PlanetJune Blog: Latest News, Patterns and Tutorials

I am, in theory, crocheting the 63 squares afghan, although the 26 squares I have completed have been sitting in a box for almost 2 years without being touched. Last week I found the Crochetville 63 Squares Crochet-Along, and now I’ve been inspired to get started again.

I crocheted one new square, and started a second, and then compared them with my previous squares. Disaster! Somehow my new squares were over an inch larger than the old ones… I think I must crochet more loosely now than I did when I started the afghan. I had to unravel all my new work (sob!) and start again with a smaller hook.

I finished the above two squares at the weekend, and thought I was back on track, as the sizes matched my old squares. But apparently I was unable to count when I started this project… the edging is supposed to be 112 stitches around for each square, so all the squares can join nicely together. I really don’t know what I was thinking, but some squares were a few stitches short and some a few over; not one was exactly 112 stitches! Being the perfectionist that I am, I really can’t leave them like this (plus I want the boring task of joining all the squares together to be as painless as possible) so I am unpicking the edges of the 26 squares I had already completed and re-edging them. Almost there – 7 more to go.

In my defense, I had only just started crocheting at the time, and didn’t really understand what I was doing. I also crocheted ‘wrongly’ by only crocheting into one top loop of the previous stitch instead of both, but I am going to leave those ‘wrong’ squares alone – they still look nice, and it’ll be a reminder to me of how much time passed as I crocheted this.

Status: 28/63 squares (44%) completed

This is my entry to the September Whiplash contest. The challenge was to make any kind of hat. I got the inspiration for my hat from my cat, Maui:

I crocheted the cat hat in single crochet from black chenille with cream chenille accents. After reading the tapestry crochet post on whipup a few weeks ago, I’ve been wanting to try it, so I added a zig-zag border around the bottom, to match the ‘M’ markings on Maui’s forehead. I finished the bottom with reverse single crochet.:

I single crocheted cream fronts and black backs for the ears, then joined the fronts to the backs with a reverse single crochet border:

The hat still looked a bit plain, so I added three flowers embroidered with lazy daisy stitch, with bead centres:

Maui seems to approve of the finished hat:

I’m entering the cat hat into the design category of Whiplash this month.

This is a tutorial for a really simple cushion cover. It’s really quick and easy to make (and cheap!) as it doesn’t require a zip – the cushion is inserted like a pillow into a pillowcase.

1. Measure your cushion’s length and width. My cushion is a 35.5cm square but any rectangular cushion will work just as well – it doesn’t have to be square.
   
2. This is the hardest part – working out the size of fabric you need. Add 2x the seam allowance to the width (I’m allowing 1cm for my seams, so I need a 37.5cm width). For the length, you’ll need twice the length of the cushion, plus a flap on one end, and a finished edge on the other.
   • I chose a big 12cm flap, so the cushion will always be well hidden inside the case. I also saved some work by cutting my fabric so the selvedge formed the edge of the flap. It saves having to finish another raw edge, and the edge of the flap will be hidden, so it doesn’t have to be very pretty. If you don’t use the selvedge, add a little extra to your flap so you can finish this edge in the same way as you’ll finish the other edge.
   • You’ll need a double fold on the other end, so add slightly more than twice your seam allowance (20mm for me, so I used 25mm).

   
   Okay, so my rectangle to cut is 85.5cm x 37.5cm. That’s the hard part over – promise! It’s all easy from here.

3. Cut your fabric to the size you worked out. Here’s mine with the cushion for comparison.
   
4. Now to finish the raw short edge on the right (the edge opposite the selvedge). Starting with the fabric face down, fold the edge over by half of the extra you added (12mm for me), and press in place. You may find it easier to pin the fold before pressing. 
   
