Book Sleeve with Pocket Bow

Hey ya'll!! So I'm big into Journaling and reading. I usually carry a journal around with me in my purse or whatever book I'm reading if it's a physical book. And I hate that when I put my books into my purse the corners get beat up a little, so I made a book sleeve to protect the books!! We have to protect the books! And because I just loved that little bow on my last pattern that doubled as a pocket I just had to do it again on this book sleeve to have a place for my pen or chapstick or whatever else. So without too much babbling I give you the Book Sleeve:

Materials

-2 colors of medium #4 worsted weight yarn

-5mm crochet hook

-scissors

-yarn needle

-stitch marker

-journal or book to keep in it 

Abbreviations:

-ch: chain

-fdhdc: foundation half double crochet

-hdc: half double crochet

Book Sleeve pattern:

1.) FdHDC 20 

2.) Ch1, hdc across, 2 hdc in the side of last hdc in row, hdc in top(bottom) of the same st, hdc across, 2 hdc in the side of last st, join with a sl sp to top of 1st st in row, (46 sts)

*note: the rest of this pattern is worked in the round going up.)

3.-28.) Hdc around (46sts)

After your sleeve is long enough, or you get to round 28, Fasten off and weave in ends. 

This sleeve fits a 9x6 notebook/journal but is completely customizable to any side book. Just fdhdc the width of the book and follow the pattern until you get to the length of the book. 

Bow: 

Fdhdc 26

2.- 10.) Ch1, turn, hdc across, (26sts)

Fasten off and weave in ends. To make the bow go ahead and weave an extra piece of yarn up through the middle of the rectangle and pull the middle together around it. Then tie that in the back and proceed to wrap the length of yarn around the middle a few times and tie in the back again. To attach the bow just 

pin in place of where you want the bow to sit and sew down one side, across the bottom, and up the other side to make one large pocket across the front of the sleeve. I did mine 5 rows down from the top of the sleeve. 

Thanks so much for visiting today! I hope you have a really good day!!

My Top 15 Crochet Tips for Beginners

As a Crochetier of 10 plus years I have discovered a few things along the way. And today I'm going to share them with all of you! For those of you from the beginning stage of just learning to crochet to being some one who has crocheted for many many years, I believe I may just some tips and tricks under my sleeve that can help all. 

Any way I wont keep you waiting for very long, here are my 15 top crochet tips and tricks:

1. Always leave a little bit of a longer tail at the beginning and ending of a project. Just to give yourself adequate room for waving in tails and tying off. 
2. Get you a good "Knit-Check" to always check crochet hook and knitting needle sizes after the writing or labels have worn off. My favorite is the Susan Bates metal one with the gauge window. to makes it so easy to check gauge on projects and measure things on the go.
3. Keep all your supplies/materials for one project together. Whether you use a yarn bag, plastic bag, or even a 2 gallon Ziplock bag, any bag will do. I prefer the 2 gallon Ziplock or my zip closed yarn bags so that my toddler doesn't have an easy go about getting into my supplies. 
4.  When using a new yarn, whether it be a new brand, texture, color, or even hook, always make a sample square to check your gauge to know if you need to change your hook or not to keep gauge in a pattern. 
5. Attempt the hard stitches!! Most of the more difficult crochet stitches are just some formation of the basic stitches. And if you've mastered the basics, try the more difficult ones. I promise it will all work out.  
6. With that being said, don't be so hard on yourself if something doesn't work the first time around.  Just frog it and try again. We will never learn to be more than what we are now if we don't try hard things. 
7. BLOCK THE SQUARES!!!! But no seriously, if you're making something that requires a bunch of pieces that are all the same size, block them. Its not as hard as what it may seem and it makes the squares, hexagons, circles, etc. all the same size and more uniform, but also softer. 
8. If you're anything like me and you have carpal tunnel from an old work injury, or arthritis, or just pain in general, wear a compression glove or wrist brace. Yes, it will slow you down a bit but we need to take care of our bodies! 
9. Save your scrap bits of yarn. if they are long enough you can tie them all together and make a cute scrap yarn blanket or you can put them in a small basket outside for the birds to use in making their nests.  
10. Invest in a good stitch bible or two. Not only do they have how-to's on literally everything todo with the basics, but they also have some stitches in them that you've probably never heard of.
11.  If you're working on something that doesn't require a lot of counting, listen to your favorite audio book or podcast! I'm also a huge bookworm and true crime fan and when I'm crocheting I'm always listening to something. 
12. Center pull yarn ball winders are lifesaving! But if its just not in your budget you can used a toilet paper roll center or a paper towel roll center to wind your own center pull yarn cakes. Just take the cardboard tube and cut a slit like a quarter of an inch deep and put the end of your yarn in the slit, then just wind the yarn around the tube. When you're done just pull the tube out of the center and you're done. 
13. When crocheting on the go or just to keep things together I would make/get either a hook case or just an empty makeup/ pencil case to hold your hook, stitch markers, scissors, and whatever else you may need all in one place. I have a double sided hook case for my regular hooks and I use a makeup bag to keep all my interchangeable hook pieces and stuff in.  
14. When making anything wearable, try it on as you go. I know personally, as a plus size woman, most if not all clothing patterns do not fit me. I always try things on every little bit when crocheting clothes or even hats to make sure things fit properly. I'd suggest you do the same to make sure your projects also fit you. 
15. And finally my last tip for today would be to use sewing pins(and a lot of them) to hold the little(sometimes bigger) pieces of different stuffed animals/bags/embellishments etc. together while you sew them on. It also helps to hold them in place so you can see if things are going to be even from one side to the other.  

