Tea Light Tutorial Part 3 (Final)

Apologies, it's taken me simply forever to finish this tutorial.  If you have been following the previous parts of this tutorial, you will have completed PART 1 LINK HERE and then you've gone on to PART 2 LINK HERE.  Part 2 ended after Round 9, so we will be picking up after Round 9 where we left off.

Instructions for Part 3

Round 10:  scflo (single crochet in the front loops only) into ea dc stitch from Round 9.  Join w/ slst at end of round.  (30 sts)

NOTE:  Using the front loops only allows the crochet to "bend" more easily when you "fold down" the top edge of crochet to add the white edging.

Round 11:  sc in ea sc from Round 10.  Decrease 2 st over the course of this round (I decreased around st 5 and again around st 20). Join. (28 sts)

Decreasing by two stitches allows for even stitch pattern in the following rounds.  It also serves to give a snug fit when the tea light is inserted into the cozy.

Round 12:  sc, *ch 2, sk 1 st, sc in next. Repeat from * to end of round, join.

Round 13:  ch 1, 3sc in ea ch2 sp from Round 12.  This should give you 14 sets of 3sc.  Join.

Round 14:  sl st in 1st sc of 1st set of 3sc from prev. round.  (sl st, ch 3 sl st) in 2nd sc of 1st set of 3sc from prev. round.  sl st in 3rd sc of 1st set of 3sc from prev. round.  Repeat pattern (13 more times) once in each set of 3sc from prev. round. Join. See diagram.

Finish off color (pink shown in sample photos).

At this point, the pattern is complete and you need only add the edging.

White Edging:  Join the white thread after folding down the edge of your cozy.  You will add the edging to the inside (wrong side) of round eleven.  Round eleven falls right between the dc row and where sets of 3 clusters begin.  Round eleven is also the round where 2 stitches were decreased.  SO, when you add the edging round, you should have 28 stitches.

Once you've joined the white thread, sc in each stitch to end of round and join w/ a sl st to the first sc.  Finish off.

Weave in ends.  Insert your tea light.  Voila!  Now make a few more so that you have a colorful assortment of teeny tiny tea lights~!

A pdf version of this pattern can be found on my ravelry page under my designs.  Click HERE for the link to the ravelry pdf.

Teeny Tiny Tea Light Tutorial Part 2

Okay - I'm sure by now you are ready to move on to the steps of creating a Teeny Tiny Tea Light Cozy.

If you don't know what a Tea Light Cozy is, check out THIS POST and then head over to Tea Light Tutorial Part 1 to get the details about the materials being used for this project.

The pattern is not difficult but if you are a complete beginner to crochet, working with a very thin yarn that doesn't have a lot of "give" may be a bit tough for you - so, consider making the cozy in a somewhat bigger yarn for practice and then trying it with the very thin carpet warp.

The pattern has 14 rounds.  This Part 2 tutorial takes you from Round 1 through Round 9.
This pattern is written using American crochet terms.

Abbreviations:
st - stitch
sk - skip
sl st - slip stitch
ch - chain
sc -single crochet (UK dc)
scblo - single crochet in back loops only (UK dcbl)
decr - decrease
dc - double crochet (UK tr)

Here we go:

First.  Begin the round as you would any motif worked in the round.  I prefer using the magic ring technique as I like the middle of the circle to be closed very tight and the magic ring is perfect for doing just that.  If you aren't familiar with the magic ring - just google Magic Ring or Magic Circle Crochet or Adjustable Ring (it has a lot of names).  There are a ton of tutorials and youtube videos for how to do it.  I admit when I was learning it- I had to view quite a many tutorial before I found one that made sense to me - so if you don't understand one explanation - hunt down another!

If you don't know or don't like the magic ring, simply chain 4 and join with a slip stitch to form a ring OR chain two and perform Round 1 in the 2nd chain from the hook (the latter of these probably being better in this instance).

Okay - moving on:

Round 1. ch 1, 6 sc in magic ring.  Join to first stitch with a sl st. (6 stitches)  With the carpet warp and the B-sized crochet hook, I got a measurement of about 1 cm after joining Round 1.

Round 2. ch 1, 2 sc in ea sc from round 1, sl st to join with first st. (12 stitches and ~3/4")

Round 3. ch 1, *sc in next sc then 2 sc in next sc.  Repeat from * around.  Sl st to join w/ first st. (18 stitches)

Round 4.  ch 1, *sc in next 2 sc then 2 sc in next st.  Repeat from * around.  Sl st to join w/ first st (24 st and 1.25")

Round 5. ch 1, *sc in next 3 sc then 2sc in next sc.  Repeat from * around.  Sl st to join w/ first st. (30 st and 1.5" or 4cm)

Round 6. ch 1, scblo in ea sc from Round 5 (30 st)

NOTE:  You will notice that going into the the back loop only causes your work to turn upwards slightly.  This is intentional.

