30+ Hot Weather Crochet/Knitting Projects 😎

Hello my lovely friends 💕

Well…it’s hot! There are no ifs and buts about it!

And unless you live in parts of the Southern Hemisphere you’re probably looking at your yarn stash with a tear in your eye, willing the weather man to come up with some clouds or – dare we hope – a ‘cold’ front! 😊

But fret no more! Dry your tears, pick a project ⬇️ that won’t cover your lap, legs, toes, pick up your hook/needles and start your Hot Weather Project 😃

Maybe you’re already thinking about Christmas Gifts! 😉

How about a cute Tea-Cozy? I love the hedgehog 😄

25 free Knit and Crochet Tea-Cozy Patterns by diyhowto.org

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Speaking of Christmas 🎄

Crochet Elf Hats for the entire family following this easy & awesome Pattern from B.Hooked Crochet

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Or maybe you or someone you love needs a new project/market bag?

11 Summertime Crochet Bags and Totes – find the patterns for these beauties right here

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And of course there’s always Amigurumi 😃 Doesn’t get smaller than that!

You can find all the patterns here 😍

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My absolute favorite – the Granny Square – is the perfect project for sweltering days!

You can compile a stash now, then join them when it gets cold.

If you’ve never made one, or need a refresher course…help is one click away 😊

Or get out your kitchen cotton, and make a larger one = Dishcloth! 👍🏻

Add a Scrubby-Yarn Flower – no more digging for an elusive Scrubby-pad with wet, soapy fingers. 😁

There….that should keep you busy for a while! Let me know what you’re making 😍

Enjoy your day! Stay cool! 😎

A Weekend Chuckle….or two 😂

Hello my lovely friends  💕 Thanks for peeking in! Are you looking forward to a long weekend, or do they want you to work on Monday? 😎

Either way… I thought you might need a good laugh right about now. 😀

I’m still laughing about this one…🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Here’s something for my Crochet & Knitting Friends 😄

The ‘tangled up’ one 😂😂😂
Aaaaaand – since it’s a long weekend – one more….

Alrighty….that’s it for today 😊  Have a fabulous weekend! 🌞 Take care & be safe! 😘

See you next week! 

Until then 💕

~ Tina xoxo 

Throwback ~ Thursday – From the (Knitting) Days of Yore

Does the title remind you of anything? Hint: Rachel on ‘Friends’ 😏 Yes? No? 😁

Hello my lovely friends 💕 I hope you’re having a fabulous day! 

Today I was digging through some bins with summer clothes (about time, right?! 😝) and guess what I found? Yep…a  summer sweater I knitted many, many moons ago. 😊 Can’t tell you where it was hiding until now 😏 I probably never dug deep enough in the recent past. 

Anyway…here it is 

It’s a real nice, light Bouclé yarn  – perfect for not-so-hot days 😀 And it held up pretty well. 

Do you still have pieces around that you made a long time ago? I’d love to see/ hear about them! ☺️

Well, it’s getting late so I’ll let you get some rest. 😁

I hope you stop by tomorrow for the free ‘Pixie Scoodie’ Pattern. 

Until then 💕

~ Tina xoxo 

Work ~ in ~ Progress Wednesday

Hello my lovely friends  💕 Thanks for visiting! 

Before Wednesday turns into Thursday I wanna show you real quick what I’m working on these days. 😊

Here’s the reason why I’m so late…

Yesterday I finished this stole….and not a moment too soon I might add. See… 😜

I guess you can say that the ‘Crochet Goddess’ smiled fondly upon me. 😇 

Well, that was yesterday. Today…not so much. 😕

I spent a good chunk of the day adding a ruffle border to the stole. That was a lot more time consuming than I anticipated. That thing is biiiiig! 😳

So….after picking up stitches (a lot of stitches!) with the ruffle yarn, knitting one round, starting to bind off…I noticed that the stole is now quite wavy. Not the desired effect. Meh 😔

🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸🐸 ⬅️ My immediate future 😛

Oh well, not the first time, and probably not the last. 

I’m pretty sure that I know where I went wrong….more about that -hopefully- tomorrow. 

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There are two more projects in progress right now. 

This one…

I’m not sure where it’s going…I just wanted to see how the fuzzy yarn looks as a piece, not just as a border. It’s kinda cute, don’t you think? There is an idea trying to form in my mind….let’s see if it leads to something. 

And then there is, of course, the never ending story of the cardigan. 😏

After I finished the back with the funky yarn, the maroon seams really didn’t fit the picture anymore. So I undid them, and redid them in funky 😁

See what you think 

Before 

After 

It’s definitely more ‘me’ now. I love crazy colors, and sorta mismatched clothes. 😍

Did you ever rework a piece numerous times? Please tell me that -eventually – I’ll be done! 😉

I’m looking forward to hearing from you! 🤗

Until next time 💕

~ Tina xoxo 

A Fiber ~ Art ~ Moment 💜

Hello my lovely friends 💕 I hope you’re having a great weekend! Thanks for taking a minute to visit. 

