My Favorite Easy Potholder crochet pattern

This is another one from my old blog. It's taking me a while to get all the crochet and knit patterns transferred. Mostly because I'm kind of forgetful. Please excuse the quality of the photos. They are from a few years ago. (2007 to be exact) These potholders are the kind that are in daily use in my home. They are completely functional and work even with things like TG's new cast iron waffle iron that gets very, very hot handles.

This is a great scrappy project. When I'm giving them as gifts, I plan them out by the recipients favorite colors and work with striped patterns that are interesting. But when I make them for my own home? It's bits and scraps from other projects. Although I haven't made any for myself in a long time (since about 2007!) because we have several and they last really well.  

You will need:
Cotton worsted weight yarn- the cheap stuff is fine as long as it's all cotton and worsted weight.
Size G hook
Scissors

Pattern is in American terminology. But really, you don't need a pattern. Just crochet a big square.
sc=single crochet
sl st=slip stitch
st= stitch

Magic ring start, 8 sc in ring, pull ring closed, sl st to join.
Ch 1, sc in same st, 3 sc in next st, sc in next st, 3 sc in next st, sc in next st, 3 sc in next st, sc in next st, 3 sc in next st, sl st to join.

Keep working in rounds, working plain until you hit the center of the 3 sc corners in the previous rounds, and do 3 sc in that st. Yep. Like I said, it's just a square.

At the end of mine, I had 37 sc on a side plus the 3 sc corners.

Fold the corners into the center on the lines marked in black, and pin them, then join the edges in the middle with single crochet, add a loop at one corner if you want one. You'll have to do it in 2 passes, one corner to the other, break off, weave in ends, then the other set of corners.
Thread a yarn needle with whichever color you want, and stitch down on both sides of the sc row through both layers. I used a running stitch, then went back down the stitch to fill it in a make it a solid line of stitching.
See? Easy peasy, and functional. Michael has big hands, and most potholders are too small for him, plus you know how sometimes if your hands are even the tiniest bit moist, you'll burn yourself through regular potholders? Doesn't happen with these. 

Math note for sizing if you like such things:
You can figure the diagonal of a square by multiplying the sides by the square root of 2. Because crochet is inexact, it's okay to round the number to 1.4 - but how do you figure the size of the base square for one of these kinds of potholders? Figure out how big you finished potholder to be- that will be A, then divide that by the square root of 2, or by our rounded number, 1.4, then multiply that number by 2. 
A /1.4 x 2= finished length of one side
So if you want a finished 8x8 inch potholder it would be 8/1.4= 5.7 (still rounding) x 2= 11.4, so anything just about 11.5 inches on one side will give you a potholder that's approximately 8 inches. 

You can check out the project gallery for this on Ravelry here. 

Granny Square Shawl Math

I've been considering a granny square rainbow shawl, and found some notes and sketches from 2008 that I'd completely forgotten about.

If you want to design a triangle shawl using granny squares, you start by deciding how long you want the shawl to be or how wide. If you want a shawl 3 feet long, it will be 6 feet wide, if you want one 7 feet wide, it will be 3.5 feet long. Fairly simple, the length of a right angle triangle shawl is half of the hypotenuse.
Shown on this square, you see the bisection for the hypotenuse and that triangle is bisected again to show length.

I swatched a square with 3 rounds of color and measured it across the diagonal. The square I measured is 3.5 inches approximately across the straight edge. Across the diagonal, it's 5 inches.

You find the number of the of the half squares across the top by dividing. hypotenuse/diagonal of the squares or 72/5=14.4- rounding down because I plan to do a couple rows of border, that's 14 half squares. Since we know the length is half of the hypotenuse, it's 7 full squares down.

For total number of squares, you take the 14 you figured out above, and multiply that by itself to find number of squares in a square.
14x14=196
Divide that in half for the half square.
196/2=98

Since 14 squares are half squares, divide that number by 2 for the number of whole squares they represent. Then subtract that from the number of whole squares figured above.
98- 7= 91

So, for the shawl I have in mind, it will be 91 whole squares, and 14 half squares. Now it's time to make my graph. Click on the image for a larger version.

