Seeing Flowers!

I was a little spoilt for my recent birthday as I was given the Scheepjes Studio Pack, and in this is a box which contains all 109 different colours of Scheepjes Catona, in their little cutie pie 10g balls!



Amazingly this was gift was from my husband! Yes, the man who constantly tells me I have enough yarn, who fears his fate is succumbing under a mountain of the stuff when he opens the cupboard door. In addition to his yarn fears, he also glazes over whenever I am talking about yarn (which is quite a lot), so it really was a wonderful surprise!

Obviously yes I had been heavily hinting and leaving magazine pages open etc.. but hints don't really work with him, this is the man, who every year asks me on Christmas Eve what I want for the big day!

So anyway, yes he scored major brownie points and I was one happy bunny as you can see from this photo.

I even had to take a picture of my son with them for extra cuteness! And yes, I actually let him hold them, although he had to wash his hands first..

So then the big question is, do I just leave the cutie pie yarn balls as they are and admire them or do we use them to make something!
For a couple of weeks or so, I chose the first, thinking I couldn't bear to 'spoil' them and wanted to be able to look at them whenever I needed cheering up. But on the other hand I was desperate to use them.
I love Scheepjes Catona anyway, it is one of my favourite yarns to work. I recently finished the Sophie's Universe Stool Cover which was designed by the fab Dedri Uys of Lookatwhatimade

The stool is a all made in Scheepjes Catona and a thoroughly enjoyable project. The kit to make this was also a present, this time for Christmas from my parents! I have been very lucky!

So yes in the end, the urge to try all these little colours and make something was greater than keeping them, and I also wanted to get a good feel for all the colours and see what would be my favourites for future projects.
So what shall I make, I thought? Well I love Catona and I love flowers, so decided I would make 109 flowers out of each colour of Catona!
I used my mini flower pattern (available on my blog) and a 3mm hook and set to work. The pattern on my blog advises a 4.5mm hook, but these were hooked with Stylecraft Classique Cotton which is a DK weight. The Catona's are a 4ply, so a bit more delicate.

And ta-dah...

I decided each 109 different coloured flower would have a different colour middle, so it was quite a production line in the end making sure each colour was only used once.

And of course my Studio Pack came in handy...

..as I could use the swatches and magnetic board to keep track of which colours I had used so far..



And the best bit? You don't actually use much of the Catona so they still sit in their little jackets looking yummy so I have the best of both worlds.

And the flowers? Well I played with them for a while...

...and then decided to make some wall art with them!

I had a wall I needed cheering up, so I bought a canvas which the husband painted blue, he is proving quite useful lately! And then the plan is to attach the flowers to it I some sort of pattern. Keep it simple to really show the colours off



Next bit was having a play and deciding how I was going to position them. I decided to very roughly colour group them an then arrange them in a pattern.

I eventually decided on a heart design, well, because I ♥ Catona!

To attach them to the canvas I was going to use a hot glue gun. Now I have a little phobia of glue guns, they scare me a little, not great for a serial crafter! So with the husband on hand for any glue type emergency I set to work. Of course I survived the experience and ended up with a lovely heart of flowers, and here it is....

Don't they look lovely!

Its strange as looking at it. doesn't feel like there are 109 flowers, but there deifnately are, my four year old counted them for me!!

So not only do I have a lovely piece of wall art, I also have my very own personalised colour card for when choosing my future Catona projects!

And I still have a box of 109 cutie pies to admire. I will plan another project at some point to use them, but I think I will enjoy these little bundles of joy for a little bit longer!

Happy hooking
Kelly@lovedotty

© All images belong to Kelly of lovedotty unless otherwise stated. Please link to pictures, content or DIY's if used on your own website. Crochet patterns are written by Kelly of lovedotty unless otherwise stated, please link to original post if used on your own website. Feel free to sell the finished product that has been created from the pattern, if sold via a website, please link to lovedotty blogspot. However please do not publish patterns in full or as your own, unless agreed by Kelly of lovedotty 

Bunny Egg Cosies

These little bunny egg cosies are a cute addition to your breakfast table, or even as little gifts to give at Easter..

Hook - 3.5mm

Yarn - Stylecraft Special DK in

Yarn A - Duck Egg

Yarn B - Fondant

Other Materials - A few strands of black embroidery floss

Pattern worked in UK terminology

Bunny Head

The bunny head will be worked in the amigurumi style, working continually round with no requirement to start a new round each time. Recommend you use a stitch marker in the last stitch of each round and move up as you go.

With yarn A make a magic ring and work first round into ring (alternatively you can make 2 chain and then work into the 2nd chain)

Round 1 - 1 ch (does not count as st), 6 dc into ring. 

