Punisher Finish

The Punisher intarsia...done! But, me being me, that really only means that created another project. So, mostly done.

(To see the other posts on this project, please click the label titled 'intarsia' or 'comics')

After making the first Punished piece, I decided to make a Punisher purse. I might be a huge comic book fan, but I'm still a girl. I hooked up a strap and a side/bottom piece and made a purse out of it. This was my first go at lining a project. It went better than expected. My first thought was to line the purse with Cookie Monster fabric. But, everyone I suggested that to flailed about and yelled 'NO WAY!'. In the end, I went with a pink fabric with heats and flowers on it. I needed something to contrast the Punisher bits.

(doing thumbnails of the images today. just click them to see the larger size)

Side 1:


Side 2:


Edge and strap connection:


The edge is one piece, wrapped around and whip stitched onto the front and back sides.

Strap:


The strap is done in SC with SLST around the edge to help cut down on the stretching...and it just looks good.

Lining:

Seeing Stars

I'm seeing stars! Okay, I'm making stars. Why? Because I can. I do it because I think that I might just have a perfect project to add stars to. I think of it as something that I can mindlessly hook away at while watching CNN. Also, as something I can do instead of committing to a larger project. The truth? I make stars while deciding on my next project. How I'm going to do it, what yarn to use, etc, etc.

Here's what they look like:

A pile of off white stars with the tails still attached. That's so I can easily stitch them on something later.



Here's some larger ones, sans tails.



The white ones are on WW yarn on a F hook. The Colored ones are WW yarn on a H hook.
Here's a picture for the size difference.


Want to make some? Here's the pattern!


itty bitty 5 point star motif


Materials:

worsted weight yarn - I use that little bit left over from other projects.

a hook in any size - I find that a F hook works great for a tighter star. A H hook works well for a bit larger one. I haven't use any other sized hooks. But I don't see why you couldn't.

yarn needle

***This pattern is for a 5 point star. You can adjust the number of points by adding or subtracting chain rows.***


ch 3, slst in the second ch from the hook and the starting ch. (this is your first point)

ch 2, slst in the second ch from the hook and in the starting chain. (this is your second point)

ch 2, slst in the second ch from the hook and in the starting chain. (third point)

ch 2, slst in the second ch from the hook and in the starting chain. (fourth point)

ch 2, slst in the second ch from the hook and in the starting chain. (fifth point)

Draw up your last slst, cut the yarn and pull it through. Now you will have two tails on the star. One on each side. I use a yarn needle to stitch through the tail on the front side to the back, then tie it off. I leave the tails if I plan on adding them to something. If not, I cut off the tails and give them to my cat to play with.

Punisher intarsia part 2

After making my first intarsia piece, I knew I wanted to do another one. The last Punisher piece (blog post here) I did was just to see if I could do it. I looked at it for about a month before I decided on what to do with it. I finally made my decision and that involved making another intarsia piece of the same size and shape. I went with a different type of Punisher logo:



I decided to do just the right side one to keep the size the same.

Here's a work in progress picture with the grid:



And the finished piece:



Hopefully, I'll have the entire thing together to show you my final vision sometime soon. I'm thinking by next week. *crosses fingers*

August Trade Squares

I've finished up my August trade squares for this month. A crocheting friend asked for a bit of help with a pattern she had found online. After trying out the pattern, I liked it so much that I made all 4 of my squares the same. A first for me.

The pattern is called Circle of Friends Square. I used Red Heart Super Saver Fleck in Aran Fleck on a H hook.



My camera doesn't do the square justice. It has all kinds of texture and interesting details you just can't see in the image. I only took one picture this month. No need to take a picture of each square when they all look the same.

Mala Beads and How to Store Them

Over 10 years ago, I bought a set of mala beads from a Monastery in Tibet. Which was no small feat then, because you just couldn't hop online and buy them like you can now. My beads came with a small carrying pouch, which I never liked because I literally had to twist the beads into a small ball to get them in there. Over years and moves, I lost the pouch, but was able to hang onto the beads. They usually sat on my dresser or jewelry box. It dawned on me that I could make a new pouch for them. While digging through my yarn stash in search of a yarn that just called out to me, I found part of a skein that is a mohair/wool/acrylic blend. Very fuzzy and quite beautiful. I don't recall the brand name of the yarn.

SC on a bamboo h hook. 8" long x 3 " wide (closed). Simple chain tie closure. SLST around to make the shape.

Closed:
By yarnmonkie

Open:
By yarnmonkie

I made a bit of the beads stick out so you can see where the flap and pouch opening is.

Open/Inside:
By yarnmonkie

My beads are the longer 108 bead ones. That's why I made such a long pouch. I only have to loop them once to put them in. Here's a image of the beads out of the pouch.

By yarnmonkie

Of Pot Holders and Trivets

Over the past two months, I've been working on a set of potholders for my parents. Six pot holders to be exact. They were made holding two strands of cotton yarn together and single crocheting on a h hook. After making one or two, I was ready for a break. I think that's why it took me so long to make them all.


By yarnmonkie

Then, with the left over yarn, I made a set of three trivets. The went much faster. I made the set of three with in an hour. They are DC on a I hook.


By yarnmonkie

These were so easy to make. I would have no problem making more of them.

Learning intarsia with the Punisher

Two of my favorite things are crocheting and comic books. I never really thought to try to crochet anything from the comics I read before. But, while taking to a friend, it hit me. I could crochet that! That being the Punisher's logo:


By yarnmonkie

First, I had to grid it and work out how to do intarsia crochet. Grid was finished this morning, a quick try or two on the intarsia process and I got started.

