Psst .... only 94 days till Christmas!

and I have indulged in some early (very) Christmas hooking. I have been quiet but I have been busy, laid low with bronchitis that I feel is not done with me yet, these cute decorations have kept me company, along with many, many cups of tea!

First up is a Christmas Star with a cheeky face, Nathan embroidered in white and two little bells to finish it off. The pattern is from Julie at Little Woolie blog, the face is a simple circle in UK Dc/US Sc, eyes are French Knots and the smile is Backstitch. This little star will be winging it's way to a sweet little boy together with his Minion beanie I made him.

These two are made from the same pattern, each finished with a shiny brassy coloured button on both sides and brass bead loops.

Next are the absolute cutest Gingerbread Men .. this sweet pattern is from Repeat Crafter Me.  I experimented with different colours of brown yarn and size hooks.  They all need loops added, and I may use red ric-rac just for something different.

I am 'hooked' on these beautiful Hearts, with roses and leaves from Lucy at Attic 24 on the purple, shiny purple and blue hearts and Jolly holly again from Attic 24 on the white heart.  I fashioned the berries as I went along, so no pattern.  There are many berry patterns on Pinterest. 

This is an easy and very sweet star from my good friend Zelna at Zooty Owl Blog.  I will be making many more of these I think.

Next up is such a cute and very popular little Christmas sock ornament, pattern from Angie at Le monde de Sucrette. I couldn't stop, once I had made one I just could not stop!!

The last ornaments are made with two circles of the same size. To see how to make circles, link to this post of mine, and follow the first three rows or so, depending on how large you want your ornament.   Crochet them together with UK Dc/US Sc almost to the end, then fill with a little wadding or what ever you have handy, even snipped off threads from your other crochet projects will do.  Complete closing the circles remembering to add a little hanging loop, and then decorate with holly or beads or whatever takes your fancy.

Pinterest is a gold mine of crochet Christmas ornaments and decorations.  Check out my board Christmas Handmade for more super ideas.

I am filling an order for three blankets for a good friend now, so the red, white and green yarn is packed away for a little while!  More on these projects later!

Thank you for joining me, till next time,
love to all xxxxxxxxx Pat

Richard's C2C cushion

My first C2C project and it was such fun! Surely one of the easiest patterns once you get the hang of it, works up super fast, and is so pleasing to the eye!  

In this post last year, are pictures of the Ripple Blanket I made for my youngest son Richard for his 30th birthday.  It is quite fabulous, the colours blending so well.  So when his birthday approached this year, I looked at the left over yarn, and not long after this cushion cover was on my hook! The colours for the blanket and cushion cover were not chosen intentionally with Fall or Autumn in mind ... they were the colours chosen by my son.  However, the browns and tans and golds do rather fit in well with an Autumn theme, cosy and warm.  The yarn is a local Double Knit, and I used double thread throughout and a size 7mm hook. It is plump, soft and comfy, and he loves it!  

It is about 600mm square, with a nice linen inner cushion pad with Hollowfil filling, so that the cover can be removed and washed.

There are some excellent tutorials for the Corner to Corner pattern; I used The Crochet Crowd YouTube pattern, just to get the general idea.  This pattern is also a good one. Felted Button also has a super Ravelry download tutorial.
I crocheted two squares measuring exactly the same number of stitches and rows, and stitched the squares together by hand around three sides.  The last side I left open, and finished off with a row of UK Treble (US Double) crochet right around.  Then the buttons went on next ... This post by Lucy of Attic 24 shows in clearer detail (my pics are in browns and not that sharp) how to go about attaching the buttons.  One set of buttons is on the inside of one square, so that they can button through the row and show on the outside.  

Then I added another different set of buttons, a button sewn onto the reverse side of each of the first set of buttons.  Now the cushion has buttons on both sides and can be used either which way up!

My picture below might clear up any confusion! 

