Designing inspiration...

How do I come up with the designs? 

Honestly, the designs come to me in different ways.

I am currently working on a swan. The idea for him was from a picture I saw online. It was a picture of a cabinet, with what appeared to be a knick-knack of a swan on it, I drew it out on paper. After getting a closer look of the item on the cabinet, turns out it was just a ordinary vase.  So it appears I see things that aren't there. LOL!

Here is another one.. 

My hubby has a old flip phone and on this phone the front has worn off. 

I'm sure not everyone will see what I see but I see an alien.

As you can see my vision came out different but the wear on the phone is what inspired it.

And then there are moments when I draft out something like my recent gnome and all of a sudden I am on a new piece of paper drafting one after another of animals to do in a series using the same base design.

For me you just never know where the inspiration is going to come from, I thought it was this and it turned out to be that, weird shapes that look like something or a base design that multiplies itself into different animals.

Happy crocheting!

Pattern of the week sale 2021

 I was reading through the comments of a post on Facebook, the group I was in, is for helping sellers get a handle on Etsy and to use it to its full advantage. I enjoy reading other sellers experiences and how I can use that to help me. 

While reading those comments this one lady commented on a pic and the sale she was having.
The poster says she just randomly picked that item to be on sale. 

This was a light bulb moment!! 

I have well over 52 patterns, I could have a pattern of the week sale for the whole year!! Isn't that great?

The hardest part for me is to figure out which pattern should be on sale and when but I'm sure it wont take long to get it down.

Hardest part for you (my super fans) is to keep checking back to see which pattern is on sale. Kinda a hassle, right?

So lets make it easier for you by signing up for my monthly newsletter that will keep you informed of what patterns will be on sale for that month.

(click to sign up)

I hope you enjoy the Pattern of the week for 2021.

Happy Crocheting!

Cutting felt pieces

 I am often asked … How I get my felt pieces shaped the way I do.

Do I use a template? 

Do I use a cutter of some sorts?

The answer is no to both, I free hand it all the way.

The first thing I do is cut two generous squares such as one inch by one inch (for example). 

While holding them together, I round the corners. 

I measure and cut some more for a more rounded or oblong look.

Still holding them together, I cut the spot for the safety eye through both pieces.

While holding the 2 felt pieces together I insert one safety eye, that way I can cut them both to make them the same size and shape.

Cut them down some more.

Repeat and repeat till I get them the size and shape I want.

As you can see I have felt dust all over the place.

Carefully pull off the second piece without stretching it and insert the second safety eye.

I go around smoothing out the edges that are not just right.

I can take me up towards an hour of working on the felts for the eyes just trying to make them just right and as close to perfect copies of each other.

I do all of this with these fabulous Fiskars scissors (I call them my snippers). The tips are super sharp and makes the smallest cuts so they are easy to smooth out the edges for a polished look. My favorite snippers by far.

I hope you found this post helpful. 
Happy crocheting!

Crochet teachers

 As I sit here thinking about what this post is going to be, my best friend Becky popped into my mind.

She and I would spend many hours crocheting together, chatting about crocheting and she taught me so much more than I ever knew I could learn. She was my friend, mentor and teacher. I'm sure we all had some crochet teachers in our lives. It could of just been watching some one crochet on the bus or in a waiting room and a curiosity was created or a long history of teachers in a family.

They all play an important role in how and what we crochet.  How we hold our hook to how we make our stitches. Becky was a pencil holder and I am a knife holder, her stitches were nearly double in size to mine. Not to say all pencil holders make large stitches, just that she did. Who taught her to crochet like that? Her mom and aunt. Which in my mind makes crochet very personal, treasured family traditions. But everyone learns from different sources and that makes it even more personal, say you learned from YouTube videos, those people are passing down their families teachings. I get all warm inside thinking about all the love and passion that goes into teaching someone the art of crochet. 

And to take that a bit further, every pattern that we follow shapes us to what things we like to make. If we enjoy challenges and that pattern nearly drove you crazy till you figured it out instead of tossing it out, then you are more likely to enjoy more complex stitch patterns and designs. If you prefer to relax and let your mind wonder while crocheting, then you probably enjoy more patterns that are on the easier side.  I think I fall in-between those two, I enjoy pushing myself to try new designs but not too overly complex to make me say bad words at it. Haha

My mother taught me that sitting quietly and crocheting while watching tv was very relaxing.

My grandmother taught me that crochet can be more than just a blanket for warmth, there were clothes, baby clothes and kitchen wares as well.

My nana taught me that sometimes more complex stitch patterns can be very pretty and worth the extra effort.

My best friend Becky taught me that even though life can be crazy, the yarn is always there just waiting for you to turn string into something fun.

So here is a big thanks to all the crochet teachers who pass on their family traditions down to others and every time they do they are adding in their own personal flares to it, weather it be in person or in a video. We thank you!

Magic circle or ring

 The magic circle (as I like to call it) a.k.a the magic ring and probably other names as well. 

In my opinion is one of the most essential keys to Amigurumi. Having the beginning of a piece looking its best, makes all the difference. 

