Crocheted Eternal Inner Sailor Scout Transformation Wand

A lot has been going through my mind lately. Between changing jobs, dealing with school, having less money, and just all around feeling lost, something interesting happened to me.

From realizing I am not doing too much in my life, to realizing that maybe I don't want to, and dealing with all of this inner turmoil by spending about $100 on Ebay on Sailor Moon things and cheap jewelry.

After my inner searching subsided a bit, and most of my packages arrived, I sat down for about 3 days and watched the first 40 or so episodes of Sailor Moon. Being in Japanese, they required a lot of attention, and I was less productive than ever. Watching the group of girls who molded my childhood, and pretty much made me the person I am today, I couldn't help but feeling as though I was letting them down.

Now, I realize what this sounds like. 23 Year Old girl letting down imaginary characters, but it worked, right? Another bout of inner turmoil began and I ended up somewhere I think I've been all along.

I like this stuff. I like crocheting, and anime, and games and whatever else most 23-year-old women shouldn't really find themselves obsessed with. But then I realized that if I'm going to use this stuff to make me happy, I still have to work hard.

After everything made itself crystal clear to me, I suddenly had a burst of energy, inspiration and nostalgia hit me like a ton of bricks.

When I was younger, I used to try to cut out cardboard in the shape of these transformation wands to use when I played sailor Moon with my best friend. They were always flimsy, uneven, a little too small, and covered in marker. I started to think about that time in my life, how happy I was, being in my own world all the time, and I wanted to have that back, if only on a small level. Remembering this, and about the fact that I would LOVE to make my own pattern, I immediately started drawing up plans, and around 3:30 AM yesterday, I started crocheting this.

I had SO MUCH FUN making this. I reminisced, I problem-solved, and upon finishing the first wing I felt full from how smart I was feeling. The wings were completely my creation, and I couldn't be more proud. I hope when you make this, you feel as stuffed with nostalgia, magic, love and justice as I did.

Since this is a bit of a prototype, I am offering this pattern for free, but please respect me and the time, energy and planning that went into this creation. I don't mind if you sell items from this pattern, but on 2 conditions:

1. PLEASE get my permission when you sell any creations from this pattern (gifting and trading is fine, of course)
2. I wanna see! Show me your finished product, and let me know where the pattern confused you, or was incorrect. I have only made this once, and some proxy-pattern-testers would be very helpful to me. It is the biggest reason I am offering this pattern for free. Also, I would LOVE to see that other people are finding inspiration and fun from something I created in a very pivotal 3 AM moment.

So, with inner turmoil behind me, 4 seasons of Sailor Moon ahead of me, and a very comforting Sailor Mars transformation wand beside me, please enjoy this pattern.

Eternal Sailor Scout Transformation Pen

Designed by Pam Gabriel

Sailor Moon and Sailor Scouts (TM) Naoko Takeuchi

This pattern can be used to gift or trade with friends and family, but please do not sell products from this pattern without my permission.

PamGabriel@Gmail.com

This pattern is for the transformation wands the Inner Scouts use in Sailor Moon Super S & Sailor Moon Stars seasons. Hopefully I will have patterns for the other Transformation pens soon.

What you'll need:

• E Hook

• H Hook
• Tapestry Needle
• Less than a skein of worsted weight yarns in:
  • Yellow
  • Color of your choice depending on the Scout wand you are making (Blue, Red, Green or Orange).
  • Pink
  • White

• Polyfil, or other stuffing.

Abbreviations:

• Chain (Ch)

• Single Crochet (Sc)
• Single Crochet Increase (scinc)
• Single Crochet Decrease (scdec)
• Slip Stitch (sl st)
• Half Double Crochet (hdc)
• Double Crochet (dc)

Final Dimensions:

Height (From top of star to bottom of stick): 12 ½"

Width (From wing tip to wing tip): 8 ¼"

Handle circumference: 3.75"

Star height: 2 ½"

Sphere circumference: 8"

Wing (From base to tip of Feather #1): 5"

This wand will be made in 5 parts (Star, Sphere, Stick, Handle and Wings), then sewn together. We will start with the star, and work our way down.

Let's get started!