 

One side has slightly different colours to the other, with the buttons matching the appropriate sides.  The photos were very unco-operative, just refused to match up in colours!! Some are darker, some lighter, I have a lot to learn in the photo editing department it would appear! Most frustrating!

Below is the gorgeous Ripple Blanket, so proud of it.

Spring is upon us here in South Africa, such a amazing time of the year with a long awaited thunder storm and lovely rain a weekend or two ago ...  I have a strawberry or two on my new plant, my lemon tree is groaning with new fruit, and the scent as you walk under the tree is too sublime! 

Thank you for reading lovely friends, much love till next time 

Pat xxxxxxxxx

Riley's Blanket

My gift to my grandson this year for his birthday is this checkerboard granny square blanket.

 I enjoyed crocheting this simple yet quite dramatic blanket ... it was just so good to settle down to the gentle rhythm of making plain monocolour granny squares, joining each one as it was finished, and watching as it grew and grew.  In no time the blanket was complete and it was time to add the border.  Because the squares were plain charcoal and red, I decided to jazz up the border a little with five rows in alternating colours .. very happy with the end result. 

 Some pattern details:

• Terms are US.
• I used a DK yarn in colours of charcoal and red and a size 4mm hook. 
• Each square is made up of five rows and then a sixth row as the joining row, and is one solid colour, either red or charcoal throughout. The square has no stitches between the 3dc groups, except on the corners where I used 2ch to separate the two 3dc groups to form the corner.  
• Each square measures 15cm/5.75in with 48 squares in total; ie 6 squares across and 8 squares in length.  The blanket measures approximately 128cm/50in x 98cm/38in, the border included. 

•  I turned my work over after each row. I have just recently started crocheting my squares this way, and am delighted by how neat and "square" my work is, with no twisting or unshapeliness (not a word but you get the drift I'm sure)
• I used the join-as-you-go joining method.
• I finished off the border with 3 rows of sc in red. 

 

 I hope to have a photo of Riley and his blanket to show you shortly .. I will add it to the bottom of this post.

Cheery bye till next post

Pat xxxx

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

Mandala for Wink

Hello again dear friends,

I have decided to join and contribute to the crochet art initiative currently underway.  The crochet world is indeed in shock at the recent passing of a most talented and creative young lady, Marinke Slump, known to the blog world as Wink, writer of the wonderful blog A Creative Being.  She bravely lived with crippling depression, and eventually succumbed some days ago.

This is such an insidious and dark disease, taking the light out of life, and filling the soul with such numbing hopelessness, pain and despair.  I speak as a sufferer, and from having to keep myself together and keep my two children closely gathered to my being, when their dad took his life. 

My depression is manageable, only occurring very, very occasionally.  I know the signs and can cope with the week or so of fumbling around trying not to go 'down the dark hole' too far.  Most of the time I am fine, happy and coping extremely well with my everyday.  I 'fess up' to taking a mild medication, mostly to control panic attacks that became part of the picture.  

Crochet has been a life saver for me .... I have focus and purpose ..... and this may sound a tad quirky, and I suppose it is, but I don't clench my jaws when I am immersed in a project, playing with colours, planning a pattern, or simply making Minion hats .. I am making many many Minion hats at the moment!! The movie opens here in South Africa in a week or so, and the demand will be great!  I recently made a 'girlie' Minion for the first time, what fun!  May I introduce you to Moppit!

And so I decided to make a Mandala in honour of Wink, using one of her lovely free patterns.  If you would like to join the project, details are available here,  also on Facebook on #MandalasforMarinke

My blogging has slowed, and for that I am sad .... just too much on my plate, as does happen to us all. I have ideas in my head, photos to take, posts to fine tune ..... very exciting!   And to end may I say a huge and heart-felt thank-you to the many dear ladies who leave a comment now and again, it is sooo appreciated.  There is no feeling like it .. 

Until next time, love and light, from Pat x

Another baby blanket update!

Hello again!

