Monday, December 23, 2013

Hand-crafted gift in an hour or less!

Check out this beautiful brooch!


I found the pattern for the Ruffled Rose Pin in Redheart Yarn's "In The St-Nick of Time" post of quick gift ideas.  Not only is it quick, but it's fun and doesn't look anything like your typical crocheted craft.

Working with a new kind of fibre is always a challenge.  The Sassy Fabric yarn is actually a slightly gauzy, slightly crepe-y fabric that comes pre-cut with a ruffled edge and evenly punched holes.  It kind of looks like little café curtains.


I did find some challenges with the pattern, but I had already sunk $40 into the materials, so I didn't turn back!  (Crafters are so cheap!  Frugal.  Crafters are frugal.  It sounds much classier that way.)

Perhaps it's because I crochet left-handed, but I had some trouble with the special stitch for this project (the "ruffled single crochet").  The instructions in the Red Heart pattern would not work for me, so I modified the "ruffled single crochet" like this:

(modified) Ruffled Single Crochet:  Insert hook into the desired stitch of yarn A.  The insert hook from back to front through 4 of the holes in yarn B.  (Yarn B will naturally pleat and bunch together as you go.)  Draw Yarn A over the hook and pull through all of the loops of Yarn B.  When all you have left on the hook is your 2 loops of Yarn A, then yarn over again with Yarn A and pull through both loops on the hook.

I wouldn't go so far as to call this an easy pattern.  In fact, the title of this post might be a bit misleading.  This craft can be completed in 45 minutes or less, once you work all the kinks out.  I think it might have taken me 2 hours to complete the first one.  Once I had a method that worked for me, I was sailing through.

I also think there's an error in the posted pattern.  The pattern states that you'll need 1/2 a skein to complete one flower (15 yards).  I think it's actually much less than that.  Maybe 15 feet?  You should be able to get 5 to 6 flower pins out of one skein of fabric.

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