Rounds 7 & 8.  ch 1, sc in ea st around.  join to first sc w/ sl st. (30 st)

Round 9.  ch 2 (counts as dc), dc in next sc and in all sc to end of round.  join w/ sl st. (30 st)

NOTE:  At the end of Round 9 your project should look like a little bowl.

Okay - go have a cup of tea and something lovely and sweet to eat and I'll be back as soon as I can with the final rounds of the Tea Light Cozy Tutorial!

Continue to Part 3

Tea Light Cozy Tutorial - Part 1

This lesson is Part 1 of the tea light tutorial.  This lesson will cover information about crochet yarn/thread and carpet warp.  It will also give the other tools needed for the project.  I hope this lesson is helpful.

For this project I used a very thin cotton crochet thread.  However, it isn't really crochet thread at all, it's carpet warp.  I first discovered carpet warp when some crafter posted a photo of their craft room.  Amongst all the shelves of crochet supplies were big spools of carpet warp.  I was able to just make out the name Maysville on one of the spool tags and looked it up to see what it was.

So - get yourself some cotton carpet warp!

Here's some info about cotton carpet warp:

My product is called Maysville Carpet Warp 8/4 from Webs Yarn Store (online or in person in Northhampton, MA).  I got mine online and had no trouble with their ordering process, delivery or customer service.  Although they do ship internationally, I'm sure there are stores that sell cotton carpet warp in plenty of other countries, so check your local listings if you are outside of the USA.  Carpet warp comes in several sizes.  What I used is sized 8/4 tho. apparently that is termed 4/8 outside the USA.

The site states: we offer a wide range of colors of 100% cotton Maysville 8/4 carpet warp. Use carpet warp for creating rag rugs and lots of other weaving projects.

I also found an article about carpet warp on Craft Gossip.  Another source for carpet warp here.

If you get confused about yarn that falls in the finer ranges - you are not alone.  This chart MIGHT help you.

The carpet warp is just slightly thinner than Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread #3 and definitely thicker and more sturdy than a size 10 crochet thread.  I wish I had a skein or fingerling/sport or laceweight yarn to compare to the carpet warp.  The carpet warp is 100% cotton and feels like more of a sturdy string than a soft yarn.  Crochet thread has a sheen to it that the cotton carpet warp doesn't have.  I like using the warp because it doesn't slip and slide as much as crochet thread.  Also, the twist of the carpet warp is much tighter than the twist of the crochet cotton.

If you are going to use a fingerling weight yarn, I'd suggest a sturdy cotton for the utilitarian nature of the project - and I'm guessing you'll want a more string-ish and less hairy fiber so that when your tea light cozy is near a flame, there will be less chance of danger.  I'd also suggest creating the first three rounds of the project and making sure your guage gives you the same result as mine.

One thing I didn't realize is that the Maysville cotton that I have been using is maybe not colorfast.  I did have an instance where I sprayed my carpet warp with some Stiffen Quik and the red ran a bit into the white.  Apparently the cotton 8/4 carpet warp sold by Camilla Valley Farm may be a better choice for you - they state that their cotton warp is colorfast.  If I'd known, I'd probably gone that route when I bough my supply.

That said, the warp comes in huge spools and it will take a long time to use up your supply so your investment is probably pretty long-term use.

Some other tools you will want to have for this project are a size B crochet hook, a darning needle for the ends (I used my regular darning needle as the tapestry needle I tried was a bit small for taking the warp through the eye) and a pair of scissors.

Next, you'll want some tea lights.  The ones I'm using are a really inexpensive pack of lights.  I purchased it years ago on the clearance rack of a 5 and dime type store after Halloween.  The pack contained 100 tea lights!  It was a whopping $1.  I've also seen them at Ikea in big packs at a low price.  I would guess that tea lights are a somewhat universal size, but I don't know that for fact.

So, assignment number one is to gather your supplies.

For my tea light cozies, I created just about the entire cozy in one color of warp and then did the final round in white.  You could of course make a striped cozy - switch colors on any of the rounds if you opt for stripes.  I didn't want to bother weaving in all those ends on such a tiny little project so I left mine mostly in single colors.

Click HERE TO MOVE ON TO PART 2 of the Teeny Tiny Tea Light Tutorial - we'll start right in on Round 1.

A TINY LITTLE Crochet Tutorial on the way...

I just finished creating these cute little tea light cozies in crochet.

Aren't they super cute?  I'm so pleased with them.

I've designed and re-created the pattern a few times now - so once I get the photo tutorial up and ready, I'll post it here and put a pdf on MY RAVELRY PAGE. (the tutorial is NOW available on ravelry and as a photo tutorial in 2 parts - see links below)

 

Stay tuned for the tutorial (follow me and leave a comment if you like this design!)

UPDATE:  Part 1 of the tutorial is up - go HERE FOR PART 1

UPDATE:  Part 2 of the tutorial is up - go HERE FOR PART 2