New old sneakers

Hello.
It's me again, in the middle of hot, hot summer.
Today I want to show you something super easy and fast to make, if you want to give your old sneakers a new, summer look.
I repainted a pair of my simple black sneakers. Why? Because I needed a pair of shoes with some blue details, so I grabbed metalic acrylic paints, a couple of paintbrushes and a piece of old lace.

 Of couurse I could have painted something prettier but my tendency to create chaotic abstraction won.
Maybe next time I will make something more complex.

Thank you for visiting and see  you soon!

Crochet realistic rose ( hand-painted petals)

Hello everyone.

Welcome to this first day of summer blog entry.

Today I want to share with you one of my recent experiments, large, realistic looking crochet rose.

Pictures and descriptions below.

For this project I used white cotton yarn (thread) and crochet hook, size 2,5 mm.

Each petal was crocheted and dyed (painted) separately.

On the picture below you can see all the petals I used to make one rose flwer (right after painting still wet). As you can notice they are in different shapes and sizes. 

 I wanted to achieve possibly natural looking rose petal effect.

It was my first attempt to dye crocheted details. It would be easier and much faster to make all the petals of originally dyed yarn, perhaps is slightly different shades of pink and purple, but I really wanted to try something new, a technique, that would allow to make each flower look different and unique.

I have to say, I am happy with the result. The flower looks simple, but it took some time to make it. Sewing petals together was the worst part. I tried several times before I got what I wanted.

So, this was my first try. There will be more. I want to make a bunch of roses in different colours and shapes, but this time I will use thinner yarn.

Anyway, if you have any questions and if you want to learn more about the painting (dyeing) technique and materials I used for this project, please leave the comment bellow. I will be happy to help.

Enjoy the summer and have a wonderful, creative time! 

Crochet outfit for Monster High doll

Greetings :)

Today I'd like to show you my first crochet outfit for a doll. It contains a short dress (or tunic), white coat with flower and hair decoration with the same kind of crochet flower.

I must confess, that when it comes to crocheting clothes for dolls my experience is very poor.

I used to design and sew various outfits for my old Barbie dolls, but it's a different story, 

For this project I used thin and soft acrylic yarn (Etamin) and a crochet hook size 1,5 mm. To decorate flowers I used small white fabric flowers and light blue zircon stickers. 

A few shots of the whole outfit.

And blue tunic solo. Info for these of you, who like to ask for patterns. Well, as you can easily guess, this whole set was created by me, which means I don't have any written scheme, but if you want to make such outfit for your dolls, please leave a coment bellow and simply let me know, if you want me to make a photo tutorial.

Thank you for visiting, be creative and see you soon! :)

Small square rug

Hi everyone.
We had a couple of really cold and even snowy days here in Poland, so I decided to hide myself under blanket with a crochet hook and some thick, winter yarn that I didn't use during the winter season. I had only 2 balls of yarn, 100g each and my first though was to crochet a neat vest for myself, but red and white combined together, nah, it's not my style. I like each of them seperately, but what to do, when life gives you each ball in a different colour?
Well, I made a small square rug.

I didn't use any particular pattern for this project, just got inspired by something I saw in one magazine a long time ago, but that square had a flower or some sort of star in the middle and I didn't like it, so I made something more simple instead (please don't ask for pattern).

Btw, If you want to make a present for your cat or dog, this kind of rug will be just perfect.

The whole thing took me a couple of hours and a half of season of my fav anime watched in the background. 

Thanks for visiting.
Have a fantastic week everyone and see you soon!

Crochet egg holder

Hello everyone!

I started making simple, colourful egg holders. I don't celebrate Easter, but I celebrate spring and I like when my table looks pretty, so why not to make something spring and flowers inspired?

I didn't use any pattern and I don't have any written scheme for this project. It's a simple piece and I think everyone can make it or invent something similar. I already have a few ideas for more flower holders which I'd like to try.

Such egg holders are a good way to make use of yarn leftowers. Making one piece takes up to 15 minutes and you can  put chocolate eggs or egg candles inside instead of natural ones.

Stretchy mini skirt

Hello :)

It's me again, I took a short break from crocheting one bigger project and preparing another photo tutorial to make this cute, stretchy mini skirt. And no, I am not obsessed with neon pink.

This particular skirt was ordered by my friend, who loves neon colours and who already got one of my neon shawls.

Front

Back

For this project I used about 50 g of stretchy yarn and crochet hook size 2,5 mm. Pattern for the pink part is well known and you can easily find it online or in magazines with crochet patterns. I won't post it here, cause I don't have any rights to share schemes, that aren't created by me.

Crochet floral motif (step by step photo tutorial)

Greetings fellow crocheters!

Today I would like to show you another photo tutorial I made.

This time my project was inspired by spring and Women's Day.

This tutorial will teach you how to make this pretty and simple floral motif, which can be used to make a doily, pillow, blanket, bed throw or poncho.

Technical info. For this flower I used crochet hook size 3,5 mm and different types of acrylic yarns.  Diameter of this flower is about 23 cm, which makes a perfect medium doily.

For my photo tutorial I used the same crochet hook and thick cotton yarn, but this time only one colour. In my opinion both versions look interesting.

Enjoy watching my tutorial, I hope you will find it useful.

I realize my videos aren't very professional, so please don't get mad, I got limited time and resources and I use only free software but I try to do my best ;)

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to message me or post a comment.

Thank you for visiting and see you you soon.

Have a great Women's Day everyone (even if you're not a woman)!

Neon triangle shawl (project for beginners)

Hello everyone! Today something super fast, simple, in bright, energizing colours, cause I am sick and tired of cold, dark, gloomy days and winter in general.

