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Make: Christmas Tree Ornaments

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When the year is ending, I really get into the mood to DIY some Christmas projects and ornaments to decorate my house and Christmas Tree. Though my current home it is not as perfect as I want it to be but I am sure next year will be better when I am at my new home. Just can’t wait to get over the renovation, I want to move in now!

Last year, I bought a new Christmas tree, a 7′ Royal Douglas Fir, it is huge and bushy, so big until it looks empty without adding more ornaments on it. This year, I made a few mini Christmas tree to hang on it. Hopefully I will be able to add more DIY ornaments every year until I can replace all the store bought ones from the past years and proclaim the tree to be Tree Of DIY Ornaments…. dreamer syndrome attack again but I surely hope that this wish will come true one day.

The concept of making these little Christmas tree ornaments is similar to my popular tutorials – Pencil Holder and the Candy Cone Memo Holder, that is by wrapping yarn or twine around the form, follow by embellishment. Younger kids can do it with some supervisions and helps from adults and older kids should be able to handle it without fuss.

I hope you enjoy making your own Christmas ornaments to decorate you tree as much as I do.

Merry Christmas!

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Crochet Picnic Basket

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Fall is for romantic, with this “mood swing”, I refashioned my hemp basket to become a lovely fall floral picnic basket by adding some crochet flowers and leaves. You can get the pattern for the flower and leaves here, it has a butterfly motif for you to crochet too. Be that you use this picnic basket to bring out your yarn to crochet or knit at outdoor, or hand sewing some fabric; you can even bring some breads, sandwiches, fruits and drinks for a small picnic; or use the basket to collect flowers from the garden; isn’t it a great life to enjoy such a lovely weather!!!!

You can adapt this method to decorate your existing hemp basket, or sisal basket, or any round base soft basket that you made or bought. Pinch the basket below the handle to imagine how it will turn out if you were to refashion it the way I did.

Happy Fall and enjoy your life to the fullest!

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Giant Doily Rug

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The pattern I used is a modified 8-Point Poinsettia Doily from a Japanese crochet book, but basically you can use your favorite doily pattern to make it. Personally, I like my rug to be denser (lesser holes) with more double crochet stitches, so I chose this doily pattern. The crochet hook to do this giant doily rug is size 10mm (N hook), it come in a set of 4 by Susan Bates Multi-Pack-Contains Sizes L,M,N,P. The joining up of this Ace braided cotton clothesline rope took part of the time since it comes in 200 feet each and I used 7 of them to make this. If you can get a long roll of continuous of similar rope that is able to crochet, by all means, use it!

The total working hour to complete this doily rug is approximately 16 hours. It is easy and fast to make but might need some arms, wrists and fingers strengths since the rope is fat and rigid compare to yarn. Well… I do have one problem, it is heavy and warm when I put it on my laps while working towards the end of the rug. I tried to put it on the floor, but bending down and crochet isn’t comfortable at all. Perhaps a chair in front of you would be a good idea to put the rug on while you crochet.

Let’s jump to the crochet pattern after this and watch me how to join the braided cotton clothesline rope that has fiber core in it.

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Crochet Hemp Basket

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Recently, I found myself strolling at Ace Hardware store more often than usual. I used to go to craft shops to get my craft supplies but now seems like I found an “auxiliary” place to buy… the HARDWARE shop!!! I bought a roll of manila rope from my local Ace Hardware store and made a hemp basket by coiling the rope with yarn using crochet method.

If you have been a facebook fans of Craft Passion, I have asked a question a few hours ago about what can you make with the rope, yarn and a crochet hook, and this is my answer: a hemp basket. Sara has had the closest answer and many of you guessed it right… basket, bingo!!!! I also specially like the answer from Lorraine and Alison, they said plant hanger, coasters, hot pads for the table/counter top, Dimple H said door mat, Yusi said table mat, yes, they can be done with this method too. There are many other creative ideas from the answers, **love them all** I am going to explore them out with it possibilities if time permits, like build a house as Gillian mentioned… may be with a huge roll of rope, who knows… there is no limit when it comes to creativity. I enjoyed reading through all your answers, you are simply awesome!!!!

Check it out how I did it after the jump!!!!

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Entrelac Messenger Bag

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At first, I just blindly made the entrelac piece without knowing what to do with it. A few options ran through my mind… I could make different kind of bags, cushion or throw pillow cover, may be join a few pieces to become a baby blanket…. but ended up with messenger bag.

I added a long straps which act as a gusset for the bag. Added a side pocket to house my giant smart phone. This time I don’t want to sew any zipper, instead I fold the bag down as a closure, so I needed another 2 smaller piece of gusset for the fold down. I always love to line my bag and this time I made a center divider plus a pocket in the bag. The divider is great for holding books and flat item like documents.

See… me carrying this bag during a photographing outing with friends. Thanks to Mandy who captured this beautiful moment, caught in the act of photo shooting… lol… love it!!!! *** mmmm… I think I need a hair cut soon… ***

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How to knit Entrelac pattern

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When I first saw this pattern…. wow, this woven knit strips pattern is so beautiful!!! I definitely want to make this, but how? Thanks to the modern technology of internet, I searched through the web and found some videos that taught about it. I like Planet Purl’s video the most, not only that it is easy to understand, Beth Moriarty has every stitch covered and explained. I am able to cast on and start knitting after the first or 2nd views of the video tutorial. Please stay tuned to see what will this piece of entrelac knit turn into…. I can foresee something sweet is on its way to Craft Passion pattern & tutorial

There are 6 parts of video tutorial to complete the entrelac knitting pattern, go through each of them and you will be able to do the same. As long as you can do cast on, knit, purl, purl 2 together, slip slip knit and bind off, you are able to make this woven-like knit pattern. There is of course a crochet version on entrelac, but the effect is not exactly the same. May be I will cover that as well after finish this project.

