Crochet Company

Friday morning in my world

 is turning into a very special place!

Coffee, cake, crochet, yarn, fabric

 and the company and conversation

 of others who get it!

We haven't met before

 and come from many different locations

 and walks of life!

 Age doesn't matter

 as we all speak the same language of hooky!

Yet when you see us sat as a group

 you'd think we were old friends!

 All very comfortable in each others company

 discussing

 stitches patterns colours yarns

 and sometimes just enjoying that companionable silence

 as we count and hook to our hearts content!

The coffees teas and cakes

 are all beautifully served by the lovely ladies at

  Love Stitch

 and we so enjoy the fabulous surroundings

 which make a stitcher's heaven.

 Whether you are into fabric or yarn,

 this shop is definitely worth a visit!

The cute little tearoom

 decorated with patchwork and crocheted cushions,

 coloured painted chairs and chandeliers

 is a delightful place to meet.

We are a newly formed group and welcome newcomers.

We meet on Friday Mornings

 10am to 12 noon

at

Love Stitch, 

Telegraph Rd, Heswall, Wirral CH60 7SG

 Come regularly,

 come occasionally

 or come once to visit!

We will be pleased to meet you

 and share crochet time together.

 Just bring your hooky and enjoy a coffee and cake

 with crochet company and conversation!

Love Stitch

not only sells every type of haberdashery

 you could need

 but they also run many interesting courses

 in sewing knitting crochet and other crafts too.

Take a look at their website

HERE

 to see what's on offer and keep watching!

 Soon I will be offering a series of 

crochet inspiration workshops.

here too!

Whatever you are hookin

have a colourful weekend!

I'm indulging in some rainbow fun

with the gorgeous colours of

Stylecraft Special DK

making a quick corner to corner blanket for a gift.

if you haven't tried this lovely stitch you must!

 I learnt by following the wonderful free pattern by

 Felted Button. 

You will find it

 HERE

Heather

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New Coffee n Crochet group!

Something very exciting is happening!

Hidden up an alley way

 in Heswall on The Wirral 

I have discovered a little gem called Love Stitch! 

If you like fabric, yarn, haberdashery,

 books, tea and cake

 this place is a must!

You can be sure of a wonderful welcome

 from the lovely ladies at Love Stitch

 who obviously really enjoy their work.

This amazing shop tucked away off the main street

 is packed to the brim with delightful treasures.

Beautifully decorated

 with bunting and chandeliers

 this shop is a dream!

It has the cutest little tearoom

 serving homemade cakes

 and will make an ideal meeting place.

It is such a delightful relaxing place

 which I know you ladies will find inspiring

 and I am very excited to announce

 that I am starting a new

 Coffee n Crochet group 

here!

We will meet on

 Friday mornings 10am to 12 noon,

 starting Friday 22nd July.

The shop is situated by the main traffic lights in Heswall centre,

address Telegraph Road, Heswall, Wirral CH60 7SG

 The aim is to start a social group

 where crocheters can meet and enjoy coffee and cake,

 a chat and time to hook.

 Bring your crochet

 and come and enjoy meeting new people. 

No need to come every week, just drop in when you can!

As well as selling fabric, yarn, patterns, ribbons

 and every bit of haberdashery you could want

Love Stitch offers a wealth of courses

 including sewing, knitting and crochet. 

 I am also very pleased to say

 that I will be running crochet inspiration workshops

 here starting in the autumn!

There will be half day courses and full days,

 smaller projects and more ambitious ones too.

 We are still working on the programme

 and as soon as it's finalised

 I will be posting details of the courses and how to book!

So anyone in the Liverpool, Wirral and Chester area 

pass the message on to fellow crocheters!

   I look forward to seeing you there.

 No need to book, just turn up,

treat yourself to a cake and drink

 and enjoy crochet conversation and new friends!

Wishing you all a happy hooky day

Heather

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Stylecraft Blogstar

This weekend I had the privilege

 of being part of a select group of bloggers

 who spent time together

 with the wonderful Stylecraft team at

 Stylecraft Mill

 in Slaithwaite, W Yorkshire!

The mill was once a cotton mill.

We walked the old stone stairs

 that are worn by the original mill workers

 wearing clogs

and the old wooden floors

that have seen generations of mill workers.

It was so interesting to see fleece

in all its different stages

being transformed

into the finest quality yarn.

The mill spins natural fibres

into fine yarn for

making into worsted suiting

and high end knitwear.

But

 I can hear you all saying

 where is the yarn we love to crochet?

The mill works only with natural fibres

so we were lucky to see

where Stylecraft's sister yarn

Yarn Stories 

is made.

This is a high end yarn in DK, aran and 4 ply,

 fine merino wool and baby alpaca.

 It is beautifully soft and comes in a fabulous array of colours

 specially selected to compliment each other.

