One!

Hellooooo!!!

It’s an exciting day today, as it has been one whole year since Crochet with Raymond began.  I thought that it would be nice to celebrate this, and say a big thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last 365 days by posting a pattern for my latest tea cozy!

I am completely in love with this tea cozy, a bit infatuated by it in fact, and have been desperately excited to post these pictures from a photo shoot KB, Raymond and I did last night as big dark rainclouds threatened us!  But I’ll write the pattern before I commence with blogiversary chatter and tea cozy love…

May I introduce to you, the Polka Dot Tea Pot!

This pattern combines knitting and crochet and is a great project for beginners or people unconfident in one or the other (or both) as it is very easy and looks fantastic when complete.

So!  To knit the cozy, you will need 8ply wool, 4mm needles and two stitch holders.  Gauge is 22 stitches/ 10cms but if gauge terrifies you, don’t worry too much unless you’re a very tight or very loose knitter.

This pattern fits my tea pot, which is seemingly average at 15cms tall and 19cms wide, you may need to jig the pattern a bit to fit your pot.

Abbreviations:  CO= cast on, k= knit, k2tog= knit 2 together.

To begin:

CO 76 stitches

Knit 2 rows (this creates a nice lacy effect and stops the work from rolling terribly when you are knitting!)

Continue in stocking stitch to the bottom of the spout.  When you reach the spout, knit (or purl, it doesn’t matter which side is facing) 38 stitches and place the remaining 38 onto a stitch holder.

Continue in stocking stitch to the top of the spout.  When you reach that point, place the stitches onto a stitch holder and snip off the yarn leaving a 10cm tail.  Place the other 38 stitches back on the needle and knit in stocking stitch to match the other side.

At this point, place all of the 76 stitches onto one needle and knit in stocking stitch until the tea pot begins to decrease. 

With the right side facing you, k5, k2tog until end of row.  Next row purl.

Next row, k4, k2tog until end of row, purl next row.

Next row, k3, k2tog until end of row, purl next row.

Next row, k2, k2tog until end of row, purl next row.

Next row, k1, k2tog until end of row, purl next row.

Next row, k2tog until end of row and continue until 5-10 stitches remain.  Snip off yarn leaving a 30cm tail and using a tapestry needle, pull the yarn through the remaining stitches on the needle, take the stitches off the needle and pull tight.  Sew the seams closed until the top of the handle is reached.

Now for the crochet!  Take your 4mm crochet hook, and fasten yarn to one of the bottom corners.  ch1, sc along the bottom of the cozy, I worked into every second stitch so it wouldn’t flip up, but see how it looks for you and decide if you want to work into every stitch or every second stitch.  Continue along the handle edges (sc into every stitch when working vertically) and slip stitch into the first ch1 of the round. 

To make the mini-shell stitch edging, ch1, *into the next stitch make 1sc, 1hdc, 1sc, slst into next TWO stitches* repeat until end of round.  When you reach the end of the round (bottom corner) ch 8-10 (depending on button size) and slst into same stitch.  Fasten off and sew button onto the opposite side.

Now repeat the instructions for the spout opening and you are ready to embellish with polka dots!

To make the polka dots, use a 4mm hook and make a magic ring (photo-tutorial HERE) and fasten with a slst.  ch1, make 7sc into ring and pull ring closed.  Fasten off and leave a 10cm tail to sew the dot onto the cozy.  Weave in other end.

Make as many polka dots as needed and sew onto the cozy!  Ta-daaa!

I hope that the instructions were clear, and that the pictures helped to explain what I can’t!  If you need a visual how-to for the knitting, please click HERE, it is a slightly different pattern, but same concept.  Also, if you need a memory-jog with the crochet stitches, there is a step-by-step guide to the stitches HERE.  And one last link, it is ravelled HERE! 

So there we have it, the Polka Dot Tea Pot… I love it.  Do you know, I can’t believe it has been a whole entire year since I began blogging!  It has been an interesting year with so much change both in the world and here in my mini-world too!  I began this blog as a way to share my love of crochet with other like-minded people, and when I look back over the many posts I’ve written, I can see how much I have evolved as a hooker and a knitter too!  I love crochet, and I love knitting and I love having a medium to share what I love doing, and I love the feedback I get from my lovely, lovely commenters, thank you so much for your support.  Hearing from you brings me so much joy and I can honestly say, I would have bored of this lark long ago without the communication and friendships I’ve gained from wonderful, kind people all over the world.

So… how about some blog stats? In the last year:

I’ve posted 203 posts (and deleted 23 of them recently, it was a cathartic experience!)

I’ve read and loved 4,546 comments

I’ve been protected from 2,583 spam comments

 and I’ve been wowed by 451,910 total hits!

It has been ages since I’ve had a giveaway, and to mark this blogiversary, I’ve decided to have one.  And the prize?

Well, this of course!

The Polka Dot Tea Pot cozy is going to be given to one lucky winner, even though I wish I could give one to everyone who sends appreciation my way!  So I hope you have a tea pot this cozy will fit, and if not, you will have an excuse to go and buy yourself a lovely one!  (My Nana’s china tea cup is not included sorry!!!  It is tea cup perfection though… I wish I had one to give away!)

I really, really love this tea cozy and ooooooooooohhh it is hard to give away!  But as I have many, I can spare one, and it will be lovely to send a bit of my creative goodness out into the world!  So, to enter, leave a comment at the bottom of this post and Raymond and I will pick a winner by a random number generator on Sunday 22nd May!

Well, what are you waiting for!

Good luck!

Lots of love, Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Do you dare to wear a granny square?

I’m not sure if I’d manage a granny square evening dress….

But I’m loving the cowl I made last week and have been quite excited to show you!

I must apologise for the photos, I’ve cropped them right down this week, so you can’t see the whole effect, but let me tell you, it really is lovely, I tried it on my friend to see how it looked on someone and couldn’t get it off her and back around my neck fast enough!

Being that we are heading into winter at what seems like a veeeeeery fast pace right now, I’m obsessed with cowls and this I have to tell you, is the first of a series of cowl posts.  Cowls are my new thing, neck warmey snuggliness without flappy ends, they are perfection.  I’ve got another one on the hook right now which I’ll share with you when it’s finished, but I was also thinking it would look fabulous in Lovely Lucy’s Granny Stripe pattern too!

Anyway, let me tell you how I made this one before I run off telling you about others to make!   Even though I’m sure most people reading this are Granny Square making legends, I’ve added a quick pattern below…

• Begin with a magic ring/ sliding loop, ch3 (counts as 1dc) 2dc into ring, ch3, 3dc into ring, repeat twice more and join with a slst to 3^rd ch of original 3ch.  Pull loop tight.  Fasten off.
• Attach new colour with a slst into 2ch space, ch3 (counts as 1dc) into same space make 2dc, ch3, 2dc, ch1, *into next 2ch space make 3dc, ch3, 3dc, ch1* repeat ** until end of round and join with a slst to 3^rd ch of original 3ch.  Fasten off.
• Attach new colour in corner space with slst, ch3 (counts as 1dc) into same space make 2dc, ch3, 3dc, ch1, into next 1ch space make 3dc, ch1, *into corner space make 3dc, ch3, 3dc, ch1, 3dc into next space, ch1* continue until end of round and join with a slst into 3^rd ch of original 3ch.
• Repeat until granny square is at desired size. 

