In these strange times, knitting and crochet are a form of meditation for me. So when I heard that my neighbour’s son had his 8th birthday party cancelled due to Covid19 I had a flash of inspiration to knit him a Coronavirus that he could take his frustrations out on.
A Coronavirus!
I hear he has been playing Covid dodgeball!
My cousin, on the otherhand, is finding it really stressful being in lockdown. She has definitely benefitted from an antibody to keep her company.
They are super easy to make!
I have used a mixture of knitting (using my addi pro express) and crochet to make these.
Kevin the Covid:
Body (addi express):
Using Aran Weight wool in grey
Cast on and knit 17 rows.
Cut the yarn and pick up all the stitches from the machine
Pull tight.
You can make a ball in whatever way makes sense to you. Some ideas here for crochet , knitting or loom knitting
Antigens: I made 19 because, you know, Covid 19…..
Using Red Aran weight and a 6mm hook
MR 6SC. Slst to join, ch 1
*SC 1 c1 and turn repeat 3 times
Cast off leaving a long enough tail to attach to the body
Use safety eyes or sew on some eyes, add a smile by going over a knit stitch with black yarn
Sew the Antigens on at random intervals.
Antibody
You can adapt this pattern to make an Adam Ant(ibody).
In Navy DK weight and 4mm hook
Chain 9, sl st in to 2nd chain from hook and slst 3 more loop, ch4.
Use a bright green yarn and join to the top of one side of the Y shape, add 4 SC (weave in your ends as you go). Do the same to the other side of the Y.
(I found these much more time consuming so I stick to a Covid usually)
I hope you have a bit a fun making these…
Keep smiling through the lock-down and help make others smile….
A friend told me yesterday that his ears hurt from wearing PPE while caring for people in his role within the NHS. I was reminded of a Insta tag #crochetmaskadapters.
So now I’m crocheting them in bulk for friends of friends.
I knew I had been hoarding buttons for a reason!!
They are so easy to make:
I used oddments of Drops Paris 100% cotton yarn left over from my Face Scrubbies. The cotton has a little stretch but not so much that it will become misshapen on a 12 hour shift. It’s also washable!!
I used a 3.75 hook to get a good thickness to the fabric.
Pattern:
Chain 16 (more for a longer adapter , fewer for a shorter one)
Dc in 2nd chain from hook, DC to 1 before last chain
3DC in last chain
Turn work and DC back to first loop
2DC into first loop (3 in total with the first stitch),
Continuing in a spiral 3DC into very first DC
DC across
3DC in the centre stitch of 3DC below
DC across and slip stitch to join
Sew a button on either end.
Done!
Can’t wait to send these off to their deserving new owners!
My lovely sister just got a new home (well, 6 months ago and I have added the usual WIP “time tax” all crafters need). She was looking for some cuteness to decorate the place. When she spotted some knitted cacti, I was immediately certain I could make them for less than she was proposing to buy them for.
I raided my oddments for greens and browns – Of which I had plenty.
I found that those 35g balls you get with magazines are plenty for most little cacti.
I took to Google for a pattern and wow! There are plenty. You can make a cactus in any shape or size. After much reviewing and indecision, I have ended up with these:
These pots are from Amazon. They are 6.5cm and are perfect for a project like this. They add something special to the finished product that means I can give my sister something unique.
The Cacti
The one thing all the patterns seem to have in common is the soil.
Using a 3.5-4.5mm hook (tension dependant) and “soil colour” wool.
Pattern:
6dc in to magic circle, slst to join (6)
ch 1, 2dc into same stitch, 2dc into each stitch around, slst to join (12)
ch 1, dc into same stitch, 2 dc into next stitch, [dc, 2dc] to the end, sl st to join. (18)
ch 1, dc into same stitch, dc into next stitch, 2 dc, [dc, dc, 2dc] to the end, sl st to join. (24)
ch 1, dc into same stitch, dc into next stitch, dc, 2 dc, [dc, dc, dc, 2dc] to the end, sl st to join. (30)
ch 1, dc into same stitch, dc into next stitch, dc, dc, 2 dc, [dc, dc, dc, dc, 2dc] to the end, sl st to join. (36)
Continue to increase in this way until the circle fits in the opening of the pot you have chosen
Then: ch 1, dc into same stitch, dc around, sl st to join. Repeat until soil is the height of the pot.
…And then choose your cacti.
Barrel cactus:
The first one I made was a barrel style cactus with a little flower on top. It was beautifully simple to crochet and looks great. I used scrap wool and so didn’t have enough to make the size suggested in the pattern (here). My rectangle here is about 11cm.
It is not as easy to make as the barrel cactus but is well worth the time and the many parts.
Prickly pear:
And finally I made the prickly pear from this pattern. I made a few edits.
