Crochet Eyeball Squares

  

Happy New Year and all that, I can't believe it's nearly the middle of January already!  

2021 has started at a cracking pace with the first few weeks very busy in the shop, but I think we might have a bit of a quieter time this week, the weather has really improved and Summer is hitting with a vengeance, the beach is the place to be if you are lucky enough to still be on holidays! 

 

I have been making some of these cute little colourful squares that I have called Eyeball Squares. 

One of my favourite things about crocheting granny square type patterns is all the possibilities for colour play within each square.  That's how these started, I had lots of colourful little scraps and stared making circles and adding more colours in each round, the rings of colours reminded me of an eyeball. :) Then it was a simple process to square them up, introducing a couple of more colours!  I chose to use solid colours for the backgrounds to help the circle colours stand out. 

In case anyone else has a scrappy stash they would like to play with, I thought I would pop the pattern on here. :) 

                              EYEBALL SQUARE

The Eyeball Square is a quirky variation on the simple ‘circle in a square’ granny square, it is made using small amounts of different colours, so is great for a scrap busting project.  I have used scraps of 4ply sock yarns for my eyeball circles and then squared them up with a plain coloured 4ply, but you could really play around with colour in these squares and do whatever you like! 

   Materials:  3mm hook, Small amounts of 4ply yarns, lots of colours or few,  

use as many as you like!

Stitches used (UK/ Australian terminology)

Slip stitch  -slst

Double crochet - dc

Half Treble - htr

Treble crochet - tr 

Double treble -dtr

The starting chains of each round do not count as stitches.

Chain 4, join with slst to form a ring.

Rd1- Ch2, 12tr into ring.  Finish round with a slst to 1st tr.  Bind off.  (12 sttches)

Rd2 - Join new colour to any stitch , Ch1, 2dc in each stitch around.  

Finish round with slst to 1st dc.Bind off. (24 stitches)

Rd3 - Join new colour to any stitch, Ch2, 1tr in same stitch, *2tr in next st, 1tr in next st*  

repeat  * to * around circle, ending with a 2tr in the last stitch.  

Finish round with a slst to 1st tr.  Bind off.  ( 36 stitches)

Rd 4 - Join new colour to any stitch,  Ch1, 1dc in each stitch around. 

Finish round with a slst to 1st dc.  Bind off. (36 stitches)

Squaring up rounds

Rd 5 -  Working in back loops only this round, Join background colour to any stitch

Ch 1, * 1dc in next 3 stitches, 1htr in next stitch, (1tr, 1dtr, 1tr) in next stitch, 1htr in next stitch, 1dc in next 3 stitches*  repeat 3 more times around circle, join with slst to 1st dc. (44 stitches)

Rd 6 -Ch1, *1dc in next 5 stitches, 3htr in next stitch, 1dc in next 5 stitches*  repeat 3 more times around circle , join with slst to 1st dc. ( 52

Rd 7 - Ch1 *1dc in next 6 stitches, (1dc,1htr, 1dc) in next stitch, 1dc in next 6 stitches* repeat 3 more times around circle, join with slst to 1st dc.  Bind off.

Rd 8 - Join outline colour to any corner stitch, ch1, *2dc in corner stitch, 1dc in next 14 stitches,* repeat 3 more times around circle , join with slst to 1st dc, bind off.

Make as many squares as you like and join together either with your favourite crochet join or hand sew them together. 

In case anyone would like to know, I am using scraps of hand dyed sock wools for the circles (like the ones in the Hand dyed Scrappy Yarn Packs  in my shop)  and Scheepjes Metropolis for the solid colours. 

Happy making! 

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! ;)

Rainbow Petal Flowers - A Pattern For You!

Well, it's been quite a while since I've posted on here, so much for good intentions, it's been a busy time and the weeks have just been flying by!!  I'd love to think I can blog here on a more regular basis, but it seems I'm just not organised enough!  Also I used to take photos each day and then write about them at night, I don't seem to get the photos taken anymore, so everything grinds to a halt.

Must get the camera out more often! 

Anyway, I have a pattern for a cute little decoration today, it is perfect for using up your favourite scraps of DK/8ply wool.  

I have been meaning to share it for ages, and am finally getting around to it today!!