Today I want to introduce you to Althea Crome. She’s a knitter of miniatures – even though that term doesn’t really describe her talent…and patience! 😊

I found her  website – bugknits.com – by pure chance, and am absolutely awestruck. 

Let me show you why …..

   So darling! 💕
  She made an iddy – biddy Christmas Cardigan 😍
 Mini gloves – One finger fits a grain of rice 😳
On her website she tells us how she came from knitting ‘wearables’ to miniature knitting: 

“In 2000, my fascination with this tiny scale merged with my love of knitting, and since then I have been pushing toward ever new technical and design challenges. Tough as it is to knit on such a small scale, the “bug-knit” scale has allowed me the freedom to create and experiment with designs which, on a larger scale, would be cumbersome and prohibitive. My success in developing commercial patterns and techniques for 1:12 scale gloves, socks and other garments has only inspired me to venture further into what I’ve come to think of as “extreme knitting.” Indeed, from the time I began my vocation as an extreme knitter, I have made very few full-scale garments.”
I hope you enjoyed this little peek into an amazing artist’s life 😊 

Until next time 💕

~ Tina xoxo 

Let’s Just Call It ‘The Puzzle Poncho’ 😋

Let me tell you why! 

Hello my lovely friends 💕 Thanks for stopping by! 

A few days ago I told you about the ‘WiP’ that went terribly wrong. Remember the Poncho…well, the project that started as one, turned into 2 trapeze shaped (instead of rectangular) pieces? And that I had the glimmer of an idea how to turn it around? 

Well, I think I did it! 😁

Let’s take a look…

First – here’s what it was supposed to look like 

 
You see my dilemma….trapeze shapes won’t work. 😋

So I turned everything sideways, and joined the former bottom edges to form the seam down the front, the former top now ends at the wrist. But the ‘sleeve’ was too long. I removed the rows of ‘Granny Squares’. Perfect fit! 😊 
I started sewing the (former bottom, now middle) edges together, when I noticed that one piece was longer than the other. 😫 And not just a little bit! Nooooo! A good  4, 5″ . Aargh! 

Then something went right. 😀 The ‘Granny Square’ row was just as long as the panel taken sideways. Oh geez….it’s a lot more complicated to write it down than to actually do it. 🙃 I hope you are still following this? Of course you are! 🙂 So let’s continue…

With the squares in place I was still missing another inch or so. Nothing a few rows of crocheted mesh can’t fix. 😌 See…and I got to use more of my favorite yarn 

I added a row of single crochet, and a row of double crochet mesh in purple ombre yarn for the border. 

So far so good. 😁 My lovely friend Michele agreed to model the piece. There we discovered that it can be worn two ways….with a V-neck or a straight neck. 

 

Doesn’t she look fabulous? 😍

Well, that’s where I am right now. Now blocking, more fringes, and some decorative stitching and it should be done. And now you know why we call it the ‘Puzzle Poncho’! 😋

I’m so happy that it’s now something wearable 😁 I’ll show you the finished piece asap! 

Until then 💕 Take care & ‘Happy Sunday’ 🌞

~Tina xoxo 

Work-in-Progress-Wednesday ~ Something Went Terribly Wrong 😝

Hello my lovely friends  💕 How sweet of you to peek in! 

Today I wanted to show you a finished poncho…it’s been a ‘w-i-p’ for almost 2 years! 😳 I just knitted a few rows here and there- not really looking at the overall progress as I went on. Well, guess what? I should have! 🤣 

The pattern is really quite simple…I’ve made ponchos in that particular manner before. You knit 2 panels, sew them together…et voila. 

 

 But, of course, the panels have to be exact rectangles. See where I’m going with this? Because of using different yarns, and not really paying attention- don’t try that at home 😋- my rectangles are more of a trapeze shape. See…

Now it’s back to the drawing board. I do have the beginning of an idea…let’s see what comes of that. If it works you’ll be the first to know! 🤗

Until then 💕

~Tina xoxo 

A little Friday Funny…

…for all my crochet- and knitting-friends 😘 

Hehehe 😂

Have a great ‘yarn-y’ weekend! 

See you soon 💕

~ Tina xoxo 

A New (Creative) Path

Hello my lovely friends   💕   How sweet of you to peek in!

