Tag: crochet

What’s Baking, Cupcake?

Bakers can be the hardest people to find gifts for. Cookbooks may be taken as an insult, bake ware may end up as unnecessary clutter, and homemade edibles seem like they could never live up to their high standards. However, if you’re of a more crafty temperament, then it’s easy to sidestep this problem. Homemade gifts are easily the best sort, so instead of channeling that creativity into an over-sized, itchy sweater, try whipping up a set of potholders that are shaped like cupcakes!

Even if the recipient isn’t big on baking, perhaps these enticing kitchen accessories might inspire them to get in there and start making good use of their oven. It’s a win-win sort of gift; They get a lovely and useful tool, and you get the sweets that result from their use!

Recently published in Melisser Elliott’s The Vegan Girl’s Guide to Life, I’ve been waiting to share this pattern for over a year now, and am thrilled to finally post it here as well. Now get crafting- The holidays are almost upon us and everyone will want a pair of these cute potholders!

Cupcake Potholders

Cake (Make 4):

With an F hook and brown or tan worsted weight cotton yarn, ch 25
Row 1: (WS) dc in second ch from hook, dc in next 4 chs, sc in remaining chs. Ch1, turn (24sc)
Row 2: (RS) sc in each st across. Ch1, turn
Row 3: Working in back loops only, dc in next 5 sts, sc in remaining sts.  Ch1, turn
Rows 4-27: repeat rows 2 and 3.
Tie off.

Frosting:

Row 1: With frosting color and RS facing, attach yarn with a sc to the widest edge – right corner. Evenly space 34 sc total along the top edge. Ch1, turn. (34)
Row 2: Sc twice into one st, sc until the last st, sc twice into one.  Ch1, turn. (36)
Row 3: Sc twice into one st, sc until the last st, sc twice into one.  Ch1, turn. (38)
Row 4: Sc twice into one st, sc until the last st, sc twice into one.  Ch1, turn. (40)
Rows 5 – 8: Sc across. Ch1, turn
Row 9: Sc2tog twice, sc until the last 4 sts, sc2tog twice. Ch1, turn. (36)
Row 10: Sc2tog, sc until last 2 sts, sc2tog. Ch1, turn. (34)
Rows 11 and 12: Sc2tog twice, sc until the last 4 sts, sc2tog twice. Ch1, turn. (26)
Rows 13 – 16: Sc2tog, sc until last 2 sts, sc2tog. Ch1, turn. (18)
Row 17 and 18: Sc2tog twice, sc until the last 4 sts, sc2tog twice. Ch1, turn. (10)
Row 19: Sl st 4 times, switch to red yarn, and begin the cherry
Row 20: Ch 12, sl st into the next open st in the frosting. Ch1, turn. (12)
Row 21: Hdc into each st. Sl st back into the frosting. Tie off, and bury the ends of the yarn.

Repeat with all four cake pieces.

To assemble, sew two sides together using a whip stitch around.  Repeat with the other two sides.

Printable Pattern

Hannah (BitterSweet)66 Comments

Every Bird Gets Their Day…

My little birdies are lucky enough to get two!

As much as I’ve already been enjoying the 2010 Crochet a Day Calendar, I’ve got to say, it gained about a hundred extra awesome points this morning when I revealed the latest page, and remembered that my work has been included this year. Though it’s one of my oldest patterns, those simple feathered friends of mine continue to be one of the most popular patterns on the blog, and I’m so happy that they could get another moment in the spotlight. An extra little bonus of this whole deal is that now everyone gets a lovely little printable pattern card, to print and cherish, to have and to hold… Er, well, at least to enjoy and share around, at least! Just click the pictures above for a full view.

Hannah (BitterSweet)20 Comments

Hold Everything! (Or Atleast Pots)

Another fun little project from The Happy Hooker, I was instantly drawn to the Skull Holders due to the fact that a) It was made up entirely of single crochet, and b) It would be an excellent way to practice changing colors. Not to mention being really cute and funky looking.

I noticed after I was all done how wavy the bottoms were. I guess I tend to worry that on the very first row that I chain, the stitches will be too small to fit the hook back into, so I make them far too large. Whenever I first started, I used to have huge issues starting that first row… To be honest, it still takes me a lot longer to just start than do any other part of a crocheted piece for.

Anyway, I’m still learning, and these new pot holders have been wonderfully useful so far. Our old [Store bought] pair were so disgustingly coated in grease, I would have rather tried to grab a hot baking sheet out of the oven than touch those things! The first time I used mine, though, my mom freaked out a bit because she thought that they were made of acrylic. Being the most common fiber in my stash, it was, however, an understandable concern. They’re plain old cotton, by the way, and don’t show any signs of melting or burning yet. A very good thing, indeed!

Hannah (BitterSweet)3 Comments

Orange You Glad?