Then it's just coloring it in, and counting the number of squares in each colorway to know how many squares  and half squares of each to make.Click on the image for a larger version.

The squares I swatched have a single crochet border that I plan to do in black, then join the squares with black single crochet for a stained glass effect.

This is the pattern for the square I measured. If you are doing it in multiple colors, break off at the end of each round, and join new color in at the ch 2 corner to work the next round.
Simple Granny Square- 3 rounds with a border

With a size G hook and worsted weight yarn.

Chain 6, sl st to join
Rnd 1- ch 3 (counts as first dc) 2 dc in ring, ch 2, 3 dc in ring, ch 2, 3 dc in ring, ch 2, 3 dc in ring, ch 2, sl st to 3rd chain of beginning ch 3.
Rnd 2- sl st to ch 2 space, ch 3, 2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in same space, skip 3 sts, 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in next space,skip 3 sts, 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in next space,skip 3 sts, 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in next space, sl st to join to 3rd ch of beginning ch 3.
Rnd 3- sl st to ch 2 space, ch 3, 2 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in same space, skip 3 sts,3 dc in next sp, skip 3 sts,3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in next ch 2 space, skip 3 sts,3 dc in next sp, skip 3 sts,3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in next ch 2 space, skip 3 sts,3 dc in next sp, skip 3 sts,3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in next ch 2 space, skip 3 sts,3 dc in next sp, sl st to 3rd ch in beginning ch 3
Rnd 4- ch 1 (doesn't count as first stitch) sc in each st, 4 sc in ch 2 corners. sl st to join.

Half square-
Ch 6, sl st to join
Rnd 1- ch 3 (counts as first dc) 3 dc in ring, ch 2, 4 dc in ring
Rnd 2- ch 3, 3 dc in same stitch, skip 3 sts, 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in ch 2 space, skip 3 sts, 4 dc in last st.
Rnd 3- ch 3, 3 dc in same st, skip 3 sts, 3 dc in space, skip 3 sts, 3 dc, ch 2, 3 dc in ch 2 space, skip 3 sts, 3 dc in space, skip 3 sts, 4 dc in last st.
Round 4 ch 1, 2 sc in first st, sc in each st to 2 ch corner, 4 sc in ch 2 corner, sc in each st to the last one, 2 sc in last st.

If you want to do it in single color squares, here's a graph for that.

So now I need to get the yarn!

Happy Pi Day!

I love Pi! It's something that get used frequently by crafters and seamstresses.

Like cone hats- one of the easiest ways to make a cone hat that fits the person wearing it is to make it from a quarter circle. For that, you measure the circumference of your head, multiply that number by 4, divide by pi then divide by 2 for the radius of a quarter circle that will fit your head.

So now you can make your cone with newspaper or on fabric easily, adding a half inch to each side for a seam allowance or overlap.

Adding a brim for witch hat is measuring the circumference of your head and dividing by pi for the inner circle radius, then for the outer circle, add the number of inches you want the brim to be to the radius.

A couple of years ago I posted a PDF template for cutting the waist of circle skirts. You can find that here.

Also check out these printable pi(e) labels.

Miniature pies are trendy, check out my review of Mini Pies, and my review of Cutie Pies. 

Happily making myself dizzy!

Remember my drawing geometric whirls tutorial? The whirls will work with any polygon shape, but because squares and triangles tessellate so neatly, I made a triangle and a square whirl.

Then I created tessellations out them, reversing the colors for a checkerboard type effect. The resulting patterns were just so neat! Even though they are made out of straight lines, the curving effect of the whirls became a lot more interesting in the tessellations.

See? It makes me dizzy to look at them. But they turned out so nifty that I wanted to show them, I think I'll get fabric from Spoonflower in one of the prints that can be colored in using permanent markers for fun, then make a purse which I can carry markers in for when I get bored waiting somewhere.

