Crochet Rings for Cuties

I love it when kids design their world!

I Had a Visitor

She was entranced with my craft supplies. It was her idea entirely to put a pom pom bead at the center of a crocheted rainbow flower.

Here's another one: the Flower of Power ring (project in Ravelry).

Toasty Crocheted Jacket Gets Extensive Testing

I ended up adding a drawstring to the hood.

Just in time for a record cold front, this yarn stash buster is holding up pretty well (though in unexpected ways) under rigorous kid testing.
'Bob' requested a new crocheted sweater and rifled through my yarn stash to be helpful. He liked the bright twists of color in the Lion Brand Landscapes. The challenge: only 3 skeins and no time to track down more. I like its wool content and it's a fun crochet yarn.

So, to make the most of the first yarn, I did strips of Tunisian Simple Stitch (TSS) because it gets the most mileage out of the yarn. 

It's true! Eva Owsian once posted a comparison of yarn used for a knitted stockinette swatch, TSS swatch, and single crochet stitch swatch. (Angela refers to it here.)
Would you believe that with the same amount of yarn, the TSS swatch was bigger than the knitted one?

Yeah! Totally.

Then, based on the Marco Jacket (my first TSS strips experiment), I found yarns that coordinated with the Landscapes colors. Lion Brand Suede colors were great but I had to add strands of a medium-weight yarn to beef up the yarn thickness so that it matches Landscapes. Naturallycaron Country adds a nice sheen, and some Brown Sheep wool looked great.
The yarn is actually holding up better than the blocked finished shape. As time goes by, the bottom hem is hiking up a bit, and the shoulder seam is growing--relaxing and creeping down his arm as if it's not his size. It's not supposed to! 

I was counting on the inelasticity of the TSS return rows to support the weight of the sleeves without stretching! In retrospect, I didn't account for the air (the extra space around each stitch) that gets built into chenille yarn when it's crocheted. And get this: it's magnified when chenille is held together with another yarn strand, like I did.

But I'm enjoying seeing these rich textures and more mature colors on him, rather than the usual primary colors. So for my Ravelry project page I've named it "Velvet Motley, A Midwinter Coat."

Free Crochet Patterns from the School "Mini-Mall"

If kids were crochet designers....we'd just plain have different designs for kids!
Bob the Toy Tester put on his Toy Developer hat last week. He needed to make products for his classmates to buy with class dollars at his school's "Mini-Mall" event.

This is Bob's second Mini-Mall and he was anxious to create something that would thrill enough kids to bring about bidding wars. He had also seen other "vendors" be successful with raffles (he calls them "rambles"), so he needed a special item to feature.

He decided that a '70's hippie theme would have wide appeal. For him this means rainbow colors with beads and peace signs. The key specific items for him were headbands and peace sign necklaces. I came up with simple, speedy designs which were officially tested and approved by Bob.

The next step was Toy Production. Bob could prep the materials for mass production but by the time we knew what the products would be, I had to make them myself quickly. I was able to make roughly:

10 headbands
1 peace sign necklace
2 hemp bracelets for certain teachers
10 diamond "Bow-Tie" rings (an idea we had before the '70's hippie theme)

Sales Figures:
100% SOLD OUT.
Under what sounds like extreme peer pressure, Bob took orders for more.

Sales Trends:
Any obvious crowd pleasers? He could have sold 3 times more headbands, and the peace sign necklace was a clear sales incentive.

Bob's instincts for what kids will want most were better than mine! I humbly offer it as a free crochet pattern:

Children's Choice '70's Hippie Headband

I-9 (5.5mm) crochet hook
Any cheerfully rainbow-colored and soft medium-weight yarn (I used Universal Yarn's Reef: A slightly stretchy, chenille-like novelty yarn made of 31% Polyamide, 44% Acrylic, 25% Wool.)
2 medium-sized wood beads

1. Chain 12.
2. Insert hook in second chain from your hook, yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through one loop (1 chain made; place marker in this stitch, or pinch it with your fingers). Yarn over, pull through both loops on hook (1 single crochet made). *Insert hook in marked (or pinched) chain, yarn over and pull up loop, mark that chain, yarn over and pull through both loops on hook (2nd single crochet made).
3. Repeat from * 43 times (or to fit a child's head comfortably).
4. Join headband into a ring without twisting: slip stitch in first single crochet and chain at the base of it. Then chain 7 and fasten off.
5. Slide a bead onto each yarn tail, knot bead in place, and trim tail close to bead.

