Crochet Ringed Necklace Tutorial

I can't believe it's September already, time is just flying by! However, as it's my favourite month I don't mind too much. Whilst the weather has actually taken a change for the better with the Sun shining brightly, the colours of the leaves have started to change and Autumn is certainly on it's way. Before I get cracking on the big woolly scarves and hats I thought I would make something a little more delicate....

I've seen necklaces similar to this a few places and really like them. So when I stumbled across an assorted pack of rubber o-rings for 99p in the hardware section of my local Wilkinson's the other day, I immediately knew they'd be just the thing I needed to make my necklace. As they vary in diameter and thickness I thought they'd provide the perfect, varied base rings and they are flexible but hold their shape, also they weigh next to nothing so the necklace would be nice and light.

I'm afraid I didn't take the picture until after I'd opened and removed the o-rings I was going to use- sorry dopey me!

What you need:
O-rings (or similar for you base- you might find something you prefer/better)
Embroidery cotton or fine yarn
Small crochet hook
Sewing needle
Scissors
Chain, jump-rings and fastening e.g. lobster clasp
Pliers
A couple of beads are optional but do make a nice addition in which case a small amount of coordinating wire is also needed, together with round-nose pliers and wire-cutters.

I decided to use 7 of the rings (I always think odd numbers work best for this sort of thing) so I chose the same number of different embroidery cottons to use. I picked 7 colours I liked the look of together and that I thought would go with a range of my clothes. My favourite colour to wear is navy so that was my starting colour and I went from there. Alternatively you could use just one colour or different shades of the same colour might give a nice finish too?

Once I had decided on the colours I arranged the o-rings to a rough layout I liked and started to crochet.

Throughout I used double crochet (dc) with a 2.5mm hook and treated the o-rings as a chain ring and crocheted into the "chain space". Obviously the number of stitches required varied depending on the size of the o-ring but I kept pushing the stitches tightly together to make sure you couldn't see any of the black rubber. 

Once I had completely finished the round and was happy there was no gaps I joined the last dc to the first dc with a slip stitch.

At the end of the round I left a long tail of cotton on each ring to use to sew the rings together. 

I did this by sewing a few crochet stitches from two rings together with the tail from one then pulling the thread through a few of the hoops around the ring and cutting off the excess.

I repeated this step with each ring being sure to keep the arrangement of the rings on the design I decided up. The tail of the final ring isn't needed so I sewed this into the hoops of the ring as previously and again cut the excess.

Once all the rings are sew securely together you just need to add the chain. This can be done by attaching a jump ring to the upper, outer edge of the two end rings, going though the top of a single crochet stitch and the end of the chain (see * below as with the beaded step). Then attach the clasp to the other ends of the chain also using jump rings.

If you decide to add beads, thread one onto wire and create a loop either side of the bead with the round-nose pliers. 

Attach one of the loops to the crochet stitch on the ring as with the jump ring and the other loop to the chain. Finish as before.

*If using a jump ring insert as above and attach the chain directly

All done! I'd love to know if you make one yourself. 

Thanks so much for taking the time to read my blog, I really appreciate it!
Until next time craft in earnest, Craftin' Ernest x

Book Review - 100 Flowers...

Okay, well straight off, I love this book. 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet by Lesley Stanfield (Search Press Publishers) is just lovely, right from the gorgeous cover onwards.

As it still has the receipt tucked behind the front page I know I bought this exactly a month, to the day, before I got married in 2009. For an instant it confused me why I had bought it then as I had a lot going on, for example I still hadn't started on my wedding dress (they don't call me Queen of Procrastinating for nothing)!! 
I quickly remembered it was because of the pattern for a thistle. My Dad is Scottish and was wearing full dress kilt for the wedding, even though there were fresh thistles in his buttonhole I wanted to make him something to keep. I remember him being really pleased and it is now attached to the corner of his pin-board in his computer room.

Sorry, please excuse the photograph, my Dad just text it to me as I lost the one I had taken!

Despite the name, there aren't just flowers in the book- leaves, butterflies and a few fruits are included too. 

The book is divided into 4 sections. The first being "Before You Begin" which explains how the book works and gives you the details about what you'll need along with the basics of knitting and crochet. 
This is followed by the "Directory of Flowers" which is a lovely gallery of the different finished items all arranged by complimentary colours with the number of the pattern needed next to each. 

