Red, White and Blue Granny Square Blanket - Ta dah!

I am extremely pleased to announce that the red, white and blue granny square crochet blanket is finished! That's right - finshed; completed; done!  It's been a long old slog and at times I wondered if it would ever get done, but now it's lying on my eldest's bed after being a WIP for almost four years.

Aug 2012

The blanket started life in August 2012 amid the fervour of the Queen's Jubilee and the London Olympics (hence the patriotic colour scheme).

After playing around with the layout I decided on a design inspired by a patchwork quilt.

The granny square centres crocheted up pretty quickly but as I added the outer rounds the project stalled again and again. You see, I'm impatient. My eye is constantly darting from one thing to the next; so many pretty patterns, so many different yarns, so many colours and so little time to fit it all in. I didn't want to spend ALL of my time on this one project because then it would be months before I could try anything new. MONTHS! So it got shelved, abandoned, forgotton - repeatedly. Every now and again I'd remember my poor, unfinished crochet blanket and work on it diligently for a week or two before losing interest all over again.

Nov 2014

Nov 2014

Jan 2015

April 2015

Dec 2015

Jan 2016

But then there were fewer and fewer gaps, and the end was tantalisingly within sight. Then one day the last of the blue squares was completed and there was a blanket! Almost. I could have finished there but it didn't look quite right; it needed a proper edge so I pushed through the inertia and gave it a simple two rounds of treble crochet. Nothing fancy, just get it done.  And then finally, the weaving in.  After the nightmare of ends that I was faced with after the crochet baby blanket, this was almost a pleasure. Little by little, block by block, the ends disappeared from the back of the blanket until on the evening of 20th May 2016 I was able to say "Ta-dah!!!".

It's finished!

Where it belongs - at last!

Needless to say there was a HUGE sigh of satisfaction and much happy dancing. My eldest scooped it up with delight and wrapped himself up in it like a caterpillar in a cocoon. That was probably the best moment. It is now draped over his top bunk and he loves to lie on it and under it.

WIP Wednesday

The RWB blanket is tantalisingly close to completion!

Since taking the picture there are only 2 squares left to fill in. Then it's a case of edging (or not, haven't decided yet) and darning in ends. So close!

Finished Friday - Petals to Picot Mandala

Way back in July I posted about starting a mandala to take part in the #MandalasforMarinke project being organised by Kathryn of the blog Crochet Concupiscence.  Well I finished it, and even managed to send it to her before the deadline, but I just realised that I haven't shown the finished piece.  So here it is:

It' so pretty!  I said that I would make another but I haven't gotten around to it.  With Christmas just around the corner though, I'm thinking that it would make a lovely gift.

WIP Wednesday

It was almost a year ago that I wrote a post for WIP Wednesday where I introduced my long-neglected red, white and blue blanket (RWBB). Well, I fell off that wagon in a pretty big way! But I'm pleased to say I've gotten back on and RWBB is back in progress.  I haven't got a picture, but I've made a bit of progress filling in the gaps.  I'm aiming for one section a day, but then I've said that before...

I've been slowly working on my Christmas crafts.  I found this cross stitch kit that's been buried since 2011 according to the date of the Cross Stitcher magazine!  I always forget just how much time it takes to do even a simple cross stitch motif, but the results are always pleasing.

It's finished!

Well, first of all hello after an almost 3-month break 👋. Many of my recent blog posts seem to start with an observation about how much time has passed since my last post, but it's true! The school holidays were always going to be slow from a crafting perspective - lots of time spent away from home camping, making day trips and visiting family.  It was pretty hectic.  It's been about 5 weeks since the kids started back at school and I'm only just feeling like things are settling down again.

But enough about all that. I have exciting news.  The baby blanket, the one I started back in February, is finished 😁! That's right, finished.. done... completed. And even better, I was able to hand it over to the intended recipient on Saturday 👊.

I can't tell you how pleased I am to be able to say that.  The whole finishing process seemed painfully slow and soooo boring at times, which is why I went long periods of time when I didn't even want to look at it, but I learned a valuable lesson about crochet blanket-making.  The lazy crafter in me declared that I would NEVER make another blanket with lots of colour changes ever again! But I think that if I had darned in the ends periodically, after every five squares or after every row for example, it would have resulted in a much more pleasurable process.

There's nothing quite like finishing a project is there?

WIP Wednesday

Wow, it's been 2 months since my last post!  I can't believe it's been so long.  It seems like every time I sat down to write a post it was no longer Wednesday. Because it's been so long I'm a little bit embarrassed about how little progress I've made on the baby blanket (yes, it's still a WIP) but here goes.