I am not a proclaimed professional in knitting, but I have the passion to create something out of the needles and yarns. Not lucky enough to have video and tutor to guide me through, so, I am basically a self-taught knitter and I learned knitting more than 30 years ago from just a basic knitting book. Long story short, I can knit after making numerous trials and errors, with no regret of the hard work and I really proud of myself for being able to knit a few vests, cardigans, pullovers, scarfs etc etc….. And also, conduct a small class among classmates during the break time between high school classes.

So, you think it is a real woven knit strips? Not until you look at the wrong side of the knit piece…. no overlapped knit strips, SURPRISED!!!

[update: I made this into an Entrelac Messenger Bag]

SOURCE: Planet Purl youtube video tutorial.
[Remark: Beth Moriarty of Purl Planet used 5 stitches for each "strip". Mine is 6 stitches, the method is the same, the only different is the width of the "strip"]

Part 1 – Bottom Triangles [Watch this video in Youtube]

Part 2 – Left Edge Triangles [Watch this video in Youtube]

Part 3 – Wrong Side Rectangle [Watch this video in Youtube]

Part 4 – Right Edge Triangles [Watch this video in Youtube]

Part 5 – Right Side Rectangle [Watch this video in Youtube]

Part 6 – Top Triangles [Watch this video in Youtube]

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African Flower Crochet Purse - Part 2

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The “insert” or the lining is essential to make the crochet purse more stable and won’t sag when you put your heavy belonging into it, coin purse and mobile phone for example. With it, the African Flower will maintain it’s beautiful shape of hexagons. In deed, this tutorial is about a complete sewn up purse with lining, and all you have to do is insert it to the crochet flowers purse(as shown in part 1) and stitch it up. In other words, you can take this part as an individual purse sewing tutorial, just change the plain fabric to something you like.

It seems like it took ages for me to prepare these 2 tutorials, which involved a Hong Kong trip, stay at home taking care of my 2 sick kids full time (though I managed to slip into my craft room to get it done bit by bit when there is an opportunity) and a hospital admission (not me but my daughter) in between the processes. What a relief… that things have settled down and I back in action finally… I promised, more crafts to come on the way… While I am writing this tutorial, my craft room table is now being covered by SOCKS…. guess what is coming up next!!!

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African Flower Crochet Purse - Part 1

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Finally, I have prepared the tutorial for this African Flower Purse, the one I wanted to make for the longest time. The one I planned to design and make since seeing Mia’s African Flower motifs a year ago. The moment I have it designed and started working, I already have the desire of wanting to share with you how beautiful this purse is going to be…. but I choose to save it until now (ohhhh… it is hard for me to keep this secret for that long). Now, I am so happy to splash your eyes with this beautiful baby that you would want to make and carry one

Be prepared, this is going to be another lengthy tutorial, with both crochet and sewing involved. I have to split it into 2 tutorials:

• Part 1 (this tutorial) – crochet and joining of the African Flowers motifs to make up the purse.
• Part 2 (coming soon)- sewing part of the lining and handles which stabilized the purse.

I modified a little on the white border of Mia’s pattern to make it into single crochet on back loops only. To cut the story short, get the pattern and tutorial after this jump.

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Knit pattern for Loose & Drapery Neck Top

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Hi there, I am at Hong Kong Disneyland now and I haven’t forgotten you and my craft blog. It is late at night, weather is nice at around 14°C (57°F), slightly chilling compare to my sunny hot homeland. Here in my cozy hotel room with a chargeable in-room internet service, writing and publishing my knitting pattern. No wonder someone called me workaholic, actually, I like to be named craftaholic instead

After a few festive celebrations since end of last year, with non-stop eating, zero exercise and long hour of sitting, I am regretful to say that I need something to cover my lower abdominal. Whenever, people look at me, even with a slightest angle to the lower part of me, I am nervous and need to find something to cover my bulging tummy… oh…. can you imagine how bad it is!!!

During working days, I can easily hide this ugly sight by wearing loose fitting clothes that not require any tuck-in. Now, I am at Disneyland on a semi-vacation, I am wearing jeans, pants, T-shirts and I don’t want to let the tummy outshine me in every photo, I need something decent to cover it up. So, I designed an easy to knit “loose & drapery neck top” that look casual yet trendy for this trip. I am so glad to have it completed just in time for the trip.

Unlike many knitting pattern for garments, this pattern doesn’t require arm and neck line shaping. Thus, there is no complicated shaping pattern to follow because everything here is done with straight line. To help in killing the dullness in working with only knit and purl sticthes, I added an optional beginner’s challenge at the back of the pattern – to knit a Stockinette Lace Ladders. You can skip this and replace with the normal Stockinette pattern if you prefer a simple one. The back piece is fast to complete but the front one might take you some times as it is bigger and you need to knit more than 250% of stitches compare to the back pattern.

Hope that you like this easy drapery neck top knitting pattern. I will continue with my vacation and shopping, as always, will gather some information for you on a crafter paradise shopping zone

By the way, Theresa Pulido, the popular book author of Locking Loops has some great giveaways happening in her blog this month, be sure to check it out, comment to win it. Wish whom who had participated best of luck!!!

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Crochet Flower Brooch Pattern & Tutorial

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You might have seen this flower brooch which appeared in one my knitting patterns & tutorials end of last year, I pinned it on the simple slouchy beanie hat my daughter is wearing. You could make some to embellish what ever and where ever you like, bag, scarf, hat, hairband, clothes, shoes, even on gift packaging etc….. since it is simple and quick to make.

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