And there you have it. some of what I think are my most useful tips to anyone looking to make things a bit easier for themselves.  Let me know what your favorite tips and tricks are! I'd love to hear what y'all do to make things easier on yourselves and maybe make a few improvements myself! 

Pocket Cup Cozie

So, if you'll are anything like me, you never have pockets on anything!!! And you're always losing your Chapstick. But I have a solution! My pocket crochet cozie has 2 pockets on it. You could use for your Chapstick, money for coffee, or even your crochet hook! Todays pattern is also a 2 for 1 because if you don't like the bow(pocket) you can just make a simple cup cozie. I do plan on having more cozie patterns in the future and some different styled cozies. I also do have a Tips and Tricks post coming up for yall on Thursday this week. So lets get into it!

 Pocket Cozie!

Materials: 

• #4 Medium weight yarn in 2 colors

• 5mm crochet hook

• Scissors

• Yarn needle

• St marker

Abbreviations:

• FHDC- Foundation Half Double Crochet

• HDC- Half Double Crochet

• INC- Increase (2 sts in the same st)

• St(s)- Stitch(es)

• Sl st- Slip Stitch

Pattern:

1. FHDC 30, join w/a slst to top of 1st st

2. Ch1, hdc in each st around, (30)

3. (We’re now going to be working in the round.) Place a st marker, hdc around, (30)

4. Hdc around, (30)

5. *Hdc in next 5 sts, Inc,* repeat around, (35)

6.-13.) *hdc around*, (35) join w/ a slst to top of last round in round 13.

Bow: in a different color

1. FHDC 20

2. Ch1, turn, hdc across, (20)

3-10.) ch1, turn, hdc across. (20) 

Tie off and leave a long tail to sew the bow to the cozie. Before we tie the bow to the cozie, take a long piece of matching yarn to the bow, sew a line up the middle of the rectangle and scrunch the middle of the rectangle into a bow shape. Wrap the tail of the sewn part around the middle section a few times to secure and tie off. Take the long tail from crocheting the rectangle and sew the bow to the cup cozie, leaving 2 rows above and 2 rows below the bow on the cozie. Also leave the top of the bow un sewn to the cozie to create the pockets. 

The Hidden Waves Beanie

I really like fan stitches, like really like them. They work up fast and look super complicated without actually being all that complicated to actually do. But then I was thinking what would they look like on a hat, and what affect would it give for them to be hidden. And thats basicly my thought process on how I put this pattern together. I think it gives the hat a really cool texture to have the fan stitches in there inbetween the lines. But also the lines themselves are a really cool added texture. Anyhow, enough of my babbling, heres the pattern:

Hidden waves beanie 

Materials:

• 4mm crochet hook

• Scissors

• #4 medium worsted weight yarn

• Yarn needle

• Stitch marker (optional)

• Pom pom (optional)

Abbreviations:

• Ch- chain

• Sc- single crochet

• Hdc- half double crochet

• Dc- double crochet

• Sk- skip

• Sl st- slip stitch

• Blo- back loops only

• 3rd loop- go thru the loop on the back side or the hdc 

• Rep- repeat

• Dec- decrease (Double crochet 2 sts together)

• St(s)- stitch(s)

Brim:

W/ 4mm hook, ch 11

R1.) SC in 2nd ch from hook and in each st across. (10sts)

R2-R85.) Ch1, turn, sc in blo in each sts across. (10sts)

R86.) Ch1, turn, line up the beginning chain and row 85, sc thru both ends across(wrong side), to form a loop . (10sts)

