Easy Jam Drops

I found this easy jam drop biscuit recipe on taste.com.au. The hardest part to making them was getting the electric mixer out of the cupboard! I rolled the teaspoon sized balls a bit big and they spread out quite a lot, so next time I must remember to make smaller balls. The biscuit recipe is really yummy, and with a bit of my favourite strawberry jam these jam drops were delicious! To make them dairy-free I just used nuttelex instead of butter!

these jam drops were easy to make

Two-way Teacosy photo tutorial

 

 

I made my first granny square two-way teacosy back in August 2012 and I was asked for the pattern. Well its been a long time coming, but here is the photo tutorial! Its a very easy pattern but a bit hard to explain without photos. Please let me know if you need me to clarify anything!

this is the "Spring Day" side of the two way teacosy

this is the "Dark Day" side of the two-way teacosy

1. make two granny squares of contrasting colours

1b. one granny square covers about half of your tea pot

2. make two more squares the same so you now have four

3. put one more round around one square, weave in ends

4. put one more round in the same colour on a contrasting square, weave in ends

5. in the same colour, start a round on another square, join at the corner with sc

6. join in between two more granny clusters with sc

7. cont. the round as a normal granny square until the last two clusters, and join with sc in between

8. join the other side of the two squares in the same way

9. complete the round so you have a sleeve of two granny squares, fasten off and weave in ends

9b. your granny square sleeve would fit over your teapot like this



10. join the contrasting squares in the same way, but do not fasten off

11. turn the first sleeve inside out

 

12. place the first sleeve inside the second sleeve, matching up the holes like this

13. chain 3 to begin the next round

14. crochet a granny cluster in a space of both sleeves joining them together

15. continue the round joining the sleeves in the spaces between the granny clusters, cont all the way around the top

16. in the same colour or a contrasting colour, make another granny cluster round around the top

17. do an opt round of petals (5 dc into middle dc of granny cluster, sl st into sp), fasten off and weave in ends

18. count the granny clusters around the top and times by 3, make a ch of that length (eg. 20 clusters x 3 = 60 ch)

19. thread the chain in between the space between the granny clusters of the 3rd last round

20. weave the chain in between the granny clusters all the way around the top

21. sl st into 1st chain to for a loop

22. Place over tea pot and pull drawstring chain tight

Congratulations, you have made a granny square two-way teacosy! Enjoy that warm cuppa this winter, and let me know what you think!

Gingernut Cookies

My husband and I just made these gingernut cookies and they turned out real nice! Not too sweet and a nice level of spice. The batter turned out a bit sticky so my husband put a bit more flour in it until it was right to roll into balls. We searched through lots of recipes for ginger snap and ginger nut biscuits, and finally found a recipe to try at bestrecipes.com.au

thsee gingernut biscuits turned out nicely and were very yummy!

A Fluffy Edge for Winter

It's a brisk cool winter here in Brisbane, Australia, so I just popped a snowy white fluffy edge on my simple fingerless gloves! Just for fun mind you, aren't they nice? Its just a round of sc, and I wove in the ends with the crochet hook instead of with sewing it in with a yarn needle as the yarn is a bit thick for that. The yarn is Moda Vera Rossellini 50% wool 50% nylon that I found at the RSPCA second hand store some years ago, which I save for special projects like this!

simple fingerless gloves edged in fluffy white yarn

these fingerless gloves are nice and warm when working at the computer in winter

Remembrance Poppies in Action

I just found this image on Ravelry of chloeknitoo's remembrance poppies being used to form a display. Its great to see my remembrance poppy pattern being used in a meaningful way like this!

image by chloeknitoo from Ravelry

Winter Flowers

Here are some photos of some flowers in my garden at the moment, it's winter in Brisbane right now and these blooms brighten up cold and gloomy days! I have flowering hibiscus, basil and succulents right now. How lovely!