I made my squares with a 5.5mm hook so they would be nice and drapey and not resemble a granny square neck brace, and used 8ply wool in 6 different colours, so 6 rounds in total, which makes a nice big granny square.

Make one, and on the last round of the second square, join as you go to one side of the first square.  If you’re not a fan of the join as you go method, you can obviously slip stitch them later or sew them, your choice!  I made seven in total, which made my cowl long enough to wrap around my neck twice.  (Cozy and warm yay!)

Once you are finished joining your squares, even up the edges by joining a new colour with a slst, ch1, sc into all of the stitches except when you reach a joining place between two squares, in these stitches (the 3ch gaps from the last rounds) make a hdc to make the edge nice and straight and not dip at the join.  Join with a slst to first ch, repeat other edge.  I went around then and did a row of dc clusters, but these are not necessary, you might like to do none, or one, or ten to make it a big chunky cowl!

In fact, the possibilities are huge, you can make them with lots of little squares, I think I’m going to have to spend this weekend (Easter yay!) trying out some of these possibilities!  I’m loving this cowl and have had so many comments on it from people, including strangers which is always telling!  I say to them, it’s not often you get an excuse to wear a granny square, and they all agree!

So what do you think?  Is it still cool enough to hook yourself up a granny cowl before summer hits?  I’m thrilled with this and can’t wait other variations pop up around the place!

Allright lovelies, I’m off, this morning I have begun my Easter break, the sun is shining and I have lots of fun knitting and hooking to do, walks to go on, assignments to finish and books to read, sending you lots and lots of love and blessings!

From Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Granny Bunting- Remix Styles

Helloooooo!!!

I’m discovering that writing patterns is quite different to writing photo-tutorials!  As I type out the patterns for my students-to-be to learn from, I’m noticing that everything needs to be perfectly clear as I can’t rely on pictures to explain things for me!

As I promised that I would share these classes with you lovelies, here is the latest installment, the Granny Bunting pattern, cut and pasted, fixed up, de-photographed, and re-worked to (hopeful) perfection!  Enjoy!

You will need:

• 3 different colours of 8ply wool and one length of white/cream wool
• A 4mm crochet hook
• A wool needle for darning in ends

To begin:

• Make a magic ring and into the ring make 1slst, ch3 (counts as 1dc) 2dc, ch4, 3dc, ch4, 3dc, ch4, join with a slst to 3^rd ch of original 3ch.  Fasten off.
• Join new colour into one of the 4ch spaces with a slst and ch3 (counts as 1dc) 2dc, ch4, into the same space 3dc, ch1, into the next 4ch space make 3dc, ch4, 3dc, ch1, into last corner space, 3dc, ch4, 3dc, ch1 and join with a slst to the 3^rd ch of original 3ch.  Fasten off.
• Join new colour into corner space with a slst and ch3 (counts as 1dc) 2dc, ch4, into the same space 3dc, ch1, *into side 1ch space make 3dc, ch1, into next corner space 3dc, ch4, 3dc, ch1* repeat ** until the round is finished.  Fasten off.
• Join first colour into a corner space and repeat previous round, allowing for two sets of 3dc along each side.  Fasten off.

Edging:

• Join the same colour with a slst into one corner space.  Ch1, sc into each stitch along the side of the triangle, including 1ch spaces.  When the 4ch space at next corner is reached, into the 4ch space, make 1hdc, 1dc, 1htr, ch1, 1htr, 1dc, 1hdc, sc into each stitch along next side.  At the last corner space, make a slst, ch1, turn.
• *Slst into next 3 st, ch3, slst into 3^rd ch from hook (picot made)* repeat ** around both edges.  At bottom corner, take care to ensure picot is made on very bottom stitch, if not, make an extra slst on either side.  At last corner, slst into 4ch space and fasten off.

Blocking:

• When all 5 bunts are made, it is essential to block them.  To block, dampen each bunt and pin them to a secure surface.  Pull gently to stretch bunts to the shape you want them, taking care to pin bottom picot so it is nice and pointy, then spray gently with water.  Leave until dry.

 Assembling:

• With white/cream wool, ch10, join with a slst to 1^st ch, ch10, *attach bunt with right side facing in corner space with 1sc, ch1, skip 1 st sc into next stitch until end corner is made, ch5,* repeat until all five bunts are attached, ch20, slst into 10^th ch from hook, fasten off.

I am such a sucker for granny bunting these days, I’ve made a million sets and still ready to make more!  These ones are currently hanging on my front door but are destined to be a display, which is a terrible shame because I’ll have to make another set to replace these when  I take them down!

OK then, just a (re)pattern for today, but I’ll be back really really soon because I have some felting to show you which I am sooooooooooooo excited about and can’t wait to share!

Lots of love from Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Volcanic Adventures!

Hellooo!!!

I’ve been on holiday for the last few days, enjoying the last week of my three weeks off by taking a trip with my Mum and Aunty Linda to Taupo to have some volcanic adventures!  The trip was amazing and we all had the best time ever… it was hard to come home but when I walked in the front door, saw my lovely KB, and looked around my colourful, happy little lounge, and saw Raymond on my (his) rocking chair, I felt pretty pleased to be back.  I’m going to share some pictures of my trip today, which I hope you enjoy!  But first, wow…. my heart is going out to all of the people in Queensland and Brisbane right now…. those floods, it’s just devastating and seeing the pictures makes me feel very, very sad.  My dad told me that it has stopped raining now, what a relief, but I’m sure that like all of the other disasters that have been occurring worldwide in the last couple of years alone, that the clean up and healing will take a long time. 

So my inbox was full today, with about a million-billion comments (thank you!!!!!) and e-mails, facebook messages, blog subscriptions from my fave blogs and many other things!  I had only been away for four nights, and was amazed at all of the lovely comments people have left during this time!  I’m going to love going to visit all of the blogs of people who have left comments!  I had two particularly exciting messages in my box………

1.  I won a giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I wanted to win this giveaway soooooo badly, I asked the Universe… no… BEGGED the Universe that I get picked and I DID!  The lovely Penny from Planet Penny which is one of my all time favourite blogs drew the winner while I was away, so make sure you pop over and see what I won HERE!  And if you haven’t already, you’ll meet Higgins who is fabulously naughty but makes up for it with his cuteness…. Thank you Penny!  I’m thrilled!

