National Iced Tea Day!

My morning iced tea, because it's National Iced Tea Day, Dynamos!

What? You did not know that iced tea is the official beverage of CrochetDynamite.com?  It's true.  I'm obsessed with it.  

The cool part about my obsession is that I want you to be obsessed too!  So I made you a present!

Hemp Mason Jar Cover 

Supplies:

A ball of Fine Hemp Twine (I bought mine at Joanns in the beading section. It's with the macrame stuff. )

Size D crochet hook

1/8" Ribbon (I used turquoise, but you can use any color that makes your heart sing! I used about 30 inches, because it's easier to tie a bow with too long ribbon, then cut it too short to begin with and have a too-small, weird-looking bow...)

R1: 13 sc in a magic loop, pull tight and sl st into first sc to close round (13 st)

R2: ch 1, (2 sc in next st, sc) 6 times, 2 sc in next st, sl st into first sc to close round (20 st)

R3: ch 1, (2 sc in next st, 2 sc) 6 times, 2 sc in next st, sc, sl st into first sc to close round (27 st)

R4: ch 1, (2 sc in next st, 3 sc) 6 times, 2 sc in next st, sc, 2 sc in next st, sl st into first sc to close round (35 st)

R5: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 4 hdc) 7 times, sl st into first hdc to close round (42 st)

R6: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 5 hdc) 7 times, sl st into first hdc to close round (49 st)

R7: ch 1, (2 hdc in next st, 6 hdc) 7 times, sl st into first hdc to close round (56 st)

R8-12: ch 1, hdc in each st around, sl st into first hdc to close round (56 st)

R13: ch 2, dc in each st around, sl st into first dc to close round (56 st)

R14-15: ch 1, hdc in each st around, sl st into first hdc to close round (56 st)

Fasten off.  Weave in ends.

Fold the ribbon in half, and use your crochet hook to weave the doubled ribbon through the posts of the dc row (R13). Tie in a bow!  Trim the ends so that they look cute.  You can run a match, or lighter, over the cut edges to seal them so that they won't fray.

A brief observation about working with hemp fibers:

Crocheting with hemp is not like crocheting with cotton or bamboo fibers.  It's rough.  Your stitches won't be even.  The thread/cord itself isn't smooth and even.  It smells like hay.  It's really stiff.

BUT, it looks super cool.  The uneven stitches make it look handcrafted and expensive.  It smells like summertime.  Just use some hand lotion afterwards and you will be good to go. 

I have made a lot of mason jar covers.  I think this one turned out just perfect.  I am in love...  

Also:

Perfect Mason Jar Iced Tea (updated 1/7/13 to make it even better! )

Using a quart sized mason jar, add 3 tea bags to 2 cups of water, plus a pinch of baking soda (! I know, right?!  The baking soda keeps it from tasting bitter!  But only use a tiny pinch, a little goes a long way. Try it, it's amazing) .  Microwave on high for 2 minutes.  Let it sit an additional 2 minutes in the microwave to steep, so you don't burn your fingers.  Pull it out very carefully. Discard the tea bags.  Add ice to fill the mason jar. Add additional water to fill jar to the top if necessary.  Put your lid and your jar cover on, and you're good to go for the day!  

Have a really, really awesome Iced Tea Day!!

xoxo

My First Giveaway!

Happy May Day to you all!  I am so excited that today my blog is being featured on Craft Gossip.  I want to share the love and happiness with everyone that comes by today, so I think it's time for a Crochet Dynamite Giveaway!

I recently purchased a metal punch, which has solved the problem that I was having with my mason jar lids  (unsurprisingly, a crochet top just doesn't protect the carpet very well when your jar of iced tea gets kicked over, assuming that the crochet lid doesn't fall into the tea all on it's own.).  Amazingly enough, if you punch a straw-sized hole in a canning lid, you get all of the convenience of a fast-food cup, but it's super eco-responsible (except for the straws, but that's something we'll address at a later date...).

