Crocheted Jam Jar Cover

Hello there,

Do you make gifts for people? Perhaps you crochet, knit, sew or bake?

I love how versatile crochet is and often crochet for others, whether it is a full garment, a small, quick project or trims to jazz up a gift. When I heard a friend was having a difficult time and couldn't get out much I knew it was time to turn my hand again to making for someone else.

I often give little gifts to friends from my garden in summer, gooseberries, rhubarb or blackcurrants in the summer and plums from my tree in September, but that would be no use as it would be too much work to make something right now. So I made a cup of tea, sat down, had a good think and came up with this.

Just the thing for a home made cream tea, complete with clotted cream.


First I made the jam pot cover, the jar is a pretty hexagonal one with a lid the same size as a standard 1lb jar lid so I dug a spare jar out of my cupboard for sizing and fetched some white size 10 crochet thread and a 2mm hook.

I had a flick through my books and magazines and found some lacy jar cover patterns. I didn't have any new jars and lids so would be sterilising the one I had, I didn't have any pretty fabric either to hide the plain black lid under the lacy cover so I thought a less lacy pattern might be better than the ones in my book. I did my usual playing about with thread and hook and came up with this, a solid top with granny type edging. Simple, quick to make and pretty too.

It needed some colourful ribbon to finish it off so I popped down to the craft shop and got this lovely coppery ribbon to thread through the jar cover. I had been going to buy red ribbon but when I saw this coppery colour I thought it would look lovely with the blackcurrant colour instead and make a nice change from red.

I make my own jam and scones as I like to bake and cook but it would be easy to jazz up bought ones by making the crocheted pot cover and adding colourful ribbon and napkins. I'm going to put this in a little basket with some freshly baked scones, clotted cream and a small box of Twinings tea selection, wrap it in cellophane and take it round in time for afternoon tea. I know my friend will love this and hope a sit down with tea and scones brightens the day.

The crocheted pot cover was very easy, I'll probably make more nearer Christmas as I often make hampers. If you would like me to write up the pattern let me know.

I'd like to thank you all for reading despite my erratic posting and also for the lovely comments you left on my summer shawl, they make my day. We are approaching the last few weeks of the summer holidays here after which life will change gear again and I should be able to catch up properly on all your blogs again.

Til next time.

Hx

Shawl, Stole or Wrap?

Hello folks,

What do you call them? I usually go with shawl or wrap, rarely using the name stole. Last week I wrote about making a wrap with the summery merino lace yarn I had. Thank you so much for all the lovely comments you left, I loved reading them and was delighted that you all liked this yarn too. I'm pleased to announce the wrap is now finished!

This worked up really quickly and I finished it a few days ago, it then languished the next few days waiting to be blocked while I took advantage of the better weather to get back on top of the garden. I finally got around to blocking it and here it is.
  

I kept the edge very plain in the end, just a single row of double crochet all the way around and then a row of picots at either end. My picots were made by working 3 ch, sl st in 1st ch and then sl st to where I wanted the next picot. I loved these colours the moment I saw them and I'm really pleased with the way this shawl has turned out, simple definitely was the way to go as it really shows off the colours. It looks green shown on some lime broderie anglaise,

and the turquoise is brought out by this dress.

When I wrote about making this last week I had been thinking how lovely it would look over a summery white top or dress, I'd completely forgotten I had this simple long turquoise shift dress for which it is also a perfect match.

Isn't it lovely how a single layer of the wrap looks turquoise but where it is hangs in folds it becomes green? Would you like a closer look?

I'm going to really enjoy using this shawl, matched with this dress it would even look good for a summer wedding reception.

Are you enjoying the summer so far? It's been somewhat wet here this year which hasn't been good for getting out in the garden but has been good for cracking on with my crochet projects. Yes, it's plural again, I don't seem to be able to limit myself to just one, my mind races off with too many ideas. Do you find that too? I want to make another Paisley cushion but with a slightly different design, I have some small, items to make in thread crochet and last but not least, I want to try some broomstick lace. I think that should keep me busy for a little while.

Til next time,

Hx

Summer Colours

Hello there, first of all I'd like to say a big thank you for all the lovely comments on my cushion, I'm really chuffed you all liked it and took the time to let me know.

I wasn't able to post last week, life has been both busy and sad here as I was helping N sort out his late mother's home. It was also the hottest week of the year so far so it was exhausting. Arriving home late in the evening I didn't feel up to doing anything too complicated but I did manage to squeeze in a little crochet to relax before bed time. Do you remember this?

