Craftyminx

Crochet School - Table of Contents

Welcome to Crochet School! This is a listing with links to all the lessons in Crochet School. Bookmark this page for easy reference and share the link to this page if you want to tell others about crochet school (it's just easier to find all the posts from this page). Once you are on a lesson there will be buttons at the bottom of the lesson to go to the next lesson, the previous lesson, and this table of contents. The class is completely free but please consider making a donation using the donate button on the sidebar if you would like more classes like this in the future!

Crochet school is free and will be up as long as craftyminx.com is around. Enjoy the class!!

• Lesson 1: Welcome & Intro to Crochet
• Lesson 2: Crochet Hook Basics
• Lesson 3: Yarn Basics
• Lesson 4: Yarn Meets Hook
• Lesson 5: After the Chain
• Lesson 6: The Single Crochet Stitch
• Lesson 7: The Half-Double Crochet Stitch
• Lesson 8: The Double Crochet Stitch
• Lesson 9: The Treble Crochet Stitch
• Lesson 10: The Double-Treble Crochet Stitch
• Lesson 11: The Slip Stitch and Weaving in Ends
• Lesson 12: Review
• Mid Term Exam!
• Lesson 13: Increasing
• Lesson 14: Decreasing
• Lesson 15: Creating Texture
• Lesson 16: Working in the Round
• Lesson 17: Granny Square 101
• Lesson 18: Working With Color
• Lesson 19: Preparing for a Pattern and All About Gauge
• Lesson 20: Reading Patterns
• Lesson 21: Reading Crochet Charts
• Lesson 22: Blocking and Seaming
• Lesson 23: Common Mistakes/Fixes and Graduation!

 

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DIY Holiday Gift Giving

As many of you know I'm a librarian. I was asked to start doing some craft posts for my library's blog here's the first one! It's all about DIY gift giving and has a list of resources to get you started. Check it out:

DIY Holiday Gift Giving - craftyminx (the Craft & Hobby blog).

Spring capsule wardrobe

I had hoped to post this on Monday but I have been waiting for some pieces to come in and I was hoping to have been able to do some more sewing. So you get a little mish mash of what I want Spring to be once I’ve finished sewing. This will be a two month capsule since Summer starts during or sometimes before June in Oklahoma. Then I’ll start my three month capsules if I decide this is working for me.

I could have easily made my spring capsule out of things I already own but I wanted to try out a few different pieces. I spent $170 on 6 items; fabric to make a light pink midi skirt, khaki capris, a classic white button up, pink vegan leather jacket, and two new pairs of dexflex shoes (the only shoes I wear these days). Everything I bought was on sale! I watched that jacket online for weeks to see how good of a price I could get, and I probably could have ended up with a better deal but there is only a short window of jacket weather time in Oklahoma and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss it! Let it be known I have never liked khaki pants or button up shirts but these seem to fit well (after some alterations) and will be good spring staples to work with so we’ll see if I actually end up wearing them.

 

Yes, I plan on making a few of my pieces and two of the tops are things I made in March. My goal each season is to make a few pieces so maybe one day I’ll be closer to having a fully handmade wardrobe. One can dream right? This month I want to make light pink midi skirt similar this this one, the emery dress in this adorable playful lawn from Cotton + Steel, and the ever popular Moneta in some black and white striped jersey I got on the bargain table at Hancock's. Yes I really like stripes!

 

Since It has been a few days into April here are the outfits I’ve worn so far. I love spring!

 

Starting a Capsule Wardrobe

Hi friends! I’ve been thinking more and more about my wardrobe lately. I want clothing that fits me well and makes me feel my best. I’ve been having problems losing weight since surgery last year and health problems in general (no, the gallbladder removal wasn’t a cure all) so in order to feel my best I’m trying really hard to make my wardrobe the best it can be, because I'm really tired of having to trying to put on multiple items in the mornngs just to have them not fit. It is very frustrating! In the last month I’ve been taking some steps to start a capsule wardrobe.

