Make Some Crochet 'Fairy Lights' - Recipe/Pattern

Helllloooo!  

It's been such a long time since I've posted on here, it really is time to dust off my blog and get back into it!! 

I can't believe over a year has past since my last post.  What a crazy 12 months it has been with bushfires and a pandemic and lockdowns and having to close the shop and working online only and then being able to reopen again, such a rollercoaster of a year! 

I know a lot of other countries are still in lockdowns and suffering big time with Covid,  I hope everyone is able to stay safe and well and find ways to stay busy and happy even through the lockdowns, sending positivity and strength to you all!  

Life has returned to a near normal state here, our hard lockdowns over winter seems to have done the trick and things are starting to feel a little freer, fingers crossed we can keep it under control!

Anyway, it is nearly Christmas and I've been feeling quite festive recently and making some crochet 'fairy lights' with my little crochet bead recipe.  I call this a recipe instead of a pattern because you really can play around with the number of stitches to make them longer or rounder depending on the shape you want.  

For the 'fairy lights' I wanted a bigger bead than the ones I make for my necklaces, 

so I use 8ply wool and a 4mm hook to get bead that is big enough to be seen on the Christmas tree.  

(For necklace sized beads use 4ply yarn and a 2mm hook.)

These are very simple to make and are great for using up precious scraps of hand dyed speckled yarn.  You can use any yarns for this I think it would be cute to use some fluffy yarns to create little fuzzy beads, or you can use plain colours or whatever you like really, if you can crochet with it you can use it!!

 Crochet Bead Recipe - Basic Bead

(I am using English terminology in the pattern. )

Rounds are made in a spiral, so no joining at the end of each round

In a magic loop, make 4dc, pull magic loop tight. 

OR  Ch 2, 4dc in the 1st chain.

Round 2 :  2dc in each stitch  ( 8 stitches in total)

Round 3: 1 dc in each stitch (8 stitches)

Continue making 1dc in each stitch, spiralling around until your bead is as long as you want.  

At this point I like to stuff the tail inside the bead, or you could stuff it with scrap wool threads

Last round: Using the invisible decrease method, dc2 together x 4 to leave you with 4 stitches.  

Bind off, and leave a tail long enough to thread onto a needle and weave through the bead to hide.

Variations: To make a fatter bead, start with 5dc in the magic ring and in Round 2 make 2dc in each stitch for 10 stitches in total. Continue as for the Basic Bead. 

Double Crochet Invisible Decrease :  insert hook into front loop of 1st stitch,  insert hook in front loop of 2nd stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through  2 loops on hook.

 

Making a necklace or string of Fairy Lights or a garland of beads:  Once you have a collection of beads you can make them into a necklace or string of fairy lights for decorations.  You can arrange them in many ways, spaced out individually, clustered in groups, colour themed, or whatever else you can think of! 

I like to join my joining thread for the beads to a bead then crochet a chain and then use a few double crochets to join a bead where I want it, then make more chains and add more beads, and so on till I have my necklace/string of beads as long as I want it, at this point it is really a garland or string of little beads ready to go on the Christmas tree or across a window or mantle piece.   To make it into a loop for a necklace I then I join my chain to the first bead and bind off. 

I hope you have a bit of fun with these little things, they are whimsical and always brig a smile to my face, hopefully they will to you too!  

Talk soon!   I have so much I'd like to share on here, I had forgotten how nice it is to create a record of things I'm making  and other stuff, maybe I can show the gorgeous yarns that come into the shop and share patterns and recipes and gardening things too, all the things I'm interested in!

(I promise it won't be another year till I post again! ;)

Baubles for Christmas - things I'm making.

Hi there!  Hope you have had a gorgeous day!
I just thought I'd pop these photos on here because I am enjoying making Christmas Baubles at the moment and aren't those colours just lovely together!   I haven't made these for a few years and am really having fun with all the colour play.  The end of the year is coming up so fast, it feels too early to be thinking about Christmas, but it will be here before you know it!  So this is me being organised and Getting Things Done Early! :)

Have you started to think about Christmas yet?

I am planning on writing up this pattern tomorrow as I am having a bauble workshop on Saturday,
so I thought I might pop a few bauble kits in the shop next week, and put the pattern in my Ravelry shop if anyone would like to make some of their own...... well that's the plan anyway, fingers crossed it will happen!

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Makings this week.....

Hello! How are you going today?

 I'm just popping by here to share a few crochet makes from this week, I have been so busy finishing things off for the market on Saturday, i have had no time for blogging or anything else really!  

....I've made some more little booties, this time in sizes that will actually fit on little feet (the last lot I made were very cute but far too tiny!).........

....and I have made 5 more heart washers, tonight I have to edge them all, so I am going to have a little Deadwood marathon ( I am really enjoying this series, Bullock is very cool! ).....

........and I have finished off my little decorations with a picot edge. I crocheted two flower circles together so they are the same both sides and can twirl around without looking terrible on one side.....

So now I am off to my edging, I might try and take a little photographic tour of the market this time and show you some of the lovely stalls, there are plenty of them! 

Talk soon......

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Catching up....

Hello! How have you been going?  

I've been pretty busy with this and that, nothing extra special, just normal life and preparing for another market.  I thought I'd pop in here and show you a couple of things that I have been making these last few weeks.  We spent the Melbourne Cup weekend at Philip Island, so I took a few little projects to keep me busy and not eating and drinking too much! 

Here's a bit of what I've been up to.....

