Gift cards for Christmas - presenting them well

I know this is a crochet blog, but I also like to do a little knitting on and off. One of my free patterns on Craftsy that seems to go well is this knitted Gift Card Holder. Giving gift cards can sometimes seem a little impersonal. So why not make yours stand out with this hand-knitted gift card holder?

Topped off with a button, it can be used as a store card holder after the gift is bought. The yarn I used for this project was James C Brett 'Aztec' which is 90% acrylic and 10% alpaca. Lovely and soft!

Totally Loopy Flower

Here is my latest flower applique design - the Totally Loopy Flower! I was away for a few days break and in my spare time was playing around with this till it came out looking OK. It would be great sewn onto a girl's hat or bag, particularly if a face were embroidered on it.

My WIPs (works in progress) are mounting up as I keep getting waylaid with small projects like this instead of assembling the two bags I have crocheted but not finished off. Does anyone else suffer from this ailment?

This pattern is also available on Craftsy.

Totally Loopy Flower

UK terms

Materials

Double knit yarn in three colours of your choice

4mm crochet hook

Size

3 ¾ inches diameter

Instructions

4mm crochet hook. DK yarn

Make a magic circle.

Row 1: With Colour A:
10 tr in magic circle. Close circle by pulling on yarn tail. Join with slip stitch in Colour B. Pull yarn tail tightly.

Row 2:  With Colour B:
1 ch. 2 dc in each stitch. Join with slip stitch in Colour C. (20 stitches)

Row 3:  With Colour C:
(9 ch. 1 dc in same stitch. Slip stitch into next stitch)*.  Repeat * around the flower to last stitch.
9 ch. 1 dc in same stitch. Slip stitch into base of first loop.

Finish off and weave in ends.

NB. When changing colour and starting a new row, ensure you pull the new colour through on the very last pull-through of the previous row to prevent the previous colour bleeding into the new row.

I hope you enjoy this pattern. If you find any mistakes in it, please let me know. Thank you.

Kath

Finished at last!

Ah-ha! I've finished the bag I was crocheting for a friend's birthday with two days to spare. Here's a picture of it...

I'm pleased with the result, especially as it is my own design both for the bag and flower. I have posted the pattern on Ravelry and Craftsy.

Now to move onto something else. Mm.mm.mm.mm... but what?

Picot-Picot Flower

It's bucketing down with rain outside, so I need no further excuse to get out the hook and yarn. Onward and upward with the string bag!

Yesterday I posted a pattern of my Picot-Picot Flower on Craftsy. It is made up of loads of picots - some of them picots on top of picots - and it also involves some crocheting around posts if you want to try your hand at that. I got a little bored with the string bag chains and took some time off to design this so that I can stitch it to the bag when it is complete.

Source: Picot-Picot Flower via Kath Williamson on Craftsy

So who am I? And why By Hook or By Crook?

I'm a retired IT consultant who has gone back to my first love of knitting and crochet - well, mostly crochet, really. And that's what this blog is about. Crochet, and how I'm growing with it and it's growing with me.

The crook bit? Ah, now, that's something different. As well as being a retired IT consultant I am also a retired clergywoman in the Church of England. So it seemed appropriate. You know, shepherds and sheep and all that!

Playing about with yarn

What am I working on at the moment? Well, I'm currently experimenting with different yarns and hooks but also, at the same time, I'm in the process of crocheting a string bag for a friend's birthday.  Not just any string bag, of course! A purple string bag in a boat shape. I'll be writing the pattern up as I go and posting it later on the three places I frequent - Ravelry, Folksy and Craftsy. Oh, and here now, of course.

So back to the experimenting...