Firstly, I use a magic circle to start as I find these easier to control. I also stuffed it when I was done because the flat look felt unfinished to me.
All in all, a fun afternoon and evening of crafting and a nice little housewarming gift.
I’ve been looking for a way to live a more “eco-friendly” life.
Less plasticy, less wasteful, less disposable.
It is amazing how much there is online to support this. So
the first thing I wanted to try was some face scrubbies to use instead of
cotton pads.
Crochet is not my strongest craft but the puff stitch is
perfect for this project.
I’ve ordered some cotton and some bamboo yarn to make them with and, eventually, I will test them for purpose. For the moment, I am content to practising making ones that look pretty using some waste yarn.
This is so quick and easy to do that I spent a happy afternoon designing patterns and came up with 3.
I bought myself a new toy in the John Lewis New Year clearance sale. I have never seen a Netting Fork before and I always love a challenge. I had no idea what it was for so I bought it and hoped for the best!
My joy increased when I saw only 4 steps to successful hairpin lace. How hard could it be?
(famous last words)
Attempt number 1:
I put the bars in position 2 because that seems manageable and I am not sure I know what the difference will be. I set off and it was not as easy as I had hoped. At first I couldn’t get going at all because I kept getting tangled in the tail of the slip knot used to start. Once I had worked out how to hold that out of the way and actually start I thought it would come easily.
Well I wish I had a photo of my first attempt but it was such a disaster it fell to pieces before I could get one. I don’t know exactly what I did wrong but I think it was the fact that I did slip stitches in the loops. The loops slid all over the place and when I accidentally dropped the loom I couldn’t work out what was what or meant to be where any more.
Attempt 2:
Having got over the horror of this not being as easy as I had assumed, I dusted myself off and tried again. A more careful look at the instructions showed me that I needed a double crochet to hold the stitch in place. That was a lightbulb moment!
While the crochet held this time it was surprisingly easy to drift off centre. I wasn’t very careful about tension and I think I must have placed the first stitch to far to one side and so all the rest carried on in this way.
I was all fingers and thumbs trying to turn the loom and keep tension and not drop the hook. Although I later realised that you don’t need to hold the wool to tension when turning the fork.
I think this must be a good technique for a different, more decorative hairpin lace. I can imagine zigzagging backwards and forwards to create an interesting design but since it wasn’t on purpose I classed this as a failure.
Attempt 3:
More central this time. I have no idea what is going on here. I seem to have picked loops at random to crochet into. Back to the instructions: looking closer I can see that I haven’t been consistent about which way I entered the loop and even seem to worked into the loop below the one I should have been working. I had been more relaxed about how I held the wool when turning and so hadn’t watched where the new loop had landed. There is a lot to keep track of.
Attempt 4:
4th time is a charm!
Once I corrected all those mistakes it seemed to come as easily as I hoped. I even managed to get quite quick at it too. Forget meditation, this was blissful!
The instructions provided by Prym are simplistic but comprehensive. It doesn’t highlight things like which way to enter the loop or how tight to pull the wool but the images do show this. Combining the written instructions with the images, the two together mean you can pick this up really quickly.
It looks really pretty and I am sure it looks really professional when you manage to get your crochet in a straight line.
I wanted to find a project for using this and started down the Pinterest rabbithole. I finally found this tutorial on joining hairpin lace and decided to make a cowl using this join.
I have had this wool sitting around waiting to be used for something exactly like this project so I hope it will look good in this hairpin lace style.
Katia Earth wool is so yummy! I really like the idea that this wool is recycling and taking plastic out of the world. You still get a really soft and fluffy wool in some gorgeous colours. It’s £3 for 50g which could be worse. I have spent more on wool.
I decided on 52 loops each side (this would give me 13 groups of 4 for the type of join I have picked). I also decide to use a slightly larger hook (5mm) to give a looser feel to the centre stitches. There is only one way to find out whether this will work…
Later…
I find that taking the pieces off the loom leaves them in a muddle. So I started storing them in a book. I found this saved a lot of untangling when it came to joining them together.
I made 16 strips of lace (an even number will mean you can alternate the joins without repetition). This turned out to be enough to go over my head.
And begin joining.
You have to alternate which side you start with so the work doesn’t start sloping upwards.
I am really pleased with the end result.
It was really easy skill to pick up in the end and gives really beautiful and unique looking results. I will definitely make this again
Cast off leaving a long enough tail to attach to the body
Chain 16 (more for a longer adapter , fewer for a shorter one)
Dc in 2nd chain from hook, DC to 1 before last chain 
3DC in last chain
Turn work and DC back to first loop
2DC into first loop (3 in total with the first stitch), 
Continuing in a spiral 3DC into very first DC
DC across
3DC in the centre stitch of 3DC below
DC across and slip stitch to join
Sew a button on either end. 
The flower is 
