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free pattern – wine glass charms

Crochet wine glass charms - A free pattern by La Visch Designs

Here in the Netherlands Summer is having a somewhat hesitant start. The time for garden parties is bound to arrive soon though. Those I really enjoy: Firing up the BBQ, eating tasty sandwiches and salads and of course enjoying yourself with friends and family until the early hours. On those occasions I like to have a glass of wine. At busy parties there however usually comes a time that I really don’t know which one of the glasses on the table is mine…

For this I have found a solution: Wine glass charms! The idea is that you attach a unique charm to every glass, so you can always easily see which one is yours. Of course I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t make such charms myself!

In this post I’m giving you the pattern for wine glass charms that I designed to use with leftover bits of crochet cotton and a variety of buttons. These charms can of course also be used on other glasses with a stem. This pattern uses lobster stitch cord, that I explained step by step in this tutorial.

Pattern wine glass charms

This pattern is written in American English crochet terminology.

Materials

Crochet Cotton, I used Schoeller + Stahl Manuela Häkelgarn No. 5 [100% mercerized cotton; 220 m / 50 g]
Various different buttons with a diameter of 10 to 20 mm (3/8 to 13/16 inch)
1 crochet hook in size 2 mm (US steel crochet hook size 1)

Instructions

Round 1: Ch 2, 6 sc in second ch from hook and sl st closed to first sc. (6 sts)
Make sure you keep a yarn tail of about 30 cm (12 inch).

Round 2: Ch 1, 2 sc in each st, sl st to first ch of round. (12 sts)

Round 3: Ch 1, [2 sc in next st, 1 sc] 6 times, sl st to turning ch to close the round. (18 sts)

Round 4: Ch 1, [2 sc, 2 sc in next st] 6 times, sl st to turning ch to close the round. (24 sts)

Round 5: Ch 1, [2 sc in next st, 3 sc] 6 times, sl st to turning ch to close the round. (30 sts)

Next: Make a lobster stitch cord with a length of 12.5 cm / 5 inches.

Next: Close the cord into a loop by attaching the end with a sl st to the point where the start exists the crochet circle. Break yarn.

Finishing
Use the yarn tail from the center of the circle to sew on a button and weave in all ends.

Below you can find some examples of different types of buttons used. As you can see you can achieve very different effects by using various kinds of buttons!

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tutorial: crochet lobster stitch cord

Lobster stitch cord tutorial by La Visch Designs

Being it for handles of bags, bracelets, necklaces or other things, crochet cord often comes in handy. Personally, though, I don’t really like making a cord by doing single crochet stitches in a chain because it always so finicky to do. A good and attractive alternative is making a lobster stitch cord.

This type of cord is a tad thicker than a cord made from a chain and single crochet, and therefore also somewhat firmer. Really a good attribute when making bag handles! Of course, if you make lobster stitch cord of a thinnish yarn, the resulting cord will also be finer and thinner than when made from worsted or heavier weight yarn. And best of all: besides being rather decorative, a lobster stitch cord is started with only 2 stitches! You can determine how long to make it as you go.

In this post, I’ll show you how to crochet lobster stitch cord. These instructions are written in American English crochet terminology.

Lobster stitch cord step by step

For this example, I’m using Zeeman Super Soft yarn and a crochet hook size 4 mm (US G/6).

1. Start by chaining 2 stitches, followed by 1 single crochet in the second chain from the hook.

The result will look like the picture below. You can see that the stitch you have just created is pointing down on the side of the hook. This is indicated by the arrow on the right.

2. In this step, you turn the work towards you, as indicated by the left arrow pictured above. The stitch just made is now facing you, make sure the thread of yarn stays behind the work. In the picture below, the arrow indicates the very same stitch after rotating the work.

3. Insert your hook in the stitch and make a single crochet by pulling up a loop, wrap the yarn around your hook and pulling it through the two loops on the hook.

4. After the stitch you just made, you see two loops on the underside of your work (see arrow). These are indicated by the two white lines. Now turn your work towards you, similar as in step 2. Next insert the hook into the two indicated loops and make a single crochet by pulling up a loop, wrap the yarn around your hook and pulling it through the two loops on the hook.

Repeat step 4 until your cord has the desired length.
And that is all there is to it!

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tutorial: making your own yarn display

You probably recognize this: All those beautiful skeins of yarn in a lush variety of materials and colors and no way to enjoy it all because it is all tucked away in the stash. It really is a shame to have to put it all away to protect it against the effects of UV light, odors, dust, pets and vermin. It makes it pretty hard to enjoy the woolly splendor….

Why not make a rotating exhibition of your favorite yarns on your favorite spot in the house? Regular “tossing” of the wool stash also has its advantages. It discourages moths and makes it possible to nip an infestation in the bud. Also, doing this we can enjoy all the yarn, even if we are busy with things other than crochet and knitting.

Therefore, I want to show you in this post how you can make an etagere yourself for superb display of your favorite skeins of yarn.

