Three Small Things - blanket, beanie, curly worm

<<< I bought 2m of this warm brown fleece last winter from Lincraft, thinking I could make myself a skirt or wrap dress which I didn't end up doing. So the other day I cut it in half, and then one half was cut in half again to make a 80x80cm square. I then edged it with blanket stitch in a contrasting blue cotton. I didn't do so well when I needed to sew in more thread. I'm sure there is a trick to it, I just don't know it. This is like the material the blankets are made of, and the nurses hospital are using these not crochet rugs which have been donated. But I don't think I'll edge the next one with hand-stitching, I might use my trusty sewing machine instead!

>>> I made up this beanie using the cream yarn from Wangaratta Mill, which is part of the Australian Country Spinners. If I ever sell anything I make, I would prefer to be using locally made yarn, much like this. I used a 4mm hook and the pattern has the ridges at the increases for the 1st 5 rounds. This one has a turned up brim of 3 extra rounds. I call it a "junior fisherman's hat" because the look of it reminds me of the beanies fishermen wear on their boats on cold, early mornings.

<<< This curly worm I made for a mobile I'm working on. Its a common pattern, I found one at Art of Crochet by Teresa. You just make a chain, then trb 4 times in ea ch. For a contrasting colour, I did a second round in red with 2 dc in ea trbl. You can make these into bookmarks, Christmas decorations, cats' toys or anything else you can think of. For this one, I used a 4.5mm hook and it just took me a few minutes, so it's a fun little project to do.

Three Small Things - baby beanie, dishcloth, headband

small sea green beanie for a premmie

Here are another three small things I've completed in the last couple of days, a baby beanie, a wavey dishcloth and a crochetted headband.

I bought some yarn made from the Wangaratta Mill Shop , part of the Australian Country Spinners, that Lincraft had on special. I'm wanting to find some locally grown and spun yarn, hopefully this is what I've been looking for. I really liked this sea green colour and made a beanie for Tom with it. I used a 4.5mm hook and used front post ridges to mark the increases in the crown, then plain down the sides, and finished of with some star-fish looking clusters. I wonder if the nurses will use this beanie? My starfish cluster pattern goes something like this ... ch 1, [sk 1 st, (htrb, trb, d-trb, trb, htrb) in next, sk next, dc in next] * repeat to end

wavey yellow and green dishcloth

I've been meaning to make something with this wavey stitch for quite a while and have never gotten around to it. The cotton I used for the pentagon dishcloths was so nice, I decided to use the last of it up to make this cloth, which I might use as a dust cloth for my piano. There are references to this wavey pattern in many places, in the end I used one at eHow. I used a 3.5mm hook for this cloth.

I'm really proud of this new headband, this is the first time I've made something like this. I only have one headband, made out of black t-shirt material, and I am so very over black that I need a different colour! So I gave this one a go, using a 3mm hook and some greyish-lilac cotton I bought and still haven't used until now. I found the pattern after searching google for 'stretchy crochet headband pattern'. My pattern is based on this but it is different as I turned for every row.

crochet headband

My version of the stretchy headband pattern
1. ch 8, dc (US sc) in second ch from hook, dc in every ch to end (7 dc), turn
2. ch 1, dc in first dc, dc in second dc, ch 3 skp next dc, dc in next dc, ch 3 skp next dc, dc in next dc, dc in last dc, turn
3. ch 1, dc in ea next 2 dc, dc in 3 ch sp, ch 3, dc in next 3 ch sp, dc in ea last 2 dc, turn
4. ch 1, dc in ea next 2 dc, ch 3, dc in 3 ch sp, ch 3, dc in ea last 2 dc, turn
repeat round 3 & 4 until desired length is reached for firm fit
last round. ch 1, dc in ea next 2 dc, dc in 3 ch sp, dc in next dc, dc in next 3 ch sp, dc in ea last 2 dc
sl st to other end to form ring

Small Purple Plarn Basket

small plarn basket made from plastic Lincraft shopping bags

This small plarn basket was made from about half a dozen Lincraft plastic shopping bags, so it's mostly purple with some flecks of white.

I used a 7mm hook and single crochet (UK double). I did a little on this project every now and again, as it hurts my thumb to work with this tough yarn. So from start to finish this project took a couple of weeks.

plarn basket in progress

I finished this basket to decide if it's something I want to continue doing, or should I just discard my collection of plastic bags? I don't know if I can find a use for this small basket, making larger ones might be more worth the effort. And it does require effort, the making of plarn baskets is not enjoyable, but the one consolation is that the material is free.

Knowing how to make a basket from recycled plastic bags surely will prove to be a useful skill at one time or another!

Pentagon Dishcloths

I feel a need to keep my hands busy right now, I'm not sure but this might be the 'nesting' kicking in. It's hard when I'm not 100% physically, so I've resorted to making dishcloths while I wait for my body to catch up!

<<< I did up this pentagon dishcloth quickly, using a 4mm hook and my own pattern from the top of my head. This dishcloth got put to work immediately in the kitchen after it had it's obligatory photograph taken! This dishcloth has 4 rows of granny clusters then 3 rows of trebles (US dc).

>>> Recently I did these pair of pentagon dishcloths, using the same pattern as my 1st one except I skipped the picot edge. The second pair has 7 rows of granny clusters and 2 rows of trebles. For these I used a 3mm hook and some finer cotton my mum gave me. I like the colours, I think they are perfect for a cheery kitchen!