Seeing stuffing is probably the worst in my book but messy beginnings are a close second. 

The goal is to have your end result like this...

Not this...

Maybe your thinking, I don't see much of a difference. 

Lets put them side by side and see if you see it now. 

As you can see the center of the magic circle is completely closed vs the ch 2 method has a center hole. For me, no matter how many times I try, ch 2 always leads to a center hole. Drives me nuts!! 

It is time to learn the magic circle!!

Let's begin...

Holding the yarn tail over the fingers and into the palm of your hand, pinch it to your index finger with thumb.

Wrap the working yarn over the middle and index finger, crossing over the yarn tail, pinch it in place on index finger with thumb.

Secure running yarn behind loop on fingers.

Insert hook under loop and pull the working yarn through.

Give it a little twist to have a snug fit on your hook.

hook your working yarn and pull through the loop on hook.

And look at that, your done!

There that wasn't so bad, was it? Okay maybe trying a few more times might be needed.

Now you are ready to start your stitches.

Create your stitches around both tail and loop, 

When you have reached your desired amount of stitches, move the tail out from inside the loop.

Grab the tail and pull until the hole is closed. 

Most (I have noticed) stop right there BUT I have found that when working the next round the center will become loose a bit. 

Well with amigurumi, that just wont do.

After completing round 2, grab the tail and pull it snug again and this time put 3 knots on it as close to the work as possible. 

How I do that is by laying the piece flat, making a loose knot and holding my finger over it while pulling, this lays the knot right at the starting point of the tail, then I repeat 2 more times. The reason I do 3 is to make the knot larger that the stitches so no way is it going to work through and loosen.

And there you have it, a nice magic circle with no hole and secured to not come loose.

I hope this picture tutorial was helpful AND if at first you don't succeed, try, try again.

Happy crocheting!

Southern Gal's Crochet beginnings...

 

So if you missed the first part... Leading up to Southern Gal's Crochet.

Welcome to the beginning of Southern Gal's Crochet.

I left off with falling in love with making Amigurumi. This lead to exploring as many patterns as I could get my hands on and quickly realizing patterns are written in various different ways, each designer had their own style just like crocheters. I was learning heaps and had boxes filled with finished products. 

With all these finished products hanging around I needed to do something with them. So I opened a Etsy shop. The first thing they ask for is a shop name, I had no clue what name to be. That was torture for me, my family and friends, eventually it was decided Southern Gal's Crochet was good. 

Selling my finished items and making custom orders went well but I knew it wasn't where my heart was at, I knew I wanted to write patterns for all the ideas I had floating in my head. 

I wrote my first pattern in 2011, I was thrilled with myself. LOL! I laugh cause I was so naive. I had no clue about the legal stuff, protecting your work and making a quality pattern. Heck I didn't even know that you were supposed to get those patterns tested before publishing. 

Yes. Yes I did! I really released a pattern untested and with zero step photos. I hang my head in shame. I soon realized I had made a mistake when I started getting mean messages from customers unhappy with the quality of pattern they purchased. I look back and I don't blame them at all, today I would totally do the same thing, maybe not as mean.

I worked hard at making my patterns better and with a little more style. Slowly building it up one pattern at a time, in just a few years I had a about a dozen patterns. It probably would've been more but I was still taking orders from family and friends. 

One day in 2018 I decided that was it, no more orders, I was going to switch over to just patterns. 

I am glad I did. It freed my creative mind to flow, the pattern ideas were coming at me faster than I could make them. My testers were so busy I had 2 or 3 patterns being tested at once, it was crazy!

Thankfully I got control of my mania and settled into a nice groove. I still get lots of ideas and jot them down but I am not frantically trying to do them all at once anymore. At this slower pace, even if I wasn't to get another idea, I would still have enough to last a few more years. Haha.

I hoped you enjoyed getting to know me a little better and of how it all began is still going.

Happy Crocheting!
Heather Welch

Leading up to Southern Gal's Crochet...

I have always (or so it seems) known how to crochet. Haha, okay not really but I have been surrounded by it from various family members and friends growing up. 

My earliest memory of yarn was when I was about 6, my Nana knitting and my Grammy crocheting. I remember watching them but never asking anything about it.

When my father remarried when I was 7, my step mother (mom) brought yarn into my life, she was a crocheter. I just recently recalled my first toy with her and it was an octopus. Green and blue yarn wrapped around a Styrofoam ball, the legs were braids and the eyes were made with red felt. I was so proud of that thing! LOL!

When I was 8 or 9, I went to camp and learned how to make a chain on my fingers. The Christmas tree that year had lots of chains on it. Hey, my mom had to find something to do with all my practice work!

We had a friend of the family that babysat us occasionally and she decided I needed to move to the next level and taught me how to crochet a single crochet stitch blanket for my Barbie. Well lets just say Barbie got a triangle blanket but a blanket none the less. I eventually taught myself how to quit loosing stitches and also how to do a double crochet (not know that was what it was called).

