PlanetJune Blog: Latest News, Patterns and Tutorials

For the Granny Squares theme on Crochet Along, I decided to make a throw to decorate the office chair in my craft room. I figured out I would need a long strip, 13 squares long and 3 squares wide. When I’d finished all the squares, I measured the finished squares against the chair and decided it needed a 4th column of squares to look better. I didn’t quite have enough yarn for the additional 13 squares, so I had a mad dash to Michaels to hope they still had the same dye lots in stock (they did with the linen colour, but not the brown, but I can’t see the difference so that’s okay).

The upshot of all this is that I didn’t finish the project during the theme time, but I’m only a week overdue. And here is the completed throw:

The throw also comes to the same length behind the chair, so it breaks up the expanse of black leather nicely. I’m especially pleased with the way one square is exactly the same as the width of the top of the chair, so the throw sits squarely on top of the chair and isn’t likely to slide about:

I found the Vanna’s Choice yarn pleasant and even to work with, although not as soft as the yarns I usually favour. But I think it will stand up well to use, and may soften with washing.

The rest of my craft room is still plain and undecorated (apart from the toy shelves), but I have grand plans! More on that soon…

We’ve just started a new theme on my other blog, Crochet Along. The new theme is Small Crochet – basically anything goes, as long as it’s small(ish). I’ve given 6″ or less as a guide for size, but it’s not a strict rule. We’re going for small stuff as instant gratification – it’ll be refreshing after making countless granny squares for the last theme!

Here are some examples of small crocheted items you could make:

• Amigurumi
• Small wearables: headbands, wrist warmers, etc
• Coffee mug cosies / iPod cosies, etc
• Baby booties
• Flowers & embellishments
• Small thread or wire crocheted items
• Anything else that’s small and crocheted!

We have free pattern links and advice to share. If you’ve considered trying crochet for the first time, this would be the perfect opportunity! If you’d like to join in, head over to the Crochet Along blog or drop me an e-mail and I’ll sign you up.

I watched the Westminster dog show on TV last week, and now I have about 20 ideas for dog breeds that I’m itching to design for the AmiDogs range! I was delighted to see that a beagle won Best in Show for the first time ever (yay Uno!), but of course I’ve already designed a Beagle…

So here’s the first dog for AmiDogs Set 3: a Siberian Husky (or is it an Alaskan Malamute? You take your pick!)

The grass is wishful thinking on my part – winter is almost over, isn’t it?

Woof!

I’m especially happy with his pricked ears and white-tipped tail. Hope you like him 🙂

UPDATE: Looking for the pattern? You can find the AmiDogs Husky crochet pattern in my shop.

Thank you to everyone who requested a shrinkydinks ring tutorial! This tutorial is an experimental method, not an exact science – you should have fun playing with it…

UPDATE: Since posting this very popular tutorial in 2008, I’ve answered every question imaginable in the comments of this post. If you have questions, you’re welcome to trawl back through the hundreds of comments to find my answers, or, to make things easier, I’ve compiled a 3-page shrinky rings FAQ, which is available exclusively when you donate $2 or more towards my tutorial (this also entitles you to further help from me by email, should you need it). Please see the end of this post for more details about this policy 🙂

Please note: if you’ve come here via the lovely bird ‘ring’ picture on Pinterest, read this post to answer your questions.

This tutorial is Donationware – the instructions are available for free, but if you like it please consider sending me a donation to show your appreciation:

Send me a donation and receive the easy-to-print PDF version of the tutorial as a thank you! The PDF also includes a bonus 3-page FAQ compiled from all the tips I’ve shared in the comments since creating this tutorial.

Donations of any size are much appreciated. Just add the amount you wish to donate, and, once you have checked out and paid, your PDF will instantly be available to download from your PlanetJune account.

The complete instructions are available below, regardless of whether or not you choose to pay for them 🙂

This is a PlanetJune original tutorial. Please do not share or reproduce this tutorial; instead post a link to www.planetjune.com/shrinkydinks

I’ll answer some questions from the comments on my previous shrinky rings post before I get started, and add more hints and tips throughout the tutorial.

Shrink plastic, for the uninitiated, was originally marketed as a toy for kids. It starts life thin and flexible. You draw on it and then bake it in the oven, and it shrinks to become about 1/3 of the starting size, but 9 times as thick. This thickness makes it strong and hard. It will not bend after baking, so if you try to pull your ring open, or stand on it, it may snap, but it is strong enough to withstand regular use as a ring.

The last step (bending the ring into shape) is the most difficult, so I highly recommend that 1) you read through all the instructions before starting, and 2) practice on a blank piece of shrink plastic so you can get a feel for it and test your size and bending technique before putting too much effort into your design!

Full tutorial instructions are after the jump…

I received an e-mail from a potential customer yesterday:

I writes you because I would like to make the fuzzy bears because my daughter finds him(it) very beautiful. I wanted to buy you the model but regrettably I have not paypal. you would have another method of payment to give me. I can for example if you give me your banking coordinates to be made a transfer.

I replied back with my alternate payment options (cash, cheque, money order), and received this in response:

Thank you for your answer. To be able to make the payment on-line, I need your IBAN address, or your N of account as well as the coordinates of your bank.

Giving this person the benefit of the doubt (sounds like English isn’t their first language), I replied back again to reiterate that they may also send me payment by mail. I then received another reply:

I understands that it you frightened we never know what can arrive. But I promises you that my attentions are not bad. I ask you for that because I have a paypal nor credit card and the only means for me to pay your model which I wish enormously remain the on-line payment from my bank to your bank. I shall send you the proof of payment by email. I can so tried to make the payment if you give me only the IBAN.

Now, there is a chance that this person is genuine, but by this point I strongly suspect that this is a personalized phishing scam! This is a far cry from the standard random spam e-mails claiming the sender will give you a million dollars for helping them to move money into the country – someone has gone to some trouble to e-mail me directly, even using details of one of my patterns (fuzzy bear) to sound more genuine.

I just wanted to warn other people who sell online to beware this kind of scam. Never, ever, give out your bank account details!

I’ve been making more shrink plastic rings, and I’ve refined my method so I can produce these:

Click for larger version

I really like how they’ve turned out. And there’s also the added bonus of watching the long strips of shrinkydinks wiggle about as they shrink 🙂

Would anyone be interested in a tutorial on how to make these? Let me know in the comments… UPDATE: Thanks for all the requests! Here’s the tutorial 🙂

I’ve wanted to try making shrink plastic jewellery for months, but I found some lovely rubber stamps yesterday that are only 3/8″ long, so when the stamped images are shrunk they are beautifully delicate.

I made this prototype ring in just a few minutes, to test the concept. It’s not perfect – I’m very inexperienced with stamping so I didn’t quite get the positioning I wanted, and the length shrunk slightly more than I expected, so the ends of the ring don’t meet on the inside, but I think the idea has promise:

What do you think?

I’ll try to make a better one, and then I’ll give you a close-up of the stamped design once I’ve perfected it…

I often get asked how to make colour changes when crocheting amigurumi, so I’ve put together a tutorial with some instructions and tips so you’ll be able to keep your stitches neat when changing colour.

Colour Changes in Amigurumi Tutorial >>