It's the lace weight merino yarn I wrote about buying here. I fell in love with these summery colours and have, from the day I bought it, pictured a summer wrap to throw over light summer dresses or white tops in the evenings. I've enjoyed browsing through different lace stitches, picturing the end result before trying a few out and finding that actually, it looks far nicer if I keep it simple.

I loved the effect of the different colours in a simple chain made with a large hook, the bright green fading to yellow, turquoise and lilac so I decided to keep it simple and make the wrap in an easy diamond mesh pattern. This is just the thing for working in a nice easy rhythm when I'm too tired to concentrate on a pattern. It also has the benefit of showing off the yummy summer colours of this yarn much better than the more complicated lace patterns. Isn't this gorgeous?

By Thursday we were shattered and ready for a break so worked really late to finish up and stay home on Friday. We had a quiet day relaxing and pottering about and inspired by Elizabeth's post at Mrs Thomasina Tittlemouse I was pleased to see the elder flowers finally out in our garden so I could make a batch of cordial. This Elder is called Black Lace, the cordial it makes is pink and the newly opened flowers have a delicious citrussy elderflower aroma. It also looks absolutely gorgeous in the garden.

So that was the first week of our summer holiday - clearing, cleaning, pottering in the kitchen and garden and of course a little crochet.

The light is much brighter today when I took this last photo and the yarn looks more blue, mostly it looks green though. If you would like to make a wrap like this, I'm using a 5.5mm hook with a 3 ply laceweight merino yarn with 400 metres in a 100g skein. This is a bigger hook than would usually be used for this yarn weight but I chose it as I liked the effect of the bigger hook and wanted the wrap to work up quickly. It only uses chain and double crochet stitches (single crochet in US) so is ideal if you are new to crochet and want to move on to making something a little bigger than squares. I made 242 stitches then working in UK terms:

1st row - miss 1 ch, 1 dc in next ch, *5 ch, miss 3 ch, 1 dc in next ch* repeat to last st, 1 dc, 5ch, turn

2nd row - *1 dc in ch space, 5 ch* repeat to end

Repeat the second row until the wrap is the size you want and that's it, nice and simple. I don't know yet how wide mine will be or how I will edge it, I'll just stop when it looks right.

Til next time,

Hx

The Paisley Granny Cushion and Mini Construction Tutorial

 
Hello there, it's finally finished, the Paisley Granny Cushion had it's first outing in the garden yesterday. I am very pleased with this cushion, the colours look so good in the the sunshine, especially the turquoise, the bright light really brings it out.

The schools here break up earlier than other parts of the UK, finishing up today for the summer holidays, so yesterday I took my finished cushion, a magazine and my ereader and had some quiet me time. This is my favourite shady spot in garden, I love to see the sunshine but don't like sitting in it as I'm fair skinned and burn too easily so while everyone else soaks up the sun on the patio I'm to be found enjoying the dappled shade under the tree. Both N and I like to have a scented, bee friendly garden and I was really pleased to see buds yesterday on the Graham Thomas honeysuckle I planted a couple of years ago to grow up through the tree.

Once I had joined the motifs for the cushion front it wasn't quite tall enough so I worked two stripes at the top and bottom of the cushion first with pink then orange. I knew I didn't want to make the back the same as the front so decided to crochet it in one piece which I wanted to make in blocks of colour. To break up the turquoise, I chose orange and pink for the colour blocks, making a pink central block which I decided to make slightly bigger than the two orange blocks at either end. I like this, it would make a nice summer cushion even without the paisley squares.

As I will be using this cushion outdoors I wanted to be able to easily slip off the cover for washing so using the orange I made a chain long enough for a 50cm cushion, then worked a foundation row of double crochet before continuing in treble crochet. I worked an extra three rows on the bottom section so I would be able to fold it over the cushion inner and tuck in when finished before changing to the pink yarn.

Constructing the Cushion

 

To make up, I double crocheted with wrong sides together starting at the bottom right corner with the granny front facing and worked around the sides with three dc in each corner.

When I reached the bottom of the third side, I double crocheted the two sides together until I reached the join of the first two motifs, then marking the join for the last motif on the other side, I continued to dc along the front edge only.