Star (Make 2):

Using E Hook, and Yellow Yarn:

Rnd 1: Using the Magic Adjustable Ring technique, make 5 sc in loop. Do not join.
Rnd 2: Make 2 sc in ea sc around (10 sc). Do not join.
Rnd 3: *Sc in first sc, 2 sc in next sc* around (15 sc). Join with sl st in first sc. Circle complete.
Rnd 4: Sl st in 1st sc. *[Ch5, sl st in 2nd lp from hook, sc in next st, hdc in next st, dc in next st] point made. Sk next sc in circle and sl st in next 2 sc. Rep from * around circle, after last point, make only 1 slst.
Rnd 5: Ch 1, sc in ea st around (50 sc).
Fasten off, and weave in ends..

Putting the Star together:

With wrong sides facing each other (right sides facing outwards), sew together the outer loops only, using a whip stitch. Fill with stuffing before sewing together last point. Make sure stuffing is evenly distributed throughout points. Finish Sewing together. Weave in end(s).

Sphere:

Using H Hook, and Sailor Scout's Main Color (Blue for Mercury, Red for Mars, Green for Jupiter or Orange for Venus):

Row 1: Ch 2. 6 Sc in second Ch from hook. (6 sc)

Row 2: inc in each stitch around. (12 sc)

Row 3: Add 5 scincs evenly throughout the row (17 sc)

Row 4: Add 6 scincs evenly throughout the row (23 sc)

Row 5: Add 4 scincs evenly throughout the row (27 sc)

Row 6: Add 4 scincs evenly throughout the row (31 sc)

Row 7: Add 3 scincs evenly throughout the row (34 sc)

Row 8: Add 2 scincs evenly throughout the row (36 sc)

Row 9: Add 1 scincs within the row (37 sc)

Row 10: One sc in each sc (37 sc)

Row 11: Decrease by 1 (36 sc)

Row 12: Evenly scdec by 2 within the row (34 sc)

Row 13: Evenly scdec by 3 within the row (31 sc)

Row 14: Evenly scdec by 4 within the row (27 sc)

Row 15: Evenly scdec by 4 within the row (23 sc)

Row 16: Evenly scdec by 6 within the row (17 sc)

Row 17: (scdec, sc) repeat () around (12 sc)

(This is a good time to fill your sphere with Polyfil.)

Row 18: 6 scdec (6 sc)

Fasten off. Weave loose end through each stitch in the opening. Pull tightly to close.

Putting the Star and Sphere together:

First we're going to add the star to the sphere. Do this BEFORE embroidering your Scout's symbol on the sphere. There is a good chance the angle of your star may be changed as you attach it, and you don't want a weird wand. I did this by running yellow yarn up from the sphere, through the star, then under one stitch of the sphere, coming right back up to go through the star again. It's pretty tricky, so play around with what works for you. After I attached the 1^st point of the star, I pulled my yarn all the way through to the bottom of the sphere (the Stick will be attaching here, so it doesn't need to be pretty), then pulling it back up to the top. When I brought it back up, I made sure to line it up where the star was going to be sewed down to, so it wouldn't be crooked, then continued to sew down the second Star Point.

To weave in the ends, I brought both ends down to the bottom of the sphere and tied them off.

Bring the yarn down from the right Star Point to the bottom

You can see the top of the (light blue) needle where I brought the yarn back up to the top, and through the left Star Point

Yay! You should have this by now! I used my hand as a size reference.

Embroidering:

True to the Wands when the Scouts transform, their symbol appears in gold, so I'll be using yellow as well. I'm also only using the Planet Symbol. If you're feeling ambitious, feel free to add the extra symbol (Harp, Bow & Arrow, Laurels, or Hearts, depending on your chosen scout).

 

Sailor Mars FTW.

This part is a bit tricky, you can use the stitches on the sphere to help guide you, but it's going to take some undoing and redoing. For this, you're just going to sew in and out in the shape of the symbol, then go over it again to cover the empty spaces the stitches leave. Once again, bring the ends down to the bottom and tie them off.

Stick:

Stick is made from the bottom.

Using Yellow and H Hook:

Row 1: Ch 2, 6 sc in 2^nd ch from hook (6 sc)

Row 2: 2sc in each sc (12 sc)

Row 3: (2sc, sc, sc) around (16 sc)

Row 4: (sc, sc, sc, 2sc) around (20 sc)

Row 5: sc in each sc (20 sc)

Switch to Pink.

