Crocheted i-cord

I belong to a group on Facebook called Creative Crochet Crew and I find lots of interesting tips and patterns on there. My latest find was a link to a YouTube video on how to make a crocheted i-cord. It is so easy. Amazing! Here it is:

 Crochet an i-cord

It is by a lady called Clare of BobWilson123 and there is also an interesting crochet blog which you can find here:

 BobWilson123 blog

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!

Well I never did! It's a cat!

This is the oddest thing. I am just designing a new crochet applique pattern called Fat Cat and this afternoon what walked into my house but a black and white cat. He/she is very friendly and cared for but was obviously extremely hungry. I've (foolishly) given it some meat and now it is going fast asleep on a towel on my sofa. It's only been in for an hour!!

Now what would you do? I have put his photo on Facebook and am hoping somone will claim him. I suppose he makes a good model for my pattern!

Look what has just arrived!

Lovely jubbly! Lots of Tunisian crochet hooks to experiment with.

For my first project with Tunisian crochet I am making myself a pair of fingerless mitts Couldn't be easier, you are thinking? Well, I've completed one of them and made three obvious mistakes already. But I'm learning fast and that's the whole point of this exercise.

Once I speed up with this technique, I think I shall enjoy this method of creating fabric. It certainly has a different texture and 'hang' to it than either knitted or crocheted fabric - perhaps somewhere in between.

I have always held my crochet hook like a pencil but with Tunisian crochet hooks I have had to change to holding it like a knife. That's a new development in itself and it will be interesting to see if I make the switch when I go back to some 'ordinary' crochet projects.

In the meantime, here are a few links that this novice has found helpful:

Tunisian Crochet Simple Stitch

Fingerless gloves
Fingerless mitts

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

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Am I allowed to talk about Christmas in September? I keep finding patterns for small Christmas tokens, tree hangings etc. that I want to try out. I've decided to experiment a little on some of them.

Here is a picture of some Santa heads I am currently busy on as tree decorations. It is a custom order from a friend for 27 of these. Yes, you read that correctly. That's twenty-seven!

The pattern is a slight modification of one I found on someon's blog but, although I copied the pattern to a Word document, I clean forgot to add the website. My apologies go to whoever designed the original and if anyone knows who it was then please let me know and I will change this post to credit them.

I'm not at all happy with the face yet. Any ideas?

Work in Progress

My WIP at the moment (well, one of them if I'm honest) is a simple granny square bag.  I am crocheting with Sirdar Montana yarn with a 4 mm hook and it is coming out beautifully.  Quite zany, really! I'll post a picture of the finished bag soon.

It's great to be doing something that does not require too much thought and I can just rattle through. A lovely rest from trying to design a new pattern. I'm planning to line it in dark brown so have photographed it on a brown cushion to show the effect.

What are you working on at the moment?