TMCs: Tape Measure Covers

Introduction:

Hi and welcome! Here's a tutorial for a seven rosette TMC (tape measure cover) pictured below. It's a fun and fast project—done in one sitting. 

Warning: Making TMCs can be addictive. I know because I have now made over 40 of them in a very short time.

This "addiction" all started because one of my fiber friends, maryootsy, kept coaxing me to try a flower pattern created by JuleeQue.* Well, I didn't have one of the little retractable tapes to execute it, so Mary finally sent me two of them all the way from Michigan and that meant there wasn't any excuse left not to try Julie's free pattern. (Link provided at the end of this blog page.) 
      [*ravelry names]

Once I made Julie's single flower TMC, I was off and running with all kinds of ideas—flowers, sweet treats, fruits, veggies, even a frying pan with bacon, eggs and pancakes. The possibilities were seemingly endless.

For some time I wondered what I would offer as a pattern here on my blog and then a few days ago, when I was completing a sweet little girl's knitted set of mittens and a hat and wanted to jazz up the mittens, I came up with crocheted rosettes at the wrists and it clicked. That's what I would share—a rosette TMC. 

Description:

The instructions given here are for a tape measure cover with seven crocheted rosettes on the top like the one pictured above. The crocheted main body will just be a springboard, however, because once you crochet the bottom, sides and top to cover the retractable tape measure, you will have the basis to make all kinds of TMCs. Just let your imagination run free—that's what I did. You can see some of my one-of-a-kind TMCs in a later photo on this page. 

What You Will Need:

• A small (2 inch diameter) retractable tape measure.

• Yarn in various colors: regular 4 ply yarn for this pattern, 3 ply is best for the leaves and some of the rosettes**

• Crochet hook, size G or F, depending on the yarn

• Scissors

• Tapestry needle and a sharper needle with a larger eye, if you plan to stitch on your rosettes, rather than glue them

• Glue gun or heavy-duty glue

** For U.S. residents, you can find little retractable tape measures for 99 cents in the notions department at Hobby Lobby. Other possible sources: some dollar stores carry them; a box of 20 can be ordered from JoAnn's, but be sure to use a coupon for percents off to defray the cost. 

*One of the advantages of creating small projects, such as this, is that you can use up bits of yarn. Even if you decide to use yarn from your large skeins, one TMC takes so little, you will have plenty left for big projects.

Making the TMC body:

Foundation, Bottom

Ch 4, slip st to form a ring.

Round 1: Ch 2. For most yarns you will hdc into the ring 12 times. Sl st to the top of the first hdc. If you are using a heavier or coarser yarn, such as Red Heart Super Saver, you will need to do fewer hdc’s to start. If you are using a finer yarn, such as sock yarn, you will need to make more hdc’s into the ring to start.

Round 2: Ch 2, hdc into the same st. 2 hdc’s in the tops of each of the st’s around. Sl st join/end the round. If you are crocheting with a heavier yarn, you might need to assess if you will need to make the next row hdc’s or sc’s.

Round 3: Ch 2, hdc into the same st. *(1 hdc into the next st, 2 hdc’s into the following st). Repeat from * around. Sl st to join. If you are using thinner yarn, you will likely need to add a row of sc’s after round 3 to make the circle large enough to accommodate the 2 inch (5 cm) diameter of the retractable tape measure.

SIDE

Row 1: Working in the back loops of the last row, hdc’s around minus three st’s evenly placed. In other words, you will reduce this round by 3 sts. DO NOT JOIN when you reach the end of the row. The purpose of not joining is that an opening is being left for the end of the tape to protrude.

Row 2: Ch 2, turn so that the wrong side is facing and hdc in the tops of each of the st’s around. (See photo right.) If you are crocheting with a thinner yarn, you may need to add a row of sc’s after row 2.  Join the last st to the starting st with a sl st to join. Cut yarn and secure tail.

Place tape measure inside with the retractable button on the bottom and with the pull tab protruding from the side opening created for it. (See photo left which is the inside of the piece.)

Foundation, Top:

You are going to make the top the same as the bottom. No sides on the top piece. When done, leave a yarn tail, about 20 inches (50 cm) long, which will be used to whip the top piece to the already completed bottom and sides with the tape inside. (See photo right.)

