Spring Roses Tea Cosy

We have had the hottest weather of late; a heatwave of note, prolonged and uncomfortable .... more so because it makes working with wool a big no-no!! And so when we woke to a cloudy and cool Saturday here in my neck of the woods, I literally fell on my yarn and hook with such delight, and finished a WIP .. 

Spring Roses Tea Cosy Ta-dahhh!

I did not have the tea pot to hand to work around, just measurements, quite a challenge.  After scrapping two designs, I was finally happy with this sweet cosy, in white with leaves in beautiful Spring Green, and roses in Soft Yellow, Wisteria and Fondant, these all being gorgeous colours in the Stylecraft Special DK range.  

There is no complete pattern as such, I have notes on the body in white, and details of how I finished it off. The pattern consists of two rows :: 1 row in hdc, 1 row in hdc but including the bobble stitch every 6th stitch.  The bobbles are offset (see photo).  The widest measurement around the 'belly' of the pot is 40cm. I worked the body in two pieces and sewed the pieces together

First side:

I started with around 42 chains.

Row 1 ~ First hdc in 2nd chain from hook, hdc to end, turn

Row 2 ~ 2ch, hdc to last 3 sts, ch 1, miss one st, hdc to end. This forms the buttonhole, turn

Row 3 ~ 2ch, 9hdc, bobble st in next stitch (note here :: the bobble st is worked on the wrong side of your work), *5hdc, bobble st, continue to end, turn

Row 4 ~ 2ch, hdc to last 5 sts, and turn.  This forms the button hole strip.

Row 5 ~ 2ch, 1hdc, bobble st in next stitch, *5hdc, bobble st, continue to end, turn

Row 6 ~ 2ch, hdc to end of row

Row 7 ~ 2ch, 4hdc, bobble st in next stitch, *5hdc, bobble st, continue to end, turn

Now continue until you have the height you need minus about 2cm, which we will take up with decreasing rows. For this cosy, that worked out to a total of 19 rows from the start row ( 9 bobble rows and 10 plain hdc rows).

Row 20 ~ (or your next row depending on how many rows you have for the height you need) and (Right side) 2ch and 4hdc, 2hdc tog., *4hdc, 2hdc tog., continue from * to end of row, turn

Row 21 ~ Wrong side :: 2ch and 3hdc, bobble st in next st, *4hdc. bobble st, continue to end and hdc last however many sts you have left, I had 2 so I worked 2hdc, turn

Row 22 ~Right side ::  2 ch and 1hdc, 2hdc tog, *3hdc, 2hdc tog; continue to end, turn

Row 23 ~ Wrong side :: 2ch, hdc to end, turn

Row 24 ~ Right side :: 2ch,and 1hdc, *2hdc tog, 2hdc, continue from * to end, turn

Row 25 ~ Wrong side :: 2ch, hdc to end. That completes one side.

Second side ~

Repeat the instructions for the first side, except cast on stitches minus the buttonhole strip .. so I started with 36 chains instead of 42 chains.

Note:  once you have started the decrease rows, just work with the stitches you have.  You may have fewer or more sts that I had, remember that you are going to cover the decrease rows with masses of flowers and leaves, which will cover up with decrease rows anyway!

Once you have completed the two sides, fit to your tea pot and sew up the sides where necessary.  One seam will be short to come up to the bottom of the spout. The handle side closes with a pretty button and buttonhole.  I left the gaps open to the top of the cosy almost all the way, just stitching the last 1.5cm of each side together so that I had a complete round 'cap' onto which I attached the leaves and flowers 

I embellished the cosy with May roses and leaves from Lucy's pattern on Attic 24.  I added a row of slip stitches in green for a small neat edging along the handle and spout edges. For the finish on the bottom edge, I used a braid stitch in green :: see my post on Braid edging here

Hope you are having a good Sunday wherever you are, take care until next time,

Pat xxxxxxxxxx

Stripey Blanket ~ Part 4

I have added a few more rows to my gorgeous Stripey Blanket, despite the searing heat we are experiencing down here in South Africa.  Most of the country is in the grip of a heatwave making working with wool so very uncomfortable!

At the end of Part 3, I was just starting the first row of the Catherine Wheel section.

So:

Rows 35 - 38 :: Catherine Wheel pattern in Magenta, Pomegranate x 2 rows and Wisteria for the fourth row.

Rows 39 - 41 :: Hdc rows in Saffron, Plum and Saffron

Rows 42 - 44 :: Granny pattern rows x 3 rows in Aspen, Bluebell and Aspen.  If you are not familiar with how to crochet the usual granny pattern, you work like so:
3dcs in st, miss 2 sts, 3 dcs in next st, miss 2 sts and so on. I start with 3ch (stands as first dc) then, miss 2 sts, and 3dcs in next st.  Depending on how many sts you have cast on in the beginning, at the end of row you need to end with at least 1dc into the last st.  

