Pages

Saturday 18 May 2013

My Moggies!

Thought I'd share a wee bit about me, well I say me, this is about the three nutters in my life (the other two are not so nuts!). My moggies (cats to anyone who doesn't know that term).



This is our eldest moggy is Tilly, she adopted us, (she essentially came with the house) she decided we were rather nice and moved in! we think she is about 5 - 6 years old, hard to tell with moggies.She isn't particularly partial to other cats, she puts up with them but would rather they went somewhere else, hence she lives mainly upstairs away from the other two (till furball sneaks up there, you'll meet furball soon, though that isn't her name). She always waits till you're in bed to come over and be fussed! Which is great if you're not sleepy, not so great when you're half asleep, nothing like a cold wet nose shoved in your face to wake you up!


      

Next up is my daughters cat Koko, she is 3 and teeny for an adult moggy, she is sleeping on my leg in the pic (excuse the messy table, its my sons play table and general dumping ground lol). Koko thinks she is human, she is like having a toddler around. If I go into the kitchen to make drinks, she will appear next to me, left front paw up on the freezer waving her right paw at me trying to get my attention so I will give her something out of the fridge! She loves snuggles, unfortunately she doesn't sit still lol she is all over your face, shoulders etc, good job she is cute!



Last but not least is Gizmo (furball) she is 2, and a complete nutter as you can see from the pic, she sleeps in some strange places, I'd placed the colander there as I didn't have space next to the sink and tadah there she is snoozing in it. she sits in the christmas tree too. Last week we caught her sat in a plastic container in the window.... nuts!

So thats my silly moggies :)

Friday 17 May 2013

Daisy Pattern

Small quick daisy pattern.

start with magic ring (or chain 4, slip stitch join to make a ring)

Round 1- chain 1 (does not count as dc/sc) 5 dc (sc for US) into ring, (5 dc/sc)
Round 2- chain 1 (does not count as dc/sc) 2 dc/sc into each stitch around, slip stitch join to 1st dc/sc (10 dc/sc)
Fasten/bind off

Join new colour into stitch behind slip stitch join (makes the centre neater)




*5 tr's (UK)/dc's (US) into next stitch, slip stitch into next stitch* repeat between ** around, slip stitch join to first slip stitch (yarn join), fasten/bind off.



Note: My pattern is free to use for personal/commercial use, all I ask is for you to link back to this pattern so others may use it



Flower Edging Tutorial

Hopefully this tutorial is easy to follow and understand, it's my first one so I apologise if it's not very good! I've tried to keep it as simple and easy to understand as I can with lots of photo's!

First you will need a daisy pattern, any 5 petal daisy pattern that has 5 tr's (UK)/ dc's (US) in the petal will work for this tutorial (you could even make your own up!) The daisy in my blanket is not my own pattern so I cannot give you that pattern, if you would like it (and regularly purchase or in the future wish to purchase), it is from the Mollie Makes magazine issue number 24 (look for the daisy flowers garland, it's the smallest flower). I will add my own little daisy pattern on a different page!
Daisy pattern here!

Ok on to the nitty gritty!

Once you have finished your blanket or whichever project it is you are going to attach flowers to (I have no idea if this will work on anything circular, I may try at some point in the future and adjust accordingly), you will need to edge it, doesn't matter if you edge it in dc's (UK)/ sc's (US) or tr's (UK)/ dc's (US), just as long as you have a edging!

The flowers are attached using 8 stitches each, so multiples of 8 are needed so please, please. please count your edging stitches because if you count wrong it will be a bit of a nightmare to undo all the flowers you have just attached! please note the 3 corner stitches are not counted.

After counting your edging stitches and working out how many flowers you will need, make all the centres for however many flowers are needed (much easier to get them all done and ready).
Take your first flower centre and join your new colour yarn, tip I learnt with this type of flower, don't join your new yarn in the slip stitch from previous round, start in the stitch behind it (photo to show you below)






You will then skip the slip stitch from the previous round, (it hides the bulky bit!) and start in the stitch shown with the cable needle.
Make your first tr (UK)/dc (US) stitch in the stitch marked with cable needle.




In same stitch make the 2nd tr (UK)/dc (US)



You will now start attaching the flower to your blanket/project.



To begin do not count the 3 corner stitches, count from the next stitch along as shown above.



Count 8 stitches and place a marker, this is where the first petal will be attached to the edging.



Turn work upside down to work (or sideways, whichever is most comfortable to you), insert hook in the stitch you left a marker in (8th stitch). Make the 3rd tr (UK)/dc (US) as shown below, making sure you pull the yarn through both loops and the edging stitch (it's a little fiddly)





You still with me?! Good!
Into the stitch directly next to the one you just did, insert hook.



Make the 4th tr (UK)/ dc (US) into same stitch on the flower round. Then make the 5th tr (UK)/ dc (US) as normal.



