A Surprise Event Causes a Flurry of Craft Room Chaos

Four weeks ago back in early February my youngest daughter decided she had found the perfect date for her wedding the date she chose was the 2nd of March, not next year or the year after, but yesterday. So after a day of panic off we set to find her the perfect gown for a sunset wedding at the beach, and after just 4 hours of frantic shopping she chose a beautiful red gown trimmed with lots of crystals to catch the sun, and shoes to match. We could hardly believe  our luck one afternoons shopping and we had ticked off the most important items.
Then came the panic of what on earth can I wear!
So after several cups of tea I remembered some fabric I had stashed in my craft room sat waiting to be transformed into a dress, and it was perfect, red poppies that matched the bride's dress perfectly.
My craft room turned into a the home of a crazy seamstress overnight. This was only the second dress I had made, so I was more than a little nervous but thankfully with only minimal unpicking and reworking the dress came together.
When I wasn't sewing my crochet hook was working double time on a lace wrap to compliment the dress and a poppy to adorn a lovely velvet purse I found to match the dress.
With a week to go I had to face the sinking realisation that even if I didn't sleep the whole week my wrap was not going to be finished on time and so I made a difficult decision to make a little jacket to finish off the ensemble.
The wedding was yesterday and it was a perfect day in the sun, and everyone looked beautiful, and of course the bride was radiant in the sun in her gown.
Today I sit in my craft room which has returned to its serene tranquil haven with my loyal craft room companion Noodle the dachshund at my feet enjoying the peace and quiet.
I thought you might like to see the finished dress and purse.
The poppy I have decided will be my flower of the month for February and my next post will have the pattern for you to share.

 

 

Pineapple Doily

I have wanted to combine my love of lace making and crochet for a while but haven't found a pattern that I really wanted to work on. I recently found a pattern I fell in love with at first glance. Pineapple patterns have intrigued me for a while so when I found this pattern I couldn't wait to get started.
I used a beautiful  turquoise Lisbeth thread to match the sofa or lounge as they like to call it in Australia in the theatre room and thought it would look gragainst the black coffee table I have which was begging for a bit of colour. The effect was even better than I imagined, it looks stunning.

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Colour Inspirations

I love the fuschia and jade together!

Flower of the month January Roses

This gorgeous flower from the garden was my inspiration to go and review some of the rose patterns and videos available online .

Justy Joey  is a beautiful standard rose that I fell I in love with at the garden centre about 4 yrs ago the scent is heavenly and the colour a beautiful peach. However once we settled him into the flower bed he didn't thrive at all no matter what we did or where we put him, but we brought him with us to the new house and within a few months  he rewarded us with this beautiful big flower that lasted for several weeks.

Firstly I reviewed several step by step videos on youtube by She's Crafty, the videos are a little long but do take you through the step by step process of crocheting the individual petals, sepal and leaves and construction of a long stem rose in 3 sizes, bud, opening rose, and full bloom.  It took me one or two replays of a few parts of the videos to get the hang of what I needed to do, and it took me a few days to produce the rose. The pattern was fairly simple and the written pattern she includes in a list format was handy to carry around once I'd worked the pattern once on a petal. 

The wool used is 100% acrylic for this project, and the hook size is 3mm, you will also need florist wire for the stems and florist tape in green to attach the petals to the stem. A glue gun is used to secure the petals together, and a candle which is used once the crocheted pieces are completed. Hovering each piece over the naked flame to melt the tiny acrylic fibres that give your work a fuzzy texture gives them a smooth shiny, polished effect.

The petals are worked in 3 sizes small, medium and large.

To make a bud you work 3 small petals. Rows 1-9 = small petal

To make an opening rose work 3 small petals & 3 medium petals. Rows 1-10 = medium petal

To make a full blooming rose work 3 small, 3 medium & 3 large petals. Rows 1-11 = Large petals.

The petals are worked in Amigurumi style, and finished with 3 chain and 2 double crochet into the final stitch to form a loop. This loop is used to fix the petal to the stem, it helps to leave a small length of yarn also for wrapping around the stem.. This is a small petal

The large petal on the left  is finished slightly differently with a single chain between each of the two stitches of the increase stitch. This gives a slightly angular effect to the outside petals of the full bloom rose and enhances the natural appearance of the petal.

Rose Petal Steps

Row 1. Make a magic circle and crochet 6 single crochet into it

Row 2: Crochet 2 single crochet (V) into each of the single crochet (sc) of row 1 (12 stitches)

Row 3: single crochet (sc) into first stitch, 2sc into 2nd stitch (V) repeat to end of row.