2.  The lovely KJ Sunflower has started up a flickr group called Crochet inspired by Crochet with Raymond, the link to this is HERE and what an exciting moment as I clicked into this!  Thank you Lovely!  I’m loving seeing the pictures, and in fact, am getting inspired myself from it, so pop over and have a look!  In fact, I’m going to do some emotional blackmail here, pleeeeeeeeeeeeease go and join this group so it reaches a reasonable size!  hee hee!

So…. now let me tell you all about my trip!  First, I suggest you have a veeeery quick look at this post and remind yourself of these beautiful volcano shots I took when I was travelling to Taupo a few months ago, when they were all covered in snow and freezingly beautiful!  Remember it’s the middle of Summer here now (bliss!) and when my Mum and her sister Linda decided to do the Tongariro Crossing, I decided to come too, because if you remember, I love volcanoes and these three, Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe and Tongariro are three of the best!  The Tongariro Crossing is described as New Zealand’s best day tramp, it’s a “challenging” 19km tramp across Mt Tongariro which I think is 1158m high if I remember from the guidebook!  We drove up to Turangi on Sunday and on Monday the conditions were perfect for the tramp.

The pictures I’m going to show you are very special, because you can only see these views if you walk 10km up a mountain! I hope you enjoy taking the trip with me!

On Monday morning three alarm clocks went off at 4.45am, we got dressed in our tramping gear and packed our bags with everything from thermals, raincoats and lunch to barley sugars and even a flare (!) -My Mum likes to be prepared for everything, which makes her a great tramping companion!-  We got picked up at 6am by a shuttle and driven to the foot of the mountain, and began our tramp at 7am.

At this point, there was low cloud, but by 8am it burned off in the lovely hot sun, by which time we were well on our way!  The first hour is lovely and easy, it’s reasonably flat and the trail makes its way through volcanic rocks which are black and look a lot like coral….

We reached the first incline, called the Giant’s Staircase, which went up and up and up and up and up for about an hour, walking up through big boulders and up many flights of man-made stairs!  We had forgotten our map, which didn’t matter as the track was marked, so we had no idea where we were when we reached the top of the first incline.  At the top, we found a crater.  Now, remember, these three volcanoes are all active, Ruapehu last erupted in 1997 I think, maybe 1996, and we were reminded of this by the steam coming through vents in the sides of the craters.

 This picture shows the beginning of the first crater we came to.  No words can describe what it felt like to walk through this huge, vast space… It was like being on the moon, right up high, away from all infrastructure, it was incredible.  The mountain off to the right is the base of Ngauruhoe, the perfect, cone-shaped wonder that was covered in snow in my last travelling post!

At the edge of the crater, we saw teeny teeny tiny people at the top of this hill on the right…. that’s the crater floor we’re walking along, and if you care to zoom in close, you can see little ant sized people up there on the ridge…..

Well, we said, the book said “challenging,” and we’ll eat our lunch at the top of the hill!

The views were breathtaking, and when we were at the top of that incline, we discovered we still had further to go before we reached the summit!  At this point the track had become very… errr… rugged, meaning there was no track, and it was along a thin ridge.  Mum got what she called the “doo-daas” and like many others, didn’t want to go too close to the edge, because it was a loooooooooooooooong way down!  So we walked up the last little bit to the summit, and the incredible views of the Red Crater.

Standing at the top of the Red Crater, looking in, I felt the biggest wash of deja-vu, and looking in, at such a wonderous thing, created by nature, I was blown away by the insignificance of myself and all of the other people, walking across this mountain, marvelling at it for just a fleeting moment.  It was just amazing.  Mum stood next to me and said… “you could knit that.”  I looked at her and said… “What?”  “Those colours” she says…”I could make some Tongariro Crossing socks….”

Aaahhh.  She really is yarn crazy, and I now see that I am only on the very beginning of my decline into wool-madness.   (I love my Mum)

At the top of the summit, when I could drag my eyes away from the Red Crater, I discovered the view of the Blue lake, another crater, which is, well…. see for yourself!  Perfection!

The plan at this point, was to stop for lunch, but being at the very summit, we saw that we had an extremely steep climb down a slope covered in scoria.  Do you know what scoria is?  It is sharp rocky gravel that slides down with you when you walk on it!  it took a little while to discover how to run down it, but once I worked out that you dig your heels in and run, I ended up at the bottom pretty quickly!

As you can probably tell by the adjectives I’m using in this post such as “breath-taking!” “Incredible!” “Perfection!”, I was pretty blown away by the scenery and the magnitude of the mountain.  Well… the best was yet to come.  The Emerald lakes are one of the main reasons I wanted to do the walk, to see these wonders up close.  Full of sulphur, they are old craters which have become little lakes of the most incredible, amazing, perfect colour.

Do the colours in these lakes blow your mind?  I was in awe of them, completely and utterly.  We stopped for lunch here, to savour the view as much as possible…. Just to the right of the lakes, you can see there is a steam cloud coming out… we thought the lakes would be hot, as there are many thermal pools in this area, but they are in fact freezing, so no swimming occurred!

Onward we travelled, towards Blue Lake, making our way across yet another vast empty crater… it was at this point that I looked back and discovered that the summit, and the scoria slope were in fact the lip of the Red Crater, the centre of Tongariro, and I nearly started to laugh in amazement…. what a journey…. If you look very closely in the above picture, you can see teeny people coming down that veeeeeeeeeery big scoria slope….

We carried on past the halfway mark (Oh my, only halfway???!!!) up another incline, and stopped to admire the view of the three volcanoes, all in a row, a view you can only see from here,that is not visible from the road or any other point.

Tongariro, with the Red Crater is in front, Ngauruhoe with the perfect cone is in the centre, and Ruapehu at the back, still with snow on top despite the season.

We left this beautiful view behind, and began our descent down the other side of the Mountain.  I’m not going to lie to you, this was the hard part for me.  The first 10km, despite the climb I found easy, but coming down was tough!  Not only were my feet getting a bit sore, I was also having a total fashion crisis because Mum was making me wear a cap with the “Dole” logo on it to shade my face because it was pretty hot, and I hate caps… When KB saw the photos of us she said immediately, “ooh…. you’re wearing a cap!  Bet you hated that!”

I’m not going to show you a picture of me in the cap.

The views, despite the sore feet and lack of iPod, were amazing on this side too…. above is Lake Rotoaira in front and Lake Taupo at the back.  Taupo is another crater, it blew the middle out of the North Island in AD 230…. apparently ash and dust spread for 80km and in China it was noted that there was an unusual glow in the sky at that time.  Thats a pretty extreme eruption, and the lake is enormous.

We carried on down, and down…. and down and down and down, past the Ketetahi Springs which are more geothermal pools, now inaccessible as they are tapu (sacred) to the Maori…. you can’t see the pools but you can see the steam and hear them bubbling!

Do you know what?  We had been on the mountain for about 6 1/2 hours  before we came to a tree!  A tree!  It felt so unusual to walk past something living!  What a strange experience!  We finished the tramp with an hour of bush walking, which was blissful as it was 1.30pm and the sun was bright and hot….