As promised on my DesigningVashti blog, here is the Hippie Hemp Teacher's Bracelet.

Crocheted '70's Hemp Teacher's Bracelet

1 ball of craft hemp cord available at Wal-Mart or craft stores
I-9 (5.5mm) crochet hook (aluminum is better with hemp)
6 small Jesse James Company's Dress It Up "Tiny Collection Retro" buttons
1 larger flower button (same brand) for clasp
2 small wood beads (optional)

1. String the 6 small buttons onto the hemp and then string on the larger button.
2. Chain 1. Slide up the larger button close to hook and chain 1 so that the button is locked into the stitch.
3. Insert hook in 1st chain made, yarn over, pull up a loop. Yarn over, pull through 1 loop on hook (1 chain made; place marker in this stitch or pinch it with fingers), yarn over, pull through both loops on hook (1 single crochet made).
4. *Insert hook in marked (or pinched) chain, yarn over and pull up loop, mark that chain, yarn over and pull through both loops on hook (2nd single crochet made).
5. Repeat from * once.
6. Insert hook in next marked chain, yarn over and pull up loop, mark that chain, slide up a smaller button close to stitch, yarn over and pull through both loops on hook (beaded single crochet made).
7. Alternate #5 and #6 until all buttons are used. Then repeat #5 twice.
8. Chain 3, double crochet in last marked stitch, turn, slip stitch in the chain space you just created. This is the buttonhole. Fasten off.
   
9. String a small wood bead onto each yarn tail, knot end to secure bead, clip yarn close to bead.

Blogs Collide

Boo! I have two posts on my main blog that I could post here instead, so this is a heads-up about them. I guess otherwise this Toydesigningvashti planet really does orbit the sun on a different path than the Designingvashti planet.

One post is a conference report about the toys I brought home for Bob. I don't usually find Bob-worthy toys at crochet conferences so I hope this is a new trend. Here's a bonus pic of Bob with the goods. That's my cutie.

Today I just posted a Halloween crochet report over there because it involves The Chaps of Fashion 2007, but if I had any pics of the kids in costumes too, I would have posted them here.

At any rate, I will pick up the pace of posting to this blog. I've been doing toys for publication and haven't been able to blog about those.

Fireside Boy's Cardi finished

Finally took some pics of a sweater my son requested back in early Spring. When it cools off outside I'll put the buttons on.

Friends, it has pockets!

One reason I tend to crochet toys is he hates wearing sweaters. So when he requested a crocheted sweater, even picking out the yarns and colors from my stash, I got right to it.

Burly Bias necktie.

I winged it (maybe you can tell). It was my first time using basic tunisian crochet stitches for the modified drop sleeves. They feel soft and cozy and drape so nicely! The fun-to-do color pattern was inspired by Stitchdiva's 3-Color Tunisian. Here it is in one of my newest designs, Burly Bias!


The overall silhouette of this sweater makes me think of a '50's summer camp jacket. If there were some orangey or brown tones in place of the white, I think it would look even more so. That's why I'm calling it "Fireside Cardi". (The white ends up giving it a Christmasy look.)

He loves dragons, volcanoes, fiery reds, fireworks, etc. This inspired me to experiment with stitches that might look like spiky flames.

He also loves angora and found a partial ball of Tahki Jolie (the white stripes). It's the same yarn I used for this bunny and this teacher's gift. Not easy to find angora in fiery colors.

Other yarns used are: Karabella Aurora 8, S. Charles Collezione Victoria, Caron Simply Soft, Red Heart Plush, and Lion Brand Wool-Ease.

10-Minute Fishin' Belt

Tonight 'Bob' was in a school play. He played the part of a boy who just wants to go fishin' all summer vacation. Only problem was, his jeans wouldn't stay up. Well, it's not a problem if yer ma crochets.

His ma figured, if jute's good enough for the hamster yurt, it's good enough fer my boy! And with a P hook, she did 65 foundation single crochet stitches in the 10 minutes it took fer Pa to drive to school.

(Photo tutorial here for the fsc.)