By Helen

second blogversary…

Wow!  I can't quite believe it, but it is almost two years since I started my little blog.  Two years!  I thought I was doing well to get to one year: but here I am two years on.   I have to say that I love, loVE, LOVE blogging to you all: and a MASSIVE thank you, to you, for calling by and reading what I have to say and looking at all the picis that I share with you (I know sometimes there is a lot), thank you!  I love this world of creating and sharing, that I am part of: and it is only possible because of people like you.  I thought that it would be a good time to look back over the last twelve months, and celebrate some of the highlights.  Here goes...

1. Discovering Mollie Makes I am now a complete and utter convert.  I love this magazine, if you haven't discovered it yet - you REALLY should!

2. Lots of brilliant things happened in May, especially seeing the blossom on the trees (I am witting that pattern up for you and will share it with you next month).  I think my very favourite thing was seeing my friend's little girl I in her crochet festival hat...

3. Crochet hair clips, you would not believe how much wear I have had out of these...

4. Lots of great things happened in July: if I had to choose just one thing then it would be my crochet Sunflowers ( if you want to have a go at crocheting them the pattern for the Sunflower is HERE)...

5.  Discovering the sudden revival of friendship bracelets which I hope will continue this summer: as I have something very exciting to share with you about friendship bracelets very, very soon!

6.  September saw the chaos of the start of remodeling our home, this meant spending lots of time out of the house, so that the builders could get-on-with-it, this meant spending lots of time in my favourite shop Ramshambles. Tis a hard life!

7. The building work chaos continued into October, but I did find a little bit of crochet time ready for Halloween...

8. November saw Christmas come early as I crocheted samples for a course I was running in York.  There will be more classes in , and near, York very soon.  Look out for them!

9. December meant Christmas; where I tried to wish you all the best in all the different languages of people who I know are reading my blog.  Sorry if I missed your language, let me know so I can include you ALL next time.

10. January was a brilliant start, to what is turning out to be a brilliant year!  I loved sharing my crochet Hellebore with you...

11. By February our back room was finally finished after finding the most perfect table. Now I have somewhere to blog from, somewhere for my sewing machine, somewhere to craft, oh, and somewhere to eat! 

12. March another brillaint month: despite of, or because of, the cold.  I loved the way my fabric flower sampler tured out...

13. This brings us full-circle, back to today.  My favourite thing in April?  Well that has to be my wreath made up of crochet Daffodils which reminds us that Spring is REALLY here...

So, there it is, another year on.  Once again a massive thank you to all of you for calling by, please do keep checking-in as I have lots of exciting thing happening this year and I can't wait to share them with you!

Love Helen

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teeny tiny crochet hooks…

I thought I carry on the teeny tiny theme, I started on my last posting: and share these with you all…

Aren’t they just the teeny tiniest crochet hooks you have ever seen?  My wonderful husband found them for me on a market stall.  They were hiding away, in a tatty box which he just had to open…

He wasn’t sure what they were, even when the box was open…

So he investigated further…

Teeny tiny crochet hooks: each with their own teeny tiny cover!   To give you a true idea of just how teeny tiny they are: look at them next to my faithful 4mm hook…

Not sure I will ever get round to crocheting with them.  Imagine the yarn you would have to use?  Not sure I would have the patience for that.  But I love the fact that Si bought them for me and I love the fact that I will love them as much as their previous owner(s) did.  I can see the start of a collection coming on…

teeny tiny fabric flowers…

I really loved the wreath that I made for Easter; so I thought that I make another, only I would combine two of my favourite crafts; crochet and fabric flowers.  Here’s what I made…

To make it I covered a small polystyrene ring with crochet…

Then set about making the teeny tiny fabric flowers: cutting out lots and lots of teeny tiny circles…

Stitching the teeny tiny circles together to make teeny tiny petals: this, to begin with, looked like teeny tiny bunting…

Making lots of teeny tiny flowers: with lots of teeny tiny buttons to cover, to make the teeny tiny flower centres…

Gluing the teeny tiny flowers on to the wreath…

Each teeny tiny flower is no bigger than a one-penny coin…

I love how the two crafts work together so well; crochet background and teeny tiny flowers.  Perfect!

learning something new: tunisian crochet…

A few weeks ago, I decided that it would be a very good thing to have ago at learning something new.  I promised Si, no more new crafts (I think he despairs at the thought of more unfinished projects) so technically learning tunisian crochet, isn’t something new: just an extension of what I already know.  Right? So I went to Ramshambles,York,  where the wonderfully talented Katey showed me how to get started. 

I started by learning how to crochet the plain or basic tunisian stitch….

