My first crochet project

[Deleted]

I started a scarf two years ago but never finished it. Last week my nine year old said he wanted to try crocheting. I read that doing stuff like this can help nurture the sensitive side in males as they grow. I also figured crochet could lead to sewing which is a good skill for anyone to know, boy or girl. So we bought a kit for a few bucks at Sam's club. We planned to make the lion in the kit. When we opened the book though, it had all these crochet terms like single crochet, increase, etc that we didn't know at that time. So we just used the yarns, needle, hook, stuffing, and safety eyes in the kit intended for the lion and made an owl we found on YouTube instead.

At least it's supposed to be an owl lol. I kept messing up the stitches. I used a stitch marker, counted my V's prior to and while doing each circle, but I always ended up with one or two extra stitches! The girl doing the tutorial made it in 49 minutes. It took me 2 hours since I kept getting interrupted by the babies and such. Apparently newborns need to be fed every hour or something, why can't they just go get their own food in the kitchen like the rest of us? Sheesh!

Here is a picture of what we made.
 *Deleted pictures*

The owl's gender has been assigned as a he. He's been named Kingfisher. My 9 year old carries him around wherever he goes in his pocket. Tucks him into his bed when he goes to sleep. When the toddler catches a glimpse of it, she'll ask and my son will begrudgingly let her play with it. He'll watch her like a hawk and as soon as she turns to a different toy, he'll sneak it back into his pocket lol. It's sweet that they love this little creation so much. Inspires me to make more. My daughter loves cats, if she sees any type of cat- lion, house cat, panther, etc- she'll jump up and down saying "Meow, meow!" It's so precious. So I think a cat is next.

[Maura]

Very nicely done. Too cute!

Crocheting helps with tool dexterity. Knitting is more balanced because you use both hand, tool in each. Waldorf schools teach knitting as part of their normal curriculum. It helps with math skills among other things.

[vickilynn]

Historically, knitting was very much a guy thing. Knitting guilds in the Middle Ages and all that. Not sure about crochet. It is good for kids, male and female, to learn handwork.

[mzgarden]

This guy is a rather famous/well known man that crochets. He has a youtube channel and a vlog I've used his videos to learn many stitches.

Crochet Crowd blog link

[Muller's Lane Farm]

@rachelmcmurtrie, that is so precious!!

[Deleted]

I'll have to check that out, thank you mzgarden.

I started the cat day before yesterday. I finished the body and head fairly easily. The legs though require rounds of 6 and I'm finding it hard to work with something so small. I chose to use white yarn so it's hard to see the tiny stitches easily as well.

[Deleted]

Things escalated quickly. Well as quickly as it can for a mom with a baby to find moments to crochet. I finished the cat. We decided to get a play kitchen for Christmas. When I went to find play food, it was either plastic, wood made in china or super expensive for the choice ones I wanted. They want $30 for 6 cookies made in USA! They are exceptional looking cookies but it's just pretend cookies! So I decided to try making some chocolate chip cookies via crochet myself. I made one and my toddler tried to eat it. Thinking that was a good sign, I made more cookies and then I tried a strawberry. It came out too big I think. I went online to figure out why that happened. I found out apparently the hook size and thread type matter lol.

My spouse took me to Hobby Lobby, Joann's, and Michael's. I chose some vibrant colored yarns for more pretend food. Got a cheap set of 10 different crochet hooks in various sizes. I bought just one "nice" Clover brand crochet hook in the 4.0 mm size used most in making play food. Oh dear, that hook is life changing. NOTHING snags. It goes through various loops at once in one fell swoop. My circles are so uniform. Sigh, why do nice things have to cost so much? That one hook retailed for $7, I got it for less than half that due to early Black Friday sales and a 40% coupon. The set of hooks in various sizes are just 10 bucks for 10 hooks, it also has stitch counters (I was using a bobby pin), 7 needles, a hook case, a needle case and a few other things.

I was just YouTubing all my projects, but then my spouse also found an entire book just on making crochet food and now I'm really "hooked" on crochet! Yes it's that bad, I'm coming up with bad puns for it and everything.

