Month: December 2018

I went to visit a family member, and I met Sara. Sara helps a lot of people as part of her job, and she is a wonderful person. Sara expressed an interest in learning how to make a crochet star table top cover, and she asked me to make a step-by-step YouTube video tutorial showing how to make the crochet design that you see in the picture above.

I decided to use the magic circle for the center, because I didn’t want an opening in the center. People that want to use this design for a Christmas tree skirt can start with a chain of 16, and then slst into the first ch that you created. After that, make 16 double crochet (dc) into the ring and slst into the top st of the first dc that you created. The rest is made the same way as in the video tutorial.

Thank you Sara for the wonderful crochet idea!

Merry Christmas everyone! Happy Crocheting!

So, I was reading my blog mail this morning when I ran across The Wee House of Crochet’s blog post.  She was discussing all of her finished beautiful crochet items. One of them is the Ubuntu CAL designed by Scheepjes Dedri “Lookwhatimade.”

“Ubuntu: I am because we are.”
The belief that we are defined by our compassion and kindness towards others.

Designer Dedri Uys from Look at What I Made has worked for over two years on this beautiful design. She let herself be inspired by ‘Ubuntu’:

“The word Ubuntu in a Nguni Bantu term meaning “humanity towards others” or “I am because we are”. Through Crochet-alongs, I have found a community that constantly reminds me of the essence of Ubuntu: connection, community, and mutual caring for all. We wanted to honour and celebrate that in this CAL, both in the design and how we choose to engage with each other as we embark on this journey.”

Thank you Dedri Uys for an amazing crochet design!!!

Update: Someone made the Ubuntu afghan for the San Diego County Fair 2019. If you would like to see it, and my crochet entries, here is the direct link: San Diego County Fair One of the Largest in the Nation

You may also like this crochet Blue Star Afghan!! It is a free crochet pattern from Herrschners. Click here or the picture below to go directly to the free written pattern. When you go to the direct link, scroll down until you see “Click here for the pattern.” Make sure that you click on the word “here,” and it will take you directly to the free crochet written pattern, unless it has been taken down. Last updated 20Jul19.

 

There are affiliate links below, if you are unsure of what affiliate links are please go to “Disclosures/Disclaimers” and “Privacy Policy” at the top of my HOME page. Affiliate links basically allow me to receive a very small referral fee, but only if you make purchases. Just because you go to the link doesn’t mean that I will receive a referral fee.

Most of you know that I have a Tunisian Crochet Wizard of Oz Crochet-Along (CAL) going on right now (19Dec18). Feel free to join in at any time. This will be my third Tunisian Crochet Afghan that I will complete for a family member. The first two Tunisian Crochet Afghans that I have completed are my Tunisian Crochet Minecraft Afghan and my Tunisian Crochet Guardians of the Galaxy Afghan. All of my graphs that I used to create the two afghans are available for free for anyone to use. My Wizard of Oz afghan has the first 4 blocks free for everyone, but after that, the graphs will be free for Helenmay Crochet Special Donor Members only.

Christmas is coming up fast, and we just finished taking family Christmas pictures. This year we decided to all wear funny Christmas Sweaters for our pictures, and it was a blast! Everyone loved our fun sweaters, and we were stopped numerous times with smiles and holiday cheer. Last year, we wore my Crochet Christmas Elf hats for our Christmas pictures, and that leads me to this blog post.

One of my favorite things to do each Christmas is reminiscing whenever I run across past Christmas family pictures. I wanted a way to hang up the current family Christmas picture, but also be able to easily get the Christmas pictures from previous years. I decided that I would make a Tunisian Crochet Christmas Angel picture holder, and I love how it turned out!!! I am making the graph available for free to everyone, and I will explain how I made it. It is a fun way to practice your Tunisian Crochet skills, and maybe build up enough confidence for you to attempt a full Tunisian Crochet Afghan! Too much crochet fun!

General Materials

• Tunisian Crochet Hook close to size 5.75mm
• A pair of scissors
• A tapestry/darning needle
• To crochet the backing on, I used my 5.75mm crochet hook. Use stitch markers to hold the backing in place as you crochet.

My favorite stitch markers:

Etsy Pastiche Accessories has a lot of fun Crochet Stitch markers to choose from.

If your fingers can’t handle the small latches, you may love these adorable safety pins. Double check the price. Should be $6.99 and prime eligible:

Yarn: I used 100% acrylic Medium 4 yarn. I put the yarn colors on the graph.

Free PDF downloadable graph:

Tunisian Angel Christmas Graph

Optional: You can use yarn to Tunisian Crochet in eyes/nose/mouth (You would have to adjust your graph). I chose to use 12mm safety doll eyes for mine. I embroidered the mouth using Prism craft thread.

I doubled up the craft thread and used my tapestry needle to sew on the mouth.  I doubled up my beige colored yarn for the button nose.

I didn’t bury my loose yarn ends.  I used a fabric backing. I only needed one of the $0.97 fabric rolls by Fat Quarter.

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I purchased mine at WalMart. They had several adorable ones, and at that price, I couldn’t help but stock them in my craft drawer for later use. They worked perfectly for this Tunisian Crochet project.

