Tiny Twist - Coffee Cozy

Alrighty! I finally got the free coffee cozy pattern I was raving about uploaded!

Tiny Twist -- Coffee Cozy

I wanted to design a coffee cozy that men would use, but one that still showed a touch of handmade goodness and wasn’t just utilitarian plain.

Quick and easy to make, this makes a great gift for the guys in your life, especially paired with a coffee gift certificate. Make it in hot pink or another bright, feminine color and it’s fabulous for women too!

• worked in the round on double pointed needles
• quick knit suitable for beginners/advanced beginners
• approx. 3” tall; will fit a medium take-out coffee cup
• easy to modify for smaller or larger take-out coffee cup

This is available as a free PDF download at my Ravelry Store. You shouldn't need a Ravelry account to access and download it, but I am still pretty new to the mechanics of the Ravelry Store so if you are having trouble let me know and I'll try to sort it out.

Enjoy!!

Castle Inspired Striped Scarf Crochet Pattern

I love the scarves worn by Nathan Fillion as Richard Castle on the television show “Castle”. In opposition to the usual classic grey/black/white scarves for men, Castle’s scarves often have bold geometric color combinations while still being extremely masculine.

I made this Castle inspired striped scarf for my wonderful DH as a special gift.

Here's me modeling the scarf. Sorry I'm not a great model ... and I forgot to put make-up on that day!!! ... but you get the idea :)

I've had quite a few people enquire about it so I decided to post the pattern here. It's one I made up just for my DH :) and it hasn't been formally tested, but if you'd like to play around with the pattern and make your own Castle inspired scarf, please enjoy. I wrote this from memory, so if anyone finds a huge error, please let me know!

2 skein bulky (5) yarn in Burgundy
1 skein bully (5) yarn in Navy
1 skein bulky (5) yarn in Dark Plum

I used Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky which is *fabulously* soft and luxurious on the skin and very, very warm. It is a bit pricey though, so feel free to substitute another bulky yarn.

Hook size: K

Pattern -
ch 23

Row 1: With burgundy, hdc in third chain from hook and then hdc in each chain all the way across.
Row 2: Turn, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in back loop only of next stitch, *hdc in front loop only of next stitch, hdc in back loop only of next stitch*, repeat from * to * all the way across, making sure to put the last stitch in the top of the ch 2 turning chain.
Row 3-16: Repeat row 2.
Row 17: Change to dark plum yarn; with dark plum, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in next stitch, hdc in each stitch all the way across.
Row 18-22: Repeat row 2.
Row 23: Change to dark blue yarn; with dark blue, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in next stitch, hdc in each stitch all the way across.
Row 24-28: Repeat row 2.
Row 29: Change to burgundy; with burgundy, ch 2 (counts as first hdc), hdc in next stitch, hdc in each stitch all the way across.
Row 30-44: Repeat row 2.

Repeat rows 17-44 until the scarf is as long as you want. My scarf had 4 repeats.

Fasten off and weave in the many ends.

Free PDF Pattern - Pin Up Girl Bow

After watching a string of 1940's era movies, I fell in love with those cute velvet and fabric hair bows. You see them often in old print ads of the time too. I thought, "Why not design a cute pin-up girl style hair bow using crochet"? These turned out so cute and are just fabulous for using up left-over scraps of yarn. Especially those luxury yarns where you want to use up every little bit. I think these are just such fun. A little touch of elegance.
You can find the crochet pattern on my Jeweled Elegance free crochet pattern page. Just click the download button and you're set to go. Need a PDF program to view the patterns? Just follow the instructions at the top of the free pattern page to get the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software. You can also download this at Ravelry as a free pattern download. If you make one, I'd love to see!

Free Pattern: Drop Stitch Scarf

Scarfs are usually thought of as a winter accessory to warm and protect against inclement weather, but scarfs can actually be worn all year long... it just depends how you make them and what you make them out of. A drop stitch scarf is not only lovely to look at, but the huge slits in it created by the dropped stitches create an airy, lightweight fabric that lets cool breezes through. Wool is not a great choice for warmer weather, so you'd want to stick with cool cotton or .... ribbon yarn! Ribbon yarn is thin and thick at the same time, comes in a dazzling array of colors, many of them multi-colored. This is one I recently made in a vibrant, shimmery ribbon yarn.Drop stitch scarfs are VERY easy to make and work up very quickly with a minimum of yarn. I've never needed more than one normal-sized skein per scarf. You can find a free pattern for this scarf here. It is suitable for beginning knitters and the results, whatever yarn used, are always very satisfying. Fringe (not pictured) is optional, but highly, highly recommended to add.

Free Pattern: Simplicity Summer Scarf

I needed a quick graduation gift and had been toying with a vine trellis / flower crochet concept for a while, and suddenly, it all just came together! Five hours later ... and this cute, lightweight summer scarf was ready to be wrapped up.

You can see a hint of my famous pumpkin wall in that last shot. And I still can't believe how well that bust made of paper mache turned out! All my jewelry busts were, alas, short and neckless, so after a couple of layers of handmade paper (the cool stuff, with flower petals and leaves pressed in it) and many, many coats of Modgepodge .. Ta Da! You many recognize it from the photos of the scarflettes, its photographic debut :) I am *so* in love with the greater versatility of having a neck!!

If you crochet and want to make a similar pattern, I'm offering it for free on this page. If you make a scarf from the pattern or find wording in the pattern that could be improved, let me know!

Gosh, it is lovely to not have that page be completely empty anymore! Lots of firsts involved .. my first digital pattern, my first PDF, my first HTML to get the PDF to download... etc., etc. Ah .. I love learning new things! :D