Category Archives: Beginner Crochet

Beach Backpack – 5. From Straps to Back

August 18, 2015Beach Backpack, Beginner Crochet, Learn to crochetaccessories, bag, Beginner crochet, Creativity, Crochet, crochet projects, handicrafts, Handmade, learn to crochetEmma@DKOdesigns

Woof and Welcome,

You’ve come at just the right time to finish off your back pack! Last time we finished the bag, today we’re going to make the straps and assemble the whole thing.

The first thing we do is attach the strap to the bottom corner of the back pack starting with a single crochet (sc) in the corner. I’ve chosen a lovely brown wool for the straps to match my ears.

Next we do 135 chain stitches to make the strap itself.

After that we weave the strap through the eyelets at the top like this.

Then we take the strap out the last eyelet and sc the end back to the beginning.

For the other side you do exactly the same process, starting with a sc in the other corner

And weaving the strap through the eyelets to ensure it is in and out of the SAME holes as the previous strap.

Once you’ve secured your second strap back at its start and sewn in the ends, you have a finished back pack like this!

Isn’t it great!!

This was the last of the DKO designs beginner crochet tutorials.

Woof and thank you!

OLIVE

Beach Backpack – 4. From Mesh to Bag

August 18, 2015Beach Backpack, Beginner Crochet, Learn to crochetaccessories, bag, bags, Beginner crochet, craft, Creativity, Crochet, crochet projects, handicrafts, Handmade, learn to crochetEmma@DKOdesigns

Woof and Welcome, I hope by now your backpack is coming along nicely. In the last lesson we started the actual crocheting of the backpack. In this lesson we’re going to focus on the middle to the end, including sewing it into a bag… but not including the backpack straps. Ambitious, I know, but let’s see how we go!

When I last left you we were working towards Row 17. I’m there now! Here’s how it looks

The next row is a little different. It starts out the same, with 2 turning ch and a hdc, but then instead of making mesh we’re going to put a hdc in the sc and 2hdc into the space like this

And then we just keep on going that way till the end of the row.

The row after that is plain hdc, as are the next 4, and you can do that standing on your head by now I’m sure!

But make sure you count them carefully. If you look at the picture can you see that every second row of hdc produces a ridge? Also check that the wool ball end is on the same side as the end attached to the first chain, this means it is an odd numbered row.

From here we repeat row 4 like this

Then we repeat row 5 like this

And then you continue to do more Row 5s until we reach the end of row 37. But please remember not only to count your rows but also your mesh spaces across. There should be 10.

As you can see here I forgot to count my spaces and wound up with too many. Ooops.The problem starts around row 5 of mesh on the right. There is no solution but to unravel the rows back to the mistake and start again!

So I did, and this time I got it right!

For Row 38 we repeat Row 18 which is the row we began with in this tutorial- a hdc into each stitch, and 2hdc into each space.

Then it is time for eyelets like we did in the last tutorial… you should have 8. Then for our last row do hdcs, putting one in each stitch and 2 in each eyelet like this.

See how it looks now?

Finish off leaving the thread long enough to reach at least ¾ of the way down. the crochet.

And now it is time to sew! Firstly we’ll fold the bag in half, so you can see how it fits together.

Now what you need to do is line up the two edges – a top and a bottom – like this to sew together and make the top rim of the bag.

Then we sew it – under and over – into each side in turn like this.

Keep going until you get to the top. Then weave the needle through the fabric one way then back the other way to secure the end, and you’re done with that side.

Woof done!

Sew up the other side the same way. If you don’t have enough thread to make it to the end don’t worry. Just finish off as you did above, secure the beginning of a new thread in the same way and carry on sewing!

Now you have the bag! Next lesson is the final lesson where we turn it into a backpack. Happy crocheting and sewing, see you then!

Woof!

OLIVE

Beach Backpack – 2. Making a mesh square

August 15, 2015Beach Backpack, Beginner Crochet, Learn to crochetaccessories, bag, bags, Beginner crochet, craft, Creativity, Crochet, crochet projects, crochet techniques, handicrafts, Handmade, learn to crochetEmma@DKOdesigns

Woof and Welcome. I’m Olive the dog, and this is the second tutorial for crocheting a beginner beach backpack.

