Saturday 31 March 2012

Spring Time Poncho


This little poncho was inspired by these squares knit in the  lovely spring pastel shade of green and my present flower mania.  The squares all came from the the big box of squares all lovingly made by loving hands members. All I had to do was crochet the squares together and add a Spring scene of flutter-byes and flowers.



Find the flower pattern here littlebirdiesecrets
and the flutterbys here Sarah Cooper

Thursday 29 March 2012

On the subject of flowers

I have flower mania at the moment.  Well it is spring and the weather is beautiful, I know it’s going to change very soon but for now I’m enjoying it and looking forward to all the lovely flowers which will eventually bloom in my garden.  I have the urge to crochet flowers, my lovely kids gave me some money for Mother’s Day and I had to buy these books.



Endless possibilities I can’t wait to get started and yes I know I should finish off the projects I'm doing at the moment but I do enjoy doing several things at once and everything does get finished eventually and flowers are quick to make and even if you don’t use them straight away they can be waiting there ready to adorn some creation you have completed and give it that final touch which will make it beautiful.
So you can imagine my delight when I came across this Crochet-a-long.


What a beautiful blog and what a beautiful cushion, roses are my favourite flower so I just had to take part, I came across this just recently and so am a little late but it’s just week two so plenty of time to catch up.  I am now at the stage of deciding on which colours and what type of yarn and where I want to put the cushion, sitting room, bedroom or summerhouse, the location will be the deciding factor in the colour choice.  In the meantime I have been playing with various yarn types when I should really be doing housework and pegging out the washing lol.
Here are a few I have made.



Warning!! these roses are completely addictive once you start making them it’s very hard to stop :)

Tuesday 27 March 2012

Four Squares


  I have been making so many things at once just lately that nothing seems to get finished add to that the beautiful weather we are having just now seems to put everything on hold.  You just have to get out there and enjoy every single minute of the glorious sunshine while you can  because it will probably be snowing next week.
Anyway I feel as if I have been neglecting the Beyond the Square Motifs just lately so to catch up I have put four together.

Motif #112
A granny square with a difference.  I kept getting this one wrong and had to pull it back, a couple of time until I got right, here is the finished result, I quite like it. It would be nice to mix these with ordinary granny's to make a cushion cover or blanket.

Motif #113
This one was straight forward and very easy to make.  It's a pretty motif but lots of ends to sew in if you make it in four colours like I have with this one.

Motif # 115

I'm going to call this one my nightmare motif! I pulled it back several times, I just couldn't get it to lie flat, in the end I just went with what I had, even though it's been blocked it still doesn't  lie flat.  It is nice  I think but I won't be making another one of these.

Motif #118

This is my favourite of the four, I love the curvy edge, it's so pretty and quick and easy to make, I haven't a clue what I would do with it though :)
Which one is your favourite?

Progress 16 done out of 100

Tuesday 13 March 2012

Daisy Poncho and Motif #53


 


 Last week the postman delivered a huge box, it was full of squares made by loving hands members. This is just half of them.


 I had volunteered to sew up these squares but I have to say it's a challenge as they come in all sizes and textures.  The obvious thing would be to turn them into blankets and I think the majority will end up as blankets but I wanted to try and be a bit creative so I decided to try making a poncho.  

Once I got started I realised just how simple it was.


I took 16 squares, then edged them with two rounds of dc in a bright contrasting shade.


placed them into a poncho shape


Then realised that it would be easier to join them using this shape


I then crocheted all the squares together with a row of dc in bright purple and  added a shell border around the edge.

Here it is all done and embellished  with Linda's cute little daisy's from Chalky's World



I enjoyed assembling this little Poncho so much I am going to see how many more I can manage to get out of the squares I have, the rest I will make into blankets, unless you lovely peeps have more ideas. :)



Motif 53




Such a sweet and easy little motif, your hook just speeds around and it's finished in seconds.
Here it is in two colours







I think it looks lovely adorning this little poncho, another one made from the box of squares,  it brings the whole thing together. :)







Thursday 8 March 2012

Little Party Dress

It's been a very busy crafty week for me this week, just the way I like it, I'm only hoping that no one decides to visit because my house is looking a bit like a work shop with bits of wool trailing all the way upstairs lol.  I have managed to finish one of the projects Iv'e had on the go for a while now, I could have finished it ages ago but as usual I was doing other crafty things along side it. 
This is another lovely pattern from the book Little crochet by Linda Perman.  I love the concept of combining crochet with knitting and sewing, that's whats great about crochet it's so versatile and can be added to all kinds of things. 


Ta daa here it is, It's called Strawberry patch party frock in the book.





 Close up of the granny square bodice, tiny granny squares joined as you go.



Making all those little squares for the bodice is a bit time consuming but I was in no hurry to finish this so just made a few when I had the time.  I love the way this little dress has turned out, I have tweaked the pattern a little because I used a different yarn to that in the pattern and the tension was different but the wonderful thing about the patterns in this book is all the measurements are there for you so it's easy to use different yarns and adapt the number of stitches to get the correct size.



Sunday 4 March 2012

Squares for memory blankets







Meadow 
Block 46 from 200 crochet blocks by Jan Eaton. 
These squares are made for Memory blankets for members of Loving Hands who have sadly lost a loved one.  One of the blankets is made up of 6 inch squares and the other with 12 inch.  
This one was very easy to make into a 12 inch square just by adding more rounds. 



Granny Stripes
Block 76 from 200 crochet blocks by Jan Eaton
This one is very easy and nice to do we all love granny squares in any shape or form.


forget-me-not square
201 crochet motifs, blocks, projects and ideas by Melody Griffiths
I just love this one it's beautiful and so apt for a memory square but it took ages to make, it's not difficult but you do need loads of patience joining the little flowers as you go. 



Love and Honour
Then I found this pattern at One Crochet Day at a Time such a lovely blog so full of inspiration and ideas
Six little hearts meeting together in the centre so beautiful.







Saturday 3 March 2012

Tete a Tete




Good morning everyone and a happy Saturday to you all.  It's very gloomy in my part of the world this morning.  In these cold winter months I rarely venture into the garden.  Today however I had to go into my Summerhouse at the bottom of the garden for something and look what I found hidden in the flower bed down there, this little bunch of sunshine brightening up a dull and deary day, I just had to pick them and share them with you all, have a lovely weekend.

Thursday 1 March 2012

Motif #65

 

This was another one which surprised me when it was completed.  It was nothing special until the final round, then it was suddenly transformed into a really pretty little motif, that frilly edging makes all the difference.

progress 11 of 100