 

There are many different techniques for creating a capsule wardrobe, but Caroline’s approach on the Unfancy blog seemed like the best/most attainable approach for my lifestyle. To be honest, I wasn't going to blog this but during my research I didn't see many plus size capsules and those that I did see weren't my style at all, so here I am blogging about it just in case someone like me is searching for inspiration. I'm not putting links to anything because ain't nobody got time for that so use these outfits as pure inspiration and an overview of my style.

 

The first thing I had to do was go through the insane amount of clothing I own and be very judicious about what I wanted to keep. I did this knowing that I was planning on only have 30ish items out per season -- I only kept things that fit but were for other seasons and a few things that don’t fit right now, but I’m hoping will fit in the next year. I decided my current capsule will be in my guest room closet. It’s the smallest closet we own and the closest to my bathroom so it’s definitely the easiest to use when I get ready each morning. My big closet is in my craft room (which to be honest is sometimes a hazard to walk through) so I’ve decided that’s where I’ll store the clothing not currently in my capsule. This will be easier than going through storage boxes every few months. Since I have the space I might as well utilize it this way and if I absolutely have to have something not in my capsule, it will be easy to find.

 

When building my capsule, I found Caroline’s Capsule Wardrobe Planner  to be very beneficial.  It helped me really think about my lifestyle needs and style preferences and build my wardrobe around that. While I really love cutesy styles and dresses, my lifestyle really doesn’t lend itself to dresses as much anymore and I really need more classic style with cutesy pops. As a frequent ‘like it - buy it - then not wear it’ shopper, really thinking about my needs vs. syle made me think hard about what I buy before I buy it.  

 

I decided to just try this thing out for the month of March with clothes I already had and if I liked it I would make a more thoughtful spring capsule for April and May. Here are my items for March:

This is definitely thrown together but it worked! I didn't have any bad feelings about my clothing or self all month and I actually didn't repeat any outfit exactly which wasn't a goal but was a fun surprise (this definitely won't happen during the three month seasons). I also discovered the amount of laundry I had to do was significantly less, which is always a plus in my book. I also tried really hard to change as soon as I got home from work so I would be able to wear things a few times before washing them to extend the life of my clothing a little more.

 

Here are my March outfits just in case you want to see. I'll try to do these posts seasonally. So leave a comment if you want more info, links, etc. about the clothing I'm posting. I used stylebook for all these layouts. I'm not going to take photos of myself everyday. I'm fine with layouts like the ones below.

 

I've already worked on my April and May spring capsule and will show you that on the 1st. I've also been sewing more clothing so I plan on posting about that as well. You can see two items in the photos above: the sailor top and the cabin dress. I have three more items I hope to make during April and May. Do you blog about a capsule wardrobe or something similar? Post your link in the comments!

Handmade projects of 2014

I posted these to Instagram a week or so ago and thought I should share them on here too since some of you may still follow the blog, but not my IG account (which is also craftyminx). Compiling these photos by phone was not fun!

 

Oh and I can't forget the Supertote I forgot from these originally! ( I made this bag for my OSU loving friend, Meg and she adores it!)

If anything, I think this shows me that I need to get back to using my dslr to take photos and not rely on my phone camera so much!

My favorite projects were my triangle quilt, of course, and the pajamas I made for my nieces for Christmas. I did actually get good photos of those so I should probably write up a blog post about them this weekend :) My laptop has been so horribly slow lately I dread doing anything on it.

This year my crafty goals are:

• Make 3 quilts (well at least the tops haha). I have already started the Arcadia Avenue Block of the Month with my mom and cousin. Well, we cut all our fabric. We'll start our first block next month.
• Make a travel bag set and a supertote for myself.
• Sew more clothing for myself
• Knit socks or something like that while I'm just sitting and watching tv.
• I would like to finish my Granny a Day afghans now that I've found the squares while unpacking the craft room.

And I know I say this all the time, but I really would like to start keeping track here on the blog again. It just seems to take up so much time to actually blog things, sigh.