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but just to ensure that I’ve covered my bases: The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller is THE book for crochet, and if you don’t already own it, go run out to the store RIGHT now and buy it. The beauty of it is, it doesn’t matter if you’ve been crocheting for 10 years or if you’ve never picked up a hook in your life. The patterns are enticing and attractive, with easy to follow, well-written instructions. If it hadn’t been for this book, I doubt I would be able to do much more with a crochet hook than weave in ends. The price is a bargain, because I guarantee that you will refer to it endlessly like I do, even when you’re not working on one of the projects included within.

Finally working through some of the projects that I marked over vacation, I decided to first tackle something relatively easy (all single-crochet) but still challenging. The Orange You Glad bag fit the bill perfectly.

At first, I was a bit intimidated by the color changes, as I’m still not very skilled at making them appear natural in knitting.  Nonetheless, I decided to give it my all.  Funny enough, the hardest thing for me in this entire bag was just the first row.  It’s always difficult for me, and ends up taking ridiculous amounts of time, especially of I inadvertently chain too tightly.

But anyway, even while on the train to New York, I figured out how to create a picture in crochet stitches!  It was so exciting, I had no idea it would be so easy!  So while it’s not perfect… I’m really pleased with it.  Not to mention how beautifully it used up some of the scraps of yarn I had in my stash.  Don’t tell anyone, but that green is actually the same one I used in my Skully sweater ages ago!

Hannah (BitterSweet)2 Comments

Spring Flowers

In a desperate attempt to avoid doing my homework until it was far too late, I began looking through all oft he hundreds of links that I’ve horded throughout my months of browsing various patterns.  I wasn’t ready to start anything big, just enough to make time pass until dinner.  It seems like I just can’t sit still and veg in front of the computer, I always need to keep myself occupied… Which is why I almost always have so many projects, I suppose.

Anyway, I decided that was the perfect time to practice crochet.  Browsing through 

Lemony Lemonade by chance, I discovered a sweet little flower-bobby pin that was so simple, it was really more of a formula than a pattern.

I know; You’re  not impressed.  Well for me, this is a big deal!  It’s probably the most complicated crochet I have completed to date, with DC and SC correctly executed and everything!  Not to mention what wonderful gifts a set or two of these could make for my little cousins…  It was so easy to whip this one up, literally a maximum of 15 minutes to go from a strand of yarn to a flowery pin.

Go a head, try it! It’s certainly a fast, timely endeavor to pull off any day of the week, (Not just Sunday, as my lack of photography skills suggest) and it’s even easy enough for a knitter!

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Cupcakes Take Over the World!

A couple of weeks ago now, I found an adorable pattern to make a stuffed cupcake on Blah, Blah, Blahhhg, and completely fell in love with it.  It seemed like the perfect thing to make for my nutritionist – She seems to really get a kick out of the knit sweets I bring her in particular.

And so it began innocently enough.  A cute little chocolate cupcake with vanilla frosting, sprinkles, and a cherry.  I was so pleased with it, I began to think it might be nice to have another little guy on hand, you know, in case of birthday present emergencies?  Yeah, that’s it…

Almost as soon as the thought had formed in my head, my first cupcake seemed to almost morph over night.  All of a sudden I now I had two, the second one with mint frosting no less.  It all happened so fast, I wasn’t sure if I had even knit them.  That’s when I knew I was in trouble, and that was only the beginning… 

I woke up early one morning to the sounds of a struggle coming from the kitchen, and was horrified to discover… Not another cupcake, but something much worse.  Something that threatened the very existence of cupcakes, something so evil, so maniacal, it could only be…

The Blueberry Muffin of DOOM!!!!

I was horrified; What was I to do?  The muffin was insane, he didn’t even know what he was saying.  Preaching some gibberish that muffins were just unfrosted cupcakes, and that soon regular cupcakes would be obsolete.  After all, muffins are more acceptable as breakfast food anyway!  As I watched in terror, things only became worse by the minute.

With a hostile look in his… er.. blueberries, he swooped down upon my helpless little cupcakes, intending to destroy each offender of his plan for world domination.  Luckily I was there, and I held him off, his potential victims trembling in his wake.  Still struggling, I had a long chat with the muffin, explaining that we needed both types of baked goods in our world to be whole, that there’s no need to be sore over their gorgeous frosting because you have so much to offer on your own.

It took a while for my words to get through to him, but after a few hours of soul search in the quiet of the oven, the he emerged a changed muffin.

Now that they each accepted each other as their own, special and unique pastries, they all became the closest of friends and lived happily ever after.

Aww.

Erm, anyway.  I added an extra increase row at the beginning of the frosting so that they would puff out a little bit more, and (obviously) added little beads for sprinkles.  With the muffin, I just supersized the pattern – Which came out a LOT bigger than I had intended – And added random bits of chunky blue yarn for the blueberries.

Just remember… Friends don’t eat friends!

Hannah (BitterSweet)10 Comments