5. Fold over by the same amount again, to trap the raw edge inside the fold. Press in place.
   
6. Sew along the whole edge to keep the folds in place.
   
7. Starting with the fabric right side up, with the selvedge at the top, bring the edge you have just finished up so the fabric has a fold at the bottom. Arrange it so that the length of the flap is uncovered by the second layer of fabric (see picture: 12cm of the right side of the fabric shows at the top; the fold is off the bottom of the picture): 
   
8. Fold the flap down over the top of the second layer. Pin along both sides of the cushion cover.
   
9. Sew along each of the sides, from top to bottom.
   
10. That’s it! Turn your new cushion cover inside out and press. Then insert your cushion and admire your handiwork!
    

I hope this tutorial is useful – please let me know if you have any questions or comments.

This week I’ve been ‘crafting’ my website. I’ve added a pop-out menu throughout the whole planetjune site, and made the new Craftybits Gallery. It’s database-driven so all my projects are viewable by category. Yay me!

I’ve just finished making the sleeve for my new laptop. I wanted a small slim sleeve to protect the laptop while it’s in another bag, so I intentionally didn’t include a handle or strap.

I made the sleeve out of heavy cotton fabric (actually leftover fabric from curtains that I shortened for a friend). I made a quilted lining out of a soft stretch knit fabric and batting. And yes, the stretch fabric was a mistake – I only picked it because of the colour, and it was so stretchy that it was very difficult to work with. I had to iron fusible interfacing onto the flap lining to make it stable enough to work with. 

I used velcro to close the bag, and sewed a ribbon trim on the flap in a colour to match the lining. I had ideas for more embellishments, but I like it being clean and simple.

The outer sleeve and lining before I stitched them together. See my lovely quilting on the lining?

The finished sleeve, closed…

…and open. The laptop fits perfectly inside with no room to spare.

There’s the quilted lining again.

Ribbon detail from the flap. So pretty!

Ugh, I hate the word shroud! Not sure what else to call this though.

Dave’s telescope is designed to be collapsible, so it doesn’t have a solid tube; it just has 3 poles connecting the top and bottom of the telescope.

He asked me to make a removable fabric tube to keep light out of the telescope. It was complicated to design as the scope has bits sticking out  – I kept going back to the scope for ‘fittings’ as I started each part.

I made this out of two layers of ripstop nylon, so that no light can get in. The top stays up with elastic loops that pass over the top ring of the scope and fasten around buttons on the shroud. There are 2 slits (reinforced with bias tape) near the top for access to the eyepiece and filter wheel. I left the side seams open at the bottom for the pole supports, and the shroud closes below the supports with velcro. 

The shroud can open out flat, and it attaches around the body of the telescope using two zips; one zips up from the bottom of the telescope, and one zips down from the top, so there is room for the finder scope to move up and down vertically by partially unzipping one of the zips.

Lots of work, but it looks pretty good, and, more importantly, it does what it’s supposed to do – keeps stray light out of the telescope.

I bought a laptop this weekend, so now my mind is in overdrive thinking of accessories I can craft for it. Firstly, I saw that Tom Bihn sell a laptop keyboard cover to protect the screen from picking up dirt from the keyboard when the laptop is closed. Here’s my version:

Maui approves, and my keyboard is protected from excess cat fur!

I made the cover from moleskin fabric so it’s really soft. Very quick and easy to run up on the sewing machine, and now my screen is safe.

One down… next up, a laptop sleeve so I can stick the laptop in a backpack without it getting scratched. Stay tuned…

Walmart and Michaels are both having excellent clearance sales on yarn this week. I picked up this lot for $10!

I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it all yet – I’m thinking some kind of crochet amigurumi soft toys for the brown fluffy yarn. I’ve started making a scarf with the purple Bernat Matrix yarn:

I was hoping that I could crochet this scarf in no time, but I find the yarn difficult to work with. My crochet hook keeps slipping in between the top and bottom edges of the yarn, as it’s mostly empty space between the blocks of colour.

I’m getting the hang of it now, but it’s still slow going. The colour is pretty, though, and the texture of the scarf is interesting. I think I’ll wear this when it gets a bit cooler, maybe with a denim jacket.