Almost finished!

Just thought I would give you a quick project update since I am tantalizingly close to finishing another project - my bright and joyous Carnival hoodie and blanket. Here's the hoodie, which I am so pleased with!

I just love these colours! And the crochet border, which I have definitely decided I will do again on some of my knitted projects. I love the square shape of the hood on this little coat too! 

I just have to sew on the buttons - I decided on these cute little teddies this time - and then I need to crochet the loops which will fasten them together.

So, Carnival Hoodie & Blanket Set nearly finished - and another one already started and well underway! 

I love the softness and pastel shades of this yarn manufactured by Coats under the brand name Red Heart Bella. This particular shade combo is called Candy. In my yarn box of goodies I have got some DK in lavender and I also found a matching pink which I have tried out for the borders. I like both and think they both match equally well - so I may just carry on using both! Pink borders for the hoodie and both pink and lavender borders in the blanket maybe? We'll see how it evolves........

While posting these pics I noticed that you can just see a tiny, tantalizing little glimpse of my beautiful oriental-design case for my hooks in the top right hand corner, so I thought you might like a better look!

LOVELY isn't it?

I have about three of these in different colours, one for hooks and two bigger ones for my knitting needles. I've had them for some time now. I found them on ebay. They are not only beautiful but they were also quite inexpensive - I just had to wait a little while for them to come in from China. I just love them. Beautiful cases for my precious hooks and needles.

Well,  I'd better go. After a very long, busy and messy day decorating yesterday, with NO crafting at all!, I have a quieter day today but a supermarket shop is needed now - and then later there may be time for a bit of crafting, buttons to be sewn on, knitting and crochet to do ..... there's always something to look forward to. 

Bye For Now, Tricia xx

Brazil, Football, Carnival and all that Jazz!

Well, we may not have got the World Cup result we wanted but many evenings of football on the TV produced this very pleasing result for me!

My little hoodie is nearly finished! I must have been too caught up in the football at some point tho' because my Moss Stitch went wrong on just half of one row on one of the fronts - but I didn't see it until I had finished it, crocheted all along the top and front edges and attached the hood to that side!!!!! Oh my!! And, although it was really difficult to see (P couldn't see it at all), once I'd noticed it that was that - it just had to be put right! So VERY CAREFULLY I unattached the hood, undid the crochet edging, unroved the knitting back to the mistake - and did it all again! It actually didn't take that long but still....... that's something else to lay at the door of our poor England team, eh?

Just have the shaping of one sleeve left to do now and then the wooden buttons to sew on and the fastening loops to crochet. There are a few buttons to choose from

Cute little teddies, rocking horses, penguins or puppies! I've got lots of other buttons too, clowns, laughing Santas, hearts etc but the size and colours are not right for mulit-coloured hoodies like this one. I think I'll probably choose puppies this time.......

Anyway, I'm quite pleased with how this has turned out: I'm especially pleased with the Puff Stitch border which ties the hoodie in very nicely with the pram blanket I think.

 As you may know from my previous post, the border originally had two rows of Puff Stitch like the blanket but I decided this was too much for such a little hoodie - the single Puff Stitch row, with rows of half trebles each side of it works much better. I also made smaller Puff stitches than on the blanket. I think the crochet borders add that little extra to the hoodie, and the lemon provides a nice contrast to the very vibrant colours.

I've not added crochet borders to my knitted projects before but I like this and so it may well become a regular feature from now on, especially if I am matching hoodies with blankets. 

I like to name my projects and since this one was inspired by and created during the World Cup I have a few possible names, like Rio for instance, but I think I will probably call it Carnival, which reflects the exuberance of the colours and the joy of life - and has nothing whatsoever to do with football!!!!

Well, wherever you are, whichever team you shout for - or not - I wish you many long, happy days filled with the positive spirit and exuberance of Carnival and nations coming together in peace.........

Bye for now, Tricia xx

Puff Stitch Border

Ta-dah! Another project finished yesterday - and a new one started an hour later!!! But, in my defense, I can say that the new project is an extension of the finished one because it is a knitted hoodie to match the pram blanket that I finished.

 After some tinkering with different stitches, I finally decided on a Puff Stitch border which consists of two foundation rows of half trebles, followed by two rows of Puff Stitch, two more half treble rows, two more Puff Stitch rows and then a final row of half trebles, as you can see below.

The foundation colour is not true in the left-hand photo for some reason! It is actually lemon as in the right hand pic and the one above. But the close-ups show you the stitches clearly.

I LOVE doing Puff Stitches! But then I say that about every stitch! Whatever I am doing at the time seems to become my favourite - until the next one!! Anyway, originally I did a picot edge in lemon after the last row of random rainbow coloured half trebles - but then I decided it detracted from the Puff Stitch and was unnecessary so I undid it.