Row 6: In FL only, (sc, sc, sc, 2sc) around (25 sc)

Row 7: In BL only, (sc, sc, sc, sc, 2sc) around (30 sc)

Row 8: In both loops, sc in each sc (30 sc)

Row 9: (sc, sc, sc, scdec) around (25 sc)

Row 10: Repeat row 9 (20 sc)

Row 11: Repeat row 9 (16 sc)

Rows 12 - 31: Sc in each sc (16 sc)

Row 32: (sc, sc, sc, 2sc) around (20 sc)

Row 33: (9 sc, 2sc) twice (22 sc)

Row 34 - 35: sc in each sc (22 sc)

Switch back to Yellow.

Row 36: In FL only, sc in each sc (22 sc)

Row 37: Evenly distribute 3 scincs throughout row (25 sc)

Row 38: (sc, sc, sc, 2sc) around (30 sc)

Row 39: sc in each sc (30 sc)

Row 40: (sc, sc, sc, sc, scdec) around (25 sc)

Row 41: (sc, sc, scdec) around, 1 sc (19 sc)

Row 42: Repeat row 41 (15 sc)

Row 43: (sc, scdec) around (8 sc)

Row 44: sc in each sc. (8 sc)

Fasten off, leaving a long tail.

Stuff with Polyfil.

Putting the Stick and Sphere Together:

With a tapestry needle, using the long tail of yellow yarn from the Stick, pull the yarn through the scs of the opening of the stick through the middle of the bottom of the sphere, and back through again until you have gone all the way around. Now, go about one stitch towards the outside of the circle and repeat. This will keep the sphere firmly on the stick. Repeat if necessary. If you are finding your sphere isn't staying on, and the stick isn't staying straight, you may need to stuff more Polyfil into the stick.

Handle:

This is that extra part on the right of the stick that sort of resembles half of a heart. I am not sure what the purpose of it is except to make it look cooler. Either way, I will refer to it as the "Handle" for lack of a better term.

This will be crocheted twice as wide as it should be, then folded in half lengthwise and sewn together with polyfil inside to keep the shape.

With Pink, and H Hook:

Ch 7

Row 1: sc in 2^nd ch from hook, and in each st across (6 sc)

Rows 2 - 44: ch 1, turn, sc in each sc across (6 sc)

Fasten off, leaving a long tail for sewing.

Fold in half lengthwise, and whipstitch along the outer edge. Sew up one short side, but leave the other open. From the open end, you will be inserting stuffing. Using a stuffing stick (or a chopstick), push the stuffing down into the Handle. The opening isn't very big, so a small stick is necessary, and so is some patience. It doesn't need to be very dense, just enough to keep some shape once it's sewn on.

Putting the Handle and Stick Together:

Attach the open end of the handle to the right side of the very top of the pink part of the Stick. I sewed around twice just for good measure. Fasten off, weave in ends.

Now, shape the handle into the general half-heart you want (refer to reference picture if needed). Now, leave about an inch of the handle to curl up at the bottom of the curve of the handle. Using your tapestry needle and pink yarn, go through the small end part of the handle, the part that is actually attached to the stick, and through the stick itself. Do this 3 – 5 times until it is securely attached. Also be sure the bottom of the handle is in line with the top of the handle, so your handle isn't sewn on crooked. Weave in ends.

Push your needle through all three parts.

Be sure the top and bottom of your Handle are aligned

How the bottom of the handle should look. It kind of represents a Violin Scroll.

Wings (Make 4):

Wings will be comprised of a base and 3 Feathers. It will all be one continuous piece, so there will be no yarn cutting. Once you reach the end of a feather, sl st down the feather towards the base where the bottom of the previous feather is to start the next feather.

If you are having trouble visualizing the pattern as you read, there is a picture diagram below the pattern

Base:

Row 1: Ch 2, 3 sc in 2^nd ch from hook, ch 1, turn.

Row 2: 2 sc in next 2 sc, sc, ch 1, turn (5 sc)

Row 3: sc in next sc (sc, 2sc) twice, ch 1, turn (7 sc)

Row 4: (2sc, sc) twice, 3 sc, ch 1, turn (9 sc)

Row 5: (2sc, sc) twice, 5 sc, ch 1 turn (11 sc)

Row 6: (2sc, sc, sc) three times, 2 sc, ch 1, turn (14 sc)

Row 7: (2sc, sc, sc) three times, 5 sc, ch 1, turn (17 sc)

Begin First Feather:

Row 8 - 15: 3 sc, ch 1, turn (3 sc)

Row 16: 1 sc, 1 scdec, ch 1, turn (2 sc)

Row 17: 1 scdec, ch 1, turn (1 sc)

Row 18: 1 sc, ch 1, turn (1 sc)

Sl st down Feather #1 until you reach the base of the wing.