It is a flower ( I am still kind of obsessed with crochet flowers) that has different coloured petals, you make a circle for the centre then make 5 different coloured petals around the centre.  Make 2 of these flowers and sew them together using the tails of yarn and stuffing any other tails into the centre.   This makes quite a sturdy, thick, flat flower, I like to hang mine on the Christmas tree. It is very simple and you will soon be whipping up a heap of them!  

I used some different scraps of hand dyed speckled 8ply, leftovers from my polka dot blanket, but you can really have a play with colour in this project, use whatever colours you like.

 Here's the pattern if you'd like to have a go yourself. 

Rainbow Petal Flowers

UK terminology.

Materials:  8ply yarn scraps in different colours

Hook: 3.5mm

(starting chains do not count as stitches)

In centre colour:

Round 1: Ch3,  join with slip stitch to 1st chain to form a ring, ch1, make 5dc into the ring,  join with slip stitch to 1st dc to complete round.  (5 stitches)

Round 2: Ch1, make 2dc in each stitch of previous round, join with slip stitch to 1st dc to complete round.  (10 stitches)

Round 3: Ch1, make 2dc in 1st stitch, 1dc in next stitch, *then 2dc in next stitch, then 1dc in next stitch* continue repeating from * to * to end of round,  join with slip stitch to 1st dc and bind off.  

(15 stitches) 

Make Petals.

For each petal:  (Leave a long tail when you join the new colour so you can use it to sew up later)

Working in the back loops of the stitches in the last round of the centre:

Row 1:  Join new colour to any stitch, ch1, 1dc in same stitch, 1dc in next stitch, 1dc in next stitch. 

(3 stitches) Turn work. 

Row 2: Ch1, 1dc in same stitch, 2dc in next stitch, 1 dc in next stitch. (4 stitches)

Row 3 and 4: ch1, 1 stitch in each stitch (4 stitches)

Row 5: Ch1, 1dc in same stitch, in next stitch (1htr,1tr, 1dtr), in next stitch (1dtr, 1tr, 1htr), 1dc in next stitch, bind off.

Make 5 petals around the centre, 1 in every 3 stitches.

Make 2 flowers like this, reversing the colour order of your petals so they match when wrong sides are put together, and use the tails of each petal to sew the 2 sides together.

Tadah!  You have made a Rainbow Petal Flower!

It should look some thing like this:

They look cute hanging from the Christmas tree, or you could hang them from presents, or make a garland or whatever you like really! 

Have a great weekend everyone, I hope you get some fun hooky time, it's not looking likely in my house, the silly season is well and truly here! 

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Little Woollie Rabbits!

Hello everyone!
I hope you're having a good week, it's a beautiful day here and I'm making bunnies!  :)
I have had so much going on recently, (I've been trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and run more classes and workshops) it seems like my brain is always buzzing and full!
Organisation is not my strong suit, (as my sporadic posting over here shows! ) so I do find it quite a challenge to get everything ready for workshops.  I'm slowly getting slightly more comfortable with running workshops, I find if I keep my intro very short and we just get on with the making, I can enjoy the afternoon and just talk with people one on one. 
Anyhoo, that's just what  I've found seems to work well. :)

But I digress!  I was going to talk about this little bunny rabbit I've made for an amigurumi workshop on the weekend.  The girls all seemed to enjoy making him, and we ironed out a few pattern faults,  (thank you ladies!!) so I thought I would pop the pattern up for sale on my Ravelry pattern page for anyone who would like to make one too! Also, I think he would be a great little Easter bunny gift !

I made him out of Scheepjes Cahlista cotton, which is 10ply, and used a 3.5mm hook, so it's a nice tight fabric.  You could use an 8ply cotton with a 3mm or 2.5mm hook as well, and I have also made a small bunny with 4ply wool and a 2mm hook.  It is great for using up small amounts of yarn, so start stash busting!!

These bunnies don't take too long to make, you could probably whip one up in a couple of nights, so I think a whole bunny family is very doable. :)  The little satchel bag is also the perfect size for a mini chocolate egg.  I think I might make a couple of these for my nephews for Easter, I do have a lot of colour combos to try out!

Hope you all have a great day wherever you are in the world, and that you are getting some fun crochet time !  xxxxxxxx

PS I have a lot of crochet things on the go at the moment, I'm going to try and share them on here soon, I miss the record of makes that blogging gave when I was doing it regularly!