Tunisian crochet is a cross between crochet and knitting, you crochet one row and then (kind-off) knit the next…

Very quickly your crochet grows…

The crochet does curl: but that is nothing a little bit of gentle blocking wont sort out.    Once we were happy with the basic stitch, we moved on to crocheting the treble stitch…

Again, you work one row crochet one row (sort off) knit…

Again, your work grows very quickly…

We then moved on to something a little more difficult: crochet mesh…

I found this a bit tricky as my tension went really tight: this is bad for tunisian crochet and very unusual for me!  Next we moved on to colour work…

How pretty!  I really took to tunisian crochet and can’t wait to crochet some more.  I just hope I can remember how…

Happy Easter…

Happy Easter!  I really hope that you are loving the long weekend: plenty of time for crochet and crafting.  Perfect.  I thought that I would share with you my finished Easter / Springtime wreath.  The wreath is both a follow-on from my last post and a recycle from last year's post.  Last year I made my wreath by stitching my crochet Daffodils on to a fabric (stiffened with buckram) circle: while this worked, it did begin to droop.  Something needed to be changed: inspired by Attic24 and a polystyrene ring bought in a craft shop I set about crafting something new.  Hope you like it…

I am chuffed to bits with how it has turned out.  Here’s how I made it.  I started by crocheting a long green panel, to become the background of the wreath.  Using half-treble crochet, I didn’t realise quite how long it needed to be…

I pinned the background crochet to the polystyrene ring, to stop it moving around while to stitched it together…

Once that was finished, to real fun started: pinning the flowers to the wreath…

It took a few attempts, adding extra flowers and moving them around; to get the look I was happy with…

After another move around and adding some crocheted leaves, I was happy…

I wonderful, happy, crochet mix of background, Daffodils, Primroses (I am wiring-up the crochet pattern and will share it with you very soon), and leaves…

crochet flower for March…

Before you continue reading, you should know that I have a confession to make. Ready?  March’s crochet flower of the month is (a teeny tiny) bit of a cheat.  I loved last March's flower, sooooooo much that I decided to reuse it.  I hope you don’t mind?  Looking back over last year’s post, I realised that I hadn’t shared the crochet pattern with you.  Really it is a win-win: I reuse one of my favourite flowers from last year and you get to crochet it ready for Easter.  Let’s face it, if it is as cold with you as it is here in York, we need the colourfulness, cheerfulness of the Daffodil.  York certainly doesn’t look as good as it did this time last year, the grass banks of the City Walls are not yet full of these…

Maybe it is waiting for you to visit over Easter!  On with the pattern:  I crocheted using Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and a 4mm hook, but any Daffodil coloured yarn would work just as well. 

First crochet the petals...

Round 1: 9ch. Sl ss into 1^st ch to join the ring...

Round 2: dc into ring, 2ch, dc into ring.  Repeat this until you have 6 ch sps.  Sl ss into ch to join the ring…

Round 3: working into the first ch sp; dc, htr, tr, dtr, dtr, ch3, sl ss into 1^st ch (crocheting a picot), dtr, tr, htr, dc…

Repeat the above (still on round 3) into each ch sp, until you have six petals.   Fasten off…

Now crochet the trumpet...

Round 1: make a magic circle,  1ch to secure.  13dc into the magic circle. Sl ss into ch to make circle…

Round 2: 3ch. Tr into each dc. Sl ss into 3^rd ch to join circle…

Round 3: 3ch.  Sl ss into 1^st ch (picot) sl ss into next tr...

Repeat the above (still on round 3 picot) into each tr. Sl ss to join…

Sew the trumpet and petals together, then voila…

Last year I made my Daffodils into a Spring-time wreath: this year I am reusing them into something else.  I share with you the new project in a few posts time, for now it is just not-quite-right!

NB - when crochet the picot for the trumpet, please, don't worry about how many you end up with, just one in each treble is fine.  Go with how your trumpet is looking rather than fretting about counting stitches.  That's why crochet is so fantastic!

cosy crochet slippers…

March: in like a lion out like a lamb, or so they say.   I can’t decide which March has come in like.  Like a lamb?  The last few days have been lovely and sunny: it has really started to feel like Spring.  Today I saw my first Daffodil, on my way to work, and it made me smile all day.  But it’s sooooooo cold (does that mean it’s in like a lion?) especially at night-time.  Noting is better, than walking home, along the river in the dusky Spring evenings.  Nothing is better than getting home and lighting a fire to take the chill off the still cold evenings.  Nothing is better than slipping your toes into a pair of newly crocheted slippers and warming your toes in font of that fire…

Hope you love them as much as I do?  They were really easy to crochet; each one was finished in just over an hour: taking just under a ball of chunky yarn.  After a happy afternoon of crocheting: you have yourself a cosy pair of slippers.  What could be better?

Enjoy your evening…

xxx

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. 

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.     

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.