Most of the Beach Backpack is made of mesh, so today we’re going to make a mesh square. This is only a sample, not the actual backpack, so if you feel confident you can skip onto the next lesson. But if you’ve never made mesh before you might like to try this little experiment.

Let’s start by looking at the chart and the finished square side by side:

To start, make a foundation chain of 17 chain (ch) stitches like this.

For the next row do two chain as turning ch and put a half double crochet (hdc) into the third ch from hook.

Now hdc into each of the 16 foundation ch left like this.

Turn your work, and make 2 ch, then 1 hdc into the last hdc in the previous row. Follow this with 4 ch. Skip 2 hdcs on the previous row and single crochet (sc) into the next one like this.

You have now started the mesh pattern. Keep going by crocheting 4 more ch, skipping 2 hdc and sc into next hdc after that, and repeating this pattern until you get to the end of the row. You should have one hdc left over, put a hdc in it. It should look like this.

To do the next line of mesh start with 2 turning ch, 1hdc, 4 ch, 1sc into space.

Then repeat (4 ch, 1 sc into space) 4 more times to make 5 mesh holes in the row.

Work back and forth copying this last line until you have done at least 8 rows, more if you still aren’t confident.

I bet it’s looking woofing marvelous now! Good work. Next lesson we start the backpack itself.

Until next time…. Woof!

OLIVE

Beach Backpack – 1. Understanding the pattern

August 14, 2015Beach Backpack, Beginner Crochet, Learn to crochetaccessories, bag, bags, Beginner crochet, craft, Creativity, Crochet, crochet projects, hand made, handicrafts, learn to crochetEmma@DKOdesigns

Woof and Welcome. I’m Olive the dog. In this tutorial we’re going to make a gorgeous beach backpack. This is how it looks like when it is done.

If you’d like to make yourself one you can download the pattern here for free.

We’ll start by reading through the pattern so we understand what to do overall.

Let’s see, we’ll need to know how to make chain stitches, half double crochet stitches and single crochet stitches. If you don’t know how to make these stitches you really should bounce on down to our STITCHES GUIDE and get some lessons from the experts.

The other two skills are working in rows and a bit of sewing which shouldn’t be too hard woof!

You will also need:

A 7mm crochet hook
A 50 g ball of 12ply yarn in a color you like
A needle to sew with
A pair of scissors

The trick with this pattern is in putting it together. You make it as one big rectangle then you fold it in half with the middle becoming the bottom, and sew up each side to turn it into a bag.

Basically the pattern has some eyelets at the top, a mesh pattern that expands the bag so it can carry a lot, a few solid rows in the middle which is really the bottom, then repeats itself so both sides are the same.

Then you make the straps, sew them on, weave them through the eyelets and the backpack can be worn and closed. Pretty woof eh!

Sound easy enough? Let’s do it!

Until next time…. Woof!

OLIVE

Beginner Bag Projects

June 22, 2015Beginner Crochet, Beginner Projects, Learn to crochetbags, Beginner crochet, craft, Creativity, Crochet, crochet projects, hand made, handicraftsEmma@DKOdesigns

We now have 2 more designs available at DKO designs. To complete our selection of FREE Beginner Projects we have two bag projects.

Beach Backpack which you can download the pattern for here Pattern BEG004 Beach Backpack
and Little Dilly Bag which you can download the pattern for here Pattern BEG005 Little Dilly Bag

Flower Earrings Tutorial – 2. Working in a round

June 7, 2015Beginner Crochet, Flower Earrings, Learn to crochetBeginner crochet, craft, Creativity, Crochet, crochet projects, crochet techniques, hand made, handicrafts, HandmadeEmma@DKOdesigns

Woof and Welcome to the second Flower Earring lesson. I’m Olive the dog, and today I’m going to show you how to make a foundation ring and crochet in a round. Sound good? Let’s go.

