Feeling all Christmassy!

I had another lovely day at Manfield Crafts in Rushden yesterday with a group of 11 lovely knitters, shop owner Emma and her trusty assistant Deborah. I have said before how lovely the shop is and how great Emma is at making all her yarns and projects look scrumptious. Walking into the shop yesterday was like walking into a knitters Christmas wonderland. I knew already that it was bound to be lovely in there this time of year and of course it did not disappoint. Emma has lovely knitting kits for all things Christmassy, including knitted wreath and bauble kits, heart kits and even a lovely knitted Angel kit. If you’re looking for gifts for friends who knit, or fancy treating yourself in advance of all the hard work that needs to be done over the festive season, then look no further than Emma’s shop!

One of my workshop attendees had brought along her version of my LOVE panel, which was one of the projects in the 2012 Bead Club run by Steve at Debbie Abrahams beads. It’s always lovely to see the projects that people make and it makes me very proud when I see my designs reproduced. Shelagh made her panel into a cushion and I think it is so great that I am going to have to make myself another one!! There are still places left on the bead club, so if you would like to make the LOVE panel along with the other exclusive beaded knit projects then check out Steve’s web site by clicking here.

I had been invited along to tutor a Christmas knitting workshop, so I took along a small project for the group to do in the shape of a Fairisle Christmas Cracker. I had a great group of knitters, many of them already knew each other, but not all of them had tackled the Fairisle technique before. Because the pattern was designed in a way that did not need large amounts of weaving in, I managed to get a lot of the group to try the two handed Fairisle method, where a single shade of yarn is held and knitted from each hand. If you can crack this technique it makes things so much easier, especially when working in the round.

Inspired by Debbie’s Norwegian bag project, which my group made on the Norway cruise a few weeks ago, this small Christmas cracker is made in double knitting yarn and is the perfect introduction to learning Fairisle. By the end of our workshop day, half the group at least had completed their pieces ready to head home and wrap around their Smartie chocolate tubes. The cracker would make a great tree decoration, a small gift or a table favour.

If you would like to knit the cracker you can download the free pattern here

You will need:

Approx 25g DK yarn in cream and black

Small amount DK yarn in red – enough for 4 rows

3.25mm needles

4mm needles

Knitters Sewing Needle

Approx 80cm ribbon

Note: the tension on the piece is tight so that the Fairisle keeps neat and sturdy.

After a great day with lots of lovely knitters I endured the delights of roadworks on the M1 on my journey back and arrived home 2 and a half hours later, more than a little hot under the collar (journey should have taken hour and a half tops!), but look what delights had made their way into my bag to perk me up on my return home! Cant wait to get stuck into this lovely Rico cotton - my goodness the shades are just so scrumptious!

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Lesson: Puff Stitch (Crochet)

The puff stitch is one of my favorite stitches that gives the yarn a subtle puff in the piece. I've used it to make the lettuce on this hamburger dress and some amazing scarves.

Step One: Yarn over hook once, wrapping over the hook from back to front

Step Two: Insert hook into next stitch, yarn over and pull through a loop. (3 loops on hook).

Step Three: Yarn over. (4 loops on hook).

Step Four: Insert hook into the same stitch, yarn over and pull through a loop. (5 loops on hook).

Step Five: Yarn over. (6 loops on hook).

Step Six: Insert hook into the same stitch, yarn over and pull through a loop. (7 loops on hook).

Step Seven: Yarn over and draw the yarn through all 7 loops on hook.

Step 8: Chain 1 to secure the puff stitch.

The puff stitch is in the middle, in between double crochets, giving the piece a slightly puffed look.

Now you know the puff stitch! Why not try some fun patterns - like this hat, or this scarf, or this pillow, or (my favorite) this cowl.

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Pattern: Pinwheel Hot Pad

Make the perfect pinwheel star hot pad that is even along the edges to create a flat surface for those hot pots and pans.

Materials:

1/2 skein yarn (pink)
1/2 skein yarn (cream)
size "H" crochet hook

Instructions:

Starting with pink yarn, chain 4. Slip stitch to form a ring.






Chain 3 (counts as 1st dc), 13 dc in ring. Slip stitch in top of chain 3.

Row 1: *Chain 27. Skip next dc, slip stitch in next dc. (1st petal). Repeat from * 5 times. Chain 27, slip stitch at base of 1st petal. (7 petals)

Row 2: *1 sc in first 13 chains of 1st petal. 3 sc in next chain (top of 1st petal). 1 sc in each of last 13 chains of 1st petal. (29 sc). Skip slip stitch. Repeat from * for each of the remaining petals all the way around.

Row 3:  *1 sc in each of the first 14 sc of 1st petal. 3 sc in next sc (top of petal). 1 sc in each of the remaining 14 sc of 1st petal. (31 sc). Repeat from * for each of the remaining petals all the way around.

Row 4: *1 sc in each of the first 15 sc of 1st petal. 3 sc in next sc (top of petal). 1 sc in each of the remaining 15 sc of 1st petal. (33 sc). Repeat from * for each of the remaining petals all the way around.