Marrakech Cushion

Hi there!
I thought I'd show you something that I've been making over the last week or so, it's a mandela that is going to become a cushion. :)   The pattern is called Marrakech Cushion by Sandra Eng , I had been admiring Sandra's cushion on Instagram ( she is @mobiusgirl over there) , so was very happy when she released the pattern!!

Here is the front all finished, the top photo was when I was about half way through, you can see that the finished front has grown quite a bit!  I used Cascade Ultra Pima cotton for this, I have gone to my favourite colours for this one, it just seems to happen that way!!  When I've finished the back and sewn it together I'll pop a post up to show you.  I'm hoping to make a little stack of these cushions in different colours, I think they will look cute in the shop!

I have actually been doing a lot of crochet recently, so will pop up some of my recent makes over the next few days until I have caught up with everything from my big bloggy break!

Have a great day!

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New blanket making...

Hello! Hope you're having a great day wherever you are! :) 

I have been making a new Wheels Within Wheels blanket recently. 

It is colourful and  fun, I really like this pattern, the wheels stick out for a great thick textural effect that I enjoy making. 

The pattern is by Frankie's Knitted Stuff and can be found on Ravelry.

I decided to make my wheels a bit bigger so added 2 extra rounds of colour, lots of opportunity fro colour play!  I am using a few different 8ply wools to get the colours I want, mainly Heirloom Colorworks, Baby Merino 8ply, Loyal 8ply and Cascade 220 Superwash.

I've made a couple of these before here and here if you want to see them. 

I have just started doing the background of each wheels now, I am using my favourite Silver Grey in Cascade 220 Superwash as a good neutral foil to all the colours.  I have 48 wheels so it will take a bit of time! 

 So I think that's it for the minute, hopefully I'll have the squares ready for joining soon, although I think they will need a fair bit of blocking as the corners are curling up a lot.  Have a great creative day peeps! 

Retro Solid Granny Square Blanket - Tadah!

Hi there! 

I hope everyone is having a great day, I have a colourful post for you today! 

I have been hooking steadily away through January and I've actually finished my first project for 2017! Yay! :) That's pretty good going for me! 

This blanket was quite the speedy make, I seemed to have enough squares made in no time and then it was just a matter of sewing them all together and hooking a border up.  

I have to say that I loved working with the MoYa Caresse Aran Cotton, it was nice and textural and worked up fast with a 5mm hook.  The colours were all so beautiful and worked so well together all the combinations look great (well I think so anyway!) . I love that slightly washed out look of the MoYa palette, and the hand dyeing process leaves some nice subtle variations in the colours which I really like. (You can see this most in the border where there are a few rows of the same colour).

This has ended up about cot size, nice for a baby or lap blanket. 

So here's the nitty gritty: 

Pattern: My version of a Solid Granny Square (108 squares)

Yarn: MoYa Caresse Aran Cotton in 10 different colours

Hook: 5mm

Size: cot size (9 x12 squares) 

........this was when I was blocking the blanket after joining all the squares together, I thought about blocking each individual square, then decided to wait till they were all joined, it seems to have worked out ok.  It is quite a thick textured blanket, and i like the slightly puffy look to the squares....

 .....tadah!  All finished! 

....you can see how big it is all laid out on my table, not giant........

Onto the next thing now, it feels great to have something completely finished in under 6 weeks, I wonder if I can keep the momentum going and get the next one finished as quickly!  Not likely! :) 

Have a great day/night everyone, happy hooking!! 

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Solid Granny Square Pattern ( my version:) )

Hello!  How has your day been?  

Mine has been great, it's warm and sunny here, hard to have a bad day in weather like this.  :)

Today I thought I'd share the pattern I've been making recently, it's my version of a solid little granny square.  I'm sure there are heaps of patterns out there for a traditional square like this, but I want to keep a record of what I've done just in case I happen to get side tracked by some other shiny project and leave these sitting unfinished for ages. I tend to be a bit of a fickle crafter!

Ok here we go! 

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Little Woollie Solid Granny Square

(This pattern is written in US terminology.)

Material: MoYa Caresse Cotton (Aran weight)

5mm hook

Special stitch:

2dctog : Yarn over, insert hook into stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through 2 loops, yarn over and insert hook into same stitch, yarn over and pull up a loop, yarn over and pull through all loops on hook. 

------------------------------------------------------------------

Chain 4, slip stitch join to create a circle.

Round 1: Ch2, 4dc into circle, ch1, 4dc into circle, ch1, 4dc into circle, ch1, 4dc into circle, ch1, join with slip stitch to 1st dc.  Bind off.

