Christmas Special Blanket

Long time without posting-I'm working really hard which isn't leaving a lot of crochet time-a little frustrating as despite supposedly earning a wage, I'm still financially struggling.  Last year, I made most of the Yule gifts as I had no money-this year I have no money and no time to make anything!  Bit of a nightmare.

Anyway, a while back one of my close friends told me about fundraising she was doing to help out the people in her community who were saving through Park Christmas Club and whose savings were taken by their Park representative and not passed along.  Many have literally lost all the money they've been saving all year and due to a criminal investigation, Park say they cannot help with any compensation.  So there's a lot of fundraising going on to help out.  Follow this link for more details.  I suggested making a blanket (as usual lol) to go towards the raffle or to be auctioned, originally planning a 6 by 9
size but due to time constraints I made a much smaller 6 by 6 which will either make a lovely gift for someone's Grandma or be a nice tablecloth centrepiece.

The holly leaves pattern is from the amazing Attic24 but the stars, snowflakes and trees are mine :-)  Very pleased with how they turned out.

I kept the border simple with a round of sparkly deep purple, a round of white and a chain stitch round in red.  For the last round, I used red and put (in american terms) 1sc 1dc 1tr ch2 slst into first chain to make a small picot point and slst into the top of the prev tr then another 1tr 1dc 1sc and slst into the next chain sp and repeat along.  In the corners, I just did a slst 1sc slst and slst into next space as I didn't want to mess with corners.  Uses a LOT of yarn and took quite a while but worth it I think!  What do you think?

Edited to include my pattern for the snowflakes.  I've been playing with hexagons of late and they make a great snowflake base (they're also the base for the star).  My sister left a lovely comment asking for a link to the pattern for the snowflakes (which made me grin this much :-D) so I typed it out and messaged her.  Thought it may be nice to copy it here as well but be warned, I'm terrible at writing out a pattern (I tend to make things up as I go) and it may not make much sense...

I'm using american terms cos I'll only confuse myself if I try to translate it...Apologises for the poor pattern writing, it's not something I've practised much!

Snowflake 1) (round 1) ch 5, join with slst to first chain to make a ring. ch 3 and put 1 dc into the ring and ch2. (2dc, ch2) five times and join with a slst to the beginning chain3. You should have a small hexagon with six groups of 2dc separated by ch2.

This is the base for the first type. (round 2) Slst into the first ch2 space and ch3, 1dc. Then ch5 and put 2dc into the next ch2 space. (ch5, 2dc) into each space around until you have 2dc in each space separated by ch 5 spaces. Slst to close the round.

Now for the fun part...

(round 3) slst into the ch5 space. (1sc, 1hdc, 2dc, 1hdc, 1sc) into the ch5 space and join with a slst into the top of the dc from the previous round. (ch4, slst into third chain to form picot, ch5, *picot in third chain, ch3, picot, ch3, picot, slst into base of *picot, slst across the other side of the chain 2, ch3 picot, slst into base of opposite picot, ch1 and join with slst to dc from previous round.

Repeat this around so that in every ch5 space, you put the 1sc, 1hdc, 2dc, 1hdc, 1sc and on the top of the previous round's dcs, you make the picots. Join with a slst to close and fasten off.

Snowflake 2) (round 1) Make a small hexagon as above.

(round 2) slst into ch2 space and ch3, 1dc, ch2, 2dc, ch1. (2dc, ch2, 2dc, ch1) into each space around and slst to close. You should end up with a bigger hexagon with 6 groups of 2dc, ch2, 2dc, separated by ch1.

(round 3) slst into ch2 space. ch5, picot in 3rd chain, ch5, *picot in 3rd chain, ch3 pciot, ch3, picot and slst into the base of *picot. Slst along the other side of the ch2 and ch3 picot, slst into base of opposite picot, slst along other side of last two ch2 and slst into the ch2 space again. Slst across the top of the 2dc and into the ch1 space. ch4, picot in 3rd chain, ch3, picot, ch3 picot and slst into base of first picot and slst along the other side of the first chain, slst into ch1 space again. Repeat this around so that in each ch2 space you have a long piece with 5 picots in total and in each ch1 space you have a small piece with three picots. Join with a slst and fasten off.

Birthday presents for Mum

I was racking my brain trying to come up with an idea for Mum's birthday present and I turned to the copy of 'Cute and Easy Crochet' on my shelf.  It had a very simple pattern for a circular cushion cover and, as I happened to have a small circular cushion laying around, I decided to give it a go!  The pattern was basically a stripy circle, very easy to do and when I'd got it to the size I wanted, I thought it would be nice to add some embellishment to the front.  So I turned to my very much loved 'Crochet Bouquet' book for some compound leaves and simple flowers.  The leaves were perfect but halfway through making the flowers, I decided the shape was wrong so I improvised a more circular look.  Stitched everything on and crocheted the cushion pad in (it's non removable once it's done) and then thought hmmm...hope Mum's mind doesn't go to the same place that mine does!