Then I decided to knit a matching hooded coat.







This time, unlike my  Rainbow Ripple blankets which are made from my own selection of single-coloured Stylecraft DK yarns, I used a multi-coloured wool, which I also used for the squares and some rows in the border of the pram blanket. It is a random self-striping yarn by ICE called Dancing Baby and comes in a wide variety of colours. I also often use another called ICE Magic. They are machine washable and lovely to work with - the only problem is I have only ever found it online and the manufacturer is in Turkey, so the postage costs a bit but I think it's worth it.

So, yesterday evening while watching TV with P, I started knitting the back, in Moss Stitch to add texture. I wanted to make the coat match the blanket even more and was going to knit a border around the bottom edge, the border of the hood and the ends of the sleeves, in the matching lemon. But then I thought why not crochet a Puff Stitch border the same as on the blanket? I have never crocheted borders on my knitted projects before but, if this works, and it looks like it will, it could become a regular thing!

For the coat border I used a smaller hook (3mm) than on the blanket, where I used a 4mm, and I made a smaller Puff Stitch (only 3 loop repeats instead of 4). So this border is two foundation rows of half trebles, two rows of Puff Stitch and a final row of half trebles.

 I am quite pleased with it and it should work for the hood border too, hopefully.....


Just a note here on terminology: I use UK crochet terms and of course realize, (mostly as a result of starting off on a US pattern without realizing it!) that terms used in the US and many other places are different from ours. So, just as a clarification guide, generally UK terms are 'one step up' from US ones e.g the stitch US and other crocheters call 'single crochet (sc) we in the UK call 'double crochet, (dc)'. 

            US Term                                       UK Term

            Slip stitch                                      Single Crochet  

            Single Crochet                               Double Crochet

            Half Double Crochet                     Half Treble Crochet

            Double Crochet                             Treble Crochet

            Double Treble Crochet                  Triple Treble Crochet

Other stitches, like Puff Stitch are the same.

To make a Puff Stitch:

Yarn over, insert hook into stitch and pull up a loop, (yarn over, put hook into same stitch and pull up a loop) 3 more times, yarn over and pull through all 9 loops on the hook.

Pulling up the loops and pulling the hook back through all 9 loops is a bit tricky at first but gets much easier when you've practised a few times. I found it much easier with a slightly bigger hook (I switched to a 5mm for the Puff Stitches) and the more I relaxed and let my hands and yarn go loose the easier it was to create nice loose but even loops that were easier to pull back through! I hope the pictures below help you to see clearly how it works....

So, when you have pulled the yarn through all 9 loops on the hook, as in the pics above, you have this............







You then ch1, through the stitch on the hook - which is over the Puff stitch you just made.


like this............

My Puff Stitch Border

Begin with a foundation row of double crochet or half trebles. (I used half trebles for my border) You need multiples of 2, +1 + corner stitches on each side to be worked.

Begin 2sts to the left of the corner stitch.

Round 1: Ch 3, Puff Stitch in the same stitch, ch1, skip 1 stitch & *(Puff stitch into the next, ch1, skip 1stitch) along the side to the corner. (Puff Stitch, ch1, Puff stitch, ch1, Puff Stitch) into the corner stitch. Then ch1, skip 1stitch and repeat from * all the way around border, finishing with slip stitch to first Puff Stitch.

Round 2: Complete another round of Puff Stitches as above but this time work each Puff stitch in the chain spaces between the ones on the first round.

Rounds 3: Work a row of half trebles by making a half treble into each chain stitch between the Puff Stitches, like so.......

and into the chain at the top of each Puff Stitch, like this.....

I hope this makes sense because I'm not used to writing down or explaining how I do things!

I then did another row of half trebles, followed by two more rows of Puff Stitch and a final row of half trebles. But you can work a different combination, as you wish, once you have got the hang of the stitches and how each round works. You can also do double crochets instead of half trebles, although I found the space a bit tight for all those loops when I tried double crochets which is why I switched to half trebles! 

Finally, this last pic shows how the finished corners look.

For written instructions and stitch diagrams of Puff Stitch borders and many more, you may like Edie Eckman's Around The Corner Crochet Borders.

Bye for now. And Happy Hooking! 

Tricia xxx             

Oh Happy Day

Yesterday really was an exceptionally happy day - just because it was! You know how it is like that sometimes.....  The beautiful sunshine got it off to a good start and then the Posty arrived with the other set of hooks I had ordered!

They had come all the way from China which is why they had taken a bit longer than usual. They are made from some kind of resin I think, I'm not sure, which means that they are VERY light and flexible too. I love the colours with little air bubbles in! I have only used the 4mm one so far but it is so easy to hold and use, it flexes really well and I can crochet super quick with it!! I don't know how long they will last but they only cost me £2.30 with FREE P & P too!! A real bargain, which you can find here if you are interested. I have just ordered a second set as a little surprise pressie for someone..... So now I have aluminium hooks, wooden hooks, muli-coloured aluminium hooks with wide, comfy grips and these new lightweight ones!!