....hooking away like a mad woman!  These round puffy flowers are destined to be Christmas decorations, I am planning on bringing them to the Emu Plains Market next weekend, I'll have to make sure they get finished!  I think they will look cute dangling from a tree.   I am thinking of making a couple of table top pompom trees to take to the market as well (thanks for the suggestion Angela! xxx), and I want lots of crochet decorations to hang from them.  Must get cracking!

...I have also made a couple of extra heart washers that need finishing off too.  (I am sensing a bit of a theme today....)  I had some of these at the last market I did and someone saw them and gave my card to a friend of theirs who owns a shop in Mornington, and long story short, I have been asked to make some for the shop, so I really need to make a few more!

.........aren't these roses beautiful?  Straight from my garden, I had a lovely half hour picking these this morning, I think I have a thing for pink roses, I have several different shades of pink, but not many other colours.  There is nothing like a garden wander to get you enthused about growing things again.

I went out this afternoon and started the mammoth task of clearing my veggie beds, I have bought a few seedlings to plant in each area I clear as a reward for each little achievement. We will have veggies this Summer, even if they are a bit late!

......and I found a whole heap of broad beans ready to pick under all the weeds ( plus a nice haul of potatoes), there are plenty more too, I have a recipe for smashed broad beans that you mix with some grated sharp cheese and a bit of olive oil and eat on bread or toast, a bit like a chunky dip, it is quite yummy, must make that soon.....

Well, that's about all I have for the moment, I have had a delivery of some new colours in the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino, but need to take photos, so will show you them next week, Have to say I am warming to some of her more muted tones more and more, quite lush indeed!  I have added them to the shop over here if you'd like to check to out! 

Have a great day, talk soon!  

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Made by hand......

Hello.  

I am joining in with Christina's Made by Hand linky today.  I have been having a bit of fun playing around with the hook and some colours, working on a little Christmas decoration, I kind of know how I want it to look, now I just have to keep trying until I get it right.

This is what I have come up with today, I am making version 2 with a slightly different flower petal and a thicker wool yarn, so we will see what works best.  I think these could be cute in different colours all dangling from a branch.

Have you had a creative day?   Or maybe a few creative moments here and there?

Long Weekend Finishing Off......

Hello!  We have just had a lovely long weekend here, it was cold and crisp and clear, perfect Winter weather really.

Gary and I had a great night out with friends on Saturday, something we don't do enough of, (note to self, organise more adult get togethers!), it was really fun! 

Sunday was spent generally mooching about, recovering from a late night and many glasses of wine, so perfect for a spot of gentle crafty activity.

The fact that we also had Monday at home, meant I could really get stuck into finishing off these little decorations, the things I had made all the flowery shaped layers for.

You might recognise these Christmas tree decorations, (I made a couple last year here  and here if you want to see the originals),  and I have to say I am pretty happy how these two turned out, I still love how over the top all the layers look together, and the endless possibilities for colour play.

I think I have made these ones slightly even more over the top with more pompoms than the originals.

These were ordered way back in January, so it is about time they got finished!  (I have made a blanket as well for this order so that took up a fair bit of time too!)  Thanks for your patience Lori!

Sorry for all the pictures, but I want to try and remember how I did these, as I think I want to make a few more now these are actually complete!

The great think now that I have this order done is I can start on some new ideas without feeling guilty!

I know I have made other things on the side while I've been working on these,(some ideas just wouldn't wait!) but I did feel kind of bad that my lovely customer was waiting for her things, although she put no pressure on me at all, which was very nice of her!

I have started knitting a little stripey scarf as my next quick project, it is fun and I am looking forward to wearing something warm and handmade soon!

Hope you all had a great (long) weekend and got a bit of time for something fun!

Crafty Christmas Star(t)s.....

Hello!

Well, It's October now and that means it's the perfect time to start thinking about Christmas in terms of hand made presents and decorations.  It's not too early and not too last minute, yep, the perfect time!

I do love Christmas time, it gives the crafty inclined a good excuse to make stuff. 

 It's so nice to have a purpose when crafting, don't you think?  I do enjoy pointless crafty action for it's own sake too, but I really like a reason to craft it up as well!

So with that in mind I found the knitted stars I made last year (way too last minute to make it onto the tree), and am determined to get them finished properly (sorry if you've seen them before on my blog) and make a heap more to give to my family as little Pre-Christmas pressies for their trees.  

I am still looking for the pattern I used, it's on the internet somewhere, I'll try and find it before I end this post. 

(here is the link to the Dutch Sisters pattern)

One of the things I liked about these stars is that they only take tiny amounts of wool, so I can use up all the scraps from my blankets and other makes.

I think some made from these lovely Christmassy colours would be great, I only have little bits left of this Pear Tree super soft merino yarn and I think some little stars would be a fittingly gorgeous way to use it up.

Then I have this lot to tackle!  I am thinking some mini ones using 4ply and smaller needles would be a nice contrast, and then I could thread them together and make a starry  garlandy thing.... so many possibilities !  Maybe a mobile, or a starry wall hanging........

So are you thinking about Christmas too?

Do you make things for presents? 

Or is it still too early for you?

I'd like to do a hand made Christmas this year, but I don't think I could come up with presents for my brothers in law ( or at least anything they would want!), so maybe I'll make things for the people I think would like it and leave the others with bought stuff.

So with good intentions I am going to start my Christmas crafting! Yay!

Let me know what you are making, I'd love to see!

Ok, that's it for now, have a great day!