It is a beautiful world. Today frost has taken hold and made the world shiny and sparkly! I love this time of the year. All of the photos that I am about to share with you, were taken by the River Ouse in York. All of the photos that I am about to share with you, were taken within twenty minutes’ walk of my front door. I don’t have the words to express how blessed I feel. I don’t have the words to express the emotions that I was feeling as I took a walk this morning. Despite all the bad that it going on in the world today, it is still a very beautiful place to be…
Seasons
11/29/2016
09/01/2016
September…
It’s September! My very favourite month! Here’s why...
There is a hint of Autumn in the air…
Mother Nature starts her show of amazing colours…
The colours…
Days get shorter and nights get longer = more time for guilt free crochet…
Brambles…
Apples…
Chutney…
Indoor fires…
Still the warmth of Summer days / dazy…
Previous musings of past Septembers can be found HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE!
Yes I really do LOVE, LOVE, L-O-V-E September!
03/01/2016
March musings…
Happy St. David’s day! Today, the first day of March, the weather in York has taken a turn back towards Winter. This is in complete contrast with the last few days which have been absolutely gorgeous, with a real hint of Spring in the air. Perhaps March is coming in like a lion, so she leaves like a lamb? On a grey day like today I thought that I’d try to cheer us all up, sharing the pictures that I have taken over the last few days. Ready? Good…
I think that today, I’ll get my Spring wreath out of the cupboard and put it up in anticipation…
I’ll write up the Daffodil crochet pattern, very soon, so that you can crochet yourself a little bit of Spring…
10/30/2015
Autumnal musing…
It is a damp, dreary day, here is York. How is it with you? It is the type of day that my Grandma would have described as back-endish: it is definitely back-endish! Despite today, we have had a truly beautiful Autumn: the colours have been amazing and I have been lucky enough to spend lots of time outdoors wandering through Mother Nature’s most spectacular show. Of course I took my camera with me, so that I was able to share the beauty with you. I hope you find Autumn as inspirational as I do…
I know that some people find Autumn difficult, a season where the nights draw-in, days become shorter and the Earth prepares for her Winter sleep. For me it is a season, where I feel alive. I think it might be the farmer’s daughter in me coming-out. On the farm Autumn was a season of celebration and thanks-giving and looking forward to the new year, as seeds for the Spring crops were planted and plans were drawn-up for the coming year. Although I left the farm many years ag, somethings have defiantly stayed with me: my love of Autumn is one of them! I’d love to hear about your favourite season: with comment here or find me on Facebook HERE.
09/02/2015
lovely, lovely, September…
Ok, so this post is going to be similar to the post I wrote you this time last year, and the year before and the year before and the year before! I’m not going to apologise: I just love, LOVE, L-O-V-E September. September, for me is the very best of all the months: there is still a hint of Summer in the air, but there is a twang of Autumn with cool mornings and dew on the ground. It is in September when Mother Nature buts on her very best show, the changing colours of the trees and the decaying seed heads that exploded like fireworks all over the garden. I thought I’d share some of those fireworks with you…
I hope you enjoy Autumn as much as I do? Let me know about your favourite season…
All photos were taken at Helmsley Walled Garden it’s well worth a visit if you’re in the area!
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04/24/2015
hair blossom…
Have you noticed that there seems to be blossom everywhere? I love the display that the trees are putting on at the moment, all pink and white and fluffy…
It always reminds me of one of my very favourite crochets…
You can find the pattern for the crochet blossom HERE ( oh, yes, it is still one of my very favourite patterns).
I’ve often turned my crochet blossom into hair blossom…
This week it has been all about hair blossom, I’ve lost count of how many I’ve crocheted. Here are just a few
Why so many blossoms? I hear you ask. Good question. I’m getting ready for my very first York Makers craft fair, where I’ll be selling my flowers. If you want to pop-along, it would be lovely to see you…
Hope to see you soon!
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03/12/2015
crochet Spring garland…
I’ve decided that Spring is here. The weather may be disagreeing, but there are definitely signs of Spring springing. I decided to crochet a Spring garland in celebration. I am sooooo happy with how it turned out, I had to share it with you…
I hope you like it? I thought I’d share the pattern with you, so that you can have a little bit of Spring, no matter what the weather decides to do this weekend. I used five different colours of DK yarn, but I’ll leave the colour and yarn choice for you to decide. You’ll also need a yarn appropriate hood, scissors and a needle. To make the flowers, you’ll need to crochet a puff stitch (ps), I’ve provided instruction for this at the end on the main pattern. For those of you that don’t need photograph instructions, or want to copy and paste the pattern, just scroll to the bottom of this post. OK? Ready? Here we go…
4ch, ss to join…
3ch, *ps into the ring, 2ch*…
repeat *-* so that you have 5ps and 5chsp, fasten off and secure in the ends…
join a new colour in any ch sp…
1ch to secure the new colour, then working in the ch sp, **dc, htr, 3tr, htr, dc, **…
repeat **-** into each ch sp, ss into first stitch to join, fasten off and secure in the ends…
join new colour in any st…
dc into each st, including the top of the ps on the first round…
ss into first st, fasten off and secure in the ends…
Make as many flowers as you need for your garland. Crochet some leaves, the pattern for leaves can be found HERE. I crocheted seven flowers and nine leaves…
Start to crochet a long chain, joining the flowers and leaves as you go along…
Hang you Spring garland and enjoy…
Let me know how you get along. Remember that you can find me on Ravelry HERE and on Facebook HERE.