I ended up with this:


By yarnmonkie

Not the best, but pretty good for a first try. I think it would have been better had my printer not flaked out on me and not wanted to print black ink. Hard to do a black and white grid in shades of gray. I'm going to try again, different Punisher logo just because the he has the best logo out there.

Baby gifts for the military baby

A friend of mine recently had a baby. I decided to make her a little something. I didn't want to send her the whole light blue and yellow deal like you see in most boy baby gifts, hand made or not.

Her husband is a military man...what could I make....? Then it hit me. Camouflage baby! I doubt she'll get a gift like this.

First up, the blanket:

Red Heart Multi in camouflage, Caron pound skein in black, h hook. 6 granny squares, slst together and edged. (DC, SC, SLST)


By yarnmonkie

I decided to make a small bear for the baby. She also, has another child, a bit older. I couldn't leave him out. The smaller one is for the baby, larger for the older child.


By yarnmonkie

The bears were made form a pattern bought from Roxy Craft. The larger bear was on a f hook, the smaller on a d hook.


By yarnmonkie

When you have the bears on a blanket you can barely see them. Almost like they are camouflaged or something...

Trade Squares for July

Here are my 4 8" x 8" trade squares for the month of July.

The first picture, the square on the left has rows of fringe on it. it didn't come across in the picture.


By yarnmonkie

I love the fringe look but it was tedious to do on a small hook (h). I would do it again on a larger one. Maybe a n hook.

The one on the right in both pictures were done on a n hook. The ones on the left were both done on a h hook.


By yarnmonkie

Tea Bag Holders/Cozies

I'm never exactly sure what to call these. Tea Bag Holder? Is it really a cozie? A pouch? They hold several wrapped bags of tea and have enough room for a few packs of sweetener if you like. My first one was smaller and I sort of had to stuff everything in there. These are bigger, a bit more stretch to them, room for more tea!

Here's my first one. This one is mine! ALL MINE!!!

By yarnmonkie
By yarnmonkie

Inside are 3 bags of tea and 3 packs of 'Sugar in the Raw'. I carry it in my purse for 'Tea Emergencies'.

Here are the two made last night. The pink-multi one is 5" tall by 4.5" wide and quite roomy. It has a button loop on the end of the flap. The purple/pink one is 4.5" by 4.25".

By yarnmonkie
Open views:

By yarnmonkie
By yarnmonkie

I'm using Bigelow tea bags because they seem to have the largest outer wrappings. If Bigelow tea bags fit in there, pretty much any other kind will fit.

13 Star Flag

For Father's Day, I decided to make my Father a flag for his kitchen. His kitchen has a definite American flag theme going on. The original pattern called for size 10 crochet thread, double stranded. The thread didn't come in the darker colors I wanted to use. I ended up buying one skein each of Red Heart Super Saver in Windsor Blue, Aran and Burgundy. Using only a bit of each skein. I could have made several flags out of those three skeins.

It ended up being about 17 inches long. I crocheted a tube for the back so there is a place for a dowel for hanging.





And one hanging up:

Record Player Cover

It seems like this month is for making covers for items that animals sit on. Our cat loves to sit on my husbands record player and watch the birds out on our lawn. He is worried that she'll scratch it up. She gets pretty excited up there, running in circles and trying to claw the window. I decided to make a cover to minimize the damage she's doing to it.

I used a bulk unknown fiber yarn. It feels like Caron Simply Soft. H hook on HDC. I did most of this using my Crochet Lite hook in the dark, just because I could. Made in one large piece, then fitted to the player.







For the record, the cat spends a lot of time loving on those two chickens, too. I plan on making another one in a better yarn. The yarn is so soft that it slides all over the place when the cat jumps up there. One time she even slid right off the player, onto the floor. That might be the way to keep her off of it.

Quick Scissors Pouch and the Free Pattern

My grandmother gave me a bag saying it was perfect for a yarn bag. She was right. The only problem is that it does not have a pocket to hold the importants of crocheting like scissors and a hook. I decided to make a little holder, just large enough for my scissors and hook. Oh! And I’ll attach my scissors to the bag so I don't lose them, because I lose scissors all the time.

The whole thing took about an hour to make and attach.





The pin is what I use to keep my work for unraveling when I stop for the evening. It's the perfect place to store it.

Materials:
a bit of yarn, I used Red Heart Super Saver
H hook or whatever you are comfy with
8” of cardboard


For the holder:

row1
ch 11, sc in the second ch from the hook and each ch across, ch up 1 and turn

row2
skip the first stitch and sc in each stitch to the end ch up 1 and turn

row 3-?
repeat row 2 until you have it twice the length you want it.
Mine ended up being 10 inches.

fold the piece in half and sc the two edges together, down one side, across the bottom and up the other side.

For the handle:

ch 20, then slst the end of the chain onto the opposite side of the pouch, then hdc in each chain to the end, slst to finish.

I did the chain through the strap of my bag so it would not have the possibility of coming off.

To stop the scissors from poking through, I took an 8” long x 2.5” wide piece of cardboard, folded it in half and put it inside of the pouch. If you have got anything priority mail from the USPS, that is about the best thing you can use for it and you’re recycling to boot.

weave in all the ends.

For the scissors holder:

ch as long as you want it to be plus 6 inches. I chained for 28 inches. Loop 3 inches through one hole of your scissors the slst in each ch to the end and past a few. repeat the same thing on the handle of the bag.

weave in ends

If anyone makes one, I would love, love, love to see pictures. Comment or email me with any questions.