Round 2 - 2 dc in each st (12 sts)

Round 3 - 2 dc in next st, 1 dc in next st, repeat to end (18 sts)

Round 4 - 2 dc in next st, 1 dc in next 2 sts, repeat to end (24 sts)

Round 5 - 2 dc in next st, 1 dc in next 3 sts, repeat to end (30 sts)

Round 6 - 1 dc in each st to end (30 sts) 

Round 7 - 2 dc in next st, 1 dc in next 4 sts, repeat to end (36 sts)

Rounds 8 & 9 - 1 dc in each st to end (36 sts) 

Round 10 - 1 dctog in next 2 sts, 1 dc in next 7 sts, repeat to end (32 sts)

Rounds 11 & 12 - 1 dc in each st to end (32 sts)

Change to yarn B

Round 13 - 1 dc in each st to end (32 sts)

Bunny Ears - Make 2

With Yarn B work 9 ch

Row 1 - 1 dc into the 2nd ch, 1 dc in each of next 2 chs, 1 htr into next 2 chs, 1 tr into next 2 chs, in last ch work 3 trs, 2 dtrs and 3 trs

Turn your piece so you are now crocheting into the opposite side of the 9 chs

Row 2 - 1 tr into each of the next 2 chs, 1 htr into next 2 chs,  dc into last 3 chs

Fasten off yarn

With Yarn A work the same as above then ch 1 and turn

Holding the 2 pieces worked in yarn A and yarn B together you will now crochet into the corresponding sts of each piece, joining them together with yarn A

Row 3 - 1 dc into each of next 9 sts, 2 dc into next 4 sts, 1 dc in last 9 sts.

Cut yarn leaving a long tail for sewing.

Making Up

Sew ears to the top of the head.

Using the black embroidery floss, embroider the eyes onto the head using the picture as a guide.

Using yarn B, embroider a small nose

Sew in ends

© All images belong to Kelly of lovedotty unless otherwise stated. Please link to pictures, content or DIY's if used on your own website. Crochet patterns are written by Kelly of lovedotty unless otherwise stated, please link to original post if used on your own website. Feel free to sell the finished product that has been created from the pattern, if sold via a website, please link to lovedotty blogspot. However please do not publish patterns in full or as your own, unless agreed by Kelly of lovedotty

2018 Temperature Blanket!

So new year, new ideas, new projects and new blankets!! This year I am going to be doing a temperature blanket! For those who are unaware of what these are, it is a blanket with a row crocheted every day for a year, with the colour based on the temperature it was for that day.

I know, every day does seem ambitious for even the most keenest of hookers, and I really do have the best intentions so I will give it my best shot!!

First things first, and this is the fun bit for me, is working out a colour palette to use for each temperature change.

I decided to use my go-to yarn of Stylecraft Special DK. This is because I love it, it is a great yarn to work with....and I already have shed-loads of it (and always will I must say, sorry husband). Plus I have my little pegs to work with!

I am working in Celsius, from dark blue to dark red, changing colour after every three degrees. I will take the highest temperate for that day for the area I live in. The scheme I have decided on is follows and I have put the Stylecraft yarn colour name also...

There are some fantastic guides and suggested colour pallets on Pinterest.

I live in  Norfolk in the UK, so already I am guessing my blanket will be mainly greens and yellows, but hey, I like those colours!!

As for the pattern, there are also some fab ideas out there but I have decided I will stick to UK dc (US sc). I love working in dc, I love the look of the neat little stripes but I would never usually attempt a blanket in dc as it would take too long. This way as I am only doing a row each day, it shouldn't be too tedious. Plus you need to consider how big 365 rows are going to make your end blanket!!

So it is 1st January so I better get stuck in, wish me luck and I will keep you posted!!

Happy Hooking!
Kelly@lovedotty

 

© All images belong to Kelly of lovedotty unless otherwise stated. Please link to pictures, content or DIY's if used on your own website. Crochet patterns are written by Kelly of lovedotty unless otherwise stated, please link to original post if used on your own website. Feel free to sell the finished product that has been created from the pattern, if sold via a website, please link to lovedotty blogspot. However please do not publish patterns in full or as your own, unless agreed by Kelly of lovedotty 

Tutorial - Vintage Granny Patch Blanket

Since about the Spring I have been working on my Vintage Patch Blanket and I finished it a couple of months ago. I have written up the pattern and the process which I would love to share with you!

So lets start at the beginning. I've always loved making blankets, it was the first thing I ever crocheted (ahem) about thirty years ago, and have made many more over the subsequent thirty years. At one point it was the only thing I wanted to crochet, everyone had one, if there was a baby being born in a ten mile radius, they had one too! I did soon progress away into making other stuff but I do like to have a blanket project always bubbling away in the background

So with this one, I decided I wanted to use some of the lovely vintage colours in the Stylecraft Special DK range and also, I thought I would use the opportunity to try some new things. Believe it or not, there are always new things to try with crochet....

Planning - I always blag a patch blanket, it is a great no fuss approach with very little thinking involved but  you can lose track of your colour combinations and are guaranteed to have a few duplicate patches. So the plan was to make all the first rounds, then the seconds and so on.

Look at all those scrummy rounds!!!

When you have finished each round you sort them out into groups which you assign to the second colour, and so on with he next round. I had read from a few other bloggers that this was a quick and easy way of working up a blanket fast. It really did seem quicker to do it this way and was fun to plan for once!

The Design - I like the look of the circle in a square, having never really made this before, wanted to perfect a patch design for this. After a few protoypes and a bit of frogging I worked up a patch pattern I was happy with!