Row 5: *1 sc in each of the first 16 sc of 1st petal. 3 sc in next sc (top of petal). 1 sc in each of the remaining 16 sc of 1st petal. (35 sc). Repeat from * for each of the remaining petals all the way around. Fasten off.








Your work should look like this, with the petals not laying completely flat:

Hold the 1st petal at the tip (at the 3 sc in 1 sc point).

















Twist the petal clockwise 180°, folding the petal on top of itself.

Halfway down the left side of the petal, make a crease so the front portion near the base is facing. Spread and flatten to create the shape.

Continue folding all 7 petals the same way. 















The back of the petal at the tip should be facing you. The front of the bottom half of the petal on the left should be facing you. Work Rows 6-8 with the work folded this way.





Row 6: Change to cream yarn. *Starting at the tip of the 1st petal, 3 sc in 1 sc. 1 sc in the next 7 sc. Attach the 1st petal to the 2nd petal using 1 sc at the 8th sc from the tip of each petal. 1 sc in the next 7 sc along the 2nd petal. Repeat from * for each of the remaining petals.





Row 7: Working in back loops only, 1 sc in each sc around.

Row 8: Working in front loops from Row 6 only, 1 sc in each sc around.

Work complete! The double edge ensures that hot pots or pans won't wobble.

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Three Years of Crocheted Halloween Costumes

For the past three years, I have crocheted different food items to wear for a Halloween costume. I decided to take on  the daunting task of designing and crocheting a costume when my husband stumbled upon the stunning designs of Joy Kampia O'Shell. She combines two of my favorite things - food and crafting - to create wearable art. I was particularly inspired by her hamburger dress.

Going off the picture alone, I re-created her design:

The body of the dress is single crochet all around, changing between a light brown for the bun and a dark brown for the burger patty. I increased and decreased stitches to make it a little form-fitting. The seeds are bits of white yarn strung over the top of one stitch and tied in the back. The cheese, onion, pickle and tomato are also single crochets to make the shape. The lettuce is made of alternating single crochets and puff stitches to give it a textured look.

Next Halloween, it was time to get really creative and come up with my own design. Drawing inspiration from delicious cupcake trucks during my summer in DC, I made this cupcake dress:

The cupcake bottom is made up of single crochet rows running vertically, alternating additional single crochet rows on top to make ridges. The cupcake top is made up of horizontal single crochet rows. There are two layers of the frosting with a little bit of cotton stuffed between to give it a puffed-out look. The ridges are single crochets on top of the work and give the look of the frosting spiral.

After two years of crocheted costumes, I planned on taking a break this year to make more practical items like blankets and hats. However, inspiration of course struck two and a half weeks before Halloween and I furiously made this number just in time:

Being a serious carnivore, I was amused by the "bacon shortage" media panic and made a bacon dress. There is white for the fat, salmon pink for the lighter meat and red for the darker meat. The dress is made up of seven individual strips of bacon sewn together while wearing it. The dress is single crochet throughout, using shorter rows in random parts to make certain parts of the bacon thicker. There are also clusters of two single crochet in one single crochet in the white to give the fat a bubbled look. This bacon dress is definitely my favorite and it will be hard to top next year!

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Back to Daylight

It's Saturday morning and I have been home from my Norway adventure since Monday evening. Came home to normality of life as it is here in the Crowfoot household: the washing basket piled almost ceiling high with either dirty clothes or those that the kids couldn't be bothered to put away in their wardrobes; carpets badly in need of some vacuum attention; an empty fridge and a pile of unopened post. Needless to say it didn't take long for the novelty of being home to subside!

The first delivery of Crochet Club yarn arrived here on Tuesday followed by the more yesterday. I cleared space in the studio and have managed to fit in all but 4 of the 27 boxes full of the lovely Rowan Cotton Glace. Im a bit of a neat greek when it comes to the studio so will have to just accept that for the next 2 months I will be negotiating cardboard boxes and seeing hundreds of packs of cotton out of the corner of my eye as I work. Moving the yarn to the studio was a tough job and it took me about 4 hours to check it all through and move accordingly. There is more to come before Christmas so I will need to clear a little more space. Its a tough job making room for nearly 10,000 balls of yarn, but always exciting when it starts to arrive.

We will keep the applications system for next year's crochet club open until the end of December. We have ordered more yarn than we currently have applications for, but we always see a surge in enquiries in January and February, so if things go as they have done in the past we may not be able to guarantee places for applicants after Christmas. For more info and images click here.

We are hoping that parcels will be sent out so that they arrive with members mid February. However we are currently waiting to hear on a confirmed delivery date for the bead order. This was placed in October, but Steve at Debbie Abrahams beads has advised us that there may be a slight delay on the order due to the bead factory closing for annual holiday. Don't panic just yet - Steve has enough beads in stock for us to get the worldwide orders out in time and hopefully by the time these have been packaged up and left us, we will have stock in for the remaining packs. If there are any confirmed changes to dates I will let you know.