I love native bush as much as I love volcanoes….

That last hour was the perfect way to end the perfect tramp… by this stage my legs were walking by themselves and I was visualising that moment when Ross the shuttle driver showed up to take us home for a nice big lie-down….

And finally we made it, and I felt like a million bucks.  The sense of achievement was huge and the tramp, though not the largest, most difficult tramp ever, was life-changing.

The next day we took a trip into Taupo and I managed to get a picture of the mountains from the other side of the lake…

A few days later, I’m finally able to walk properly!  Ha! 

Well I hope you enjoyed that trip across Tongariro!  My next big challenge is going to be Ruapehu… there’s a lake in that crater that I want to see!  Tomorrow I’ll pop back with some lovely things I bought…as well as some crochet goodness of course too!

I’d better dash… KB and I have plenty to catch up on and Raymond seems to want to get on my lap… maybe he missed me!  Maybe!

Have a beautiful day,

Lots of love from Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pointy Petal Flower

Hellooooo!!!

Here I am, back again, to finish what I began yesterday!  I wonder if it seemed strange to you all that I post a tutorial on how to make a leaf….. all will come clear today, I promise!

High Tea was lovely yesterday!  Oh I wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiish I had taken my camera so I could have shown you the beautiful table covered in flower petals and the delicious cakes and fabulousness!  Another time I’m sure!  It felt like a faery tea party outside in the rose garden.  Thank you *S*!!!

I have to say, today I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited to post…. Brace yourselves for much enthusiasm and many exclamation marks!  I got a tutorial all ready to do this yesterday, but like I said, the weather was rubbish and so were my pictures.  But I’m glad now, because the second lot are soooo much nicer than the first lot could have ever been, so yay for that.

I told you a few posts back, that I had decluttered my stash, and sorted all of my wool into categories… consequently, I discovered some stash that I didn’t even remember I had.  I kind of knew it was there, but not consciously!  JOY!  I call this sub-category of stash  “luxury yarns” and I discovered my beautiful half and quarter balls of TouchYarn which is one of my favouritey-favouritist NZ yarn EVER.  it is soft and delicious merino fabulousness.  I never crochet with it because it is reasonably costly, so I knitted myself mitts, then stashed the rest of the ball, and ended up with a little bag of beautiful wool.  When I was photographing this tutorial, I decided to get it out and use it, and wow…. what a difference it made the the end product! 

Shall we get on with it?

I love pointy petal flowers very, very much.  Pointy crochet actually, and often modify flower patterns to make pointy petals, but then decided to have a play, and created a flower which let’s face it, is probably in circulation anyway, but it’s new and exciting to me!  And so super-duperly easy too!

So I’m going to show you how I made it today, theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen, I’m soooooo excited about the second part of this post!

Let’s get on with the tutorial.  I used (as usual) 8ply wool with a 4mm hook, and this pattern is in American terminology.  For a photo-tutorial on how to make a magic ring, click HERE.

To begin:  Make a magic ring, ch2 (counts as 1hdc) 9hdc into ring.  Pull ring nice and tight and slst into the 2nd ch of original 2ch.  You should have 10 stitches into which you will work the second round.)

Now… here you change colour… so weave in those pesky ends right away(!) and bring the second colour through one of the first round loops.  ch2 (counts as 1hdc) and into the SAME stitch, make the following stitches….. 1dc, 1htr, ch3, slst into 3rd ch from hook (picot made), 1htr, 1dc, 1hdc, slst into NEXT stitch.  Did you fit them all in???!!!

OK, so you’ve just made your slst into the second stitch, now make the second petal….. into the next stitch make 1hdc, 1dc, 1htr, picot, 1htr, 1dc, 1hdc, slst into next stitch. 

 Continue around until you have five petals, each with a slst between them.  Fasten off!

I love these sweet little flowers!  And aren’t they EASY to make!  I recommend you make your stitches reasonably loose so that you’re not wrestling with the flower trying to fit in all of those stitches into the one loop…

So the next part of the post is on how to make a lovely little brooch from this sweet flower! 

I made the flowers single colour for this adventure, so get yourself a flower happening, then make two leaves!  (Ah ha!  The purpose of the leaf is now clear!) You will also need a brooch back or safety pin, and a nice fun button.  I thought I had a fantastic stash of vintage buttons until I went through the bags and bags of them and discovered 90% of them are BROWN!  (I hate brown) But I managed to find a few fun ones to make some awesome and unusual brooches!

To make the brooch, sew the button onto the flower, then sew the leaves together securely.  They will form the back of the brooch, so make them nice and strong.  Then, sew the brooch back to the leaves!

Next, with the same colour wool as the leaves, sew the leaves onto the back of the flower, making sure you sew into the BACKS of the stitches so none of the green shows through on the front of the brooch.  Fasten off and voila!

I think it’s fair to say that I am utterly enchanted with these pointy petal flower brooches, and I hope you love them too!  I’m going to be making some for my handmade/NZmade 2011 challenge gifts as they are sweet little present fillers for when the present just needs a little something extra…. plus maybe one for me….. or two!

If they are gifts, make youself a little label to make them professional too!

 

Have fun making these!  They will be such cutie additions to market stalls etc…. for those lovelies who e-mail me asking my permission to sell things I post on here, go for it!  Make heaps!  I hope you sell heaps too!  Please, however, be mindful of continuing the sharing vibe!

OK… I’m off… I’m still on holiday but I have assignments to do and I let myself post this as a reward for a morning of hard work.  Reward time is over and it’s back to the books! 

Have a beautiful day,

Lots of love from Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A Crochet Leaf!

Hellooooo!!!

I’m just quickly popping in to give you the instructions on how to make these!

I have just finished cropping all the photos I took for a tutorial on how to make a lovely pointy petal flower, but as the mist is so think today I can’t see past my balcony, all of the pictures have turned out rubbish, so I’ll do it again a bit later on!

Leaf instructions are:

I used 8ply wool and a 4mm hook (I’m hooking along as I write this to ensure I’m getting it right!!!) and American terminology!

Ch 10.  dc into 3rd chain from hook, htr into next ch, tr into next ch, htr into next ch, dc into next ch, hdc into next ch, sc into last 2 ch.  (You should have run out of chain here!)

Make picot by ch3, slst into 3rd ch from hook.

Now working along the opposite side of the leaf, sc into first 2ch, hdc into next 2ch, dc into next ch, htr into next ch, dc into the next ch, sc into last ch.

Fasten off and leave a nice long tail to sew your leaf onto whatever you are embellishing!

OK then, I have to fly!  I’ve got High Tea happening at 2pm today and I have to go and bake a cake!

Lots of love from Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Spring Explosion Tea Cozy!

Helloooooo!!!!!

Welcome to our spot today!  It’s a grey and rainy day in Wellington today, quite horrible in fact, so today is the perfect day for me to post my latest FO, as well as do a nice, long and involved tutorial for it in case you want to make one too, and get myself immersed in colourful woolly goodness!