 I continue to be delighted by the brightness and clarity of the colours in the Stylecraft Special DK range.  One can practically not go wrong, whatever colours you place side by side.

So nice to see you,

 take care until next time,

Pat xxxxxx

Stripey Blanket - Part 3

Hello ladies (and gents if there any gentlemen readers this lovely morning!) Has January not just whizzed by? I am personally so looking forward to moving along to end of Feb and into March;  this is when our cooler months start.  We have had wickedly hot weather lately .. too hot to crochet, too hot to do much of anything actually!

My As-we-go Stripey blanket is beginning to look really stunning #saysIwithnomodestywhatsoever !!!

Here are the next few rows:

Row 32-34 : Hdc rows in Bluebell, Meadow and Bluebell

Row 35 : Sc row in Pomegranate  ~ this is where I started the Star Stitch pattern rows.

Row 36-37 : Star stitch rows in Wisteria

Rows 36 : Sc row in Pomegranate ~ ends the Star Stitch section

Rows 37-39 : Hdc rows in Saffron, Magenta and Saffron

Rows 38 - 41 : Repeat of rows 18-21 ~ 4 Dc Shell sts in Meadow, Sc row in Fondant, Dc Shell rows in Plum and Sc row in Fondant again.

Rows 42 - 44 : Hdc rows in Meadow, Shrimp and Meadow

Row 43 : First row of Catherine Wheel pattern in Magenta

Just take a look at my edges .... as I finish a section I am tidying away the threads, it is the only way and works for me!

I am dashing to my wool shop this morning .. I need more Aspen Green ..... AND they are having their January sale.. this could be an exciting albeit pricey trip .. who can resist a wool sale!!  And gosh, my days are just disappearing in a blur lately, taking my dear David to work and then collecting him again in the afternoon takes huge chunks of time out of my daily round.  His wrist is healing nicely but no driving for another seven weeks .. it must be done not so?

Have a super weekend everyone

much love

Pat xxxxx

Stripey Blanket - Part 2

Hello there, how is your week panning out so far?  I had the best time adding more rows to my Stripey Blanket .... I seriously cannot see me trying to stretch this project over a whole year, or even a half a year ... such fun!!

Here are the next rows,

Rows 18-21  :  4dc shells, rows of sc alternating. The shells are in every 4th st.  The sc row:  3sc into the loops on top of the shell and 1sc between shells.

Rows 22 - 24  :  Hdc rows in Fondant, Wisteria and Fondant

Rows 25 - 27  :  Bobble section.  3 dc rows in Saffron, with bobbles in Plum after every 12 sts.  You can insert as many bobbles into the row as you wish, with however many stitches inbetween, it's your choice;  this was how it best worked out for me.

Row 28 - 31  :  Hdc rows in Aqua, Shrimp and Aqua.

Rows 29 - 31  :  Granny rows in Plum, Fondant and Plum

Short aside: my hubby fell through a breaking ladder yesterday and broke his wrist .. he has had surgery and all is good.  Will fetch him home today .. I will probably only get the next few rows done and posted by the end of the week!

Until next time

Happy hooking!

Pat xxxxx

Stripey Blanket 2015 - Part 1

Ever since first seeing the beautiful and different As-we-go- Stripey blankets on Pinterest and while blog-browsing, I knew I wanted to make one just for me!

So as 2014 came to a close and I finished my Blissful Mood Blanket I started thinking about what to make for my 2015 12-month project.  I have collected several glorious colours of Stylecraft Special DK, a yarn I really like .. it came to me that I could work small amounts of this yarn at a time into stripes of patterns and make a Stripey-as-you-go Blanket over the early months of 2015.

The colours I am working with are:

Plum : Spring Green : Shrimp : Wisteria : Saffron : Magenta : Meadow : Fondant : Pomegranate : Bluebell and Aspen

Hook:  4mm

Terms:  US terms are used

I am aiming at an approximate width of 1.2m before the border.  I started with 201 ch.  I simply measured my chain row with a Tape Measure till it measured about 1.2m.  

These are my first 16 rows:

Rows 1 - 3 : Hdc in Bluebell, Pomegranate and Meadow

Rows 3 - 5 : Granny pattern in Fondant and Saffron

Rows 5 - 9 : Hdc in Plum, Wisteria and Plum

Rows 10 - 13 :  A Zig Zag pattern in Aspen and Shrimp

Rows 14 - 16 : Hdc in Magenta, Saffron and Magenta

One small detail to be aware of ... I was so keen to start .. I did my chain row and was whizzing along, only to realise after a bit that there is a right and a wrong side ...  of course!! I can be such a Dozy Doris sometimes!!  So to have my Zig Zag pattern on the right side would mean my starting Hdc row would be 'wrong-side-up'  Not to worry .. I am just being much more careful now, and making sure to plan each next section.

