Tag: crochet

January 2025 Wrap-up

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Hello again!

I’ve decided that I’m going to use this platform as my newsletter of sorts. It didn’t really make sense to cross post everything from Ko-Fi, especially because I often forget to come back and post them in any sort of timely manner. Plus, I am planning to do a lot of things this year and I feel like taking the time to go back through everything I’ve done in the month will help me stay on track with a few of those plans.

What do I mean? Well, let’s start with the first project I’ve already gotten started on: How many things can I make to donate to Knit the Rainbow in November? I’ve explained the whole project, along with a roundup of the finished items in this Ko-Fi post, but basically I’m focusing on one pattern a month and seeing how many of that item I can make. January saw the creation of 27 “Crafting Change Wristers” by Melanie Shovelski.

A white square with rainbow colored semicircles in all four corners, trimmed out photos of blue, pink, and rainbow colored wrist warmers, and a rounded gray rectangle at the top with the words “January Charity Roundup” in black letters.

I’ve also started uploading to YouTube shorts, and am planning to start adding one full video per month. Here’s my favorite short of the month:

I also want to be better about adding finished items to my Ko-Fi shop (like the dinos featured in that short above), but I’m not sure if I want to just add as I go or do larger “drops” and gather everything for the end of the month. But as of right now there are finished items and patterns available, including some free knit, crochet, and cross stitch patterns, and more to be added in the coming weeks (like some cute little crocheted capybaras and tapirs).

That’s it for this month! If you want to get this delivered to your inbox, sign up in the sidebar. I promise these will only be once a month, so it won’t clog your inbox. If you want to follow me elsewhere, I’m most often on Bluesky, plus Ko-Fi and YouTube.

Finished Object Friday – 1/10

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This post originally appeared on my Ko-fi page in 2 parts on January 10 and 12, 2025.

When I originally finished the first version of my Biased Marie Sweater, I used the leftover yarn to create a tote bag (of sorts, I’m not exactly up to date in my knowledge of bag styles so let me know if it’s got another name) with a closing flap. I even sewed a lining for it and clipped it in, and then I set it down for a very long time. (You may start noticing a theme of that in these posts…)

A crocheted bag with diagonal stripes of pink, red, purple, blue, and green with a flap over the top and a granny square strap in the same yarn hanging on a white door.

Mostly I set it down because I originally planned to stitch the lining in by machine, but I don’t have a walking foot and it absolutely was not going to work without one. So I was going to have to stitch it in by hand, and I decided that was a job for later me.

The inside of the bag with blue and white gingham fabric with machine-sewn pockets, stitched in my band using black thread and a blanket stitch.

Honestly, it took later me all of maybe 10 minutes to do it. But that seems to be the theme with a lot of these that just need finishing. For next week, I’m planning to sew buttons on a sweater I finished at least a year ago. Probably a 5 minute job, that one.

Part 2: I completely forgot that I actually did finish something else this week: stitching Cookie Monster and framing all four of these.

Four framed cross stitches on black Aida fabric in black square frames. Clockwise from top left: Animal, Stitch, Cookie Monster, Garfield and Odie.

You may notice that I switched Stitch and Cookie Monster in the cover image. That’s because my mom pointed out that Stitch should go under cookie monster like he’s waiting for the crumbs. They are in this orientation because that’s how I stitched them and I’m using this image in a video, but that was too funny to pass up.

A finished cross stitch on black Aida held in a wooden hoop of Cookie Monster holding a cookie.

All of these patterns are by MotoRuxin, and I made them on 14 count Aida. They are in 4×4 photo frames, for a size reference.

On a semi-related note, I’m dusting off my old YouTube channel and adding reels from the past few weeks (basically anything not really time-sensitive that I’ve created in DaVinci Resolve and therefore can easily add YouTube-friendly music to). I’m also now on Bluesky which (at least for the moment) is where I’m probably going to be most active.

Pattern Release – 3 Cross Stitch Patterns

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You may have seen me working on this Tri-Color Rose cross stitch:

A finished and framed cross-stitch of a flower with yellow, pink, and blue petals in a thick black square frame on a table with a green and white striped tablecloth.

And that I was making it several times over in order to figure out what number of stitches in each color would best balance the amount of threads versus retaining the most detail. I settled on version 3 which uses 75 colors, made sure there weren’t symbols that were too much alike in the same area, and it is now listed in my shop.

A finished and framed cross stitch of cascading hearts in rainbow colors in a thick black square frame laying on a wooden table.

While I was preparing to list the rose, I realized I didn’t have two other patterns listed here that I thought I did. The first is this rainbow hearts pattern, which comes in a bundle with the square and circle versions of the chart, both finishing at 4 x 4 inches on 14-count Aida.

A circular version of the rainbow cascading hearts pattern finished in a wooden embroidery hoop with a loop of orange thread at the top for a hanger.

And I wanted to offer this final chart as a little freebie that would make a great last-minute gift as it only uses 4 colors:

A cross stitch of a cartoon line drawing of two hands being held in a heart shape with a red heart outline in a thick black frame laying on a wooden table.

Using so few colors both makes it work up faster, and makes it easy to substitute colors for a unique gift. It’s charted as coming up to 5.3 x 5.2 inches on 14-count Aida, but this example is done on 22-count Aida and came up to 3.5 x 3.3 inches. If you want to change the Aida used for any of these patterns and figure out what size it will be, I would suggest this calculator from Thread-Bare.

If you do pick up any of these patterns, please tag me on Instagram (@caseykayb) because I would love to see your projects. My goal this next year is to release all the patterns I’ve had sitting in a “charts in progress” folder on my desktop for several years, hopefully one a month.

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