I've edged the blanket with a single row of treble crochet in sandstone followed by a single row each of yellow, terracotta and turquoise in double crochet.  I decided to keep it simple.  Then I began the arduous task of weaving in all the ends and that's where the whole thing has come to a halt.  If you look closely at the picture you can see that there are some 'clean' squares but there are still a lot of ends to weave in.  I haven't been giving it much of my attention because I find it so dull, but now that I've outed myself maybe it will give me renewed impetus.

The other thing I've just started is a mandala for the #MandalasforMarinke project.  For those of you who don't know, Marinke, a.k.a. Wink, was a crochet blogger (from A Creative Being) who died at the end of June.  She had been living with depression and sadly took her life. I was really affected the day I heard as were hundreds of others.  Kathryn, of the blog Crochet Concupiscence decided to set up #MandalasForMarinke, where she has invited crocheters across the globe to crochet one of Wink's mandalas (or any item that they like) and send them to her for a collaborative art project, partly as a way to honour Wink's memory and partly to help raise awareness about depression.    I have chosen the mandala from Issue 7 of Simply Crochet Magazine.  If you'd like to know more, please visit her blog.

WIP Wednesday

Baby Blanket
Well, it looks like a blanket!  All the strips have been crocheted together and I've started putting a border around the edge.

I've gone for a simple treble crochet border.

I'm not quite sure yet whether to do multi-coloured rows (matching the blanket colours) or  to go with a plain border.  As it's a baby blanket I'm leaning towards multi-coloured.  Any thoughts?

I'm dreading weaving in the ends.  There are so many.  Next blanket I make from scratch is going to be monochromatic!

WIP Wednesday

I'm writing this on a coach home from London. I love being a passenger on long journeys. Lots of time to crochet!

The baby blanket is taking shape. 8 of the 9 strips have been completed. I would have done all 9 but I was missing a couple of squares. Must have miscounted somewhere along the way. Anyway, I've started joining the strips together, but it looks like more yarn will be needed! So much for stash-busting.

No other progress to report, but I quite fancy doing some embroidery. It's been a while.

WIP Wednesday

Well, I've certainly fallen out of this blogging lark! Once you get out of the habit it's really hard to get back in.  That's not to say I haven't been making anything, but I'm really enjoying cardmaking at the moment, which means only occasional forays into needlework.

Anyway on to the WIPs in question:

Red, white and blue crochet blanket

Very little progress to report here. I've completed all of the white-edged squares and have started filling in the gaps with blue.  Still quite a few to go though.

Progress has been slow for a very good reason...

...I started a new blanket! I know, I know, but this one is special as it's to be a gift for my husband's cousin who just had a baby about a month ago. I've made really good progress considering how long the RWB blanket has been under construction.

The blanket will be a very generous 1 and a bit metres by 90cm, so hopefully baby won't outgrow it too soon. That's 10 x 9 rows of granny squares.  I've crocheted all 90 and am now joining the squares together:

I also found lots of other UFOs, which should give me plenty of fodder for future WIP Wednesday posts!

WIP Wednesday

I've made some progress on the RWB crochet blanket.  Not much, but it's progress! Four blocks have been edged in white, and two of those have been joined to the main blanket.  Apologies for the train track in the photo. I was under strict instructions not to dismantle it!

I feel like I also need to mention this Advent calendar. I started it during Advent last year (that's so me) and am in danger of not finishing it in time for this year. It looks a bit odd because it's pinned in a funny way.

WIP Wednesday

Every Tuesday I remind myself to put up a WIP post on Wednesday, and then every Thursday I slap my forehead in frustration because I forgot.  But not this week! I have waaaaaay too many projects on the go that have been lingering for far too long. I'm hoping that by making WIP Wednesday a regular feature on the blog that I'll actually make some progress.

My first WIP is my red, white and blue crochet blanket.  I started this in 2012 amid the patriotic fervour of the royal wedding, the Queen's Jubilee and the Olympics in London, hence the colour choice.  More than two years later it's still in progress.  It spent most of that time at the bottom of a big bag of other half finished projects.  But I would love to have this done before winter is out to put on my eldest's bed.  I need to put a white border around the remaining squares and join them to the main blanket.  Then fill in the holes with blue.

I think I'll leave it there for now. Blogger's playing up, I can't find the photos I'm looking for and it's time to get the kids!  To see what other WIPs are out there head over to Pin Tangle for a nose.

Crocheted Flower Bookmark

This post has been republished as the original mysteriously disappeared!

Hello everyone - blog stop tourists, current readers and new visitors too! Thank you for stopping  by.  I love a bit of needlework - mainly sewing, embroidery and crochet, though lately crochet has been dominating my craft time.  So today I'm sharing a crochet tutorial for pretty flower bookmarks.  But don't rush off if you don't crochet,scroll down for a really simple, but pretty envelope packaging idea, and I've got a few things to give away too!

