St. Patrick's Day Crochet Project

Here are some of the items I crocheted as gifts for St. Patrick's Day. These can be used to sit hot pans on and they look nice as a decorative mat underneath a candle or other centerpiece.

The smaller Shamrock in the middle is detachable

You can add candy, tea bags, or other goodies and draw the string to close the shamrock like a bag.

Trivets or doilies

Crocheted Valentine's Heart Gifts

I've been such a busy bee with a crochet hook for the past weeks, I haven't even played Words with Friends. I didn't photograph the hot pan trivets I made for my daughters, or the dragon puppet for Lochy, or the purse for Keilie, or the tooth fairy bag for Mac, but here are a few of the items I made for Valentine's gifts for my kids and grand-kids.

This case keeps the phone from being scratched while in your purse.

These are actually two hearts attached with a woven string. They can be filled with candy, but I'm choosing a more healthy option and inserting individually wrapped tea bags for the adults and a bag of dried fruit for my grandsons.

Fingerless Gloves

These are for accident-prone people who have no fingers. Not really. They are for those who need to text or use their phone on cold days. The phone doesn't "feel" the cloth of a glove, so best use your ungloved fingers for that.

They also come in handy for wearing indoors like I do when I'm typing.

Repurposing Items and Re-Gifting

This year, my family and I are making a lot of the things I'm giving to those on my holiday gift list. There's quite a bit of creativity floating around and I thought I might share a few ideas.

Use your stash of printed photos and made greeting cards like I did here.

Don't throw away cut flowers when they just begin to wilt. Put them between the pages of a book and stack heavy books on top to press the flowers flat. You can laminate them to card stock using clear contact paper.

I made some nice candles from the scraps I saved when an old candle was too burned down to use. I get my family members to save their old candle chunks and then they get a fresh candle as a gift.

Remember all those herbs I grew (okay, tried to grow) in my garden this year? Those that survived are now being given as gifts. Here's what I've done so far:

• Sewn silk stockings and put the dried herbs inside; then crocheted strings so they can be dipped and dunked in a cup of hot water.
• Concocted echinacea oil for treating whatever ails one this winter.
• Made stevia syrup using vodka and water. That one made me a little tipsy, so be careful if you try it at home. You

My brother is refinishing the coffee table my parents used when we were kids. My son is refinishing a piece that belonged to my mom's uncle. These have been in storage for years. Won't mom and dad be surprised to see them again, looking all spiffy!

Of course I'll get out my crochet hook and make a few pieces that have been specially requested.

Elegant Silk Stockings for Herbal Infusion

I wanted a creative yet functional way to share the herbs that I grew in my garden this summer. "How about herbal infusions?" says I. "Good idea," says my other I.

How much do those metal tea balls cost? Probably two or three dollars each. That would have sufficed, but "Noooooo," says I. "Let's make this difficult and call upon several skill sets for this project." 

• Gardening for growing the herbs
• A sewing machine to create "silky stockings" for the herbs. Better than a paper tea bag, right? 
• Crocheting to make the strings

Now if I can just figure out how to package them. Right now they are in plastic zipper bags to keep the herbs fresh.

No More Tangled Ear Buds

My iPhone and iPod came with a private listening device (a.k.a. ear buds) on a thin white cord. Every time I started to use it, I had to untangle the cord. Not only is this aggravating for me, it's not good for the cord as it can damage it. So, I crocheted around the cord to keep it from wrapping into a knot in my purse.

I fall asleep most nights listening to my iPod. No more waking up tangled in what one might think is a spider web for a tarantula on steroids! Now if only the hot flashes would stop waking me up.

Pretty and clever. I bet you could do this!

Fun & Funky Shaggy Scarves and Hats

My friend Vickie is a fan of my crocheting. She asked me to make her this adorable scarf. I had enough material left over to make her a hat and make myself a scarf and hat set.

A Few Crocheted Things to Wear

I just can't seem to stop crocheting. I've made several items to wear. I really like the ear warmer headbands!

Crocheted Purses, Backpack, and Checkbook Covers

Sock Money Crocheted Hat

This was a fun project. It was part of my grandson's first Halloween costume. He went trick or treating as Sock Monkey.

We made his outfit too.

Crocheted Hats

I had a ton of fun crocheting hats for my family this past holiday season. I think I made about forty hats total.

Including one for my son to wear as he works on client's cars.

That's not including the ones I made for myself and the grandkids.

Crocheted Christmas Stockings

Shake My Booties

Hand crocheted booties

Welcome to Crafters in the Sky

A blog for Yvonne Perry's arts and crafts including sewing, crocheting, drawing, painting, herb gardening, and anything else that strikes her fancy!