Yarn Evaluation 02/2011

Hi there! I couldn't post my new article for a while, because I'm working on my dream now. I'm happy to announce this my dream today. I'm going to open my crochet online shop at Etsy in March, so I'm working on preparation for that. When I open my shop, I'll announce again here.

Anyway, I'm going to tell you my yarn evaluation since I used some new yarn recently. I hope it can help you when you choose yarn for your projects.

Baby Bee Sweet Delight Pomp

Colors that I used :  Naked

Evaluation :★★★

I used this yarn for Motif bag.

A little shinny string is wove in the yarn, so the yarn gave my project good effect. The yarn weight is light, so I want to use it for accessory sometime.

Lily Sugar'n Cream Natural

Colors that I used :  Guacamole and Tumbleweed

Evaluation :★★★★

I used this yarn for Bird house set and Place mat. 

Cotton yarn is good for solid projects, because it can hold project shape. I also loved cotton yarn, because it easier to care for than acrylic, polyamide, rayon and wool. If you are beginner, cotton yarn is good for practice. Cotton yarn is not elastic, so you can crochet evenly.

Lily Sugar'n Cream Denim

Colors that I used :  Indigo

Evaluation :★★★★

I used this yarn for Summer room shoes. 

I like indigo color. This color is suitable for summer. I already have new idea with this yarn. I hope I can introduce the project soon! Lily cotton yarn usually recommends a USA size 8/H hook, so I thought those yarn have same thickness. However, I noticed the yarn thickness can vary even though the package recommend the same sized hook. I had to amend my original pattern for each label yarn.

Lily Sugar'n Cream

Colors that I used :  Country Red, Country Green and Wine

Evaluation :★★★★

I used this yarn for Summer room shoes and Tube scarf as corsage. 

I think the yarn is thickest among these three Lily cotton yarn. Lily brand doesn't have many shades of a color to choose from. I want to use cotton yarn during spring and summer, but I needed to chose acrylic, polyamide or rayon yarn for color that I want to use. 

Patons Pure

Colors that I used :  Lilac

Evaluation :★★★★★

I used this yarn for Accessory scarf. ( I'll introduce this project soon)

I love this cotton yarn!!! The yarn has a thin string woven around it, so it gives your project special effect. When I buy yarn, I try to use coupon to buy materials cheaper.  I have a hard time finding this yarn at my local shop, so I have to buy it online.

I Love This Cotton

Colors that I used :  Buttercup and White

Evaluation :★★★★

I used this yarn for Spring wreath as daffodil.

I think that this yarn has the best texture among cotton yarn that I used so far. This label yarn has a different look of cotton yarn, which has a shinny string woven in. I want to use it in my project sometime. 

Red Heart Classic Crochet Thread

Colors that I used :  Burgundy

Evaluation :★★★★★

I used this yarn for Necklace with crochet thread and choker.

I love crochet thread, because I like making crochet accessories. This thread is made from cotton, so it's easier to crochet than nylon thread. 

This time, I mostly told you about cotton yarn. I still have plans to use other cotton yarn this spring. I'll be able to post next my yarn evaluation in April.
Have a wonderful time with crochet☆

 

Bird House Set

I like making various kinds of crochet project! Today, I'm going to introduce a crochet home decor. 

I got two free patterns, Felted tweety birds and Crochet keepers, and came up with this bird house set.

Wool yarn is required for the Felted tweety birds pattern, because it turns to felt after washing in a washing machine. However I don't like felted yarn. You know that wool is expensive yarn and there is a craft called felting. The largest feature of crochet and knitting is the stitch. If I felt the yarn, the stitches will disappear. That's why I didn't felt my project.

When I found Crochet keepers pattern, I thought that I can change the pattern into a bird house. I added the heart-shaped entrance, and decorated it with a flower and vine.

I named this project Bird house set, so I'd like you to look inside the bird house.

The bird house set includes their nest and three eggs!! I put cotton and thin branches in the nest. These branches are came from my garden. I love gardening same as crochet. 

I came up the bird house set idea before last fall. When I was clearing up my garden last fall, I noticed that my Japanese basil shrub had completely dried up. I cut branches about 10 inches long, and saved them for the project. The branches color is dark red-brown, and smells of basil even though the branches have dried up. 