Materials

3 plates / dishes in varying sizes
2 cups, glasses or ice cream sundaes
A sealant gun with Polymax (DIY store)
Ruler
Bowl with soapsuds
Some paper towels

In this tutorial I use plates and cups I bought at the Hema. However, if you want an etagere with a more vintage or romantic appearance, a thrift store can be a good place to look. Often there is a great variation to get some lovely plates with flowers, gold edges and fine glassware for friendly prices.

I like to use Polymax glue instead of the glue from a regular glue gun. Polymax has the great advantage that you can get the glue loose again if it does not go right the first time. Also, with this kit the glue joints can be smoothed after applying similar to silicone sealant. This makes the result very nice with less effort!

Step by step

1. Start by properly washing your plates and cups. You want to have them really clean and free of dust and greasy spots.

2. Grab the biggest plate and measure accurately where the exact midpoint is. Mark this on the plate with pencil, the markings can be brushed off later easily.

3. Grab a cup and apply your glue on the top edge.

4. Turn the cup and put it upside down on the big plate. Make sure you put it right in the middle. If necessary, use the ruler to measure whether it is indeed in the middle. At this stage you can still push the cup around a little to position it correctly if necessary.

5. Press the cup lightly.

6. Make your wet finger with a little of the soapy water and smooth down the connection between the cup and the plate while continuing to press the cup to the plate. Use paper towels to wipe your fingers.

7. Repeat steps 2 to 6 for the plate in the middle size. Allow the glue to harden at least 2 hours. After 4 hours the Polymax has fully cured, but you can proceed before that time if you’re careful!

8. Now we go on to finish our etagere: Take the smallest plate, turn it over, and measure at the bottom exactly where the middle is.

9. Take the medium-sized plate with attached cup and apply glue to the bottom of the cup.

10. Turn over and position the cup in the center of the smallest plate. Gently press down and smooth the adhesive seam as previously if the shape of your cup permits. In my case that is not possible, but it doesn’t matter much because it will be hard to see anyway.

11. Repeat steps 8 to 10 to join the largest size plate-with-cup on top of the medium sized plate.

12. Let the glue harden now for at least 4 hours. After this you can turn it around: your etagere is ready!

Tip

It is not a disaster if there gets some glue somewhere else on your plate or cup. Polymax dries up as a kind of transparent rubber. Because of this it is possible to simply scratch it off with your nails once dried, if it is in places you do not want it to be.

And here is mine, filled with some colored beauties that would otherwise have been put away in some drawer…

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tutorial: crochet the bullion stitch

Bullion stitch tutorial by La Visch Designs

One of the many special crochet stitches is called the “bullion stitch”. This is a very decorative stitch, which can also be used to crochet flowers, jewelry or beautiful edges to projects.

In this post, I’ will show you how to crochet the bullion stitch. Please note that American crochet terminology is used.

The bullion stitch step by step

For this tutorial, I started with a small swatch in half double crochet (hdc).

1. Wrap the yarn loosely around your hook. How much time depends on how high you want the bullion stitch to be. Here I am making the bullion stitches in a hdc fabric, therefor I am wrapping the yarn seven times around my hook. When making bullion stitches in a double crochet fabric, wrapping 10 times may be better. It really depends on your individual gauge, though.

2. Insert the hook into the next stitch and pull up a loop.

3. Make a yarn over …

4. … and pull the yarn through all the loops on the hook. You will notice that this can be rather difficult when you have wrapped the yarn too tightly around the hook in step 1. This completes your first bullion stitch.

And this is how it looks when you’ve made multiple bullion stitches in between normal (in this case) half double crochet stitches.

Tips

As you may have noticed, it can be tricky to wrap the yarn loose enough around the hook in step 1. It can help to hold a thin knitting needle, crochet hook or yarn needle next to your hook while wrapping the yarn. Wrapping your yarn around both automatically means a looser wrap!

Also, use the right type of crochet hook! As you can see in the picture below, the tip of the green hook sticks out relative to the shaft of the hook. This makes it more difficult to pull a loop of yarn through multiple loops on the hook. With an in-line shaped hook like the bamboo one pictured below, both tip and shaft have the same thickness. This makes this type of crochet hook much better suited for making bullion stitches.

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Linea

Linea is an airy lace shawl with a simple and appealing play on lines and differences in lacy texture. Using mainly yarn overs and right- and left-leaning decreases, Linea looks much more complex than it actually is to knit. The perfect choice for a first lace shawl project!

This shawl is knitted from the top-down in one piece, starting at the neck edge with a garter tab. The instructions for the body and the border of the shawl are provided both fully charted and written out.

Pay what you want: (minimum €6.50)

€

Size and finished measurements

Finished dimensions of the sample shawl: span width of 180 cm (71 inches) and a depth of 73 cm (29 inches), measured after blocking.

Difficulty

This shawl is started with a garter stitch tab. Stitches used include knit, purl, skp, k2tog, yo and a centered double decrease. This pattern is suitable for the intermediate knitter.