Heavenly hibiscus flowering in a sub-tropical winter

I don't know what this is, its some type of orchid

a flowering succulent plant

this basil flowers all year round

Heather's Hexagon, free pattern

This hexagon starts off as Heather's flower, which I have named after my mum who was my first crochet teacher. It could make a doily, or join several together to make a rug. Please let me know if you like it!

this hexagon motif starts off as a flower

Heather's Hexagon by T. S. Murphy
1. 4 ch (counts as 1st dc and 1st ch), (into 1st ch, dc 1 ch) repeat 4 more times, sl st into 3rd ch (wheel of 6 spokes)
2. (sl st into next spoke space 3 ch 2 trb 2 ch 2 trb 3 ch sl st into same), repeat 5 times (6 large petals)
3. sl st into next spoke, sl st up side of petal to peak, sl st into ch sp, sc into ch sp, 8 ch, (sc into next petal ch sp, 8 ch) repeat to end, sl st into 1st sc
4. sl st into next ch sp, 4 sl st to centre of ch sp, sc into ch sp, 10 ch, (sc into next ch sp, 10 ch) repeat to end, sl st into 1st sc
5. sl st into next ch sp, 3 ch (counts as 1st dc) 5 dc into same ch sp, 3 ch, 6 dc into same ch sp (6 dc 3 ch 6 dc into next ch sp) repeat to end, sl st into 3rd ch
6. 3 ch (dc into every st to next ch sp, dc 3 ch dc into ch sp) repeat to end, sl st into 3rd ch
7 ... repeat round 6 untild esired width achieved, fasten off and weave in ends

Star Granny Square, free pattern

I've made my star coaster into a square, maybe if I was inclined I could make a bunch of these and join them up into a blanket. Using the cotton I bought from Bendigo Woollen Mills, it would make a beautiful rainbow rug. But something like that would be very time consuming and fiddly to do, we shall see! Here is my pattern for the star granny square.


Here are six rounds of the star granny square

Star Granny Square by T. S. Murphy
4mm hook, 8ply yarn

For star ...
1. 3 ch, 9 dc into 1st ch, sl st into 3rd ch
2. [(2 hdc 2 ch 2 hdc) into next st, sl st into next st] repeat to end, fasten off

For circle ...
3. attach yarn at star point ch sp, [sc at star point ch sp, (2 dc 2 hdc 2 dc) into sl st of prev round] repeat to end, sl st into 1st sc
4. sl st into next dc st, (3 ch (counts as 1st dc), dc into same, dc into next 2 st, 2 dc into next st, dc into next 2 st, sk sc) repeat to end, sl st into 3rd ch, fasten off

For square ...
5. attach yarn at any st, [4 sc, 2 hdc, (3 dc) into next st, 3 ch, (3 dc) into next st, 2 hdc] repeat to end, sl st into 1st sc
6. (change colour if desired) 3 ch (counts as 1st dc), dc into next st to ch sp, (3 dc 3 ch 3 dc into ch sp) repeat to end, sl st into 3rd ch

this is the 5th round of the star granny square

Star Coaster, free pattern

I thought I could turn my five pointed star into a coaster by adding a few more rounds and turning it into a circle. Maybe one day I will add another few rounds and turn it into a square, that could be fun! Here is the pattern for my star coaster.


I've turned my 5 pointed star into a circle

Star Coaster by T. S. Murphy
4mm hook, 8ply yarn

For star ...
1. 3 ch, 9 dc into 1st ch, sl st into 3rd ch
2. [(2 hdc 2 ch 2 hdc) into next st, sl st into next st] repeat to end, fasten off

Change colour
3. attach yarn at star point ch sp, [sc at star point ch sp, (2 dc 2 hdc 2 dc) into sl st of prev round] repeat to end, sl st into 1st sc
4. sl st into next dc st, (3 ch (counts as 1st dc), dc into same, dc into next 2 st, 2 dc into next st, dc into next 2 st, sk sc) repeat to end, sl st into 3rd ch, fasten off