Fractals to color

These aren't true fractals, but approximations because there are limits to what can be drawn and still colored. The top one is a Apollonian Gasket. Since it starts on a triad, a color wheel seemed obvious. The bottom one is the very well known Sierpinski Sieve. Since it's a triangle, it tessellates naturally, so that's what I did with my colored version. Here are blanks to color. I'm considering putting the Apollonian Gasket color wheel on a shirt at Cafe Press or Zazzle.
Click on the images for larger versions.

I made all my Amazon Kindle e-booklets available for borrowing if you're a Prime member. Just go to Amazon and search for Shala Kerrigan. There is one on yeast bread making, one on how to make brick stitch earrings, one of knitting or beading alphabet patterns and one that's just a few of The Amazing Turnip Girl's favorite recipes with her tips.

Manga science and math geek happiness

Now that school is getting ready to start again, I'd like to bring your attention to No Starch Press's wonderful Manga science and math series.

These are brilliant. Instead of teaching what's traditionally very dry and boring material in normal text book fashion, they are illustrated in manga style, with stories that explain how the math and science work in real world applications that really helps retention of the material. These are not just kid level math and science either. If you're interested in learning more as an adult and only have a passing knowledge of physics for example, these books will help you understand it better.

My son really loved the Electricity book, my personal favorite was the guide to physics which explained Newton's Three Laws of Motion very well. One of the real advantages of the manga style is that movement is easily shown in cartoon format. We know what cartoon movement looks like and can apply it to real life movement. The wrap stories and characters are super cute and the chapters have more information in them once you understand the basics.

You can get the books from Amazon, but  No Starch has a deal for getting all the books for 75.00, or you can just buy them one at a time and get a free e-book with the purchase of a print book. So, the Amazon.com link is an affiliate link, the No Starch link is not. The best deal is to get them from No Starch if you're interested.

I'm really looking forward to reading the Manga Guide to the Universe next! If you've been reading this blog long enough you know my family loves planetariums!

Pretty Cauliflower Fractals

This weekend we went to one of the local farmer's markets and the hardware store. At the market we found these gorgeous fractal cauliflowers. Click on images to see larger versions.

Resized, but otherwise unretouched. They are just that gorgeous. Then I did retouch some, increased the contrast, greyscaled then added color layers.

Here's a box I made with one of the psychedelic recolored versions.

At the hardware store, I needed bolt cutters for my thick copper wire. So I picked up a pair of bolt cutters. Turnip Girl made herself a very pretty scarf on big needles, and wanted to make herself a pair of big hardwood needles so we also got her some oak dowels 3/8 inch. Then we found out that 1/4 inch copper couplers fit perfectly on them. So she got those for the ends. She'll be making herself a pair of needles this week.

This is the scarf she made, the glove/mitts were made by Shelane Adu who was selling at the market. I swear, that snow cone is NOT poison and that she actually really enjoyed it. It was lime and mango, and she ate the whole thing. 

The shirt is from Threadless.

Sunflower coloring page

Yesterday morning I woke up with a flower mandala in mind after laying it out in my dreams. This isn't it. I'm still working on that one. This one side tracked me. Sunflowers are Fibonacci number flowers with 34 petals. I thought about adding some leaves, but I really like how it looks without them. 

Click on the image for the big version.

Next week I should be getting a shiny new high capacity stapler, so I was planning to put together a few side stapled coloring books of my mandalas as presents for non-internet friends. So I'll be posting a tutorial for that when it gets here. Tomorrow, the hardware store and farmers market. Michael and William were discussing 3rd hands and magnifiers and other things for the things he paints. He paints miniatures and squirt guns. The squirt guns turn out pretty neat looking. It's amazing how some metallic paints turn a bright, plastic cheap squirt gun into something very steampunk looking.

I'm planning to pick up a bolt cutter for my 12 gauge copper wire, and hopefully some pickling cukes for the dill that's growing like crazy in my herb garden. The herbs are doing so well. The basil didn't come up at all, but I'm set for cilantro, dill and parsley! Actually, since my husband has herbs growing in his office, we have too much cilantro. 