Hat body:

R1.) Ch1, working on top of right side, make 90 sc in the top of the band evenly spaced. (90sts)

R2.) Ch1, hdc in each st across, join with a sl st to 1st st. (90sts) 

R3.) Do not ch. Sk 2 sts, 5dc in next st, sk 2 sts, sc in next st, *sk 2 sts, 5dc in next st, sk 2 sts, sc in next st* around to last st. Do not sc in the last st, join with a sl st to top of 1st st. (90sts)

R4.) Ch2, hdc in next 2 sts, sc in next st, hdc in next 2 sts, dc in next st, *hdc in next 2 sts, sc in next st, hdc in next 2 sts, dc in next st,* rep around, join with a sl st to top of 1st st, (90sts)

R5.) Ch1, hdc in blo around, join with a sl st to top of 1st st. (90sts)

R6.) Ch1, hdc in 3rd loop around, join with a sl st to top of 1st st. (90sts)

R7.) Ch1, hdc in blo around, join with a sl st to top of 1st st. (90sts)

R8-17.) Repeat rounds 3-7 (90sts)

R18.) Ch2, *dc in next 5 sts, dec*, around, will have 3 sts left just dc in those, join w/ a slst to 1st st (75)

R19.) Ch2, *Dec, dc in next 3 sts*, around, join w/ slst to 1st st (60) 

R20.) Ch2, *dc in next 2 sts, dec*, around, join w/ slst to 1st st(45)

R21.) Ch2, *Dec, dc* around, join w/ slst to 1st st(30)

Fasten off and leave long tail to weave in and out between the sts and cinch to close top. Tie off and weave in tail. You could also add a pom pom. 

The Mini Basket Weave Beanie

I was browsing  through Pintrest one night just looking at different crocheted hat, looking for one that was both masculine and feminine. I really wanted to make my husband a hat for the upcoming negative degree weather we were about to have right before Christmas. This is what I came up with: The Mini Basket Weave Beanie. There are tons of patterns out there for a traditional basket weave beanie where you do the same thing for 3 rows then switch. But I wanted something that was a bit more textured and I really do like the look of a mini basket weave (1 row/round one way, 1 row/round the opposite). So I turned it into a hat. Unfortunately I'm new to blogging about my creations so I dont have any photos of me working on it, i.e. progress photos. But I do have a few of the two mini basket weave hats finished. 

So, without further adu here is my pattern...

Materials:

 #4 Medium weight Yarn 

 5.5mm/ U.S. I/9 crochet hook 

 Yarn needle

 Scissors

 Stitch marker (optional)

Abbreviations:

 Ch- chain

 Sc- single crochet

 Dc- double crochet

 Sl st- slip stitch

 St- stitch

 Rep- repeat

 Blo- Back loops only

 Fpdc- Front post double crochet

 Bpdc- Back post double crochet

Notes: 

The brim of the hat is worked back and forth and single crocheted together at the end of desired length. Then with right side facing out (side that doesn’t show the single crochet join), you will single crochet around the top of the brim. 

The chain 2 at the beginning of each round counts as a stitch. Pom poms are optional. And pattern was written for a men’s large size. Hat is customizable just change brim to 1 inch smaller than your head circumference. 

Brim: 

Ch 11

Row 1.) Sc in second ch from hook and in each st across. (10 sc)

Row 2-62.) Ch 1, turn, sc in blo in each st across. (10 sc) 

Row 63.) Ch1, turn, line up the 1st row and last row and sc across

through both the last row and 1st row. Making a ring out of 

the ribbed brim of the hat. 

Hat:

Ch1, sc 64sts around the top of the brim. (64 sts)

Round 1.) Ch2, dc in each st across. (64 sts) 

Round 2.) Ch2, fpdc in next 2 sts, bpdc in next 3 sts, *fpdc in next 3 sts, bpdc in next 3 sts* rep around join with a slst to top of ch 2. (64 sts) 

Round 3.) Ch2, Bpdc next 2 sts, Fpdc next 3 sts, *bpdc next 3 sts, fpdc next 3sts* rep around join with a sl st to top of ch2. (64 sts)

Round 4-19.) Rep rounds 2 and 3. 

Round 20.) Ch 2, *dc in next 2 sts, dec* rep around (43sts)

Round 21.) Rep round 20. (29sts)

Fasten off and leave a long tail to weave in the ends and close the top.

To close the top take your needle and tail and weave in and out between each stitch all the way around, pull the tail tightly to cinch closed and tie off. You could add a pom pom here or just weave in the end to tie off.