Japanese Flower Crochet Coasters

As promised, I'm back with the completed set of Japanese flower crochet coasters!

You can find out more about the yarn and pattern in this post.  I went on to make six in total so that I had every colour combination with these three bright cheerful colours.

I am so pleased with them - the colours are just so happy!

I was a bit tempted to make more and turn them into a scarf or shawl or something - but I think I've lost my momentum now... so will keep them as coasters.

Such a satisfying make!

Think that's it with the photos now... got a bit carried away!  Now... what to make next...



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Skull Doily and a Fabulous Dublin Weekend!

It's safe to say that you don't see a lot of skulls on this here blog of mine!  But when Alex (The Interior DIYer) and Kimberly (of Swoonworthy) and I made plans for a weekend in Dublin, I knew I wanted to make a little something for Alex to say thanks for putting us up.  A crocheted skull doily seemed just the ticket.

I first saw this crochet skull motif in my friend Anna's beautiful shawl here.  There was no way I was ever going to manage to crochet a whole shawl of fiddly skulls, but when I had the thought of a skull doily, I knew it was the perfect start.

I was going to study the pattern to try to figure out how to separate it into a single skull square, but luckily found this pattern which had done it for me.  (Although, looking at it, the original shawl patterns seem to be from different places, so there may be a few floating around and they may be slightly different...)

Regardless, I got to work and made a black skull square.  Interspersed with lots of comments from the Lumberjack... "What are you making?  That looks a bit racy!", "Sorry, am I interrupting your lingerie making?"... it went on.

I wanted the border to be a pretty juxtaposition against the edginess of the skull, so went for something very lacy.  After some Pinterest searching, I decided on this pattern, and it gave exactly the look I was hoping for.

I was determined it should be in Alex's favourite berry hue, so frantically searched my stash until I found some yarn in the right colour.  Things got dicey towards the end of the border...

That was all the yarn left after I made my final stitch!!!  I was actually wimpering out loud as I crocheted the final edge of the doily - I was so nervous I'd run out and have to rip it all back and start again with something different.

But all was well, and it just needed to be blocked (I obviously wove that end in too)...

One skull doily was ready to be given!

We've just had our amazing weekend in Dublin, and Alex seemed pretty pleased with the doily.

She met Kimberly and myself at the airport with these signs (and got a few odd looks while holding them)...

Brilliant!  We had such a fantastic weekend, full of constant chatter and laughter, talking nonsense about everything under the sun.  Alex's traumatised husband had to put up with a coven of giggling, screeching women for three days - that poor dear man!

Alex and I had met before, but it was the first time we had met Kimberly in person - it was safe to say we all got on like a house on fire.  In fact, we have become unhealthily dependent on each other - we'd barely separated at the airport before we started messaging each other with more nonsense!  Thanks to you both for a fantastic weekend - and to our chauffeur for ferrying us about without a word of complaint!

Crochet Hot Water Bottle Cover

I love my latest make - simple and colourful:

I've had a cover-less hot water bottle hanging around my craft room for a while, waiting to be ensconced in something warm and cosy!  I had been given it in a cover I didn't like some time ago - so I got rid of the cover with the plan of making something new.

As with a lot of these plans, time passed... but eventually I got round to it!

I've always like the way navy makes other colours pop, as in my african flower cushion, and when I saw Sew Sweet Violet's beautiful rainbow scarf, I knew I had to make something in a similar style.

This is a small hot water bottle - not the standard size - which meant less work (yay!).  I used yarn from my stash, and gorgeous funky buttons my sister-in-law and brother had given me for my birthday, so this cost nothing - just what we like!

I made up the pattern as I went along, but I'll try to explain my method in case you'd like to give it a go.

This is less a pattern, and more general guidelines that you can use for whatever size hot water bottle you have.

• Crochet a chain or chainless foundation that fits around your bottle.

• Alternate rows of dc (UK tr) in navy and rainbow colours until you reach the point where your hot water bottle starts to curve in at the neck.

• On the row when the bottle starts to curve, reduce stitches at equal positions on each side.  What worked for my bottle was to dc (UK tr) 2 st together 6 times on each side, making sure there were equal stitches between these reducing stitches.

• On the next row, I then dc (UK tr) 2 st together twice on each side (in the middle of the previous row's decreases) to continue the shaping.

• You will need to use your judgement to decrease until the curve evens out, then keeping going without increasing/decreasing until the hot water bottle starts to flare out again.  Then increase by dc (UK tr) twice into the same stitch a couple of times in each side.

• Decrease when the bottle gets smaller, increase when it gets bigger (stating the obvious!)

• Always make sure the middle of your increases and decreases are at the same spots, as these will be on the sides of your hot water bottle.  Make sure the number of stitches between each cluster of increases/decreases is the same, as these will be the front/back of your hot water bottle.

• Make your final row of stripes a navy row, and then add an additional row of navy by dc (UK tr) twice into every stitch to give a bit of flare and frill at the top.

• To make the flap at the bottom dc (UK tr) a row of stitches in navy to the bottom of your cover, but only on one side, using half the stitches that make up the round.

• dc (UK tr) another row of navy.

• To make the button holes, use the first rainbow colour you used and sc (UK dc) in every stitch except where you would like a button hole.  For a button hole space ch an appropriate number to be big enough to go over your button (it was 4 for me) and skip that number of stitches before you continue to sc (UK dc).  Space your sc and chains evenly so that your button holes are evenly spaced.

• Finish off with a row of hdc (htr) in the same colour.  Stitch into the sc of the row before, or into the chain space with the same number of stitches as chains.

• Sew your buttons on in the right place, fasten the flap with the buttons, and your hot water bottle cover is complete!

A bit of warm brightness on a cold day!

Let me know if you have any questions on how to make this.  It's a tricky one to explain as it depends on the bottle you're working with.  It's actually very simple to make once you give it a go.

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Crochet Baby Blankets

Hello!  Well, life is passing in a bit of a blur lately, and I'm not achieving much.  Everything feels very disorganised and chaotic - hopefully I'll get back on top of things soon!

But... I have managed to do the mindless (and very boring) task of sewing some ends in so that I can finally show you this blanket...

I first showed you the colourful granny squares here.  I finished this last September, apart from those pesky ends!  It's taken me all this time to get round to sewing them in, but at least I feel like I've got something done at last.

I gave all the squares a double border of white and joined as I went.  To do the final border around the lot, I used Bunny Mummy's tutorial to give a flat border for granny squares.  (Thanks Jacquie!)

And I finished off with another one of her tutorials for the double-v edging.  It was just what I wanted - simple but enough to finish it off nicely.

I always struggle to get a decent picture when I try to smooth a blanket out on the floor, but this shows it as a whole.  It's not a big blanket - good for a cot probably.  It hasn't got a use as yet, but maybe one day if I am lucky enough to spawn some young, then they can be snuggled in it!

This is the third baby/mini blanket I've made.  The first one was in my early crochet days.  I wanted to try a blanket, and a small one seemed more manageable!  (I actually didn't finish it until after my second blanket - but it was started first).  Post here.

The second blanket had a proper purpose - it was made for my gorgeous nephew, while my sister-in-law was pregnant with him.  That one had a lot of love go into it, and is my favourite!  It is the biggest - I made it a good size to last him a long time.

You can see the post here.  I used this pattern.

That's all from me today... I hope you're all having a lovely bank holiday weekend!  Over and out.