By Helen

cutest crochet cardi...

Do you remember my friend's little girl I: the one I crocheted the hat for?  I decided to crochet her a cardi, to keep her toastie during the poor weather we are having.  After a happy few hours browsing my magazines and Ravelry I came across a gorgeous pattern by Amanda Tipton for the cutest cardi I had ever seen.  I am rather pleased with how the cardi turned out...

I crocheted the cardi using (my favourite) King Cole yarm and am loving the way the colour changes.  The pattern was so easy to follow.  Best of all the cardi was crocheted in one piece, top down, so no making up afterwards.

In fact I love the cardi sooooo much: I am thinking of trying to make one to for me!

The pattern for the cardi is available, as a free download via Ravelry

There was down side to the cardi...it is a little on the small side for I :-( 

Still perfect excuse for spending a happy afternoon crocheting another... :-)

more may blossom...

Just the memory of May blossom makes me smile.  The way the trees wear the blossom as if the weight of it is too much, the vivid pink colours set against the blue sky, the promise of fruits later in the summer.  Yes even on a rainy, grey, day like today: the memory of blossom makes my heart sing.

Blossom was an easy choice for May's crochet flower of the month, especially after buying the amazing Party Angel yarn, by Debbie Bliss, on my shopping spree.  As soon as I saw the yarn, I knew what it had to be crocheted into...

I love how the kid mohair, of the yarn, gives each of the blossom a fuzzy, hazy feel...

I am really pleased with how these turned out...

Just like the real thing...

May be?

looking forward...

The next couple of months are going to be busy ones: there are so many lovely things that I am looking froward to; a long hot summer (hopefully), holidays (definitely), trips out and catching up with friends.  I can't wait!  One thing that I am looking forward to is a crochet course I booked myself on ages ago.  Often when you see crochet courses advertised they are aimed at beginners: I don't consider myself a beginner anymore!  The one I found is different: crochet with wire.  The course is held at ArtisOn an arts and craft studio in the beautiful market town of Masham, in the Yorkshire Dales.  It will be a bit of an early start but it will be well worth it.  The course tutor Julie Glaze is amazingly talented, her work is just fantastic: I can't wait to learn from her.

Inevitably, my excitement got the better of me and I when out and bought some wire to play with, just in case I was a natural...

...I have a lot to learn!

loving this yarn...

Following on from my binge at Ramshambles I thought that I would spend a little bit of time crocheting some of the lovely yarn that I purchased.  I decided to start by crocheting my impulse buy, of two balls of multi-coloured yarn.  I am loving the results...

The yarn, Knitcol trends from Adriafil, crochets the perfect granny square. It is easy to work with, no splitting and the stitch looks great.   I am going to make mine into a cushion cover, just like the one I crocheted for my friend.

shop, shop, shopping...

Every now and then a girl needs a binge, a good old shop.  For some girls it is shoes, for some girls it is handbags , now I will admit for having a soft-spot for both of these, for me it is yarn (and books).  The last time I had a real yarn binge was when I went to Harrogate, to the Knitting Show and that was back in November, six whole months ago. 

I went to Ramshambles and here is what I bought...

The rainbow!  I have lots and lots of ideas of what to crochet with these, the problem will be deciding on just one of my thoughts!

Some Debbie Bliss' Party Angel, a mohair and silk mix.  I love the shimmer that runs through this yarn.  I think it will be quite difficult to crochet with, but the results will be worth it.

Not going to tell you what I am going to crochet with these two!  But two of my friends will (hopefully) be very happy when they see the results!

I have no idea what I am going to crochet these into.  These two were complete impulse buys.  I love the way the colours change, I love the feel of them.  I am thinking, possible, granny squares - I'll let you know!

All in all a good shop, most of what I bought I wanted and the others, well, I am sure that I will crochet them into something.  At the moment I am just enjoying looking at my purchases, thinking and dreaming of crochet.

even more crochet...

Over the early May Bank Holiday I didn't just spend time crocheting for me.  I crocheted my friend's little girl a hat for summer.  Little I loved the winter hats that I made for her, so I thought that I would crochet her a hat for when the sun shines.  I know, given the current weather there is some degree of irony in crocheting a sun hat - but rumour has it the weather is going to warm up and the sunshine is going to make an appearance.  Little I will be well prepared...

I am really please with how the hat turned out.  It is my own design!  I even wrote the pattern down so that (hopefully) I will be able to crochet it again...

A massive thank you to Little I for looking so fabulous and wearing the hat I crocheted.  A massive thank you to C for taking the pictures and letting me share them with you all.  Thank you!

time for crochet...

Did you enjoy the bank holiday weekend? I did! I spent the whole weekend curled up on the sofa with my crochet hook. It was so indulgent, it was wonderful. The first thing that I made was a skinny neck scarf by Lynne Rowe...

I had wanted to make the scarf for a while so I was delighted to actually get on and crochet it. The pattern was really easy to follow. Unusually, for me, I didn't mind all the counting that went into making the curly ends. I am really really please with the result...

I love the flower, and followed the tip to attach a pin to the back so that I can wear it a a brooch...

I can't wait to wear it...

Now what to make this weekend...

April showers and Bluebells...

Wow!  Is the weather as wet with you, as it is here?  It seems that ever since there were reports of drought that it hasn’t stopped raining.  Mother Natures idea of irony!  I really think that the rain has gone beyond April showers now.   The upside of all this rain is the amount of time I can spend, guilt free, crocheting.  Usually by now I feel I should be sorting the garden (which is looking neglected again, despite the work we did during the warm weather, whenever that was) but with all the rain my motivation isn’t there.

I have been crocheting way, and have almost finished my Bluebell...

What do you think?  I am pleased with them, especially using the bead of the centres.  All that is left crochet are the stalks.  I am thinking of something similar to the Snowdrop stalk, so that the flowers can keep their heads bowed.  I was looking in a book, and according to folk-lore, Bluebells hang their heads because of their association with death.  Medieval archers used the sap to make a sticky glue for attaching feathers to arrows!  There is an interesting, if a little morbid, fact for you!

Something more cheerful…crocheting all afternoon while listening to the rain fall on the ground.  See there are positives in the rain…

April's crochet flower...

Committing to crocheting a flower a month is taking some doing.  I didn’t quite realise how quickly they would come around: it only seems like a minute ago when I was thinking about March’s Daffodils.  Here we are in the middle, mid-DLE, of April.  This month’s crocheted flower will be the Bluebell.  I guess Bluebells are very appropriate especially as according to one news source (so must be true) the English Bluebell is on the decline.  I had intended to go to visit a beautiful woodland and take lots and lots of photographs for inspiration.  I haven’t found the time to do this.  Instead my inspiration comes from a birthday card, which I got last month…

 

I did manage to find the time to visit Ramshambles to stock up on Bluebell colour yarn…

And to Viking Loom to get some beads, which I think will become the middle bits...

What are the middle bits of flowers called?  I MUST look that up.

Now all that if left to do is the actual crocheting bit.  I’ll let you know how I get on…

happy easter...

I really hope that you are enjoying the l-o-n-g weekend?  The poor weather is just the perfect excuse for low guilt reading, baking ,crocheting and generally doing not a lot.  I love it! 

Do you remember the Daffodils that I ta-dahed about a few posts ago?  Well I was so chuffed with them, I made some more and made those into a wreath for Easter...

I stitched the Daffodils to a base made of green material and then filled in any gaps with small crocheted Primroses and leaves.  I am really happy with how this turned out, I think that is will be a Springtime wreath, rather than just an Easter wreath.

Enjoy the long weekend and don't eaat too much chocolate (as if too much chocloate is ever possible) x.