6ichthusfish

Hooked on Crochet [20] Happy Mail !

I ordered some scrummy, colourful mercerized cotton yarn online from Planet Penny and it came today.  I was delighted to buy from here in the UK and not have to pay International postage and wait ages from the USA or elsewhere in the globe. 

The colours are even better IRL because the 'lime' is really limey not so yellowey as it looks above.  Fast delivery and reasonable pp.  I wanted some mercerized cotton to do some bullion stitch spirals and got myself a craft sized pack of the Planet Penny Cotton i.e. 25g balls in all 14 pretty rainbow shades.  She has a pretty blog, check it out here and has FREE patterns and tutorials  too. 

You can make this Planet Penny Beautiful Blogger Blanket Square©   from the Planet Penny free pattern.

 

Such a lovely, colourful square that would make a gorgeous blanket/afghan. 

Insert happy face :)

Hooked on Crochet 19...convex green scrumble...

I toyed with titling this post "This is NOT a nipple tassel" or "How NOT to scrumble a 'AA' bra cup".  Yeah... the week has begun a little strange!  Mainly I went for a more scientific discription of 'a convex green scrumble' so I didn't get any search engines sending me weirdos looking for photos of bras or nipple tassels (you've got to think of these things).

  So, you want to see the scrumble now don't you??...

Why am I crocheting a curved/cupped scrumble when most of the time you have to be careful to ensure the opposite happens, i.e. making sure scrumbles lay flat..?  OK   here's the answer...

I'm working on a new teapot cosy.  Makes sense now.  This is a 6 cup 'brown betty' teapot, purchased yesterday in a sale in Whittards.  Husb and I don't often go shopping on Sundays, but yesterday we had a day out.  It was cold and wet but I came home with some new boots (previous boots have a big hole in the sole, broken zip and have lasted 5 Winters so not too bad going) and this teapot.  I know she's not the prettiest teapot but I always wanted a brown betty since my Uni days when a bff called Ruthie had one which she served on a tray with milk-jug and sugar bowl.  High end tea drinking at it's best. 

On another note... yesterday's STATS looked like a date... "1794" .... that's 1,794 hits on the blog yesterday.  A bit higher than my usual daily STATS but no where near the highest number of hits I sometimes get.  That's many, many freedownloads of my FREE crochet patterns.  Many freedownloads.   1% of 1794 is 17.  I would have had 17 comments yesterday if 1% of the hits left a comment.  Maybe folks are too busy to say thankyou or maybe because I give my patterns away free they don't think there're of any value.  Interesting.

Have a good week :)

Hooked on Crochet... when crochet=love

It has been really, really cold here recently.  Our central heating is great but for bedtime and sitting still at the computer, I like a hot water bottle to snuggle.  This is my dd cuddling our hottie... 

As you can see it's nearly old enough to be vintage :)  and has a lovely (but sad) story attatched to it.  Today I'm going to share that story because I think about it every time I use this hotwaterbottle.  OK...I was taught to crochet when I was about 7 or 8 years old, by my Gran, Daisy McDougall, who is in her 80's and lives in Paisley (Scotland).  She worked all her life in Coats' Mills and is a wonderful knitter and crocheter.  I never really took to knitting but enjoyed crochet.  I was taught to make Granny Squares by her, my Gran (totally true).  I didn't know that any other stitches existed.  I didn't know how to shape crochet, I didn't know how to make a fancy trim or do any texture stitches but I could make a granny square as good as the next crocheter.  My Gran had a sister called Margaret (infact she had many sister and brothers and was the youngest of a large family of 13 I think).  My Auntie Margaret was my Great Aunt and lived all her life with two of my other maiden aunties (my gran's older sisters).  Auntie Margaret was very fond of my dad and our family.  She was very good to us.  Sadly, when my children were little, my Auntie Margaret was diagnosed with terminal cancer.  She was living alone by this stage as my other two Aunties (Dorothy and Tilly) had both passed away before her.  My Auntie Margaret moved in with my Gran (and PaPa) for a few months.  She lost weight and lost her spark for life.  She slept a lot and struggled to eat.  I was so upset and wanted to show her how much I loved her.  I made her that crochet hotwaterbottle cover and put a new bottle in it and wrapped it up all pretty with ribbons.  She loved it and used it right up until the end of her life, carrying it from the settee and back to bed while she stayed with my Gran.  I saw her once during this time and again very briefly days before she passed away.  This hotwaterbottle cover wasn't made with expensive yarn.  It wasn't made with fancy stitches.  It was made with love.  After my Auntie's funeral, my Gran gave me back the hotwaterbottle and cover and our family has used it whenever it gets chilly.  Everytime I get it out to use, I think of my Auntie Margaret, my Gran and Papa and all my Scottish relations.  I think of my Scottish heritage.  I think of my family. Mx

