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7 Free Halloween Crochet Patterns
Halloween is creeping ever closer, and it’s time to (pumpkin)spice up your home with some crocheted decorations. Get inspired by our most popular (and cutest!) crochet patterns for Halloween. P.S. Who says Halloween has to be scary?
Stay Warm With Wool: Knit Socks For the Whole Family
It seems that we’ll have to get used to cold floors and chilly temperatures indoors these coming fall and winter seasons. Which makes this the perfect time to start knitting woolly socks for the whole family.
Knit Your Own Christmas Sweater
A Christmas sweater can be silly and fun or classic and beautiful. And the very best kind is the homemade kind, of course! Here, we’ve gathered our 8 most popular designs for knit Christmas sweaters.
18 Free Christmas Crochet Patterns
Can you also hear jingle bells in the distance? Then it’s time to grab your yarn and crochet hooks! In this blog post, you’ll get 18 free patterns with cute and fun designs that are sure to make this Christmas a little extra magical and joyful.
Granny Squares: Find Inspiration for Your Next Project
The interest in granny squares has truly resurfaced. In this blog post, you will find inspiration for your next project with these fun squares that you can combine in countless ways. And you can even learn how to knit four different types of Granny Squares.
Gift Wrapping With Yarn - Be Creative With Your Own Personal Twist
Christmas is knocking on the door, and for many of us it means hand knitting and crocheting Christmas presents. I sure have a few projects in mind that I hope my family and friends will appreciate! But it is not only the gifts that you can crochet or knit, you can actually decorate wrapped gifts with lovely yarn embellishments. A beautifully wrapped Christmas gift should definitely not be underestimated! I absolutely love the handmade look, so I have made a few quick decorations that can elevate the wrapping to something very special! Whether you prefer to wrap your gifts in magnificent and glossy Christmas paper, or you’re mostly into the neutral and calm colors, you can use a homemade yarn trimming and your gift will become completely unique. Keep reading to see a few of my ideas for nicely wrapped gifts. I hope they can inspire you 🎁 Yarn as a gift ribbon I do not use gift ribbons, but instead I use lots and lots of yarn. You can use yarn as a gift ribbon to make the prettiest patterns on any kind of gift wrapping paper. I'm crazy about Christmas, so I do not skimp on the classic Christmas colors like red and white! You can use any colors you want. Match the yarn to your favorite gift wrap to express your own unique style. I used the yarn to make a geometric pattern that really makes the neutral brown paper look very festive! Pom poms instead of bows When I was a kid I used to make piles of these pom poms! I absolutely adored them! However, it has been many years since I last made one. But that’s over now, because they are perfect for a gift with ''yarn ribbon'' 😉 I replace the bow from the gift ribbon with the pom poms. You can sew them onto the yarn ribbon or give them a little blob of glue before attaching them. The pom poms are quite easy to make. You can use a piece of cardboard in the size you want the pom pom to be (in diameter), or as I did for the little ones, a fork. I made a small image tutorial showing the process: The image guide shows you how to start at the bottom left corner and end at the top left corner. Crucial to the technique is that the pom pom is "trimmed". That’s what creates the fluffy look. You can also use a piece of cardboard to make the slightly larger pom poms. It is important that there is a hole/crack in the cardboard where the loose string can go when the yarn needs to be tightened.You can see above how I use the fork and the gap between two teeth. But if you don’t want that hassle, use a template designed for pom poms - buy it here Braided yarn and large ornaments I have braided the yarn to make a chunky and thick gift ribbon and then tied a large and simple bow which is easy to untie. I have braided the ribbon from 3 different types of yarn. I have used Rainbow Cotton , Tivoli Acrylic and Lamé Madeira Effect Yarn - together they create the most gorgeous effect. All the strands are doubled to make the braid as big as possible. You can also try making a row of chain stitches instead of braiding. I tried that too, and it looked super cute for the slightly smaller packages - especially if you make a small pom pom for the top 😉 I hope I have inspired you to make your own beautiful yarn embellishments 😍🎄☃️ Love Josefine, Hobbii
4 Tips hat Make Crochet and Knitting a Breeze
I have been in the ''yarn world'' for a while now, which means that I constantly come across new tips and tricks for both crochet and knitting! I have put together a few of my best yarn tips that can make knitting and crochet just a little easier and more fun. There is nothing worse than a yarn end that is unravelling in a finished project, or ugly knots when changing skeins. My 4 best yarn tips to make crochet and knitting more fun. 1. Pull yarn from the inside Does your skein also bounce around while you crochet? Mine definitely does! One moment it's on the couch, the next it's rolling around under the dining table! Pull the yarn from the inside instead and the skein will stay put, but be careful to find the end, otherwise you will pull all the insides out of the skein and it can be quite difficult to stuff it back inside. 2. Crochet or knit with two strands a single skein In the past, I always bought 2 skeins if I had to crochet or knit with the yarn doubled, as I was not aware that you could work with double yarn from a single skein. That resulted in a lot of half skeins that I did not need. 3. Tie the ends together with a magic knot Do you have a lot of leftovers lying around? I sure do! I often have yarn left over from dishcloths and amigurumi. The remnants are usually too small to be used for a project, but too large to throw away. If you tie the remains together with a magic knot, you can make one large ball of all the remains that you have lying around and create something colorful out of it 😀 The magic knot is also good for when you want to avoid weaving in ends, or when two colors need to be joined. 4. Get a handle on the splitty ends I work with many different types of yarn, and I absolutely hate when I have a yarn end that is woven in but after use or washing, the end starts to unwork itself or the little ends start to split and poke out. It annoys and irritates my eyes! I have tried different ways to get rid of the splitty ends, but one method has been especially good. I use a little transparent nail polish on the end of the yarn, and that prevents it from unravelling. I do this after I have woven the yarn into the work and cut the thread but without letting it "disappear" into the work. I give it a little blob and wait until it is dry before letting go. See the difference between the ends on the left (without nail polish) and the ends on the right (with nail polish). Even if the yarn gets a little darker, it will not be visible at all on an end that is woven into the fabric. Some yarn types are easier to control than others. Ribbon and 8/8 Cotton often unravel at the ends, I always use this tip on them! But I very rarely need to do it in wool or acrylic. I hope you enjoyed my yarn tips, and if you have any great tips yourself, feel free to share them in the comments section below. I'm sure many of us will appreciate that! I wish you good luck with all of your upcoming projects ♥️ Love Josefine, Hobbii
