The Patchwork Heart: crochet mat

30 July 2014

Hexie love

Oh how wonderful summer holidays are for us teachers!

It is fantastic to have time to play

to be me

to indulge in yarny hooky pleasures!

I as you know am a Mathematician and get so much pleasure from crochet.

The shapes tessellate so perfectly and this gives me an immense sense of satisfaction!

Now the regular hexagon is a 6 sided polygon with equal sides and angles.

It is perfect for hooky creations yet is one I haven't used much at all.

So time to experiment ...

What better on a lazy sunny afternoon than sitting in the sun hooking daisies!

So my hexie making began.

I didn't have a pattern so set about playing and came up with this!

As a small project a few of these hexies can be hooked up in no time

and will make a lovely little table mat or runner.

I do love to fill my home with pretties!

I like to use Stylecraft Classique Cotton

which has fabulous stitch definition

and is

available in lovely bright summery colours.

Its is a DK yarn but

for mats I work with a 3mm hook to give a firmer texture

I must admit that I wasn't sure if I liked my table mat at this point

but it's amazing what a difference a good edging makes!

So yes the table mat stays

and now has pride of place in Patchwork House!

As I know you will all be asking for the pattern

I have dug out a suitable suggestion from

Simply Crochet

magazine issue 5 on page 63

I am loving having time to peruse my stash of Simply Crochet magazines. Each time I look I find new patterns that tempt me. I would highly recommend it at £4.99 it is packed with patterns and lovely articles, features inspiration from our favourite hooky writers and bloggers and is always a total joy.

If you are not already hooked on the mag why not take advantage of this special offer which is open to my readers for the month of July, but

HURRY HURRY HURRY

it ends tomorrow!

You can take a trial offer of 3 issues for £5

WOW

isn't that fab!!!

Follow the link

HERE

and I'm sure you will not be disappointed!

In future I plan to write more patterns and tutorials and provide links for you all to find these easily on my blog. Thank you all so much for your encouraging comments and emails that help inspire me to continue with my work. The Patchwork Heart is moving forward in a new direction this new academic year. As I work full time it does not leave me as much time as I would like for making orders. I will be blogging more to share my work with the aim of encouraging and inspiring. Rather than taking orders I am now moving onto creating for my own pleasure, trying new ideas and patterns and writing and I will be reopening my Etsy shop in 2015.

Have a wonderful hooky summer

Heather

XXX

22 June 2014

Granny Emily

So excited!

At last I can tell you

that I have been working with the lovely people from

Simply Crochet Magazine

as you all know

I am a crochet addict!

I love nothing more than a weekend

full of crochet therapy

and

it is always such a delight

when the postman brings a new magazine!

I love trawling through my magazine stash

to find new patterns

and

inspiration

Simpy Crochet

have now also launched a new free app called

Granny Square a Week

where they are releasing a new

free granny square pattern each week.

This is available for Apple users

but

others can also sign up to receive details by

newsletter

the patterns are available in UK and USA crochet terms

You imagine my delight

when I was given a preview of one of the granny squares

to be released in their app

and asked to trial it in my own colour combinations!

Here is

Granny Emily

oooohhhh

don't you just love that deep swirling centre!

I was given the privilege of naming this square

and have named it after my lovely Mum

who taught me to crochet as a child . . .

she is nearly 80 and still crocheting daily!

Oh what excitement

to be able to give this square The Patchwork Heart treatment!

I dived into my stash and decided to use

Stylecraft Classique Cotton

which comes in 18 lovely bright shades

it seemed only right

to make these squares into a gift for my mother

so I have chosen

to use her favourite colours of pink and green

I'm often asked by readers what I do with the tails

and as you can see

colour changing always makes for a lot of them!

I prefer to sew them

in using a big darning needle at the end . . .

think of it as embroidery

and enjoy running them into the same colour stitches

on the back of the square . . .

they will soon disappear

and you will have a much more professional finish

than if you crochet over them!

I decided to make Granny Emily

in 4 different combinations of the 5 shades

I love to play with colour

and find it amazing how the squares look so different

when the colours are used in different orders!

I chose 2 brighter shades and 2 paler shades with the white

and notice

that I kept round 3 white

on all 4 squares to make them match!

the squares were then joined

using the

join as you go method

and finished with a little picot edging

Simpy Crochet

have kindly given me permission

to share the pattern for Granny Emily with my readers

Granny Emily in UK terms

2-ttr cluster (Yrh 3 times, insert hook in sp, yrh and pull up loop, [yrh and draw through 2 loops] 3 times) twice, inserting hook in same sp each time, yrh and draw through all loops on hook.

With Yarn A, ch8, join with a ss into a ring.

Round 1 Ch5 (counts as ttr), ttr into ring, ch1, (2-ttr cluster into ring, ch1) 15 times, ss to top of beg ch-5. Fasten off.

Round 2 Join Yarn B in any ch-1 sp with a ss. Ch1 (does not count as stitch), dc into same ch-1 sp, *ch3, dc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, (2tr, ch3, 2tr) in next ch-1 sp, ch3, dc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, dc in next ch-1 sp; rep from * twice, ch3, dc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, (2tr, ch3, 2tr) in next ch-1 sp, ch3, dc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, ss to first dc, fasten off.

Round 3 Join Yarn C in next ch-3 sp with a ss. Ch3 (counts as tr), 2tr in same ch-3 sp, *ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) in next ch-3 sp, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, 3tr in next ch-3 sp, ch2, 3tr in next ch-3 sp; rep from * twice, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) in next ch-3 sp, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, 3tr in next ch-3 sp, ch2, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Round 4 Join Yarn D in next ch-2 sp. Ch3 (counts as tr), 2tr in same ch-2 sp, *ch2, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) into corner ch-2 sp, (ch2, 3tr in next ch-2 sp) 3 times; rep from * twice, ch2, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) into corner ch-2 sp, (ch2, 3tr in next ch-2 sp) 2 times, ch2, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Round 5 Join Yarn E in next ch-2 sp. Ch3 (counts as tr), 2tr in same ch-2 sp, *(3tr, ch2, 3tr) in corner ch-2 sp, (3tr in next ch-2 sp) 4 times; rep from * twice, (3tr, ch2, 3tr) in corner ch-2 sp, (3tr in next ch-2 sp) 3 times, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Weave in all ends.

Granny Emily in USA crochet terms

2-dtr cluster (Yrh 3 times, insert hook in sp, yrh and pull up loop, [yrh and draw through 2 loops] 3 times) twice, inserting hook in same sp each time, yrh and draw through all loops on hook.

With Yarn A, ch8, join with a ss into a ring.

Round 1 Ch5 (counts as dtr), dtr into ring, ch1, (2-dtr cluster into ring, ch1) 15 times, ss to top of beg ch-5. Fasten off.

Round 2 Join Yarn B in any ch-1 sp with a ss. Ch1 (does not count as stitch), sc into same ch-1 sp, *ch3, sc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, (2dc, ch3, 2dc) in next ch-1 sp, ch3, sc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, sc in next ch-1 sp; rep from * twice, ch3, sc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, (2dc, ch3, 2dc) in next ch-1 sp, ch3, sc in next ch-1 sp, ch3, ss to first sc, fasten off.

Round 3 Join Yarn C in next ch-3 sp with a ss. Ch3 (counts as dc), 2dc in same ch-3 sp, *ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) in next ch-3 sp, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, 3dc in next ch-3 sp, ch2, 3dc in next ch-3 sp; rep from * twice, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) in next ch-3 sp, ch2, skip next ch-3 sp, 3dc in next ch-3 sp, ch2, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Round 4 Join Yarn D in next ch-2 sp. Ch3 (counts as dc), 2dc in same ch-2 sp, *ch2, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) into corner ch-2 sp, (ch2, 3dc in next ch-2 sp) 3 times; rep from * twice, ch2, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) into corner ch-2 sp, (ch2, 3dc in next ch-2 sp) 2 times, ch2, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Round 5 Join Yarn E in next ch-2 sp. Ch3 (counts as dc), 2dc in same ch-2 sp, *(3dc, ch2, 3dc) in corner ch-2 sp, (3dc in next ch-2 sp) 4 times; rep from * twice, (3dc, ch2, 3dc) in corner ch-2 sp, (3dc in next ch-2 sp) 3 times, ss to top of beg ch-3, fasten off.

Weave in all ends.