  I love how it turned out.

Just like other techniques, wire crochet can be addicting too but in my case,

I think if I do this regularly, it would be only once a week.  I need to give my fingers some lovin.'

There might be some special gloves for wire crochet work out there.  If none, I might have a chance to invent and have my own patented jewelry &wire crochet gloves.

Now that's a truly wired idea!

Be crafty and never be crabby.

♥ Michelle ♥

Materials: and Tools:

24 gauge artistic wire

Crochet hook

Ceramic bead - 14 mm in diameter

Wire cutter

Flat nose plier

Nylon Jaw pliers

Monday fab finds [Wire crochet jewelry]

I will be spending the next 14 days away from my home craft nook and my tools as I am out of town to take care of one of my precious jewels, my 20 months old nephew.

Today was day 1 of my pedia duty ☺ and while he was asleep, I searched the blog treasure island to find the following goodies.

I love to crochet using yarn and I have discovered that there are people doing wire crochet jewelry.  It looks so complicated and I can't wait to try it when I get back home.

Look at this simple but very elegant set of "Everyday" earrings and necklace that Jana of Be Jeweled made. 

Photo taken from Be Jeweled's BLOG

This Victorian style necklace is so stunning.

Photo taken from Be Jeweled's BLOG

This "Enchanted Garden" necklace that she made in collaboration with Artbeads is gorgeous!

Photo taken from Be Jeweled's BLOG

Lynn Davis of LLYYNN made this beautiful wire crocheted bracelet.  Oh, I love the flower pattern! 

Photo taken from LLYYNN's BLOG

Crochet jewelry looks so hard and complicated to make but I think I would like to try doing it soon.

Happy Monday!

Cloche Hat [Teresa - The Art of Crochet]

Happy Friday!

If you are an avid fan of crochet and you google a lot, you must have come across Teresa's BLOG and YouTube tutorials.

I made one today:  Crocheted cloche hat using J hook(6 mm) and Loops & thread Impeccable worsted yarn (4 ply) in Chocolate.  Thanks to Teresa for this pattern.

I love the classic look and feminine feel of cloche hats.

It looks nice plain or I could add:

a.  Crocheted flower/s on one side

b.  a Pearl brooch that I made here 

c.  a 1 inch thick ribbon over the entire diameter of the hat slightly above the brim

d.  a nice colorful scarf for those cool days in spring

What do you think?

Happy crocheting everyone!

Crocheted Case for Android phone [Wednesday Crochet]

Today is Crochet Wednesday and I made a crocheted case case for my Android.  Yay! 
I made it following the video tutorial of Teresa of Art of Crochet.  Her video tutorials  are great for beginners and for those who want to improve or try out new crochet designs.
I used brown yarn and an olive green button for accent.  It took about an hour (with a few distractions) to finish it.  I love it! 
More crochet projects on another Wednesday.  Have fun!


Android phone Case



Hubby's Hat [Toujours Hat by Kim Werker]

It may be very-winter-with-snow outside but it's bright and cheery in my crafty corner today.  Here's why...

About a month ago, I started a very nice pattern from Crochet Me / Interweave by Kim Werker - Toujours hat -  but towards the end of making it, I got totally stuck!  I call it 'crochet block'... somehow, I just had a hard time following the pattern.  I wrote and asked Kim about it and she patiently told me what to do (bless her ♥).  It was my first time to do turn crochet (tc), confused with working with the yarn and i just gave up after several attempts... until last night, Dec. 21.

Seeing my unfinished project lying among my stash of yarn was just pathetic.  I could hear my projects faint voice shouting "Come back" and "You complete me" ☺.  I finally gave in last night and to my surprise, it was very simple and the instructions were easy to follow.  No wonder Kim seemed to be in surprised with my (very elementary) questions.  After a month of waiting, my project was completed in just 30 minutes. 

Oh, I love it!  My husband's gonnna love wearing it as well.  Merry Christmas!



Lacy scarf [MIL's 2010 Christmas gift]

Isn't it exciting to try something new?  It may be a new career, a new recipe, a new hobby, a new project and ohhhh... a new crochet pattern.  I was thrilled to see this so i made one for my MIL.  I love my MIL - she recently had total knee replacement of her left knee and is currently doing well and hopefully, she will be home with us before Christmas.  It was tough to see her in pain and get back to her feet one step at a time.  Imagine yourself learning to walk one step at a time as if you were a baby.  With God's healing and her perseverance, she will be back to her toes in no time.  

I made this wheat colored scarf for her.  It is below zero where we are and we try our best to bundle up and be warm.   Made with love, as always.  ☺♥☺

Toddler beanie hat [Makoa's hat]

Eleven days before Christmas!  It's truly the most wonderful time of the year - especially for the little ones.

I made a beanie hat for my nephew, Makoa.  He is about a year and a half and oh boy, he is so adorable!  I followed the pattern from here but with some revisions.  Instead of adding several stripes, i only added 2 rows near the brim. 

Since i started making hats in October, this is the second hat that i made for a toddler.  I realized that making children's hats takes a little less time than adults because of the lesser stitches that has to be done.  I put a lot of love and  fun making it and I hope he would love wearing it (and fit his head just right ☺). 

I love you, Makoa!  May you feel our warmth and love this season and always.  Merry Christmas from the Cab's.