Just a quick update on the third of the baby blanket trio I finished in April .... this is such an easy pattern, I loved making this gorgeous 12 point Baby Ripply blanket.  I posted pattern details on this previous post.

Have a most wonderful day

Pat xxxxxxxxx

Cooking is like love ...............

...... it should be entered into with abandon

or not at all!

Julia Childs

And so with this sage advice in mind 

here are some of my favourite and well used

recipe books on my kitchen shelf!

Some books have messages

and are so special, just because of the

beautiful words!

These first two books are written by a favourite couple

in South Africa, Jeremy and Jacqui Mansfield ... each recipe is accompanied by a funny anecdote or photo and the first book titled Zhoozsh (the cover photo in the kitchen) 

was a Mother's Day gift from my children in 2008

and has a looong message on the first page!

The book incidentally finished in third place at the

International Gourmand World Cookbook Awards in London. 

The second book titled Zoozsh! Faking it

was a Mother's Day gift from my children in 2011 ..

and as you may guess, is "all about delicious and trendy dishes that aren't heavy on the pocket" and that don't take hours in the kitchen to produce... just up my street!! 

The next wonderful little recipe book is also by a

South African lady called Annabel Frere ... 

this was a Christmas gift from my youngest son Richard

in 2013 and is one of my favourite go-to books for

fast, easy meals.

Are there any passionate cooks out there who do not have  at least one of Jamie Oliver's cookbooks in their collection?

From the first time I saw Jamie as just a young lad in

The Naked Chef, I was kinda hooked on his enthusiastic approach to cooking and his Kinda Spaghetti Bolognaise is a firm favourite in our house! 

Another very popular cookery writer and teacher in

South Africa is Ina Paarman.  I was lucky enough to meet her at one of her cooking demo's where I bought this

lovely book.  She inscribed a message on the front page for me!

Maya Angelou .... words cannot describe how much I love this inspirational writer and poet .. but did you know she also loved cooking?  

Hallelujah! the welcome table .. A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes not only has dishes evoking memories of her Southern upbringing, there are wonderful stories in chapters titled 'The Assurance of Caramel Cake' and 

'Potatoe Salad towers over Difficulties!' 

It is a truly delightful and much loved book on my shelf. 

I retired in 2011 after working most of my adult life ..

On my last afternoon, after I had left the office, 

I found myself at one of our large bookshops nearby,

sort of just wandering around, not quite believing that I was at looong last, unemployed and very happy about it!

I bought the next book in celebration of my new freedom, and I love it! .. both the book and my 'retired' status!

 

Who remembers the Two Fat Ladies?  They were crazy gals weren't they!  I loved their adventures in the TV series, and although I have not used this following cookbook much, it is very special to me. 

My late mother-in-law gave it to me on one of her visits to South Africa from the UK.  

Many, many years ago, my husband and I had a brief spell owning and running a small Italian restaurant!  Gosh it feels like it was in another lifetime now, but anyway ... I bought this book hoping for much needed inspiration!  It actually has some very nice recipes in it which I still make today!

And so to the final two books ..

I have been following a sugar-free eating lifestyle since February 12 this year.  No mean feat for me .. I am a chocoholic of note, love biscuits and cake, sweet and gooey is my fix.

Fortunately I love vegetables, only eat chicken and fish and have always partaken heartily thereof .. and we also enjoy having fantastic fruit available all year round.

These two books actually belong to my daughter Stellie, who has kindly lent them to me on a 'for-as-long-as-you-need-them' basis .. 

I am happy to report that I am coping well, lost a little weight, but most important of all, feel enormous benefits to my general health already.  Now that I have broken through the 'craving' barrier, I am not going back to my very bad snacking habits, ever.

And on that note, I'm off to have a small glass of very dry Blanc de Noir wine .. not too far off sugar-free but still delicious!

I have so enjoyed writing this post ..

 Julia Child's has the last word ..

"Life itself is the proper binge"

Pat xxxxx