“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