Crochet on the go

If like me you can’t go anywhere without a ball of yarn and a crochet hook, crochet on the go is a must but what to make and what to take?

Your project on the go has to be simple and easy to make without lots of different yarns and complicated patterns. Here’s what I do when travelling and crocheting, usually in a car, on a train and sometimes on a bus! I hope it helps!

1. Have one specific crochet project for making on the go, one that you can finish off later at home
2. Sometimes I simply make motifs using up yarn scraps and decide later what to use them for. I keep the yarn scraps in a large plastic container
3. Take a net bag to keep your work protected and so you can see what’s inside to make finding a specific yarn, motif or hook easier
4. Take a notepad and pen to keep track of where you are in a pattern and for the ideas and inspiration you have along the way
5. The obvious choice for a project on the go is motifs they are usually small and easily transported. They also have the benefit of been quick to complete, making them perfect for shorter journeys or on the way to and from work
6. Make sure your projects on the go are simple travelling can be full of distractions!
7. If you are using large balls of yarn rewind to make smaller ones so they are easier to transport
8. If you are making a garment just take one part to make, such as the front or back
9. You can also consider making a project with finer yarns, these are lighter and usually smaller to transport
10. Take along, as well as your yarn and crochet hook, scissors, darning needle (threaded through a piece of paper), small tape measure or folding ruler, the part of the pattern you need (photocopy to make it easier) and spare hook

Puppets Eldorado

Gone are the days when finer crochet cotton only came in white, cream and ecru! Puppets Eldorado cotton comes in a whole range of colours and sizes 6, 10, 12, 16. The traditional colours still exist but for a more contemporary look go for a darker colour. Colours range from pale pinks and blues to darker like a deep red, dark brown, black and dark green. I love the broze and gold yellow. Puppets Eldorado also has a range of lovely blends which I’ve used for my 3D flowers.

I used Puppets Eldorado number 10 for my gold table runner and number 20 for my pot pourri bags, it’s 100% cotton and lovely quality. Using a 1.75mm crochet hook the round motifs of my bronze/cream runner measure 2.5” (6.5cm). No 10 comes in 50g balls and has around 265 metres of cotton.

Use puppets Eldorado to make traditional doilies and table covers but also for delicate edgings and flower trims for summer straw hats.

I think an edging or trim using puppets Eldorado would make a lovely anniversary or wedding gift when crocheted to match bought towels.
You can buy puppets Eldorado from purpleinda crafts

My Favourite Yarns

Bergere de France Ideal

I first came across this lovely soft yarn at my local farmers market one cold autumn day in 2012. I crochet all year round, but come the autumn I love a big project for the dark and cold winter nights. A throw to cover my dining room basket chairs would be good! A basket full of colours on the stall was irresistible to me. I took home 6 balls each a different colour to experiment with.

Using a 3.25 size hook I tried out a few circular motifs and a traditional granny square, which with clever use of colours could have looked really good. But I wanted something to challenge me, so out came the books, cuttings and patterns. This is where I found the motifs I needed. http://amzn.to/1kC4tXB

I like to do projects that include challenging patterns with repetitive bits I can do when I'm tired. I tried out several motifs but these caught my eye. 

For such a big project the colours had to be right. I love autumn colours so brown, rust, copper came to my mind. Taking the dogs into the garden one day in October a bright sun lit the trees with golden yellows, deep browns and sludgy green browns. Amazingly the little stream that runs through the village and passes by our cottage sparkled a lovely bright blue in the sparkling sun. These are the colours I chose, brown, golden yellow, sludgy brown and bright blue.

Beregere de France provided the golden yellow(girolle), brown (elephant) and blue (myosotis). I love combining more than one yarn to throws and cushions it adds interest and is more fun to crochet. A bit of research online and I found a double knitting sock yarn online that had a mixed yarn that included sludgy brown and blue.

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Warmest wishes

Ann

My Flower Bag

You know how it is..... A new book of crochet patterns sets you off to a head full of ideas. This happened to me about a month ago. I have plenty of patterns for crochet flowers and patterns incorporating flowers, some of these are new and some are vintage. But its always good to see new ideas or older motifs used in new ways.

About the same time I'd also made a visit to one of my favourite wool shops 'Little Lamb' in Helmsley in North Yorkshire and rummaged in the 'odd balls' basket. I came away with some Sirdar Sunggly, Sirdar Crofter Sirdar Bamboo. The bamboo I particularly like, it has a lovely sheen.

I could instantly see how good a pattern for small flowers would look made in the bamboo. I'd chosen a rusty red colour for the bamboo, rust for the Sunggly and a blue/rust mix for he Crofter. Putting my ideas and inspiration from the new book together with the lovely Sirdar yarn and I decided to design a holdall. My reason was to have another  place for my crochet projects. I already have the shelves in my work room, a large basket with a current project or design, another basket with a commission I am working on, but you can never have enough!

I  started by creating some of the flowers and trying out the Sirdar Snuggly in double crochet (US single crochet) and borrowed a cross over treble stitch I'm using for a throw. The pattern for the holdall is now in my Ravelry store.....

The holdall was lovely to make and I spent some very relaxing warm summer evenings in the garden with the dogs.

Designing a crochet throw

What yarn to use?

• Use the best yarn you can get and afford for a better finish, bigger choice of colours, easier to work with, better dyes so better colours
• What thickness your yarn? I like double knit but the choice is yours - thinner grows more slowly but shows more definition
• Using scraps - throws are an amazing way to use up scraps of wool. If I'm doing this I like to have one or two main colours, this brings your designs together saving it from a messy finish.
• Using the same brands and mixing thicknesses. I always mix brands in throws because I like the choice of colours textures you can get. Sometimes I use sock wools for the lovely blends you get in one ball, sometimes I use them as double thickness.
• Do dye colours matter? I've only once fallen foul of dye colours. Because throws are usually multi coloured different dye lots don't usually matter. 

You don't need thousands to make something special

Work has kept me busy this week as has the garden. The weeds are growing and so is the wild garlic. The path down to the steam is filled with the heady scent of garlic as the wind gently blows through the trees and the dogs are busy rummaging in the comfrey.

As you will have noticed I've completed a few projects over the last few weeks. To be honest all but one have been unfinished projects started through the winter. I see a design on Pinterest and I have to try it, so it was with 'Sophie's Garden'. Forgetting to check the size of the finished motif I ploughed on and finished up with a large motif the size of a cushion.

Until last week I wasn't sure where I was going with it, but now you can see what I decided to do with it! And the reverse which I'm quite pleased with!

What I’m doing now

Hi crochet friends

The ripple stitch cushion I started earlier in April is finished! I made using left over wools from my big wool basket. As soon as I’d set the cushion on the window seat next to my patchwork crochet cushion I realised that many of the colours I’d used for the ripple stitch cushion where in the patchwork cushion. Even though the designs are completely different using some of the same colours means the two cushions  look lovely together.

With nothing to crochet on a rainy afternoon in May, I looked in my wool basket . There were  numerous odd balls of different coloured wool  so I settled to use them all up. I rummaged around and some of the same colours as the patchwork and ripple stitch cushion where there with a few more shades. So I decided to make a couple of cushions in different designs using the same colours.

The cushions are for the lounge. For so long I’ve been making stuff for everyone else I thought it was time for me. I get bored with one design so all the cushions will be different but the colours of each will all tie together.  As always colour combinations make the design effect completely different.

The lounge of our cottage can be quite dark, but my favourite part of the lounge, the big Georgian window that looks out onto the front lawn brings afternoon sun in. Under the window we have a large chest that  Sam the dog loves to sit on.

Back to the cupboard next to the fireplace where I keep my crochet books, but no ideas jumped out. On to Pinterest where I found the ‘circle of friends’ motif in various colour ways. It's an unusual pattern as it looks good on both the 'right' and the 'wrong' side.

When the showers stopped I went into the garden with the dogs and we sat on the covered seat and I began to make the first motif. I have been crocheting for many years but I don't usually get the first motif right. A few goes before I got the colour combinations I wanted.

I know that most people make all the motifs first and pile them up neatly but this drives me mad. I have to see what the finished item will look like or at least get some idea. In the past this has saved me time as I have either discovered faults with my design or I don't like the finished result. When I had made four motifs of the circle of friends complete I stitched them together.

It looks quite good, but somehow lacks that extra bit of sparkle I like, so I am going to crochet an edging around it, using some of the colours in the motifs. One colour per row and I think I'll either do a raised shell or a raised double crochet border.

After a perfect afternoon in the garden the first butterfly I'd seen this year flew across the comfrey plants.....

Follow Everything Crochet's board My crochet projects on Pinterest.

Rainbow colours

Hi Crochet friends

I wonder why it is that when we think of nature we think of subtle and subdued colours? Looking out of the cottage window on a sunny day this spring the new grass in the field is vivid green.   Bright yellow celandines give the grass a hazy gold look. The new growth on the trees is lime green and the sky is bright blue.  The contrast of brilliant white blossom on the damson tree is anything but subtle!

It's not so long ago when bright coloured crochet blankets were made up of fluorescent coloured granny squares that gave crochet a bad name! Thankfully now wools and yarns give us quality, variety and a fantastic range of colours to choose from subtle to bright. Rainbow colours to turn a simple motif into a lovely bright design. And who doesn't on a dark gloomy day love to dive into a basket of rainbow coloured yarn.

To make something with rainbow colours you need a good spread of colours and they definitely work better when you use the same brand as the dyes work better together and this will show in your final design. If you are looking for rainbow yarn in one ball, sock yarns are a good choice and create interesting results.

Bright colours work well in motifs whether made in the round or in rows and are lovely used with ripple stitches when you can create lots of effects.

From a simple granny square to a more complicated motif, you can use close shades together, contrasts or pick one colour to feature a row of textured stitches.

Don't restrict your rainbow colours to standard double knitting yarn, there are so many wonderful choices from artisan spinners to bigger brands and retailers such as Deramores, Bergere de France and West Yorkshire spinners. Bigger brands and artisan spinners can give you a range of rainbow yarns - some wispy some and others with silk and mohair added. 

A plea to you! Whatever you make always use the best yarn you can afford. Quality yarn is easier to crochet with, the colours are better and the finished item that you have spent so much time making will have a quality finish.

For so many years I've used subtle colours to create throws and cushions, this really fought against my nature as I've always loved bright colours. My favourite winter throw always cheers me when its cold and dark, but I also love rainbow coloured throws and cushions set on the bench in my garden in the summer.

On warm summer evenings  watching the dogs rootling around the garden and paddling in the stream that runs along the bottom of the garden, listening to the birds and relaxing after a busy day. Not forgetting my basket of wool, crochet hook and tablet for ideas!

This post is my submission to the Deramores Craft Blog Competition 2015. Deramores is the UK’s number one online retailer of knitting and crochet supplies. Visit www.deramores.com for more details. 

Big Motifs

What makes you smile?

For me it's a big basket of wool, a crochet hook and a head full of ideas. Just lately I've fallen in love with big motifs which I've seen in growing numbers on Pinterest and Ravelry. Is it my imagination, or are crochet motifs themselves growing bigger year on year.Thanks to the internet and sites like Pinterest and Ravelry there is an endless source of inspiration and talented  crocheters from around the world  to get ideas from.

When I make small motifs I seem to finish up with them drifting around.  I've found them in the bottom of my work basket, down the side of the settee and in the dogs basket. Not so with big motifs.

Why do I love big motifs?

• They have Impact
• You have more scope to use textured stitches
• There is more scope to use clever colour combinations for more impact
• There is more room for creativity

Big motifs don't have to be made using a complicated design. I've made them using a standard granny square and combined them in various ways to make bigger motifs. Using one main colour for example gives your finished design much more impact. 

And while growing a small motif is fine and can be effective as with the patchwork cushion to my mind a big motif should be more than a small motif with added rows. 

Not all big motifs have to be created in the round, using rows to create a big motif can just as satisfying and creative and you can use them to make more structured designs. Using colours creatively can make modern and interesting designs for cushions and throws. 

This big cushion is made up of 9 big motifs, all worked in rows.

Who says you can't square a circle?

There is something satisfying in starting with a circle and turning it into a square. A full sized project can get tedious, but using big motifs you soon get the satisfaction of completing something lovely in its own right. Big motifs also have one tremendous advantage over small motifs. Cushions and throws grow more quickly. Four or six large motifs can make one side of a cushion.

Follow Everything Crochet's board Big Crochet Motifs on Pinterest.

This post is my submission to the Deramores Craft Blog Competition 2015. Deramores is the UK’s number one online retailer of knitting and crochet supplies. Visit www.deramores.com for more details.