The Special acrylic yarn many of us love is made in Turkey

but dispatched from the mill in W Yorkshire

so we were drooling at the size of this stash!

Stylecraft Life DK

The purpose of my visit

 was to attend the first meeting of the

 Stylecraft Blogstars

Can you imagine my delight

 when a few months ago

 I was approached by Stylecraft

 and asked to be part of a team of bloggers

 along with these other fabulous ladies!

In the photo you can see left to right

Catherine from Crafternoon Treats

Sandra from Cherry Heart

me

Julia from Hand Knitted Things

Phil from The Twisted Yarn

Helen from The Knitting Exploits of Josie Kitten

Lucy from Attic 24

Sarah from Annaboo's House 

and

Sue Pinner from Suz's Place

also part of the Stylecraft Blogstars

 but unable to attend are

Emma from Emma Varnham

Jane from Janie Crow

and

Angela Armstrong from Get Knotted Yarn Craft

We were treated to talks

 and mood boards

 showing how the new season yarns were developed

and delighted with balls to squish and smooch

in a delicious array of colours

Stylecraft treated us like Royalty

with a wonderful lunch,

and cakes

 and sent us home with a goody bag

 filled with yarn, hooks and chocolate!

 They also gave us bags, keyrings, labels and vouchers

 which I will be using over the next year as giveaway prizes!

Imagine spending time with all those yarn loving people,

 who also blog and are addicted to posting on social media

 and like me prefer being home with crochet more than anything else!

It was better than Christmas!

So I am now officially a

 Stylecraft Blogstar

and you can look forward this year

 to lots of new yarny goodness on my hook

 and up to the minute info on new yarns coming out!

Keep watching folks!

Heather

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Baby Blankets

Good morning my friends and a happy weekend to you all.

 Do hope you are keeping warm this cold July!

This morning I have been enjoying a new rainbow ripple

 on my hook and I'm loving the new shade of

 Tomato

from Stylecraft Yarns in their Special DK.

 It fits so well in my rainbow between lipstick and spice!

Baby blankets are always such fun to make and sell so fast.

This week I've made a rainbow granny square

 which is now on its way to a new home.

The rainbow interspersed with parchment make a very attractive blanket.

the colour recipe I have used is

Stylecraft Special DK in

mustard gold spice tomato claret raspberry plum grape

 violet lobelia denim storm blue sage pistachio lime and parchment

and sold a pretty pastel ripple

 which is soon to be keeping a new baby girl warm.

colour Recipe

Stylecraft Special DK

 in

sherbet apricot wisteria spring green lemon candyfloss and cream

You may be interested to know

 that I always keep ready made blankets for sale in my

 Etsy shop,

 So when you suddenly need a new baby gift do take a look,

 I have many colours and various sizes in stock.

 However if you wish to order a specially made blanket

 in any pattern or colours please email me at

 thepatchworkheartuk@gmail.com

 and I will be delighted to send you my price list and make one for you

It's always so good to see babies modelling my blankets

 and this week I've been delighted to receive 2 photos

 from happy customers

 who gave me permission to share these with you.

Last time I wrote

 I left you with a teasing glance

 at some pretty pastel grannies that I was working on.

I used 10 pretty shades of

Stylecraft Special DK

the colour recipe is

spring green

pistachio

lemon

parchment

stone

apricot

soft peach

cream

cloud blue

and

duck egg

As always I work in a production line fashion

 and make all the round in the same colour at one time.

 This increases your speed as you are not changing balls of yarn

 or wondering which colour to pick.

165 mini grannies meant a lot of ends to sew in,

but a wonderful discovery at Lidl of their Big Hit chocolate peanuts

made it all very yummy!

so this really was a labour of love

 and I'm afraid I wont be making another for a long while!

You will notice that I alternate the side I work from on my grannies.

This is done to avoid that awful granny square twist.

you can read a tutorial about how I make my granny squares

HERE

For this blanket I chose to join the squares as I made the 4th round

 so there is no background colour

. I really like this look but of course again it means lots of ends.

 Unfortunately if you want colour you have to have ends!

If you are interested in trying this joining method

 you will enjoy the good tutorial by Lucy at Attic 24

called

Joining Squares As You Go  

The blanket soon comes together

 and then it's the exciting time to choose a border.

I used 27 from the book

Around the Corner

by Edie Eckman

this is a great book which I highly recommend.

 It is clearly written in US terms

 and also has very good charts to follow.

This blanket was a special commission for a baby soon to arrive,

using a neutral colour palette so it is suitable for both boy or girl.

The border is made in the gorgeous new shade of

Duck Egg

which Stylecraft have recently added to the range of Special DK.

Tadaa!

A beautiful blanket that I was sad to part with.

 One day I must make one to keep for Patchwork House!

Wishing you all a happy restful weekend

Heather

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