So I would like to giveaway a set of 4 punched lids, so that you can enjoy Playdoh-free iced tea all summer long, with no worries about what will happen if the dog knocks over your jar...

I think you need a Jar Sock (still not sure about that name...) to go with the lids.  I'm not going to actually send the wide mouth quart-sized canning jars because I don't want them to break, and I have no confidence in my shipping skills.

I made the bee set to go together, so I have to send a Fancy Pen to go with the Jar Sock and lids!  It would be weird to separate them. I really like how the pen turned out with the bee charm.  Very fancy!

If you would like to be entered in the giveaway drawing, please leave a comment below.  Of course, I would love it if you wanted to follow my blog, so I will enter you twice if you follow me (and become a Crochet Dynamo!). If you want a third entry, you could like it on Facebook, +1 it on Google Plus, or blog about the giveaway.  Let me know in your comment which of the things you have done!

I am going to keep this giveaway open until 11:59 pm Friday, May 4th, so let your friends know (I bet they would share the prize with you!).  I will do the random drawing on Saturday morning. Please make sure that you leave an email address so that I can contact you if you win.  

I am so grateful that you've taken the time to look at my blog.  I hope that my patterns are fun and easy to follow, if they aren't, please leave me a comment or send me an email (CrochetDynamite@gmail.com) so that I can update the pattern to make the instructions more clear.  I would also love a picture if you actually make something from one of my patterns! I would love to post it, so everyone can see what you made (with your permission, of course)!  Thank you so much, Crochet Dynamos, you have made my day!

xoxo

A Return to My Favorites

So, it's been nearly two weeks, and my Minor Awards Ceremony headband is still my favorite accessory, probably since it doesn't slip off, and it does a great job keeping my awkward length hair out of my eyes.  I have also trimmed two inches off the bottom of my hair (I don't know how else to word that, but I do realize that it would be ridiculous to trim anything but the bottom of your hair.  I guess I should change it to "I cut my hair") so now all of it is a similar length.  It still pulls back into a ponytail, but it's about as long as Julia Louis-Dryfuss's hair in Veep... Yeah, I'm going to need more headbands.

Both of these are made out of fine weight crochet cotton, the size 3 Aunt Lydia's kind, but the black one I used with a size D hook, and the ivory one was made with a size G hook for a lacy look.  They're both just as amazing as the bronze one I fell in love with, but neither are as stretchy, since cotton isn't a stretchy yarn in the first place, so I would highly recommend you chain a little loosely, and then work that first row in the back loop of the chain, since you don't want to end up with one edge of your headband that's super tight (not that I know that from personal experience with the black one, ahem).  The blue flowers I just tied into the black band, since I wasn't sure I was going to like them (they're not centered, they sit jauntily off to the side), but I may go back and stitch them on more permanently, now that I know that I'm comfortable rocking the look.

I've also been keeping busy with my jar cover coaster thingies.  I want to call them Jar Socks.  Is that too lame?  My sister requested one for her birthday, so I've made her a The Night Circus themed one. I'm planning to get her a copy of the book to go with it.  I might also crochet a rose for the top?  Have you read the book? What do you think?

Okay, you caught me, I haven't woven the ends in on this one yet, but  I didn't realize it would show through the jar so obviously.  I may redo this picture.  Well, you get the point.  Black and white, with a touch of red, I think she's going to love it once she's read the book.  And if you haven't read the book either, I highly recommend it.  I hope you will fall in love with it the way I did.

This is the collection of Jar Socks (hmm, not sure I'm crazy about that afterall) that I've done in the last couple of days.  My sister's Night Circus jar, a green and pink one for my mom for Mother's Day, and then the crazy checkered one is mine (protecting my Pepsi Max) which matches the top that I made for my previous post about the jars.  I like the way the finer gauge crochet cotton looks, and it seems to be as absorbent as the worsted weight cotton, but it doesn't get saggy and heavy like my previous one did.  I'm still working out a lid system, but overall, I feel like this is becoming something I'm pleased with.  I think I like the look of the single crocheted ones better than my cover which I used half double crochet stitches on.