I gave the first bird house set to my mother-in-law as a birthday present. She loves blue birds, so she liked it. 

I made Goldfinch for mine. 

Stitches that I used in the project.

Chain, slip stitch, single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet, treble crochet.

Yarn that I used in the project.

• Caron Simply Soft : Country Blue, Sunshine, Persimmon
• Yarn Bee Snow Flake Wool Blend : Limelight
• Lily Sugar'n Cream : Landscape

Choker ( Crochet Accessory #5 )

I'm going to introduce the crochet chokers I made today. I mainly used crochet thread in these projects, but It's good to use various texture yarn in one project. I also used different materials such as beads and leather in the projects.

 

To make adjustable choker, I used leather string as a tie. Of course, you may use ribbon  for that as well.

I like this trim pattern. It's called surprising shells. In the pattern, you don't need to decide how long you need to make foundation chain first, because you can adjust it's length while working on the pattern.

I used crochet thread for the trim, and used two different fluffy kinds yarn for the flower and fringe.

This edging pattern is called princess picots. It looks as gorgeous as it's name. I had to decide how long I needed to make the foundation chain first, besides I needed to know how many beads I needed to thread onto the crochet thread. I had a hard time figuring them out.

I like the butterfly motif. I made the butterfly with same color as the choker first, but I couldn't see it well. I made the white butterfly too, and put both butterflies together.

Stitches that I used in these projects.

Chain, slip stitch, single crochet, double crochet.

Yarn that I used in these projects.

• Red Heart Knit-Cro-Sheen Crochet Thread : White
• Red Heart Classic Crochet Thread : Burgundy
• Patons Lace : Midas ( flower )
• Aramis Cosmetic : Pink ( fringe )

Spring Wreath

How is your country's weather? It's snowing in Kentucky, U.S. However, my crocus, tulip and iris are coming up in my flower bed. These flower growth gave me the inspiration for this spring wreath that I'm going to introduce today.

 

I made six tulips and three daffodil flowers for the wreath. Holding the round shape, I used wire inside crochet green tube.  I made the wire circle first, then make the green tube around the wire by single crochet.  Along the way, I stuffed cotton into the tube. After that, I sewed the tulips and daffodils on the tube.

After I finished the tulips and daffodils, I thought something was missing, so I made a crochet ribbon. I've made two crochet wreaths in the past, but I decorated wooden wreaths with crochet. It's first time I've made an entire crochet wreath!

Making home decor is good way during spring and summer.

I've introduced this green yarn in my yarn evaluation. The yarn makes crochet project twist, so I didn't like it. However, I had another ball of this yarn, so I wanted to consume it.  My choice worked well this time, because twist effect made the tulip leaf look real. 

I often use flowers in my projects, because I love gardening! I want to try make other crochet flower.

Stitches that I used in the project.

Chain, slip stitch, single crochet, double crochet, treble crochet.

Yarn that I used in the project.

• I Love This Cotton Super Soft : Buttercup, White (daffodil and ribbon)
• Caron Simply Soft : Persimmon
• Yarn Bee Snow Flake : Limelight

Necklace with Crochet Thread ( Crochet Accessory #4 )

When I posted about spring and summer crochet projects before, I introduced a necklace. This necklace is the same type of necklace, but it's a different color and design.  I designed this necklace to resemble red coral.

 

I like to use crochet thread when I make accessories, because the thread is good for making fine designs.  I also like to use large beads, which were placed between ruffles, because I don't need to thread the beads onto the yarn first. I can place the beads whenever I want to add them. However, those beads are more expensive than tiny beads, so I stock up when they are on sale.

 

This ruffle is called taryn's ruffle. I used the pattern in my last project, summer room shoes, as well. The pattern has large ruffle effect, so the necklace looks solid. 

I wanted the rest of the necklace chain simple to show the ruffle pattern effectively.  I just placed a thin pink colored bead every 8th single crochet when I was surrounding the wire frame.

Stitches that I used in the project.

Chain, single crochet, double crochet.

Crochet thread that I used in the project.