E-readers are great, but for me nothing compares with holding a real live book in my hands.  I came across some crocheted flower bookmarks on Pinterest and thought it was such a lovely way to mark a page.  So then of course I had to come up with my own version.  I made a few as end of year gifts for my son's teachers so hopefully there are no mistakes in the pattern! It's quick to make up and a great way to use up yarn scraps. So anyway, here's how to make one of your own:

FLOWER BOOKMARK

Note - I'm using UK crochet terms, but here is a quick UK-US translation:
UK                                     US
Slip Stich (sl st)                   Slip Stitch (sl st)
Double Crochet (dc)             Single Crochet (sc)
Treble Crochet (tr)               Double Crochet (dc)

YOU WILL NEED

• DK Yarn in two colours. I used James C Brett Cotton On shades C05 (pink) and C012 (green).
• A 4mm hook
• A button, about 15mm
• Tapestry needle

STEM

1. With the first colour chain (ch) 42 (image 1). Slip stitch (sl st) into 3rd chain from hook to make a small ring (image 2). Fasten off, leaving a long tail.
2. Cut 3 10cm lengths of yarn.
3. Fold them in half and pull the loop about half way through the back loop of first ch of the ch42 (images 3 and 4).
4. Take the ends and pass those through the loop, then pull to form a tassel (image 5). 
5. Trim the ends to the same length.

FLOWER
With the second colour:

1. Sl st into the ring you made in step 1 of the stem. *Dc into ring, ch4* five times. Sl st into first dc (image 1).
2. *6tr into ch4 space. Sl st into next dc. Rep from * 4 times (image 2).
3. Turn the flower over. Ch 2. 
4. *Dc over the post separating the two petals (image 3). Ch 6* five times (image 4).
5. Sl st into first dc. Turn.
6. *10tr into ch6 space. Sl st into next dc. Rep from * 4 times (image 5).
7. Fasten off.

TO FINISH
Using the tail from the stem, sew a button to the centre of the flower.  Weave in all remaining ends (image 6).

PAPER ENVELOPE

If you make one of these bookmarks as a gift, or if you are looking for a nice way to package a small (flattish) gift, then these easy envelopes are ideal.  Use plain or patterned paper.  You can get some free printable papers from here.  This really is so easy it hardly deserves a write-up, but the result does look nice.

YOU WILL NEED

• A sheet of paper. (I've used A4)
• Sticky tape / Washi tape / Fabric tape

ENVELOPE

1. If using an A4 sheet, fold it in half lining up the long edges.
2. Cut along the fold to give you two strips (image 1).
3. Take one strip and fold it from the bottom so that there is 1-inch/2.5cm left at the top (image 2).
4. Cut a piece of tape the same length as one of the open folded sides, not including the 1-inch/2.5cm at the top. 
5. Position the tape so that half of it is on the paper and half of it is overhanging (image 3).
6. Fold the tape over to the other side of the envelope to seal the opening (image 4).
7. Repeat on the other side.
8. Use a small piece of tape to seal the envelope shut.

(Apologies if some of the photos are a little unclear. The Washi tape I ordered did not arrive in time for this post :( and all I had was clear sticky tape!)

OK, and now to the giveaways! I have:

• three crocheted flower bookmarks, 
• one kit to make your own bookmarks (containing a 4mm crochet hook, enough yarn to make 3 bookmarks, buttons, a tapestry needle and printed instructions) and 
• a roll of Washi tape  (pictured below) 

  

  (image: PrettyTape)

up for grabs.  To enter just leave a comment saying which giveaway you want to enter (it's OK to enter all 3). For an extra chance to win, like the Berry Bakewell Facebook Page then come back here and leave a comment telling me you've done that.  The giveaway is open to everyone, worldwide and will close at midnight (UK time) 22nd August.

I hope you've enjoyed your visit, and hope to see you again :-)

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Finished Friday - Crocheted Flower Hair Clips

I've been so busy in the last couple of months that I've neglected my flower hair clips and the Folksy shop is looking a little bare. I've had several single flowers lying around for a while but hadn't gotten around to assembling the layered flower with button centre and then attaching it to a hair clip. But a recent bout of productivity spurred on by some commissions from my neighbour (I wish I had more neighbours like her!) means that I now have a few new crocheted flower hair clips to list.

I particularly like the green and pink. 

Which is your favourite?

Finished Friday

You've probably heard of Work In Progress (WIP) Wednesday. Well, this is Finished Friday - a place to celebrate those finished projects. Yay! There's nothing quite like putting your needle or hook down and sitting back to admire your handiwork.