The first step in this pattern is to make 4 chain stitches. I’m making a pair of blue earrings here.

To start you do your foundation chain. Then when you’ve done that you find the first chain you made, and you slip stitch (sl st) into it to form a ring.

Next we move onto Round 1, which just happens to be the only round in this pattern. We do 5 chain stitches to make a petal, and complete it with a single crochet (sc) stitch into the ring.

When doing the sc stitch we put the hook into the centre of the ring and draw the yarn around the whole edge of the ring instead of through a single stitch.

And then we do another 5 ch and a sc!

Once we’ve made 6 petals in this way we cut the yarn and make a knot in the last sc.

Then we use the needle to sew in the ends. (for further instruction on sewing in ends see Eyelet Scarf Tutorial – 6. Finishing off!)

Until next time…. Woof!

OLIVE

Flower Earrings Tutorial – 1. Understanding the pattern

June 7, 2015Beginner Crochet, Flower Earrings, Learn to crochetBeginner crochet, craft, Creativity, Crochet, crochet projects, crochet techniques, hand made, handicrafts, Handmade, learn to crochetEmma@DKOdesigns

Woof and Welcome to the second beginner tutorial. This duo of lessons is on making Flower Earrings. Here’s one all finished, pretty isn’t it?

Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m Olive the dog, I’m a beginner hooker and I’m sharing my lessons with you as I go.

First of all, if you don’t have a copy of the pattern you can download it for free here.

Pattern BEG002 Flower Earrings

To start with we shall read through the pattern so we understand what is expected of us.

Firstly we need to know how to make chain stitches, single crochet stitches and slip stitches. If you don’t know how to make these stitches run along to our BEGINNER STITCH GUIDE and get some lessons from the experts.

The other two skills are working in a round which will be covered in this tutorial and sewing in ends, which we covered with the Eyelet Scarf Tutorial – 6. Finishing Off!

You will also need:

A 6mm crochet hook
Some 8ply yarn in a nice color for flowers
2 earring hooks also known as shepherd hooks
A needle to sew in the ends and attach the earrings to their hooks
A pair of scissors

This pattern might seem strange, but it is really not hard to understand when you know how to look at it – trust me!

Firstly we’ll read the written pattern then we’ll look at the pattern chart.

There is a foundation chain which creates a ring. Then there is 1 round, which is like a row around that ring.

In the round there is a sequence within brackets (ch 5, sc into ring) and an instruction to do it 6 times. This means that you do 5 chain stitches, a single crochet into ring, ch 5, sc into ring, etc until you have 6 sets.

If we look at the pattern chart, we can see that each of those sets of 5 ch creates a petal of the flower and the sc attaches the petal to the centre ring.

That doesn’t sound too hard to me! What do you think?? Ready to give it a go?

Until next time…. Woof!

OLIVE

Eyelet Scarf Tutorial – 7. Troubleshooting

June 2, 2015Beginner Crochet, Eyelet Scarf, Learn to crochetBeginner crochet, clothing, craft, Creativity, Crochet, crochet projects, crochet techniques, hand made, handicrafts, Handmade, learn to crochetEmma@DKOdesigns

Woof and Welcome,

Olive the dog here. Today I’m going to reveal all the mistakes I made making the Eyelet Scarf and how we fixed them.

Problem – One section of the scarf is a lot thicker than the previous section

Ooops. This uneven width is caused by having different sized yarn for each section.

SOLUTION

Keep the ply of the yarn the same for the whole project even when you change color. In other words if your first color is 8ply make sure your second color is 8ply too.

Problem – I don’t have the right number of stitches in my row.

There are 2 common causes for this. Either it got skipped in the middle of a row or it was dropped at the end of a row (most common).

A HOLE

Stretch out your work and have a careful look. Is there a little hole in it like this?

SOLUTION

As a beginner, the best solution is to unravel your work and restitch it without a hole. If you have been counting your stitches every row, the hole will be in the row you’ve just done and you won’t have to unravel far, if not… well you might have to unravel more.

A STITCH DROPPED AT THE END OF THE ROW

Stretch out your work and look at it. Is one side of your work getting thinner like this?