Raymond is sleeping his unhappiness off right now, wrapped in his blanket… he was out last night, doing “fur patrol” around the neighbourhood, but during the night it started to rain, very hard, and he came in this morning wet and angry…. KB is having a nap too actually, on the day bed, surrounded by beautiful crochet cushions which she is not allowed to put her head on because she’ll wear them out, (oh God, I’m a tyrant!) so right now, I’m the only one in the family being productive!

OK, enough babbling from me….. shall I show you the “Spring Explosion” tea cozy?  (Named by KB who LOVES it…. *joy* because she doesn’t like woolly flowers and right now cannot understand why our tea pot needs more than one cozy…. it’s ART darling!)

Ta Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

This is what gardens all over the place look like right now… beautiful colourful goodness!  I’ve been seeing pictures on Northern Hemisphere blogs lately and wow, it’s foggy and dark and frosty and also quite cozy!  I’ve said it before, I love seeing what the other side of the world looks like right now, my first change of season as a blogger!  I hope you’re all having fun wearing all of your knitted and crocheted happiness and keeping cozy under your blankets, next to the fire!

While the idea for this cozy is hardly original…. flowers on top and all that, I’m quite in love with it, as I am with most of my creations!  I’ve been so deeply inspired by tea cozies around the place (Oh Penelope, I would just die to have one of your little birds adorning mine, but they are just beyond me!!!) and have in fact, posted one I made a loooooooong time ago, my first real knitting creation in fact, which was covered in knitted roses.  I’ve been wanting to make a better one now that I’ve got the crochet flowers happening, and here it is!  It took about three days to make and by last night, I had had enough!  I had decided I just didn’t like it, and it wasn’t as nice as I wanted it to be, and it didn’t match the vision in my head, but when I got up this morning and found it sitting next to my chair, I decided that it was in fact, perfect and I loved it deeply.

So as I made it, I wrote out a pattern.  I had fun with it, and deem it a perfect project for a beginner knitter like myself, as it is knitted on two needles, not in the round, it is just plain old stocking stitch, no fancy business, and it means you get to have fun putting stitches on stitch holders and then back on the needles.  It’s a very satisfying project and I promise those of you who are beginner knitters, if I can do it, so can you!!!  (Don’t be fooled by the Harvey Kimono, remember I had Mum help me with the hardest bits!)

The only problem is…. I’m POSITIVE that the pattern works for righty’s as well as lefty’s like myself, but I wonder if there is a righty knitter out there who can knit this up quick smart, just to make sure that it makes sense for the majority of the population!  I’ve sat there, trying to imagine it being knitted the opposite way, but here is what happens to my brain when I try doing that……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes…. not much!

I’ve done a photo tutorial for this, SORRY!  It’s left handed, so er… just imagine it backwards and you’ll see what I’m meaning!  (eeeee!  Maybe I’ll be publishing a left handed knitting and crochet book one day!  Wouldn’t that be the best!)

So!  Let’s begin!  I’ve used 8ply wool and 4mm needles, remember that this pattern will fit my pot which is 11cms high and 17cms at it’s widest point, so you may need to tinker with the instructions to fit your pot, especially in the decrease as mine decreases very quickly.  RS= right side…. the right side really…. WS= back of the cozy.

CO 90 stitches and work in stocking stitch until you reach the height of the bottom of the spout and handle.

K45 and place the remaining 45 stitches onto a stitch holder.  Work in stocking stitch until you have reached the height of the top of the spout, finish on a RS row.

Place stitches on a stitch holder and snip off the end of the wool leaving a decent tail end to weave in later.  Put the remaining 45 stitches back on the needles, beginning to purl on the WS row.  (This may involve putting them on one needle, then tranferring them onto another one)

See, now this is where you need to imagine the photo backwards if you are right handed!  Work in stocking stitch until both pieces are the same height, ending on a RS row.

This involved a bit of needle juggling to get them all on, facing the right way, ready to begin purling!  Now, keep working in stocking stitch, knitting all 90 stitches together until you are ready to decrease.

So, decrease as you would when shaping a hat by knitting two together.  For my sized tea pot, when I reached the decrease point, my rows went:

(On a knit row) k2tog, k1, k2tog, k1… to end of row, purl next row, knit next row, next row, *k2tog, k1….. repeat until end of row, purl next row,* and repeat ** until all stitches have been decreased, bind off last stitch.

If your tea pot is taller, you may want to add an extra row of knit between decrease rows, if it is flatter, decrease every row… have a play, and at the risk of totally SHOCKING all of those knitting legends out there (Mum, don’t read this….) remember that you’re going to cover it with flowers, so does it really matter if it’s not 100% perfect???!!!  Freestyling knitting is fun!

Sew up the top to fit your pot, leaving adequate room for the handle, now grab your crochet hook and edge the edges beautifully.  For mine I did single crochet around all of the edges, and then mini-shell stitch edging, into the first stitch make 1sc, 1hdc, 1sc, slst into next 2 stitches and repeat until the end.  I’ve discovered when edging knitting that it needs to be decreased a bit with crochet, I did this with the Harvey Kimono and make a sc into every SECOND stitch to pull it in nicely and wish I had done the same with this tea cozy… it’s a bit flared at the bottom for my liking, but I had already sewn on the button and button loop by the time I decided that, so couldn’t frog it without a lot of work!

So button and loop…. at the bottom corner of the handle edge, sew on a pretty button and on the opposite side, make a chain loop to fit over it and make that nice and secure by weaving in the ends.

So theres your cozy!  now it’s time to beautify it!  I get HEAPS of people asking for a tutorial on the big layered flower I make regularly… it’s from A Crochet Bouquet, and all of the flowers I make are from one of these two amazing books.

I’ve mentioned before that I only learned to crochet in April this year, and do you know what?  When I was learning, I bought the book on the right, and these flowers took me soooooooo long to make, I mean, over an hour per flower.  These days, it takes very little time, which just proves, that practice makes perfect, so don’t give up on these little beauties!  They are so worth it, and so much fun!

So my flowers and leaves were made over about two days…..

I stitched the leaves on, then arranged the flowers after that…. and voila!  Finished!

Heaps of fun, and you must admit, pretty easy too….. nothing too frightening in that pattern anyway…..

OK Lovelies!  I’m off, it’s halfway through my Sunday, so I have study to do, apples to stew, dinners to cook and freeze for the week, knitting patterns to consider for my next project and blogs to visit for some beautiful inspiration!  Have fun with this, and if anyone has made a granny tea cozy, let me know!  I’m DYING to see one from someone else!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope you all have a lovely week and that many lovely things happen to you!

Lots and lots of love, from Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

P.S  Raymond and I are sending much love to the beautiful people who have sent us such lovely comments over at Ravelry, as well as the beautiful comments on here as well, saying such nice things…. you are just *WONDERFUL* and you truly make my day when I read them XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Granny Tea Cozy Tutorial!