Cat I made for my daughter-
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Pretend play food in the making-
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[Deleted]

Nov 9, 2018 1:02:48 GMT Maura said:

Crocheting helps with tool dexterity. Knitting is more balanced because you use both hand, tool in each. Waldorf schools teach knitting as part of their normal curriculum. It helps with math skills among other things.

I was perusing toys on the Bella Luna toys website and saw a picture of 5th graders all wearing socks in various colors. The picture was taken by a teacher titled "socks my 5th graders knitted in my class at the Waldorf school".

I personally love how the stitching in knitting looks. I copied the pattern for my cookies from the Palumba website which sells knitted cookies. All the crocheted pretend cookies I found I didn't like. I also felt knitted baby blanket samples in the store by the yarns and they were all so smooth. Various yarn types from various brands but they were all so soft to the touch. I think it's the feel of the knitted stitches.

I read that knitting has only two types of stitches and thus is more simplified than crochet. When I tried to watch videos on it though, the whole cast on/off is confusing.

Once I am done making all the play food I might look into knitting. I really love those flat uniform v's. I looked it up and apparently there is a knit stitch in crochet, but it really doesn't look the same to me.

I heard people have successfully knitted with two pencils or a set of chopsticks. That's interesting to me.

[Deleted]

I can't (and don't think I want to) stop. I asked my 9 year old what his favorite food was and he said donuts. So I had to make one of those. The gal whose pattern used, also had cute ice cream cones so I made one of those as well. I love that I learned how to do the little frill stitch for the ice cream to make it look like it was "melting". I already have ideas floating around on how to use that stitch on a little dress when my daughter gets her first real doll in a few years. With the donut, it was the first time I learned to crochet something with a hole in the center. Learned the foundation stitch for that project and was able to add that to my arsenal.

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Then I went back to making fruits. I made a pineapple and some cherries. I learned to do the bubble stitch while making the pineapple. When it came to doing the cherries' leaves I learned how to do a half double crochet, a double crochet and a triple crochet! So that was cool. Now I know how to make something appear mountain-y when I need to. Oh yes I had to go back to the donut and finish the icing, that also used half double crochets and double crochets. I didn't like how big the cherries turned out, so I am going to unravel (can't waste yarn!) and redo it smaller. The cherries are the size of my pineapple, and that's not accurate in real life lol.

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While I was doing the cherries, before I could attach the stem, my toddler took off with the cherry when I set it down for a moment. She said "ball, ball!" and threw it in the air repeatedly. So I stopped and made her a little yellow ball. It's been three days and she still plays with that tiny yellow ball! I was surprised since she has the Grimm's organic colorful cloth ball of her own that we bought her. My spouse and I were watching her play with the ball I made a couple of days ago with smiles on our faces when we saw her put it in her mouth and we said "uh oh". It's only about 2 inches in diameter. Oops! I wanted to make it cute-sized and didn't think about choking hazards. Then my 9 year old told me I had to make baby brother a toy since I made baby sister a toy, so I ended up making a baby rattle.

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Making this rattle taught me how to attach and detach yarn. I'm really glad to have learned how to properly do that. I was struggling with attaching stems on fruits and veggies, but now I think  have it down!

I considered adding a jingle bell inside the stuffing but in the end I didn't know if the rattle would get dropped in water or get wet somehow since it's a baby toy. I didn't want to deal with a rusted metal inside a baby toy so I opted not to. Nevertheless, my sweet baby holds it every morning when we give it to him and smiles at it and tries to eat the giant ball (you think he would have figured by now he can't lol).

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These are new feelings. Good feelings. I have never made my children anything from my own two hands before. To see them take even small joy in something I made just melts my heart. I think if my life were different, I would have loved to be a toy maker. To put smiles on the faces of children with something I craft with my own two hands? It's a really good purposeful, fulfilling feeling. 

All the food items have been stashed away and are being saved as a surprise for Christmas morning. I think it would be nice to make baskets. One for the fruits and one for the veggies. So that is my next goal.