For future TMCs, if you are decorating the top, don’t whip together until you assess whether or not it will be easier for you to decorate the top while it is separate.

Leaves:

It is preferable to use a slightly lighter weight yarn for the leaves. These leaves were made using Red Heart Soft yarn which is almost the same as sports weight (3 ply) yarn. Using your F hook, if you have one, ch 9. Sl st in third st from hook, sc in next 2 st, hdc in the next 2 sts, dc in the next st, 4 hdcs in the last st. Now you are going to go back up the other side to start or tip of the leaf. Hdc in the next st, sc in the next 2 sts, sl st in the next st. Cut yarn and with the yarn tail of about 10 inches (25 cm), make a sl st into the top. 

With your needle, bring the yarn back up to the front just under the leaf tip and make stitches along the center to the base of the leaf. Backstitches will make a nice stitch down the center (see photo right) plus end your yarn at the base end where you can easily tie it off without it being seen on the underside when you glue it in place. If, however, you want to stitch your leaf to the top of your tape measure, you would leave yarn tails for this purpose.

Rosettes:

You will need 7 rosettes for the top of your tape measure. If you have slightly lighter weight yarns, such as sports weight (3 ply yarn), it will be best to make all or some of the rosettes from this yarn. If not, your rosettes might be a little large for the top. Even if you can make some of 3 ply and some of 4 ply, it would help. For each rosette, using your G hook, ch 12. Then make 2dcs in the third ch from the hook and 2 dcs in each ch to the end. The rosette will naturally curl like the photo in the left. This is how it looks without doing anything to it. With your yarn tail and tapestry needle, stitch the rosette with a few stitches so that it stays together. If you plan to stitch the rosettes on the top, leave yarn tails. If you plan to glue or glue gun, fasten off your ends.

You might want to make more than the seven rosettes so you can choose which ones seem to go best. Then generally position them to see how they look before transferring to your tape measure, like in this photo below.

Assembly:

Place your leaves in an arrangement that seems satisfying and attach them first by gluing or tacking into place with yarn ends. Next attach your center rosette. This one is the largest of the rosettes in the final ones chosen. (It wouldn't have worked well to be an outer rosette because of the size.) After the center rosette is secure, place the remaining 6 rosettes around it. All done!

Variation:

Another way to make rosettes or roses, is from strips of felted wool rolled up and then attached with needle and thread at the base. Actually, I made these before the crocheted kind but, knowing that not everyone has felted wool from old sweaters in abundance, as I have, I came up with the crocheted version. However, you might want to see how beautifully this variation of wool roses turned out. Most of the leaves are simply cut from felted wool but a few are crocheted. Nice, huh?! 

Varieties:

Here are about a third of the TMCs I have made. The free pattern by JuleeQue is the rose, upper left between the frying pan and the turquoise hat. I sent this one to maryootsy because this is the one she wanted me to try. Other TMCs in this photo: oreo cookies, cherry pie, lemon, orange, grape (2), watermelon, cupcake, dog, flower with a yellow button center and the frying pan complete with breakfast.

CLICK HERE for Julie's Ups A Daisy TMC

Patterns on Etsy:

I have an inexpensive pattern for making the grape, watermelon and citrus TMCs in two of my Etsy shops. Here are the links.

CLICK HERE to access my fabriq shop.

CLICK HERE to access my 2Good2Eat shop.

Chocolate Dipped and Drizzled Strawberries

Just before Valentine's Day I saw a grocery store ad in color that caught my eye. I cut it out to keep as my inspiration for a creative project. Here is the ad.

And here is what I made: An amigurumi Box of Chocolate Dipped and Drizzled Strawberries.

Before joining ravelry.com, I had never heard of the word amigurumi. Amigurumi is a Japanese word that combines ami, which means crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, which means stuffed doll. Amigurumi often refers to small, stuffed crocheted or knitted animals but can also be used to apply to items of other representational shapes that are aesthetically pleasing but particularly that are cute or fun.

The Strawberries:

The strawberries are all crocheted with leaves and stems cut from felted green wool. To simulate the white drizzle, I used puff paint. While the puff paint was drying, I made a folded paper box to hold the strawberries.