Inspiration comes in bucket loads from these two lovely blogs Not Your Average Crochet  and Little Woolie, beautiful examples of this blanket and wonderful photo tutorials and patterns to help you along.  I am using them as my references. I hope I can keep this project going over a few months!! my fingers are itching to get going again right now! I am loving it soooo much!

If I can, and I say that not lightly because I am still a little technically challenged, I will try and keep all my progress blogs in this one place .. any assistance will be greatfully accepted :)

Happy crocheting

happy days

love Pat xxxxx

Edit:  I will add a "Stripey as you go" label to each post, and that should keep the progress posts running sequentially .. I hope!

Lazy Ripples and lashings of rain and learning to let go!

Yesterday our beautiful little stream just in front of our house morphed into a raging torrent in less than an hour!

From these tranquil scenes .....

....... to these showing a raging, rampaging torrent!!

By this morning, all was back to normal;  a beautiful and cool and very wet Highveld morning.

I put my little Christmas Poinsettia out into the glorious sunshine ...all its huge red flowers have faded.  I found this useful information for encouraging the plant to flower again next season .. I am going to try this year I think!

The petunias are looking rather floppy, no wonder as they were pounded by heavy rainfall for about 2 hours in the storm.

  

Agapanthas looking so pretty in their diamonds!

I have a tub of New Guinea Impatiens to plant into a lovely ceramic pot this morning ...

  

also a tray of Heirloom tomatoes that I grew from seed;  

I can't wait for them to produce fruit!

A cool corner in the garden, the sun is just touching the plants and by this afternoon it becomes the hottest corner in the garden!!

In December, after our Christmas Dinner on the 25th, I made a difficult decision .. well difficult for me anyway ..  wanting to be the 'one in control' of all planning, menus, and cooking up a storm etc .. that I would let go of ownership, of having my hands on everything.  My choice is made out of compassion for myself ... we mostly have extremely hot weather in December, I now choose not to be in a steamy hot kitchen for hours.   And as I have read recently .. "surrending doesn't mean giving up or not caring, it means trusting and allowing things to be taken care of by others" That's it in a nutshell .... And if my family are all away on holiday, then our brilliant Woolworths always has the most scrumptious "ready to serve" Christmas fare on their shelves.  That will be Plan B!!  I want to be able to enjoy the festive season, make and create, see friends or do nothing, just relax! I am ready to do this, and I am happy to 'let go' .

And on the subject of letting go ... my beloved eldest son is returning to the UK on Wednesday after a lovely visit of nearly three weeks.  We had not seen him for more than 2 years, and oh the joy of having him sit down to a plate of Mielie Pap and Chicken Stew!! And he loves Bacon and Egg with a banana fried in the bacon fat!  I am going to miss him so much ... hoping and praying that he will be able to visit again next December or, and I do believe in miracles, that I can travel over to spend time with him sometime this year!

He will be taking the Lazy Ripples blanket with him, that I have been working on over the past few weeks .. his Christmas gift from me!

I will post details of the blanket in my next post, just measurements, weight, and info re yarn etc.

Until next time (is it Jan 4 already!!)

Pat xxxxxxxxxxx

My Special Year

~ Gifts under my Christmas Tree ~

So here we are with the year drawing to a close; a time for reflection, gratitude and anticipation for the New Year ... "full of things that have not yet been" 

 I have had many blessings come my way through the year.  In my wildest dreams, I could not have imagined how my Sunshine blog would grow, how I would grow with it, how many lovely friends I would meet, how sweet the feeling of success however small.

Five Beautiful Gifts came my way, leaving hardly any space beneath my virtual Christmas Tree. 

This is my first Gift;   #4 is my Sunshine Mandala

Second up a very special # 1 place !!!!! Emily's Garden ~ A Blanket of Flowers,

a blanket inspired by a blog I love ~ The Patchwork Heart ~

 Third special treat; #3 is my Snowflake Mandala

 a Christmas Mandala ~

Next, two excerpts from FB pages I belong to,  that garnered so many 'likes' I was quite simply ... totally delighted and beyond ~ I took part in a CAL, made up my Christmas Throw in traditional Christmassy colours and ended up with an awesome little blanket!  Hope you will excuse me for feeling just a tad self satisfied with over a thousand likes ... came as such a wonderful surprise!  

Lastly, and the Santa on top of the Christmas cake!! placed second in another link party ~

More than I ever dreamed, expected or imagined possible!
The biggest most heartfelt thank you leaves me and floats out into Blogland to the wonderful ladies who helped place the five gifts under my Christmas Tree ♥

Thank you for reading
Love you all xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Pat