cupcakes!

Do you ever get tired of simple patterns, that costs you an arm and a leg?

Thats how I feel about the popular cupcake and owl patterns. how can you charge for something so simple? The argument is that you put thought into it, and people are not interested in putting their own brain to the task of working the pattern out. They are willing to pay for the convenience of having this pattern written out for them to use.

I honestly just want to spread the joy of knitting and crochet to the masses.

This is crocheted with two tones of Caron Simply Soft, and an I hook. You can use any yarn you want, and any hook that coordinates with it.

This is a newborn- 6 months, but you can also size it however you want, just keep expanding the pattern, until it's the size you want it.

Special stitches:

double puff: yo, insert hook in next stitch, pull loop through, yo, pull through 2 loops on hook, yo insert hook in same stitch, yo, pull loop through, yo, pull through 2 loop son hook, yo, pull through all loops on hook, you have just made 1 puff.... sounds complicated, I promise, it isnt.

Alternative: just use regular dbl, as you would normally start a hat.

Scallop: 6dbl in 2nd st from hook, *skip 1 st, sc in next, skip 1 st, 6 dbl in next stitch* to end

Additional Materials:
about 36-50 small beads, if your yarn is too thick for your beads, you will need to find coordinating or matching thread.

This hat is made in two parts, the "cake" and the Frosting.

Cake:
Foundation: Chain 11
Row 1, hdb in back loop of 3rd chain from hook, hdb in back loop only across, chain 1
Row 2: repeat row 1 until piece measures the circumference of the head of the person you are crocheting for. Note: if this is for an older child or an adult, increase your beginning chain, the cake section should be about half the distance from the forehead edge tot he crown of the head.

When you make this long enough, sc the edges together, making sure there are no twists in the "cake" section, the part that has the ridge from the sc will be put inside.

To ease connecting the 2 pieces later, sc around edge as evenly as you can, you only need to do this on 1 edge.

Frosting:

You will either a) string the beads onto the yarn, don't cut the yarn or tie it off, just leave it on the skein, and string the beads straight onto it, or b) if the yarn is too thick, string your beads onto the thread, you will crochet the thread along with the yarn for the desired sprinkles effect. Just move the beads up to the hook as desired... confused? look up any video on youtube for "crocheting with beads"

Foundation/ Round 1: Chain 2, create 1 puff in 2nd chain from hook, chain 1, create a 2nd puff, chain 1, until you have 6 puffs, chain 1, connect to top of the start chain with a sl st.

Round 2: sl to 1st ch 1 space, chain 1, *create 1 puff, chain 1, create 2nd puff in same ch sp, chain 1* repeat between *-* to end, connect to top of start with sl st.

Round 3:  sl to next ch 1 sp. Ch 1, *create 1st puff, chain 1 create 2nd puff in same ch sp, ch 1, create 1 puff in next ch sp, ch 1* around, connect to top of start chain with sl st.

you will continue this pattern, doing 1 puff, ch 1 in each single puff from the previous row, and 2 puffs with a ch between and after them in the "v stitch" sections from the row behind. This will cause the piece to expand outward in a hexagon, stop this increase when your top is as close tot eh circumference of your base "cake", from here, you will omit the increase stitches.

Creating height: sl to next ch sp, ch 1, create puff in same stitch, ch 1, *create puff, ch 1* to end
Repeat this row until it is the same distance from row 4 to the edge as the base "cake" is from top to bottom.

Putting them together:
Lay the "cake" inside the "frosting" the seam should be against the inside of the frosting and the sc'ed edge should be against the last row of "frosting".

Using the same yarn as you used for the frosting part, sc around the 2 pieces, making sure to pick up the stitch from both pieces, this will attach them to each other, and give you a base for the scallops. when you get to the end, slip to first stitch, do not ch 1.

Scallop around edge, fasten off, weave in ends.

Note: to save time, crochet ends from "cake" by tucking it inside the stitches connecting the two pieces., then you only have 1 end to weave in in the end.

Finishing: Add a large red bead or sew a red pom pom on top for the cherry.

If this was confusing, let me know in the comments, I'll try to explain it better, or put up pictures, or something.

Ravel it... http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/with-a-cherry-on-top


 

Headbands!

There are few fashions that remain in the spotlight year after year... jeans, duster style coats, and faux fur are a few of those... all of those are in my winter repertoire, along with a good warm cozy headband, or two.

I picked up a big pile of beautiful, lucious, colorful warmth to make into headbands and hats... can't wait to work with all the pretty.

