tutorial « GOODKNITS // a knitting & crochet blog

Crochet: Vertical Heart Garland

By Lisa Gutierrez on 02/04/2013

Last year, I guest-posted this tutorial on a blog that no longer seems to be active. I thought I’d re-post it here for you guys. It utilizes the 5-minute crochet heart pattern I posted HERE, but you could sub any heart. This is just a simple Valentine’s Day decoration idea. I hope you like it!

First, the “anatomy” of the 5-minute heart. The spaces at points a-d will be where you will be inserting your hook for the garland.

Step 1: Inset your hook into space a and pull a loop through.
Step 2: Insert your hook into space b and pull a loop through the heart and the loop on your hook.
Step 3: Insert your hook into space c and pull a loop through the heart and the loop on your hook.
Step 4: Insert your hook into the stitch at point d and pull a loop through the heart and the loop on your hook.
Step 5: Chain 1, over the top of your heart.

Chain 5 (or however long you would like the spaces between your hearts) and then insert your hook into space a on your next heart and pull a loop through. Repeat the steps for this heart and each subsequent heart on your garland. Mine is only 4 hearts, but you can certainly make a longer one! I’ve even used a single heart with a long chain to wrap a gift. It was SUPER sweet.

This was hung in an open window. The cool breeze had it swaying. Whatever you decide to do, have fun with it!

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D.I.Y. (quick!): tripod hat stand

By Lisa Gutierrez on 07/17/2012

Hello, friends! I’m back with another (quick) D.I.Y. project.

I have seen some beautiful coat racks made with sticks, THIS ONE being my favorite. I wanted something on a smaller scale for me to throw hats on, so I rummaged through my most abundant supply of sticks–my knitting needle jar! I don’t know about you, but I almost never pass up a 50 cent set of needles at the thrift store. Especially the adorable plastic ones in a random assortment of colors! For this project, I used some of my repeat sizes, but don’t worry about your needles because we won’t be doing anything permanent to them.

ANYWAY–onward!

Materials:
3 [13″] knitting needles (OR cut a 3/8″ wooden dowel into 13″ pieces)
~3 yards of yarn

1. Leaving a 6″ tail, start weaving your yarn around two of the needles. Pull tightly with each wrap.
2. Weave in and out of the center and around each needle 3 times, then tie a tight knot with the tail.
3. Put the third needle on top of the stack and start weaving again.
4. Make the same weave in and out of the center around the new needle with each of the first two. Keep your yarn taught! I like to wrap around the new needle, then around one of the firsts, then back around the new, then around the OTHER first needle, then back around the new one…and so forth! You’re just trying to securely attach the needle to the stack while keeping your wraps even. Tie a knot to secure.

5. Open up the needles and make sure they can stand. If you wrapped tightly, you shouldn’t have any problem getting them to balance.
6. Use the remaining yarn to wrap around the whole set, securing your tripod in its open position. It won’t be permanently stuck open, but you’ll be able to put some pressure on top without it collapsing. Firm wraps are key!

And done! Display your favorite hand-knits*. :)

The hat above is Honey knit with KnitPicks City Tweed DK.

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Tutorial: Crochet + Leather

By Lisa Gutierrez on 05/25/2012

This is a quick tutorial showing the steps I took to crochet on to leather. If you use felt or other fabric, you can skip steps 1 & 2, because those are preparing the leather for stitching. I tried making this with just a needle and hammer and it killed my fingertips.

You can use this tutorial for general projects that you want to add some leather to the bottom. Perhaps a wallet or clutch or go big and make a sleeve for your tablet. For brevity’s sake, I’m going to use my Kindle as a guide.

The Kindle is about 4.5″ wide and 6.5″ tall with about a .5″ thickness. My case is 5.5″ wide and 7″ tall, measured flat. I used a piece of leather that was 4″ x 6″.

PREPARING LEATHER FOR STITCHES

1. Using a fine tip Sharpie and a ruler, mark your stitch line straight across each side 1/4″ in from the edge. Make your stitch marks 1/4″ from each other, as well. On the short side, omit the very center mark (notice that the 2 on the ruler does not have a notch marked).
2. Make your stitch holes. My husband said when he worked with leather in the past, they would use a hammer + nail to make the holes. I tried using a thick needle and it made my fingertips raw. I looked up leather punches and almost purchased one online when I remembered this rarely used* tool in my crafty arsenal–my Martha Stewart screw punch! I used the 1/8″ tip and punched my holes in just a few minutes.

