Stitch along.

hello everyone, welcome to part 2 of the stitch along. 

 how did co lour picking go? i decided to go with 3 dark colours and 3 light ish colors for contrast. the ones i picked are

 once the colors are picked its time to plan out the blanket. as per the scribbled below.  ive used 4 ply wool and a size 4.5 hook, each flower included 1 x green border = 14 cm from tip to tip.  for the time being ive decided to make a small lap blanket, which is going to be 6 x 6 flowers and then will assess the size etc. also worked out are colour combinations..

then decide on the pattern, im doing an African flower crochet pattern which i adapted to make my own:-

African flower:-

Foundation chain: ch 6, sl st to make a round or use a magic ring.

Round 1: (colour 1) ch 3, 1 dc, ch 1, *2 dc, ch 1, * repeat until you have six spaces and six 2 dc. sl st into the 3rd chain of the beginning round. Fasten off.

Round 2:  (colour 2) start in a space. ch 3, 1 dc in same space, *ch 2, 2 dc, ch 1, 2 dc in next space - repeat * 5 times. sl st into the 3rd ch of the beginning round.

Round 3: sl st in the first 2 ch to reach the first 2 ch space of the previous round. ch 3, dc 7 in the 2 ch space, ch 1, * dc 8 in next 2 ch space, ch 1, repeat * 5 times. sl st into the 3rd ch of the beginning round. Fasten

Round 4: (colour 3) ch 1, sc around and make a long stitch down in round 2 between each flower petal. End with sl st. Fasten off.. 

and thats the basic pattern and hopefully you have a successful flower. the picture above are my first 3.  all you have to do now is make enough of them for the size of blanket you require! 36 in my case. 

happy crocheting! 

H

happy hookers

Hello everyone!

My work place has set up a happy hookers group! Yay. First meeting was this week, and everyone seemed to have a nice little chat and get together, and its always good when food and drink are involved.  During this meeting I decided to have a go at making a garden blanket… this is a crocheted African flower blanket based on a green back ground making it looks like a garden. So I thought I would have a little stitch along if anyone is interested.  

First things first is colour selection and planning, ive decided to use 6 colours of cheap ish wool, [non branded but from bm] as im just starting out and was using as a way to teach others. And do the flowers in sets of six, will post pictures as I go along but for starters go out and pick your wool and check back for the beginning of the stitch along. 

below is the picture from the pattern i'm going to be using for this project. 

bouquets.

so when i see home made things i sometimes think anything you can do.. i can do. so i saw these button bouquets and i just had to make one, and i mean i had too...

so heres an professional one...

and then below is my one....

ok there's is better, i couldn't find the right craft wire to connect the buttons but the use of diamond pins look lovely! would happily use my version at a wedding, and costs about a 10th to make compared t buying! 

so going on from that currently making a crochet bouquet. will post updates as i get further with them, bur again its another i can do that moment of madness! 

amigurumi animals 2

so going on from the previous blog post,  i made several other animals and creatures over the weeks on the run up to Christmas, all sold with a small donation to the charity for each one, all the below are commissions, and the majority are from patterns that i changed as i went to look better.

1 of two snails. [cant find the other ones picture.  gave him eyes as well and looked really cute!]

 

1 piggie! the little tail actually curls back if you pull it out. 

the fox is a brooch with a felt back.

owls in different colours sold about 20 of these in total

there is a few more as well but the pics must be on my camera instead of my phone, will update and post when i can! 

Guineapig toys.

i have two guinea-pigs as previously mentions, and on the 14th of jan it was their birthday, for which i got them a 6ft x 6ft run with a top on, previously had a smaller topless run however after a cat incident they didn't go in it as much as i would have liked.  anyway, i was looking for hide-houses for them for their hutch in various pet websites and found them all over £10 which i thought was a tad expensive so i have made my own hide house. total cost? £3

so its a basic basket from duluen mill. 

 take out the fabric

 and cut a hole that is guineapig size

 make sure there is no sharp edges.

 and its defiantly a fave with fudge! straight in it and has been camped out in there since, biscuit hasn't had a look in. 

not sure how long it will last  compared to shop ones but they love it so far, the top if flat so makes a great place for them to climb onto.  and its now under neath their hay rack!  on the look out for other things to use for them now!

amigurumi Animals

Hello everyone well Christmas is well and truly over and I apologies for not update this blog sooner but I’ve had  loads of stuff on work wise.  Hopefully when the course is over in may my spare time will be my own again!  

So before Christmas I promised that I would post the amigurumi brooches I made for a mate in work and here they are, two guinea-pigs and a rabbit and an Alsatian dog.  

Hopefully the people they were given to as Christmas present liked them [made for someone else who passed them on] them to other people in work as I haven’t had feed back from them,  however as I gave these out in the staff room I was asked what else I could do and answered any thing so I made various items on the run to Christmas which will be in the next blog post. 

crochet blanket

Here is a bit of crochet that I am currently doing, I was trying to do a ripple blanket however couldn't get the hang of it on a practice run on a quite night in work so began to make a circle blanket instead.  Started it a week before Christmas and didn't get very far so will have to be used for 2014 instead!  There’s a few mistakes in it but I think it just add to all the charm! Will post more as it comes further to completion. 

this is the beginning of the ripple

and then the circle blanket, been making the pattern up as i go along!

color change

current size, using up scraps of thread and should be about single bed size when finished. aiming for a Christmas theme blanket! currently acting as a good distraction from some university work i have to get done! 

hope you all had an amazing Christmas.