Of this and that!

Good morning!
I am so glad to be with you today;  it's a most glorious morning here in sunny Randburg.  We had wonderful storms and heavy rain during the night, and our gardens are smiling.

I have been busy with a few  projects in the last few months. I have discovered the wondrous world of sock knitting!  I enjoy sitting down with a pair (or four) of needles now and again.  There's an easy rhythm to rows plain and purl, while sitting in the evening watching telly. Just by the way, isn't Line of Duty such a very good series? And Shetland, and of course Victoria. 


And in no particular or order, as they say, here are a few pics of the projects I have been busying myself with recently.

My sweet little owl, my contribution to Yarndale's Creative Hearts

 this year.

I used this pattern for the heart, 

and the owl was my own creation.  I could have sat and made

many more, such fun!

And I was so very relieved to see my little heart

amongst some other really cute hearts in 

a picture on Lucy's Attic 24 blog.  The postage is dodgy from 

South Africa, and I sent my parcel off with a prayer for it's

safe delivery! 

A very warm and cosy Magic Blanket

Pattern on Zooty Owl's amazing blog

I can see you!!!

A pretty Mandala, pattern by John Kelly and available, 

on Dedri's blog Look What I Made

My very first pair of knitted socks!

Pattern from the wonderful blog

and bible of sock making

Winwick Mum

This is her basic sock pattern

And my newest yarn, lovely hand dyed 

sock yarn, reminds me of whipped strawberries!

Can't wait to make a second pair.

 My biggest challenge to date,

the Ross Paldark blanket!  I have learnt so much

working with this pattern, new stitches and ways with colour.

Nearly completed, it is an order for a dear friend's hubby.

A blog post on this blanket when done and delivered.

I wish you all a wonderful Sunday, and week ahead.

Love Pat xxxxxxxxx

Flowers for Memories ~

Yarndale 2015 ... and this year the call has gone out for ...
F L O W E R S
 an abundance of colour translated into flowers of all shapes and in any discipline of yarn art, be it knitting or crochet, with pretty embellishments if you feel so inclined ... what a glorious brief!!

Since the early days of my crochet journey, when I discovered the joy of making beanies and hats, I have had a love affair with crocheting flowers to add to sweet little creations for girls;  hats with huge flowers or a posy of small flowers with dainty beadwork in the centres adorning their brims.  And then I started making tea cosies, and my word, I had such fun decorating them with gorgeous arrangements on the tops!  Headbands and earwarmers, bookmarks and handbag handles, they all got the floral treatment;  great for stashbusting too!

And a beautiful blanket, designed by Heather of The Patchwork Heart ..... my blanket was made as a gift for a very dear friend.

So imagine my delight when I read that this year the theme would be ..... flowers!  Without ado I scoured my files and folders for my favourite patterns ..... a goldmine of fabulous and easy and free patterns can be found on Pinterest ....... some of my favourite bloggers have designed lovely flowers too.

This is the method I use to neaten off the back and attach a clasp or pin, should you want to use the flower or posy as a brooch.

Position your leaf or leaves if any on the back of the flower and stitch on neatly using the tail on each leaf.

Now using either a colour from your flower, or the colour of your leaf

crochet a little three to four round circle, depending on how much you need to cover in the way of stitching and threads.

You need to have a +- 15 cm tail at the start of either your magic circle (or preferred method) which needs to be on the right side of the patch,

and a longer tail at the end.

Using the tail in the centre of the patch, 
stitch your pin neatly and securely, 

take the thread to the back of the patch and secure.

Position the patch on the back of the flower, making sure that all your stitchery is neatly covered ... and sew in place with the long tail you have left

on your last row of the patch.

A good idea is to pin the flower to yourself with a straight pin .. taking care not to injure yourself.  You may need to position the clasp a little higher than the centre

so that the flower doesn't flop forward if pinned to a garment 

Here are some of the patterns I have used ~

Autumn Berry Flower

autumnberrycrochet@yahoo.com

Hellibore bloom

attic24.typepad.com/weblog/crochet-hellebore-flower.html

Coiled Roses

pink-milk.co.uk/2013/11/coiled-rose-crochet-pattern.html

Five Petal Tropical Flower

littlemonkeyscrochet.com/5-petal-tropical-flower

Triple Layer Flower

attic24.typepad.com/weblog/triple-layer-flower.html

Pretty flower

crafternoontreats.com/crafternoontreats-flower-for-yarndale/

May Roses

attic24.typepad.com/weblog/may-roses.html

I hope you have as much fun creating beautiful flowers as I did .... they will be winging their way to Skipton in the next day or two! 

Local Skipton crochet artist Sheila Metcalfe raises funds on behalf of the Alzheimers Society. Flowers for Memories, sure to be an amazing display of crochet flowers, will no doubt be a huge draw at this year's Yarndale show and at the same time add much needed funds for her most worthy cause. 
Here is her postal address to which to send your
floral contributions!

