Summer Shawl

My front garden is a riot of colour at the moment so today's post is a Summer Shawl.  This is a free pattern that was written by  Nadia Fuad of Yarn Utopia. It was very easy to follow the instructions and there is a YouTube video to accompany this for anyone who is a visual learner.

This particular type of shawl can be made to any length you want as you start from the neck and work outwards.  This means you can stop when you have the desired length.

I used Lion Brand Yarn - Mandala "Spirit" as I adore the colours and wanted a shawl that changed colour every couple of rows.  I needed just over one mandala and I used a size 4mm crochet hook.  

Here is the finished result.  It is lovely and snug to wear.

Bolster cushion cover

I have had this bolster cushion for several years so it is not surprising that it is looking a little shabby now!

I couldn't bear to part with it as it gives me much needed back support when sitting on the sofa in the evenings, so I set about making a new cover for it.

Having just started making the Havana crochet blanket I learned a new crocheting technique and thought I would try this out and make myself a new cover.

There is a pattern repeat every 12th stitch which makes the design stand out.  The rows are crocheted using the single crochet stitch which is worked in the back loop only.  This leaves a horizontal stitch visible at the front of the fabric.  The horizontal stitch gives you something to get your hook around to make a treble in the row below, every 12th stitch.  This is what forms the pattern.

I began with 60 stitches + 3.  60 is divisible by 12 five times so I have 5 pattern repeats.  One of the additional stitches is required for the turning chain leaving me with two additional stitches.  These are needed either end of the piece of work and don't count when working up the pattern.  I worked a single crochet in them but through both loops.

After making the piece the appropriate length I then hand stitched a zip in place.  First I turned the work inside out and joined the seams either end leaving a gap for the zip.  Then I pinned the zip in place and hand stitched this in using embroidery thread.

Now for the end pieces.  These needed a circular piece of work large enough to fit the circumference of the roll shaped cover.

This is how I made them:

I made an adjustable ring and crocheted 10 trebles into the ring.   Throughout the rows the turning chain counted as a stitch made up of 3 chains.

Row 2:  Start with a turning chain. Crochet 19 trebles (2 in each stitch) total 20 stitches which includes turning chain.

Row 3: Turning chain followed by 2 treble in next stitch, (*I treble in next stitch, 2 treble in next stitch) *Repeat to end of round. (I, V). Total 30 stitches.

Row 4: Turning chain followed by 1 treble in next stitch, 2 treble in next stitch, (*1 treble in next two stitches, 2 treble in next stitch). *Repeat to end of round. (I, I, V). Total 40 stitches.

Row 5: Turning chain followed by 1 treble in next stitch, 1, treble in next stitch, 2 treble in next stitch, (*1 treble in next three stitches,  1 treble in next 2 treble in next stitch). *Repeat to end of round. (I, I, I, V). Total 50 stitches.

Row 6: Turning chain followed by 1 treble in next three stitches, 2 treble in next stitch, (*1 treble in next four stitches, 2 treble in next stitch). *Repeat to end of round. (I, I, I, I, V). Total 60 stitches.

 I finished off the pieces with one row of single crochet which I would use to attach the pieces to the main piece.  

I then folded the circles in half and put stitch markers top and bottom.  I then re-folded and added more stitch markers until I had 8 stitch markers in place.  I did the same with the tube shaped cover.  This made it easy to then pin the two together.  They were a perfect fit so I sewed them together.  All the tail ends were left on the inside of the work. I worked with the cushion cover inside out when attaching the ends and when finished, turned it the right way around.  This is what is looks like.

I am really pleased with the results.  If you think it looks good, post your comments below as it would be lovely to get some feedback.

Grey Blanket by The Patchwork Heart

I fell in love the colours of the grey blanket posted on Patchwork Heart's website made up from using Stylecraft DK in lovely bright colours of spice, parchment, meadow, petrol, silver, lime, storm blue, mocha, grey, denim and graphite.  I added my own twist by switching pistachio for denim.  

To avoid duplicating the squares with the same colours I created a spreadsheet and worked out a pattern for the colours.  By using  the "CountIf" feature in Excel I could then see how many occurences I had of the different colours and also balance this out over the rounds.  

I joined all the squares together as I worked the last round in grey and did the wave pattern on the final round of the edge.  

Here are some photos of my work as I went along.

Thinking about the layout of the finished squares back in January. 

Following this I individually soaked each square and laid out on a frame to shape them as they dried.

In March I started joining the squares beginning with row 1 working left to right.  