Hellooooo!!!!!

*WOW* is all I can say!  *THANK YOU* for the overwhelmingly positive response about the Granny tea cozy!  I felt so special when I sat down with my morning coffee to read my comments, you all say such lovely and kind things, it makes me feel quite joyful!

Many people were asking me to do a tutorial, so of course I will for you lovelies!  How can I say no to such a wonderful and kind group of people really!  In fact, it was brilliant timing because I have the day off today, (they’re a rarity at the moment!!!) so this morning, I got hooking, and clicking, and snipping and most importantly, scribbling down the pattern, and here it is…. it turns out that the second one was a lot easier, and the kinks have been sorted, so this is a relatively easy pattern with no random stitches added here and there to force it to fit!

*whispers* “I like this one better than the first one!”  he he he

So shall we get on with it?  Firstly, I used a 4mm hook and 8ply wool…. and here is my little warning, this cozy will not fit every tea pot, so please adjust the pattern accordingly to fit yours!  If yours is taller, add a row or two before increasing at the top, if it is wider, make the original chain longer etc etc… If you get stuck, please leave me a comment and I will TRY to assist!   My tea pot measures 11cms from base to top (not including little knobby bit at the top) and 17cms from side to side.  Lots of people said they had the exact tea pot and I’m not surprised, I bought it from one of those cheap homeware places, so they’re probably everywhere which is just great pattern-wise!!!  ($20… bargain!)

This pattern is a mixture of the Granny Mandala and the Granny stripe which is just such a handy pattern isn’t it!  A big *thank you* to the lovely Lucy from Attic24 fame for providing such a handy pattern for us all to use!  However, for this pattern, you will see that the new rows need to begin between the first and second dc of the 3dc clusters, to make it more compact…. I’ll show you that in the pictures.

Also, if you usually join your new colour like I used to, until just recently (!) with a lovely big knot, it is important in the pattern to join invisibly so the big knots don’t ruin the whole effect… to do this, bring the new colour through stitch and join with a slip stitch, then continue with instructions and fasten later by weaving in the end with a needle…. if anyone would like photographic instructions on how to do this, as I may have just confused you, let me know!

OK, less words, more pattern.

Foundation Row: Ch 72.  sc into 2nd chain from hook, sc to end of row.  Turn.  Ch3, skip the first two stitches and make 3dc into the next stitch.  *skip 2 stitches, 3dc into next stitch* repeat ** until end of row, 1dc into last stitch in foundation chain.  Fasten off.

Row Two: Fold the piece in half and find the centre point.  Join new colour into the space either side of the centre point, between the dc clusters of the first row using slst and ch3 (counts as 1dc) 2dc into the same space, 3dc into each of the next spaces along the row until the end, 1dc into the end space.  Fasten off.  Repeat on the other side.

(Phew, I’m glad I took pictures to follow because I was confusing myself there!!!)

The intention, as you will have gathered, is to make a piece of granny stripe with a gap in the middle which is where the spout will sit!

Now, carry on with these instructions until you have reached the top of the spout and handle.  My tea pot needed seven rows in total, including the foundation row… have a good look at this next picture which shows you these seven rows, you will see that each alternating row begins with a 3dc cluster, and the ones between begin with a chain space.  This is important because we want to keep the edges straight instead of veering off into a slope!

So you’re joining the new rows between the dc’s there… it looks a bit unfinished at this stage, but don’t forget we will be edging all of the edges with some pretty, yet charmingly discrete frills!  (I’m so excited right now, I hope you’re loving making this… I can’t wait to see your results!)

Joining the sides: OK, so when you have reached the top of the spout and are ready to join the sides to make a circle, join the next colour with a slst in the gap closest to the edge, ch3 (counts as 1dc) and make 2dc into the same space, 3dc into each space until you reach the spout edge.  Into the very edge gap, make 2dc, then join the two by making 2dc into the very edge space on the other side.  Make sure you make this nice and tight, and don’t have a big saggy stitch in between these two 2dc’s.  Carry on around the row making the 3dc clusters until you reach the other edge, join the two edge 3dc clusters with a slst into the 3rd ch of original 3ch and fasten off.

JOINED!

Decreasing: So if you have a tea pot like mine, the decrease will be quite important here, if yours is taller and not so flat on the top, just carry on making the 3dc clusters into each space until you need to decrease.  For the next row, join the next colour with a slst and make 3dc clusters right around the row, in each space EXCEPT the spaces where you joined the spout and handle edge, just leave them empty.  At end of row, join with a slst.

Next row, join new colour, we are decreasing a lot in this row, so once again, please ensure that you are making these stitches nice and tight and that the spaces between the dc’s are tight and not floppy and loose!  OK, so you’ve joined the next colour, ch3 (counts as 1dc) 2dc into same space, into the next space, make 2dc, into the next space 2dc, into the next space 3dc.  Repeat sequence of 3dc, 2dc, 2dc until end of row, join with a slst.

Next row, join new colour with a slst, ch3 (counts as 1dc) 1dc into same space, into each space make 2dc until end of round, join with a slst.

Next row, join new colour with a slst, make 3dc cluster into every SECOND space until end of the row, join with a slst.

Next row, join new colour with a slst, make 2dc into every space until end of round, join with a slst.  Do not fasten off.  You are now going to shape the area around the knob, so ch1, 1hdc into each stitch until and of round, join with a slst.  Ch1, make 1hdc into every second stitch from previous round, (decreasing here) join with a slst.  Ch1, 2hdc into 1st stitch, 1hdc into next, 2 into next, 2 into next, repeat until end of round and join with a slst.  Fasten off.

And there we have it!  Finished, all we need to do now is the edging!  From beginning to end, this took me about two hours including pattern writing and photographing the process, so it’s not a huge task.

OK, so let’s prettify it and make it nice and professional looking!  Shall we begin with the very top?  I got a couple of comments saying the first one looked like it was wearing a crown, it did a bit!  So choose which edging you want to use, for the first, I used a picot edge, and for this one I used ch and slst… so join the top colour with a slst, ch1 and sc into each stitch.  Join with a slst at end of round.  Ch3, into next 2 stitches make a slst, ch3 into next 2 stitches make a slst… continue around… this is cute!  It looks like a frilly flower!

So it’s up to you how you want to do that… remember the carnival edging I gave instructions for?  That might look cool and very crown-like!

Now for the bottom… For both of the cozies I’ve made, I did a nice big scallop edging, so grab your foundation colour and attach with a slst to one of the ends, skip 2 stitches and make 5dc into the next stitch, skip 2 stitches and make a slst into the next, skip 2 stitches and make 5dc into next stitch and carry on until the very end.  Now slst around the corner of the work until you reach the edge of the 3dc cluster in the foundation colour, and make 12 chain loop (or longer depending how big or small your gap is between the two pieces when your tea pot is wearing it’s cozy) to make a button hole.  Attach with a slst to same stitch.