My Top Books of 2014

At the writing of this post I have read just over a hundred books this year. I kept trying to figure out the best way to sum up my favorites for you guys -- even my list of 5-star rated books on goodreads seemed really long. So I decided to pick my favorite(s) from each category and share those with you. Many, but not all of these were published in 2014.

 

Top Five Teen books

 

I mostly read teen novels so this was really hard but I decided to narrow it down to my favorite 5:

 

5. I hunt Killers by Barry Lyga (First in a series) - Dark and gritty and packed with insight from a very charming teen who was groomed to become a serial killer by his serial killer father and is trying to catch a new serial killer.

 

4. Beautiful Music for Ugly Children by Kirstin Cronn-Mills - Transgender teen with a love for music and radio DJing trying to show his B-side after living the A-side for so long. Has an excellent example of a mentor relationship with an older man.

 

3. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson - Amazing magical world-building and great middle-grade book where chalk drawings come alive.

 

2. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith - to be honest Winger and 100 Sideways Miles would also be in my top five if I didn't care about it being overrun with Andrew Smith books. This one is my favorite because it is sooo very weird so if you don’t like super weird books where giant, horny, ravenous, people-turned-praying mantis monsters take over the world then you probably want to try one of his other books.

 

1. Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson (The Reckoners) - Super villains, an uprising, lots of cool gadgets, and a great twist ending that I didn't see coming. Ok so lets just call this the Brandon Sanderson and Andrew Smith show, because for reals they are my definite favorites of the year.

 

Non-Fiction

 

Funniest - Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosch - brilliant. hilarious (seriously, laughing so hard I was crying many time throughout the book). simple dog is my spirit animal. but it also talks about depression in a very real way which I definitely related to.

 

Most fascinating - Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory by Caitlin Doughty - A very real look at the death industry through the stories from a young Caitlin Doughty’s first job in the industry as a crematory operator. It’s sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and definitely made me think about what I want to happen to my body when the time comes.

 

Coolest format - Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris - It’s NPH in choose your own adventure format! Ok so in all honesty the format was cool for one time through the book but then I had to get the audiobook because I got annoyed with trying to read through the book and the appeal of NPH reading it outweighed trying to read the book. I loved it!

 

Cookbook - Oh She Glows by Angela Liddon - One of the best vegan blogs I read made into one of the best vegan cookbooks that I now own thanks to Sheldon getting it for me for Christmas. I was a bad librarian and kept checking out the library’s copy before that.

 

Crafts - Lucky Spool's Essential Guide to Modern Quilt Making: From Color to Quilting: 10 Design Workshops by Your Favorite Teachers - Excellent tips for modern Quilters.

 

Children's

 

The Day the Crayons Quit by Drew Daywalt - Cheeky and disgruntled crayons write letters of displeasure and a resourceful little boy makes everyone happy. A smart book that will be enjoyed by children and adults alike.

 

Graphic Novels

 

Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson - Teenage girls at a camp much like Gravity Falls fighting monsters and taking names. Great strong female characters. Perfect for middle school girls. (I read the individual issues. The 1st volume doesn't come out until April 8th)

Rat Queens by Kurtis J. Wiebe - strong women. crass. blood. humor. great artwork. epic questing.

 

Through the Woods by Emily Carroll - Perfectly spooky tales with awesome illustrations! Reminded me of my childhood love of the Scary Stories books.

Guilty Pleasure

 

Wallbanger (The Cocktail Series) by Alice Clayton - A completely hilarious and sexy romance novel (perhaps even light erotica - it gets pretty steamy) There’s a chapter written completely from the protagonist’s cat’s point of view which I loved. I’ve read (well actually listened) to a few from this series and they are all pretty good for silly romance novels.

The worst book I read this year (because they can't all be perfect)

 

We were liars by E. Lockhart - Many people have loved this book and it's on every top list this year but I absolutely hated it. I’m pretty sure it is a love or hate book, so definitely make your own decision on this one.

 

What was your favorite book this year?

 

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