By Helen

crochet flower for February…

Nothing says Spring is on its way quite as much as a tulip.  Ok may be the snowdrop, daffodil or primrose does: but for now I am focusing on tulips…

That’s because the tulip, is February’s crochet flower of the month.  Last year I crochet a rose for Valentine’s Day, this year something slightly less cliché (I did crochet hearts for Valentine’s Day after all) the tulip…

Here’s how you can make a bunch of them for yourself.  Gather together your yarn, scissors, needle and crochet hook.  I would suggest you use a smaller crochet hook than what is mentioned on the ball-band, as you want your petal stitches to be quite tight.   Ready?  Ok, then.

Row one : 5ch…

Row two: dc in 2^nd ch from hook, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, turn…

Row three: 1ch, 2dc in dc, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, 2dc in next dc, turn…

Row four: 1ch, 2dc in dc, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, 2dc in next dc, turn…

Row five, six and seven: 1ch, dc in each dc, turn…

Row eight: 1ch, 2dc tog, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, 2dc tog in next dc, turn…

Row nine: 1ch 2dc tog, dc in next dc, dc in next dc, 2dc tog in next dc, turn…

Row ten:  1ch, 2dc tog, 2dc tog, turn…

Row eleven: 1ch, 2 dc tog, finish off...

And weave in your ends…

Crochet six tulip petals…

Next you need to join the petals together

Row one: using your green yarn, dc across the base of the first petal…

Don’t worry too much about where you place your hook or how many stitches you crochet.  I crocheted four stitches, but however many you manage if fine.  Crochet one chain, before joining the next petal...

Repeat this until all of the petals are joined together (they will over-lap each other)…

Row two: turn, 1ch, dc in to each of the dc (I found it easier to ignore the ch: in other words, don’t try to dc into the ch)…

Row three: turn, 1ch, 2dc tog all the way across, finish off leaving a long tail…

To sew together, coil the petals together so that there are three inner and three outer petals and secure by sewing in the long tail…

Voila, your tulip…

If you want to arrange your tulips in a vase, I would suggest that you use a small garden cane as a stem, like I did with my Sunflowers.  Me?  I’m going to lay my crochet tulips across the mantelpiece as a Spring garland. 

Happy corcheting...

NB – the first ch in each row, does not count as a stitch.  All crochet stitches are UK stitches. 

facing my baking demons: loaf cakes…

It is ages since I have blogged about baking.  This is not because I haven’t baked: I have, it is just I have had so many other things to tell you about, blogging about baking took a back-seat.  This is going to change: this year I am facing up to my baking demon – the loaf cake.  I am a good baker, I bake great cakes (even if they are not the prettiest things), Si says so, friends and family say so: but I can’t bake loaf cakes.  Give me a recipe for a round cake or a square cake, everything is fine.  Give me a recipe for a loaf cake and the end result will be nothing short of disastrous.  Every loaf cake I have ever baked has collapse into an interesting V shape.  Think deep valley here, running down the middle of the cake.  I have no idea why: if any of you know why this happens, please, let me know.   So this year, right here, right now, I am going to tackle my issues with loaf cakes: and you are coming along with me…

I have the king of baking: Paul Holywood’s How To Bake in support…

I have a picture, so I know exactly what I am aiming for…

And, I AM going to following his instructions to the letter.  No deviations, no thinking well if I just add this.  Are you ready?  Good.

9.45 – Start the cake.  Gather together all ingredients and weigh them out very very accurately. 

9.50 – Everything is ready to go, first job to beat (does he mean cream?  sorry no deviating) the sugar and butter together.  This can take up to ten minutes.  Ten minutes!!

9.53 – Seven minutes of creaming (sorry beating) to go.  My arm hurts!

10.03 – Adding in the lemon curd.  Yuuuummmmmm lemon curd.  Resisting the urge to eat the lemon curd.  Is adding one table spoon of lemon curd, really enough?  Right, no deviating: stick to the recipe.  It’s just I really like lemons; I like my lemons to be so tart that your face hurts when you taste them. 

