How to add social media icons to your WordPress blog

24 Friday May 2013

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The blog title says it all doesn’t it? This post is a direct result of The List post, but with one small change. In stead of crocheting social media icons* I decided to go the easy route and just download them from a website. Job done!

It was Hannah, of Not Your Average Crochet, that actually inspired this. She has the cutest little social media icons on your blog! You can read her blog post about these cuties here. If you read the comments to that post, you’ll see my comment and her response: she got them by searching Google for “free social media icons”. I did the same, but I searched on Pinterest…. As you can image there were loads! So many choices! In the end I settled for these icons inspired by Pantone Fall 2012 colours.

Now the question, is how do I get the icons onto my blog? For that you can follow the very clear instructions by the Geek Fairy in this post. (It’s specifically for WordPress users, so sorry Blogger bloggers I don’t know how you guys get icons onto your blog.)

I followed the Geek Fairy instructions to the letter, yet my icons wouldn’t resize to a smaller than 100 x 100 size. I wanted mine to be about half the original size, so I typed in 50 x 50 in the Advanced settings fields as the fairy said I should, and I could see those dimensions in the text that I pasted into HTML Widget, yet it still showed up as the original size. Very strange indeed.

Thankfully I got around the problem by changing the image size in the Image Library (as opposed to changing the size in the draft post.) Here’s how I did it:

1. Go to the Media Library and find the social media icon. If you hover under PNG, the Edit field will appear. Click on Edit

2. Once you’re in the Edit option for the image, click Edit Image:

3. Now you can scale the image:

4. Type in your desired size. I chose 50 x 50. Click on Scale:

Save the change and do it for all your icons.

Once you are happy with the size, insert these images into a draft post as the Geek Fairy says you should and follow her instructions for adding the links.

That’s it. You may not even need to change the size in the Image Library. Maybe my WordPress theme is just dodgy, or I was doing something wrong. Who knows. Either way, it really is very easy to add social media icons to your WordPress widget sidebar. It’s so much neater too, don’t you think?

*I you want to crochet social media icons, you can use the patterns I found on the tugboatyarning website here and here. The same principals would apply as described above: Photograph the crocheted icons, upload them to the image library, change the size, use them in a draft blog post, add the links and past the text of the draft post into a text widget for your sidebar.

London: Olek and the Elephant Family

23 Thursday May 2013

Posted by crochetime in My ramblings, Other people's crochet, Yarnbombing

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Olek

Reblogged from BUTTERFLY:

Currently on display in London Covent Garden are two multi-coloured crocheted
elephants by NYC Street artist Olek.

The Elephant Family - an initiative that aims to protect Asian elephants and their
habitat - enlisted the help of a host of leading artists, designers, photographers and creatives like Christian Lacroix, Matthew Williamson, Mario Testino, Missoni,
Fabergé, Cartier to participate in their charity event named the Animal Ball at the Lancaster House.

The List

23 Thursday May 2013

Posted by crochetime in My ramblings

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The more I crochet, the more I want to crochet. Does this happen to you too? My head is filled with ideas, plans and projects that I so desperately want to get on with. Things like Pinterest and other crochet bloggers are not helping either! Inspiration overload!!! Did I mention Pinterest?

http://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/125583182/focus-poster-117-x-83-in-a4-297-x-210-mm?ref=shop_home_active

The best I can do is to enjoy & focus on whatever I’m currently making and make a list of all the things in my head. In true blogger fashion, I’m sharing my list with you:

