This post had been in my drafts on Blogger for a while and I never published it for a few reasons. Mostly because by the time I came to publish it, the place I had bought the paint by numbers from wasn't selling it anymore. So here is the link, you can check it yourself. Even now as I write this it still wasn't back in stock. But you can get them to email you when it does come back (if it does come back) or you could possibly find it somewhere else (on Amazon or directly from the manufacturer). It turned out amazing if I do say so myself. I really liked it, it wasn't too hard to paint, and it took me the exact same number of days as the Lakeside Cabin did.
This one we also posted last year (2020), but it really was a good purchase and so I am sharing it again. You can find out more about it and read the original post here. But I am giving you a sneak preview of how it came out. And man do I love it. It isn't perfect, but there is something about making it yourself that makes it a masterpiece (to the painter anyways).
For today's Tips, Tricks and Tutorial Thursday we are going to talk about the Tunisian Simple Stitch. Tunisian crocheting is a different type of crocheting that uses the basic crocheting skills and works somewhat like knitting would.
To do Tunisian crochet you need a special hook. These hooks come in different sizes and styles. Some are just really long crochet hooks with a tapered end so the stitches don't fall off, others look like normal crochet hooks with long wires at the end. Either one should work the same as the other.
The first project I did using this stitch was a washcloth. With a washcloth, I only used 26 stitches so it was small enough to use just a regular crochet hook (they were a little cramped but it worked fine for me).Like regular crochet sometimes it is hard to find the last stitch, so it is very important to keep count and remember to work all the way to the end of that stitch. It is sometimes hard to work into the last chain. Keep in mind the last "loop" will be doubled and it would look like part of the "chain".
Also, something to remember with TSS, is that there is no turning your work, you have to work one way and back to count as one row. (To help me learn how to do this style of crochet I watched this youtube video).
Starting a Tunisian Project:
Any Tunisian project starts the same way a normal crochet project starts, with the chain. For this washcloth, the starting chain was 26. As with regular crochet for the TSS, you want to skip the first stitch and work into the second from the hook. Next, you will start the same way as you would a normal single crochet, but do not finish it. Once you have pulled a loop onto your hook, go to the next stitch and repeat.
Once you have all the stitches on your hook, you will have to pull through them to get back to the end you started at. (You always start at the same end, and never chain before starting.) To pull through you want to yarn over and pull through the first stitch. This is the only time you will pull through one stitch on your hook. The rest of the stitches you will yarn over and pull through two, all the way to the end.
This is what one row should look like when you are done. As you can see this process results in "ribs" or bars running across the row. This is the stitches, and where you will work into. Make sure to skip the first stitch (you can see the hook is touching the stitch to skip in this photo), and work the rest. Continue this until you have the length you desire. (Usually, I stitch to 26 by 26 but 28 x 28 is a good size also.)
Finishing a Tunisian Project:
To finish a TSS project, you will work into the stitches the same way you did before. This time however you will slip stitch and always keep ONLY one stitch on the hook. At the end of the row, once you have done the last slip stitch you pull the end through the way you would a normal crochet project.
This is what a finished dish cloth will look like one side it will have the "ribs" the other side will have a knitted look.
(You may notice the ends rolling up, you can place them under a heavy book to help stop this, you can "block" them or you can try doing a row of single crochet before starting the Tunisian Simple Stitch part of the project.)
The video below shows Claudette Crochet demonstrating
We are back with Mario Mondays! This year we are tackling Super Mario Bros. 2. This one is a little different than all the other Super Mario Bros. And so this Crochet Along (CAL) is going to be a little different too. All these graphs will make a blanket. But we are going to go above and beyond that. Out of all these graphs, you will be able to make 1 to 5 blankets (not including the bonus graphs!), 2 to 4 pillowcases, and 4 to 6 scarves! That's incredible. And that also means that these graphs are versatile. So you can probably find even more combinations than we are giving you!
Now before we even think of all those we have to think of what stitch this project will be completed in. The graphs are in 8-bit which is what Mario was made in. This doesn't always come out so great when using traditional crochet (single or half double stitches). Often people choose to do C2C crochet for this (or the mini C2C), or a different stitch (like the bobble or popcorn stitch). If you would like to use half-double crochet stitch, we recommend letting each box represent two stitches. This should help the image come out as it is intended.