New Toys - A Lesson on Black Friday

I am posting this from my New Acer Iconia Tab!

I pre-ordered it pre-Black Friday, but was able to get Black Friday deals by waiting to pay for it this morning,

Research this little tool sometime. Before I was carrying around a 14 lbs computer that was too big for my backpack, now I can carry around this little gem, and don't need to worry too much a out damaging weight poorly distributed on my back!

Winter begins and I miss the Flowers!

There is this wonderful trend that has been getting stronger every winter in my area, those lovely headbands that keep your ears warm and cozy, and are super cute to boot! Every pattern I have found that made me happy, but none of them were the "right" one... so I designed my own, and I worked up several and tried to sell them at the market I mentioned in my last post. The one thing I couldn't get right was the flower...this one was too flat, that one takes too long to make, the next one is look large and poofy, it's unstable on the headband... so I finally figured it out... I'll make my own pattern.

Chain 25, dbl in 4th from hook (counts as dbl and ch 1) chain 1, dbl in next chain, chain 1 repeat to end. chain 1 turn,

dbl in ch space, chain 1 2 dbl in same chain space, v made, *2dbl, ch 1, 2 dbl* in next ch space. repeat to end.

chain 1, 3 dbl in chain sp, ch 1, 3dbl in same space (petal made), *3dbl, ch1, 3dbl* in next chain space, and in each across. chain 1, fasten off, leaving about 10-12 in tail.

Use tail to weave in and out of base chain. your flower should curl up, pull tail tight, and use to tack the spiral in place how you like it, start the curl super tight int he middle, and loosen the flow as you work to the outside. tie off once you have it steady how you want it. Stitch this to your hat, headband, purse, or blanket. Or glue it to a hair clip for interchangability on your hairstyle or hats and such.

Pattern is untested, let me know if you are confused, or I made a mistake.

First Craft Show of the Season

I was invited to do a craft show last weekend. It was a last minute choice, and I worked my butt off to get enough product, fearing that I wouldn't even be able to fill the table.....I had a box of product that I was not able to show, I didn't have the room!

I guess I was prepping for a larger space!

I learned several things from this show... first, don't freak out, asses your space requirements, and duplicate your set up. If I had taken my product up to the studio, and laid it all out on my table, I would have seen that I had plenty of product.

This was the left side of my booth, I had a record bowl full of candy, a second record bowel full of page corner bookmarks. These were a product of great confusion, even though I had a book displaying how they worked, they seemed to confound my customers.

I also had several headband ear warmers, a twig tree full of key fobs, and 2 record stands holding my giant paperclip bookmarks.

I taught my husband how to sew, and he made up 20 3-6 in rice and lavender heat packs, in 5 different fabrics.

I also had some small candy tubes, made from crystal Light containers. I will take photos of each of these projects with a short written tutorial over the course of the next week or so.

This is the right side of the booth. The shelf was a super find at my mom's 2nd hand shop, she was going to throw it away, and I snagged it up. the paint is rough, but it adds character. the top 2 shelves are filled with handmade holiday cards, I will show these individually in the blog posts from the next few days. I filled the bottom shelf with coaster sets, made from recycled flooring tiles and scrapbook paper! These make great hostess gifts, and are water resistant.

I also had a couple of hats, the pattern for 1 of the three hats here is listed in the blog as the Tundra. The other two I need to write up patterns for. On the side of the shelf is a couple of Pom Pom scarves made with Pomp-a-doodle, and the hats on top are some basic beanies, with some decorative stitch experimentation.

The stand on the second shelf is made from a water goblet glued between 2 melted records, it is full of flower hair clips, and hair pins. These work great for accenting headbands.

The top of the first shelf has a couple of wristie-earwarmer sets, you can find the pattern for those here.

The second lesson I learned was straight from the pages of my marketing texts... people in the US shop from right to left, they go in the direction they drive, and they have to cross less traffic if they start at the right. I was int he left corner of the room in the show... people would circle the the right, and move around, hitting some of the corporate consultant style businesses before they got to me, therefore, they'd see the mass produced "cute" winter-wear, buy it, and have already spent their money by the time they found my booth, with handcrafted, higher quality, but less expensive headbands and hats.

Also, because the previous booth had their god mass produced, they were ALL EXACTLY THE SAME... no variance in design or pattern, only color. Guess I need to work on my consistency, and my color choices. Most people apparently prefer solid colors to mixed or gradient colors.