My vase.  I love the idea of my vase so much, but lordy, I am having a challenge figuring out what to do with the idea now that I know it works.  I'd like to create vases that would be art pieces, or would be appropriate for selling in high-end boutiques, and worsted weight yarn was just not doing it for me.  They looked thick and clumsy and, worst of all, serviceable. Not the Gift-For-Someone-Who-Has-Everything I wanted.  So, I tried size 10 crochet cotton with a size 6 steel hook.  This bowl represents two days of my life: 

That's not even the worst part. This is the worst part:

I look at all those threads to be woven in, and I see another two days of my life.  I don't think this one is going to make it to full vase shape. Maybe I will seal it up and use it to hold M&Ms, or keys, or something precious and amazing, because I just can't bear to finish it or to throw it away...  Do you know what I should do with it, my Crochet Dynamos?

xoxo

Craft Fail, and I need a metal punch...

I have been in Create! Create! Create! mode lately, which has lead to the inevitable glory that is the craft fail. Why am I sharing this? Because I want to remember my progress, good and bad, and I love it when people that I follow and respect show that they're human.  Plus, I believe my ideas were good, it's the execution that needs fine tuning.

It all started with my love of the awesomeness that is the large fast food cup.  Not styrofoam or paper, since those tend to break quickly (and drench me in the process), but the big plastic cups that can be washed and reused over and over.  I love them.  Really.  But the lids break and after a few days the small cracks become big cracks, and they no longer fit tightly on the cup.  And a tight fitting lid is why I like the cups so much.  I have a five-year-old and a big dog.  My cup gets knocked over daily, and having a barrier that keeps the tidal wave of iced tea from pouring out onto the carpet is essential.  Also, I prefer my tea with no dog hair or Playdoh in it.

The big problem with fast food cups, besides the lid cracking I've already addressed, is that I feel really guilty about using them, since they're not eco-friendly.  I would feel a lot better about using something that I didn't feel was destroying the environment.  Happy Earth Day, by the way...  I know that they sell plastic to-go type cups, and I have bought several of them for $15 each, but the "reusable straw" always gets gross after a couple of days, and they're just too small since I love ice.  I really love ice.  Obsessed might be the appropriate word to describe my relationship with ice, and ultimately, those 16 oz cups don't hold more than three or four sips of iced tea when you pack them full of ice first.

Two of Jake's favorite restaurants use quart sized mason jars for cups, which made me think that might be an excellent choice for our home drinking needs. A quart is pretty big, which would allow me to have all the ice I want in my tea, and not have to refill it twenty times a day. Plus, glass is eco-friendly.  It doesn't break down, but it can be recycled, and no matter how gross it gets I can run it through a dishwasher and it will be good as new.  I still needed to solve the lid issue, since, seriously, I need a lid.  I also wanted the portability that a fast food cup gives, and a slippery glass jar might not.  So this is what I came up with:

A grippy coaster bottom that was absorbent, would protect my hand from icy beverages, and would make my cup easily identifiable in a crowd?  Win, win, win! I was elated!  

 Here is my craft fail though.  The crocheted piece was just too thick to sit properly on the top of the jar, and the metal ring wouldn't hold it in place.  I tried again with a fine weight cotton thread instead and it bowed and fell into the jar as well.

So, I ended up cutting a circle out of a cereal box, putting my crocheted lid into the ring, and then putting the cardboard circle on top of it to back it and keep it sturdy and flat.  The ring screwed on perfectly and my cup has been protected.  I will probably have to replace the cardboard every couple of days, but at least it is more eco-friendly than the plastic lids were. 

Really, I think I'm just going to have to save up and buy a metal punch so that I can make straw holes in the metal canning lids.  Hmm... Those lids would be perfect for parties, since we could all just sharpie our names on them and they would wash off later so I could reuse them. Seriously, what could possibly be more eco-friendly than that?

xoxo