Begin Second Feather:

Row 8 (Now moving across BASE of wing): 3 sc, ch 1, turn. (3 sc)

Row 9: 3 sc, sl st to side of Feather #1, ch 1, turn

Row 10: 3 sc, ch 1, turn. (3 sc)

Row 11: 3 sc, sl st to side of Feather #1, ch 1, turn

Row 12: 3 sc, ch 1, turn. (3 sc)

Row 13: 3 sc, sl st to side of Feather #1, ch 1, turn

Row 14: 1 sc, 1scdec, ch 1, turn (2 sc)

Row 15: 1 scdec, ch 1, turn (1 sc)

Row 16: sc (1 sc)

Sl st down Feather #2 until you reach the base of the wing.

Begin Third Feather:

Row 8 (Once again along BASE of Wing): 3 sc, ch 1, turn (3 sc)

Row 9: 3 sc, sl st to side of Feather #2, ch 1, turn

Row 10: 3 sc, ch 1, turn. (3 sc)

Row 11: 3 sc, sl st to side of Feather #2, ch 1, turn

Row 12: 1 sc, 1 scdec, ch 1, turn (2 sc)

Row 13: 1 scdec, ch 1, turn (1 sc)

Row 14: 1 sc, Sl st down feather until you reach the base of the wing, 1 sc, sl st in each st to end of wing. Fasten off.

Leave one long tail on 2 of the 4 wings (for sewing), then weave in all other ends.

The pen lines represent where the scs are, and the orange dots represent where you should sl st. The numbers are not accurate. This is just a visual aid to help you out with following the written pattern.

Putting the Wings together:

On both wings, there will be a wrong side facing outwards, and a right side facing outwards. Place 2 of the wings right side against wrong side, and stitch up along the bottom, feathers, and top. Flip inside out, then fill with stuffing. Sew the last side together, except for a small opening about the size of a penny. This will be the area used to attach the wings to the Stick.

Now you can see where the opening should be left for attaching it to the Stick.

Putting it all together:

Now, all you have to do is sew the opening on the wing onto the top yellow portion of the Stick. The only thing you have to worry about here is making sure it doesn't touch the handle. If you need to sew on a higher part of the wing onto the stick for reinforcement, go ahead. This wand is pretty big, and you wanna make sure it's sturdy.

Hooray! We're done!

Now you can transform into your favorite Sailor Scout! Well...maybe not. But you can have a nice addition to your Cosplay, or just keep it around to remind you of where you've been, where you want to go, and the imaginary people you're letting down if you just...give up.

Next time! I'm working on some patterns for deck and dice bags in Pokeball and TARDIS flavors. See you soon!

How to make a Starfleet Uniform Duct Tape Wallet!

I'm a little surprised I'm a Star Trek fan. I never considered myself someone who likes space, science fiction, and I certainly never considered myself someone who would go crazy over a 'bad' scifi from the late 80's. But, here I am. I started watching it just a few months ago, and I lovelovelove Next Generation. So much so, in fact, I decided to make a Red Shirt Wallet.

As an artist, and a professional time-waster, I have spent a lot of time looking through different artistic websites looking for inspiration and ideas. I have seen a lot of nerdy duct tape wallets (My favorite so far being the Sailor Moon Tiara ones!) but I had found a significant lack of Star Trek uniform ones, so I made my own. I've gotten a little bit of criticism for making a red shirt wallet, because they all die in the Original Series, but they are THE BEST in Next Generation, and what with being in love with Riker and all- I HAD to make a red shirt.

Mine didn't turn out -as- nicely as I'd have liked, so instead of listing it, I'm being nice and making a tutorial.

Note: This tutorial is only for the process of making the Starfleet symbol, for the rest of the instructions, you can follow my duct tape wallet tutorial here.

Well, let's get started, shall we?

What you'll need:

- Duct tape! You will need black, gold, and whatever color 'shirt' you want (Mine of course being red, and I will refer to this as COLOR A for the remainder of the tutorial)
- Scissors
- X-acto knife
- Paper and pencil to draw out your Comm Badge, or if you're less artistically inclined, have one printed out at the right size (More on how to figure that out in a minute).
- Your current wallet! You will use it asa guide for credit card slot sizes, etc. (More details about that in my Duct tape wallet tutorial.)
- Coffee, as usual.

How to do it!