I did get some great networking done though. Get set up for another show on Dec 9, and got asked to consign some of my things at Roller Doll Skates, a store that caters to roller derby girls.

 

Busy Busy Busy!

Lots to do, lots going on! I am prepping for a craft show in Nov. 20!

Lots of new and interesting projects!

These are tile coasters, created using upcycled flooring tiles from the local Habitat for Humanity, mod podge and scrap book paper. There are 4 coasters in each set, and they are made waterproof by the liberal addition of the mod podge.

This is a simple card using a mat sheet of scrapbook pattern pack, one of the DCWV Mat Stacks from last winter, got it in an exchange. I threaded red embroidery thread along the way, and hot glued buttons on the ends.

This is sideways..... whoops, I'll try to fix that. I used 3 different tones of green paper, heat embossing silver and transparent onto the surface of one of them, I cut 1.5-2 in strips of a 12x12 sheet of each, and then cut a zig zag along the strip to create random triangles. I adheared the 1st two trees to the card surface with a glue roller, and used a demensional for the 3rd tree to give it some pop. The base and accent strips are from the same papers as the trees.

This is a Santa card... made really quite simply. a 5 in x 3.75 in red mat, a .5 in strip of black, and a 1 in strip of white. I used a bit of felt and a needle to punch holes for the brads, hand wrote the sentiment (my handwriting is quite childish), and finished it all off by glueing it in place... if you had any white flocking, you could do the edges of the white strip with that, or a silver, brass, or copper buckle along the belt would be nice... Or using ribbon for the belt.. I just didn't have those things available.

Hope these inspire you! I will be working on more projects over the next week for the show, and I'll post here when I can.
 

Wristwarmers and Earwarmers

Pattern is up! Need to sell this one, sorry I can't give it away for free, but I gotta pay my bills somehow.

Check it out! And help a Poor College kid pay for her Ramen!

Etsy:http://www.etsy.com/listing/85124977/pattern-crochet-pattern-for-earwarmer
Ravelry:http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/perfect-fit-earwarmer-and-wristies

 

Patterns and etsy!

I am working on putting together some PDF patterns to put up on etsy! I am a full time college student, and need to make some money for the holidays! Keep an eye out!
 

Every knitter has a story

I started reading a book today, called The Knitting Circle,  by Ann Hood. I like a book that makes me think, and within the first 3 chapters (that's as far as I have gotten) I was asking myself a wonderful, deep thinking question.

What is it that makes each knitter, or crocheter, pick up the needles, or hooks, and yarn?

Every fiber worker has her, or his, story.

A grandmother spends lazy afternoons teaching a young child to knit, and they lost that Grandmother was laid to rest a few year later, they remember their Gran by knitting.

A mother of two picked up the craft when she was pregnant as a way to unwind, or a woman picks it up as a distraction, while trying to quit drinking, smoking or drugs... it busies their hands.

I picked it up because my sister had brain cancer. I learned to loom knit, and I told my sister that I would knit her a "real knit" hat, "like in the movies"...I promised to teach myself after Thanksgiving 2009. She passed away October 23, 2009. I kept my promise, and taught myself to knit that fall. I made hats and donated them to the children's ward at the local hospital, knitting until my fingers blistered and callused.

I picked up crochet because my Grandmother did it. I always loved the blankets and pillows in awful 70's colors with cheap acrylic yarn that she used to snuggle me up in. After Grandpa passed, she moved in with her daughter, and I never heard or saw her again.

She passed away a week ago. And while she didn't get to see me grow up, and I hadn't talk to her in years, I found myself picking up the hook, and just working each stitch and thinking of her voice as she taught me the stitches.

"Like building blocks in your life, the chain you create here will be the foundation of your project!"

What's your story?
 

Don't Panic: It's Midterms Week!

While I have been working my but off to get a few posts done.. I have not gotten very far!

I am busy studying for midterms! But, that doesnt mean my crafting is ont he back burner, I gotta give myself a break every once-in-a-while... So I have designed a pattern for some ear-warmers head bands and some wrist warmers... look for those in the next few days... in the meantime.. back to business seminar and accounting!
 

Mascot

As this blog is called Gnomes at my homework, I think it's high time to get myself a GNOME! Now, I know that to most people, gnomes are a thing of fairyland, and imagination... and while that might be true for you, must it be true for all people? I think gnomes deserve to go on adventures with people, big people adventures!

He or she could have gone on a wonderful 5.5 mile bike ride today with me, and sat in an outdoor shopping mall for a while!