[merks]

Wow! @rachelmcmurtrie,Those all are so cute. Almost as cute as your little one

[tenbusybees]

CUTE projects!

My crochet is pretty utilitarian. LOL! Mostly potholders and washcloths.

Though I did finally -only took two years- finish an afghan for my dad.

My dd (11yo) loves to knit. Not for lack of trying I just never could grasp knitting. I tried to teach dd to crochet but my mom taught her to knit and that seems to be her thing. She enjoys embroidery too. I absolutely agree all kids should learn a handcraft. My oldest boys all know basic sewing, machine and hand.

[merks]

I know how to do a basic stitch and a double but that's about it. I have made a few blankets, 1 for each of my kids and then the best one yet.....

I decided I wanted to make one for my DH's and my bed, Well it's a California king! So with no measurements I went to work, every time I looked at the length of my first row I thought "that's not big enough" so I kept going. The first row was going to be the width. No I didn't bother to take it and lay it across the bed, that would have been to easy lol. So when I was satisfied that it would be wide enough, I started adding rows for the length. Again looking at it I kept thinking it wasn't long enough. Why bother with laying it on the bed to make sure? Right? So I kept going until I was satisfied it was now also long enough. We now have what amounts to probably a 20lb afghan that when folded in half still hangs to the floor on all sides! Needless to say it is not on the bed. The only time it's used is when we go camping and we know it's going to be cold.

[Use Less]

Dec 6, 2018 3:40:50 GMT merks said:

I know how to do a basic stitch and a double but that's about it. I have made a few blankets, 1 for each of my kids and then the best one yet.....

I decided I wanted to make one for my DH's and my bed, Well it's a California king! So with no measurements I went to work, every time I looked at the length of my first row I thought "that's not big enough" so I kept going. The first row was going to be the width. No I didn't bother to take it and lay it across the bed, that would have been to easy lol. So when I was satisfied that it would be wide enough, I started adding rows for the length. Again looking at it I kept thinking it wasn't long enough. Why bother with laying it on the bed to make sure? Right? So I kept going until I was satisfied it was now also long enough. We now have what amounts to probably a 20lb afghan that when folded in half still hangs to the floor on all sides! Needless to say it is not on the bed. The only time it's used is when we go camping and we know it's going to be cold.

Reminds me of my first sweater    If you want to cut that big blanket down to fit your bed, there is a way. You can run several lines of stitching via sewing machine and button thread where you want the new edge to be. Cut away the excess, then crochet a border that will bind it and hide the stitched line. You can also turn that stitch line under and hem, but the first way keeps the blanket reversible; the second maybe not.    

[Deleted]

A huge round of applause for your handcrafts!

Well done.

Nov 8, 2018 22:15:46 GMT @rachelmcmurtrie said:

  I read that doing stuff like this can help nurture the sensitive side in males as they grow. I also figured crochet could lead to sewing which is a good skill for anyone to know, boy or girl. 

I couldn't agree more!

Sewing is on my bucket list, someday I'm going to break down by machine and take some classes.

a couple other skills that male children should learn:

How to cook.

And how to dance!

I had a sister-in-law who was a master seamstress.

She would say that the boys needs some new pants.

In less time than it would take to go to the store and shop for them

she would have a couple of pants for each of the boys.

[dodgesmammaw]

Rachel - Your crocheted items are so cute. I know you are so proud of them. I am self taught when it comes to crochet. Can't say I can do anything fancy but I love it. I crochet rag rugs from fabric strips. I fine it very relaxing. 

[Deleted]

merks, LOL I guess better too big than too small? I kept trying to picture your oversized Afghan haha too funny!

tenbusybees, my crocheting NEEDS to be more practical like yours lol! I keep telling myself I will move on to mittens and hats after I'm done with my Christmas project but I keep finding new toys to crochet. I made a cup today and my toddler kept running around pretending to drink from it. Then she offered it to her stuffed cat, and finally a sip for me. How can I stop with such an abundance of cuteness stemming from crochet toy play?! I don't think I would be wrong if I called my want to make more an addiction...
What a wonderful skill you taught your boys and your daughter. They are so blessed to have such a thoughtful mama!

