Gigantic Peg Board Cross Stitch Wall Art

I was standing in Home Depot looking for a piece of precut plywood that was just right but I didn't find it. But I DID find 2' x 4' piece of peg board. I grabbed it and started walking toward the back. Russell "What are you doing with that?" Me: "I'm going to have it cut." Russell: "Why?" Me: "Because I'm going to make a huge-ass cross stitch out of it." Russell: "..."

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Basket Weave Crochet Stitch

Updated on Friday, March 1, 2013 by Allison Murray

The first exposure I had to this crochet stitch was in a goodwill in west Texas last summer. There was an afghan that had seen better days but the pattern was absolutely mesmerizing. I looked at it from a distance because my Mimmie informed me that if I didn't want to take bed bugs home I wouldn't be jacking with anything made of fabric. I asked her what kind of a stitch it was and she told me a "a nasty one".

Since I was playing chauffer to Momma and Mimmie I didn't have an opportunity to really think about it too much, but on the many, many hours of drive back to Oklahoma I Googled on my phone with a fierce determination to find out how to replicate what I had seen. Although I now know it is a basket weave I had no idea what to call it. Isn't it so much fun to search for something you have no clue the name of? Love it! (not really)

So I found a pic in image search and I spent 7+ hours trying to duplicate what I saw on my phone's screen. It was rather frustrating but in the end, I made it work. When I got a good deal going Momma said, it looks like a basket weave! I was then able to find a proper tutorial and learned that I wasn't doing it that way, but since it worked out for me, I'm sharing it here!

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Granny Crochet Stitch in a Straight Line

Granny squares are traditional and awesome but as a kid I thought they looked old fashioned. What I did like were the puffy shell shaped stitches and my Mimmie tried to teach me but I had a hard time. Instead, she wound up showing me how to do the granny stitch in a straight line instead of a square. I got my shell shape but I wasn't stuck with squares.

As an adult, I find that I like the stitch when I want to do stripes. Either bold and chunky or by alternating every row, this stitch can be versatile in spite of the fact that it is very simple.

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How to Half Double Crochet

Not going to lie. When I first saw the need for a half double crochet stitch on a pattern I decided to just use a double crochet. It didn't exactly work out.

Good news, this is an easy stitch and if you alraady know how to double crochet, it's in the bag. For those of you who don't need the pictorial, I'm not going to have you sifting through this post trying to find a quick answer... The only thing that is different between the double crochet and the half double is the fact that you take off all three loops on the first pass. That is seriously it.

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How to Double Crochet

I love to crochet, especially in winter. Crochet is definitely right up there with my favorite crafts of all time. Not only do I like that repetitive nature that lends itself well to doing while watching television and travelling, I also like that I can make gorgeous and useful things. Give somebody a handmade afghan and you're going to be on their good side for quite some time. Plus, your lap will be warm while you work on it.

Moving right along with showing you the basics of crochet, we're tackling the double crochet. When I was younger it was my favorite stitch for two reasons. 1- it works quickly 2- it is a long stitch so that you get your piece done more quickly.

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How to Ball Your Yarn

When I wanted to learn how to ball my yarn some years back I had a really hard time finding a resource online showing me how to do it. I had asked my grandmother, my sensi of crochet and she didn't have a clue. In the end, I wound up getting a book from the library. For real...

It's not a huge deal and some don't even like working with balled yarn, but I sure do. It's a lot of work up front, but in the end it is so, so amazing becaue you never, ever run into a nasty knot in the middle of a piece. Any knots you encounter, you'll get taken care of while balling the yarn.

I don't always ball my yarn. On some occasions I get home really excited with my new yarn, color, etc. and, more often than not, I wind up having a mess of yarn at the end that is essentially unusable. Once it breaks the skein shape, with my moving it around and cats diving at the pile it's a bad situation that only gets worse and worse.

Luckily, balling yarn is quick and easy. My assistant Max a.k.a. Dummy and I will show you how it's done:

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