I joined the second square to the first after I have crocheted around three sides of the first square.  This first square will be in the top left corner.  I follow this process for all the squares in the row until I got to the last square. When I worked the final square in the row, I just worked the two edges.  

Row 2 - Working from right to left, I began joining the first square in the row directly beneath the last one I worked in the row above.  After two rows of joins are completed I worked a row of trebles across the entire row (left to right) so that the joining began on the third row from right to left.

You can find out more about joining as you go from this blog site page.

After all the rows were joined I completed the edging where the joining had not included the edging on the other three sides. Following this I did a number of rows to give it a border and then finished it off with a wave edging.

The blanket was soaked and laid out to dry to let the yarn settle into place.  It's now complete and ready for sale.

Here is the finished product, Enjoy xxx

My First Top Down Crocheted Jumper

My love of card making, which incidentally, hasn’t fallen out of favour, is currently on the back boiler.  This is because I have made that many cards, that I simply do not know what to do with them all! The downside of this is that I simply do not have anything to post on my blog on a regular basis.  Still the upside is that I have been saving lots of money by not buying any craft materials so I am financially better off!

Since my lasting posting I have been working on a few crochet projects.  It is strange that before I get one completed I am inspired by something else and before I know it I am beginning a new project!  In fact at one point I had three blankets, a cardigan and a jumper on the go.  I even have my eye on another project I want to make.

The unfinished cardigan is being made from a “tried and tested” pattern I got from Craftsy which comes with a tutorial.  This will be the third cardigan I have made with this pattern, this time in blue and again, using Lion Brand Wool Eaze yarn.  Being able to re-use a pattern like this makes the Craftsy class good value for money.  I have made all the elements and it just needs joining together.  Before joining the sleeves to the body I have made pattern pieces from the parts.  I am interested in developing my own clothing and having pattern pieces will be helpful.  Hence the delay in getting this one completed.

The Grey blanket I am working on is nearing completion so I shall write about that very soon.  I also have a blanket on the go as a present for my mum but there is no hurry for this as it doesn’t’ need to be ready until September and the third blanket which I recently started is the Hooked and Locked CAL blanket.  This is my first dapple into filet crochet.  I can't wait to share this with you too!

The news today is to share my completed jumper. The story is that I brought the yarn some time ago then couldn’t find the pattern that it was for.  I have learned that when I buy yarn in advance of a project to keep everything together! 

Working a pattern top down was a new experience for me.  I looked at top down patterns for jumpers and didn’t find it easy to follow the instructions so I attempted this solo.   The advantage of working this way is that you don’t end up with seams to sew together.   Loosely based on the patterns I discovered, I developed the pattern to my own specification and made up the design as follows:

I am really pleased with the outcome.  I know it isn’t perfect but it looks great and the yarn I used, Drops Air, is super soft and light weight.

Well, what do you think?  

Ski Hat

You know what it's like when you see something crocheted and you fall in love with the pattern and you just have to have it?  This happened to me this week. I had just finished making my amigurumi mouse and still had  three other works in progress when a friend at work showed me a photo of her latest make.  She had made a ski hat and it looked fantastic.  I liked it so much I just had to get hold of the pattern and try it myself.

When I studied the pattern I realised that I was going to learn three new stitch techniques so I had to get out some yarn and watch a few YouTube videos to get to grips with these new stitches before I could begin.

The first stitch is called the Diamond Stitch.  It is working front post double trebles to create the relief pattern of diamonds.  I have been keen to learn more about relief work and had dabbled with cabling before but found it quite difficult and so needed something to ease me into it.  Fortunately this video on YouTube posted by Hopeful Honey was easy to follow:

The second stitch was really easy.  It is creating an effect by working in the back loop (the third loop only) of an hdc stitch.  Usually you have two loops at the top of the stitch but there is a third one created when you make a hdc stitch and it sits behind the two you are more familiar with.  This stitch is particularly useful to create a ribbing effect.

The third stitch is called the Crab Stitch which is a reverse stitch.  Normally we work from left to right but in this instance we are working backwards to crochet this stitch by placing our hook into the stitch to right of the hook, yarning over, pulling through to reveal two loops on the hook.  Then repositioning the hook in your hand by twisting it round so it is easy to yarn over again and pulling through two loops on the hook.  Bella Coco demonstrates how easy it is to create this stitch on YouTube:

As I had some spare yarn I thought I would give this a go using Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Oxford Grey and Seaspray as I wanted a two tone effect.

