Well, I had to make a few last minute Christmas gifts and these were some of them. I made my oldest daughter Rachel a fuzzy pink ornament, which she loved. BUT she wanted to know if I could add eyes and a ribbon. I said okay, and here is what I came up with. The first one is Rachel’s, the second Kaitlin’s, and the last one was for my sister Sara.
These were really easy and a lot of fun to do. I used old glass ball ornaments that weren’t too pretty anymore. I made a chain of 3 st, then turned and double crocheted 6 times in first stitch, joined with slip stitch NOTE: You should place a marker or use a scrap of yarn to mark the first stitch since it is very difficult to see the stitches with this yarn. For the next row, ch 2 (does not count as stitch), 2 dc in each stitch around, join. Next row: ch2, *2 dc in first st, 1 dc in next*, rep around, join. Depending on the size of your ornament, you can repeat the last round once. The blue ornament above was larger, so I made the last row twice. Then I inserted the ornament and ch 2, then 1 dc in first couple of stitches, the dc 2 together to decrease around. I just spaced the decreases evenly. If you need to you can do this for two rows depending on your ornament size. I stopped just short of the top. Fasten yarn off, leaving about a 6″ tail. I wove the tail through the stitches all the way around and used this to draw the cover closed. Tie off yarn securely and weave in end. I hot glued the wiggly eyes on, then attached the flowers and a ribbon through the metal loop on top, then attached the hook for hanging. You could also use yarn/thread/twine, etc. for the hanging loop. Voila, a fuzzy faced ornament.
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The other last minute item I made was a hanger cover. I got the hangers at the Dollar Tree, 4 for $1.00. I used scarp yarn–what self-respecting fiber artist doesn’t have a batch of yarn balls around lol??? There are many patterns available for these, but I needed something quick so I just made it as simple as possible–love that KISS rule (keep it simple sherry-modified for me but the stupid would work just as well some days LOL). I used worsted weight yarn, although on some I used a bulky yarn and just adjusted my chain length accordingly. I don’t remember how many I used since those were the first ones I made back in October for my youngest sisters birthday. For the worsted, I made a chain of about 110 stitches, and beginning in the 2nd ch from hook, turned and double crocheted in the first 8 (my hangers had a slightly wider area under the hook so these accommodated that), then hdc to last 8 st, dc in last 8. ch 2, turn (do not count as a stitch), dc in first 8 st, hdc to last 8, dc last 8. Fasten off but leave an end long enough for sewing the hanger closed. I made it 1.5 times the length of my hanger. You can use any method for sewing you want; place hanger in center of strip, fold up and sew closed. I moved the seam to the inside of the hanger since I liked how that looked better. When I got to the end, I sewed each end of the strip together, tied it off and wove the end in. I made a matching bow and tied it at the base of the hanger. You can do whatever you want to decorate. If you do not want to sew it closed, you can also single crochet or slip stitch it closed, then sew the ends together and fasten off. If your hanger has those little hooks for skinny straps, then just adjust your strip while sewing closed to accommodate them and sew together on each side. Here are images of 6 of the ones I made. I will post some links to other patterns as well. There are some really neat ones out there.
For those wooden hangers that are just one piece:
http://makeityourown.wordpress.com/free-patterns/ (scroll down)
http://www.freecraftunlimited.com/crochet-clothes-hanger-cover.html
http://crochet4you1.tripod.com/pattern130.htm
For contoured hangers:
http://homepage.eircom.net/~lindaohdsl/CoatHang.html
These completely cover the hangers:
http://crochetjessica.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/hanger-cover/
http://www.sugarncream.com/pattern.php?PID=4321
http://members.optusnet.com.au/we2/hangercover.html
Very cute nursery hanger covers:
http://www.crochetsoiree.com/patterns/view/238-nursery-hangers/
These are only a small example of the many free patterns you can find on the web. There are many great designers out there who make their work available to other fiber artists, so lets respect their copyright and don’t claim their work as our own. For my hanger cover, I looked at a lot of covers and if I had more time I would’ve done something fancier. I just need something quick and simple and came up with idea. That’s part of the fun of working with with your hands–if you have an idea you can create all kinds of neat things.
Happy crafting!
Sherry