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| Yarns |
My favorite crafts involve yarn – thus, there's nothing I like better than to talk about the projects my fellow fiber fans and I love to create.
The Crochet Crowd
My main (and favorite) yarn craft is crochet, a craft I've been doing for more than 40 years. I taught myself to crochet as I am left-handed and no one could seem to teach me as everyone I knew who crocheted did it 'backwards'. (Well, maybe I'm the one who is backwards!). :)
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| Plush Soft Toy Penguin |
Penguin is crocheted in a round and roly-poly Amigirumi style and measures about 5 x 5 inches.
Handmade penguins in this round style are very popular as a child's playtime pet plush animal, as it's just the right size for little hands to hold. This one is particularly adorable!
My plush penguins can be found in my Etsy Shop (Coastal Crochet Crafts), along with a whole bunch of stuffed animals and plush toys.
Crochet Your Own Plush Animals
If you love to crochet plush animals, this pattern book called Edward's Menagerie has over 40 patterns for soft and snuggly toy animals in four different sizes, giving you 160 different possibilities. The patterns use simple crochet techniques with step-by-step instructions which enable even a complete beginner to get started right away.
It's available on Kindle and in paperback on Amazon.
The Nifty Knitters
I've tried knitting in the past, but will never be as expert at it as these knitters whose work I admire.
Lots of knitters make handmade hats and scarves, afghans and sweaters, but a few make really unique and one-of-a-kind items. A group of Australian crafters (two daughters and their moms) have banded together to produce a a shop (Made with Altitude ~ the "Store Where Your Imagination Will Soar!") filled with four different crafts from 4 unique individuals whose stories and perseverance will amaze you. My admiration for them and their work amazed me when I read their story.
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| Smiling Sunshine Flower |
Since this is an article about yarn crafts, I chose to feature here the shop's unique knitted item called Smiling Sunshine Flower, a flower toy hand-knit with a splash of love, and a little ray of sunshine. Flowers always bring smiles and delight, and with this handmade knitted flower you can have flowers all year through. Smiling Sunshine Flower has big full blooms measuring 9 ½ inches across, and is 15 inches long. A wonderful gift to brighten someones day.
Plastic Canvas Projects
Crafting designs on plastic canvas with yarn is a fairly new endeavor for me. I began just a few years ago when I realized that my little balls of yarn leftover from my crochet projects were filling up an entire plastic bucket. Since plastic canvas crafts, such as coasters and tissue box covers, take only a very small amount of yarn, this craft is a great way to use it up. Waste not, want not… as they say!
The most enjoyable part of working with plastic canvas is watching the design come to life as you stitch with various colors. My favorite project to create in this medium is beverage coaster sets.
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| Pineapple Beverage Coasters |
Pineapple coasters measure 4 x 4 inches. Created in acrylic yarn colors of yellow, gold and green for the pineapple design on an eggshell white background. Each coaster is trimmed in light green. The pineapple design is outlined in embroidery black outline stitch with crochet thread.
A pretty set of Pineapple coasters for your tabletops. They also make a lovely hostess gift for a holiday dinner invitation or a housewarming gift. Lovely home décor for any home.
The design is created on plastic canvas using acrylic yarn in harvest colors. The set has since sold, but you can request another in a custom order in my Etsy Shop, Coastal Crochet Crafts.
A Favorite Etsy Yarn Crafter
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| Halloween Treats Tic-Tac-Toe Game |
Gail of Gails Crafts on Etsy has a very clever line of Tic-Tac-Toe games created with plastic canvas and yarn. She makes these games for a variety of seasons and holidays and each one is cute and creative.
This set includes a game board and 10 game pieces (5 each Jack-O-Lanterns and candy corns) and two fabric storage bags.
Game board is made from 7-mesh plastic canvas and 4-ply yarn. Game board is a 7”square This and other sets, along with a wide variety of plastic canvas projects and other creative crafts, can be found in Gail's Etsy Shop called Gail's Crafts.
Helpful Hints for Yarn
Beverly Owens, one of our creative crafters here on Review This, has reviewed a very handy tool every yarn crafter needs ~ the Stanwood Yarn Ball Winder. If you have a large 'stash' of leftover yarn, like I do, this tool is perfect!
Now that you have your scraps of yarn neatly wound, check out these ideas from Favecraft on ways to use up those scraps. You don't even have to be a knitter or crocheter to find creative ways to use yarn.
50 Yards of Fun
This book is perfect for using up your yarn stash. There are patterns for a delightful collection of over 30 irresistible toys and each project uses only about 50 yards of yarn!
Knit just five basic body shapes, each shown in several variations, to create knitted animals, robots, monsters, and characters of every description.
Celebrate I Love Yarn Day
So, for 'I Love Yarn Day' or any day, grab your skeins and balls of yarn, your knitting needles, crochet hooks or yarn needle and begin a new project. Hand-crafting with yarn is a very relaxing hobby and your finished projects are a delight to behold.
*I Love Yarn Day was written by Wednesday Elf
Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”
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