• Red Heart Classic : Burgundy ( cotton )

Summer Room Shoes ( Room Shoes #2 )

I'm exciting to introduce this summer room shoes, because I love it this design. It's early to introduce summer project, but I'd like you to become interested in crochet in spring and summer as well. 

I really suffered from thinking of the this design, because room shoes shouldn't come off. However, I didn't want to cover my feet with a lot of yarn. I finally chose a type which holds big toe and ankle.

 

This ruffle pattern is called taryn's ruffle.

 

I made corkscrews at the both ends of ribbon.

To make comfortable shoes, I inserted two pieces of foot-shaped felt pads into the each sole as cushion.

(I'm sorry I couldn't take the picture of red felt. I'm working on making blue one now.) 

I created S size pattern and M size pattern so far. I'll make L size pattern soon. By the way, this red shoes are for M size.

I used only cotton yarn in the project, because I'll wear the shoes with bare feet. The shoes should be easy to wash. Cotton yarn is washable by washer machine as I keep mentioning in the other posts. 

In the process that I was thinking of the design, I had another design idea, and tried to make it. However, I'm out of yarn for the other design. I hope I can introduce the other design of summer room shoes soon!

Stitches that I used in the project.

Chain, slip stitch, single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet, treble crochet.

Yarn that I used in the project.

• Lily Sugar'n Cream : Wine
• Red Heart Eco-Cotton : Vanilla

Tube Scarf

I'm going to introduce a spring project today. I got a free pattern, Paradores Infinity Scarf, from Naturally caron .com. The pattern looks nice, but I didn't like how to connect three panels together, so I changed the pattern a little. The pattern is composed of three panels, but I made only two panels, because I want to use the scarf as long as I can whether the season in hot or cold. The scarf can be used underneath a jacket as neck warmer during cold season.

It can be also used as stole or scarf during spring and summer.

I always need stole whenever I go shopping during summer, because the air conditioner inside U.S. buildings  is really cold for me, so the stole should be light, small and easy to carry with me, that's why I didn't make third panel of the pattern. 

I used a super fine yarn for the project. The pattern suggests using light yarn, so I figured out how much stitches my scarf needed. The super fine yarn is very elastic, so it's good yarn to make tube shaped project. The yarn is suggests a 3.25mm/USA size D hook, but I used a 4.00mm/USA size 6 hook, because I wanted to use the elastic yarn effectively. I love the elastic yarn, so I'm working on this project with different colored yarn again. However, the yarn is a little expensive.

I worked on the long bottom edge of upper panel with glory pattern, which forms flower shapes. I used shell stitches on the long top edge of the lower panel.  I connected the lower panel to the flowers of the upper panel with slip stitches.

 

I also made the corsage for the scarf. I really loved the flower that I used for the napkin holder, so I used the flower this time as well. To make corsage, I crocheted with a Vanilla colored cotton yarn and white colored crochet thread placed 24 pink beads together. I recommend that you use cotton yarn when you make solid project without stuffing, because cotton yarn holds it's shape. I needed to add something to the flower, so I tried adding a crochet leaf and corkscrew, but these didn't add good effects. After that, I came up with a idea, which used a crochet motif as flower leaf!

 

Since I liked the flower, I'm planing to make hair accessories with the flower as well!

Stitches that I used for the project.

Chain, slip stitches, single crochet, double crochet, 2 treble crochet cluster, shell stitch.

Yarn that I used for the project.

• Patons Stretch Socks : Nougat
• Red Heart Eco-Cotton : Vanilla (corsage)
• Lily Sugar'n Cream : Country Green (corsage)

Spring & Summer Crochet Projects ( Crochet Accessory #3 )

Hi everyone! I'm going to tell you about working on crochet during warm and hot season today. I assume that people think spring and summer are not good season for crochet, but I'm exciting to work on spring and summer crochet projects! Actually, I've already started working. I'm going to introduce a necklace that I've completed yesterday. 

I used three colors of crochet thread and two kinds of beads for the necklace. Using beads is a good way to make a project that won't be too hot. I made the necklace while imagining lavender and chamomile. I bought wire necklace frame, and surrounded the wire with crochet tread. Many varieties of wire necklace frame are sold at hobby shops, so you may choose best type for your purpose.