All of these are in the next section "Technical Instructions". The first part of this contains the knitted flowers and the second has the crochet, both of which are arranged by level of difficulty. 
Having said that I don't think any of them are scarily complicated unless you've never picked up needles or a hook before. The author herself states that, "the designs are created by simple shaping rather than fancy stitches" and I quite agree. 

Unfortunately, in my opinion, there are no patterns which include both techniques which I think would be interesting. 
All the crochet patterns use British terminology but there is a section explaining the differences to American terminology on page .
I really like the way no specific wool/yarn is given nor are needle/hook sizes. Experimenting is encouraged!

So the first thing I made was the thistle of course. Then due other commitments as mentioned I didn't get a chance to make anything from it for a while.
The next time I did pick it up it helped me through quite a difficult time. My husband had to have what was considered quite a routine operation but unfortunately things didn't go to plan so he ended up spending a lot more time in hospital than expected. During this time I made quite a few different items, it was so helpful as he had to go off tests for lengths of time and rather than sitting twiddling my thumbs and worrying, I was productive and slightly distracted at least. Also because they're small items they are easy to pick up and put down or stuff quickly in your bag. 
My favourite pattern is the field poppy and I made quite a few, here's a couple of examples...

I really like to use embroidery cotton and small needles/hooks to make items to attach to cards or for more delicate accessories.

I would highly recommend this book and have just ordered another book by Lesley Stanfield- 75 Birds & Butterflies to Knit & Crochet. I'm excited about it arriving already.

All the opinions expressed are totally my own and I would to hear your thoughts about either of the books!
Until next time- craft in earnest, Craftin' Ernest x

Framed Earring Stand

Hello! Summer has turned decidedly wet in South Wales and cold too. I am wearing lots of layers today :-( and I'm missing the sunshine but on the bright side, it is a great excuse to stay inside and craft!
This means I finally finished knitting the top I started a couple of months ago. I treated myself to the kit for the Juliet Tee from We Are Knitters' website and just adored the the colour and texture of the cotton yarn when it arrived, it's incredibly soft and the colour (wine) is so sumptuous. 

It was a little bit a labour of love as it included 248 rows of moss stitch- not one of the quickest stitches to knit to be fair. Also, if I'm making an item for myself it often drops to the bottom of the list as I feel guilty putting something for myself above something for others. I very much doubt that's just me?!
I also suffer from the problem that if I spend a long time on something it has to be exceptional to live up to the effort .

On the other hand the following item took almost no time at all & cost very little- an earring display stand made from a frame that I picked up in a Poundland store for the somewhat unsurprising cost of £1. However, a second-hand frame from a charity shop or vintage fair would work just as well/even better.

The glass can be discarded (by that I mean added to the pile "stuff I will find a use for at a later date". Yes it is ever growing pile with the definite possibility of taking over one day).
Cover the back section of the frame i.e. the section with the stand attached. I used adhesive backed fabric but decorative paper or regular fabric would be fine and just apply the glue to the back before applying the paper/fabric or double sided sticky tape could be used.

It's hard to see but the fabric is being stuck to a chipboard back

Then attach lengths of ribbon across the frame in the orientation you wish your frame to stand. I decided on landscape so decided on 2 lengths of ribbon. If I had chosen portrait I perhaps would have done 3 rows.
Attach the ribbon to the inner edge of the frame as shown in the photograph. Normally I would do this with a stapler but as this frame is plastic I used extra strong double sided tape. I attached the top one about half a centimetre from the top and the second about half way between the top one and the bottom edge of the frame.

Insert and the back as usual and hang your dangly earrings proudly on display!

A simple but effective way to display your earrings that looks rather pretty in my opinion.
Thanks for having a look!
Craft in earnest, Craftin' Ernest x

Embroidered Button Earrings

Although it's now Thursday (where do the weeks keep going). I had an amazing weekend mainly because my bestie/sister returned from a two week holiday on Sunday so we had a catch-up shopping trip/smoothie drinking session. I also had a lovely coffee morning with old friends, bliss. The other reason was due to me having a major button bargain on Saturday morning- I bought 4kg of buttons for £3!! That meant five hours of blissful sorting on Saturday afternoon (I should have been finishing a knitting project but that's a different story).