When I reached the stitch marker, I again double crocheted the two sides together to the end of the row then all I had to do was tie off the yarn, weave in the ends and lightly press the fold. You could add poppers at this point but I was too impatient to get into the garden with mine.

 

I popped in the cushion inner, tucked the flap inside and headed into the garden. I love that this cushion is a one-off and as all our garden furniture and camping chairs are different blues, it goes with them all.

As N will now be on holiday until August I hope the rainy weather we have mostly been having will ease off  and we will get some lazy, sunny holiday days to chill out in the garden, with some crochet for me of course. I hope the mini cushion construction tutorial is helpful if you also want to make a summer outdoor cushion.

Til next time,

Hx

Exploring new places

Hello there, have you been busy enjoying the long, light evenings and doing some crafting?

While I finished the front of my simple Paisley Granny cushion and started working on the back I took some time out for a spot of unexpected retail therapy at a newly opened craft shop in our town before getting back to nature at the the National Museum of Rural Life at East Kilbride in Lanarkshire.
 

Craft Shopping

First was the visit to the craft shop. As I live on the edge of the town I often find out about changes from friends and neighbours before I see them myself and this was again the case when I discovered the lovely little craft shop which has opened in the town. On my next walk down that way I popped in to have a look and found the friendly Allison who owns it and is following a long held dream. Allison crochets too and I was so pleased to find she had some crochet cotton in stock, just the thing for the lace book which I wrote about recently.

Allison sews, her shop is full of the most gorgeous fat quarters and projects she has made herself with fabrics she sources from America. With ribbons, buttons and embellishments it is a craft heaven and so easy to just pop down the hill. As the shop is quite small she doesn't plan to stock a lot of yarn (she is also a crocheter) but did have a big basket of yarn packs, well how could I resist? I fell in love with the colours of this yarn, they made me think of autumn so I ended up coming home with three balls earmarked for a cosy project later in the year and of course the crochet cottons.

With so many beautiful fabrics in her shop I will be going back to visit Allison again soon.



Down on the Farm
 
My second new place was the National Museum of Rural Life at Wester Kittochside which isn't far from us being about a half hour drive away and last weekend they had a Woolly Weekend event. As NTS members we get entry to this museum even though it is run by NMS. It's a little space of tranquillity amidst the bustle of the outskirts of south Glasgow and the new town of East Kilbride. The museum is actually just off a busy road but once the car was parked and we walked down the path to the farm we could have been miles away. The museum building is a lovely place to visit but as we've been there before we headed down to the courtyard to meet the Westyett Alpacas and their friendly and knowledgeable owners, Pauline and John. I should point out that I don't know Westyett Alpacas and this post isn't sponsored, I just enjoyed meeting the alpacas so much I thought I'd share it with you all.

We spent quite a while finding out all about these cute little guys who are actually quite shy with humans making it difficult to get photos of them....

 however patience and perseverance paid off.
 

 

Whilst they may be shy with humans, they are not slow to react to dogs, the appearance of a cute little dog belonging to another visitor had them down the ramp and over at the edge of the pen in no time. Pauline's husband explained as we were watching that alpacas don't like dogs or foxes and will actually chase them off. This little brown chap was a little braver and more inquisitive than the rest, he definitely seemed to be the leader of this herd,

and keeping an eye on his owner's sales too!

There was a bucket of alpaca clippings for people to feel (the alpacas are a bit shy for petting though I did see the brown one above allowing a little girl to stroke him), they were so beautifully soft, the type of fibre which is impossible to resist. The alpacas are lovely, they talk quietly to each other all the time and I could (and did) watch them for quite a while. We discovered that they are herd animals who won't do well on their own and though very hardy, they can't cope with driving rain as unlike sheep they don't have any lanolin in their coats so must have a shelter.

I also found out why I often find wool uncomfortable as John explained the difference in structure between sheeps' wool and alpaca fibre, basically alpaca is smoother and warmer due to the hollow fibre giving an insulating effect where as sheep wool is heavier and has scales with little "barbs" which cause the itching people sometimes experience from wool. As well as breeding and showing Alpacas, Pauline also sells products made from alpacas fibre, if you would like to know more about Pauline's Alpacas or where you can see them check out their Westyett Alpacas website to find out where they will be.

