New treasury - Everything for Everyone on Etsy

This treasury I made using shops from promotion thread on Etsy unofficial forums. It was very easy - all shops in that thread had really beautiful items - I had just to put them together. Take a look and  enjoy!

Unofficial Etsy forum

I'm forum lurker... I do not post too often, but I love to read. Every morning I start with cup of coffee and reading new posts in some forums. Etsy forum was one of them. But now Etsy has decided to shut down forum as way to communicate and make people to join small "teams". Sad... I'm not "team" person so this won't work for me...
Still people who don't want etsy community be splitted in small "teams" have created Unofficial Etsy Forums where everyone can join, chat and lurk :) Hurray! Check it out, join in and have fun!

"Happiness in winter" - treasury on etsy

Here is very beautiful treasury "Happiness in winter".

Crochet heart applique - tutorial pattern for beginners

 Valentine day is coming and You could definitely use some of those cute heart appliques, right? Well, You can either buy them or make them. If You decide to make them here is tutorial of very simple heart applique - simple, but still great looking.

By the way - if You want buy them - I have some in my etsy shop! Take a look!





Notes about this tutorial
You will need a little bit of yarn or crochet thread and crochet hook.
For this tutorial I used 2,5 mm crochet hook and 4-ply mercerized cotton yarn. Heart applique made of this yarn measures ~ 4 cm (1,6") in width and ~ 3,5 cm (1,4") in height. But You can also try different yarns and threads.

Used stitches:
ch - chain
sc - single crochet
dc - double crochet
tr - triple crochet
ss - slip stitch

So, lets start!

Step 1 - chain

Step 1

Chain 5
(or even better - use "magic loop" - if You are crocheter, You know, what is it. If not - here is great video tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfKKoU4HpCs . If You use magic loop, skip step 2 of this tutorial)

Step 2 - make ring

Step 2

With slip stitch make ring.

Step 3 - round 1

Step 3 - round 1

Note: All stitches of this round You make in the ring.

Chain 1; 1x single crochet, 1 x double crochet, 1 x triple crochet, 4 x double crochet, 1 x triple crochet, 4 x double crochet, 1 x triple crochet, 1 x double crochet, 1 x single crochet.

Well, if You have good imagination this already starts to look like heart. Now we will give  this applique shape of heart.

Step 4 - round 2

Step 4 - round 2

[2x single crochet in the next chain]; repeat [..] 3 more times; 1 x single crochet in next 3 chains; 3x single crochet in next chain, 1 x single crochet in next 3 chains; [2x single crochet in the next chain]; repeat [..] 3 more times; slip stitch in the ring. Fasten off and weave in ends.






Congratulations!
You have made crochet heart!

Large heart - crochet hook 4mm, wool
Medium heart - crochet hook 2,5 mm, cotton yarn
Small heart - crochet hook 1,75 mm, cotton thread nr.10

These are different size and different material hearts made by this pattern.

Custom order - crocheted flowers appliques

Yesterday I worked on custom order - crocheted flowers. This is amount that I can make within one day. It seems that it's nothing, only 40 pieces of flowers. But it took me 7 hours and 250 yards of crochet thread. By time and yarn amount it equals one neckwarmer. And there are only two yarn ends for neckwarmer to weave in. For flowers there are 4 weave-in ends for each flowers that is - I needed to weave in 160 ends...
So, here are my one day work - before weaving in ends and then - after.

40 flowers before weaving in ends and blocking

40 flowers after weaving in ends and blocking

Red is my favorite color...

... and here is gorgeous collection from great artisian from Artfire - StephanieRonnyeknit1bead2
(my neckwarmer got into this collection too :) )

RED IS THE RULE OF THE DAY

Curated By: StephanieRonn...

ArtFire.com

Craft Tutorials

All for cats...

I am cat addicted. I have calico cat (I think I will have to dedicate separate blog post for her sometime) and I collect cat figurines from places I've been.
And, of course, I love to look for different cat related things on the net. Here is my collection with fabulous creations for cats and with cats from Artfire artisians.

"Cattitude" on Artfire

Cattitude

Curated By: loststitch

ArtFire.com

Handmade Soap

Crochet hat for Barbie doll - tutorial pattern for beginners

For making this hat You will need 2 mm crochet hook and yarn that matches this size hook. I used 4ply mercerized cotton yarn. If You use different size hook or yarn result may differ from original (be bigger or smaller).
Used stitches:
ss - slip stitch
sc - single crochet
dc - double crochet
ch - chain

In rounds 1 - 9 I used back loop crocheting (insert hook under back loop).


O.K. Let's start!

Step 1 

Step 1 - make chain.

Chain 5.

 Step 2

Step 2 - form a ring.

 

Join with slip stitch (ss) to form a ring.

Step 3 - round 1

Step 3 - round 1

10 x single crochet (sc) in the ring; slip stitch (ss) in 2nd chain from the hook.



Step 4 - Round 2

Step 4 - round 2

Chain one; [2 x single crochet in next chain, 1 x single crochet in next chain]; repeat [..] 4 more times; 1 x single crochet in next chain; slip stitch in next chain.  

Step 5 - round 3

Step 5 - round 3

2 x single crochet in next chain; 1 x single crochet in next chain]; repeat [..] 7 more times; slip stitch in next chain.

Step 6 - rounds 4 - 7

Round 4
1 x single crochet in each chain (24 times); ss in next chain from the hook.
Round 5
1 x sc in each chain (24 times); ss in next chain from the hook.
Round 6
1 x sc in each chain (24 times); ss in next chain from the hook.
Round 7
1 x sc in each chain (24 times); ss in next chain from the hook.

As You can see - all 4 rounds are the same.

You now have 2 choices

Leave the hat as is or continue
- turn to the other side.

You can either leave the hat as is (looks already nice, doesn't it?) or continue.

If You decide to continue, turn hat to the other side.

Step 7 - round 8 

Step 7 - round 8

2 x single crochet (sc) in each chain.

Step 8 - round 9

In this round we will start to use double crochet (dc).

[2 double crochet in same chain; 6 x double crochet]; repeat [..] 5 more times; 2 x double crochet in same chain; 4 x double crochet; slip stitch in 2nd chain from hook.

Step 9 - round 10

Round 10 - finished hat.

1 x single crochet in each chain; slip stitch in next chain. Fasten off.
Congratulations! You have this cute Barbie doll hat. Now You can embellish it with some ribbon or flower... or just leave as is because it looks so cute :)

First blog post - about me

Hello and welcome to my first blog. It's absolutely new experience for me so I will try not to bore You too much.

My name is Laura, I live in small and beautiful Europe country Latvia.

These are my folks- my boyfriend and my calico cat princess (both hate to be photographed) :)

I love to crochet, I don't understand knitting (two needles are too much for me. And You say there are four and five needed for socks? That's too too much.) and I don't know anything about sewing or other crafts. But I want to learn. Sometime...
But for now I keep to crochet. I make crochet flower appliques, crochet flower brooches and clothes for fashion dolls - Blythe and Barbie. Also I have started to make something bigger and have made some neckwarmers, shawls, scarfs.

I also sell what I make. I have shops on artfire, etsy, dawanda and from time to time I sell on ebay.