Amongst my treasure trove there were a lot of fabric covered, shank- backed buttons and most of which were in pairs. This gave me the inspiration to make some into earrings. By gluing an earring finding to the back of each the jobs a good'un in about 60 seconds flat but I wanted something individual so decided to embroider a simple design on each using embroidery cotton and satin stitch.

To make them you need:
A pair of fabric buttons
Embroidery cotton
Sewing needle
A pair of earring posts with backs
Scissors
Glue
Piece of paper (at least as big as the buttons)
Pen

Make a stencil by drawing around one of the buttons then draw and cut out your chosen design. I went for a simple heart so folded the paper in half to cut the heart.

Using the stencil draw the design onto the button. I used a pen whose ink would be visible but not startling obvious so was not the easiest to pick up on the photograph.

Split 2 strands of the cotton and thread onto your needle, with the needle in the middle giving your cotton 4 strands of thickness. Sew the first stitch from the centre of the heart down to the tip at the bottom, do not completely draw the thread through but leave a millimetre or so protruding- this will be hidden under the satin stitch and means there is no need for an unsightly knot.

Following the outline and using satin stitch (http://www.wikihow.com/Satin-Stitch) "fill in" your design.

Once the design is complete, sew a long stitch under the design and cut the cotton. Repeat the process for the second button.

Glue and earring post to the back of each. The buttons I chose had a piece of material as the method for sewing them onto something. I cut this way in order to glue the posts to a more secure surface. If your button has a shank snap this off.

Once the glue has dried completely, you're all done!
I now plan to make a pair in every colour.
Until next time craft in earnest, Craftin' Ernest x

Altered Dress

I have been most remiss in terms of posts so far in July, I am sorry! There's been so much going on and with the Sun shining so brightly, July has just whizzed by so far.
There has been lots of making going on though, the most important of which has been two wedding gifts. For part of one present out came my trusted air-dry clay and letter stamps to make a pair of coasters. As you may have noticed from previous posters I just love the results achieved this technique.

I have also altered a dress, into a skirt, to wear to one of the wedding parties.
Here's a picture of the dress to start with on a hanger, I wasn't keen on how the top part looked on me but love the fabric. It also has a belt (and belt loops) but I forgot to put it on the dress to take the before picture.

The first thing I did was cut the top off from one side of the zip to the other side, without cutting the zip, about 5cm above the seam with the skirt (2cm above the belt loops). I then unpicked the stitches attaching the zip, handily it's an exposed zip which is very popular at the moment so this was very easy. (I think if it was a concealed zip I may have been less inclined to do this step, and would have just folded the top of the zip over and sewn the sides down?)

Also, before starting I had thought I would zigzag stitch the cut edge, fold it over and sew but I hadn't thought about the fact it was lined. This made it very easy- I turned down the outer fabric inwards and the lining fabric down outwards, pinning them together. I made sure the lining was a millimetre or two lower than the outer fabric so it wouldn't show. I then sewed the two together using matching thread, 5mm in from the edge.

I then had to sew the zip in with the top now in-line with the top of the skirt. As the original holes were still visible from where I unpicked, I simply used these lines as a guide, folding the tops in the same manner as it had been originally when it was a dress. I secured this with a few hand sewn stitches. (Now is the time to confess- I had cut the the top off just by eye and hadn't checked the levels on either side of the zip before sewing the seam and sewing the zip in, it resulted in the zip not lying flat. Naughty me! This meant I had to unpick one side of the zip and part of the top seam to make them even before reattaching the zip. Lesson learnt- a quick check saves time!). I left the excess of the zip attached but this could be cut off if it was bothersome.

All in all it took less than 2 hours (and that's including rectifying my stupid mistake) and means I have an item I'll wear in the wardrobe rather than something that just takes up space- yippee ;-)

Until next time craft in earnest, Craftin' Ernest x

I Like Big Buttons and I Cannot Lie!

To be honest I like all buttons- big ones, small ones, shiny ones, matt ones, shank backed, two-holed, four-holed, you name it and I'll probably like it.
Nice, oversized buttons are fab for embellishing items such as bags, knitwear and cushions. Also, all you have to do is glue a brooch finding on the back and you have yourself a super quick, delectable accessory!

Whilst shop bought buttons work wonderfully well,and I have quite a few that are now brooches, it's still not quite the same as making your own button. 
I do enjoy making my own big, feature buttons using air-dry clay, polymer clay or epoxy putty.