Handmade gifts and tags [Hero Arts Nov. 2010]

Today is Friday and it's the last day of submission for HA's November challenge.  It should've ended yesterday but they moved it due to the thanksgiving parteees.  Another day to zap my little creativity.  I have been busy doing crocheted gifts for lovedones.  I have finished 2 hats this weekend.  One is for a cute baby girl and the other is for my very loving aunt. 

This pink/brown hat is for my goddaughter who recently turned 9 months.  I love looking at her photos with her big ribbon and nice hats and outfits.  So, i made her a hat and a card.  The size of the card is 4.25" x 5.5".

I used stamps from CL155 Playful animals, colored, mod podged and cut them.  I added red hats... because it is Christmas!  Then, distressed the background pp and stamped snowflakes and sentiment (from CL464 Sending holiday cheer).  I matted it on a holly paper background, added embroidery floss, a red ribbon and finally placed it on a red base.  Isn't that cute?  I just hope the hat will fit her.

The second hat is for my aunt who loves the color purple.  It was a challenging hat to make - something out of the ordinary from what i have done in the past.  I am so excited to mail it to her so i had to make this tag, asap (lol)!

For the ornament, I did block stamping on a white paper and stamp embossed the ornament - I used F5276 Flourish ornament rubber stamp.  I cut it out and placed a yellow ribbon and a green bead.   I used a background paper which i distressed with walnut stain distress ink after which,  I stamped the vine stamp.   The ornament was attached using dimensional adhesive and added a twine on top.  The sentiment was from the ending holiday cheer clear stamp set.  Finally, I punched the bottom edge with MS bubble punch.

Christmas is coming very soon and I still have a lot of crafting, crocheting and everything in between to do.  Have fun!



Potted beret [Gift packaging idea]

My sister-in-law's birthday is coming so I made her a green beret.  The next thing I had to figure out was how to uniquely package it.  Hmmmm... I looked at my craft nook and saw a ceramic pot that I bought a few months ago.   So there...

Materials needed are as follows:

Cardstock

Quilling paper, slotted quilling tool

Scissors, craft tweezers, glue

A lot of creativity and love ☺ 

Steps:

1.  Prepare quilled flowers.  I made a balloon, white daisies, yellow buds and weaved brown paper to serve as a flower pot.  {Click if want to learn paper quilling}.

2. Once the flowers are ready, it's time to arrange them.  This is where the excitement begins. I used glossy accents - I love how the tapered opening makes it easier to get into small spaces.

3.  Attach the finished bouquet onto the base cardstock.  You may use double-sided adhesive.  Then, tape a stick behind the card - be sure to secure it properly (you wouldn't want your tag to fall off the stick and ruin the surprise ☺)

To avoid injuries, make sure you trim the pointed end of the stick.  This is important especially if you are making projects with the little ones.

There you have it!  This card will make your potted gifts extra special.

Since summer is over, I opted to use a colorful ceramic pot to "plant" my handmade crocheted green beret.  I formed it into a rose and wrapped it in tissue paper before placing it in the container.  Then, I added the finished gift tag.  Tadaaaaa!

The inside of the card reads:  "May God continue to bless and embrace you with the warmth of His love.  We love you.  Happy birthday."  ☺♥☺

Crochet away!

It's the last day and Sunday of October, 10-31-10. 

It was a pretty cold weekend and what a nice day to be creative.   So what was your weekend project?  Mine was a basketweave beanie hat.

I checked out Teresa's blog and loved the basketweave beanie so i just had to give it a try.  I used a size I crochet hook and worsted medium yarn in brick and crocheted away!  Her instructions and video were so helpful!  It's nice to see an actual demonstration rather than reading the instructions and doing-undoing the project.  After 2.5 hours... tada!  I finished it.  I wanted a longer beanie that would cover my ears so i added another set of "rows 5-8" and finally, i added 1 round of half-double crochet.

I am totally hooked (no pun intended ☺) on this!

Have a great week ahead, my friend! 

Blessings!

Raspberry Beret

Hello friends!  I would like to share with you one of my recent crochet project.  It's officially fall in Chicago and it's been really cold lately, hence, my obsession with crocheted hats.  I recently bought the Special issue of Crochet today (http://www.crochettoday.com/) and I fell in love with the Raspberry beret. 

So I bought a Red Heart Soft Yarn, 5oz, 140g skein in #9779 Berry and followed the detailed instructions.  It was a bit challenging for me at first, though the pattern was classified as a Beginner level...ahahaha... After 6 hours of crocheting and "uncrocheting," I finally finished it.  I added a flower brooch that I made using mother of pearl and german crystals.
Tada!  Now, I could keep my head warm while I explore the beauty of nature that autumn brings.

Crochet 101 - Crocheted Beret hat

Hello, dear friends!
How are you?  It's officially fall in the US and pretty soon, temperatures will drop and we will start putting our warm clothes on our rack.  It will be my first white winter Christmas and im pretty excited.  Recently, i have found a new love!
I have enjoyed doing crochet when i was in gradeschool.  While some of my classmates asked their househelp or nanny's (Filipino's call them "Yaya") to do their projects, i enjoyed doing mine.  So, after so many years, i decided to give it a try once again. 

Thanks to my favorite craft stores and dear teachers at Youtube, i was able to make my first crocheted beret hat.  It took me a total of 12 hours, spread out in 2 days to finish this project.  I love it! 
I made this with my sister in mind.  I chose the color and the style specifically for her.  I am so excited to mail it to her and to see her use it when winter comes.   
My husband likes what i made and i will be making one for him too - a mans beany hat.  More about that next time.