Anyway, Posty also delivered three new crochet books Beyond the Square Crochet Motifs, 100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet and Around the Corner Crochet Borders. BLISS! So, I had a little while perusing these new gems before getting on with the rest of my day which included my regular swimming session at the local pool where I am a member, which means I often get to swim for an hour in an EMPTY pool during the day!! Although not yesterday because there were three other people in there at one point.

I usually go twice a week and yesterday, to add greatly to my happy day, I did a Personal Best of 34 lengths!!! My previous PB was 32 and I usually only manage 30 - which is still fantastic when you consider that, firstly, I have just turned 61 and, secondly, a year ago I couldn't swim more that two strokes without having a major panic attack, having been water phobic since the age of 11 after a near-drowning incident in my local pool!!!

To add even more to my happiness, as I left the pool, I popped in from the members area to the public side and placed in one of the empty cubicles a copy of the book Random Acts of Kindness, in which I had written an anonymous message and placed a nice new £5 note, for someone to find.........  Last Saturday, my birthday, I had done something similar with a slightly different miniture version... Why? Because it makes me happy! And hopefully makes someone else happy too!!

Coming out of the pool to a GORGEOUS hot and sunny afternoon I decided to call at a nearby garden centre to look for a birthday present for my dear friend J. I was looking for some nice planters or decorative pots of some kind for her patio but was not really grabbed by anything and, as always, I gravitated towards the living and colourful things! After a little while of enjoyable pottering I had a trolley full of the most beautiful plants - some for her birthday, albeit rather too early, and the rest for me!!!

These beautiful, exotic red ones for my conservatory






and this scented freesia plant which is not only amazingly beautiful to look at but also has a heavenly fragrance

Surprisingly the freesia plant is hardy, according to the care label and so can go outside in the garden which is a bonus too! Eventually I am going to plant it near the patio so I can smell it when I sit out there. But for now it is still in its pot in my conservatory where I sit on summer evenings so that I can enjoy its beauty and fragrance to the full. I just LOVE them all and my conservatory is now even more than ever my favourite place to be!!

 When I got home I phoned my friend J to say I had already bought her birthday pressie (not revealing what it is of course) about 10 days early and offering her the opportunity to have it now to enjoy for longer or to wait for the day itself. She very excitedly jumped, without hesitation, to having it now to enjoy for longer, so I went around the corner to hers with both hands full of gorgeous colourful and sweet-smelling plants. She was thrilled - and I was delighted! She loves freesias and often buys them as cut flowers but, like me, she had never before seen a hardy plant able to go in the garden. And she also loved the other more exotic ones for her window sill in her little conservatory. We then got a small glass of wine and went out into her lovely garden to have a good catch-up in the sunshine - even more bliss!!

After an hour or so I came home, followed not long after by P who had been out for the day, and we enjoyed a home-made moussaka with potato salad eaten in the evening sunshine..... And once the washing up was done, I settled down with my new hooks and ONE OF my latest projects ( yes, I have even more of them on the go now!!) for a bit of hooky heaven!! Unfortunately I don't think these pictures do this one justice for some reason! The colours look much better than this in real life, the centre squares are more vibrant green with turquoise, and then purple with orange and yellow

 and the border, which is not finished yet, is a lovely lemon....  I have done a few rows of UK double crochet, (single crochet for USA etc) as a foundation and then I have chosen a border from my new book! But, since I haven't tried it yet and don't know how it's going to turn out, you'll have to wait a while for more news and pics of that!!

After a few hours of happy hooky while watching TV I went to bed VERY contented and thankful for my extremely happy day - and determined to have another one as soon as possible!

New hooks, new yarns, new project = Happy Hooky!!

Well, what an exciting few days it has been!! So much has been happening all at once which is lovely. The weather has been quite nice most of the time, apart from the occasional downpour, so we spent a couple of days out in the garden getting everything ship shape and tidy. Then when the weather was not so good we focused on getting the inside spotlessly clean, comfy and welcoming for some visitors.

Thursday I drove down to Cambridge to have lunch and a catch up with my youngest lad and then I drove the 3 hours home again! SO worth it tho' to see my Lovely Boy (that's what I call him! And the eldest is Big Man!) - I'd drive all night if necessary.

Friday night we were out with friends for a 21st birthday meal and yesterday was my own birthday!! Had a fabulous day, starting with breakfast in bed (thanks P!!) opening my cards, as I ate poached egg on toast and drank tea from a china cup. My cards made me laugh and cry in equal measure! SO heart-warming to be remembered and receive such lovely messages (& some not-so-lovely but hilarious references to my age!) from family and friends...... Then, since I could do whatever I chose, I did some pottering about the garden, not working you notice, some reading and quite a bit of hooking!