My first Finished Friday is these adorable crochet baby sneakers (pattern from Mon Petit Violon), which I made for my husband's nephew's new baby boy (is there such a thing as a great-nephew-in-law?).  Aren't they sweet?  What have you finished lately?

Inspired by Pinterest - Crocheted Flower Bookmark

I saw some lovely crocheted flower bookmarks on Pinterest and I decided to make my own version. Mine is much simpler - the flower is much less ornate and I left out the leaves - but still pretty I think. I've used DK yarn (Rico Essentials cotton) and a 4mm hook, and I sewed a button to the centre (to hide the rather messy colour change!).

What do you think?  I made it up as I went along so I'm going to make another one and make a note of the pattern so that I can post a tutorial.

Wear Flowers in Your Hair

Last year I opened a shop on Folksy, but it was a bit of a half-hearted affair.  So at the start of this yuear I decided to make more of an effort to fill it and promote it.  It's slow going with all the other things that I've got going on, but slowly but surely I'm getting it together.

My mum used to sell costume jewellery, some of which she made up herself, and during a clear out of her garage she found a HUGE stash of plain metal hair clips in pristine condition, which she donated to me.  Well, they were just crying out for a bit of embellishment and so I accepted the challenge to make them pretty!  I love flowers, and crocheting them so that seemed like a good place to start.  This is what I've done so far (+ a pincushion):

Berry Bakewell on Folksy

What do you think of my crocheted flower hair clips?  I like them, and have actually diverted a couple from the shop for my own use (not a good business model!).  9 down, about 300 to go!

2012

It's customary at this time of year to recap the year gone by. From a crafty point of view it's been an excellent year for me mainly because I've moved from just thinking about being creative and making to actually producing and finishing lots of things. I started the year totally obsessed with crochet but towards the middle of the year I got back into sewing and later on, embroidery. 

Right at the start of the year I signed up to the Granny-a-day crochet challenge set by Ali with the hope that it would encourage me to get making, but I soon fell behind and never really caught up. In hindsight I think it would have helped if I'd had a project in mind at the start as producing random granny squares with no plan soon lost its appeal. Also I found the daily challenge a bit stifling after a while. But I did manage to produce a few pretty things, both granny square-related and otherwise.

I also started going to a sewing class which rekindled my love of sewing. An unfortunate side-effect is that it has also rekindled my fabric addiction!

In September I came across the Take A Stitch Tuesday (TAST) embroidery challenge on Pin Tangle and fell in love with it. Embroidery is a skill I really want to develop and I loved the process of learning a new stitch, then thinking of a way to use it and also seeing what everyone else came up with.  Some of the creations were really inspiring.  I missed the last few weeks of the challenge, but fully intend to catch up, and to take part again next year.  The format will be a bit different, but should still be fun and interesting.

Overall I've learnt a lot this year, picked up a few new skills and honed a few old ones. I think I've achieved most of my sewing aspirations for the year, apart from using up my fabric stash, which has instead grown to epic proportions!  I'm looking forward to getting more creative (and productive) in 2013.  How has your 2012 craft journey been?

Crochet Christmas Stars

I found some crochet star motifs in my needlecrafts book and after a bit of an impulsive purchase of Anchor metallic yarn I thought I'd try one of them out.

It looks great!  The metallic yarn works beautifully.  I think it will make a lovely Christmas decoration.  I added a loop at the top, then after blocking it, I painted it with silver glitter paint and PVA to stiffen it.  I can't wait to hang them up around the house.

Teeny Tiny Crochet

I am going through a bit of an elephant phase at the moment.  There are so many creative depictions of them, from the adorable to the beautiful.  I came across this on Etsy via Twitter:

Photo courtesy of Suami (Etsy)

It's a teeny tiny crocheted elephant that's only 1.5cm (0.6in) tall.  How incredible is that?!  I can only imagine the dexterity and patience needed to make something like that.  But then, while checking out the elephant, I discovered that the shop is filled with hundreds of other miniature crocheted animals and objects.  

All images courtesy of Suami (Etsy)

They are collectors items so don't come cheap, but even if you're not in a buying mood it's well worth a visit to admire the craftsmanship and make you smile.

Granny A Day - Week 40

My red, white and blue blanket is starting to take form. Thankfully I decided to have a go at joining a couple of squares, because I found out that I'll need to join the squares in as I go during the white round as well as the outer blue rounds to avoid some REALLY fiddly sewing up afterwards.  Just a sneaky peek so that I can do a big reveal later ;)

I also managed to add a couple of rows to the baby blanket enlargement project.  I need to pick up the pace a bit as the weather's turned cold recently.