My First Crochet Project

For my first crochet project, I found a cute little bear tutorial online.

It is super simple and super-cute. The bears are shaped like balls and have eyes and little faces stitched on with embroidery thread.

Here are a few of mine in action:

To make a koala bear, you need grey yarn (3 or 4 weight), 2.00 mm crochet hook, tapestry needle, black embroidery thread, 6 mm safety eyes, and white felt.

 The weight of the yarn will change the size of the overall bear (as long as you follow the tutorial).

Here you can see the koala was done in weight 3 yarn.

For the panda bear, you will need black and white yarn (3 or 4 weight), 2.00 mm crochet hook, tapestry needle, black embroidery thread, 6 mm safety eyes and black felt.

 The panda is made with weight 4 yarn and is much rounder than the koala.

In order to change the thread between colors, I would recommend a Russian joiner (as seen here). There are no bulky knots poking out from your bear in strange spots making the overall look very sleek.

I love these cute little guys so much, they were Christmas presents for a lot of people this year.

My Por-Por (Chinese grandmother) laughed so hard when I gave her one. She was amazed at how fast we learned how to crochet and thought they were very sweet.

We would recommend these little bears for first time crocheters!

You have never lived till you've hooked!

Crochet Beginnnings

So where to begin in the great wide world of crochet?

We really wanted to work out way to Amigurumi figures, but practice makes perfect, right?

So we began with a simple ball.

Done in teal, my favorite color of course.

Why bother just staring at boring white, when you can do it with some flare!

This website was super helpful when learning how to make simply objects.

To start a ball, you must learn two simple stitches: the magic ring and the single stitch.

Mine didn't come out too bad for a first try!

They also had heart shapes as well. These are super- cute!

Mine came out a bit lopsided, but still recognizable.

I tried a freehand object using all that I learned. I think I decided about half way through that it would be a pear. Can't have too many crocheted pears!

If you would like to try out these simple objects, you can find the free patterns in the link below.

http://www.pepika.com/free-patterns/amigurumi-course.html

Pickles!

Twelve cucumber plants might have been a few too many. We tried our best to eat them or give them away. We made cucumber salsa, cucumber salad and frankly we were getting a little tired of cucumbers.

Next best thing to make with cucumbers? Pickles!

We chose to make refrigerator pickles instead of the traditional canning method. This website describes the different ways to make pickles and all the equipment that is required.

First you will need some mason jars. Be sure to clean them well. We tossed them into the dishwasher without any detergent and ran the hot water cycle. 

We prepared the cucumbers by slicing them into spears and trimming them into lengths that fit the jars (with a bit of room for the brine to cover over top).

For the brine, you can come up with alot of different recipes. A quick Google search will come up with over 90 recipes easily. Some places will even sell you a pre-made mix. You just have to decide what kind of pickles you want.  We made a relatively sweet dill pickle recipe with dill, onions, mustard seeds, sugar, and white vinegar. Simmer the brine before pouring them into the jars.

While the brine simmers, pack the mason jars with cucumber spears.

Pack them fairly tight, but with enough room to let the slivers of onion and dill to slip between them.

Pour the brine just over the tops of the pickles, but be sure there is a small gap between the liquid and the cap. Seal tight and refrigerate for at least one day.

Then, enjoy some yummy crispy pickles! These definitely were a hit with my coworkers. They worked their way through at least five jars!