First, you're going to be making the sheet of 'fabric' for the wallet itself. One side is going to be completely COLOR A, and the other side is going to be  about 2/3rds COLOR A and 1/3rd Gold. Your sheet should be at least 7" by 7". Mine is a bit bigger, because you're going to want the extra room for when you put your Com Badge on. If your COm Badge is too small, it will be VERY tough to work with. So give yourself some breathing room.

 

 

Next, you'll wanna cover the gold on Side One with COLOR A. Since both your sides should look identical now, use some kind of indication to keep track of what side is Side One. I just used a scrap piece of gold duct tape.

 

Now you're going to finish putting your wallet together. Make sure SIDE ONE is facing outward. That is where the gold is, and you will be cutting through the red to reveal your Com Badge, so having it on the outside is the only thing you need to worry about here. 

Again, if you need a reminder of how to make a Duct tape wallet, you can find my tutorial here.

So, now that you've made your wallet, you're going to be figuring out how BIG your combadge needs to be. To do this, Take your shiny new wallet and have it in the folded position. Place it on a piece of paper and trace it.

 

Now draw in your Com Badge about where you want it. It should be at least 1" x 1", if not slightly bigger. If this is not your strong suit, go ahead and print out a Com Badge, but lay it down on your wallet and/or the sketch you made of your wallet to be sure it's the right size.

Once you're happy with it's size and quality, tape it down on the front of your wallet where you want it to be. Leave about 1/2" of room on top for the black stripe, and don't put it exactly on the edge. Once it's where you would like it, tape it down so it's secure.

 

Using your X-acto knife, cut along the lines. Be sure to cut deep enough to get through the paper and through as many layers of COLOR A to get to the Gold layer. As long as you create some sort of perforation on the top layer, you can make many different layers of cuts until you get to the Gold layer. If you cut all the way through, that's okay! Just place strips of red tape over the cuts on the inside of the wallet. Wait until you are completely done, though, otherwise your wallet will end up thick and unwieldy if you throw some tape in it with every cut you make through the wallet.

Once you have cut out your stencil, remove the paper and the tape of the stencil and start peeling away the layers. 

Using your razor blade, you can continue to make precision cuts as you go along, and use it to peel off the pieces of tape. There will be some pesky strands from the tape. Do your best to either:

A. Cut them.

B. Use your razor to tuck them underneath the COLOR A layer of tape

C. Use a tweezers to pull them off.

D. If you have a Gold marker (preferably Sharpie, if they have those), you can color them gold. I have done this before on other projects, and it cleans the look up nicely.

This part can also be tricky, because depending on how you put your wallet together, half of the Badge area may have 4 - 5 layers of tape above the gold. If that's the case, be sure to cut off any layers of COLOR A in between the Badge that make it look awkward. If it's very thick to the right of the bade, that's okay! As long as the layers are even when looking at the badge itself.

 

As you can see, very close to the right edge of the bade, there is an extra layer, but there are no excess layers otherwise. You can also see that this is not the cleanest Badge! When working with small stencils like this with duct tape, your image won't be as clean as it would be if your image was larger. Don't fret! If you find you're having a lot of problems, work bigger! Try doing a Com Badge as big as a piece of paper to get a better feel for duct tape.

So now we're almost finished.

Lastly, take a long strip of black duct tape, and cover the top 1/2" or so of your wallet. Cut it at the ends, and fold over so it goes into the inside area of your wallet where you keep your money. If, when cutting out your Com Badge, you sliced through your wallet, now would be a good time to patch up any cuts you made with your COLOR A duct tape.

 

Phew! All done!

 

The way I made this Com Badge is more or less how I make a lot of my duct tape art (by covering a color, then cutting through to reveal it). Now that you understand this technique, are you going to use it on other wallets? Framed pictures? Something else that's totally cool? Let me know what you make!

Up next: What I've been up to Post #2! This includes some Sailor Moon inspired gear, another geeky wallet, some hats and a purse! I can't wait to share with you guys.

After that: It's NaNoWriMo once again! Is anyone else participating this year?! My SN is CaffeinatedTarantula, feel free to add me as a buddy!

Halloween Project #10: Potion Bottles

I used to consider myself a Wiccan, and I was pretty uptight about it, too.

Then again, when you're 14, dress in a lot of black, only listen to obscure Japanese rock, and have an offbeat 'religion', you can't really say too much without being put under the microscope about how 'weird' you are. You'd be a little defensive, too.

