Trying Out Something Different

    Last year, I asked my mom (who has been crocheting for years) if she had any crochet magazines or books lying around, because I was looking for new patterns. She let me borrow a huge collection of older patterns she has saved over the years. A lot of them were done with thread, lots and lots of doilies. Some very nice too. Well, at the end of this book were a lot of patterns done with Tunisian Crochet. I had never seen this before, and I thought to myself..."Nah, that's just not for me."


    .....Just like I've always said, "Nah, crochet just isn't for me" haha. I've said that for years, ever since my mom tried to teach me when I was in elementary school. Then I saw amigurumi patterns, decided to give it another try, and I was hooked! (No pun intended! :P)


    Anyways, last week I started thinking of trying out Tunisian Crochet. I don't know why, just all of a sudden I got this urge to try it out. So I went out and got myself a few afghan hooks. I'm so happy I did! It was a little exciting to learn something new, even though I've been crocheting for quite a while. 

    Unfortunately, I haven't found all that many patterns online. I ended up scanning and keeping the patterns from my mom's book, but I gave it back to her. If I remember correctly, most of the Tunisian patterns were for huge blankets, and charts. I prefer to make smaller things. I will make the occasional blanket, but I like things that I can finish faster...Like amigurumi, kitchen things like tawashis, purses, hats, etc. AND if I wanted a chart...I'd so make my own, I'm a huge video game nerd and I need things with game sprites on them...Like Simon Belmont...that would be amazing!

    Seriously, I'd love to make a scarf or something with Simon on it! It would have to be the Original Simon though, new Simon and Alucard would be too hard lol, too many colors for me haha! So I just had to share how fun Tunisian Crochet is. If you've never tried it, I highly recommend going out and getting an afghan hook and trying it out!

New Pattern!

I have a new pattern up! You can check it out on Ravelry or Etsy! After lots of thought, I decided to go ahead and sell the pattern, but not to worry! I'll have a new free pattern up soon!

Outside, just chilling in the grass

They were originally called "Teeny Tiny Turtles", but as I was putting it up on Ravelry, turns out there were already like 5 patterns with the same name. So, now they are known as "Teenie Weenie Turtles"...I think I like that better anyways. They're so small, but I just love them!

Chilling on the stairs

I was supposed to be making something else, but all of a sudden, these little guys popped in my head! I spent forever trying to get the right number of rounds, and especially the edging around the shell, but I think they turned out great! I thought about just making them as pincushions, but then I decided to just call them toys, or even bath toys, my daughter took every turtle I made and played with them in the bath tub lol. 

Chilling with friends

I thought about it for a long time, and in the end, I decided to sell the pattern. I really did spend a long time trying to get not only the pattern and finished product perfect, but I spent about 3 days trying to make the PDF file look presentable, AND write an entire tutorial on how to do the magic ring, to be as thorough as possible for people just beginning their crocheting adventures lol. 

Magic Ring Tutorial!

I decided to do this for a pattern I put up for sale...It was already 4 pages long and the file size was huge, so I decided to put it here to save space, and make the tutorial free! I would never want to make anyone pay for a tutorial. If you want to check out the turtle pattern for sale, its on Etsy and Ravelry!

I love using the magic ring, I think its the best way to start amigurumi as it leaves no hole, unlike other methods. It might seem a little hard at first, but once you get used to it, you'll be doing it as fast as ever! This is my first tutorial, I hope it helps!

Grab the tail of your yarn and lay it across your palm, the tail sort of draping over your index finger

Well, the tail should drape around your index finger, NOT
your palm lol

Then you'll want to take your tail, still behind your index finger, and wrap it around your middle and ring fingers TWICE

You'll want to leave a longer tail, long enough to hold it
with your pinky and pull to close later.

Now, holding the tail with your pinky finger, and your hand kind of closed around the yarn to hold in place, insert your hook underneath both of the loops wrapped around your middle and ring fingers. Catch the yarn from your index finger (the yarn in back) and pull up a loop. Ch 1 (or however many, depending on what stitch you're using. I will be using single crochets). 

Now you can do however many stitches your pattern needs. For this tutorial, I'm doing 6 single crochets in the ring. You do it the same way you did your ch 1, by inserting the hook under both loops, catching the yarn behind your index finger, pulling up a loop. YO and pull through both loops, and there you go! One Single crochet! When you the right number of stitches, you'll want to pull the loop on your hook to make it bigger, so when we're closing the ring, no stitches will be lost!

Now its time to close the ring!

Now you have two loops...but which one to pull? Well, once you get used to using a magic ring, you'll know which one to pull. Its actually the yarn right next to your tail. To make sure, especially if you're a beginner, is to gently pull on the tail...Don't pull too hard!

When you pull on the tail, you'll notice one of the loops starting to close. See the side that's closing? Pull the opposite side of that same loop. (You should pull on the right side of the ring, again, right by the tail.)

When you pull the tail, one loop should start to close,
the other one won't move.

Pull that loop and tightly close your ring!

Now you will have one large loop left. Its time to finish the ring! Pull the tail tight, and congrats! Your ring is finished! When I was first starting out, I would get this far, but the tail just would not move! Pulling so hard, the yarn would actually break! It turned out I was pulling the wrong loop  in the step before, the first loop we pulled. I just thought I would mention this because it took me a long time to figure out why that was happening lol. 

So if you're having a lot of trouble pulling your tail to finish your ring, make sure you're pulling the right loop when you're first closing the ring.

I have no idea why I left my tail SO long lol.

Now just put your hook back in the loop and tighten it. If you're not sure where to start the next round, just count your stitches starting from the hook!

Now you'll just continue with the pattern, usually 2 sc in each st around, make sure you put a stitch marker in the first st of the round, you don't want to lose your place! (I know a lot of people put a stitch marker in the last stitch of the previous round, you can do it either way, but I always put it in the first.)

Of course, move the stitch marker up every round! 

And that's it! I hope this will help people that are having trouble, I know I had some trouble when I was first learning. If you have any questions, just leave a comment! You can also email me with questions at empressofpalamecia@gmail.com.

Have fun making your amigurumi!!