Now get yourself a nice button, I found this nice smart looking brass button in my vintage button collection….

And sew it to the other side!

I hope that photo described what I was muddling my way through before!

OK, now the edging around the spout hole and handle edge.  I used the same colour as the top edging, joined with a slst then made nice even sc around the edges.  As you are edging something that doesn’t have a nice clean edge, you may need to make 2sc into one stitch to make it even.  Join at end of round, and to make the 3ch, slst into next 2 stitches sequence as around the top!

And a big ta-da to you!

Joyful, happy, granny goodness!  I hope you enjoyed that tutorial and find it useful!  I can’t wait to see more of these around the place, so don’t forget to let me know if you make one so I can come and see!!!  I’ll be putting this into ravelry immediately, so hunt it down either by doing a pattern search using “Crochet with Raymond”  or look up “Granny Tea Cozy.”

Right, I’m off… I’ve been at this hooking, cropping photos and posting for four hours (gasp!) so it’s about time I drag myself away from the blog world and do some real-world interaction!

Have a lovely, lovely day, sending you many happy thoughts,

Love from Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Revisiting the Granny Mandala….

Helloooooo!!!!!!

I hope you’re all having a fabulous week!! I certainly am and it is very much due to the amazing and beautiful sunny weather we are STILL having!  It seems that summer has arrived early and it is just the best! 

I’m pleased to announce that my creative slump is officially over!  I noticed that today as I was leaving the house for work, I had an urge ‘make’ which I am sure was directly related to the fact that I couldn’t!  So I’m back on the hooking buzz with enthusiasm after a week or so of not doing much!

I’ve been contemplating my Granny Circles for a while now, and decided that it is time to re-do that tutorial, as since I first had a play with making the circle back in August, I’ve learned a few new techniques and stitches, and I like the way I’ve been doing the centres lately much more… they’re not as ‘squished,’ so I decided to do up a brand spanking new tutorial!  Please remember that the mandalas will be a big bigger when finished as they need to be blocked… I lay gladwrap on my carpet in a sunny spot and wet the mandalas, then pin them to the carpet gently stretching them out to their full size and leave to dry!  This tutorial is for a flat piece of work and it is not intended to be used as a cushion, so please work the increases accordingly if you have other purposes for this!!  I’ve seen some amazing creations in ravelry with the beautiful granny mandala and some STUNNING colour combining and I’m hoping that after this refreshment I’ll see many more!  I love seeing these beautiful circles spinning joy through my computer screen!  if you make one, let me know!  I’d love to come and see your beautiful work.

Soooooooooooooo………. Get your 4mm hook and your 8ply wool ready and let’s get started!!!

Round 1: Make a magic ring…. if you’ve never done this before now, click here for step by step photo instructions….. and into this circle make 3ch (counts as 1dc) 1dc, *ch1, 2dc* repeat ** until you have 6 2dc’s separated by 1ch each, join with a slst to 3rd chain of original 3ch.  Pull the end of the magic circle closed nice and tight and weave in those ends, go on, weave as you go!

Round 2: Join next colour with a slst into a 1ch space from previous round and ch3 (counts as 1dc) 1dc, ch1, into the SAME space, dc2tog, *ch1, into the next space dc2tog, ch1, dc2tog* repeat sequence until each 1ch space from the previous round has 2dc2tog each separated by 1ch.

(dc2tog: yarn over hook, insert hook into stitch, pull through a loop, yarn over, pull yarn through 2 loops on hook, yarn over, insert hook into the SAME stitch, pull through a loop, yarn over, pull loop through two loops on hook, yarn over again, pull loop through remaining three loops on hook.)

Rounds 3 & 4: Join new colour with slst into a 1ch space from previous round, ch3 (counts as 1dc) into the same space, make 2dc, *ch1, 3dc into next space* repeat until end of round and join with a slst into 3rd ch of original 3ch.  Each 1ch space should be filled with 3dc each cluster separated with 1ch.

 

 

 

 

Rounds 1-3!

 

Yes!  That’s better!  Photos are far more interesting than words!!!!

OK… let’s make our first round of increases…..

Round 5: Join new colour with a slst into a 1ch space from previous round, ch3 (counts as 1dc) 2dc, 1ch, 3dc into same 1ch space, *ch1, into next space 3dc, ch1, 3dc* for entire round, at end of the round ch1 and join with a slst to 3rd chain of original 3ch.

Rounds 6&7: No increases in these rounds, just repeat rounds 3 & 4

Round 8: Increasing again, but this time only in every SECOND 1ch space from previous round.  So, join new colour with a slst to 1ch space and ch3 (counts as 1dc) into the same space, 2dc, ch1, 3dc, *ch1, into next space 3dc, ch1, into next space 3dc, ch1, 3dc* repeat for the entire round and at end of the round ch1 and join with a slst to 3rd chain of original 3ch.

I love watching rainbows emerge….. they get more and more beautiful with every colour!

Rounds 9, 10 & 11: No increases, just repeat rounds 3 & 4.

Round 12: Increasing again, so repeat instructions for round 8…. BUT…. increase every three 1ch spaces.  (Increase, normal 3dc cluster, normal 3dc cluster, increase….)

Rounds 13, 14 & 15: No increases, just repeat rounds 3 & 4 again….

Round 16: Increasing every third space, repeat round 12.

This is a nice size mandala and will be bigger after a darn good blocking!!!!!!  From this point onwards, just keep repeating the increases with three rows between them without increasing, the edge with your favourite edging!  I usually do a round of sc, then a mini shell-stitch: With right side facing you, into 1 stitch make 1sc, 1hdc, 1sc, slst into next two stitches and repeat sequence all the way around.

 I added a few extra rounds to this one in natural undyed wool…. I had grand plans to make it into a veeeeeeeeeeeeery special baby blanket, but then remembered that I hadn’t make the ends secure enough to stand the wear and tear, so lucky for KB, as she LOVES this one (natural fibre addict) it is the new centre piece for our table and it looks awesome.

Mandala-rific!

  OK, well I hope you have lots of fun making yourselves some beautiful mandalas!!!!  If you’re a raveler and want to bookmark/ queue/ hook it!  Click HERE for the link to all of the patterns and tutorials I’ve popped on there.  And click HERE for google images of beautiful mandalas where you can click to get lots of info for your beautiful selves!

I’m off…. must fly…. it’s 6pm already… where did the day go?  Boring jobs await my creatively-itchy hands… think big piles of dishes… an unmade bed and dinner awaiting cooking…. Oh and a Raymond to feed too!

Wishing you all a perfectly blessed day,

Lots and lots of love from Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

p.s thinking of perfect blessings… thank you…. oh THANK YOU anonymous person who handed my cay keys in to the supermarket customer service desk this afternoon…. you are a flipping legend and gratitude did not even cover the feeling I had when my keys were back in my hands!

“Ornamental” Pot Holders!

Helloooooooo!!!!!

