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

A Rainy Day......another good reason to pick up my crochet hook!

Well its raining and cloudy ....now coming from Yorkshire that would be a regular statement but here in Perth Australia it doesn't happen that often, in fact we usually enjoy a good downpour and celebrate the occurrence. We have been known to dance in the rain after a three month span without a single drop falling! I know we're crazy.......
Rain here tends to be a 20 minute torrential downpour usually preceded by a strong gust of wind and followed by bright blue skies but it's been cloudy and stormy for a good 3 days now and feels like we're back in Yorkshire...so off to the craft room for some crocheting.
I hinted earlier at my current project, I am crocheting the indigo sleeveless jacket from Crochet Magazines Winter 2015 issue.
I subscribed recently and have access to two years back copies filled with lovely patterns.
So after leafing through them all I chose a lovely long sleeveless jacket in a stitch I haven't tried before ......I like to add new stitches to my repertoire.

Of course this also triggered a trip to Spotlight for some wool......well what else would a girl do when faced with so many patterns....hehe

I chose this lovely colour and you've probably noticed it's in the colour scheme of my craft room, what a coincidence! It's Marvel 4 Seasons 8 ply, 100% acrylic and seems to be working up quite well so far.
The piece on the work bench is the back and I am just starting the shaping

 I am using a 4 mm hook and the pattern is very easy to remember as its only 2 rows, the first containing a fan stitch ( 3 double crochet into the same stitch) and the second one made up of Puff Cluster stitch.......a what I hear you cry!
This is the new stitch I learned for this project:-

For a puff stitch you put the yarn over (YO) the hook and go into the stitch indicated in the pattern row below, and pull up a loop, then you YO and pull up a loop again a total of 3 times, which gives you 7 loops on the hook, then you YO once more and pull the loop through all the loops causing a cluster.
A Puff Cluster is a puff stitch as above then a chain of 3 worked and then a 2nd puff stitch into the same indicated stitch on the pattern row below.

So .....(YO, Pull through loop) 3x then YO and pull through all  7 loops to close
           CHAIN 3
          Then (YO, Pull through loop) 3x then YO and pull through all 7 loops to close.

It gives this lovely bobble pattern and texture to the piece,

Below 7 loops on the hook and the yarn over the hook ready to pull through.

                                           Three chain stitches between the two Puff Stitches

                         7 loops on the hook for the second puff stitch into the same space

Close the puff stitch with a slip stitch 

There you have a Puff Cluster Stitch

More updates as the pattern progresses!

Happy Hooking

Crafty Cati's Craft Room Capers!

Hello again, it's been a while since I posted last, but good news we have actually moved into our own house at last and my dream has come to fruition I have my very own Craft Room.........it is something I and many of you have longed for. I have to pinch myself often to ensure I am not still dreaming.
 The room is a bedroom with a large window so plenty of natural light that I love, and one entire wall is a floor to ceiling wardobe with sliding doors and oodles of storage space to fill! I know that's going to be a challenge, after all we crafters really don't enjoy shopping for supplies do we...........my husband can spot a new spotlight bag with lightening speed. 
In fact I have a funny story about the two catis on a secret trip to spotlight, before we moved we lived just around the corner from a spotlight store, and of course it was a regular spot to find us wandering through the aisles......on one such day we  popped around to spotlight secretly in the car only to get a phone call from hubby who was sat in the car park having followed a huge trail of oil from home to spotlight........we had sprung a huge leak without knowing.....and were very lucky he'd noticed and came to the rescue but it was very funny, even the car gave the secret away!
Having said that he is turning his hands and his tools to woodwork in the name crafting and has made a lovely crochet hook handle so watch this space we may introduce him to the blog soon.
Back to the Craft room, it is in the early stages of development yet but I wanted to give you a glimpse of the layout and how I am putting it together, and will share developments and tips as it progresses.

I have used 3 storage units here from Ikea
Kallax 4x2 storage units. I chose the lovely bright turquoise colour because I want the craft room to be a colourful and fun place to work, and I got them at almost half price in a sale....I love a bargain. I even found a plant pot holder the same colour at Bunnings to bring a little nature into the room with a flowering plant.
The units have been in various positions on trial over the last few weeks but I like this design the best as it utilises the difficult under the window area, maximising the light by reflecting it into the room, and creates a great work top for storing precious nick knacks as well as work space.

I have also added a 2x2 storage unit and may use this as a platform for a temporary work top between the main storage units. I am considering either an L shaped work area made up of either two 2 metre work tops from Ikea or maybe one work top and a table that my husband will create a dropped shelf within to sit my sewing machine flush with the table top for  perfect quilting surface. I have seen a great hack for this on Blue Dinosaur using an Ingo Table from Ikea, this may be a future blog once I decide on the perfect set up.

I have added another bargain from Ikea the Raskog which I saved another $20 on and is useful for storing the items I need for my current project and on casters I can wheel it anywhere in the house if I choose to craft in the lounge. It is currently holding my crochet project the indigo sleeveless jacket (pattern p 52 of Crochet magazine winter 2015) in preperation for the coming winter.
The blue chair is my rocking chair, I have always loved rocking chairs and find the rocking motion very relaxing, this one needs some TLC, and will soon be re- upholstered as a joint project with my husband.
The small white chair is one we recently transformed from a plain pine and faded peach velvet covered chair to its current glory, I promise to add its transformation to the blog later. We are very proud of how it has turned out and plan to use the same material on the rocking chair.

Here's  a close up of the fabric, it was love at first sight!!
And guess what yet another bargain at 40% off.

The lovely wardrobe is currently fairly empty and so at the minute houses a secret hiding place for my Craft Room buddies, Dragon and Sapphire, they are never far from my feet......if not under my chair.

Here they are below today sharing a favorite cushion at my feet, and having a snooze while I blog and crochet....so peaceful.

Dragon cathing a few zzzz's while Sapphi rests.

Sapphire or Sapphi as she is known is a new addition to the family she is only 16 wks old Blue and White Tenterfield Terrier and extremely playful. I think Dragon is quite relieved she is having a snooze......they are already great pals.

Happy Crafting to you all!

Crafty Cati