Hairpin crochet bag for my daughter-for Sundays..

This is a hairpin crochet bag made from strips of hairpin crochet in a yarn called FFilati : OSLO which is one of those very textured unusual yarns and I thought hairpin would show off the yarn quality best.

It's also a bag made from just the one ball of OSLO and one ball of a burgundy DK merino pure wool.

I like it when you can make something from just the one ball!

It was made on a clover hairpin tool, 3 strips at the setting for 8cm and 2 shorter strips at the 3 or 4 cm setting , a 6mm hook was used for the strips.

To join the strips I used a 4mm hook and the merino wool, picking up a loop on one side,3 chains then picking up a loop from the other strip, 3 chains, picking up from the first strip again and so on: kind of a zigzag or herringbone pattern or crochet joining the textured strips.

Where the shorter strips left a gap and a set of free loops belonging to the outer top edges of the wider strips I crocheted with the OSLO in dc's( US sc's) with the 6mm hook to fill in the gaps.

I found some hand dyed plastic handles at a Craft Fair in a pink that perfectly complemented the OSLO yarn.

I am very keen on recycling fabrics and a bit of a hoarder so I cut up some old clothes for the lining of the bag:

The main outer lining is a cut up rugby shirt of my husband's, the fine corduroy attaching the handles to the lining came from a worn out pair of trousers from my eldest and the inner lining: a bright magenta velour came from leggings my youngest grew out of years ago.

I sewed it all together and then added the hairpin cover, stitching it to the lining fabrics.

It's ideal for Sundays when my eldest wants to keep her Missal handy to follow the words of the Communion Service.

I learned hairpin crochet from both the Clover tool instruction leaflet and a crochet cabana website.

Then made up the above ''pattern'' myself.

Left the hairpin cover as a work in progress

This was a rugby shirt once.

To show that the hairpin cover is complete in itself, all crocheted together without any sewing my daughter thought it an excellent Viking hat....

Textured Hoodie for girls: ELLE Monet

RECOGNISE THIS AT ALL????





This was one of those projects that started without a need:
I saw a picture just like the one on the left on the back of CROCHET !magazine: January 2007 issue and thought: I HAVE to make that for my daughter, it's her to a tee...
At first the free pattern advertised wasn't on the internet at all.
Then many e-mails later it did appear, thank you NY Yarns!!!
Then I contacted BOTH UK dsitributors listed but they no longer were in existence or they could no longer supply the NY Yarn.....
I tried to order direct on the internet, but no it was for the USA only....
Then I considered contacting a friend who has just moved to Charlottesville, Virginia but they have only just moved so it seemed a little presumptuous to ask her and then there was postage and taxes and importing: could I really go through all of that?

Luckily I found a very similar yarn on Thame market one day and then the only problem was: which colourway????My daughter chose this one, though to be honest she only had a choice of 3 and much later possibly better ones came along, but that's another story...

I have made this from a free pattern on the site: www.nyyarns.com.
You find it under free patterns- duh- and theirs is made in a yarn called MARBLE.
MARBLE IS 66 % ACRYLIC,30% WOOL,4% Nylon , there's 75m on a 50g ball , you use a 8mm hook and it's $5.80 a ball.
( The pattern asks for 9 balls)
I used ELLE MONET: it's 53% acrylic,47% polyamide , 87m to a 100g ball, you use a 6.5mm hook and I paid £3.50 a ball
I used shade 279 which includes greens,sunshine yellow,purple,sky blues.
My tension with the 6mm hook from the patternn directions was pretty similar and I drew out the pattern pieces: the back,front and sleeve on brown paper to scale so I could check how I was going.( like sewing pattern pieces)

I made it in the biggest size: for a 9-10 year old.
I used 7 balls of 100g and the finished garment weighs 690 g.

It's a super simple pattern stitch , which renders the fabric very textured and ''bobbly'' although there are no crocheted bobbles as such.
Wonderful to do whilst watching TV and minimal shaping too.
I had never made a hooded cardigan and was amazed how easy it is to add a hood!!!
So I learned quite a few new things.
I think you can still get ELLE MONET and details were in a recent Knit Today magazine ( a British magazine).

The best bit was that it was fun to make with all the texture and all the colourchanges in the yarn and now it's completed my daughter LOVES it, AND I finished it in time - 1 day before....- for her Birthday!!!!( not planned as such but a useful extra present!!!)

Now we need some really COLD weather please so she can wear it a lot.....
Mind you hubbie turned off the heating completely for a few days as he overheats when stressed and he's very stressed right now, so the whole family froze but at least the hoodie came in very useful .

A different view with the Birthday balloons included!

The texture showing in detail: I chose purple buttons and she preferred green so we compromised with alternate purple and green buttons.

Saying goodbye and still smiling with pleasure over her new cardigan.


WATCH this space- but a new post- as my youngest wants one too now and she has chosen an amazingly bright colourway with lime greens,

fuchsia,magents,lilac and turquoise: it's shade 276.

I am going to make myself a Chanel style jacket with black trims in the whites/greys with a few bits of black colourway when I get the time...

And remaining in my stash for now but possibly a baby blanket one day soon is the 278 colourway which is soft pale grassy greens with beige and cream and some greyed blues with pale pinks.

It excudes elegance and ''Spring''.It was a colourway I liked but my daughter preferred the one above.

Baker's boy hat in cotton crochet

This is the top of a hat I made recently using Sirdar DK cotton and a pattern by Sirdar : number 8577 , it's a leaflet and includes the hat in 4 sizes, 3 children's and adults and a scarf to match.

The pattern is for Country style yarn : a kind of woolmix but as the Spring is here and summer coming I thought I' dmake it in cotton.

It's a current fashion item for my daughter .

You use the yarn double and 6MM hook so it grows fast and includes a new stitch for me: cl/f : you do a kind of cluster around the front of a treble( US dc)

I love the plaited look of this stitch, though it can be tricky to work it evenly.

It used up 140 g of the yarn and as it comes in 100 g balls, that's just 2 balls.( for size 7-9)

Top and peak are worked separately and then sewn together, I crocheted the peak pieces together for a nice edge to the peak.

To stiffen the peak and still have it washable I did not use cardboard: HERE'S A NEW IDEA:!!!!

I ironed a green plastic shopping bag- cut up- between 2 layers of baking parchment on a low heat setting and no steam.

The plastic sits between the 2 layers of parchment to protect both your iron and the ironing board.

Then I kept adding layers of plastic- they fuse together and shrink a bit under the heat- until I achieved the stiffness I wanted.

Then I used the peak template from the pattern to cut out the correct shape, inserted it into the peak pieces and crocheted/sewed it together.

Voila: I hope it's washable now.

Here she is wearing it, she loved it and it was worn constantly for at least 2 days!

The fresh flower is optional......