I was very into embroidery a couple of years ago, and even had an embroidery design blog for a little while, and my favorite thing to embellish was handkerchiefs. I would buy big packs of men's handkerchiefs and put little doodle designs on the corner. It was fun, but once everyone I knew had a half dozen handkerchiefs, I lost interest. So, I had a stack of handkerchiefs that were dying for a new fancy edge. I pulled them out and got busy crocheting!
It took me a little while to get used to the technique needed to make the crocheting smooth and even. I split the yarn a couple of times, and I snagged the fabric, since both the tip and the hook are pretty sharp. But eventually I got the hang of it, and once I did, it was very fast and very fun to work with.
This is just a plain single-crochet edge. I think it looks fantastic, simple and unfussy. I've done crocheted edgings on fabric before, and it never looked this clean and sharp. I loved how easy it was to make the hole exactly where I wanted it to be, and not have to punch it with an awl first.
This is a row of single-crochet, followed by one of the edgings from the edging book, which I used a size D crochet hook to complete. There were lots of cute designs in the book, but none of them had instructions for how to do the corner. I picked a simple design, so that the corner wouldn't be an issue, but I would have liked instructions for corners on some of the designs.
I can't wait to experiment more with my new sharp crochet hook. I want to make some fancy edged socks for Mims, and I think that putting a crocheted edge on some pillowcases would be a cool gift for my Mom. Neither of those projects have corners! I will stick to more simple edgings if I want to make DC a fancy blanket or two. He's a boy and a baby, I can't imagine that he will mind...
xoxo
I've been looking at these hooks for awhile and wondering if it would be worth it to pick one up. I think I'm convinced it would be. The fact that you can do pillowcases intrigues me!
ReplyDeleteI know! Me too! I need to pick up some plain pillowcases and give it a try. I will let you know how it goes!
DeleteI wonder if these would work on fleece.....
ReplyDeleteI may have to try it. Where did you get your hook?
OOps, I meant to ask, "do you know where to get one of these hooks"?
ReplyDeletejoyce
Hi Joyce,
ReplyDeleteThe hook I won was from sharpcrochethook.com a few months back. It's a really good tool for using very thin thread, but if you're working on something larger, I've had WAY more success with the knit picker. I've got a few knit picker projects on my site, if you want to check them out!
xo Jaime