They do NOT look like booby flowers, ok!?!

On the reverse...

Hope she likes it!

Myf has been working incredibly hard this weekend on presents for her 'Moogie' as well.  She has a few crafty books all her own and she wanted to knit her a little purse.  Unfortunately, the instructions were a little confusing and I can't knit at all (Myf used to know how but it's been a few years) so instead I crocheted a small strip for her and she stitched it together, added a button and then went to her new jewellery making book that an auntie gave her for her birthday.  She chose to make a bracelet with wire wrapped beads-aside from cutting the wire for her and making the fastening, she made the rest entirely herself.  She then made a silver one for me and a little one for herself that I'm going to take photos of to put up tomorrow as they're wonderful!

Back to another book to look at some card making techniques and she chose one involving stitching with wool-

And we're done!  Still got to finish up another project that despite its small size is taking forever!  My poor sister must be bursting with the suspense...:-( Sorry darling, I promise it'll be finished soon!

Having fun with crayons...

One of my lovely little nieces just had her third birthday and I couldn't think of a thing to crochet for her-I'm not very good at crochet toys and I wanted to make something a bit different this time!
Myf and I came across this on Facebook and decided to give it a go :-D.  We have a lot of crayons around...

And after much peeling away of paper and breaking them into pieces, we were ready to put them into the oven!  Ten minutes or so later...

They need a little stir with a toothpick to get the colours all swirled together-I think Myf enjoyed that part the most!

Once they'd hardened and cooled, it was easy to pop them out and voila!  Chunky crayons, perfect for little hands to scribble and scrawl with.

A little cellaphane wrapping, some purple sparkly ribbon and done!  We added a colouring book for her as well and hopefully she loves her present.  My other littlest niece has her birthday in a few days and we have another set ready to go :-D

West Ham Blanket

  When I was in London, I was chatting to my Dad about his work.  He's a carer and does a lot of great work with his clients.  I asked him whether it would be inappropriate for me to make a lap blanket for one of his clients-he said it would be fine as long as I'm not looking for payment or future business which of course I said I wasn't, this is a donation.  One of his clients has a degenerative condition that has some aspects in common with Parkinsons although it affects the mind first and he spends a lot of time stationary.  So Dad called his wife to ask whether it would be ok for me to make a lap blanket as a gift for him and she thought it would be a lovely idea.  The gentlemen was a big fan of West Ham football club (and Brentford to a lesser degree) so I decided to use the strip colours as the base and crochet over the top his initials.  I sketched it out and showed Dad-told him that I had plenty of those shades in my massive yarn stash (seriously, it's getting out of hand) and said that I'd make a start on it once I got home.  The gentleman may not react much from it but it should provide a good talking point that helps visitors engage in conversation with him.
  I got home a week yesterday and started it last Saturday.  As work was closed until Wednesday and Myf was away, I had plenty of time to get the squares done.  By Thursday, it was finished!  I've never made a blanket so fast from start to finish :-)  I posted it off yesterday morning so hopefully it'll be there by Tuesday.

So what do you think?  I really like how it's turned out.

'Neapolitan' Baby Blanket

My work situation over the past couple of months has been a bit of a nightmare as I've had less than 5 hours a week.  If I'm unable to find another job before next summer, I'm really worried as to how we're going to cope.  My plan is to make a decent stock of blankets for sale and either put them up on ebay or amazon or create a facebook page for them.  I have a lot of cool blanket ideas-I just need to balance making them with being able to sell for a mutually reasonable price.

So here is the first one to go into the stock cupboard-it would make a lovely gift for a new baby!

Having a Hoot

Hello everyone!  Sorry for the long absence-I've been back in London staying with my parents with Myf for a holiday but I've finally made it back home so it's time to catch up!
Remember the little giveaway last post?  Well, I decided to make these little owls from this post here.  Aren't they cute?  It's a lovely pattern but there were a couple of issues with it-she mentions a couple of times 'pulling on the yarn tail' to close the circle hole but the pattern starts off with a chain of 4 and I haven't been able to close the little hole you get that way so I think she means starting off with a magic circle.  Also, in the third round, she tells you to put 3dc into each space around when she actually means 3dc in space, skip the next space, continue around so that you have 14 groups of 3dc around.  Does that make sense?  Anyway, those are pretty minor problems with it and overall I really like the pattern so please do give it a try!

