Spiral Crochet Christmas Stocking

video tutorial

Start at the toe working in continuously spiraling rounds

Toe

with toe color begin with a magic ring

Round 1: sc, hdc, 10 dc into the magic ring working over the ring and the short tail. Pull the short tail pulling your work into a round, do not pull all the way so that you can still see your stitches (12 st)

Round 2: begin crocheting up over the first stitches, 2dc in each stitch around (stitch markers are helpful) (24 st) note: now is a good time to pull the magic ring tightly closed

to make a larger stocking you will add more rounds to the toe, add 12 extra stitches to each round to allow the toe to grow out into a flat disc until it is as large as you want. Experiment to see what size works best for you.

Round 3: dc in each stitch around until the last 2 stitches. Hdc in next st, sc in next st, fasten off toe color.

Foot

With main color (MC), attach in any stitch around on the toe.

Round 1: sc in st where you joined on, hdc in next st, dc in each stitch around.

Note: Once you come back around to the first stitches of round 1 you will no longer work into the toe but into foot (MC) stitches

Round 2: work a modified dc in the first MC st (the sc), dc in next stitch (the hdc), dc in each st around

Note: Modified dc – yo, insert hook into the space between your last stitch and the sc you will work into next, this space is an occupied stitch, the stitch that the sc was worked into at the beginning of the foot, yo pull up a loop, insert your hook into the first sc of the MC, yo, pull up a loop, yo, pull through 3 loops, yo, pull through 2 loops. The modified dc will act just like a normal dc

Round 3 to the end: dc in each st around. Work rounds of the MC making the tube part of the foot, continue until its as long as you like. Mine was a total of 6 inched measuring from the tip of the toe. Pull up a long loop on the MC but do not fasten off or cut the yarn. Look over your project and see if there is any imperfection at the junction between the toe and the foot that you would like to hide, this will become the bottom. If there is no imperfection then just choose whichever side to be the bottom. Flatten the tube, putting any imperfection at the bottom (the sole of the foot).

To make striped foot you will need to attach 2 or more colors.  Attach the colors evenly around onto the toe.  Each color will remain attached for the entire construction of the foot.  Start each color with sc, hdc, dc to ramp the colors up.  As each color moves up over the other color you may want to do a modified dc as previously explained.  Once your stripe colors are attached you will work several stitches in one color, then drop that color and begin working in the other color.  The stitches will chase each other around.  It may be helpful to refer to my spiral mitten pattern or spiral baby mitten pattern and tutorial which is done in a similar way.  If you have trouble understanding I can make a second video tutorial for the striped version, just leave a comment.

Heel

Heel color can match the foot, match the toe, or be a new color.

The heel is attached, worked in rows, turning at the end of each row. The rows will decrease, then increase making an hourglass shape. Once the heel is stitched we will sew 2 small seams to shape the heel. You can make the heel any width but my suggestion is half the total number of stitches in the round. The example shown in 24 stitches in each round, so the heel begins with 12 stitches. You want to place the 12 stitches evenly along the bottom edge so that half are on the front side of the stocking and half are on the back side. For larger stockings you will divide your total stitches in each round of the foot in half.

Row 1: attach the yarn in the stitch that is 6 stitches before the bottom most stitch. Sc in the st you joined on the yarn, hdc in the next st, dc in the next 8 stitches, hdc in the next st, sc in the next st. ch 2 turn (12 st)

Row 2: dc2tog, then another dc2tog, dc in each st across to the last 4 st, dc2tog then another dc2tog. Ch 2 turn (8 st)

Row 3: 4 dc2tog across, ch 2 turn (4 st)

Note: for larger stockings you may have to do another row with 2 decreases at the beginning and 2 decreases at the end

Row 4: 1 dc in each st across, ch 2 turn (4 st)

Row 5: 2dc in the first 2 st, 2 dc in last 2 st, ch 2 turn (8 st)

Row 6: 2dc in first 2 st, dc across to last 2 st, 2dc in the last two st. fasten off leaving a long tail to seam the heel (12 st)

the rows you made should resemble an hourglass. Fold the hourglass in half, right sides together, match row 6 to row 1, row 5 to row 2 and so on. Using the tail and a yarn needle, sew up the sides of the rows. Work the yarn across to the opposite side and sew the seam on the other side in the same way. Once the seams are sown the rest of that tail will be woven in to hide it. The heel is complete. Make sure you have 12 stitches across the top of the heel.

Leg 

Continue with the foot color(s)

Round 1: work 1 dc in each st around. At the point in which the stitches move up onto the heel you may want to do the modified dc as you did earlier to avoid a gap as your stitches bump up onto the heel

Round 2 1 dc in each st around

Continue with round 2 until the leg is as long as you want

Periodically count stitches to make sure you still have the same number of stitches as you had in the foot. Once the foot is as long as you like you will ease down by making a hdc in the second to last st, and then a sc in the last st. You will want your last stitches to be near the back side of the stocking, where the hanging loop will be. 

 Ch 21 for the hanging loop. You can fasten the chain back down to the stocking for the loop or you can make the chain a bit more sturdy by sl st back down the length of the chain then attaching the far end of your chain back down onto the stocking forming a loop. Leave a tail which you can use to reinforce the hanging loop onto the stocking once you are finished with the stocking.

Cuff  (optional)

(use the heel/toe color or a new color)

Foundation: working from the inside of the stocking, attach the cuff color in the st after the st you made the hanging loop in. sc around putting 4 increases evenly around. Sl st into the first st to join the round (28 st) adding these 4 extra stitches will make your cuff just slightly wider than the stocking so once it is folded down it will lay nicely instead of bunching up.

