machine | A Whole Load of Craft

Posts Tagged ‘machine’

Atre y pico award

Posted in Craft, Crochet, Knitting, That's Cool, Totally Unrelated, tagged amigurumi, arte, award, Crochet, drawing, jewelry, Knitting, machine, pico, sewing, writing on April 26, 2008| 7 Comments »

Sue of Perpetualplum’s Weblog passed the Atre y Pico Award on to me!

The rules read:

1) Pick 5 blogs who deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material and who also contribute to the blogging community no matter what language.

2) Each award must have the name of the author and also a link to their blog.

3) Each award winner must show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him the award.

4) The award winner and the one who has given the prize must show the link of the “Arte y pico” blog so everyone will know the origin of this award.

I’m going to cheat and recognize six, not five, bloggers who I have previously never awarded/tagged. The “Atre y pico” award goes to these six bloggers who knit and/or crochet for their excellence in the following categories…

writing: Bezzie of Random Meanderings

drawing: Carina of Carina’s craftblog

amigurumi: Mia of Owlishly

sewing: Lara of thornberry

jewelry: Jordana of Guaya

photography: Oiyi of Oiyi’s Crafts

*That’s cool* a random fact

The first ever patent of a sewing machine was in 1790 by Thomas Saint. The machine used the chain stitch, made with a hook-ended needle and a single thread.

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Tricot machine

Posted in Craft, Crochet, Free Patterns, Knitting, Music, tagged Crochet, dishcloth, flower, granny, japanese, knit, Knitting, machine, square, tricot, whipstitch on February 12, 2008| 21 Comments »

I finally got to make this Starburst Hotpad. Ever since I saw Angela’s orange and pink version on Ravelry I have wanted to crochet my own. The only thing stopping me was the lengthy assembly directions. They seemed complicated, but the hotpad isn’t as daunting as I predicted. The hotpad makes sense once you have the pieces made and it all pulls together for the final step.

I tacked down the petal edges when I wove in the ends. Next time I would do this with a little more ease since there are visible creases. I used Lily’s Sugar and Cream in Bright Navy and Over the Rainbow. With the granny square holes, I’m not sure if I would use this as a hot pad, but it makes a sturdy trivet.

The Circular Cloth pattern is very simple and easy to follow. Perfect for the beginner wanting to practice increases in the round before tackling a hat. I used half a skein of Lily in Summer Splash.

In hindsight this dishcloth would have looked better with a contrasting border. The picture for the free pattern even has an orange border around a white center, but by the time I realized this I had already tucked and cut the ends. The back-loops-only do make nice ridges for scrubbing though.

The Crochet Hexagon Dishcloth is adapted from a Japanese pattern and the origin shows in the writing style. It took a few tries before I understood the notation.

My real problem was the recommended size G hook made this dishcloth bend in a cup shape. I had to use a size I crochet hook to get it relatively flat, and then I blocked it to keep the shells down. The blocking wasn’t really necessary though, and it made the shells look more pointed than they were originally crocheted because I’m still learning to block well.

The dishcloth is crocheted in Lily’s in Soft Teal. The simple, solid look of this pattern is really pleasing and a few of these in coordinating colors would make a nice gift.

Finally, in lieu of a random fact, I give you a YouTube video. Compliments of Geckogrrl, here’s a music video from the Canadian group Tricot Machine. All the frames are knit!