Hooked on Crochet [17] Scrumbling around a Spiral is fun!

I really enjoyed scrumbling around the base spiral from the last post...

Here's a closer look at the bullion half circles worked straight into the scrumble...

... and a close look at the row of bobbles....

Starting with a spiral is great... no corners to worry about!

Hooked on Crochet [16] Bullion stitch spiral in two colours...

This is my favourite spiral so far!  Fun to make and a pretty swirl around.  It's not too loose either.  If you want to learn how to make spirals like these... get yourself a download of this e-book 'Spectacular Spirals' by Prudence Mapstone here on Etsy  I'm not kidding when I say this book revolutionised my freeform crochet.  No postage/shipping costs and instant gratification :) 

I'm going to work a scrumble around this spiral... can't wait!!

Just so you know I'm not on commission... just givin' my two-pennorth of unbiased opinion here! x

Hooked on Crochet [15] How a Texture Swatch becomes a Large Scrumble...

OK, in post [14] I chatted about a texture swatch I'd made with three bands.  Yes, it had pretty texture but was way too regular in shape!  This had to change to become a likable scrumble.  Firstly I worked a row of aqua coloured bullions along the raw edge of the left of the block.  Then decided to add some fluffy texture sky blue yarn on the right.  Yikes... at this point it was still a rectangle but with three horizontal bands and two side vertical bands.  So I got out some bulky/chunky variegated blue yarn and made a curved addition (this is 'lemon peel' textured stitch).  I defined the edge with thin shiny royal blue cotton yarn.  I looked at this scrumble and all I could see was a mushroom.  Uurrgghh. 

I left the mushroom alone and came back with fresh eyes.  I was aware that it was getting a bit on the big side but had to improve the shape...

A definite improvement.  It's amazing what some fluffy aqua yarn, a clump of bullion stitches and a couple of rows of ruffles can do to improve a limping scrumble.  Here's a couple of close-ups of the ruffles...

I particularly like the ruffle made in variegated yarn.  This may not be my favourite scrumble ever but is now pleasing.  This is supposed to be fun after all!

 

Hooked on Crochet [14] blue texture swatch...

I made a swatch with three bands of simple texture stitches...

Here's a closer look...

Lemon Peel stitch was worked first. This is a very simple yet effective texture stitch, called 'Lemon Peel' by Jan Eaton in her brilliant book '200 crochet blocks for blankets, throws and afghans'.  I would highly recommend this book and it was one of the first crochet books I bought.  Just alternate treble stitches (USA dc) and double crochet stitches (USA SC) worked in rows. 

The next band on the swatch was simply double crochet (USA SC) and where the yellow dots are on the photo, a front raised treble (FRTR) stitch.  A FRTR stitch is made by inserting the crochet hook around the stem of the stitch in the row below, but is actually just a treble stitch (USA dc) but the diffenrence is where the hook is inserted into the fabric of the crochet.  I do like the effect it gives . 