Once you have done the slip stitch we are attaching the next petal, so skip 2 stitches.



Make 2 tr's (UK)/ dc's (US) in next stitch on flower round and then insert hook into 3rd stitch from first petal on the edging as shown above. Make tr (UK)/ dc (US), insert hook into next stitch on edging and make a tr (UK)/ dc (US), make another tr (UK)/ dc (US) to complete petal and slip stitch into next stitch on flower round.



Follow flower pattern to complete the first flower.



Now grab your 2nd flower inner to begin the next one.



Count 8 stitches from the first flower as shown above, place marker. Attach the 2 petals in the same way as the first flower.




When you have finished attaching the 2nd petal, slip stitch like before then make the 2 tr's (UK)/ dc's (US) to start the 3rd petal.



Insert hook into the 2nd tr (UK)/ dc (US) of the first flowers (free) petal as shown above with cable needle, make a tr (UK)/ dc (US), make 2 more tr's (UK)/ dc's (US) to complete the petal, continue with flower pattern.



Ta-dah! two daisies attached, continue attaching more daisies the same way as flower two till you reach the end of your edge, then start from flower one for each side. For the corners I just added one flower on it's own.
I hope I explained it well enough to follow, enjoy the daisy edge!
Oh and please do share your finished blankets, I would love to see them :)

Friday 3 May 2013

Star Bobble Square Pattern




This is my star bobble pattern, it was part of a blanket i made specifically for baby/little boys as there are tons of blankets for girls pattern wise but not so much for boys, so a star was born ;)

I used Stylecraft special DK in Saffron for the star above
4mm/G/6 Hook

Although you could use any yarn though as I said on the heart pattern I think the bobbles look better in thicker yarns.

Ok on with the pattern.

MB = make 4 open tr in same stitch leaving 5 loops on hook, draw yarn through all 5 loops. So in the MB stitch you will do as follows, yarn over, hook into next stitch, yarn over (3 loops on hook), yarn over and pull through two loops leaving 2 loops on hook, yarn over, hook into same stitch, yarn over pull through two loops, 3 loops on hook, continue as above till you have 5 loops on hook after the last open treble and then yarn over and pull through all 5 loops on hook. One bobble complete!

Note: I'm using UK crochet terms throughout, but as it is only two types of stitches it is easy to switch to US terms as follows
UK dc - US sc
UK tr - US dc


Chain 28

Row 1: dc in 2nd chain from hook, dc across, chain 1, turn. (27 dc)

Row 2: dc across, chain 1, turn (27 dc)

Row 3: dc in next 3 stitches, MB, dc in next 19 stitches, MB, dc in next 3 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 4: dc across, chain 1, turn. (27 dc)

Row 5: dc in next 4 stitches, MB, dc in next 2 stitches, MB, dc in next 11 stitches, MB, dc in next 2 stitches, MB, dc in next 4 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 6: Repeat row 4. (27 dc)

Row 7: dc in next 5 stitches, MB, dc in next 4 stitches, MB, dc in next 5 stitches, MB, dc in next 4 stitches, MB, dc in next 5 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 8: Repeat row 4. (27 dc)

Row 9: dc in next 6 stitches,MB, dc in next 6 stitches, MB, dc in next 6 stitches, MB, dc in next 6 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 10: Repeat row 4. (27 dc)

Row 11: dc in next 7 stitches, MB, dc in next 11 stitches, MB, dc in next 7 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 12: Repeat row 4. (27 dc)

Row 13: dc in next 8 stitches, MB, dc in next 9 stitches, MB, dc in next 8 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 14: Repeat row 4. (27 dc)

Row 15: dc in next 6 stitches, MB, dc in next 13 stitches, MB, dc in next 6 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 16: Repeat row 4. (27 dc)

Row 17: dc in next 4 stitches, MB, dc in next 17 stitches, MB, dc in next 4 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 18: Repeat row 4. (27 dc)

Row 19: dc in next 2 stitches, MB, 1 dc, MB, 1 dc, MB, 1 dc, MB, 1 dc, MB, dc in next 5 stitches, MB, 1 dc, MB, 1 dc, MB, 1 dc, MB, 1 dc, MB, dc in next 2 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 20: Repeat row 4. (27 dc)

Row 21: dc in next 11 stitches, MB, dc in next 3 stitches, MB, dc in next 11 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 22: Repeat row 4. (27 dc)

Row 23: dc in next 12 stitches, MB, 1 dc, MB, dc in next 12 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 24: Repeat row 4. (27 dc)

Row 25: dc in next 13 stitches, MB, dc in next 13 stitches, chain 1, turn.

Row 26 - 27: Repeat row 4, at the end of row 27 do not chain 1, fasten off.

Hope it's clear and I've made no errors, if you have any problems please leave a comment and I will answer any queries :)

Note: My pattern is free to use for personal/commercial use, all I ask is for you to link back to this pattern so others may use it.

Thanks for stopping by...