I will be making a gnome army! I will gift one whenever I can, and I will travel with the 1st one, as leader of my gnome army! I do not have him home yet, but I will post pics when i finish him, or her!

I am doing the leader in a great and fashionable outfit of green and brown! Using Impeccable yarn, by Loops and Threads!

The colorway looks like this:

 

My (Not So) Storybook Life: A Tale of Friendship and Faith by Elizabeth Owen

***

Once one has breathed in the deep pungent aroma of sewage, you never again forget the nose-hair singeing, eye clawing, throat gagging experience. It comes over you slowly. You begin to feel like a character in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as your muscles involuntarily jerk and you run screaming and blowing raspberries. Anything to get away from the mind-numbing stench.

But let me explain.

It was 6:30 a.m. I was standing in my retro pink tiled bathroom trying to open my bleary eyes and ready myself for work. As I stood there, peering into the mirror and wondering what demented nighttime fairy had planted four new wrinkles on my face, I paused and sniffed.

“Matt… what’s that smell?”

Matt staggered from the bedroom in his underwear, eyes half shut. “I don’t smell anything.”

I pointed my nose into the air like a hunting dog. “Seriously? You can’t smell that? Did you go to the bathroom in here earlier? I told you to use the room spray when you do things like that.”

Matt puffed out his bare chest and gathered his pride as best a man can with sleep in his eyes and a small hole in the side of his underwear. “I just woke up!”

I frowned, catching a glimpse of my makeup-less hot-rollers-in-hair state and tried not to think about the fact that I looked fifty instead of twenty-nine. “Well, help me figure this out. Because something smells ripe.”

We sniffed the sink drain and ruled it out as a suspect.

“Is it coming from the toilet?” Matt asked, examining it from top to bottom.

“No, that’s not it,” I snapped. I’m not known for my milk of human kindness in a disaster. Don’t get me wrong. I’m a survivor. I plan on eating my radish like Scarlet and clawing my way out of the nuclear dust while dragging my loved ones with me. But I won’t be doing it with positive phrases and a smile.

“Hon, I just don’t know. We’ll call a plumber after work, maybe it’s coming from under the house.” Matt staggered a little, trying to get past me and out of our tiny bathroom.

“Well, that’s just great,” I moved aside and pulled the shower curtain back so I could perch on the side of the tub and give Matt room to move out the door.

That’s when the full brunt of nastiness filled the air around us, a swirling mix of excrement and acrid stench that would have brought the sewer dwelling Ninja Turtles to their knees. Where the normally slightly-clean-with-a-hint-of-soap-scum bottom of the tub should have been, there sloshed gallons and gallons of brown sewage.

I clutched the front of my sweatshirt and held my breath. Matt began to dry heave.

“Get out and shut the door!” I screamed as we bumbled into the hallway.

“I’ll deal with this,” Matt grabbed my shoulders, trying to talk and hold his breath at the same time.

I could feel my eyes glaze over, the horrors of typhoid and hepatitis in our bathtub filling my mind. But more importantly, I could envision our evaporated savings account. In my mind’s eye I could see the long, gray hallway at the bank. A worker shrouded in a black suit pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlatched a small locker labeled “Owen Bank Account.” Inside were two small stacks of quarters and a few crumpled dollar bills. It was bleak, not only because the banker with an unimaginative wardrobe gazed at me with an expression that could only be interpreted as “You’re a Big Fat Loser,” but also there was a very definite possibility we wouldn’t be able to pay for a plumber.

I wasn’t necessarily a spend thrift. In fact, I was downright frugal when it came to decorating with thrift store furniture and rewired vintage lamps. But the fact was, we were poor. We were starting out at starter jobs with starter salaries. We were starter adults with a starter bank account.

“Okay,” I nodded numbly, thankful that Matt was taking the lead on such a disastrous biohazard. “But make sure the plumber is super cheap. We don’t have much money!”

I left for work like a wino stumbling through a fog, not really remembering my commute, not really doing any work as I sipped my coffee and stared blankly at the computer screen. A disaster of such gargantuan proportions had previously been unthinkable in my life, and now I found myself attempting to push the image of a vast sea of bathtub poop from my mind. But I was sure of one thing: Anne Shirley never had to get ready for work while breathing raw sewage. 

This book comes out October 18th, but Liz, being the gracious and loving person she is, decided to give her readers over at Mable's House the chance to get pre-release, signed copies!

Go check her out!
 

Soap Box: Personal Carry, Concealed Carry Gun Laws and Universities.