Sheila's Flowers
Box 97 Skipton
North Yorkshire
BD23 9EN
England UK

The due date is September 11 ~
more details re size etc can be found on
the Yarndale Blog

Have a most wonderful weekend

Much love Pat

Puffs and Petals Mandala

I love making mandalas!  I spend time looking at the avalanche of beautiful wheels of colour that has landed in the very capable hands of Lucy of Attic 24 and her team for the display at the Yarndale event to happen soon.  Aahh .. I so wish I could attend!   I do have my Yarndale bag, a small consolation indeed!

And so on to my most recent, very pretty mandala .... I used a pattern from Bunny Mummy called Petals and Puffs mandala.  I am also having a small love affair with Puffs and Popcorn stitches, having recently completed a gorgeous blanket with motifs featuring many little puffs.  More about that in my next post soon!

There is a Cath Kidston look about these colours... lovely!

Have a wonderful week my dears ♥

Chat soon, Pat xxxxxxxxx

Yarndale 2014

This wonderful event is taking place again this year in September. I was beyond happy when asked to test these three beautiful patterns ......... 

...It was kept under wraps while the designing and testing was being done.  Then ALL was revealed !!!  They are designs chosen by Lucy of Attic 24, the creations of my dear bloggie friend and highly talented crochet artist Zelna of Zooty Owl Crafty Blog. 

Are they not gorgeous??   
Such excitement ... and I was so pleased to be a teensy weensy, very small part of the process, thank you Zelna!  All the patterns are available on her lovely blog, inspiring you to get your hook and yarn out and make a Mandala to send to Yarndale as a contribution to the display that Lucy is planning for the event this year .... sure to be AWESOME!

Read all about it ...the Yarndale blog and Attic 24 have all the info and Zelna's Yarndale post has the patterns .... do have a look!

Have a happy and creative weekend dear bloggie friends

Cheers for now

~ Pat ~

Sunshine Mandala

  ~Sunshine Mandala~

I wanted a slightly bigger Mandala so I decided to enlarge my first pattern, by adding a few more rows, and this was the happy result!  Here is the link to the pattern
which has rows 1 - 11, Row 12 follows below!

Notes:  

• Use either chain stitches or standing dc/hdc/sc to start any row in this pattern or Maybelle Flower Pattern or any patterns that I may post in future. Sites showing how to make standing sts can be found on my previous post here
• Descriptions of the Double 2dc cluster are also in my previous post for the Maybelle Flower Mandala.

Here are the additional rows:

Row 12:   Attach yarn in any sc stitch, with a chain 3 (or standing dc) into this stitch, make a Double 2dc cluster, ch 2,  sc into centre dc stitch of shell, ch 2, Double 2dc cluster into sc in between shells, chain 2. Proceed round circle in pattern and join to top of 3 ch (or top of standing dc) to finish the row. (16 Double 2dc clusters and 16 sc's)

Row 13:  Attach yarn in any 1ch space of a Double 2dc cluster and do 1sc, ch 4, 1 Fp sc around sc of previous row, ch 4, sc into 1ch space of cluster, ch 4.  Continue in pattern and join with a sl st into first sc to end row.

Row 14:  Attach yarn (or in the case of my example) sl st into any 4 ch space.  Ch 3 (or use standing dc), 3dc all into 4 ch space, 2 ch 4dc into next 4 ch space. Continue in pattern and close with a sl st into starting 3 ch (or top of standing dc)

Row 15: Attach yarn to top of first dc in any group of 4dc. Ch 3 (or standing dc), 1dc in next dc stitch, 2ch, 2 dc in each of next 2 dc sts, ch1.  Proceed in this way, you will see each group of 4 dcs from previous row will have 2 dc 'legs' 2ch and another 2dc 'legs' and each group separated by ch1. This is the foundation row for Row 16, which completes the Maybelle flower petals to mirror the petals in the centre flower.

Row 16:  Join yarn to any 1ch space (or keep the same colour yarn as I did) and make 1sc to start the row.  7 dc into 2 ch space, 1sc into 1ch space 7 dc into 2 ch space. Continue in pattern and finish with sl st into starting sc.

Row 17: Join yarn into any dc stitch, and sl st a border into each dc stitch around the petals, sl st into first sl st to end row.

ET VOILA!! 

I will be posting a photo 'how-to' shortly, just in case you find it easier, like I do .. to follow a pattern that way.

Exciting news has just been posted regarding Yarndale 2014 ... Lucy from Attic 24 has details on how to take part in this fab event;  also Zelna from Zooty Owl has exciting Yarndale news of her own .. be sure to take a peek at her Yarndale blog post!! 

I am excitedly setting about designing a new Mandala for my contribution; these wondrous wheels are sooo addictive, make one of the many patterns available, I bet you will have number two on your hook in no time!

Hugs 

Pat