One set of the new hooks I had ordered had arrived and, even tho' I was so excited to use them I really was too busy until my birthday. I had also received some new yarns - how I managed to be patient is beyond me! I was itching to get started! And with new yarn and new hooks, what else can you do but start a NEW project!! I know, I have still got others to finish but hey, it was my birthday!

So out came the beautiful multi-coloured hooks with the wide comfort grips

These are so good to use! No more pressure marks on my index finger! And such good value! You can find them here if you are interested. The other set I've ordered haven't arrived yet but these are just perfect. I'll let you see the others when I get them.

So, anyway, out came the hooks and the yarn and I settled myself into the sunny conservatory with a pot of tea for a few precious hours of hooky bliss! And voila!

New project, as yet unnamed, and I LOVE it! It's just as pleasurable as rippling but in a different way. I love deciding which colour combination to do for the next square and then how to arrange them into rows. I even made myself a colour wheel by taping strands of each yarn onto a piece of card. This time I am hooking a few squares and then joining as I go which is very satisfying as I can instantly see the blanket taking shape - and I don't have a big pile of squares building up! This project was totally inspired by Kirsten @ haak maar raak who has generously shared her pattern, details of her colour scheme etc for free. Thank you, Kirsten.

I use Stylecraft Special DK for almost all of my projects which I buy online from Christine at Country Crafts. If you follow the link you will see that she has put together a pack following Kirsten's colour scheme. I already had many of the colours from other orders so I just sent for the ones I needed.

So, an afternoon of hooking bliss, interspersed with phone calls from loved ones and friends, and people popping in - just lovely. And I got these GORGEOUS new plants to brighten my days!!

Beautiful pink roses, one from each of my lovely boys! One sent from Belgium & the other bought in Cambridge - and they hadn't spoken about it! How freaky is that!  Sibling telepathy.......

 And then I got this most gorgeous, exotic creation from my dear friend J who lives just around the corner!!! What a superstar - both J and the plant!!

I feel very blessed to have great health, the love of a good man, and a really good life enriched by the most lovely family and friends. Hooking is a bonus!!!

Project Update

Hello again, Happy Hookers! Erm, that might be misunderstood, so I'll just re-phrase that! Hello, Crafty Friends, today I thought I would just give you a quick update on project developments.....

No progress at all on the knitting projects, just don't seem to be in the mood for two needles! However, in the evenings while watching TV I have been working on two of my hooky projects. I even managed a couple of hours hooking yesterday afternoon as a reward for having spent the WHOLE MORNING ironing clothes and changing linens on all the beds!

So, over the last few days my Rainbow Ripple Pram/ Stroller Blanket has grown from this,

 to this.........

And my turquoise/ pink
blanket now looks like this........!!



If you read my last post, Projects old and new, you'll realise that I have made some changes to this one! I decided I didn't like the joining method I was using i.e. double crochets on the right side which gives raised ridges. I have done this before on several other projects, like my two Aztec Blankets, and it has worked out well but I just didn't like it this time. So, I unjoined them, re-arranged and re-joined them so that they now lie flat with no ridges! Then I began a border of trebles in turquoise, changing to half trebles in pink because trebles were beginning to give a wavy edge which I didn't want. I've still got several more rows of pink to go and then another band of turquoise and then I'll probably finish with some kind of piquot edge........ but who knows?!!!

I have also already identified my next project, ordered the yarn and am now awaiting delivery! I'm SO excited!!! I found this on the internet and just HAVE to make it!! It's just beautiful! And thank you so much to Kirsten for making her pattern and colour scheme available for FREE! Wonderful! I really cannot wait to get started on this.

But, back to FINISHING other projects first! So, I am nearly finished one hooky project, the turquoise/ pink one, the Rainbow Ripple is about half done, and the Flower Garden Blanket is well on the way sooooo I should be able to start another hooking project VERY soon! Hip, Hip, Hooray!

I am also excitedly awaiting delivery of some new hooks! I have been looking for a while for some with a wider soft grip, preferably in exciting colours but the only ones I could find were individual hand-made gel-handled ones on Etsy which were very nice tho' quite pricey and would have to come in from USA. Anyway, I decided to wait a while and looked again this week, only to find several sets on Amazon, where there were none a few weeks ago! Gorgeous multi-coloured hooks and SO CHEAP! I have ordered these and these!!! Of course I don't know yet what they will be like to use but they do look gorgeous! I really do need the wider, softer grips now I'm doing such a lot of hooking again 'cos the index finger that the hook presses against gets quite sore by the end of session! Anyway, I'll let you know how I get on with them once they arrive......

So much excitement......! The kid in me is totally triggered, which is no bad thing!