Finish Nicole’s granny square blanket.
Make a silver-grey basket like this one for a lady I met at Boeresjiek. She already paid me R100, trusting that I will make and post it to her once I got back to the UK!
Finish the top on the front cover of this Japanese book. I started it before I left for Cape Town. There I realised I made a mistake early on so I had to undo everything and start again. I’m basically back to ~~square~~ stitch one. I really, really, really want to get on with it because it will be so beautiful when I finally finish it.
Use the roughly 30 balls (!!!!) of Vinnis yarn my Mom gave me as a “welcome back to Cape Town” gift, for a tunic style top from this Japanese book.
~~Crochet social media icons that I can use in the sidebar of the blog.~~ Job done! See this post.
Give life to a brooch idea I have for my Etsy shop. It’s one of those ideas that’s been brewing in my head for so long that I have it all worked out by now. I can see the finished product down to the tiniest details. Only one thing remains: I have to put hook to yarn.
Crochet a blanket for John. He had to look on as I crochet my Dad’s Atlantic Wave blanket, and now he’s seeing Nicole’s blanket take shape. He put himself in charge of quality control by testing the Snug Factor and carried out Does-It-Cover-My-Toes tests for both these blanket so he bonds with them, only to see them leave. Poor guy. “Everyone gets a blanky but me. I donated a kidney you know. Why can’t I have a blanky?”. He has a point. I really have to make him his own blanky.

If the project is on this list, it will be hooked. In front of all my blog readers I solemnly swear to finish these seven items. Your blanky is coming John; because it’s on The List.

Happy granny squares

22 Wednesday May 2013

Posted by crochetime in My crochet

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Tags

crochet, crochet blanket, granny square, granny square afghan

Don’t these colourful granny squares just make your heart sing? I certainly does mine! I was dancing, literally dancing, around these 70 squares on Sunday. They give me such a happy buzz!!!

I had to lay out the 70 squares on my striped carpet so that I could arrange them before doing their 6th and final, join-as-you-go round in grey. There’s that planning randomness again…. This time I didn’t have a structured plan like I had for making the granny squares, I just played with my squares until they felt right. John was sitting on the couch with me and my excitement even spilled over to him. By the end, he was also squinting to see if the red and yellow was spread out evenly, rearranging squares because “that corner looks a bit dull” or “I think you need more red over here”. Seems like no-one can resist the charms of the humble granny square.

At the bottom of the photo below you can see the first row of seven granny squares I joined together with the grey yarn. It’s absolutely amazing the difference that round of grey makes to my zingy granny squares. The colours calm down immediately; it’s like giving Ritalin to an ADHD child.

I really can’t wait to see how it will look when I’ve joined all the granny squares with the grey. I’m sooooo excited! Honestly I am. Just typing this post and look at the photos again makes me buzz with joy.

A good ending for this post would be for me to now say I need a Ritalin to calm me down, but I like feeling excited about my crochet – why would I want to change that? It’s a blessing when your craft gives you such fulfilment. I sincerely hope your craft has you bustling with merriment, the way crochet does me.

Terrific Tuesday

21 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by crochetime in Terrific Tuesdays

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crochet, granny square

On a Monday I can still remember the fun I had over the weekend, Wednesday is the middle of the work week, on Thursday I start getting hopeful and on a Friday I can taste the weekend. But what about a Tuesday? It’s so…. just there. Weekend memories are too far away and the upcoming weekend might as well be a year away.

What we need is a bit of colourful inspiration to get us going on a Tuesday, don’t you think? A pretty picture, beautiful scenery or colourful imagery. Yup, that’ll liven up Tuesdays and turn it into a terrific day!

From now on I will go through my photos and Pinterest likes every Tuesday and find us a pretty picture to add colour and joy to the day.

xxxxxx

This is how I spent my weekend. Weaving away the ends of 70 granny squares. I was so happy to see the sun come out on Sunday afternoon, I took my work outside and sat at the patio table. It only lasted 15 minutes, but hey, I made the most of it.

Wishing you all a Terrific Tuesday.

Natasja

I’m in another Ideas

20 Monday May 2013

Posted by crochetime in In the press

≈ 6 Comments

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magazine

Ideas Magazine, the South African craft and lifestyle magazine, mentioned me in their June 2013 issue! I had no idea! Pun intended. (Ideas also listed this blog as one of their 14 favourite blogs & websites in March 2012.)

