justalittlesnarky

Anti-Niche= good at many things, not an expert at any of them but having a great time all the same.

justalittlesnarky - Anti-Niche= good at many things, not an expert at any of them but having a great time all the same.

Tag Archives: Craft

Crochet Review- Crochet Octopus by tjw1963

With the new year starting and the gift giving and making frenzy over for another year, I wanted to try something new here at Justalittlesnarky. A little background on me, I have been crocheting for years now,shall we say about 30 plus years now that is a lot of years. Dang that makes me old I think. Anyway I would say that my skill level is somewhere between intermediate and expert due to long periods of no crocheting for me.

I am going to do an ongoing series of reviews of tutorials that I find online. I’m planning to do a few a month, how it will work is I will make the project then give my thoughts on how well the project was shown in the tutorial. I hope this will inspire others to try out some of these projects. There are some really talented folks that share these projects with us.

Octopus by TJW1963 on you tube (video below review)

 

This was the first project that I have completed by following Teresa’s videos. I first stumbled across her videos while looking at a simple flower pattern. Over the Christmas holiday I started crocheting again for gifts that we were giving, when I saw this cute pattern I just had to make one. It was such an urgent need that i had to fill that I was willing to “frog” a badly knitted sweater that I made but never wore. It was Christmas eve and everything was closed.

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The instructions are very clearly explained as she works the pattern for you. Each step is explained in detail. She makes sure that you understand everything that she is doing for each round.

Overall the pattern is simple and works up pretty quickly. It took me 3 days to make my first one. Keep in mind that it was 3 days filled with family events due to holiday’s. The only part of the whole process that was tedious was making the legs after all you have to make 8 of them, but as she points out you can make as many or as few as you want. It is all up to your creativity.

The construction of the final product was well explained as well as demonstrated as we went along. The purple one in the photo has legs that were left hollow. The smaller yellow one has chenille stems in them so that they are positional. This would not work if this item was being made for a small child.

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I would give this tutorial a giant thumbs up. I feel that even someone with basic crocheting skills would be able to have a successful outcome. Teresa also has a video with left-handed instructions, which I think makes her just awesome.

At the time this was published I was unable to find a link to written instructions. I had to watch it a few times pausing to do what she was showing a few times to finish it. If I can find them i will add a link to this post.

I would love to see photos if you make one of these cute creatures. You can find me on Twitter @justalilsnarky, if you have photos to share.

Till next time, get out there and craft something.
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Crochet Geek Website

 

 YouTube-review-

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A crocheting we will go!

I learned to crochet when I was about 6 or so. Both my mom and grandmother crocheted all the time when I was growing up. I wanted to be just like them so my mom sat down one day and showed me how to do it. I don’t remember anything more than that I learned how to crochet. So I guess I have been doing this for quite a while. Over the years my interest in it ebbs and flows. At one point I made clothing for my teddy bear without any patterns. I have started projects and never were finished, and others that were given as gifts.

This year I was in a full crafting mode for Christmas. Again this year I was late getting started on the process so there was a mad dash to get everything sent to the recipients. This years gift was crocheted dish cloths and bottles that we etched with Dish Soap and Hand Soap. With the flurry of crafting that I had in front of me sparked my creativity.

I have about 6 projects in the works at this time. I am looking to get some of the items up over on FatDragonCrafts it is my on-line crafts shop. Here are a few photos of  the stuff that I have been working on in the past few weeks.

DS wanted to challenge me, so he asked for a blue ringed one

DS wanted to challenge me, so he asked for a blue ringed one

She is my first go at amigurumi. I will have a full review of the tutorial that I used for her.

She is my first go at amigurumi. I will have a full review of the tutorial that I used for her.

I have had this yarn for years finally found a pattern that I like for it. This will be a giveaway once I finish it.

I have had this yarn for years finally found a pattern that I like for it. This will be a giveaway once I finish it.

