Something For The Weekend

Baby Hats 6    

Ripple Baby Hats

These crochet baby hats are the sweetest things to make.

I do love to ripple don't you? and if it's a baby hat then so much the better and this pattern comes with an added bonus.....

The sweetest little mittens aren't they cute!

 Baby hats and mittens

Perfect :)


Stats 
Pattern to fit a newborn
You can find the pattern here
Each hat takes 20 grams of Dk yarn
The mittens take 13 grams

From the small stash of little bits

The June link party will close on Sunday night so hurry and get all your lovely June stash-buster projects linked up! 

Have a great weekend and happy linking!

A Trip To The Spa

Hi everyone hope your week is going well, as you can see I have been playing around with my heading, well it's Summer now right?... I look out of the window and try to convince myself, the new heading is supposed to make you feel cool and calm while you are reading my posts...has it succeeded ?

I hope you are all enjoying making the String Tote's and thank you for all the positive comments! I know some of you have made one or more already and the one's I've seen look really great!, I will have a String tote gallery soon to show them off it will be fun to see all the different variations, so those of you who are making them please show me your pictures when they are finished and don't forget to link them to the party if they are stash-busters.

My daughter and I had a lovely time while we were away and I'm sure she is feeling much better for it.  I was ill on the day after we came back, I think I must have caught a tummy bug and it wasn't very nice at all :(   I'm pleased to say I have now recovered and am dying to show you some pictures of our little trip.

Whitby

We were so lucky the weather was beautiful, we stopped off at Whitby first on our way to the hotel and had fish and chips, eating fish and chips is a must if you are visiting Whitby they always taste better from there for some reason.
The Hotel was lovely, we had a balcony which caught the afternoon sun, we just sat there soaking it all up admiring the beautiful gardens.

The Hotel Gardens.

The view from our balcony

Of course I had to have my crochet with me can you see what I'm making?

We did manage to tear ourselves away and have a wander through the gardens.

We walked over this little bridge

and look what we found around the corner.

We could have stayed in this beautiful garden all afternoon but the Spa beckoned and we spent hours in there swimming in the pool and luxuriating in the hot tub bliss...
The next day was lovely too, I think it does you good to be pampered once in a while.

Then on the way back we called into this lovely little garden centre just off the beaten 

track for a coffee, we were sitting right next to the river in the lovely warm sunshine, when suddenly this little visitor stopped by for a chat and a hopeful nibble.

he soon waddled away when he saw we hadn't got any goodies.

Caught in the act, my daughter snapped me when I wasn't looking!

Well I did say I wasn't going to buy any plants, but they were pretty and didn't cost that much and I had to have souvenirs of this lovely little place don't you agree? 
I potted them up as soon as I got back and when they are looking beautiful I will post a photo to show you all.

The Monday Smile.

Good morning everyone and welcome to the Monday Smile.  I hope you have all had a great weekend with lovely warm sunny weather.  It has been rather a washout here but for once I don't mind my garden needs it. This is a picture of a lovely clematis which is blooming right now in my garden I love to capture it's blooms because they don't last for long and it will be a whole year before I see them again.

I am opening the Monday Smile up to all of you.  Have you got a joke or anecdote you would like to share? just e-mail it to me and I will post it on here and link it back to you. I hope you will because we all need a little light relief in our lives to help us get through the everyday madness that's called life.
Most of the jokes I post on here come from my friends and this one is from my friend Val, so thank you Val for the laugh.

This one will leave all you ladies with murderous thoughts I'm sure!

YOU GOTTA LOVE RON

It is important for men to remember that, as women grow older, it becomes
harder for them to maintain the same quality of housekeeping as when they
were younger.  When you notice this, try not to shout at them. Some are
over-sensitive and there's nothing worse than an over-sensitive woman.

My name is Ron. Let me relate how I handled the situation with my wife,
Julie. When I took early retirement last year, it became necessary for Julie
to get a full-time job for the extra income that we need.

Shortly after she started working, I noticed she was beginning to show her
age. I now usually get home from the pub about the same time she gets home
from work. Although she knows how hungry I am, she nearly always says she
has to rest for half an hour or so before she starts dinner. I don't shout
at her, instead I tell her to take her time and just wake me when she gets
dinner on the table. I generally have lunch at the pub so eating out again
is out of the question; I'm ready for some home cooked food when I get home.