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Crocheting a puff stitch (ps)…
Yarn over hook, * insert hook in to st, yarn over hook and pull through,* repeat *-* until you have nine loops on your hook, yarn over hook…
Pull back through all nine stitches…
You should have your puff stitch :)
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Copy and paste pattern…
- 4ch, ss to join
- 3ch, *ps into the ring, 2ch*
- repeat *-* so that you have 5ps and 5ch sp, fasten off and secure in the ends
- join a new colour in any ch sp
- 1ch to secure the new colour, then working in the ch sp, **dc, htr, 3tr, htr, dc, **
- repeat **-** into each ch sp, ss into first stitch to join, fasten off and secure in the ends
- Join new colour in any st
- dc into each st, including the top of the ps on the first round
- ss into first st, fasten off and secure in the ends
- make as many flowers as you need for your garland. Crochet some leaves, the pattern for leaves can be found HERE (sorry no copy and paste). I crocheted seven flowers and nine leaves
- start to crochet a long chain, joining the flowers and leaves as you go along
Puff stitch (ps)
- Yarn over hook, * insert hook in to st, yarn over hook and pull through,* repeat *-* until you have nine loops on your hook, yarn over hook
- Pull back through all nine stitches
- You should have your puff stitch
*****************************************************************************************
Happy Crocheting!
xxx
03/05/2015
Spring is springing…
March is here like a lion: hopefully that means she will leave like a lamb and this cold weather will end. Don’t get me wrong, I am a massive fan of Winter (it is one of my favourite seasons) but I have had enough now and would like some warmth. I think that Mother Nature must also be getting restless with Winter. Have you noticed? She is slowly, slowly starting her Spring show, reminding us that Spring is just around the corner and that the Earth is beginning to warm-up and wake-up from its Winter sleep. A few days ago I wrapped-up and headed out with my friend and her little girl, in search of Spring. And we found Spring in abundance. I took my camera along, so that you could see for yourself…
Spring is on its way, so this weekend, wherever you are, go for a walk and say good morning to the World as it wakes for another year…
Oh and if you are inside, this weekend, don’t forget that you can find me on Facebook HERE
xxx
01/08/2015
a cold and frosty morning….
The world seems to have had a difficult start to 2015: with the awful things that are happening. I hope that your 2015 has got off to a more peaceful start? I am truly blessed that mine has. Even when things get stressful (and really they aren’t in comparison) I find that it is incredibly important to remember just how lucky I am. When I feel myself wavering, and things start to build-up (as they often do for many over the Christmas holidays) I try really hard to keep life as simple as possible, and reconnect with the little, but oh-so important things. One thing I love to do is go for a walk. It doesn’t have to be a long walk, I often like to go for a walk along the river, which is close (sometimes too close when it floods) to my home. I am very lucky that I can head to the end of my street turn left and be in the middle of York and turn right and wander along the river bank of the Ouse. This is what I did one cold and frosty morning; I took my camera along – so that you too can come along…
Not a person in sight, it’s just us…
Still just us as we near the Millennium Bridge…
Turned into Rowntree’s Park (yes, we have visited here many, many, many times before) where the grass was dusted with icing…
And the water frozen…
And the park benches had a frosty, fuzzy, coating…
And the leaves looked like they had been dipped in icing sugar…
But still there were reminders that Spring isn’t far away…
My hope for us all in 2015 it that we can have peace. That we acknowledge that we are all different, celebrate that we are all different and not be afraid to talk about out differences. Can you imagine if we were all the same? So, please where ever you are, pray for peace, look for the blessings in your life and remember that beauty is all around.
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Ps – I forgot to tell you. Over Christmas I embraced the twenty-first century and set up a Facebook page for byhelen. So, if you’d like to pop over and like the page, please do, this means that you’ll get notifications when I post and lots of other things that I want to share with you. At the moment my Facebook page hasn’t lots of content, but it will come: we all have to start somewhere!
Like me HERE - thank you!
xxx
04/06/2014
crochet for Easter: ideas…
I love making my crochet seasonal: and try really hard with the flowers that I share with you (nearly) each month. This time last year I loved crocheting my Spring wreath, I am still so happy with it, it is back hanging on the door of my living room. I loved crafting for Christmas, only four months ago – but seems like much longer. I loved crocheting the Valentine's Day wreath. I am looking forward to crocheting for Easter. I have yarn, hooks and polystyrene eggs…
But I’m not too sure what to crochet creation to turn this into. Any ideas…?
Helen
I love to create beautiful things out of yarn. I love textile crafts, especailly crochet.
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