I made a small pouch out of a test sample I made of crochet tartan, I think it would make a good pouch for small electronics

I made a small pouch out of a test sample I made of crochet tartan, I think it would make a good pouch for small electronics

This is a start of a cowl that is done in the round. It is done in the Tunisian Stitch.

This is a start of a cowl that is done in the round. It is done in the Tunisian Stitch.

This is a Tunisian Stitch cowl, it turned out to be a very large one.

This is a Tunisian Stitch cowl, it turned out to be a very large one.

This was a project that I needed to finish up so I do as I was not working on other stuff.

This was a project that I needed to finish up so I do as I was not working on other stuff.

This was a gift for a friend that lives in PA.

This was a gift for a friend that lives in PA.

I’m going to be starting a crafting posts. I hope to have some tutorials to put on YouTube as well. I hope that you will learn something new from them. So please check back to see what I’m up to next.

 

 

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See people really do the projects from Pinterest

I am going to star a new serise of post that will show that I not only spend time liking/pining stuff on Pinterest but I also do some of the projects.

Pinterest project in real life
 

The first one is from The Crafted Sparrow she takes a handbag and turns it into a camera bag. This was a great idea, I hate the bag that my camera lived in, it was just not big enough and if I had one that was big enough it was heavy and no fun to carry. Her tutorial was perfect. It is well written and easy to follow. The supples are able to be picked up at Joann's crafts. I spent no more then $25 on this project and used a bag that I loved but didn't use much. So its a win/ win for me.

Here are some photos of how my bag turned out. I have new board, Pinterest in Real Life I have started liking things then moving them to this board once I do the project or try the recipe. Here are the photos:

 

The bag is cute, glad I found a use for it.

 

 

 

Pinterest In Real Life link up!

This is going to be another one of those on Twitter I found… this interesting thing to write about. This one is all about trying something in real life that you find and have pinned at  Pinterest. For those who do not know what Pinterest is, it is a social bulletin  board.  Now not like the olden day meaning of a bulletin board, that was the precursor to chat rooms. It is a virtual board where you pin your “someday” stuff. It is a cool idea you can share your boards with people, take stuff off of their boards and add it to yours. I think it is by invite only at this point but I signed up for the wait list and got an email in a few days.

@libismorgan (Lizz) set up a link for thing that you try from Pinterest so I thought what the heck I may as well. This one is not a craft or recipe, but is fashion related, I hope that is ok.

This is part of the chart that is posted here:

original  link  9gag- how to tie a scarf or here Pinned at Pinterest

This is just one of the many creative ways to wear a scarf that you will find at the link.

They use two thin scarfs to get a really cool effect but i didn’t have two so I just used the one that I had. While I don’t get the same look, I can stay that my scarf that I traditionally spend all day picking at because it moves all over the place throughout the day stayed put. There was no creeping up to trying to choke the life out of me or wonky ends showing up due to rotation. The photo it is hard to tell but the tail and the loop make a cross pattern. I plan on trying some of the others as well.

So this has been my first Pinterest in Real Life post.

 

 

how to make a tutu via Twitter?

I have been stepping up my interactions on Twitter lately. I really like the group of people who I spend time walking with. Last night there was a question tossed about making a tutu, this is a subject that I know a little about. So I put in my two cents, that at some how turned in to 5 photos and a tutu tutorial in 140 characters, well sorta it was more than one tweet.

I told her that she needed to use a lark’s head knot and ribbon. I had to explain what a lark’s head knot was. Those where the two tweets, then I decided that there needed to be a photo montage explaining what the hell I was trying to explain.

So here are the photos that I sent last night:

First you fold the tulle in half like this.

Place the ribbon (here it is black) in front of the tulle.

 

Pass the tails of the tulle through the loop trapping the ribbon in the middle.

 

Tug on the tails to tighten the knot around the ribbon.

this is the back on the knot, you just repeat this process until you have enough ribbon covered to fit whom you are making the tutu for.

Now you should be able to make a really nice tutu using tulle by the yard that you have cut in to strips. The strip width is up to you.

 

 

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