She used to do the dishes as soon as we finished eating. But now it's usual
for them to sit on the table for several hours after dinner. I do what I can
by diplomatically reminding her several times each evening that they won't
clean themselves. I know she really appreciates this, as it does seem to
motivate her to get them done before she goes to bed.

Another symptom of ageing is complaining. For example, she will say that it
is difficult for her to do the shopping during her lunch hour.
But we take them for better or worse, so I just smile and offer
encouragement. I tell her to stretch it out over two or even three days.
That way she won't have to rush so much. I also remind her that missing
lunch completely now and then won't hurt her. I like to think tact is one of
my strong points.

When doing simple jobs, she seems to think she needs more rest periods. She
has to take a rest when she has only half finished mowing the lawn and
several extra breaks when she's vacuuming through the house. It does annoy
me, vacuuming when I'm trying to watch 'Match of the Day', but I try not to
make a scene. I'm a fair man. I tell her to make herself a nice cup of tea
and just sit for a while, and as long as she is making one for herself, she
may as well make one for me too.

I know that I probably look like a saint in the way I support Julie.
I'm not saying that showing this much consideration is easy. Many men will
find it difficult. Some will find it impossible! Nobody knows better than I
do how frustrating women get as they get older. However, even if you just
use a little more tact and less criticism of your ageing wife because of
this article, I will consider that writing it was well worthwhile. After
all, we are put on this earth to help each other, eh

(I haven't added the end of the joke on here because I darn't print what Ron's wife did in retaliation....enough to say I'm sure most of us would have approved haha)

Have a great week I have some photo's to share of my trip with you soon :)

here

The String Tote Pattern/Tutorial

The Pop It In Your Handbag String Tote.

Thank you for all your lovely comments about the Mystery Giveaway Reveal, I'm glad you all like this cute little tote here is the tutorial and pattern as promised, sorry it took so long it took longer than I thought it would. 
These little bags are great for gifts make a few now for Christmas presents :)

Materials

Mercerised Cotton I used Patons 
3.50 hook

Change the weight of yarn depending on what size of bag you want.
I used 4ply for the beige bag
Dk for the green
2 strands of 4ply tog for the pink.

Written in English Terms
ch = chain
dc = double crochet (sc/us)
tr = treble (dc/us)
dtr = double treble (tr/us)
ss slip stitch.

Pattern
(Quick version for experienced crocheters)

Make a continuous circle of 4 rounds beginning with with 9 dc in magic loop.

(you can make the circle bigger if you wish depending on how big you want your bag)

dc for final round. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Embellish your circle with a flower or anything you wish,
(see step 20 below)

Make another circle as above but leave plain.

You can make any type of circle you wish but remember there is a certain amount of pulling and tugging involved so it would need to be a sturdy design and multiple colours would need to be well woven in. always finish your circles with a final round of dc (no increases) to give them some depth,

Place circles right sides together and dc them together leaving a gap of 13sts.

Buttonhole made on flower sided circle.

Dc 6 across gap edge  2ch, miss 1 dc, 6dc. 

sew a small button on the inside of opposite gap

Begin string bag

Chain 8 miss 2dc, dc in next dc, chain 8, continue around and include 2^nd gap edge.   (see no 24 in tutorial)

Next round

chain 8 dc in next ch8 space continue like this until 22 rounds have been worked (or for as big as you want your bag)

Don’t fasten off

Handles

Chain 60 (or as long as you want them) dc into 5^th 8ch loop (one handle made)

Now judge where next handle should be and place markers.

Dc 8 times in each 8ch space until you reach marker and make 2^nd handle,

Dc all 8ch spaces around the top of bag and loosely dc around handles.

Fasten off.

 Tutorial
(Click on the pictures to get a larger view)

(revision on no 20...6th line should read 2ch, 1tr, 1dtr, 1tr, 2ch, ss into same st

 Make second circle as above but don't add flower and don't fasten off.

Finished Bag

 The opening should
be on the inside of the bag

To close the bag just turn it inside out, then turn the two two circles inside out, gently push the string bag inside and fasten button.

My latest bag

In Crushed Raspberry

Bag in Use

 If there is any part which is difficult or doesn't make sense please just leave me a comment and I will put it right.

Stats
Pink bag 75 grams
Beige bag 44 grams
Green bag 65 grams
Crushed Raspberry 56 grams 

String Tote Galleries

Hindusanka

Astri

Casey

Loving Hands

More from me info here

Mistea

Copyright © 2013 Linda Solaiman  All Rights Reserved.