I am a firm believer in the right to protect yourself and your family. To me, my friends are my family too.

I also believe in the right to carry a weapon upon your person for that protection, with due training!

Oregon courts ruled that the Oregon University Systems ban on concealed carry on their premises was illegal, violating the laws of the state. Hmm, it only took them 41 years... and because it violated the laws at a state level, they didn't even look at how violently they violated our 2nd amendment rights.

US Constitution, 2nd amendment (wikipedia) In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Court ruled that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm, unconnected to service in a militia^[1][2] and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home


Read the news story... and think, would the massacre at Virginia Tech have happened if there were a couple legally carrying students on campus? or if their security officers had been armed? No, probably not, instead they had to wait for the local police to marshal forces. 


According to a state firearms expert and trainer from the Bend Police Department, it takes someone less than .3 seconds to refocus his direction and shoot the second or third or fourth round at a new target. It takes only a few seconds to drop the magazine and reload another to start firing again. Assuming that a shooter shows up on a college campus with a handgun, how many seconds pass while the students stand by and waiting for tragedy before the police can get to the campus? 


Just a thought. National statistics show that of all the public active shooter situations they have encountered, not one of the shooters held their concealed carry permits.


Outlaw guns, and only outlaws will carry them. do you want to be helpless, and defenseless?

 

Moving SUCKS

I hope you'll accept apologies if the following 2 weeks in posts are a bit short, or non-existent.....

We hope...........Taken from Ephemeral Workbench

I am moving, again... while going to school... and prepping for a holiday craft show... time to live out of boxes for a few weeks.
 

Crock Pot Spaghetti

TOTALLY AMAZING

6-8 hours

1-2 lbs ground beef 

1 jar/can of sauce (I used Prego Original)

1 can beef broth

herbs and spices to taste 

     I used: 1 tsp of each of the following

          Basil, Parsley, Cilantro, and Oregano

handful of spaghetti noodles

Directions, brown beef, add herbs and spices, and sauce, pour all of the content into crock pot, put on lid, simmer for 6-8 hours (until ready to eat) 

1 hour before eating/serving, add noodles and 1 1/2 cut water, 30 min before serving, remove lid.

Serve with bread or toast, and other "spaghetti sides"

YUM!

 

At Second Glance: Record Earring Displays

Disclaimer: there is a tutorial at the end of this post, please use extreme caution while following it, as it does involve heat, and can cause burns. Only do under adult supervision)

I am a big advocate of Reuse, reduce, recycle! So many people have so little, why let things that are of use sit in the landfill...

So what if people don't really use vinyl records for music anymore? Everything they want to listen to is digital or in CD form, right? So what do people do with all those vinyls? They put them in a box in their garage, collecting dust, and getting damaged.

So, some records are valuable, and collectors will go nuts for them, but whatever about all those other ones?

20 Greatest Hits of Polka!

Kidz first record of Disco!

These things arent worth the vinyl they are made from, so I shall make them useful again!

Check this out!

Sorry about the crap pictures, we lost light early this evening. I'll try to outdoor photos tomorrow and post them!

Yep, thats an earring stand made from a bent record! Want a tutorial?

If your answer was no, then stop reading, if you answer was yes, keep reading.

Materials:

large 12 inch 45, stiff, but not hard, and not the flimsy kind. 

Patterned paper cut out at 4 in circle

Crop-a-Dile or drill and patience.

Glue roller, glue stick, or other adhesive

Stove

Hard surface

Oven mitt (optional, if you are careful, you won't need it)

Cold running water

White crayon (optional, if you want to mark your holes before you punch them, it will be useful)

Step 1: hold your record about 3-4 in over the burner of your stove on med to high heat, watch it carefully as it melt, only let it melt as far up the record as you want your bend to be. I melted up about 3 or so inches. 

Step 2: press the hot flexible record against the hard surface, I use my stove top in between the burners so that I don't burn the counter-top. Hold it at a slight acute angle, just inside of 90* until it firms up. once it can hold it's own weight without going flat or flexing flat, run cold water over the melted part, this will harder the vinyl. 

Step 3: Once you have finished this, dry off your piece, and get ready to mark your holes. I start at the top, punch 2 holes, and then measure a distance away, for this one, I used a mini-sd converter for my phone. mark the distance, and then mark the 2nd hole for the set, use the measurement again, and repeat around the edge. 

Step 4: using a drill or your Crop-a-Dile, punch holes on the marks, or at least lined up with the marks. Set the depth regulator on the Crop-a-dile as far as you want the holes to go in, I had mine set at about 3/4 in. This makes all the holes the same distance from the edge.