Curve stitching templates

Curve stitching was created by Mary Boole as a method to teach children visually how angles and spaces worked in geometry. She considered herself a mathematical psychologist and was very interested in how children learned math. She made cards with holes punched in them that students could stitch.

Skip forward all the way to the 70s and curve stitching using thread around nails in boards was super popular. String art was trendy, with the lines of stitching making up lovely intricate geometric designs and abstract representations of birds, boats and other popular decorating themes.

There are so many shapes that can be made using this nifty technique and these templates are fairly limited. But they can be used for simple designs. They are 100 dpi with evenly spaced dots. Click on the images for the full sized versions.

Using these is fairly easy. When you're working a round design, the spacing of your first line will determine how wide the mesh of the curve stitched circle will be. These two designs have a line marked in red so you can see how long each of the lines is and how it shapes the design. The first one, the spacing is a lot closer, which makes for a nice frame effect.

 

Using the square grids, you can do corners, diamonds and other shapes on a right angle. Making the spacing of one axis farther apart than the others creates extended curves for lovely tall thin diamond shapes.

As you can see, with this one the inner star is spaced so it's every 4th dot marked and the lines are made so they intersect fairly close to the middle to make a star shape. The crescent moon is done by only doing part of the circle. The spacing is wide and open.

I hope you enjoy the templates and come up with lots of your own designs!

Curve stitching forget-me-not printables

Curve stitching is interesting, and I always forget how fun until I run across something about it. It's creating curves using straight lines, or for people my age, it's the nail and string art that our parents did or had in the 70s. The coloring page and pattern are meant to be printed at 100 dpi and will be 8 inches across printed at 100 dpi. If you download the pattern and print it at a higher dpi it will print smaller. The pattern can either be used with a ruler and colored pencils or you could pierce a card and use thread to stitch the design. Follow the lines in the coloring page to make it look like mine. Click on the images for the full sized versions. The box is 300 dpi. I resized one layer and not the other from my 300 dpi original and really liked how it looked which is why the coloring is all outside the lines.

This time, what made me think of curve stitching was finding a vintage nail and string art book at a local book store. If you ever come to Anchorage, you might want to go to Title Wave Books. They have a huge collection of new and used books with pretty impressive cookbook and craft book section. I found 3 more vintage craft books for my collection, a liqueur recipes vintage book, and 2 Japanese beading books. I need to do a vintage craft book post again soon! 

Ice Cream Tessellation Coloring Page

The current contest on Spoonflower is tessellations. My entry is an ice cream cone tessellation.

There are some great tessellations in this contest. If you want to vote and have a Spoonflower account, go here to vote. 

I decided to draw a version of this to use as a coloring page. I think it would be great  in a bunch of colors to represent flavors!
I hope you enjoy it.Click on the image for the full sized version.

Seed Bead Fractal Earrings

Made with size 15 seed beads. You can find a tutorial for making them here.
Along with this happy little animation.


They were inspired by watching the Nova episode "Hunting the Hidden Dimension" for the second time last night with my husband. I love Nova. He *really* loves Nova. It's probably our favorite show. You can watch the episode here if you're interested.
The Elegant Universe was one we recorded when it first came out, E was about 7 I think? She watched it over and over. She just loved it.

School is starting soon!

So I made a little educational cube box. It's in PDF format because the images didn't fit my usual 100 dpi format for online printables. The images are of the completed cube, and what's on it, which can be printed out on one sheet if you'd like to use it for scrapbooking or a card. Click on that image to see it full sized.
I spent HOURS on this. I hope you like it!
Download the pdf by clicking here.
If you look on the right, you'll see links to other things I do, including a page with dozens of boxes for all occasions, and all sorts of stuff for beaders as well.
When I did the snail box and coloring page a while back, I mentioned it was inspired by a friend.She has been writing songs for snails lately and posting them with videos of snails here.