Category: Tutorials

If you’re anything like me, you have a lot of partially-used skeins (or balls or cakes) of yarn lying around. So you’ve probably found yourself in a situation where you think you have enough yarn to make a particular pattern, but even though you can weigh the partial skein to find out how many ounces are left, your pattern only lists required yardage.

What’s a girl (or guy) to do?

Luckily, this is a pretty easy thing to figure out once you know the equation. It’s the same equation I used to teach you to how to figure out the yardage of a finished product (read that blog post here), except we’re just changing out some of the information we need to plug in.

All you need is your partial skein(s), a calculator, a scale that weighs in ounces or grams (a food scale or a postage scale will work), and the information on the label of the skein you used (or if you’re like me and threw it away long ago, you can look up the yarn’s stats on the company’s web site). Using the diagram below, follow the directions to quickly find your answer. (If you aren’t a fellow math nerd, don’t let the diagram scare you away. Just follow the directions. It’s easy, I promise.)

So, let’s walk through this with an example. I’ll use a partial skein I have right here with me. It’s Lion Brand’s LB Collection Superwash Merino (a #3 light yarn). I’ve just finished designing a new pattern with it (coming soon), and I have quite a bit left, so I’d like to know if there is enough for me to make a pair of Comfy Squares Boot Cuffs, which calls for 160 yards of #3 light yarn.

Step 1: Fill in the info for the pink and blue boxes. According to my food scale, the partial skein weighs 1.6 oz, so I’ll plug that into the pink box on the bottom left. I also have the skein’s label right in front of me, which tells me that one full skein has 306 total yards (pink box on the top right), and it weighs 3.5oz (blue box). (If I didn’t have the label, again, I would look up the yarn on the company’s web site.)

Here’s what I have so far:

Step 2: Multiply the numbers in the pink boxes together. 1.6 x 306 = 489.6

Step 3: Take the total from step 2, and divide it by the number in the blue box. 489.6 / 3.5 = 139.9

Step 4: My total yardage for the partial skein is about 140 yards! Unfortunately, that’s not enough for the boot cuff pattern. So instead, I’ll probably wrap a blank sheet of paper around the skein and write the yardage right on that piece of paper so I’ll know for next time.

Easy peasy, lemon squeezy (as my 5 year old would say)!

I have a fun, easy, practical tutorial for you guys today, and it doesn’t even involve crocheting!

I’ve been wanting to give these DIY wool dryer balls a try for a while. I ran out of dryer sheets last week, so I knew now was the time to learn.

Did you know that wool dryer balls last up to a year or more, making your clothes soft and static-free and reducing your energy costs by helping your clothing dry faster? You’ll never have to buy dryer sheets again! Paired with your favorite homemade laundry detergent, you will have a recipe for some SERIOUS money-saving DIY. (That’s my favorite kind of DIY!)

So to begin, you’ll need a few basic things:

• 100% wool yarn (MUST be 100%, no blends. I used Hobby Lobby’s “I Love This Wool Naturals.” It’s 220 yards and I had enough for two balls from each skein, with a little left over.)
• Scissors
• Yarn needle
• Old tights or nylons
• NON-wool yarn or string  (just a small amount for tying up your nylons, but it’s important that it’s NOT wool this time)
• Your washer and dryer

The first thing you’ll need to do is wrap your yarn into tight balls. (Think every kitten’s dream toy.) I know many of you do this with all of your yarn after you purchase it, but I don’t, so if it’s new to you, here are some easy steps (photos below):