The Box:

The folded box, just over four inches across, is comprised of two pieces of 12 inch square paper: one for the top and one for the bottom. I chose an understated print for the top and a sheet of plain black for the bottom. Before folding, I trimmed the black sheet by about 3/8 of an inch on two sides (side and top) so that the paper was a slightly smaller square. When folded, this smaller size made it possible for the top of the box to fit snugly down over the top of it. For a finishing touch, I wanted ribbon to crisscross on the top. In my spools of ribbon I found two colors to match the strawberries: a dark green grosgrain and thinner, bright red satin. I wanted to layer the ribbons with the wider, dark green color, on the bottom and the red satin ribbon on top for a two-color look. The ribbons are glued into place on the interior sides to become a part of the top of the box. That is, they are not intended to be removed. Finally, I placed a shiny, gold seal on the very top.

Assembly:

You cannot really see them here, but little silver candy wrappers hold the strawberries in the box. Five chocolate dipped and drizzled strawberries were placed into the box with one in the center and the others at the corners.

What a fun, guilt-free, calorie-free little gift!

Amigurumi Box of Chocolates

I have been participating in a Valentine Swap in which partners exchange handcrafted Valentine-themed items and thought I would share one of the items, an amigurumi box of chocolates, made for two swap friends, Kristy and Sparkle.

Before telling a little about the chocolates, I should share about the swap. The swap is a special event this year within a group called From Trash to Treasures, a subgroup of ravelry. Ravelry.com is a free, online organization that boasts a membership of more than one million international knitters and crocheters (with some weavers and spinners, too). Through ravelry, members document their projects, share patterns and ideas, participate in subgroups from among thousands of choices, communicate with like-minded crafters, and, in general, extend their handcraft skills. I belong to five ravelry sub groups; most ravelry members belong to many more.

Before joining ravelry, I had never heard of the word amigurumi. Amigurumi is a Japanese word that combines ami, which means crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, which means stuffed doll. Amigurumi often refers to small, stuffed crocheted or knitted animals but can also be used to apply to items of other representational shapes that are aesthetically pleasing but particularly that are cute or fun.

Above is a box of amigurumi chocolates that I made as part of my swap items. I crocheted the chocolates (and the chocolate dipped strawberry) from regular worsted weight yarn and embroidered some of the tops with embroidery floss.

The folded box, just over four inches across, is comprised of two pieces of 12 inch square paper: one for the top and one for the bottom. However, I trimmed the bottom box (the white part) by about 3/8 of an inch on two sides (side and top) so that the paper was a slightly smaller square. When folded, this smaller size made it possible for the top of the box to fit snugly down over it.

I purchased little candy wrappers from the grocery store to hold the amigurumi chocolates and adding to the fun and to suggest that the sweets are real. Eventually I glued ribbon on the box top so that it appeared on the outside but did not have to be removed to lift off the top but I did not take a photo of the finished box.

February 10, 2011:

Here's a second box of chocolates I finished yesterday. By adding this set my purpose is to share two things: an acknowledgment to a friend and a great hint for anyone wanting to make a box of chocolates, too.

First, I want to acknowledge Christina, a friend of mine, who made amigurumi chocolates for her mother-in-law for Valentines. Over the phone I walked her through the process of making a box for them to fit into and then when she was done and I saw the pictures of her chocolates, I was impressed with a few that she embellished with tiny crocheted flowers. I told her that if I made another set I was going to add delicate little flowers, too, because hers were so perfect. Well, I had a few chocolates already crocheted and thought it might be good to finish the set to put into another box and put little flowers on a few of them. Now for the great hint: This set of chocolates was embellished with puffy paints. I happened to have a few colors on hand, one of which was brown, perfect for the swirls and drizzles on some of the milk and dark chocolates! Then, with a few of my pastel colors, I created tiny little decorated flowers on the tops of two of the chocolates. This is a super duper hint because:

1.) it is a fast and easy way to embellish amigurumi chocolates and

2.) the puffy paint glistens like real icing

Of course you have to wait several hours for the puffy paint to dry (I let the chocolates dry overnight) but then they can be positioned in a box without fear of disturbing the finishing touches on the tops.

Thanks, Christina, for your idea of tiny little flowers on your chocolates. It's great to have creative, sharing friends.