Round 2: join new colour to any corner chain space, ch2, 3dc in same space, *1dc in next stitch, 2dctog in next stitch, 2dctog in next stitch, 1dc in next stitch, (3dc, ch1, 3dc) in corner chain space,* repeat from *to * along each side of the square, ending with 3dc, ch1 in 1st chain space. Join with a slip stitch to 1st dc.  Bind off.

Round 3: Join new colour to any stitch, ch1, sc in each stitch around, making (1sc, ch1, 1sc)  in each corner,. Join with a slip stitch to 1st sc. Bind off. 

Weave in ends.  All finished.

As you can see from the photo above, the squares benefit from some blocking to get their square shape in order. ( the one on the left hasn't been blocked yet, the one on the right was lightly blocked)

This is quite a chunky little square, I think it will make a nice sturdy blanket when I sew a heap of them all together

Anyway that's it for now, I'm off to make a few squares! 

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Dotty Flower Hexies

Hi there! 

I hope your having a great day. :) 

Today I thought I'd share a pattern that I've had tucked away for a few months, it is an extension of my Dotty Flower pattern, by adding a couple of rounds I have turned them into hexagons that can be joined and made into blankets, cushion covers or whatever you like! 

It is quick and easy and I really like how they turn out!

I'm using US terminlogy, so for Australian/UK terms, 

sc = dc, 

dc = tr, 

tr = dtr, 

dtr = trtr

(I'll pop the original flower pattern here too, to make things a bit easier.  If you want to check out the whole tutorial with photos you can find them in the original post over here.)

Dotty Flower

4 mm hook, small quantities of 8ply/DK yarn in 3 colours

Special instructions:  

2dc Cluster: Yo, insert hook in stitch, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops ( 2 loops left on hook) , yo, insert hook in same stitch, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops (3 loops left on hook) , yo and pull through all loops on hook. 

Petal Cluster: Step 1- *Yo twice, insert hook into 2 ch space, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops, yo and pull through 2 loops, leave last loop on hook ( 2 loops on hook) * .  

Repeat * to *  (3 loops on hook) 

Step 2 - Yo 3 times, insert hook in skipped stitch of round 1, yo and pull up a loop, yo and pull through 2 loops, yo and pull through 2 loops, yo and pull through 2 loops, leave last loop on hook  ( 4 loops on hook) 

Repeat Step 1 into the same 2 ch space ( 6 loops on hook) .

Step 3- Yo and pull through all loops on hook. 

Pattern: 

Chain 4, slip stitch into 1st chain to form a ring.

Round 1: ch2 (does not count as a stitch), 12 dc into ring, slip stitch join to 1st dc, fasten off. 

Round 2:  Join next colour to any stitch, ch2, make a 2dc cluster into same stitch, *ch2, skip 1 stitch, make a 2dc cluster in next stitch, * .  Repeat * to * 4 more times, to make 6 cluster, ending with 2ch and slip stitch join to 1st cluster. Fasten off.

Round 3: Join next colour to any 2ch space.  *Ch 4, make a petal cluster, ch 4, slip stitch into same 2 ch space, slip stitch into next 2ch space. *  Repeat * to * making 6 petals around the flower in the 2 ch spaces of previous round. Slip stitch into 1st space to join, fasten off and weave in all threads. 

All finished! :) 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

.....and here are the extra 2 rows: 

Dotty Flower Hexagon:

Background Rd 1: Join background colour to top of any petal, Ch1,  *3sc in same stitch in top of petal,  5tr in stitch on top of  Round 2 dots*,    Repeat * to * 5 times,  slip stitch to 1st sc. 

Background Round 2:  Ch1,  Make 1 sc in each stitch of previous round, except in the corners of the hexagon where you make 3 sc in the same stitch, ( this will be the middle stitch of 3sc in top of each petal) 

Join with slip stitch to first sc. Bind off. 

.........In this photo you can see the 5 trebles in between each petal and how it should look after the 2 rounds.

.......and here you can see the 3sc in the top of each petal in the first round.   In the final round, the corner are made by making  3sc  into the middle stitch of these 3 stitches of the first round.

So that is the Dotty Flower Hexie, I am thinking of making a couple of pillow cases for our bed with these hexies, I think it would be lovely and colourful. 

Happy days to you! 

Talk soon!