Finally I did a band of Moss stitch, which is fast and super easy.  Moss stitch is made with a dc (USA sc) followed by a chain stitch, in rows.  The dc stitch (USA sc) is always done into the chain space in the row below.  The beginning of the band on my swatch is a full row of dc (USA sc).  I totally love this super simple texture stitch.

The only thing is, this swatch is very blocky and regular.  I am going to turn it into a scrumble (watch this space)...! 

Hooked on Crochet [13]..... BIG crochet !!!

How big is big crochet?  It's not just BIG it's BIG!!  Seriously.  When Husb and I went to the NEC in Birmingham last Autumn, for the Stitch and Hobbycraft Show, right at the end of a long but fabulous Saturday, we stumbled across a stall that was packing up.  I was about big knitting and big crochet.  Sadly I was spent up so didn't buy a BIG crochet hook or any of their fabby signiture recycled 'Big Knit Yarn', created from the selvedge of industrial woven wool, but I got chatting to the lady behind the stall about big crochet as it wasn't something I've ever seen close up (only online).  Her name, which I didn't know then was Ingrid Wagner.  She is moving this January to The BIg Knit Centre and Art Studio in Staffordshire and officially opening there around March 23rd (weekend).  I am keen to got to one of her Big crochet Workshop's in April.  So, when I asked, how big is Big Crochet?   ... 'BIG Crochet' is super big and I love it!  Yay that I'm sharing something so cool that's in the UK!!!

While surfing, I found this YouTube clip of Ingrid on the TV programme 'This Morning' about being the world record holder for Big Knitting.  She even raises funds for Breakthrough Breast Cancer at festivals and events.

 

Wonder who's the world record holder for Big Crochet?

 

 

Hooked on Crochet [12]...

I have been thinking about dabbling with some T-shirt yarn and a big crochet hook and decided that a crochet bag with T-shirt yarn sounded like a fun project.  With that in mind, I thought I'd share this free pattern I found for a crochet bag made with an 8mm hook.  (You also need a 25mm knitting needle to make the broom stick stitches at the top of the bag.) 

Click here to go get the free pdf crochet pattern for this Gypsy bag made from T-shirt yarn.  This free pattern was on the inside of the 'MODA Vera' T-shirt yarn label and comes from a crafty shop in Australia called 'SPOTLIGHT'.  I found it via a blog called The Royal Sisters where Michelle (in Aus) has a pretty crafty blog with several lovely-looking free patterns and some vintage eye candy too.  I was impressed to see her Etsy Shop had over 1,000 sales.  Check it out :)

 

Hooked on Crochet Day [11]...

I had a short manic period of time without crochet and have missed it!  Our twins were 18 and we had a huge celebration and family coming from all over the place.  It was lovely and the party went without a hitch (phew) ... they have been well and truly celebrated and I have a lounge full of balloons to prove it!  Back to the crochet!!!!!

Part of what I wanted to do during this crochet adventure throughout January, was learn some cool crochet tips and share them.  Well, I want to share a super tutorial by 'futuregirl' here's her blog homepage.  She describes herself... "I'm Alice, aka futuregirl, perpetrator of total craft badassery."  (Makes me smile and think I've met a kindred spirit!) 

The tutorial is called 'Foundation single Crochet'.  Some folks may be asking 'what's that when it's at home'??  instead of doing a row of chain stitch, then turning the work over and going back down the chain stitches, working into each one, you simply skip the chain only part and actually do foundation sc (or double crochet in the UK) all in one with the chains included.  It's clever. It's simple.  It's explained by Alice with lots and lots of photos and a video too over on her (futuregirl's) blog. 

Although short on time I had a quick go at foundation sc (UK dc)...

My yarn was a bit 'splitty'... not great for foundation sc stitches.  Pink and teal were the birthday party colours, including balloons, streamers, cupcake cases and sprinkles on the tables :)

Alice's blog also has a  free download for a super sweet bag in a variety of languages! And if I lived in San Francisco I'd join her in a group called 'Crafting in Public'   how fun does that sound??!!

I'll be back soon.