Simply Sweet

Friday, July 5, 2013

Bow Organizer

Simply Sweet Bow Clip Holder

If you have kids who are as into bows and pretty little hair clips as much as mine are then you probably have bows and other little things on clips all over the place. I've tried ribbons and drawers and everything to try and keep them in one place and displayed so they can pick out what they want to wear for the day quickly. So I needed a longer holder for their bows with good spacing where I could let them put their bows away on. And so the Bow Clip Holder was designed. I made this to be approximately 2 feet long and you can make yours as short or as long as you need. This is a great stash busting project as it doesn't take much yarn and the mesh design of it lets you place bows any where along it.

Download a PDF of this pattern from here:Bow Clip Holder

©Copywrite Notice: Feel free to sell the finished product for this pattern; I just ask that you please give credit for the pattern by linking to http://www.simplysweetdesign.org. Use of my photos, rewriting, reselling, distributing the pattern itself is prohibited.

Thank you so much for your understanding ~Melinda~

Materials:

Yarn – WW (Hobby Lobby I Love This Yarn)
Hook – H/5.00mm

Abbreviation:

sc - Single Crochet
ch – Chain
slst – Slip Stitch
*…*: repeat

Pattern:
Chain length you want any odd # will work
R1 – sc in 2nd ch from hook *chain 3, skip next ch, sc in next* repeat to end, ch3 turn
R2 – sc around the first ch 3 *ch 3, sc around next ch 3* repeat to end, ch 1 turn
R3 –sl st around the first ch 3 *ch 1, sl st around next ch 3 space* repeat to end, finish off.

Notes:
As you are working Rows 1 & 2 you will notice the “ribbon” curling, don’t worry about this as it will straighten out with the final row. If you do your initial chain a little looser it can help the curving as well.

You can attach your favorite flower or wooden letter or shape to the top. I used a pre-cut/painted owl and used the hot glue to attach it.

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Alex Mini Blanket

Alex Mini Blanket

This is a small blanket perfect for any gender and can be used as a quick blanket for the car, stroller or a little burst of texture and color for photos.

Purchase a PDF of this pattern from here: Alex Mini Blanket on Ravelry

©Copywrite Notice: Feel free to sell the finished product for this pattern; I just ask that you please give credit for the pattern by linking to simplysweetdesign.org.

Use of my photos, rewriting, reselling, distributing the pattern itself is prohibited.

Thank you so much for your understanding

~Melinda~

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Crazy Diamonds

When I first learned how to crochet back in 2000 I was between my freshman & sophomore year of college and these sweet old ladies at camp taught me how over a weekend. My first project was going to be a purse but it ended up more triangular than rectangular but I was hooked on the craft of crochet. After that I started making a few blankets and my mom seeing how much I enjoyed it fed my new hobby. She was on a trip and stopped into a local yarn shop found a cute pattern and bought me enough yarn to complete the project. Love her! So I started on the pattern. Graphed out how many squares of each color combination I needed. Tied off some knots, sewed the square together, got frustrated, got board, packed it away. Got married, moved 7 times and still it remained. I had spent at least 6 months had just a few rows done, a couple of squares to add and tons left to do. But I hate an unfinished project so earlier this month at least 9 years (if not more) later I pulled it out. And cringed. Short ends, tied knots bad joins.

I was determined to finish the blanket and figure out how to undo some of the mess I did with the knots and weave in ends correctly. I started with finishing all the blocks I needed with nice long tails for sewing. The started on the sewing task. My least favorite part of this entire endeavor I don't enjoy hand sewing at all so this was quite the task to join all of these. I didn't like the join method in the pattern as it was sc-ing the pieces together creating a ridge on the back but I like the smoothness of whip stitching and how it can be flipped to either side.

Once all the pieces were done and sewn it was on to the edging and making sure I had the same number of stitches on all sides which was tough given the difference in the tensions of the old pieces and the new pieces but once that first go around was done realized how much of a difference the tensions make in a blanket, wow! So did a quick wet blocking. Pinned down the blanket to a mattress, and layered a wet towel over it just to dampen the blanket some so I could continue with the rest of the edging easier.

And now the blanket is done! Edging all finished, still a little uneven but need to get a set of blocking pins the little straight pins I used came out too easily and didn't hold some of the edges in place well enough and the overall shape and drape of the blanket would benefit from a good steam blocking since it's a wool blend.

But isn't it pretty? I won't be doing this pattern again but I do have some yarn left that I think I'll make a couple of granny square loveys with. I've been wanting to make them for a while now.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Legwarmers Pattern

Happy February!

I have a new pattern for you this month and it's a free one. These were inspired by a little ballerina friend of mine who needed some cute legwarmers for class. Hope you enjoy!

This pattern is a free download through Ravelry

Click the logo below to download the pdf pattern

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Fan Giveaway

Since I know it's a little hard to read and I couldn't fit all the details on there :)

Leave a comment on this post letting me know that you shared the picture on my facbook fan page (it's almost identical to this one) and on Saturday Jan 5th I'll take the number of comments and pick a random number using random.org and that comment maker will be the winner. You have until the end of the day Friday Jan 4th to enter.

What you win -

Pick from any of basic hat styles that I have posted in my facebook albums and let me know your size and color you would like (sorry no character hats). Shipping within the US is free but if it's international I ask that you pay 1/2 the shipping charges.

That about covers it - I'm not doing the give away completely on facebook because there are weird rules around that kind of stuff so we'll do this on the blog.

Love you all! Thanks so much for your support!

~Melinda~
https://www.facebook.com/SimplySweetDesign

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Claire Bow Hat

As I was making presents this year I wanted to make a couple of hats for my teenage nieces but I couldn't find anything that was them and then my sister-in-law sent me a picture of a hat she saw at one of those big-box stores and I searched for a pattern that had a similar texture and style but couldn't find anything that came close so after many attempts and tries with a bunch of different stitches and combinations finally got the look I was trying to get. And now after cleaning up my notes and getting some great 'hooker' friends to try out the pattern for me as well. Here you have it it the Claire Bow named after one of the nieces I made the original for.

Materials: J, I & G Hooks ~ Light Worsted Weight Yarn

Buy it Here:

Ravelry

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Halloween Bonaza

A group of wonderful crocheters have all come together to link up some great Halloween/Costume inspired patterns. Check out their patterns and share some love