After picking up crochet for a blanket or scarf now and again through out the years, life had a way of always bringing me back to crochet. Whether it be passing the time while 18 wheeling back and forth across the country or coming home and having nothing to do, so I pick up the hook once again.

Many blankets and scarves were made over the decades.

Till one day shortly after getting my very first computer in April 2008, I decided to check out the website on the label of the Red Heart skein I had. To my surprise they had patterns!, I was in awe, but sadly I had never learned to read a pattern. After picking a blanket design and saving every chart I could find, I took on the task of figuring it out. I remember calling my best friend to share with her my exciting achievement.

After many patterns, failures and frustrated tears, by 2011 I was feeling brave enough to try a toy. I saw this book in the craft store called Sugar'n Cream Bright Ideas and it had a set of monsters in it. I just had to try them!

The original pattern called for felt for the face pieces, I didn't any so I had to figure out how to make the faces in crochet, which pushed my brain to be creative.

I fell in love with making Amigurumi!

It was a love that drove my creativity to blossom.

To be continued...

Frog, frogging and using frogged yarn

The title is making me laugh, it feels like I am doing a tongue twister! 

Kidding aside, let's get to it.

What is frog or frogging in the crochet world? Frog or frogging comes from the phrase "rip it" "rip it".

Say that fast enough or with an accent and "Rip it" can sound like "Ribbit" like a frog.

Where does "rip it" fit in to crochet? Generally when mistakes are made you will need to undo the stitches back to where the mistake is.

If it is a large amount, you grab the yarn and just start ripping (a.k.a frogging) them out.

If asking your fellow crocheters what to do about a mistake rounds or rows back, the typical answer will be to "rip it" or frog it.

Now that you know what frog and frogging are and how they apply to crochet, we will talk about the yarn that you just frogged.

Most crocheters will do everything they can not to waste yarn as it can be quite expensive depending on location or preference.

They will frog out the yarn, fix the mistake and continue on using the same yarn they just frogged.

I do not.

I will do my best to explain why.

But let me clarify that I also do not use expensive yarn.

Almost all of my patterns are done using yarns in either Red Heart super saver or Bernat super value.

These are acrylic yarns that are common in the USA and Canada.

For Amigurumi I choose these yarns for their hold, durability and value of course.

But (there is always a but...) I do find that these yarns don't stay the same after frogging, I couldn't say whether other yarns do this as well but I am assuming probably.

As you can see in the picture below, that there are certain points in the frogged yarn that have been compressed, smooshed or stretched.

I like to use the word compressed.

Say I do the first 5 rnds of a head with my trusty G (4.00mm)hook, my gauge is going to be 5 sts and 5 rnds is 1 inch square.

But if I do this with frogged yarn, my gauge turns into 7/8 of an inch square

So there is an obvious difference. 

 

If I am just going to frog a few stitches or even just one round, I will use the same frogged yarn cause the difference wont hurt the project overall. 

If I need to frog a good portion of the work, I will cut the yarn and attach fresh yarn. 

Now keep in mind attaching new yarn works very well with amigurumi but not so much with other crocheted items. 

 

Most of the crocheters I have talked to about this subject hadn't noticed the difference until they tried it themselves. I encourage you to give it a try and see if your crochet style ends up with a difference. Some projects this will matter and some it wont, it is all up to your personal preference and crochet style. 

 

Hope this was informative and helpful, happy crocheting!

Safety Eyes

Size:

Always use the size eyes called for in pattern or appropriate size for gauge, if you are using a bulkier yarn (thinner yarn) than the pattern calls for you will want to increase (decrease) the size of your safety eyes to keep the proportions correct.

 

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Security:

I have never had any of my eyes come loose and fall out or have the backs come off once applied properly but I have had the top portion of the eye break at the post (Note: it was a bad batch and once I threw them away, I have not experienced this again). I suggest giving the head of the eye a few good tugs just to be sure it's not faulty.

Other ways you can add extra security is to...

Add a spot of glue on the post before adding the backs.

Melt the tips of the post after adding the backs.

 

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Placement:

When applying safety eyes it is always important to make sure placement is precisely where you want it BEFORE attaching the backs. Also if you are using felt, yarn or floss behind the eyes, be sure to apply those BEFORE attaching the backs. Once those backs have been put on, they are permanent.

 

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Purchase:

All eyes used in Southern Gal's Crochet patterns were purchased at crscrafts.

 

Southern Gal's Crochet evolving

Wow, it has been 9 years since I started Southern Gal's Crochet!

I started this blog when I was just learning to crochet other things than the typical square or rectangular things like blankets and scarves.
First this blog was about sharing my work, complaining about my work and various pattern problems, sharing the wonderful patterns I fell in love with.
Then it evolved into just a place to store links to my favorite patterns and purse making supplies.
Eight yrs later and I still don't know exactly what I should be doing with this site but I do have it and I need to put it to good use.

Now that I have been designing amigurumi patterns for the last few yrs. I think this is a good place to talk about tips and pointers that may help my audience in making a finished product from my patterns.

Yes, that is going to be my goal.

Happy Crocheting!