And Now, a Little Bit about Crochet…

August 11, 2009| Lindy| 0 Comments | 7:51 pm

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I have been very focused on knitting for the last couple of years. Which means I have done very little crocheting and I have never written about crocheting in this blog.

It’s one of those things, I suppose, when you are someone who does both. I seem to have times when I just am not motivated to knit or not motivated to crochet – or I am very interested in knitting, but not crocheting or visa versa. Eventually I come across something that will whet my creative appetite and I will feel a strong urge to go find my supplies and begin working on a project in the craft I have been ignoring.

The crochet urge has bitten me once again! Never mind that I have four knitting projects currently in process – one of which is the baby blanket for my coming grandchild – I find myself needing to satisfy this urge to crochet again. So, I now have five projects in the works – Yep, I added a crochet project this weekend.

DresserScarf_1 I have decided it is time to take up the task of re-creating two or three vintage crochet edgings from dresser scarves I have from my mother. These dresser scarves were made from cotton percale or muslin fabric, embroidered and then finished with a hemstitched hem and a crocheted edging. I am only beginning to appreciate the amount of work that went to into the making of these items and I will explain more in coming posts. Right now, I am tackling the task of developing written explanations for how to do a hemstitched border and then begin a crocheted edging using that border. I will post information about this once I have it worked out and I plan to have it available on my website. Also coming will be the re-created pattern for the vintage crochet edging.

1 thought on “And Now, a Little Bit about Crochet…”

Amanda (SparkeeSpud) says:

August 12, 2009 at 5:00 pm

That is an amazing thing, the dresser scarves. So intricate and lovely.

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Progress on Re-creating the Vintage Crochet EdgingProgress on Re-creating the Vintage Crochet Edging

August 19, 2009| Lindy| 0 Comment| 1:15 am

CrochetEdging1_Rd1
I have made progress on re-creating the Vintage Crochet Edging from my mother’s dresser scarf. I have determined that the edging is made using double crochet stitches in a filet crochet type pattern. It is only three rounds.

For this project, I am using muslin fabric that I have cut into a rectangle that is approximately 20 inches by 15 inches. I have done the hemstitching around the edge and made a single crochet foundation around the fabric by single crocheting through each hole in the hemstitching. The foundation was crocheted using white crochet thread, size 10.

CrochetEdging_Rd1_2
The first round of the crochet edging consists of a mix of 2 double crochet, chain 5 and 3 double crochet stitches around the edge. For this edging I am using an aqua size 10 crochet thread. It is progressing nicely as you can see from the photos

Lastest FO: Crocheted Pickup Truck for GrandsonLastest FO: Crocheted Pickup Truck for Grandson

June 29, 2010| Lindy| 0 Comments| 5:16 pm

Yesterday I finished a crocheted pickup truck for my grandson. He is 5 months old and almost to the point where he will be playing with soft toys, rattles and items that he can chew on.

This little truck measures about 7 inches long by 3 inches wide and is about 3 inches tall. At the request of my son, I did NOT put a little bell inside of it — but I thought about it! It was an easy pattern to crochet and it went together very quickly.

Details: I purchased the pattern from Stacey Trock’s Fresh Stitches website and downloaded it directly from there. I used Knit Picks Shine Worsted for the truck body and Peaches and Cream in black for the tires and the pickup bed. You crochet the truck body and cab in one piece, the front is crocheted separately as are the lights — which are sewn in place before you stuff the front and attach it to the truck body. The tires and the pickup bed are separate pieces and you stuff the body as you go. It’s soft and squishy, but you can actually put something in the pickup bed as it has depth.

I think my grandson will enjoy his first red pickup truck. 🙂

Crocheted Christmas OrnamentsCrocheted Christmas Ornaments

November 17, 2024| LindyBeir| 0 Comment| 11:03 am

Three patterns of snowflakes for Christmas 2024

Every year I crochet a number of Christmas ornaments to sell at an event held by a local club that I belong to. This year I made 36 crocheted snowflakes and 6 crocheted tea light holders.

Since these ornaments are made with crochet cotton thread, they need to be “stiffened” so that they hold their shape. In the past, I used a fabric stiffener I bought at JoAnn’s. Now, this stiffener is somewhat expensive. It’s priced at around $10 for a 16 oz bottle – that’s the best price I found online when I searched this morning. Sixteen ounces would be enough for this batch of ornaments – but using this product significantly adds to the cost of making these items. I have also tried using a spray starch to stiffen crocheted items, but it really didn’t give me the amount of stiffness needed for the ornaments.

A better solution is to make my own using cornstarch. Yes, you can use the cornstarch you have in your kitchen cabinet to make a solution of stiffener that works well on cotton crocheted items. Cornstarch costs roughly 15 cents per tablespoon, so it is cheaper to use.

Homemade Stiffener

Here’s the formula: Use 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 1 cup of water. Whisk the cornstarch in the water to blend it well and bring the solution to a boil while whisking continuously. Then set it aside and let it cool. Once it has cooled, you can dip each item in the solution and soak it a bit – then squeeze out the excess and pin the item to shape. Let it dry thoroughly.