SEW SIDE SEAMS

3. Fold your leather in half, right sides together. Attach some embroidery floss (or thread of choice) by pulling it through the hole closest to the fold. Leave a 2″ tail and tie a [tight] knot.
4. Sew up the small seam, making sure to pull tight. Don’t pull tight enough to warp the fabric, but you also don’t want your stitches to be THAT visible when you turn it right side out. I stitched up and then back down to the beginning and tied another knot with the beginning tail. Seam up the other short side.

PREPARE EDGE FOR CROCHET

5. Using a 2.5mm hook (or smaller, if you’ve got it) and the yarn you plan to make the top out of (I used Sinfonia– a sport weight cotton), pull a loop through a hole along the long edge, leaving a 6″ tail. Slip-stitch around. Try to keep your stitches loose, so you don’t warp the fabric.
6. When you get to the first edge, make a slip stitch into the seam UNDER the first seam-stitch. Fold your seam flat as you work.
7. Keep going across to the other edge and do the same. When you get back to the very last hole, cut your yarn leaving about 6″ and pull it through. Using a yarn needle, make the last chain stitch through the first, then go back through the last hole again. Tie a knot with beginning tail.

Now your leather base is ready for stitches! Notice how the slip-stitches look like the tops of regular crochet stitches? Well, crochet into them!

I used a 3.5mm (US E-4) hook and my sport weight cotton to single crochet around. There were 44 slip-stitches, but my stitch count was 66 (*SC in first, 2 SC in next* around). I didn’t join at the end, instead I spiraled up for 35 rounds. For round 36, I slip-stitched around and then fastened off.

For the closure, I used a 4.75″ x 1.25″ piece of leather with a brass snap attached to the front. I was also thinking I could use a zipper instead. Maybe next time!

* I originally bought it to make notepads for myself and my kid who loves to doodle in my notebooks, but I used it a few times and put it away.

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Make it: washi tape covered container

By Lisa Gutierrez on 03/10/2012

The giveaway winner was chosen and posted in the widget! If you didn’t win, but still fancy yourself a pretty jar for markers, pencils, knitting needles, crochet hooks, branches, or whatever, make one yourself! It would probably be the easiest project you ever undertook.

The only supplies you need are: an empty container (this is a plastic container that had cheap grated parmesan; we eat a lot of pizzzzza), washi tape, mod podge, and a paint brush.

Cover the jar in washi tape and then give it a few thin coats of mod podge. That’s it.

The diagonal lines were trickier than the straight horizontal ones, of course, but it still worked out nice.

Fun fact: my container of mod podge is older than my oldest child (he’s almost 7)! It’s on its last leg and will probably be replaced soon.

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Crochet a heart with me (my first video!)

By Lisa Gutierrez on 01/18/2012

Valentine’s Day is a few weeks away, so why not start adorning your house (self, bags, books, etc) with hearts? This is a super quick 3 row pattern that you can probably complete in under 5 minutes. String them up garland-style, or add a safety pin to the back and have yourself a brooch. I chain stitched some together to make a vertical garland. Love!

Materials
worsted weight yarn
5mm (H) hook

Abbreviations (U.S. terms)
Ch- chain
SC- single crochet
DC – double crochet
slst- slip stitch
sk- skip
st- stitch

Pattern
Ch 4
Row 1: 1 SC in second ch from hook, 3 SC in next ch, 1 SC in last ch. Ch 3, turn.
Row 2: 3 DC in first st, 1 SC in next st, 3 SC in next st, 1 SC in next st, 4 DC in last st. Ch 1, DO NOT TURN.

Edge: 2 SC in first half of the side of last DC, 1 SC in next half, SC the first and last ch of the beginning chain together, 1 SC in the first ch of beg ch-3 of Row 2, 2 SC in next ch, 2 SC in last ch, 2 SC in first DC, 1 SC in each of the next 4 stitches, 3 SC in the “corner stitch”, 1 SC in each of the next 4 stitches, 2 SC in last DC. Slst to top of first SC. Fasten off.

The edge can seem a little confusing, so I made this video–

Crochet Heart Edge from Lisa Gutierrez on Vimeo.

This is the very first time I’ve made a crochet video. To be completely honest…I LOVED IT. It was awkward at first and pretty difficult to get focus, but I think I might make more for future projects. I found the music on Vimeo and it’s called “Instrumental salad” by Marlo Eggplant (www.myspace.com/marloeggplantmusic).

I used Windows Movie Maker to create this video. Any tips for newbies? I didn’t realize there were black edges on the sides until after. I expected the bars on top, but not the sides. I’ll have to figure out what those are next time.

Let me know what you think about goodknits videos!