I took it very seriously, too. I never tried to curse people, or hurt anyone, but when I got a headache, I tried putting a cucumber peel to my forehead, I picked up Tarot reading (which I still do) and I even had a little chant if we couldn't find our car in a parking lot. I collected herbs and stones, memorized their magical properties, and had a green book with thick parchment paper where I used a matching green pen to write down everything I needed to remember. It's actually the only notebook I ever filled to the very last page.

I would get frustrated around Halloween, when I saw fake bottles with labels on them for "Eye of Newt" and other 'crazy' witches brews, and I found myself even more annoyed at the people gobbling them up, picking them up with their sweaty, unmagical hands screeching out "Look honey! Eye of Newt! This sounds scary! Hope we have $8 to dole out for it!".

 

For the record, Eye of Newt is actually just a nickname for Lavender....And screeching women in stores still bother me, but this is neither here nor there.

These people didn't know anything. If I could have, I would have cleared off a shelf of bad Halloween party favors and yelled everything I knew about magic and Wicca at them, and they all would have second thoughts about buying fake novelty potion bottles. They could learn something, enrich their life, get rid of headaches with cucumbers, but instead I rolled my eyes and stayed quiet. Looking back, it was actually probably the most reasonable response.

It wasn't until Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that this started to change. After forcing myself to hate the first movie (and book), due to my principles of knowing strictly what witchcraft was, is, and should ever be, I refused to indulge myself in liking something so....fake. Against my will, I went with my Dad to see the movie.

And damn was it good.

How could it be that something could go against all the rules of REAL witchcraft and be so damn clever, and fun? Well, as it turns out, it's called imagination, and taking things lightly.

And yeah, you bet I'm saying that Harry Potter helped me lighten up.

So now, around Halloween time, I look around my apartment, at the fake potion bottles, the scene setters, the bad party favors, and it looks DAMN good every year. I just don't have any bottles labeled Eye of Newt, because the fact that I know what I'm talking about has not changed, now I can just deal with people who don't. Afterall, I can't judge anyone anymore, not after all the morals Harry Potter instilled in me.

 
Want to make some awesome fake potion bottles for yourself for the upcoming Halloween season?  Michael's is selling these for $5 each, but with a couple summer garage sales left to hit, some ribbon I KNOW you have lying around and a printer- you can make your own for significantly cheaper.

Here's how.

What you'll need:

- 20 Gauge Wire
- Pliers
- Empty 'potion' bottles (I got mine at Michaels for 99 cents each)
- Ribbon
- Mod Podge, and a paintbrush to apply said Mod Podge
- Potion label images (I found mine online, and printed them off with NO intent of selling them (in case you are thinking about yelling at me!). Otherwise I know Martha Stewart has had Halloween labels on her website in the past). If you design your own labels, I'm sure Etsy will be kind to you in the near future ;)
- Coffee, obviously.
- Optional: Things to fill them with! I have not dealt with this yet, but as Halloween approaches, I may put some thought into it.

How to do it:

1. Cut two piece of wire, one about 3" long (This is to wrap around the neck of your bottle, so make sure it is long enough, with some extra slack) and the other one about 7" long (This will be the wire you will actually see/wire to use to hang on nails, etc.)

2. Bend the longer wire to form a U-shape. Using your pliers, bend about 1/2" of wire to wrap around itself a few times. Leave a small opening, as you will be putting the smaller wire through this.

3. Slip the smaller wire through the two loops at the end of your U-shape. With all of it as one 'piece', wrap the smaller wire around the thinnest part of the neck of your bottle. Use your pliers to twist the extra wire around itself, then push down towards the neck to lie as flat as possible. It's okay if this isn't perfect, you'll be covering it in ribbon, just make sure it's wrapped tightly enough so that it won't come undone.

 

 

Note: I know it seems odd to do it this way, instead of putting wire around the neck and THEN looping the handle through, but I found that I kept putting the neck wire on too tightly to fit the handle wire in.

Now you have a good base! Here's where the fun stuff REALLY starts.

4. Wrap the neck of your bottle with ribbon. You can use as much or as little as you feel it needs. Personally, it turns out I'm having some kind of love affair with ribbon, because I went way overboard, and I'm not looking back. I also tied some around one (or both) sides of the 'handle' for some extra fluff. I think the only REAL 'requirement' is hiding all the icky twists in the wires. Once those are hidden, you're golden.

5. Now make sure you have a good label printed out in the size and shape you think will be flattering for your unique potion bottle, and cut that sucker out.