I've mostly crocheted with merino mixes before such as Sirdar Flirt which is merino and bamboo or Debbie Bliss Cashmerino however I have used alpaca fibre once before when I used Drops Lace which is an alpaca and silk mix to make a pink shawl. Now I've met these animals up close and seeing how gorgeous both they and their fibre are I think I'll be using Alpaca yarn more in future. Regretfully, we left the alpacas behind and made our way along the path to the farmhouse. This was a lovely peaceful walk and I really enjoyed getting close to the wildflowers in the hedgerow.

Aren't these Hawthorn blossoms beautiful?

We saw some very pale, delicate bluebells under the trees as we made our way through the garden to the house. I haven't seen bluebells like this before, they were almost a pale lilac colour.

We hadn't been to the farmhouse before and it was like stepping back into a scene from my childhood as I used to visit my friend's grandparents' farm in the late seventies/early eighties which though smaller had a similar feel. Wester Kittochside hasn't been updated since the 1950s, with the previous owners leaving it to the NTS in the 1980s. It is still a working farm retaining the old ways of earlier times, including using horses which we saw turned out in the field.

We made our way back down the path to the Museum building for a late lunch as it has a good cafe, spotting this piece of yarn bombing at the entrance. I'm sorry the photo isn't very clear, the light inside the museum is very poor for photography and this was the only piece of yarn bombing I was able to photograph.

The yarn bombing was a trail throughout the museum for kids to follow (as we are big kids we did it too) and there were yarny, woolly craft activities for children as well so families were having a fun day out.


I am still working on my cushion, being half-way through the back, I hope to be able to show the finished item to you later this week.

Til next time,

Hx

Simple Paisley Granny Cushion

Hello there,

It's taken me a bit longer than I expected to reach the next stage of my Paisley cushion. It would have been easier to go looking on the Internet for a pattern but I really wanted to do this myself so I beavered away in spare moments turning my Paisley motifs into granny squares. There has been ripping out, a lot of ripping out, then more working up again until it looked passable.

First I had to make my mind up which colour to choose for my first cushion, despite thinking I would choose yellow and pink, in the end I plumped for orange and pink.

I've mentioned before that I am rather too good at procrastination, I'm also not very good at making up projects right away but this time I decided to weave in the ends and make up as I go, otherwise I'll never get the cushions made in time to use this summer. There were quite a few ends.

Next decision was what colour to use for the background and I went for the turquoise. This is the bit which has taken me a while to work out as I'm not one of those talented people who can sit down and put it on paper, I just play with the yarn until it looks right to me. So I played and played, it still didn't look right, so I played a bit more and finally got a rectangle.

A few more rectangles and I had enough to play about to see how they looked. I haven't decided yet whether to make all the blocks the same or not.

I'm joining the sections one at a time as I finish them so I can see the cushion cover grow. This is the bottom section already made up.

 I'm looking forward to finishing this and being able to use it in the garden, when summer eventually arrives. This week has been cold and miserable here and very un-summer like, the perfect excuse to snuggle indoors with some crochet and the colours have helped keep me happy. On the down-side, it has made taking photos difficult as the light has been so poor, thankfully the weather has brightened up this afternoon so I can finally share my latest make with you.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Til next time,
Hx

Inspired by India

Hello folks, have you had a good weekend? Here in the UK we have just had our second May holiday weekend, for us a quiet time of pottering about, enjoying the garden and of course crochet for me.

As the weeks pass and summer comes closer I find myself thinking of days out, tea in the garden and picnics, especially picnics. I'd been thinking for a while that I'd like to make a summer blanket, perhaps in ice-cream shades or bright summery colours however I didn't get around to it early enough for this year. I still feel the need for something bright, colourful and new though so I had a think about it and came up with the idea of making bright crocheted cushions which would be much quicker to make for use in the garden and for picnicking.

I haven't ever been to India (yet, maybe one day) but I love the vibrancy of the colours I see in photos, magazines and film. What colours do you think of when you think of India? I think of vibrant colours such as cerise pink, turquoise, orange, lime green, yellow, purple, jewel colours, all these colours suggest to me brilliant hued saris, wending their way through the streets and markets of India on the backs of the women. This train of thought reminded me of the beautiful cushions I have seen made from pieces of sari fabric, those cushions are stunning so why not try a crochet version? What would the pattern be? For me it has to be the instantly recognisable kidney shape of the Paisley pattern. With this idea firmly in my head I set off.

A visit to my local wool shop allowed me to gaze at all the beautiful yarns and find inspiration before buying the yarn I showed this peek of a few weeks ago.

