Projects of the Day: Dryer Balls, Pumpkins, and Scarf, Oh My!

Here are a few things that I have been working on this week!

First we have some lovely wool dryers balls. I have been experimenting with the best way to make these. These are made of wool yarn, but I am working on some made of wool roving as well. I think the roving will ultimately be easier! Aren't they pretty?

I've also been working on a couple of projects that I shared earlier, a scarf for my father and some cute pumpkin appliques. They could also be used as pins or fridgie magnets! I'm going to put faces on some of them too. Spooky!

The last couple of months I have kept an eye out for beautiful wool sweaters heading for the trash bin. You would be surprised what people throw away! Thankfully, I was able to rescue some and reclaim the yarn! I will be offering these lovely reclaimed yarns for sale on my website soon. I am close to launch!

Crochet Basic Tutorials in Pictures: Slip Knot

People have a variety of ways they learn and some are more effective than others. This tutorial is for those who are primarily photo- and written-oriented.

This is a photo tutorial, along with written instructions, for how to make a slip knot. A slip knot is a knot used when starting any crochet project.





This picture shows the tools that you need to begin crocheting. They are simple: A ball of yarn and a crochet hook. In this tutorial, I am using a ball of light blue yarn and a size K crochet hook. You would use whatever yarn and size hook your project requires.




The first thing that you need to do with the yarn is to make a circle. You can accomplish this easily by wrapping the yarn around your fingers and crossing it over, as illustrated in the picture. In this photo, I left a short tail. For most projects, you will want to leave a longer tail (yarn that is not on the working yarn side of your project) so you will be able to weave in the ends when you are finished. Keep this in mind when creating your slip knot.



Once you have the yarn crossed over your fingers, slip it slightly off your fingers to form a circle of yarn. Take your working yarn and push it through the circle, forming a small loop.




Once you have the small loop formed, pull on the loop to tighten the circle of yarn and form a slip knot, as shown above. This knot is wonderful because if you decide that you have not created a long enough tail or want to start your project over, you can simply pull the tail of the yarn and the knot will unravel.




This is a picture of the crochet hook through the slip knot. The tail is hanging down below and the working yarn is pulled to the left hand side, ready to use!

Stayed tuned for more basic crochet tutorials!