6. Mod podge it on. Wait for it to dry, cover with a coating of mod podge.

7. Display proudly, knowing that you are not taking yourself too seriously, and you saved a couple bucks!
 

Are you filling your bottles with any potions, real or fake? What are you using, what kind of crafty concoctions are you coming up with?

Quick and Easy Crocheted Bangles

I don't really know what's been going on with me lately. The weather is in the 70's, and I've only yelled about it a couple times.

See, I like winter. I like putting on sweaters, and drinking hot cocoa, and crocheting with the biggest, fluffiest, fuzziest, softest yarns I can get my hands on, and then wrapping whatever it was that I just made around my neck a good 5 or 6 times, so I can go sit in front of a fireplace at my closest Starbucks. I like snow, and ice and wool socks.

I don't like summer. Summer, to me, is mosquitoes, and sweating, and all my friends saying "Let's eat our dinner outside!" So that I can be swarmed by mosquitoes, while I sweat, WHILE eating dinner. Nothing says 'joy' to me like picking gnats out of my mashed potatoes. Great.

This year seems a bit different, I haven't been bothered by the weather thus far, and I've been all too happy to go out and take walks. The weather has, however, been very inconsistent. Maybe I will look back on this reflection in a couple months when it's 80 degrees everyday, and think "Oh, if only I knew then what I know now..."

However, in the spirit of enjoying the weather, I put something simple and summery together. I was at Target the other day, and on a whim, nearly cleared out a section of clearance bangles (They were $1.20 each! At that price, how could I afford NOT to buy them? Amirite?!). Basically, I took cheap, semi-broken bangles and single crocheted over them with a light, cotton yarn (Lily Sugar n' Cream Stripes, the colorway "Country Stripes"). I LOVE this yarn. I'm already rather partial to cotton yarns, but this yarn reminds me so much of the Chesapeake Bay, where I used to live, my heart feels heavy as I write this out, and I don't know how good it is for my health to think about it too much. The yarn is 4 colors that all shined through over the 3 bangles I made, and are so reminiscent of the Bay waters, looking down at them makes me reminiscent enough to keep rambling (but I will spare you all). On top of that, it's light, so it won't be too hot to wear in the summer. My favorite part? Only using one yarn, and making 3 distinct and individual bangles.

Ah, I've been rambling more than usual. I'm actually hoping to do some real writing after this post, so my creative writing juices must just be spilling over. Also, my coffee is totally working (It's peanut butter coffee!)

*Ahem*

Here's how to do it:

What you need:

- Bangles! I used 3 kinds, a flat one, a round one, and a square one. The square one was weird, but works well enough. I will use the flat one as an example, since it is the simplest.

- Yarn, preferably cotton yarn so you can wear them in warm weather, but to each their own.

- Crochet hook. I used a size G hook, but I'm not entirely sure if this matters.

- Tapestry needle

First, Slip stitch around the bangle, then ch 1.

 

 Because of the thickness of the bangle, you will have to reach your hook out about an inch. Be more aware of tension, and it will turn out fine.

After your sl st ch 1, you will just do single crochets all around the band.

Pull your loop up more than usual, to meet the top of the bangle

 

Pull through one loop, then both loops.

 

Single crochet all the way around. Be sure all the stitches are snug. When you are done. Sl st into 1st sc.

I then threaded both loose ends underneath all single crochets and cut them. Boom. Done. 

 

 These were so fun, and I actually REALLY enjoy wearing them! If you make some, I would love to see how they turn out.

Queen Anne's Lace

So, I know I'm rather hyperbolic. Every single thing I tend to do, see or eat becomes the best thing ever, and I'm aware of that.

But, I think Queen Anne's Lace might actually be the most beautiful thing in the world.

I recently discovered a pattern for it and decided to try to tackle it. It took me a little while to get the hang of it, but once I did, I was totally hooked (HAH. CROCHET PUN!). I used Caron Simply Soft and made a couple pieces of jewelry, which fit softly and snuggly around your neck without being too warm or bulky.

My only issue with Queen Anne's Lace is that I don't know how to make more than one row with it :( From what I can tell, there is no way to turn and start a row on top of the row just made. Does anyone know of a way to do this? Because every pattern I find is for just one row, and I would really like to do more with it!

My first necklace was a beige color, and I made it extra long, then attached a button to one end. It's really nice, because the holes that the Queen Anne's Lace makes can be clasped around the button to give the necklace different looks.

While I'm not exactly sure what I can wear this with, I DO know that I LOVE it! I will get a whole new wardrobe if I have to.

The second piece of jewelry I made was actually shorter, just a choker. However, I didn't find myself as infatuated with this one. Perhaps the color is too dull, or perhaps thick chokers just aren't for me, but I think it just looks rather awkward. I decided to use brown, since I own so many earth-toned clothes, but maybe something brighter would have been a better idea.

I might give this another shot in a brighter color. We'll see.

The tutorial I used for this can be found here. The tutorial provides a lot of pictures that are very easy to follow, but I wouldn't recommend trying this out unless you are at least a semi-experienced crocheter. I also wouldn't get too discouraged, it took me about three tries of making and then unraveling shells before I was able to actually have something worth wearing.

The pattern is also a slight modification, so as to make the first shell match the last shell, instead of the first shell looking awkward, which I think is an improvement, and everything else is that same as traditional Queen Anne's Lace.

Crocodile Stitch! (How To)

I feel like so much is going on this week. I've written a novel, learned how to knit, learned SO MUCH about holistic medicines for asthma, and the most exciting one: I learned the crocodile stitch.

While I can't wait to post about all my other November adventures (...Noventures?), I'm going to have to hold off for now and teach you guys this fantastic crochet stitch. I can't seem to find the actually stitch for free anywhere, but I don't see why it shouldn't be available for free. I have done one project with it, and I'm so excited! It makes things look like DRAGON SCALES! Anyone who knows me know that crocheting and dragons are two of my favorite things, and I'm finally able to combine the two into one amazingly perfect...thing!

So far, all I've made with these are these crimson arm warmers that totally look like DRAGON SLAYING GAUNTLETS! I am astounded by them, and completely in love. While the stitch requires a bit of work, it's totally worth it in the end.

I've never done a crocheting tutorial, so please let me know if something should be further clarified or expanded upon.

I'm going to be doing a small swatch totaling 5 crocodile stitches to show you how it works.

The Crocodile stitch is very simple and consists of two simple stiches, the V stitch (V-st) and the Frost post Double Crochet (fpdc).

V stitch (V-st)- Work (dc, ch 1, dc) into a single indicated stitch.

Front Post Double Crochet (Fpdc)- Yo and insert hook from front to back around the post of the dc of the previous row, then complete as for a regular dc. This is kind of wonky to picture, so you can watch this youtube clip.

So, to start, I'm going to chain 17. (This will be a ch 13, plus a 4 ch to count as one dc and the ch 1 of the 1st V-st.)

1. Dc in 4th ch from the end, sk 2, v-st, which I'm then going to repeat until the last st, where I'm going to place my last v-st

2. Now you have 5 v sts. Turn your work, sl st in 1st ch-1 space, then do 5 fpdc from top to bottom of the 1st dc of the 2nd v-st from the beginning, ch 1 at end of 5th fpdc. I like to face my piece to the left when doing this, so the bottom of the V st faces the left.

3. Now do 5 more fpdc from bottom to top. When doing this, I like to point my V st towards the right. Push down the fpdc as often as you have to so that you can do them from bottom to top, while still having enough room.

Now you have one crocodile stitch!

4. Skip one V-st, and do 5 fpdc from top to bottom, ch 1, 5 fpdc from bottom to top..

Skip on V-st, doing your next 5 fpdc on the right dc of the 4th v-st from the beginning.

Now you should have 2 crocodile sts.

5. sl st in ch 1 space of last v-st, sl st into last ch, then ch 4 (counts as 1st dc and ch 1), dc into same st. Now, make a V stitch in the spaces between the croc sts and on each side, so you'll have another 5 v sts

See how the bottom of the V sts are in the center and on either side of each croc st

6. Ch 3 (counts as first dc), and 4 fpdc around 1st side of V st, ch 1, 5 fpdc. Skip v st, repeat (so the crocodile sts will now be on the 1st, 3rd and 5th V sts, instead of the 2nd and 4th, so that the 'scales' will alternate with each other).

Repeat the row of V sts and then the rows of fpdc to create a scaly pattern.

And obviously this is just a quick swatch to practice, but when you add more scales and more rows it builds up nicely to make a very dragon like piece of artwork.

While I can not provide you with the pattern for the dragon slaying gauntlets arm warmers, I can tell you that I got the pattern from Bonita Patterns. She has a lot of crocodile stitch patterns (and I hear she even has a book, too), which might be worth spending a couple bucks to see how the stitch works in an actual piece.

I look forward to seeing all of your dragon scale armor textiles!