Now for the colours. You can choose to use the yarn you already have or you can go out and buy the yarn you need. Below you will see the colours we have used in the graphs for the next four months. There is only going to be these colours for now. Once we are done with these sets of graphs there will be more colours, but we will give another list for that. (NOTE: You may need more than one ball of yarn for each colour.)
The colours are:
Red (We recommend Cherry Red)
Blue (We recommend Light Navy Blue)
Green (Keep in mind you will eventually need four different shades of green. Should NOT be Lime or Forest Green - Middle Shade will do)
White
Pink (We recommend Dusty Rose)
Brown (Not too Dark)
Skin Shade (Tanned)
Skin Shade (Lighter)
Next week we will explain the layouts. We have a few of them depending on the project. We encourage the adventurous crocheter to crochet all the graphs and make multiple projects out of them (we will walk you through all of them). But if you don't want to make them all we will walk you through as best we can so you can make the ones you will like the best.
Happy New Years to all! This post is a little late compared to what we used to post our blogs at but this is a special announcement!!
SMLXL
As some of you may know, Creative Arts was started by just one person, me, Amy. You will notice my name almost everywhere I am A. L. Keegan, I am Amyl Creations, I am 15 Designs, I write the recipes for Master of the Kitchen, I create the puzzles for Puzzle Time Games, Creative Photography and for the most part I wrote (and will write) all the blog posts! This year I am also adding Bath and Body products to my company/website under the product line name: A - Z Soaps and I hope to add Event Baskets also where you can create your own basket filled with all the goodies I have to offer.
As you can imagine all of that is hard work for just one person. And that is why I took a break from writing these blogs. Blogs took up a large part of my life and I would write them a mouth ahead of time just to make sure everything went out on time. It was exhausting. I started this website and blog with good intentions. I have always been creative and I know a lot of people that are also. I thought it would be a great (and cheap) way to show the world my work and my friends' talents. Ultimately, that backfired. Some of my so called friends, were lying to me about their talent and my company had a rocky start. It was a set back and a huge blow to say the least. (I won't name names but we had a huge problem when trying to share content on other websites like Deviant Art.) Now I am happy to say that I have a small group of friends that I trust on here sharing their work.
Hugh Chandler is an amazing musician. He has a Master of Music in Guitar Performance from the University of South Carolina and he completed a Doctorate in Music Composition at the University of Texas! He composes music for short films, for videos, and for plays all around the United States and has had his music preformed in not only the U.S but Mexico and Sweden as well. He is truly a great friend of mine, and He has so kindly named a few of his songs after me, and my ideas. He is a great inspiration to me and my writing process. He has even made a song for some of the characters in my books! (Which I hope to be able to share with you this year).
SMLXL
Keysar Trad is a friend of mine also and he has a beautiful collection of poetry and art. He is also a passionate religious figure in his community and has a love or art and words. He has a few religious publications but he also has a wonderful Poetry book titled the Forays of the Heart. He also is a wonderful artist and enjoys doodling in his spare time (you can find these works on our website or our Deviant Art page). And if you enjoy both Art and Poetry, Keysar offers both in the form of Greeting Cards.
SLXLM
Now for me. I am just a small town girl that grew up trying all kinds of different art forms. I loved writing in school and wrote short stories often in class and just loved it. I started writing my first novel when I was in the sixth grade. It was really a great way to help me deal with my Anxiety that would ultimately play a huge part in my life. In fact Anxiety is the reason I started this business in the first place. Anxiety is hard to navigate and it doesn't have a schedule. It makes working a traditional job almost impossible for me. So this website was my chance at having a normal job and trying to be successful and make money. That is why I started this and try to make it the best it can be, not only for me but to help better my life, my friend's lives and maybe even my family's lives also.
SMLXL
I thank you all so much for taking the time to read this. And I hope you enjoy my new ideas for blog posts. I really don't know if I will post regularly like I used to or what posts I will have going. But some is better than none and I plan to do what I can when I can and still find a balance in my day to day life. So check back often here and on our other social media's to make sure you don't miss a thing!