10.10 – Ready for the oven…

10.30 – Half way through cooking.  Resisting the temptation to open the oven door.  I don’t want it collapsing on me. 

10.50  - It should be ready!

10.51 – It is ready.  Out of the oven.  It looks like the one in Paul’s picture. I have been here before.  Normally in the next ten minutes is when the valley shaping starts to happen.  Figures-crossed while I make the drizzle.

10.58 – It hasn’t collapsed, yet, so I am going to carefully pour over the drizzle: still hoping for the best.   Looking good…

Yep, I think that this is going to be ok…

Here’s to my next adventure into baking loaf cakes…

Happy baking: it is the perfect weekend for it...

where I’m blogging from…

I’m very excited and rather pleased with myself!  Sorry to sound smug: I have good reason.  Remember how our back room, was almost finished apart from needing a table?  Well, ta-dah…

We have a table!  I can’t tell you how happy I am with it.  It finishes the room: makes it complete.  We have somewhere to eat, somewhere for my sewing machine, somewhere to craft…

…somewhere to blog from!  I have to admit, that I didn’t think we are going to get a table.  Ever since next-doors cat dug his claws into the table, that Si had made, and surfed on it (it wobbled so much).  I knew that, as lovely as that table was, I was never going to at my dinner off it.  We had to buy one.  I had my eye on our table (our table, how wonderful that sounds) for a while but the lady in the shop was a little reluctant to sell it to me.  The table was part of a beautiful set: chairs, sideboard and table, and we only wanted to table.  Understandably the shop owner didn’t want to split the set.  I get that, I really do: and I was willing to wait.  Time and time again we visited the shop, tape measure in hand, measuring all the tables she had: and while some came close to coming home, nothing was quite as right as my table.  Then on one of the visits, she said the magic words: ok then you came have it! So we did, no negotiating on price, we settled on it there and then: got the screw-driver out, took the legs off and carried it through York, home to our back room.  The table is perfect, look how well it fits…

I know you are probably thinking that I am a little over-excited by a table: well I am and make no apologies about it!  I’ve lived for ten years without a table: it might take me the next ten years to get over the novelty!  I love my table!

crochets heart: happy Valentine’s day…

Happy Valentine’s day!  What better way to celebrate than crocheting lots and lots of hearts…

The pattern I followed (yes followed) is from the first issue of Simply Crochet , it is a really easy pattern to follow; and in no time at all you have gorgeous hearts to hang on your doors…

Or layer together to for extra decoration (soooooo much better than last years)…

I think that I might turn mine into bunting, like I did with my tiny hearts way back when. 

Whatever you do with your heart today, treat it well and spoil yourself!  You deserve it.     

fabulous fabric fun…

Remember I said that I had been too busy to offer any of my crochet for York’s Yarn Bomb?  It is all because for the last few days, weeks, I have been busy making gorgeous little fabric flowers…

Aren’t they cute?  I love them so much; that I am starting a new blog category just for fabric.   I love the ditsy-print fabric, which I bought at Harrogate back in November.  I think that they’ll be perfect for Spring, when it arrives…

Have a very happy crafting weekend...

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Yarn Bomb: York...

Yesterday was an amazing day: there was a Yarn Bomb in York!  It was in celebration of our amazing Art Gallery, which is now closed for a two year renovation and redevelopment project.  I know two years sounds like a very long time, but by the time it is finished they will have increased their display space by a massive sixty (yes sixty) per-cent.  How good it that going to be?  To celebrate all that is to come, yesterday was a community day: where people could drop in a take part in all manner of art related activities.  One of those activities was the Yarn Bomb.  I have to confess that I didn’t take along any of my own work.  I have been sooooo busy of late (with lots of exciting things which I’ll share with you all very soon) and sometimes it is just lovely to look in awe at all the brilliant stuff made by very talented people.  In case you weren’t able to go, I took lots and lots of picis for you…

Isn’t it brilliant?  Brilliant what you can crochet and knit your yarn in to.  Brilliant that there are so many talented people.  Brilliant that we get to share it all with each other.