Join as you go - Which is basically joining the patches at the same time as crocheting the last round. I have used this method before and it is my favourite. I love seeing all your hardwork coming together and I don't even mind sewing in ends!

First things first, we need yarn and I used my trusty 'go to' yarn of Stylecraft Special DK. As mentioned they have some beautiful vintage shades in their range and wanted to combine these, so the yarns I used were :-
1 ball of each: -
Pale Rose
Parma Violet
Duck Egg
Pistachio
Mustard
Pomegranate
Sage
Violet
Storm Blue

3 balls of: -
Buttermilk (for the joining round and edging)

Next we need a pattern for the circle in the square patch which is as follows: -

(special stitches used:- begpf - beginning puff stitch using 2 ch and 3 tr. pf - puff stitch using 4 tr. See my stitch guide for futher information on how to work a puff stitch and other stitch definitions)

Using a 4.5mm hook, make a magic ring

 

Round 1 - 4 ch, 15 dtr into ring, join with a sl st in 4th ch of 4 ch and fasten off (16sts)

Round 2 - join yarn in any sp between dtr's of previous round, work begpf in same space, 1 ch, *pf in next sp, 1 ch*, repeat from * to * to end joining with a sl st in top of first begpf (16 sts)
Fasten off yarn

Round 3 - join yarn in any sp between any pf st of previous round, 3ch (counts as tr), *2 tr into top of next pf st, 1 tr into next sp between pf sts*, repeat from * to * to end joining with a sl st into the 3rd ch of the starting 3 ch, (48 sts)
Fasten off yarn

Round 4 - join yarn in top of any tr st from previous round, work begpf into same st, *1 ch, skip 1 tr, pf into next st,  repeat from * to * to end joining with a sl st into the the top of the begpf st (24 sts)
Fasten off yarn

Round 5 - join yarn in between any pf st from previous round, work 4 ch (counts as a dtr), dtr, 2ch, 2dtr into same st (corner made), *1 dtr and 2 tr into next sp, 3 tr into next 3 sps, 2 tr and 1 dtr into next sp, 2 dtr, 2 ch, 2 dtr into next sp*, repeat from * to * to end omitting last corner (56 sts)
Fasten off yarn






This completed the first patch! The blanket I made was 11 by 9 patches, so we will need to make another 98 patches. Using the planning method they worked up in no time, or so it felt, as you concentrated on each round at a time

Because of the circle in the square method, these patches will need blocking just to establish the square shape. I wet blocked mine, using my little homemade blocker!

This is just a piece of polystyrene, wrapped in duct tape and the patches held in place with kebab skewers!

So after blocking, your patches should look like this

                             

 

Next we need to join the patches. To do this we are going to work a 6th round on the square and this will be in the same colour for all rounds, for which I choose Buttermilk.

For the first patch: -
Round 6 (non joining) - join yarn in the 2 ch sp of any corner of round 5, work 3 ch (counts as a tr), tr, 2ch, 2tr into same sp (corner made), *3 tr into next sp, 3 tr into next 5 sps, 2tr, 2ch, 2tr into next sp*, repeat from * to * to end omitting last corner (88 sts)
Fasten off yarn

Now when we make the 6th round on the next patch (patch B) we will be joining it to the first patch (patch A). So on patch B work the pattern the same until you get to the first corner. After making the first two tr in the corner, make 1 ch, then insert the hook into a corner sp of patch A

Make another chain and then complete the corner on patch B.

Begin working the second side of patch B, insert the hook and make a chain in the sp between the corner and first set of tr of patch A.

Work 3 tr in next sp of patch B, insert hook in next sp of patch A and make ch and so on, until you get to the next corner.

You will make the last join in the corner sp.

Finish the round and you should have 2 patches joined on one side, corner sp to corner sp.

Work the subsequent patches until you have joined a whole row of patches, joined on one side. For the second row, you will join the first patch with the same method but when you get to the second patch you will need to join 2 sides. Just work the same method, ensuring you carry it round to the second corner.

In the corner sp you will need to make sure it is joined to all adjoining corner sps

So once joining is complete (and ends sewn in) we move onto the border and for this I wanted to continue the granny theme, so worked a really simple boarder to finish. Firstly 2 rows of granny (3 tr), working 2 tr, 2ch and 2 tr into the corner. The last row worked 3 tr into the middle st of each 3 tr group, 1 ch and then join a sl st in the space between the 3 trs of the previous round

And there we have it! All finished and I am really happy with the result.

Another enjoyable blanket journey, now onto the next one!

*UPDATE OCTOBER 2019*
Since posting the above I have since made another Vintage Patch Blanket, with a different colour pallette, click here for the details!

Happy Hooking
Kelly@lovedotty

© All images belong to Kelly of lovedotty unless otherwise stated. Please link to pictures, content or DIY's if used on your own website. Crochet patterns are written by Kelly of lovedotty unless otherwise stated, please link to original post if used on your own website. Feel free to sell the finished product that has been created from the pattern, if sold via a website, please link to lovedotty blogspot. However please do not publish patterns in full or as your own, unless agreed by Kelly of lovedotty