Choosing materials is most important during spring and summer. I recommend you use cotton yarn and crochet thread! Cotton is washable by washing machine, so it's easy to care for.  There are really nice texture yarn like fleece, so they are suitable in spring as well.  Fine yarn is also suitable. If you crochet with mesh or shell stitches with fine yarn, the project will be cool.

There is cotton crochet thread too. It's easier to crochet than acrylic or nylon crochet thread, because these threads are too slippery.  It is possible to iron cotton crochet thread, so if your project needs to be flat, you may use an iron.

Choosing a project is also important. I'll keep presenting my ideas for spring and summer, and explain yarn that I'll use and my future projects.

Stitches that I used in the project.

Chain, slip stitch, single crochet, double crochet.

Yarn that I used in the project.

• Red Heart Knit-Cro-Sheen : White
• OMEGA  Nylon Thread : Yellow
• Egyptian Crochet Thread : Light Green

Place mat & Napkin Holder

I'm going to introduce the place mat and napkin holder I made for my friend today. My friend is Japanese, and she lives in Thailand. Actually, she is my blog friend, so I've never met her. She has been introducing Thai food and Thai culture in her blog. 

When I saw the Bencharong ceramics she made in her blog, I really became interested in them. Those are so beautiful! I had been looking for ceramic for cream and sugar, so I asked her if she would mind to make it for me. She made this ceramics for me with my favorite colors!

I love it so much, so I use it only when I hold lunch party at my house. 

To thank her, I decided to make a place mat and napkin holder set, because she likes cooking.

I used cotton yarn for the project, because place mat frequently can get dirty from food. Cotton yarn is washable in washer machine, so it's good material. When I choose yarn, I put my emphasis on use. 

Since I heard that the friend likes pink and green color like me,  I chose country green and tumbleweed (mix color) from Lily cotton, and designed the pattern for her. I placed a clover in each corner, and used clover flower as napkin holder.

I used experienced skill, which is called Catherine's Wheel, in the place mat. The pattern is composed of shell stitches. I worked the pattern with mix color this time, but I want to try the pattern with one color next time. I think that one color can show the pattern clearly. 

I used a button made from shell this time. The button shows you which side of the place mat is the front. People who don't know about crochet well, they can't recognize which side is front, that's why I used the button. However, the button is part of the design as well.

I hope the place mat and napkin holder make the friend and her fiance's meal time more fun!

Stitches that I used the project.

Chain, slip stitch, single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet, shell stitch.

Yarn that I used the project.

• Lily Sugar'n Cream : Country Green
• Lily Sugar'n Cream Naturals : Tumbleweed
• Red Heart Eco-Cotton : Vanilla ( clover flower)

Motif Bag

I'm going to introduce crochet motif bag today. I like making motif such as flower, snowflake, leaf and butterfly. Making crochet bags is also one of my favorite projects. 

When I went to a fabric shop near my house, I found a beautiful fabric, and came up with this idea!

I made three different sizes of flower motifs and two solid small flower motifs, and then connected them together by free form. However I connected them together while making each one with slip stitches. I also worked around the top edge.

I wanted to make the bag strap adjustable, so I made two straps and four button holes in one strap, and attached four buttons to the other strap. 

 

Seriously, I don't have sewing machine, so I made the button holes by hand sewing. I learned how to hand sew the button holes from the internet. The button hole really works same as sewing machine button hole! I wish I can introduce the web page, but the web page is written in Japanese.

I like to use buttons in my crochet projects. I can't find fancy buttons in the U.S, so I sometimes order them from Japan. I used this two sizes of wooden button this time.

I'm Japanese, so I love Japanese traditional patterns like traditional costume, Kimono. By the way, I made the coaster with Japanese cotton towel, Tenugui, and Kimono fabric four years ago.

Stitches that I used for the motif bag.

Chain, slip stitch, single crochet, half double crochet, double crochet, 4 double crochet cluster, 5 double crochet cluster, puff stitch.

Yarn that I used for the motif bag.

• Baby Bee Sweet Delight Pomp : Naked