Wow, thank you for all of your lovely comments on my last post… New Zealand is such a beautiful country and I do love sharing the special bits of it with some of the rest of the world!  The crochet and knit community anyway!  And yay, I felt pretty spesh after reading some comments about me learning to knit in the round… I’m slightly addicted to this right now, but more about that another time!

Today’s post is about colourful, fabulous crochet…. Crochet I’ve been dying to show you since the start of the week but wasn’t here, so have been WAITING to post, and that has been hard!!!  As I had quite a bit of time at KB’s parent’s house to sit out in the sunshine, (oh bliss, the weather has been dreadful in Wellington) I made the most of my relaxation time and spent a lot of it crocheting pot holders!  This was quite a curious thing to her family members but they seemed to adore the results, and I’m quite pleased with them too!

So I’ve prepared a wee tutorial for you, if you would like to make your own…. but first let me show you a picture….

An African Flower turned mandala… I love it deeply…..

So if you would like to make one too, quickly click here and a little box will pop up with the pattern for the african flower.  This is the pattern by Lounette Fourie and Anita Rossouw and full credit for the beautiful and highly popular motif of course is theirs!!! (the ravelry pattern page is here!)  So I made these with 8ply wool and a 4mm hook.  For the back. I used a 5mm hook to save time and wool, and it hasn’t affected it, just be careful when you hook them together that you don’t end up with bunching….. 

Make one african flower, but don’t make the last edge with dc.

Once you have made the flower, edge it with 1sc into each stitch, EXCEPT the “middle” (the tallest part of the petals) of each petal, make 2sc into this stitch.

When you have completed the round, join with a slst into the 1st sc, then ch3 and 2dc into the same stitch.  Ch1 and skip 2 stitches and make 3dc into the next stitch, ch1,  skip 2, make 3dc into next stitch and so on and so on until you have completed the round!

In the next round, change colour and join new colour with a slst into a 1ch space from previous round.  Into the same space, make 2dc, ch1, 3dc.  *Ch1, 3dc into next 1 ch space, ch1, 3dc into next 1ch space, ch1, into the next space 3dc, ch1, 3dc*  Repeat ** until you have completed the round, then ch1 and join with a slst to the 3rd ch of original 3ch.

In easier-to-understand language, you want to make a “granny” (3dc cluster) twice, then 2 “grannies” each separated by 1 chain for this round.

I hope this photo is helpful for you to see that… the colours are a bit “samey” to really see the difference in the rounds, sorry about that!

For the next TWO rounds, join new colour with a slst into a 1ch space and ch3 (counts as 1dc) 2dc into same space.  ch1, 3dc into next space and continue until the end of the round.  ch1 and join with a slst to the 3rd ch of original 3ch.

Coolies!  You’ve just finished the front!!!

OK so now you need to make a back and I did this by making the typical dc circle.  Make a magic ring (tutorial here if you’ve never seen how this is done) ch3, 11dc into ring and pull tight, join with a slst to the 3rd ch of original 3ch.  ch3, dc into same stitch, 2dc into each stitch for the entire round, join with a slst to the 3rd ch of original 3 ch.  ch3, dc into same stitch, dc into next stitch, 2dc into next stitch….. until end of round, join with a slst to the 3rd ch of original 3ch.  Continue in this fashion, each round increasing the number of single dc’s between 2dc’s as the circle grows.  e.g. next round will be 2dc into one stitch, 1dc into next two stitches…. next round will be 2dc into one stitch, 1 dc into next 3 stitches… until the back is the same size as the front.

Now hook them together with a 4mm hook!  I used sc and at the end of the round join with slst to the first sc.  Now ch1 and slst into the next stitch, into the next stitch make 1sc, 1hdc, 1sc, slst into the next 2 stitches, then into the next stitch, make 1sc, 1hdc, 1sc…. continue until end of round.  Now ch as many stitches as you want to make the hanging loop (I did 6) and slst into the same stitch to join the loop.

And there you have it!  Weave in those ends and voila!

I am sooooooooooooooooooooo loving these right now!  As I said, I made more than a few on my trip to Turangi….

Like these….

And this…..

And of course, a rainbow….

And this lovely one which I gifted to a colleague yesterday as a house-warming gift which she LOVED!

I think this is what the offspring of enlightenment and retro kitsch would look like…. beautiful mandalas hanging above the stove….

When KB saw the one I have kept (the one I used for the tutorial) she said “yay!  I might not burn myself using this one!  It’s nice and thick!”

Cue silence…….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Darling…. if any food so much as touches this pot-holder I will go crazy….. It took two and a half hours to make and it is purely for looking at.”

“Well it’s not a pot-holder then…. it’s a WALL HANGING!”

So we decided it was an “ornamental” pot holder!

I lust love these so much… these ones all have future homes as christmas presents or other gifts, and I’m quite glad because I get to make some more!!!  I hope you have fun with these too and make sure you send me a link so I can come and visit you and enjoy your creations too!

Do you know what?  I had a car accident today….. It involved a car and me…. I went for a run this morning, and halfway home I was running along and a lady opened her car door and I smashed into it….  Oh my god…. what a fright, and the pain!  I appreciate it was an accident, but it happened so fast, she managed to get her door open about 30cms and I didn’t have time to stop, so before I knew what had happened I had smashed into the corner of her door, with full impact hitting my right shoulder and right wrist.  I have to admit I’m feeling pretty bad about how I reacted….. being tired and in a bit of shock, I kind of fell against the fence and then started to CRY and just ran away!  Aaaaaaaah!  How embarrassing!  I’ve got a big graze and bruise on my right shoulder where the corner of the door got me, and to tell you the truth, I’m a bit nervous about the impact this might have on my crafting when I wake up tomorrow morning!  I’m hoping it doesn’t stiffen up and render me unable to carry on with this knitting in the round business I am compelled to attend to daily!  We shall see…. I’ve broken through the pain barrier before with knitting, I’m sure I can do it again….

After administering hugs, sympathy and ice packs when I arrived home, KB announced triumphantly “SEE!  I TOLD you exercise is bad for you!!!”  (Isn’t she just the best!)

OK, complaining over and done with…. the last matter to attend to in this post is for Bianca and Amanda who both spied a crystal hanging around my neck in the last post and wanted close-ups!!!  Luckily, when I was in Turangi I took it off and cleansed it in the icy waters of the Tongariro River, then snapped a picture of it in the sunlight…..

I learned that sunshine trick from Amanda…. here is a close up of one freshly cleansed elestial smokey quartz which I am lucky enough to wear…. It’s quite amazing as it looks like a key to a very special spiritual door….

Now I’ve shown you mine, you show me yours!  I’ll be checking your blogs, both of you for some crystal goodness!!!!!

OK Lovelies, I’m off to do some…. something….. I’ve actually finished all of my projects so I have a clean slate!  FUN!

Have a beautiful day wherever you are and whatever you’re doing!

Lots of love from Alice and Raymond XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX