Crochet Flowers

Hello friends its been a while!

Sorry for my absence in blogging,

 but my health has had other ideas and kept me away sadly.

I've not been idle though, far from it,

 you can always find me on

 Instagram

and

  Facebook

 most days, to see whats on my hook!

I thought you'd like to see the gorgeous flowers I've been making recently,

 as this is something quite different and great fun!

I'm using a pattern from

 Knitting Network

 which in all honestly is the easiest flower pattern I've ever used.

 It's made in a flat strip which you wind it up to make the flower.

 Variations can be made with tighter winding for a bud,

 or looser winding for an open flower.

You can buy this pattern

HERE

I have used vintage knitting needles for the stems, which

 I have collected from charity shops.

 If you fancy trying this, do ask in the shops, as they keep them out of sight!

Simply wind up the flower tightly, stitch it in place

 and then push the knitting needle through the middle.

The flowers are best made in cotton yarn.

I have used

Sirdar Cotton DK

and 

Sirdar Snuggly Cotton DK

These flowers are now for sale in my

ETSY SHOP

Other news

 is that I've been doing a lot of work here behind the scenes,

 making some updates to my blog. To tidy it up

 and make it easier for you to find things,

 I have 2 new pages for 

Tutorials

and

  Blankets

 You can find the pages list on the top right of the blog.

I do hope this makes life easier for you and gives you much pleasure.

Next I will be working on a page for Colour Recipes

so watch this space!

Wishing you all a happy hooky day

Heather

x x x

Simple Edging

 This week has been rippletastic

working with the most pretty ice cream colours!

My colour palette of

 Stylecraft Special DK

has been most popular

lemon, wisteria, candy floss, spring green, 

apricot, clematis, fondant and sherbet.

Oooooh how I love to ripple it is so therapeutic!

This pattern by Lucy from Attic 24 blog is called

 the neat ripple pattern

 and I can highly recommend it.

I am always being asked how I edge my ripples and v stitch blankets

using this very simple narrow edge

First I make 1 round of dc (English) 

putting 1 dc in each stitch along the zigzag edges

with a decrease at the valley and an increase at the mountain

then 2 in each stitch along the straight sides.

Then for the 2nd round I make

1 dc, 3 chain, 1 dc in the same stitch

miss a stitch

repeat.

This forms a lovely little wavy edge

 which will follow the zig zag edge happily

 and also sit neatly on the straight sides.

I hope you enjoy using this free pattern and colour recipe.

If so please consider a small donation using the

 Paypal Donate

 button on the sidebar.

This will help fund my crochet journey and enable me to provide

 more free tutorials patterns and colour palettes

 for your pleasure.

Happy Hookin

Heather

X X X

My Crofter Blanket

It seems a good few weeks now

 since the first excitement of starting my colourful Crofter squares.

 They have now been edged and joined with cream

 and the blanket finished off with a deep straight border.

I was inspired by the lovely blanket made by
Anita Mundt
and have made my own version here

So here as promised is how I made my

 Crofter Blanket

it has 81 squares and measures approximately 115 x 115 cm

Yarn

 7 balls of cream Sirdar Snuggly DK

8 balls of Sirdar Baby Crofter DK

2 Elsie

2 Kaitlyn

2 Mimi

2 Maypole

you can buy the yarn
HERE

(Edit :: Elsie has now been discontinued, but can be replaced by Winnie) 

I am using a 3.5mm hook and UK crochet terms,

 for American terms you will find a conversion chart HERE

The Solid Granny Squares

Round 1 ~ Make a magic loop, you can follow a tutorial HERE

Round 2 ~ 3 chain 2 trebles, 2 chain

* 3 trebles 2 chain *

repeat from * to * twice

slip stitch into top of 1st 3 chain 

      

Round 2 ~ Make 3 chain for 1st treble then

 1 treble into the top of each treble of previous round

In each corner make 2 trebles 2 chain 2 trebles

So each side of round 2 has 7 trebles when complete

Round 3 ~ Make 3 chain for 1st treble then

 1 treble into the top of each treble of previous round

In each corner make 2 trebles 2 chain 2 trebles

So each side of round 2 has 11 trebles when complete

Round 4 ~ Make 3 chain for 1st treble then

 1 treble into the top of each treble of previous round

In each corner make 2 trebles 2 chain 2 trebles

So each side of round 2 has 15 trebles when complete

I made 10 squares from each 50g ball so that made 80 squares in total.

 This would make a rectangular blanket 8 x 10.

 I fancied a square blanket though

 and had enough yarn to make 1 more square 

giving me 81, which made a 9 x 9 arrangement.

If you missed the original blog post

 about the making of the squares you can read it HERE

The squares were all edged in cream and the ends sewn in.

If you missed the previous blog post about edging 

you can read it HERE

To join my squares I worked from the back

 using dc through both loops

This makes a good strong join

 and creates a nice neat look from the front

You can read last weeks blog post about the joining method

 HERE

With the blanket now in 1 piece it was time for the border.

After much procrastinating and trials of several borders,

 I finally decided (with the help of my Instagram friends)

 that the joy of this blanket is the colourful squares.

 The purpose of a border is to frame

 and in this case

 it must not detract from the beauty of the squares.

So

and I kept it simple

 with a continuation of the same rows of trebles into each stitch.

To help the border lie flat

 I did 2 trebles then treble 2 together 

all the way round on my 1st round of the border.

 This decreases the stitch count and removes any frillyness.

I am totally in love with my finished Crofter Blanket 

and it is already feeling very much a part of Patchwork House!

This yarn has been a delight to work with.

 Its is smooth and slightly finer than most DK

 creating beautiful stitch definition.

The colours in the Baby Crofter are stunning making every stitch a joy.

This blanket is a keeper and will become a family treasure.

I hope you have enjoyed the watching

and maybe fancy having a make yourself?

Happy hookin!

Heather

 X X X