@thewolf, incidentally we do a lot of dancing here. I used to dance a lot more with my now 10 year old son. Arm in arm and he used to love it. If I'm honest, I dance with my 2 year old toddler a lot more than him now. She hops up and down "requesting" it with gestures when a song she likes comes on. I need to remember to dance more with my son, thank you for the reminder.

He has been cooking for about a year now. He can make a few simple dishes. We bought him an international cookbook to attempt to add more culture and exposure to other countries into his life. He picks a recipe every week and on Fridays when we go grocery shopping we get the ingredients and make it together over the weekend.

The sewing I need to work on learning myself so I can teach it to him. A truly great suggestion that I agree is good for boys and girls alike to know!

dodgesmammaw, thank you for your kind words! I too find it very relaxing. When I'm not counting stitches. I'm getting better at eyeing them so I don't have to count he entire round every time so it's becoming even more relaxing and almost therapeutic in a way

[Deleted]

My son of his own volition made a strong push to try to learn how to do the "magic ring" again. I will admit it took me about 20 tries minimum to learn it from a YouTube video. I was thankful for the slow motion feature lol. Today was his third attempt at trying the ring and it was the closest he got. I battle with letting him figure things out like this for himself or stepping in and half doing it for him. I feel he learns when he gets it by himself so I have resisted the urge to do too much "helping" aka interfering with the learning process.

He doesn't get frustrated so I admire him for that. We took a break and he learned how to do a single crochet for the first time. He also learned how to recognize and count a stitch. It was very exciting for the both of us

[themotherhen]

@rachelmcmurtrie, your work so far is so beautiful, how wonderful for a winter project with your oldest son! I was showing the boys your pictures and telling them about it and all 3 younger boys want to learn to crochet now When Abraham saw the picture of your youngest he said, "Mom, that baby is almost an overdose on adorableness!" Lol. They all love babies so much, it's sweet.

So now it looks like we will have a new project too, probably in January. It is always so dreary that it will be nice to have something new to do, although it has been 25 years since I crocheted! One good first project for sewing is a small pillow, with a simple running stitch. That's how I start all of my boys on hand sewing. Buttons are always next, my boys are hard on buttons and it helps if they can fix those themselves.

I think it is such a lovely thing that you are doing, making such beautiful toys for your children! I'm not sure if you are still having issues with anxiety/postpartum stuff but I found that creative, productive work like sewing really helped me during those times. Glad to see you expressing yourself and making such lovely, precious things for your children.

[Deleted]

themotherhen, your boys have such kind, thoughtful words even inside their home. Just like their mother! I am excited to see what your boys will make, please do update us if you get the chance to do so

I want to have my son learn how to sew. When we start that learning process, I think I will borrow your idea and start him with a small pillow and a running stitch like you suggested! It's a great idea to teach them how to sew buttons, that's a very useful skill. Mine is hardest on his knees. We buy pants with reinforced knees so the pants he wears outdoors don't get torn there. Almost all of his pajamas however get ripped only at the knees. So I think that will be useful for me to learn and to teach him as well. I look forward to the day when we discard his pajamas because he has outgrown them, rather than because they are torn at the knees. I have been saving those pajamas for scrap cloth, but have not done anything with them yet.

I have thankfully gotten past my postpartum stuff. It has taken willpower and shutting the door on them, whenever thoughts creep into my mind that shouldn't be there. I do agree though that crocheting would be a great way to take my mind off such things if I was still dealing with them. I do find crocheting to be really relaxing and the emotional payoff when a project done is pretty priceless. Make me feel just a little bit like that Proverbs 31 wife

[themotherhen]

@rachelmcmurtrie, my boys are hard on pajama knees too. I use contrasting fabric and patch those also.

[Deleted]

themotherhen, I will have to learn how to do that, thanks for the tip!

[mzgarden]

@rachelmcmurtrie, your crochet items were so cute -- wondering if you've done anything new recently?

[dw]

Very Cute!