1. Roll yarn around three fingers, about 15 times.
2. Remove the yarn from fingers and wrap 5 times around the middle. (It should look like a little bow.)
3. Fold the bow over on itself.
4. Begin to wrap the yarn around the base you’ve just created. Wrap, turn slightly, wrap, turn slightly, etc, to form a ball. Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly shaped all the way through – you’ve got a lot of yarn to work with and a lot of time to shape it nicely. Look at it from different angles as you go, and try to wrap the yarn so that a nice sphere is formed. Do this until your ball is about 2.5″ tall, or approximately the size of a tennis ball.
5. Leaving a 10″ (or so) tail, cut the yarn. Thread it through your yarn needle. Insert your yarn needle into the ball, going in the same direction as that piece of yarn would naturally go, and “skim” the ball by about 1/2 an inch, bringing the yarn needle out the other side (see photo below). Continue to do this around the ball 3-4 more times.
6. Snip the yarn at the surface of the ball. You’re ready to begin the felting process!

Your dryer balls should be about the size of a tennis ball when you’re done rolling them.

Now we need to put the balls through the “felting” process. Felting is the process of fusing together the wool strands to create a sturdy ball that (hopefully) won’t unravel even after hundreds of wild rides in your dryer. Lucky for us, this is an easy process, and all you’ll need are nylons, string, and your washer and dryer!

The Felting Process

1. Put the first dryer ball into the leg of your nylons, all the way to the bottom. Tie a piece of NON-wool string or yarn around the nylons so that the ball is tight and snug. (If you were to use a wool yarn here, you’d end up felting that too, and your dryer balls would probably be ruined.)
2. Add the next ball and do the same thing, until all of your dryer balls are safe in the nylons.
3. Throw the balls in your washing machine and run a full cycle on HOT. (This is also a great time to get your towels washed, because they can handle the heat, and it won’t affect the dryer balls at all!)
4. After the wash cycle, run them through the dryer on HOT (again, your towels can join them).
5. When you remove them from the dryer, you’ll notice that they are a bit more compact. This is good! Now, repeat steps 3 and 4 one more time to finish the felting process.
6. Remove balls from nylons.

That’s it! Now that they’ve felted, you don’t need to wash them anymore. Just leave 4 or 5 of them in your dryer to use with every future load of laundry. You can even add a few drops of your favorite essential oil (if you want) to give your clean laundry an amazing smell!

I was so excited about these wool dryer balls that I decided to make a bunch of them and give them to my mom and older sisters. (The little sis will definitely be getting some when she heads off to college soon!) We are all getting together this weekend for a freezer cooking party (yay!), so I think that’s a perfect time to gift them. It will be one big money-saving weekend. How fun is that?

Let me know how your wool dryer ball process goes!

 

Looking to add a little excitement to your Half Double Crochet stitches? Look no further than this VERY simple variation on the HDC! All it takes is inserting your hook into a different loop than usual to come up with this beautiful, faux knit pattern.

Now, there may be a technical abbreviation for this stitch, but I haven’t found it. So until I learn differently, I’ll be referring to it in my patterns as RibHDC. 🙂

What’s great about this stitch is that it shows up on both the back and front sides of your work, so it works beautifully for scarves, washclothes, etc. And it’s not as bulky as the front/back post method or the front/back loops only method.

Let’s get started…

First, we’ll take a look at the Half Double Crochet stitch. Normally, you’d yarn over and insert your hook underneath the two loops on the top, highlighted in the photo below in red. But for this simple modification, you’ll yarn over and insert your hook into the loop DIRECTLY BELOW the top loop, as highlighted in green. This special loop only shows up on the back side of your HDC stitches, so we’ll be turning our work as we go.

Here’s another view of that special loop, from the side.

So to get started, you’ll want to create a row of regular HDC. For this tutorial, let’s say 20. You can do this by chaining 21, HDC in 2nd Ch from hook, and HDC across. OR, you can use the Chainless Foundation technique!

Once you have your first row, Ch 1 (doesn’t count as HDC) and turn your work. You should be able to see those special loops now. Yarn over, and insert your hook under that first special loop.

Complete your typical HDC stitch: Pull your yarn through, yarn over, and pull through all 3 loops on the hook.