Business logo glued on before I put it on the original label.

Step 5: Glue the patterned paper over the label in the middle of your record, you could easily add a monogram, or stamped sentiment as well, make this your own, it's your creation! Let it display your earrings, and your personal style! (NOTE: Put sentiment or accent embellishments on before gluing to the label)

Link in the comments to your own creations, I wanna see them all!

 

Adaptations

We all have to make them. Things that most people take for granted make others queezy, or envious.

Whenever I'm feeling down and under-the-weather, Chocolate is suggested. Which is all fine and dandy, until I tell them I'm allergic...well, intolerant, technically.

Simple things like candy bars, and chocolate milk, icecream, cake, and coffee have to be assessed, to figure out how much chocolate is in them...

I can have chocolate, so long as I also have a BIG glass of 1 or 2% milk on hand.

So I adapt, right? Blondies!

I found a recipe to make my own!

Granted, I love my chocolate, but I hate the ache it give me, so I will adapt and improvise!

Here is where I found it:

Simply recipes

Their's look much better than mine are likely to turn out (they are in the oven now...)

I omitted the butterscotch chips, and chocolate chips or almonds, or walnuts, simply because I do not have any on hand... and I like to test a recipe with the basics, before adding other stuff. (though, I might do M&Ms when I do them next)

 

Sabrina Gloves!

Got a custom order today, decided to write a pattern!

Well, more of a recipe...I do those a lot!

Here it is: the Sabrina Fingerless Gloves

Sabrina Glove

This is a very simple, easy, nearly-mindless crochet project. Very little counting, and several rows of repetition.

Start with your favorite yarn, make sure that it is comfortable against the inside of your wrists. Chain until you feel it is long enough from the webbing of your fingers (if you are going to add the individual finger holes) to wherever you want it on your forearm, or from about the first knuckle of your fingers to wherever you want it on your forearm...

I chained 35. It should be an uneven number.

hdc in the 2nd chain from hook, (this first chain counts as your first hdc, now and throughout) *skip a chain, 2 hdc in the next* to end (I messed up on my start chain, I chained 34, should have chained 35.. if you do this, don't worry, you can fudge it, just do 2 hdc in the last oddball chain.) chain 1 turn

repeat last row, until you get to the length you want it before your thumb

OR

Keep going until it wraps around your wrist comfortably. we can create the thumb hole when we stitch it up.

If you have chosen the 1st option, you will 2hdc until you reach where you want your thumb hole, and you will chain 6 and then 2hdc where you would normally 2hdc, continue to end with pattern. chain 1, turn

on the way back, continue pattern, and when you reach the thumb hole chains, do your normal pattern into the 2nd, 4th, and 6th chains. then continue onto the normal location for your hdc's. to end.

continue in pattern until you reach your desired length to go around the wrist.

here you have 2 choices as well.
1) you can whip stitch the gloves up the side, if you have chosen to do your thumb now, then leave out about an inch unstitched and then continue the stitching when you get to the end of your thumb hole.

2) you can single crochet or slip stitch the edges together. if you are doing a thumb in this step, leave about an inch open for your thumb.

if you are doing fingers, sc around the edge closest to your thumb hole. I did 2 rounds before I started my fingers.

This might get confusing, and I am trying my best to explain it, so I am sorry if it's hard to understand.

count how many stitches around the edge. You will divide this number by 10. Then you will take that number and figure that the fingers will be two of that number in the middle, and 3 on the outside edges. sc around to the thumb edge, then sc #, sc across the opening into the corresponding sc. sc # stitch across to coresponding sc, making 4 finger holes total.

Stripe Pattern here: 4 blue, 1 purple

When you get all 4 holes finished, begin sc around 1 finger hole, in each stitch, until you get the length you want, then slst in next stitch, leave about 3 in tail, and cut off. you will weave this tail in later.

Attach your yarn to the next finger hole, and repeat the finger hole process.

weave in ends.

Now, here is the fun part, embellish how you want. Ribbon. Buttons. Beads. Or, leave it plain...

NOTE: If you chose to do stripes, as I have, make sure to a)crochet over your ends to avoid needing to weave in later, or b) weave in VERY well when you are done, Your hands get a lot of beatings, so make sure your ends wont fall out and unravel your hard work!

For an extra finishing touch, you could do a few rows around the back edge in an accenting color. Just make sure that you do not crochet it too tight to fit over your forearm.