Ribbing row 1: ch 11, turn

Ribbing row 2: in second ch from the hook sc in back loop of each st down the chain (10 st) sc into next 2 sc on the foundation round, turn

Ribbing row 3: working back up the previous row, sc in the back loop of each sc up the ribbing, ch 1 turn

Ribbing Row 4: sc in the back loop of each sc down the ribbing, sc in next 2 sc on the foundation round, turn.

Repeat rows 3-4 around. Once you have come all the way back around you will work into the last row as well as the first row at the same time. This will close up the back seam of the ribbing. To do this you will insert your hook into the back loop of the sc of the previous row as you had been doing and also the corresponding loop on the first row of the ribbing, sc, repeat until your last row is complete and the seam is closed up. Fasten off

Finishing

Hide ends, fold down cuff, fill with goodies.

How to Make Rose Beads

I had a bunch of dried roses collecting dust on my mantel.  They were given to me years ago.  I used the petals from these dried flowers to make these rose beads.

These were very simple to make and the beads are very fragrant and beautiful.  I love the natural texture and earthy color.

The beads will shrink as they dry so be sure to make the beads larger than you want your finished beads, and make the whole larger as well.

If your beads seem crumbly or crack easily as you are forming them, you may need to add a bit more water.  I just dip my finger tip into a bowl of water and use that small drop of water to smooth over any rough or cracking areas.




Thanks so much for stopping by.  If you are making rose beads yourself, leave me a comment.  I would love to know what you plan to make from them.

DIY Wooden Blocks ~ Easy Wood Toy

Perhaps its an over idealistic notion but I hope to be able to make a handmade gift for my child(ren) each year for Christmas.  For my little one's first Christmas I made her a very simple fabric doll.  It is lopsided and simple but I loved making it for her and she has loved playing with it.

This year I decided the gift I wanted to make was a set of wooden blocks.  Only problem is, I don't know the first thing about making wood toys.  I looked online and most instructions are geared towards hobbyist and wood workers with a workshop to rival Santa's elves.  I don't have many tools of my own, but luckily my dad does.  I used his tabletop mitre saw and carpenters square. 

Making blocks usually requires you to rip cut, or cut the board lengthwise, to get small narrow pieces.  That is difficult to do and usually requires a table saw.  Instead I found long narrow hobby boards that didn't need to be rip cut.  They are made of nice hardwood.  I picked poplar but they also had oak and maple.  They were already the perfect width and depth, I just needed to cut them into the size blocks that I wanted.  That is where the power saw came in.

The boards I bought were 1 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches.  I cut twelve blocks 1 1/2 inches long to make cubes, I cut six into three inch lengths and four into  4 1/2 inch lengths.  In total I made 22 blocks.  I liked these sizes because you could stack a 3 inch and a 1 1/2 inch block together to fit beside a 4 1/2 block.  Or two 1 1/2 inch blocks next to a 3 inch block.  It all seemed nice and proportional.

After I cut the boards I needed to sand them.  The poplar cut pretty easily even though I had never used that kind of power saw before.  I had a few rough cut edges and a little bit of minor splintering.  I sanded the blocks by hand. If I had access to a belt sander I would have loved to use one.  It took me a couple hours to sand all the blocks.  I wanted to smooth them as well as blunt the corners and points.

Once the blocks were sanded I wanted to add some color.  I knew I didn't want to paint them.  The poplar has some beautiful wood grain that I wanted to show.  I instead opted to dye the wood with food coloring.  I started with one color, yellow, red, blue and green.  Then I started mixing two colors.  Mixing blue with green, mixing red with yellow, mixing red with blue and so on.  Once I had those in-between colors I continued to mix until I had 22 unique shades.

I let the blocks dry overnight and when I went to check on them on the morning I found that the dye rubbed off the blocks.  I washed the blocks under running water to rinse the majority of the dye out of the wood then let them dry again.  This time there was only very minor color transfer even with vigorous scrubbing.

My last step was to condition and polish the wood.  I made a batch of Woodmouse beeswax wood polish using coconut oil and beeswax.  I rubbed the wood polish into the wood, let it soak in for a couple hours them I buffed the blocks with a clean cotton cloth.  I added essential oils to the leftover wood polish and gifted it to my mom as a lip balm/cuticle cream/rough skin treatment. Two gifts in one! 

These blocks were a labor of love.  Made for my sweet girl for her second Christmas.  I'm really proud of how they turned out and I hope she has lots of fun with them.

Halloween Goody Bags : 5 Fun Crafts

Have you heard of Teal Pumpkin Project?  Its a great way to include all children, including those with food allergies or dietary restrictions, this Halloween.  I did not have food restrictions as a child, but I do now and it just plain stinks. Missing out on candy is bad enough, but to miss out on the run all together?  Its a double whammy!

I hope the Teal Pumpkin Project takes off and becomes a new normal.  It's not any more bother or expensive than buying candy.  There are all sorts of inexpensive holiday treats and trinkets.  You can find little toys, bubbles, pencils, stickers, glow sticks and the like at dollar stores, party stores, craft stores, Target, or mail order catalogs.  There are some really fun things to buy, but I like to make instead of buy whenever possible.  I also have a closet of craft supplies to use.

I looked all over Pinterest, Google, and Youtube looking for fun little crafts I could make for my Halloween goody.  I made up 5 things that I thought kids would like but there were so many good ideas.  I collected all my favorite things on a Non-Food Treat Pin Board.


H


Fun Halloween crafts to make for trick or treat or party goody bags.
Submitted to Whip It Up Wednesday
Submitted to A Handful of Everything