Done! Continue down the row until you’ve completed 20. You aren’t going to see that ribbing yet, unless you turn the work over and take a peek. The row you are working on creates the ribbing on the opposite side. Do a few rows and you’ll see a beautiful pattern emerge!

Sooooo easy, right?

Enjoy!

Raise your hand if you hate sewing into chains.

Yeah, that’s what I thought. Is there anyone who doesn’t completely dread that first row of a scarf, and having to sew into all of those pesky, tight little knots?

What I’m about to show you will change your life. (At least your crochet life.) With the Chainless Foundation Stitch, you NO LONGER have to chain a million and then go back and sew into them one by one. Trust me, when you master this simple concept, you’ll be whipping out scarves and cowls like nobody’s business. (And you’ll wonder why this wasn’t, like, the first thing you ever learned.)

Once you’ve got the technique down, check out these fun, FREE scarf patterns to practice on!

• Double Wrap Infinity Scarf
• Chunky Ribbed Cowl
• Triple Loop Skinny Scarf

For this tutorial, we’ll use the Double Crochet (DC), although this can be modified for single, half, etc (we’ll cover that toward the end).

Double Crochet Chainless Foundation Stitch

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
First DC:
Chain 3. Yarn over and insert hook into third chain from hook.
(Okay, okay, I know I said no more sewing into chains. This is the only one, I promise.)

Draw up a loop (you will have 3 loops on your hook, as in Figure 1 below); then yarn over and pull through only the first loop. (<—This is the magic step that makes it work!) You will still have 3 loops on your hook. (It should look like Figure 2, below.)

For the lefties:

Now, complete the DC as normal (yarn over, draw through first two loops; yarn over again and draw through remaining two loops).

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 
Next DC (repeat the following steps for as many DCs as you need):
Yarn over and insert hook into the loops of the last DC. It’s a little hard to see at first but you’ll get the hang of it once you get going. Here’s a photo to help you… I’ve highlighted the loops you need to insert hook into:

For the lefties:

Draw up a loop (3 loops on hook now), then yarn over and pull through only the first loop. (<—-Look, it’s the magic step again!)

Yarn over, draw through the first two loops. Yarn over again and draw through remaining two loops.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 
To connect for crochet in the round:

Bring your ends together as in the photo, being careful not to twist the row. (This is so much easier to do now, isn’t it?)

Insert hook into top of first DC, draw through, and slip stitch through the loop on your hook. Ch 3 and begin next row of normal DCs (or whatever stitch you are going to do next). When you’re done with the scarf (or whatever), you can use the starting tail to sew that gap together.

How awesome is that?!? If it seems labor-intensive now, just practice. Seriously, it won’t take long before you are knocking out that first row in record time. And notice how NICE that bottom edge is – no more little bumps! Just a beautiful row of loops!

And in case you’re wondering… YES. You can do this with other stitches, such as the Half Double Crochet and the Single Crochet:

Half Double Crochet Chainless Foundation Stitch

First HDC:

• Chain 2. Yarn over and insert hook into second chain from hook.
• Draw up a loop (you will have 3 loops on your hook), then draw through only the first loop on hook. You will still have 3 loops on your hook.
• Complete HDC as normal (yarn over and draw through all 3 loops).

Next HDC (repeat the following steps for as many HDCs as you need):

• Yarn over and insert hook into the loops of the last HDC.
• Draw up a loop and pull through first loop on hook.
• Yarn over, and draw through all three loops on hook.

Single Crochet Chainless Foundation Stitch

 First SC:

• Ch 2. Insert hook into second chain from hook.
• Draw up a loop (you will have 2 loops on your hook), then draw through only the first loop on hook. You will still have 2 loops on your hook.
• Complete SC as normal (draw through both loops).

Next SC (repeat the following steps for as many SCs as you need):

• Insert hook into the loops of the last SC.
• Draw up a loop and pull through first loop on hook.
• Draw through both loops on hook.

Enjoy!