The finished approximate measurements of my Tunisian Crochet Christmas Angel Block is 18 inches height x 11 inches width. With my fabric, I cut out an additional 1 inch border. I had excess fabric, and I actually broke out my sewing machine to create a picture pocket:

In this back pocket, I placed Christmas pictures from previous years. If you like this idea, I would recommend making this pocket prior to crocheting the backing on the Tunisian Crochet work.

After that, I created an embroidery stitch border. If you need help with how to create an embroidery stitch, then you will like my “Life’s a Hoot Kitchen Towel Topper,” which will show you how.

In the above picture, you can see how I left approximately a half inch fabric border. The embroidery stitch should be on the right side of the fabric.

When you have completed the Tunisian Crochet Christmas Angel Block, you are ready to crochet it on the backing.

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Place your stitch marker on the opposite side of the side that you are crocheting (This will help you crochet the two pieces together evenly). The wrong side of the fabric and the wrong side of your Tunisian crochet block should be together. I placed my 5.75mm crochet hook into an embroidery stitch on the fabric backing, and then placed my crochet hook into a stitch on the Tunisian crochet block. Bring up a yarn loop through both stitches with your crochet hook, and then tie a knot. Chain 2. You are then going to make a hdc into the same embroidery stitch, but you may finish the hdc into the next stitch on the Tunisian crochet block. For mine, I made 2hdc into one embroidery stitch, but only 1hdc into a stitch on the Tunisian Crochet block (The stitches are closer together on the Tunisian Crochet block, and the embroidery stitches are larger on the fabric backing). The 1/2 inch fabric border that you created while making your embroidery stitch, will be tucked into the wrong side as you crochet. When you reach a corner, I usually place more hdc stitches around the corner stitches to help the corners lay flat. Once you are back to where you started, make a slst into the top stitch of the first ch2 that you made. Finish Off.

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The hanging strap: I made a chain of 42. Make 1hdc into the 3rd ch from the hook, then 1hdc into each st back across. FO. I sewed each side of my strap approximately 0.5 to 1 inch in from the sides as shown in the pictures above.

Front bottom picture holder:

I made 4 triangles with the same colored yarn:

For one triangle:

• Make a chain of 8 and then 1sc into the 2nd ch from the hook, and 1sc in each st back across (7 total).
• Turn your work, make 1sc into the next st and each st back across. (6 total)
• Turn your work, make 1sc into the next st and each st back across. (5 total)
• Turn your work, make 1sc into the next st and each st back across. (4 total)
• Turn your work, make 1sc into the next st and each st back across. (3 total)
• Turn your work, make 1sc into the next st and each st back across. (2 total)
• Turn your work, make 1sc into the next st. (1 total)

Sew the triangles in place as shown in the picture above. Make sure that you don’t sew into the back fabric. Also, you need the base of the triangles open to fit the picture:

I hope that you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

There are affiliate links below, if you are unsure of what affiliate links are please go to “Disclosures/Disclaimers” and “Privacy Policy” at the top of my HOME page. Affiliate links basically allow me to receive a very small referral fee, but only if you make purchases. Just because you go to the link doesn’t mean that I will receive a referral fee.

This Crochet Amigurumi Duck and Little Duckling both have separate free YouTube video tutorials. Each has a paid PDF written pattern available in Ravelry and Helenmay Crochet Studio (HMCS). Here are the direct links:

Ravelry link: Crochet Amigurumi Duck PDF written pattern

Ravelry link: Crochet Little Duckling PDF Written Pattern

HMCS link: Purchase the video tutorials and the PDF written patterns for both the Amigurumi Duck and the Little Ducklings for a low fee!

If you would like to find out what member benefits you can receive by becoming a Helenmay Crochet Special Donor Member, here is the direct link: Helenmay Crochet Special Donor Member

The Free YouTube video tutorials for the Duck and Ducklings will be available at the end of this post. You can also go to Helenmay Crochet YouTube Channel.

I had so much fun making these adorable crochet amigurumi ducks! I came up with the idea to make these crochet ducks after I met DeeAnn at the “Magical Season Craft Fair.”

You can click on the link to go directly to the blog post and read more about it. DeeAnn approached me at my craft table and asked if I would do custom crochet work for her. She said that she has had the yarn to make a crochet duck hat for a very long time, but never got around to making the hat. She ended up coming back to my craft table with her laptop and bag of yarn, and we sat down together as she showed me what she would like the crochet duck hat to look like. As I was completing her custom order, I really liked how cute the crochet duck was turning out, and I wanted to turn it into an amigurumi duck. When I was finished with the custom crochet duck hat order, DeeAnn asked if I could make little crochet duckling Christmas ornaments. I told her that I wasn’t able to accept an additional custom crochet order, but I could try and finish the crochet video tutorials and written patterns. Now, she will be able to make her own. I told her I would give her a special promotional code in HMCS to receive the PDF written pattern for free.

My favorite was the crochet little ducklings as Christmas ornaments! I would never have thought of this without DeeAnn’s custom crochet request. So cute!!

I think that the comical eyes worked perfectly for the adorable crochet amigurumi Duck!  I also used the comical eyes for my reindeer, Dachshund Dog, and Squirrel.

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You can purchase the comical eyes in bulk with Amazon Prime.

Here are the free step-by-step YouTube video tutorials:

Crochet Duck Part 1:

Crochet Duck Part 2:

Crochet Duck Part 3:

Crochet Sailor Duck Hat with/without Flower:

Crochet Quick and Easy Little Duckling: