HOW TO: DIY hook / pencil grip

My new obsession.. I hope you like this tutorial.

I do not own a rainbow loom. I bought a fun loom a few years ago at Family Dollar hoping I could do the same things on it as on a rainbow loom… nope. The rainbow looms comes apart the fun loom does not. I haven’t touched it since I bought it, up until a few weeks ago.

So how can I make the hook/pencil grips?

Easy…

I used a corner piece of a loom and weave kit. 

You will need something to pull the rubber bands off the pegs with . I used a loom tool.

I used 24 bands of the 2 colors I wanted to use

4 bands are used for each row. So grab 4 and using the picture below , start your first row.

Place a band on peg 1 and twist it and place the loop on peg 2. With another band, place it on peg 2 on top of the band you just placed. Twist the band and put it on peg 3.  with a third band , place on peg 3 , twist it and put the loop on peg 4. And lastly, with a 4th band, place it on peg 4, twist it and put the loop on peg 1 .

With a second color, place the rubber bands on the same order but with out twisting.

Pull off the bottom 2 loops over the top loops and the peg. Repeat.

After a few rows, it should look like this.

And eventually like this…..

With a hook or a pencil …..

place it in the middle….

Pull the bottom loops over the end. 2 for each side. Then push the piece down and repeat.

your grip is now free from the loom. Push it to where you want it to be.

 

Now you are done…… time to make more 🙂

If you have any questions place comment below and I will get back to you 🙂

 

Bottle cap ring ornaments

It’s July so it’s time to make a boat load of ornaments for the Christmas tree. 🙂

What you need….

Yarn colors of choice.

Depending on which ornament you choose to make you will need either a F , G or I size crochet hook.

Bottle cap rings of different sizes. I have milk , soda , water and gatorade rings. you can also use key rings.

Embellishments: buttons , foam, felt

 

************

For all the variations you will need to single crochet ( sc) the ring first.

If you don’t know how to crochet here is a quick lesson…Put your hook ( for the project below you will need an F size hook) through the bottle ring,  Place yarn over hook. The yarn attached to the ball /skein is your working yarn. Pull hook through ring , yarn over and pull through loop on hook. Repeat until you reach the first stitch. ( for this project 20 single crochets are needed) slip stitch ( slst) to the first stitch.( insert hook into the first stitch made and pull through. Don’t yarn over, just pull your hook through the loop on your hook.) Cut yarn, leaving few inches, pull yarn and weave in.

Todays project is an easy one…

It’s a simple wreath. I made these as part of a ornament swap.

I used a milk ring for the large wreath and a soda bottle ring fort the small one, 2 buttons( but you can add as many as you want) and 2 shades of green yarn ( Red Heart super saver – paddy green and spring green.)

 

 

 

You will need to single crochet (sc) all the way around the ring as I mentioned above.

With a tapestry needle weave in the ends. With another color yarn, attach to the back if the wreath under a few loops. Either sew or super glue button (s) to front .

 

Bonus project:

Like the wreath, sc around the ring. slip stitch to the first stitch. Cut yarn, weave in ends. With grey, (wrong way facing you ) chain 2 to any sc. sc in same stitch and next 2 stitches. turn and chain 25 .sc in same stitch and in next 2 stitches. cut yarn and weave in ends.

 

 

More projects will be posted throughout the week.

 

I learned something new -Thanks Moogly

I have learned most stitches ( I call then non standard) from moogly.com . If I need to know a certain stitch for a project, I type it into google and the first video or tutorial is , 9 out of 10 times , from Moogly/Tamera Kelly.

As part of my A Year of Projects , I wanted to learn how to make a Standing Double Crochet. I’ve been crocheting for  4 years and I had no idea this stitch existed! I hate chaining when I add a new color to the project I am working on.

Below are my samples and the video by Moogly.

Now my Temperature blanket squares will look better 🙂 no more chains!

Thanks again Tamera!

Sharing a diet tip

I am shocked at this result. With barely no exercise other than walking to the post office and store ( and shoveling .. damn snow) a few times a week, I have lost 13 lbs in a few weeks just giving up caffeine. I drink a few glasses of soda in a day.. I know, not good at all.  I use to drink diet soda but with the aspartame side effects I stopped ( the effect it had on me will be in another post soon). So I started drinking regular soda, cherry coke, mountain dew…  for the past 4 years I’ve been the same weight.

Over the last few months, I’ve been cutting down on a lot of food. No more snacks when I crochet. No seconds at dinner, no matter how yummy it was. But giving up caffeine was big!

( I didn’t realize cropping would make the picture blurry)

How I gave it up..While in the soda aisle at the grocery store,  I noticed that weight watchers had their own soda. NO caffeine, NO sugars, NO calories, etc. and they had root beer. I picked one up, and what do you know , it tasted like root beer ! After a few days I got over the head aches but I still sneak a small glass of my fiance’s cherry coke one and a while but other than that I’ve been good .

It sucks that soda is cheaper than juice. Which I drink ( cranberry 100% ) but with it being $3+ a bottle  and being on a budget , it stays off my shopping list most weeks. I eat more fruit ( I could live on oranges and white grapes ) , I drink more water ( Fruit 2.0, our tap water is iffy) and salads for lunch.

Cutting back on a few more things and saying no to caffeine, I think I will hit my goal by summer ! 🙂

Button Project Fail

This week for my Craft Month project I was going to make a button bowl. I saw a picture on Pinterest and thought “I can do that”.

Well it started out fun and then the buttons began slipping down the balloon because of the glue. I guess Elmer’s craft glue isn’t the best to work with but its all I had. 😦

I was so excited to make this button bowl. The one I saw was wicked cute! I have a lot of small buttons I haven’t used and I thought this would be a great project. In my defense , the balloon round up pin didn’t mention why type of glue to use. I really should have some tacky glue on hand. But hey, lesson learned.

I am not giving up that easily though. On my next outing to a craft store I’ll pick up some tacky clue!

here is a link to a button bowl project ( I should of researched some before I started my project )

I popped the balloon too early 😦

I also tries to make polymer clay button… I plan to invest in a button mold! But these aren’t so bad.

I never claimed to be an expert..lol

Until next fail time…