It’s been quite a while since I wrote to you last   😟   Let me tell you the reason why.
I had a little ‘soul-searching’ to do. If you remember, last time I told about my studio makeover, which also included de-stashing my jewelry making supplies. For years jewelry making excited me, made me happy. Well, that kinda stopped a few months back….and de-stashing only confirmed that nagging feeling that I was at the end of that path. I wasn’t inspired by my beads, the spark of excitement thinking of the possibilities was gone. I knew I have to change directions. But – where to? For a (long) while I felt kinda lost in the creative jungle. So many things to explore, so many pretty things to make – but nothing really grabbed me like the jewelry making did in the beginning.
Then it happened. During the clean-up/reorganizing/make-over of my studio I unearthed a basket full of yarn. I used to knit and crochet quite a lot many, many moons ago. But, even though I didn’t do a lot of needlework anymore, pretty, gorgeous yarn kept catching my attention, had to come home with me….hence the stash.
While fingering the yarn, sorting through the crochet hooks, and knitting needles, the spark of excitement was back!   😃  The seed was planted…crocheting, knitting – maybe even take it one step further and design a few fun pieces.
Then a few things happened
~ a friend of mine introduced me to ‘Ravelry’ -oh my…that site is a paradise for yarn-, crochet-, and knitting enthusiasts!
~browsing in the library I found a new book series* (in the cozy mystery section – my second home   😍) and the heroine is a crochet-designer    😳    Wait? What? Pretty awesome, right?!
~while digging in the hall-closet for a jacket I remembered having, but hadn’t seen all winter, I found a box with scarves and hats I made over the years. And I remembered the satisfaction of finishing a piece of wearable ‘anything’ with just a hook or needles and a ball of yarn.

So here I was, watching these puzzle pieces come together – and who am I to question the signs from the universe! Right? 😊

So…besides composing this post in my mind, somewhat committing to this new path, I started down the new road by sketching ideas, crocheting some test pieces, and brainstorming with the help of a fiber artist/friend.

Here is what I have so far…

1. A crochet cardi – Granny Squares and double/triple crochet

The yarn for the Granny Squares I found in my stash – the matching colors I found in a wonderful local yarn store.

Aren’t the colors a perfect match?

Detail

2. This is more of a recycle, upcycle, ‘make wearable’     project.
Last weekend I found this cardigan in a Thrift Store. It’s a bit scary…take a look

 

Yikes! Right?    Very ’80s, Bill Cosby Show.
I do love a lot about this – the patterns, the colors, the material (100% fine cotton), the fact that it’s made in Australia – I can’t make friends with the idea that it’s supposed to be worn as is.
I sat down with my friend, the fiber artist and also the owner of the above-mentioned yarn store, and brainstormed. We came up with the idea of making it a shawl or a poncho…tone it down by removing the sleeves and maybe the border. I took it home, and gave it even more thought. Here’s what I came up with

 

I think without the sleeves and border and the side insert in crochet mesh, it might actually be wearable. We’ll see.

Are you still here? Thank you for that! 🤗

I actually have one more piece, but I’ve taken up enough of your time for one night, so I’ll save that one for tomorrow. 😌

*Oh, one more thing ….if you’re interested in the book series I mentioned- it’s called ‘Annie’s Mysteries Unraveled’. The series is about one lady, the crochet designer, but each book is written by a different writer. I’ve read three books so far and am not disappointed. 

This is the first one in the series 

I’m looking forward to sharing this new path with you. Let’s have fun on this journey into the needlework-world! I’ll do my best to make it entertaining.

I hope you join me next time 💕

Until then

~Tina xoxo

~I am in no way affiliated with the author(s) or publisher of the mentioned books. 

 

 

 

 

Creative Chicks Meets ~ A Sunday Happening

Hello and”Good morning/day/evening” to all you lovely, creative chickies out there! 🙋

There is a new, fun affair in town!
If you love to create, but get lonely and bored sitting there all by yourself, lack motivation, and/or wanna learn something new ~ come and join us! 👵👰👸👱👯

Here’s a list of the pretties you can create… I 💟 lists! Hope you do too…
1. Bring your own project! Grab that bag with your knitting, crochet, needlepoint, whatever else you’ve got. We’d love to see it! 😍

2. Knit a trendy ‘Ruffle Scarf’
~ Kit with yarn and needles, instructions and assistance $12

3. Make some arm-candy~
This is a 3-strand bracelet (leather, chain, and Agate beads)
~Kit with leather strand, chain, beads and everything else you need, instructions and assistance $15

4. Introduction to weaving
You’ll get a little loom, yarn (your pick…I have a pretty nice selection), and, of course, instructions and assistance
$12

5. Make a yarn, ribbon, twine flower on the ‘Clover Flower Loom’
~Free

6. Make this pretty ‘Ribbon & Bead’ Necklace… yes, you can do it! I’ll give you everything you need, and show you how!

$25
7. Kumihimo Braids
I have the discs and yarn for you to play with
Free

8. A sewing machine is at the shop. So if you need to sew a few quick seams…come on down!

We meet every Sunday at noon!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

I hope to see you on Sunday! 🙂

Until then ~ take care, be good, and stay creative! 😘

Love
Tina xoxo