So, this is a piece of outfit perfect for active girls, who like to walk, run, dance, do sport, girls like myself....(who am I lying to? lol!)

Anyways, this is the easiest to make triangle crochet shawl, a basic fishnet that you can learn in five minutes. If you are a beginner or you never had a crochet hook in your hand, but you want to learn how to crochet, this project is for you.

All you need is a ball of not very thick yarn in your favourite colour and a proper size crochet hook.

For my shawls I used Red Heart Bella acrylic yarn, colours neon pink and neon green, crochet hook size 3,5mm. I needed one 50g ball for each shawl. If you want to crochet a bigger size shawl or add some decorations, such as tassels, you will need more yarn.

I decided to keep my shawls as simple and functional as possible, cause they are part of my "activewear".

The spring is coming and it's time to start thinking about some outdoor activities and it's definitely the right time to start burning calories, because we want to look amazing in our summer crochet creations.

Thank you for visiting and see you soon. :)

Crochet triangle shawl, free photo tutorial

Hello everyone.

Finally I made a short video with step by step photo tutorial for the simple crochet shawl I showed you a week ago.

However, I decided to remove old post and crochet a completely new shawl, cause I needed to correct a few mistakes I made while making the first one. Besides I don't want to make you feel confused, cause for the new shawl I used different type and colour of yarn, so it simply looks a little differnet.

Here's a photo of new shawl and a few basic tips. 

To make this shawl you need about 100 grams of thin yarn and crochet hook size 2 or 2,5 mm. The result depends of the type of yarn you use. Remember that natural yarns, such as cotton, wool, bamboo will stretch after washing and blocking, so your shawl will get bigger and more lacy. Acrylic yarns, like the shiny, soft grey one I used to crochet my shawl number two, don't stretch that much. 

And here's the full tutorial.

If you decide to make such shawl, please share the pictures of your work, I'll be very happy to see your creations.

Thank you for visiting and see you in the next post.

Make yourself a cat! (Catlike Icon Maker)

Hello, hello! It's busy me here.

Today I would like to show you something different, which means there'll be nothing about crocheting and yarn in this post.

I've been looking for avatar, portrait makers and generators, cause I needed a couple of silly pictures but I was too busy (lazy) to draw something myself.

Precisely I needed cats.

And here's what I found. This small, free to use thingy is called Catlike Icon Generator and it runs in every popular browser.

Here's the link  Catlike Icon Maker

I made a short video to show you how to step by step create a simple kitty portrait like the one on the picture below.

It's all super easy.  Just pick the cat parts, adjust shape, size angle and position, add patterns, modify colours, add background and some extras if you want and your catlike creature is ready!

Now you can download your picture, save it to jpg or png file and use it as a profile picture, icon or simply print it and enjoy the view.

Have fun making your own, special, completely free cats and see you soon! :)

Crochet poncho

Hello.

Today I'd like to show you my first poncho, which I made accidentally.

I started crocheting a sort of tunic but I didn't really like the back of it and didn't want to rip too much, so I decided to crochet something else, using the large square parts I already made.

For this project I used about 400 g of Himalaya acrylic yarn

(one ball of light blue, 1 ball of light grey and 2 balls of grey, beige, ecru melange).

This is definitelly a spring, summer poncho, but I would like to make a thicker, not so lacy version with a hood, cause ponchos are cool and they go well with everything. :)

Super warm crochet beanie (made of chain)

Hello.

Today something for those of you, who have a small amout of thin, soft yarn ( about 100g) and no idea what to make of it.

Winter is here, so my choice was obvious. Let's make another warm and soft beanie, but...

Instead of single, thin thread of yarn I decided to turn my yarn into chain and use it as material for crafting my beanie.

I had 2 balls (50g each) of this extremely soft, cute pink acrylic yarn, which would be great for making cute pink accessories for kids (which I don't have, so I just made another winter hat).

To make my chain I used 3,5 mm size crochet hook 5,5 mm for making the beanie.

For this project you can use any hat pattern, the simpler, the better.

I highly recommend  combination of relief double crochet stitches. 

Pom pom is optional, you can add your own decorations.

And that's all for today.

Feel free to post comments, share opinions, ideas and ask questions. 

Happy crafting everyone an see you in the next post! :)

Gothic tank top (my first attempt at filet crochet)

Carnival is here, time to party, time to dance, time to wear fancy clothes.

Today I would like to show you a corset like tank top I made last summer.

My first idea was to create an oversize T- shirt and guess what...

I ran out of yarn.

So I finished front of my project and I thought I will just buy 2 more balls of yarn in one of my favourite online stores.

But guess what, this particular colour of Alize Diva silk effect was out of stock. White yarns, especially delicate, thin cotton and microfiber yarns are very popular during summer season, cause they are ideal for making light dresses, tunics, tops and all sort of lacy creations, including wedding accessories, so I wasn't very surprised, that I couldn't get a single ball of that darn pure white yarn anywhere.

Finally a friend of mine sent me a ball, so I could make something of it.

I never before tried filet crochet technique, but it's not difficult. It's like making pixel art of yarn and the patterns are very similar to those used for Cross stitch embroidery projects. 

With regard to design, well, I had several ideas. I definitely wanted to use a skull motif. I made a few drawings of standard Jolly Roger and some things inspired by dias de los muertos (which I definitely want to use in some future projects).

The final result is a combitation of simplified skull design, hearts and spider web like upper part. The size of  my tank top can be easily adjusted with the lace on the back.

I enjoyed crafting this piece and I learnt a couple of things, but I still want to make my oversize thingy and this time I will start from buying a proper amount of yarn.