This time my name appears because I helped out Christelle of Haak-en-Stekie to set up the Afrikaans crochet page (now group) Ons Hekel (meaning We Crochet) on Facebook in 2011. You can read the whole story in this four page article. Crochet is HUGE in South Africa, and I think that’s due, in no small part, to the hard work of Christelle and OnsHekel.

Well done Christelle! If I am ever in Gauteng, I would love to meet you and the other Craft Share girls in person. It seems wrong that magazines are doing articles about us and we have never met, but that’s the power of crochet. Yarn and hook will bind us together.

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How to pick random colours for a granny square blanket

20 Monday May 2013

Posted by crochetime in My ramblings

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colour choices, colour combinations, crochet, granny square, random

Last week I asked you whether true random colour choices are really possible. After the week of intensive market research (can you tell I’ve been watching The Apprentice?) I have come to the conclusion that most crocheters like their colour choices to appear random, but we plan it that way. Thank you to everyone who commented and helped me realise that I’m not the only one who can’t do random.

Planning randomness? Is it possible or is it an ~~urban~~ hookers myth? Well, fellow crocheters, random colour placing can be planned for!

Our solution comes from the first comment on last week’s blogpost. The comment is made by “Boeta”. “Boeta” is an Afrikaans word for brother. My dear brother provided me, and therefore you, with the key to our success. Crochet blankets, motifs, granny square rounds, can be arranged and/or crocheted in a random way!

The secret is using the list function on the www.random.org website. Seriously people. There is a website specifically for all things random. It really is as easy as that.

I however went a bit further and added an Excel spreadsheet element to our colour choosing plan. I have been using a version of this Excel plan for Nicole’s granny square blanket, but as I told you last week it didn’t work out as randomly as I had hoped. With the help of random.org I was able to modify my plan specifically for use in creating granny squares.

I have a new plan and I’m sharing it with you. Here’s how to plan a colour scheme made up of randomly chosen colours:

1. Go to www.random.org/lists and type in the names of all the yarn colours you want to use in your granny squares. I have 17 colours:

2. Create an Excel document made up of a column for each round of your granny square. In my case I’m making 5-round granny squares. As you’ve already typed up the list of colours for step 1, you may as well copy that list as the colours for the first 17 (or however many colours you have) round 1′s of your granny squares:

3. Go back to your list on random.org and hit the “Randomize” button, which will sort your list of colours randomly!

4. Copy the random list and paste it in your Excel spreadsheet underneath the first list.

5. Keep on going back to http://www.random.org and clicking on “Randomize” until you reach however many granny squares you have to make. I’m making 70 granny squares, so I will keep on pasting the list from www.random.org under Row 1 until I get to 70.

6. Continue pasting the random colours in the Row 2, Row 3, Row 4, Row 5 etc. columns. And that’s it. Just keep filling in the columns with the list of colours from random.org!! Easy peasy!!

Of course, it can happen that you get two colours next to each other, but if you do, just pick your own colour to replace the duplication (be random the old-fashioned way). There shouldn’t be a lot of duplication, but to make sure, I have two tips:

Tip 1: Look at your collection of yarn and find the colour that really stands out. The one that catches your eye first. In my selection of 17 colours, it was the red. I don’t want red to appear too many times, or as the last round of too many of my granny squares as it would overpower the overall look. To get around this in the planning stages, fill the cell where your stand-out colour appears, with that colour. To be on the safe side, I filled the yellow and red cells. It looks evenly spread out enough for me, so I’m sticking with this.

Tip 2: Check that the colour next to your stand-out colour is not the same colour every time. In row 64 and 71 there is a lilac next to the red, but I’m okay with that as the other colours for that granny square are so different, you probably won’t even notice it amongst the 68 other granny squares.