So the lucky ladies received a little owl each and have said they really like them :-)  My sisters were a little late on the comments for the giveaway but I made them one each anyway because I'm lovely :-D And of course I had to make one for me and a couple for my gorgeous Myf.  Only trouble was, their little ones got very excited over the owls and this caused a bit of a problem so naturally I offered to make a special one for each of my nieces and nephew!  One of the nicest days of my holiday was being able to meet up with my lovely sisters for a family picnic with our parents and our children!  I got to give them their little owls in person :-)  Wasn't able to take a photo of the owls as I had a little mishap with my camera...it's fine now but I dropped it into a pond!  Anyway, here are some photos, hope you like them!

Apparently, the collective name for Owls is a 'Parliament'.  Isn't that cool?

The little one in the photo above is one I made with crochet thread for use as a key ring for my spare key.  I'm planning some more as soon as I have some spare time!

10 followers!

I've just noticed that my little blog has just hit double digits in followers :-)  So to celebrate, I'd like to host my first giveaway!  The first THREE people to comment on this post will receive a little surprise in the post made by me-all I ask is that you put your email address in the comment so that I can email you for your address :-D  I've yet to decide what the surprise will be but hopefully you'll like it!

Now also seems like a good time to celebrate some of the blogs that I personally enjoy a great deal. When I started blogging here, I hadn't been crocheting very long.  I found it difficult to learn new techniques or to expand on my crochet skills.  These blogs have become my favourite places to find inspiration, to discover other crafting methods and to have a lovely peaceful few minutes sharing their crafty stories.  So go say hi and enjoy them with me!

Attic24 is FULL of colourful and amazing crochet projects.  Her blog is packed full of beautiful photos and clever ideas!  She has stacks of tutorials for all kinds of things-from making a granny square to borders to flowers and leaves and literally so many others!  Her tutorials are some of the easiest to follow that I've come across and she is so generous to share so many of her patterns :-)

Mummycat has a lovely blog where she crochets, sews, upcycles and creates the most wonderful items!  I'm very lucky because she is my biggest sister but, bias aside, her blog deserves a shout out because she shares so many great ideas for crafting around the home.  Just look!  When I finally started to crochet, it was because she had sent me hooks and a copy of 'The Happy Hooker' and here we are now!
So please, go say hello to her :-)

Gillian uses a lot of photos and colour in her posts-I really admire her ability to take such fresh, striking photographs.  She does a lot of home crafting-I particularly love how she gave some of her old plant pots a completely new lease of life in this post!

Debi Y is a fantastic blog to visit-she is an avid crocheter, makes lots of beautiful baby blankets, hats, cocoons and she donates items to her local hospital.  I love her blog for all the ideas she has as well as the fact that she shares LOADS of her granny square designs!  I mean it-when I was learning how to do different types of squares, hers was the place to go!  Still is in fact :-)  The ways she writes out the patterns are so easy to follow and I'm so grateful to her for sharing so many of her unique designs.

BunnyMummy is another blog that has gorgeous photos and bright splashes of colour :-)  I love reading her posts and she also has some fantastic photo tutorials that you should definitely check out!  Full of crafty goodness and stunning photos and a lovely place to relax and read :-)

SIBOL deserves a very special shout out-I've written about this blog before and this certainly won't be the last time as I think it's such a wonderful project.  Mrs Twins, the crocheting force behind SIBOL, takes in donations of squares from all over the world which she makes into beautiful lapghan blankets to donate to the Elderly in care homes across England.  She and her Ravellery group come up with many 'challenge' ideas for blankets which are a constant source of inspiration and have really encouraged me to think 'outside the box' when coming up with blanket ideas.  If, like me, you love to make squares and blankets but are running out of people to give them to, then this is DEFINITELY the place for you :-D

Last, but most certainly NOT least, comes another amazing blog.  Jess gets crafty is a fantastic place full of ideas and colour-she is the undisputed Queen of Amigurumi in my mind-her abilities with solid form shapes out of crochet are unparalleled!  Yes, she also has the honour of being my big sister but this isn't bias (again lol) as she is genuinely so talented.  For as long as I can remember, Jess was the one who could make anything out of anything.  It didn't matter if the instructions were incomprehensible as Jess could always figure them out.  She's been crocheting for decades and has so many  beautiful ideas on her blog it could make you weep.  I love her blog simply for all the inspiration and ideas-you should also check out her etsy shop where she sells gorgeous handmade baby booties and hair clips :-) So pop over and make her day!


Right then folks-don't forget to comment!  And I hope you like these blogs as much as I do :-D  Share the love!