4 Ingredient 10 minute Cookies

These 4 ingredient 10 minute cookies were easy enough for me to make and they turned out alright! I should have just made the balls smaller as the cookies ran into each other. I squeezed them all onto one cookie tray when they should have been more spread out on two. Thomas helped me make the balls and mix it all up, he even helped crack the egg. Well done!

these cookies are really easy to make

Winter Harvest

Well at least we can grow something! Here is a photo of our winter harvest, turmeric and rocket. Tumeric grows in our garden like a weed, and we never use all we grow. We just spent the afternoon planting out 2 veggie patches with zucchini, broccoli, cherry tomatoes, beetroot, bok choi and spinach. We also made a new patch near where we put the passionfruit last weekend, and we thought we'd try some spinach there as well. My plan is to make more of an effort to water the garden every day as I think that's where we've been failing. Hopefully we'll have more to share on our harvest in the future!

our winter harvest of rocket and tumeric

Heart Mandala

Here is a doily from Crochetmillan, there it is referred to as the second heart mandala. There is a diagram to follow if you wish to make it yourself. I don't know what will become of this doily as I have so many already that I have made, but I just felt like making it!

the crochet diagram for this pattern is at Crochetmillan

this doily starts off as a 5 heart coaster

Monster Claw Gloves

I made these fingerless gloves for my 4 year old son last week, in case he needed to wear them when we went to Stanthorpe. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be though so he didn't wear them when we were there, but he did really like them! I tried to take a photo of him wearing them but he moved around with excitement so much the photos were all blurry! I made up the pattern for these, they are just two tubes with a hole for the thumb. For the claws, I used white wool and the pattern for the claws is ... attach the white then sk 1 st (2 hdc 2 ch 2 hdc) sk 1 st, sl st into next repeat 3 times.

these fun monster claw gloves fit a 4 year old child

Passionfruit Seedling

My father-in-law just gave us this passionfruit seedling, so we've planted it near our fence. Hopefully this is the start of a beautiful adventure into passionfruity goodness!

we just planted this passionfruit seedling near our fence

Blue Gloves for a Friend

I made these gloves for a friend, I hope they like them! I just followed the same pattern for my simple gloves that I posted about on Saturday. If anyone wants the pattern, please do just let me know with a comment and I'll write it out and post it here as a free pattern.

If you want the pattern for these simple gloves, please just let me know with a comment.

Simple Fingerless Gloves

I started making these two winters ago and have only just decided to finish them! I just made up the pattern myself, its simply a tube with a hole for the thumb. If anyone wants the pattern, I will write it out. The blue fingerless gloves I made years ago are not quite warm enough and don't cover enough of my fingers. My fingers get so cold working at the computer or when I'm doing some crochet, I needed something more to cover them!

these fingerless gloves are simply a tube with a thumb hole

Five Hearts Coaster

I was thinking five hearts would make a good size for a coaster, as the doily I made yesterday was a bit big for a coaster. So I was thinking I could work out a pattern, but before I did, I checked google images and found someone had already done what I had in mind. There isn't a written pattern, but a photo tutorial. It was clear enough for me to work out how to follow it. As it turns out, it was the same site where I found yesterday's pattern! Crochetmillan has some lovely patterns, do check out her blog.

the link for the photo tutorial is above

this 5 hearts coaster was fun to make

Swedish Love Heart Doily

Oh! It's been so long since I've posted on my blog! I haven't been doing any crochet, but today I saw a picture of this doily on facebook and decided to give it a go. The facebook linked to this Swedish blog, there is no written pattern in English, but there is a diagram I could follow. There is also a photo tutorial of the rounds. I found the first few rounds difficult because my hand kept cramping up from holding a small piece tightly, my hand has only been cramping like this since my operation over 12 months ago. I guess this is just what I have to get used to, as the surgeon has said nothing more about it. I certainly don't need any more doilies or coasters, but this one was so pretty I had to make it. I don't know what I will do with it, just another to add to the growing pile of unused crochet stuff!

there is a diagram on a Swedish blog for this doily pattern

isn't this doily pretty?