I have kept under the radar quite a bit this week and not really launched myself into anything too taxing. Spending more than a week in near darkness 24/7 seems to have thrown my body clock out! I keep wanting to slope off to bed at about 8pm. I can't say I've achieved my normal amount of work this week and having a constant long list of things to do this has me very slightly panicked, however, I have had a bit of a rest and have added a few more segments to my 'wingspan' shawl that I started last week. I had forgotten how nice it is to sit in front of the TV and knit, crochet takes up so much of my time these days. Last night I sat and knitted the beaded iPad cover design that I have been commissioned to do by Steve at Debbie Abrahams beads for the next bead club that starts in the new year. It's a beaded fair isle design in bright shades of Cotton Glace and will be the spring project so keep a look out!

There are 2 things that I've been especially excited about over the past few days: Rowan have added to their lovely Kid Silk Haze family and launched a version with sequins in it. It's called Kid Silk Glamour and whilst the colour palette is not amazing it does look really nice and of course especially good for Christmas events and prezzies.

The second thing that has got me really really excited is the launch of a monthly crochet magazine from those lovely people at Future Publishing - they're the guys who produce the lovely Mollie Makes and The Knitter magazine - so chances are it will be a really fabulous magazine. I have designed a simple crochet collar for the first issue and am really chuffed to have been invited to write a monthly piece for the magazine. You can subscribe to Simply Crochet now and can get the first 3 copies at the bargain price of £5.

Next week has a lot in store with the Crochet Club taking priority. Erica will be working through the first set of pattern layouts in early December so Nicky and I need to get things sorted ready for her. The design is more or less complete and I am really pleased with it. Can you believe that it is around about now that I need to start thinking about design themes for the 2014 project? Any ideas gratefully received!

Yeah! My copy of 'The Simple Things' magazine has just dropped with a thud onto the door mat - the timing couldn't have been better as Mr C has also just presented me with a nice mug of hot coffee so I am off to enjoy a quick flick through before my day gets going properly. Summer is horse riding at lunch time and then off to see Breaking Dawn at the cinema later on, so no doubt I will be required for taxi duties in between my knitting sessions on the sofa - not too much of a chore really is it!!! Have family coming for dinner tomorrow - planning Chicken Lasagna (everyone's favourite) and no doubt Summer will want to make a cake. I just love the weekend!!

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Back to Reality

Home with a bump and back to the reality of emails, phone calls and general sorting out!
Had the joy of a dentist appointment this afternoon and received a rather large crochet club yarn order this morning so my living room is now full of boxes.
Needless to say today was a little more mundane than those of the last week when I was in Norway.

Lynn sent me a lovely image of the 'Hunting the Lights' group so attaching it here seems the appropriate ending to our lovely Norwegian adventure.

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Kirkenes and Homeward Bound

We arrived in Kirkenes after breakfast and left the ship for the final time. We boarded a coach and were taken to a viewing point above the town. There had been snow over night so it was really lovely to be travelling through a fresh snowfall up through the mountains to a great vantage point. It was still only half light, so many of the houses had their welcome lights shining in the windows – I really love this Norwegian tradition of hanging small lights or candles in the windows and am hoping to do the same in our house when I get home – it just looks so lovely and I was busy peering into all the houses on our journey and planning how I might be able to apply the same scheme to our home without it looking a bit naff!

We had another knowledgeable guide in the shape of Thomas – he told us all about the roles of both tin mining and the tourism trade in the area and took us to the Russian border where we took photos and looked at the lovely babushka dolls in the small gift shop. The image below was taken from Norway looking across to Russia.

Coming back towards the town of Kirkenes, Thomas told us about the recent history of the town, explaining that it was taken over by Nazi soldiers during WW2 due to its proximity to Russia. The soldiers virtually destroyed the town during their occupation and the locals hid out in the tin mines. It was the Russians who liberated them towards the end of the War and to whom there is a memorial of thanks within the town.

At lunch time we went to the Gabba restaurant which is situated a couple of kilometres outside of Kirkenes. The restaurant is shaped like a Sami tent, but built in a Russian style of pine and timber. The restaurant is cicular and surrounds a central open fire where the cooking is done. We had home made soup and fresh bread followed by rum laced chocolate cake – one thing this trip hasn’t been kind on is my waistline! Thomas (our guide) also runs the restaurant and owns some lovely reindeer, including a rare white one who we got to see. Apparently seeing a white reindeer is bad luck so I guess we are all in for a tough time – perhaps the bad luck is that we have to go home tomorrow!

Back at the hotel the group continued to knit, whilst others made the most of the reliable wifi connection (which has been more than a bit sporadic on the ship) and updated their emails and messages.

The skies are not clear tonight and it looks like we may have a bit more snow. The likelihood of seeing the Northern Lights again tonight is slim – but we were treated to such an amazing show last night that we don’t really mind. Our wonderful Norwegian Lights trip is all but over and within the next few days we all have to sort out our body clocks and get them used to a bit more daylight. Debra is travelling back to Australia at the end of the week so she will be catapulted into the heat of summer down under and so will be faced with huge amounts of sunshine! Spending the week living in so much darkness has had a soporific effect on many of us and we have even found ourselves discussing bed time from lunch time onwards. In fact we had a good laugh at my proposal that one of my blog posts could have simply been ‘Had breakfast and watched the sun go down!’

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