Row 4: sc , sc, V repeat to end

Row 5: sc, sc, sc, V repeat to end

Row 6: sc, sc, sc, sc, V repeat to end

Row 7: sc 10 stitches *V, sc, sc, sc, sc (ie 4 sc  )** repeat from * to ** 3x, V, sc 10 stitches

Row 8: sc 10 stitches * V sc, sc, sc, sc, sc  (5sc) ** rep from * to ** 3x, V, sc 10 

Row 9: sc 11, * V, sc 6**  rep * to ** 3x, V, sc 11

Row 10: sc 11, *V,  sc 3 ** rep from *to ** 6x, V, sc 12

Row 11: sc 12 * V, sc 4 ** rep from *to ** 6x, V sc 12

A Taste of Things to Come....Bobbin Lacemaking

I have been fascinated by all crafts related to thread and yarn since I was a small child and was bitten by the Bobbin Lace Making bug when I was in my early teens and like all the crafts I have learned over the years I taught myself from books initially but of course today we have the internet and video tutorials to help us to learn just about anything you can think of, crafty or not.

I was determined to learn the lace making skill and it was very difficult, the books took some studying and there were few pictures to assist in putting words into actions. The local library only stocked one or two books on the subject and supplies were difficult to come by.

I decided to make my own bobbins for learning purposes and made them out of old wooden pegs as the old round ones were a good match for the shape of a bobbin, and after decorating them with ribbon wound around the prongs or braid, and glued into place they looked quite good. I used string to wind the peg bobbins with and set about practicing the different stitches using a block of polystyrene from some packing.

I don't have a picture of my original bobbins made from pegs but these are quite similar,












Proud of my new skill it soon came up in a French class at school when asked about hobbies and my teacher at the time was delighted as she studied bobbin lace making too.
This was a great motivator as I now had someone to go to when I got stuck.
She was doing a demonstration at a craft fair the school was holding and I was invited to sit with her with my square of polystyrene now covered in a lovely royal blue cloth and my peg bobbins, doing some very basic stitches.

She sat with a beautiful blue straw filled lace pillow filled with countless spangled bobbins working on an intricate piece of lace. I was mesmerized.

Over the years my bobbin collection has grown and when I moved to Australia the bobbins came with me, my precious treasure carefully wrapped in the bobbin case I made for myself shortly after starting on my lace venture.

Unfortunately my pillows did not make the journey with me .....a suitcase of only 23 kg when we arrived here meant many hard decisions were made on packing.

Lace supplies I have found are rarer than hens teeth locally and so my lace venture will start very soon with the making of my own pillows and I will share this with you all as I go long.

For now here is a picture of my precious bobbins, all spangled by hand, some from necklaces I had as a child but mostly from glass beads I have bought over the years. Some more precious than others bought as gifts, and spangled to commemorate my children s births or birthdays.

I hope you like them and that my lace exploits will motivate a few to take up this beautiful craft.

More to come very soon !

Puff Cluster & Shell Stitch Pattern

Hi there !
I thought you might like a chart for the lovely pattern I am using on my sleeveless jacket as it makes up into a lovely texture that would suit many other projects, I think it would make a lovely blanket stitch. The pattern is made up of two rows a shell stitch row and a puff cluster stitch row.
So here it is for you.

The pattern is worked in sets of 6 chain +1 (31 chain in demo )
Initial Row: DC into 4th chain, *skip 2 CH - 3 DC into next chain (V) - skip 2 ch - SC into next chain* repeat from * to * across the row ending in 2 dc into last stitch

Row 2:  Chain 1, SC into 1st DC,* Puff Cluster into next single chain, SC into middle DC of the V* repeat * to * until end of row and SC into the top of the 3 Ch beginning the previous row - Turn

The pattern continues with 

Row 1: Ch 3 - DC into base of 3 CH - *SC into 3 chain loop of cluster below  - 3 DC  (V) into next SC - * repeat from * to * to end of row finishing with 2 DC into last stitch - turn

Row 2:  Chain 1, SC into 1st DC,* Puff Cluster into next single chain, SC into middle DC of the V* repeat * to * until end of row and SC into the top of the 3 Ch beginning the previous row - Turn

• Just as a recap - the puff stitch cluster is made up of two 7 loop puff stitches, separated by 3 chain

In other words:-

• Yarn over, pick up loop, yarn over pick up loop, yarn over pick up loop( 7 loops on the hook) yarn over, pull through all 7 loops on the hook, slip stitch to close
• Chain 3
• Yarn over, pick up loop, yarn over pick up loop, yarn over pick up loop,  (7 loops on the hook) yarn over pull through all 7 loops on the hook, slip stitch to close

All into the same stitch

Photos in my earlier blog.

Have fun with it!

Flower of the month April - Primrose

Good morning Happy Hookers, I thought I would pop in to show you a little side project I am currently working on. I have a tendency to have several craft projects on the go at any one time and hop between them frequently. I guess I'm a bit of a crafty butterfly.

One of my little side projects is a sweater made up of individual motifs, I like to have something on the go with small motifs or shapes that I can carry around with me in my handbag for a little crochet session at lunch time or on the train, its an excellent stress buster.

I am using cotton thread in a lovely bright summery yellow colour
The cotton is Tootgarook Cotton in 4 ply and it works up beautifully.

The flower pattern is worked with a base ring of 5 chain stitches followed by 4 rounds and I have included a chart below for you, I hope you enjoy this little pattern, this will be the first of a new feature I will be introducing
A Flower A Month, we would love to see what projects you use the patterns in too

Happy Hooking Everyone, Have fun