Three Small Things - apple sweater, dishcloth, square motif

>>> I first saw an apple sweater at Crochetspot and thought it was a fabulous idea. An apple is a great snack, but doesn't go very well in my handbag and always ends up getting bruised, but the sweater would protect it from that. More images of apple sweaters on google show different styles. I turned one of my baby beanies into an apple sweater by simply crochet a chain to go around the edge and sl st to join. This second one I made as an apple sweater from the start. It's my own pattern, it's like a baby beanie but with a chain threaded through the lip and sl st to join a ring. I used a 5mm hook and some more of the pink and blue mohair I had used for the hot water bottle cover. It now lives in our fruit bowl, waiting to be used!

<<< This aqua coloured flower dishcloth is a pattern I made up, turning over after every row to work in a ridge. The 5th round is some 5 treble flower petals. I ran out of cotton just at the end, so the last petal is 5 ch to form a handy hanging hook. For this one I used a 4mm hook and the last of the aqua cotton my mum gave me.

>>> I saw a lacey crochet square motif on a crochet blog, and I really liked it so I tried copying it. I didn't follow a pattern, I just tried to replicate the image. I used my 1.75mm hook and some fine lilac cotton mum gave me. When I was finished this tiny square I wet it and blocked it as it wasn't quite flat. I'm not sure where this square will live, perhaps it can be a dolly's blanket.

Two Homemade Baby Wraps

These two wraps are about a metre square each and have a cotton print side and a flannelette backing. Hopefully these will come in handy very soon!

All these fabrics I bought from Lincraft and are about a metre square each. David and I just couldn't go past the cute purple sheep flannelette! Most of these fabrics I didn't buy on special, so now I'm wondering if it's worth making myself, or if it would actually be cheaper to buy pre-made wraps from the shops. That's why I've only made two like this, so I can wait and see if I actually use them.

Thomas is still a few weeks away from coming home, so we'll be able to see then. David are I are so very excited about how well Tom is growing and putting on weight, we just can't wait until he finally comes home. I hope we will be ready for him in time!

Pink and Blue Hot Water Bottle Cover

A hot water bottle is just what I needed for these aches and pains, the rice hot packs don't hold their heat for as long. But then I needed to make a cover for the water bottle, didn't I?

I still have an inflammed liver from the pre-eclampsia, or more specifically the H.E.L.L.P. syndrome which is very rare, so my liver aches but the doctors said that means it's getting better. For this cover I used a 5mm hook and a blend of 70% mohair and 30% PAC (whatever that is). I got this yarn from Lincraft when they had 50% off wool, this one was labelled  "Mohair Linate Classic" so I got 5 balls of it at a reasonable price. The washing instructions are cool wash, dry flat in shade, do not hang or tumble dry, cool iron. This is a very simple pattern I made up to fit the bottle and I completed it over a day.

My Hot Water Bottle Cover Pattern
using 5mm hook and thick yarn
1. ch as many as needed to width of bottle, ch 2, treble (US dc) in 3rd ch from hook, treble in ea ch to end, treble into bottom of ea ch to end, sl st to join
2. ch 2, treble into each treble around, sl st to join
3. repeat round 2 until you reach shoulder height of the bottle
4. ch 2, treble into same, {sk 4 treble, (2 treble, 1 ch, 2 treble) into next treble} to end, 2 treble into same space as 1st treble, ch 1, sl st into 1st ch 2
5. ch 2, trbl into same, {(2 treble, 1 ch, 2 treble) into next ch 1 space} to end, 2 treble into 1st ch space, ch 1, sl st
6. repeat round 5 to top of water bottle (about 5 rounds in total for neck)
7. thread ribbon through middle round of neck stitch, insert hot water bottle, tie bow in ribbon

Tiny Red Love Heart Garland

tiny red love heart garland

I made this tiny red love heart garland, thinking it would be a Christmas decoration, but we kind of skipped Christmas this year, so now it decorates David's computer!

For this garland, I simply made tiny love hearts in between 24 chains, using Suzetta's love heart pattern. It turned out to be trickier than I anticipated because the tiny hearts sometimes turned out bigger than the first one. I simply redid them until I got 6 about the same size.

our small living Christmas tree decorated with a tiny garland

We have a tiny Christmas tree that I thought this garland would look nice on, but because I ended up in hospital this Christmas we didn't get around to putting it up. Our Christmas tree is a small Norfolk Pine sapling I saved from our garden, it's about a year old.

Now this love heart garland is stuck to David's pc as a lucky love charm! We can think of it as an early Saint Valentine's Day decoration!

Summer Drinks "Plums" Coasters

I know Freya likes purple so I went to Lincraft to get some of their 'plum' coloured cotton so I could whip up another set of drink coasters!

I've tried to match the colours as much as I could to the person, but I don't know everyone's favourite colours. At least this purply-plumy set will be able to find a good home!

I also made some home-made gift tags to go with the coasters. They simply say 'Homemade by Teena with love' and have this blog address on the back, in case anyone wants to find out how I made them and the washing instructions. Washing instructions are on the Frangipani post.

I know Christmas has been and gone, but I was in hospital for the two weeks before and during Christmas, so I assume I will be forgiven for being late!

Enjoy <3 <3 <3

Red Jacket for Blue Boy toy

<<< This knitted toy was in the stocking the hospital gave us for Thomas and I just had to crochet a red jacket for it! I don't understand why, I just did. There is no pattern to follow for this, I just made it up as I went along to fit the toy.