Below are a couple of examples of previously made ones. I like to use nail varnish and enamel paint to finish them off.
For this one I used terracotta coloured, air-dry clay with red nail varnish which I have only applied to the top surface. After I cut the basic shape and holes, I left it to dry in a shallow bowl to make it nice and curved, unfortunately that doesn't really come across well in the photograph.

These ones were made with white, air-drying clay with nail varnish and enamel paint to highlight the letters- see the link below on how to make your own.

This is an epoxy putty button, textured using lace netting and impressed with a star-shaped cutter before using various nail varnishes to highlight once set.

Below are glazed, ceramic clay but they require the use of a pottery kiln so are not so simple and unless you're super lucky enough to have a ceramic kiln at home (sadly I'm not lucky enough but, happily, I do have a local pottery club). Similar designs are achievable with the above materials though.

As you can see it can be simple to achieve a wide variety of results.
This previous post from August last year included a tutorial to make a teapot shaped magnet using air dry clay. You can use the same steps to make buttons by using your desired shape cookie-cutter, e.g. circular, and something to make two or four holes. I prefer something that actually cuts the hole instead of poking it as this displaces the clay. By cutting it, the result is much neater, i.e. using a small tube rather than something pointy- for example the barrel of a pen or lid versus a knitting needle.

Once the clay has dried/cured it can be decorated as desired. All that's left is to glue a brooch finding on the back and attach it to your favourite top/blazer/whatever and you're all set! (Although sometimes I add thread to the holes and sometimes I don't- depends on my mood I guess.)

Until next time craft in earnest, Craftin' Ernest x

Feathered Hairband

My friend asked me if I would make her a feather and bead hair-band to wear to an upcoming wedding. Err crafting with feathers and beads? Definitely count me in!
As it was going to be a case of trial and error I thought I would document how I got on and perhaps it would help if you wanted to make one.

My friend sent me this photograph to show me the sort of thing she was after but she she wanted it with black beads....

I decided to use white goose feathers and a plain, silver coloured, metal hair-band (rather than wrapping it with ribbon as in the picture and my friend was happy with that). Also I decided to do it all by sewing rather than gluing, I have been let down by glue in the past (glue, how could you?) and just felt sewing would be more secure.

Firstly I trimmed and stripped the feathers to the size I wanted as they were quite big. I wanted them to be about 8cm long so cut the shaft and stripped the barbs from the end (here's a link to a diagram of the parts of the feather courtesy of Ducks and Clucks http://ae7950.blogspot.co.uk/). I also tried to curve the feather slightly with varying degrees of success. I did this by running my fingernail along the shaft on the underside of each feather, sort of like the way you can curl plastic ribbon with scissors. This also made some "rotate" a bit but once sewn in place this wasn't to much of a problem (it's not really visible in the photograph).

I cut white fleece material into 2 triangular shapes with rounded corners. Originally I wanted to use white felt but the only felt I had was 4mm thick and that was far too thick. I think a thin felt would be ideal.

Also, I planned to use a plain metal hair-band but I then found one with a small flower design on the side and thought this would help hold the feather section in place due to not wanting to use glue. To be honest I think maybe a plain one would have been easier in the long run as the flowers got in the way for the later sewing. If you decide to make one I suggest using a plain band and glue the top triangle to the top of the band then sewing over it. Anyway I sewed the top triangle to the hair-band- narrower end facing down, with the bottom approximately 2cm above the ear.

It was then a case of sewing the feathers on. I started in the top right corner and worked leftwards. I stitched each feather about four times by stitching over the shaft, I then covered the stitches with the barbs of the next feather and worked along like this.

With the last feather in the row I only did three stitches missing the stitch near the top so that the first feather on the row below would cover the stitches, this row worked left to right. I carried on in this fashion until all the triangle was covered with feathers, mine took approximately 40 feathers. Don't worry too much about the bottom corner being very neat as this will be covered with beads.

I used 2 different types of beads and just sewed them on randomly closely together, roughly in a triangle.
(I must admit that I did sew the tips of an extra feather to each side of the beads to make it fuller but didn't photograph this sorry.)

All that was left was to sew the second triangle to the first underneath the hair-band, I whip stitched them together.

I think is something that looks better in person than in a photograph but my friend was happy with it and that makes me happy!

They're not the best photographs as well sorry.
Let me know what you think. Until next time, craft in earnest! Craftin' Ernest x