Another tip is to crochet the colours in reverse order. In the photo below you can see that I have the exact same colours, I just worked the five colours from my Excel sheet from left to right and then from right to left. This means that each row in your Excel sheet, can be used for two granny squares!

Having all your granny squares planned out in advance like this is very, very, handy. On a big granny square blanket project, you may not need to plan like this because duplications will get lost in the overall look, but for smaller projects, I think planning your granny square colour sequence in advance will be very helpful. We don’t want a repeat of the Pink Situation like I had with my first granny square cushion!

Use this method for any crocheted items made up of rounds (like granny squares, hexagons or African Flowers). For arranging single colour squares in a blanket, think of each cell as a completed square and you have the colour layout of your whole blanket done and dusted! If you are crocheting stripes, use the random stripe generator.

To make things super easy, I’ve created an 2010 Excel document with a tab for Granny Squares and a tab for Blankets that you can use. You just have to paste in your own colours. Here is the Excel document: Colour selector for granny squares and blankets

I hope you find this way of planning your random colour choices helpful.

Eric Hoffer said

Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature

Are you a randomness planner? You go girl – you’re one creative crocheter!

Jamie’s Nan

18 Saturday May 2013

Posted by crochetime in My ramblings

≈ 6 Comments

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granny square, granny square afghan, Instagram, jamie oliver

I love this Instagram photo of Jamie Oliver with his Nan and her granny square lap blanket. Isn’t it just the cutest?

Is there such a thing as truly random colour choices?

14 Tuesday May 2013

Posted by crochetime in My ramblings

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choosing colours, colour, colour choices, colour combinations

What do you think? Can you really make random colour choices? I can’t. I certainly try, but when I look back on my crochet project I usually see that I actually gave preference to a certain colour, or a combination of colours.

The first time I realised that I can’t trust myself to make truly random colour choices was with my very first granny square project. In this interview I speak of the green granny square that I incorporated into a cushion. It was my very first piece of crochet, my first cushion, the project where I fell in love with granny squares, and the project that showed me that I’m unable to choose colours randomly. Have a look. Do you see all the dusky pink? Out of the 32 squares, I used dusky pink in 23! (Maybe this cushion is the reason why I now don’t. do. pink.)

You see, when I choose my colours I act on what feels right. I have a specific taste, I like to put a warm colour next to a cold colour, I like a bit (okay a lot) of contrast. So every time I started a new square I chose what felt right for that square, in that moment, forgetting the big picture and certainly not choosing the colours outside my “colour comfort zone”.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with choosing colours based on what feels right to you, but when you’re trying to achieve randomness, that’s not going to fly.

So, how do you achieve random colour combinations?

For stripes, the Biscuits and Jam random stripe generator is the answer to your prayers. A true godsent. I used it for the stripes in the Identity Crisis blanket. And let me tell you, not having to think of what colour to choose for the next (millionth) row, was a great help and sped things up in a huge way! I could not have done the I.C.B. without the random stripe generator.

But what do you do when you have motifs or granny squares that you have to create or join randomly?

Sarah London says in her book Granny Square Love, that she picks up whatever colour is closest to her. That could work I suppose, but not for me. I crochet in a small space so I have a very small pile near me and every time I put something back, it’s just going to lie on top which means I’ll just reach for it again.

Even though I want something to look random, I’m not a random kind of person. I’m a planner. A list maker. A “know what comes next” kind of person. So I need to cheat randomness. For Nicole’s granny square blanket that I’m working on now, I devised a plan to make my granny square colour combination appear random. Planning randomness is a great contradiction in terms for a reason; about half way through I realised that it wasn’t working. I kept on getting the same combination of three colours next to each other. I had to modify my plan, but I’m still sticking to a plan. Me needs me my plans!

What do you say? Are you able to make true random colour choices? If you do, how do you do it?

You can answer by leaving a comment. I’ll do the follow-up blogpost on Monday the 20th of May, so you have until the 19th of May to let me have your comments and tips. I’m looking forward to hearing from you!