It's Robin DK acrylic in shades Bright Turquoise, Cordial, Fiesta, Sunflower and Marigold. I love these bright colours and using acrylic yarn means I won't be precious about it being used outside, I could never be that relaxed about a silk yarn. I brought it home and started playing around with it to develop a Paisley type shape. I worked out the pattern then tried it with both 4mm and 3.5mm hooks. In the end I decided to go with the 3.5mm hook as I tend to crochet fairly loosely and it just looked a better shape. The 4mm hook gave an elongated Paisley shape, however I preferred the curvier motif made using the 3.5mm hook. I have made this using double crochet and half treble stitches to keep it simple, do you like it?

I worked up motifs in different colour combinations to see how they looked,

 and laid them out to choose which ones I like best.

 I definitely like the yellow (Sunflower) and pink (Fiesta) and the turquoise and orange (Marigold) but haven't decided about the other colour combinations yet. What do you think of them? Is there one you are drawn to or a combination I haven't tried?

Once I have decided which colours to use I will make a smaller motif to go with these and work out how to join them. I'm using a 50x50cm cushion and I'm still deciding whether to do an all-over design, just a border, or a mix of designs for each cushion, I'll see how I get on with the first one. What would you do? I'd love to hear your ideas too.

Hx

Crocheted Lace, Sea Horses and a Book Review

Hi folks, did you know that seahorses are sometimes red?
 
What have seahorses got to do with crochet I hear you ask? Well, it's all down to this book, 75 Lace Crochet Motifs.

I was browsing on Amazon earlier this year when I came across this book by Caitlin Sanio and fell in love with the little seahorse on the front cover. I'm not known for impulse buys so I went away and thought and thought about it but I kept being drawn back to it every time I went online. This book looked too good to stay on my wish list, I just had to make that seahorse. I duly ordered it and then spent a couple of excited days waiting for the postman to call. Eventually the knock on the door came, I was so excited, I love books so with anticipation I tore off the packaging and...it looked wonderful, even better than I thought it would be. Oh, the joy, a brand new book full of ridiculously beautiful little lace motifs to crochet and pepper projects with.

There are 75, a whole 75, beautiful lace motifs all done in size 10 crochet cotton with a 2mm hook. I didn't like the colour used for the seahorse in the book, that seahorse is just asking to be turquoise, right? I didn't have any turquoise crochet cotton though and I was much too eager to make this little fellow to order online and wait for crochet cottons to arrive, so I turned to the internet to find images of seahorses. A quick internet search of seahorses found  The Seahorse Trust  and  brought the information that seahorses can change colour to blend in with their surroundings and have even been known to turn red to match floating debris. They pair for life and also change colour during their daily courtship display which can last up to an hour each morning. It's amazing what information I come across when I get an idea in my head, whatever did we do before the internet?

 Hmm, red seahorses? I have red cotton, I used it to edge the baby shoes, so why not make the seahorse in red?
 

 

For each pattern in the book the author has given the length of cotton needed, it reminded me of tatting patterns where the required length has to be wound on to the shuttle before you start. It just so happened I still had a shuttle left from last year already wound with enough red cotton to make the seahorse. Out it came, along with a 2mm crochet hook.


 A short while later I'd made this.

 It looks a bit messy and twisty as it needs to be blocked and have the ends woven in.

 Aah, that's better, it's amazing the difference blocking makes to a piece of work, I'm a real fan of blocking. I adore this little red seahorse, I think he is going to become a bag charm and will live attached to my project bag where I can see him every day.


 I'm really looking forward to making more motifs from this book, perhaps experimenting with embroidery floss and different hooks as well as cotton. It is very well laid out and easy to use with pattern pictures and corresponding page numbers grouped by themes at the front of the book.


 

 I don't usually use charted patterns but even following the written pattern they do still help with these small motifs as they are very clear and you can see instantly where you have gone wrong if you make a mistake.

I think the shell and starfish will have to be next, then I'll need to find something to embellish with them. All the motifs in this book are beautiful but these three are my favourite, or perhaps it's the songbird and hummingbird? Decisions, decisions, however the seahorse is definitely my favourite.

I hope to get back soon to the bright yarn I showed you a peek of last week, unfortunately we had a bump in the car last week and I've been a bit too uncomfortable to crochet for long so I thought I'd share this with you instead. I hope you have enjoyed the book review and the little seahorse. Have you done any thread crochet? I'd love to know what you've made.

Til next time,
Hx