TAST Week 41 - Knotted Loop Stitch

After a failed attempt at using the Knotted Loop Stitch for windmill sails, I thought that the stitch would be perfect for the leafy fronds of a palm tree.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out, especially the trunk.  I used Jannlyn DFN threads. They are quite chunky, which has given the piece a lovely textural quality.

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.

TAST 40 - Beaded Hedebo Edge Stitch

This week's stitch is the Beaded Hedebo Edge stitch.  Go over to Pin Tangle for a description of how it's done.
In a flash of inspiration I thought that the stitch would look great worked in metallic thread as tinsel on a Christmas tree, so that is my offering.
The end result isn't as good as I envisaged.  As I didn't have beads I thought that buttons could work, but I think the ones I used are slightly too big for the tree; and I haven't got the hang of French Knots, which were also supposed to take the place of some of the beads.  The metallic thread was a little tricky to work with as it was difficult to keep all the strands together.  But having said that I think it's a fair effort and I might have another go at it. I think it would be cute on the front of a Christmas card.

Granny A Day - Week 39

After deciding on a design for my blanket, the project took a bit of a detour when I decided that mostly white probably wasn't a practical colour for a blanket that would get used a lot (especially in this house), rather than being mostly decorative.  So I settled on mostly blue, but then changed my mind about the design. After much crocheting and unravelling of a test square, I've finally settled on the new design. I'm turning the centres through 45 degrees, so the finished blanket should have multi-coloured diamonds interspersed with solid blue diamonds, giving it a quilty/patchwork look.  The good thing is that I can still use all the centres that I'd already made, and as the squares are going to be a little bit bigger I might get away with making fewer.

Take A Stich Tuesday (TAST) - Week 39

I've been following TAST over on Sharon B's blog Pintangle for a while, but this is the first time that I've decided to join in. Until recently my embroidery stitch knowledge consisted of chain, blanket or buttonhole, satin, running and back stitches, so this is a fun way to learn new stitches and will encourage me to create something instead of just thinking about it.

This week's stitch is Knotted Buttonhole stitch (sometimes called German Knotted Buttonhole) and my offering is a very simple mini sampler.

Granny A Day - Weeks 35 and 36

The last 3 weeks of the school holidays were manic! But while we were away on holiday I got my Granny-A-Day mojo back. I've known that I wanted to make a red, white and blue blanket ever since I finished a scarf for baby boy in that colour scheme, but never got around to doing anything about it apart from buying the yarn. I always work best when I have a clear plan laid out, so I sat down and worked out a block arrangement, and the crochet flowed easily.

The blocks will have a 3-row granny square at the centre in solid red, white or blue, surrounded by 3 rows in red or blue, surrounded by 3 rows in white, and I plan to make it 8x8 blocks which should give a nice man-sized blanket. So far I've made 48 out of the 64 centres that I need. I'm really looking forward to seeing it finished.

Sweet and Simple Girls Outfit

I've been picking up bits and pieces of fabric for years. Always with the intention of making something with it of course, but a recent sort through revealed some pieces that were coming up to being 20 years old! In the meantime, before the summer holidays I started going to sewing classes and every week we had to bring in a project to work on in the class. So presented with the perfect opportunity I finally got around to using up some of that near-vintage fabric in a simple skirt and matching top for my niece.

The skirt is a very simple gathered skirt with elasticated waist made by sewing two rectangles together and making a casing for the elastic waistband. There are numerous tutorials for this type of skirt online. The top is my version of the Endora Top that I saw on the Simple Simon & Co. blog. Another super simple, but stylish pattern. I added a black lace trim and used black flower buttons to liven up the plain fabric and to echo the black in the skirt fabric.

Forgive the poor photos, but my model was rather less than willing at the time.

Patchwork Pencil Case

I saw this type of patchwork pencil case on A Spoonful of Sugar's blog and in issue 21 of Making Magazine.  They're so pretty and a great way to use up fabric scraps. This is my version.  Isn't the owl fabric cute?  The denim has been recycled from a pair of old jeans.

Crochet Flower Headband

I made this headband for my niece. It was really simple and looked very pretty on. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to take a picture so you'll just have to take my word for it ;-)

This is my first attempt at writing a pattern/tutorial! I hope it's correct.

Edit: Use whatever yarn/hook combination you like. The pictured headband was made using Rico Creative Cotton Aran and a 5mm hook.

Ch - chain
Dc - double crochet (US single crochet)
Tr - treble crochet (US double crochet)
Htr - half treble crochet (US half double crochet
Dtr - double treble crochet (US treble crochet)
Sl st - slip stitch

The headband is made in rows widthways instead of in a round, so:
1. ch 7, tr into 4th chain from hook, tr in the remaining 3 st.  Turn.
2. *Ch 2. tr in next 4 st.*
3. Repeat from * until the desired length has been achieved. The headband will stretch slightly so make it a good 1 inch / 2.5cm smaller than the head measurement. (For my 3 yr old niece I made 42 rows. Edit: that was actually way too big once it had stretched. 38 rows or so would have been enough. I just made one for myself and did 44 rows. It's quite a snug fit but I've recently discovered that I have a freakishly large head! But that's another story.)
4. Join the two ends: *ch 1, sl st through bottom loop of 1 tr and top loop of adjoining tr*. Repeat * another 4 times. Fasten off.
For a wider or narrower headband increase or decrease the number of foundation chains.

To make the flower:
1. (Leave a long tail and use that to attach the flower to the headband.) Ch 4. Sl st into 1st ch to form a ring.
2. 12 dc into ring. Sl st into 1st dc.
3. Ch 2 (counts as 1 htr). Htr in next st, ch 3, *htr in next 2 st, ch 3* 5 times. Sl st into 2nd ch of ch 2.
4. Ch 1. *Dc, htr, tr, dtr, ch 1, dtr, tr,htr,dc into next ch 3 space* 5 times. Dc, htr, tr, dtr, ch 1, dtr, tr,htr into next ch 3 sp. Sl st into ch 1 to complete round. Fasten off.

If you like, embellish the flower with a pretty button in the centre, or make the flower in a contrasting colour to the headband, or make more than one flower and layer them, offsetting the petals.
Sew the flower to the headband and sew in any loose ends. Et voila!  :-)

Colour Inspiration - Picture Postcard Summer's Day

Have you ever looked up at some trees on a summery day and thought how pretty the green leaves looked against the lovely sky blue and cotton wool clouds?  Or just how perfect the typical view of the English countryside, with its rolling green hills occasionally interrupted by a sea of yellow oil seed rape, looks in the summer?

So I thought that those colours would work perfectly together in a crochet or fabric project.  As it happens I have those very colours sitting in my yarn stash.  Don't they look great together?

The only thing missing is a project to use them in.  I can't think what to make!  Any suggestions?