Wednesday, 1 January 2014

Chair or Table Foot Socks - Crochet

Chair Socks


I was asked by a friend if I could crochet some chair socks for her chairs so they wouldn't scratch her new floors. Well, after a few months I finally got to doing them. I did a couple of samples but in the end this was the pattern I came up with.

The pattern is for chair legs that are about 5' in diameter. The socks are crocheted in a round and will fit any shaped leg that size.

To get a nice tight stitch I used a G6 or 4 mm sized hook.
I used a acrylic size 4 yarn.

Terms are in American

SC - single crochet
FLO - front loops only
BLO - back loops only
(n) - n is the number of stitches in the round.
*...* - Repeat stitches between the asterisks

Bottom Liner

 - this base is stitched in to the foot so you must leave a very long tail for this circle

Round 1: 4 SC in magic ring  (4)
Round 2: 2 SC in each SC (8)
Round 3: *1 SC in first SC, 2 SC in next SC* X4 (12)
Put a marker/safety pin into the loop on the crochet hook so the next round can be started with that hook.

Leave a very long tail for next row ~ 46 inches
DO NOT WEAVE IN END

Main Sock 

- After Round 3 of this sock,  I crochet the bottom liner to the sock.

Round 1: 4 SC in magic ring  (4)
Round 2: 2 SC in each SC (8)
Round 3: *1 SC in first SC, 2 SC in next SC* X4 (12)
Round 4: In FLO *1 SC in first 2 SC, 2 SC in next SC* X4 (16)

At this point I put a marker in the loop that is on the crochet hook is and crochet the bottom liner into the sock following the next steps

Put the wrong sides of the Main sock and Bottom liner together. I actually tie the starting ends from the main sock to the bottom liner together at this point and trim them so they are hidden between the 2 circles.


Round 4 of Bottom Liner
Insert hook into the loop of the bottom liner and remove the marker. 

insert hook into the BLO of the Liner and the BLO  from round 4 of the main sock
See Image below.

Stitching Bottom Liner to Main Sock

YO, pull through both loops, YO, pull though both loops (this creates a SC)
Repeat for the next 11 SC. (12)
Cut, finish off and weave in end.

-
Continue with Main Sock
Round 5: In both loops 1 SC in each SC
Round 6 - 15 repeat Round 5

Cut, finish off and weave in end.

Inside of main sock with bottom liner attached


Finished Sock - outside view.

Thursday, 6 June 2013

Purple Dragon

I was asked by a friend to make a Purple Dragon for her young daughter (age 2). It seemed that she has an imaginary friend called Purple Dragon that she carries around in her hand. So after some searching I found this site for a pattern of a Baby Snow Dragon. The pattern was nice and simple and fairly small.

I didn't make the eyelids but instead embroidered on some eyes because it was going to be for a young one.

I added wings and made them fairly simple.

WINGS - Make 2  (use secondary colour)
Row 1 - ch 2
Row 2 - 3 SC in second stitch from hook, ch 1 (3)
Row 3 - Turn wing around and crochet in other direction - 1 SC, 3 SC, 1SC, ch1 turn (5)
Row 4 - 1 SC in 2 stitches, 3 SC in 3rd stitch, 1 SC in 2 stitches, ch1 turn (7)
Row 5 - 2 SC in 1 stitch, 1 SC in 5, 2 SC in last stitch
Fasten off and weave in end

use main colour SC around the 2 sides of the wing.


Here are some photos of Purple Dragon.

 




Thursday, 2 May 2013

Ralph the Rabbit

I wanted to try to make a bunny out of the same basic pattern as the Giraffe and Moose I made. I also wanted to try to make it out off less colours to see if that would decrease the time it takes to make it. However, it took so long to try to figure out how to make the head and ears since I only had a picture for inspiration that I don't know if it took less time with less colours.

I have to admit, I like the colours of the Giraffe and Moose better than the rabbit but it turned out well none the less.

Ralph with his friends
The inspiration for Ralph came from the following image. If you click the image it brings you to the Stip en Haak site where they have some really cool crochet ideas.

Inspiration for Ralph


For Ralph I didn't do the invisible joins like I did with Mister Moose and Striped Giraffe and the joins are much more noticeable.

See the ears in the picture below. You can really see the jogs.


 This next picture shows the joins in the bodies of the critters.I used the invisible join method in Mister Moose and Stripped Giraffe but not in Ralph.  I will always use invisible joins from now on.

I took notes on the pattern changes for Ralph and I will add them when I have a bit more time.


Monday, 15 April 2013

Mister Moose

I started to make another striped giraffe but I thought it would be cute to make it into a moose instead.
I changed the horns to antlers, made the nose a bit longer and the neck shorter.
I think he turned out pretty cute.



Thursday, 11 April 2013

Cutest Striped Giraffe


When I first saw this giraffe I thought it was the cutest thing ever. I tried to find a pattern but my search left me empty handed. So, I thought I would try to make him myself without a pattern and when I went looking for the image again I found the pattern and it was free.
I found the pattern at I Love Buttons by Emma




He is really really cute.

I had to make a few changes to the pattern and I outlined them below. This was fun to make!

Changes to the Body Pattern

Change colour (tan)

R23: Sc 2, dec 1, rep 6 times (30)
added Row 24  SC1, DEC1 repeat 6 times (24)
Follow the rest of the pattern just increasing the row numbers by 1.


Giraffe Parts
No ears or horns

Is it a bunny or giraffe

He is done...


When doing my rows I followed the invisible join method as found a PlanetJune website.
My joins turned out OK.
 My invisible joins... no that invisible


invisible join at back


Wednesday, 10 April 2013

Kitty Key Chain

My daughter was still asking for me to make a toy for the cats as the mouse I made was much too big and I found these kittens at Buddy Rumi. I have to say it is amazing how many free patterns are out there for us to use.

This was very quick to make and I didn't have to make any changes to it. My embroidered nose and whiskers are in pink (although in the picture you can't tell) and the nose is a bit better than on the hedgehogs.

There was a new stitch in this pattern that I had to look up how to do. It is the Invisible Decrease. When ever there is a new stitch for me to learn I just do a search for it and I can always find a video or instructions on how to do the stitch.
The following video does a great job of showing how to do this stitch.



I am sure I will make many more of these. My Daughter was pleased with this and decided to give it to her friend for her birthday as her friend loves cats.


My Kitten.




Odd Ball Mouse

My daughter was really liking the new creations I was making and had made a  request to make a cat or mouse toy for our cats. So in my search I found these Odd Ball Mice and thought I would give one a try.
The pattern comes from Woolly Toons blogspot. I used a larger hook and heavier weighted yarn, only because it was what I had.

 Her mice are cute and reminded me of the rats from the Muppets.

I made a just one change to my mouse and that was to make the inside of the ears pink.
I just crocheted a circle the right sized and stitched them in.
The eyes of my mouse are set too far apart and if I make any more of them I would make them actually touch.

My Odd Ball Mouse. 

I placed him a little closer to the cat in this next picture.

The camera really picks up the white stuffing through the crochet holes. You don't see these normally. Not only do I need to improve on my embroidery skills but my picture taking skills. Perhaps I should use something other than my BlackBerry to take the pictures with.