SOLUTION

If you dropped the stitch at the edge you need to do an extra stitch at the end to complete that line. If you have been counting your stitches every row this will fix the problem, however, if you have been losing stitches over several lines you may have to unravel back to the line where the first end stitch got dropped.

Problem – I’ve run out of the yarn I was using

In my scarf I ran out of the orange yarn I started with because I didn’t check I had the whole 50g I needed before I started. (It was a second hand ball of yarn, you won’t get this problem with a newly bought ball unless you miss read its label.)

SOLUTION

If you are lucky you can buy more yarn of the same color. (You add it into the scarf in the same way as a new color.)

Alternately you can unravel it and use it for something else.

Or if you can’t bear to unravel you might be able to end that color and change to another one without it looking odd on the finished product.

In my case, I unravelled the orange and reused it in the middle section which didn’t require as much yarn.

Problem – My rows don’t add up to the right number

If you get to the end of a section and the rows just don’t add up, chances are you missed a row somewhere along the way.

The most likely thing is that you’ve done two dc or two sc rows in a row.

If your work looks like this you have left out a sc row. If you look carefully you will count from the bottom up a dc row, sc row, dc row, sc row, dc row and then another dc row – see how the posts tilt slightly to the left instead of the right?

Or if you’ve left out a dc row you might have something more like this:

You can see there is a dc row, a sc row, a dc row, a sc row, a dc row, two sc rows and a dc row, and a sc row at the top. The missed dc row leads to an extra horizontal line in the fabric, and then the dc are tilted to the left in the row following.

SOLUTION

Yep, you got it, the sad truth is you’re going to have to unravel your work back to the mistake… unless you decide you don’t really care and just continue on, but on many patterns that will cause problems further on.

And we’ve reached the end of our trouble shooting. I hope I’ve been helpful. If you have any more problems please write in and tell us about them and even better, how you fixed them

So now we’ve reached the end of the Eyelet Scarf tutorial. It’s been woof…. I mean fun, I hope you’ll join me again for projects in the future. Enjoy your hooking!

Bye for now … Woof!

OLIVE

Some Beginner Projects

June 1, 2015Beginner Crochet, Eyelet Scarf, Jewelery, Learn to crochetBeginner crochet, clothes, craft, Creativity, Crochet, crochet projects, granny square, hand made, handicrafts, JewelryEmma@DKOdesigns

We have been working on a Learn to Crochet program here at DKO designs, and these are the first of our FREE beginner designs.

The first is our Eyelet Scarf, and Olive has been created a step-by step tutorial for how to make it which you can find here, including a free download of the pattern here.

Next we have some beginner Flower Earrings which can be downloaded here.

And finally a Granny Square pendant which can be downloaded here.

Eyelet Scarf Tutorial – 6. Finishing off!

May 29, 2015Beginner Crochet, Eyelet Scarf, Learn to crochetBeginner crochet, clothing, craft, Creativity, Crochet, crochet projects, crochet techniques, hand made, handicrafts, HandmadeEmma@DKOdesigns

Woof, woof, woof and woof!

Today we’re up to the finishing touches on our Eyelet scarf! It’s so excitement. Do you like my picture of Emma and my scarves side by side? I think I’ve done a very good job in the end – I certainly had to unravel parts – but now it’s looking great! How is yours looking?

OK so what I really want to tell you about today is how to finish off when you’ve crocheted your last stitch. All you have to do is chop the yarn with your teeth… I mean scissors and pull the end through the last loop until it forms a knot like this:

Now you use a needle and thread to sew in the loose ends of yarn created by the color changes. It doesn’t have to be done in any particular way, I just sew an end into the fabric moving out from the knot for a little way, then turn around and sew back the way I came.

Finally I chop off the remainder of the thread and you can’t see it.

I hope your scarf is fantastic and you’ve enjoyed learning to crochet. We have some other FREE patterns for beginners that you might be interested in making so check out the Beginner Projects page for the details. Happy hooking.

Until next time …. Woof!

OLIVE