I spent a couple of evenings making the hat and then the finishing touches of the pom pom and ties were made this morning.

Here is the finished result.  Let me know if you like it by commenting on my post.

If you are interested in making this design yourself you can find all the information you need by visiting Kirsten Holloway Designs Blog here  My special thanks to Kirsten for her generosity in sharing this pattern.


 

Angelica the Amigurumi Mouse

Let me introduce you to my latest crochet project that was in Issue 37 of Crochet Now magazine.    This is Angelica and she loves to dress up for a winter walk into town in her cute dress, beret, cowl and muff.

 



Angelica is 21cm tall and has a curly pink tail.

Angelica was crochet with Scheepjes Stone Washed (1 ball each in Moon Stone 801 (A), Rose Quartz 820 (B) Lilac Quartz 818 (C) and Larimar 828 (D).

A = body
B = hands, feet and inner ears
C = dress
D = beret, cowl and muff

This cute little amigurumi mouse has been designed by Heather Gibbs and you can visit her website "Keep Calm and Crochet on" here. 

Upps I did it again!

When I first decided to make this cardigan I wanted to make it with blocks of colour.  When the wool arrived I wasn't sure I had made the right choices so I didn't bother.  Instead, I just used three colours as you saw in the earlier sample I posted, saving the other yarn for another project.  

This gorgeous mustard was one the original colours chosen so out came the hook.  Just three weeks later another crochet cardigan was born, and just in time for the New Year!

Here are a few other shots I took.

See how I added some crochet straps to help keep it on the hanger.

Here is the another one that shows how the sleeve fits into the bodice.  I crocheted from the wrist upwards and have a tried and tested formulae to make the sleeve fit for me.

My First Crochet Cardigan

I couldn't be more pleased with the results of crocheting this cardigan pattern.  It turned out a perfect fit and took three weeks to create.

I crochet this using Lion Brand Wool Ease yarn which was nice to work with and would use again.  I used 7 balls of yarn 

When it comes to following crochet patterns my experience isn't always a good one.  I particularly struggle with some companies like Drops Design.  However, this pattern was designed by Sara Delaney and she talks your through every stage of the process within a video tutorial over on the Craftsy website.  You have every chance of being successful when you can follow this way!  

What was really helpful was her formulae for getting your sleeves to perfectly.  With her guidance you know how many increases to do over how many rows and how frequent.

The main elements of the cardigan were crocheted using half double crochet stitch which was made in the back loop of the stitches in the row below.   I created a faux ribbing effect around the edges of the garment by crocheting front and back post stitches.

The buttons are little elephants and were purchased on Etsy.  

Mrs and Mrs

Today's wedding cards were made for a civil partnership and the card toppers are from Kanban called Mrs and Mrs. 

The three toppers in this set were a reasonable size and oval in shape so the challenge I had was finding a die to sit these on.  I have some half dies from the Crafter's Companion Die'sire range and used the Garden Party die on this occasion for all three cards.  

These are the cards I made:

This first one was made in two stages, I cut one half of the die out very carefully then placed the die next to it so it would be cut as one whole piece.  If you have a Gemini die cutting machine from Crafter's Companion it is possible to stop the machine and put it in reverse which means you don't squish the half that has already been embossed.

This second card I actually did cut the die out as two pieces and then joined together on the back before adhering to the cardstock.

I used the Die'sire fancy card blanks for this card so the edging die was put on outer edges and pink cardstock was stuck on the panel behind making the lacework stand out.  

These card blanks work really well with these Create-A-Card dies as you can put the dies through the machine without any worries of squishing your embossing.

This card opens out and has a sentiment in the centre.  I did mean to put the topper in the middle but hey, I forgot!

Beautiful Bride

Beautiful Bride is the name of the topper set I have used in the following two cards.  These are from Kanban.

I really didn't know how these were going to turn out or whether or not I would be pleased with the results.  I took my time over the design.  Trawled through images in Pinterest to see what others had done with these toppers to find some inspiration.  I decided that I would place them on stepper cards and once I got this far the mind began to pull together some ideas.  Both cards needed flowers to lift the images and I had the idea on one of the cards to make the bouquet look life-like by adding small paper roses and using some dry gypsophila.

As I said, I am very pleased with the results of these two cards, so I hope you enjoy viewing them.

This first card reminds me of the bride, before she heads off to the church.  She is in an eloquent room with floral wallpaper and she catches a glimpse of herself as she makes her way out to the church.