Crocheted visor

28th February

I seem to keep trying out lots of new things at the moment and am having such good fun!  The latest try out, is still on the hook, one finished and one more to complete before I can show you, but in the mean time I hooked up something else today.  And guess what?  I made two!  In under two hours!!!


Using the great Bob Wilson tutorials, I was able to hook up two crocheted visors (one red and one neon green) all ready for some sun and Spring to arrive.  Link to her great tutorial is below and here are my stages of the hooking process, enjoy and give it a go.  I think this is the fastest project I have ever undertaken...

First you chain 10 and half triple crochet into each chain and carry on until you have the length you desire to wrap around your head.  Crochet stretches, so I crocheted about 8cm smaller than my head.

 

  

 

Sew the ends together to create a loop and then mark outbthe section where you would like the visor section to be, mark with yarn or stitch markers.

 

Bob describes it very clearly when to increase the stitches, but basically for this section of the visor you need to use double yarn, and again will half triple crochet into stitches; super quick.

 

Before you know it, it is finished!!!!!

 

Bob Wilson tutorial fo the Cutis visor: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlnTuha0A5U

 

 



Enjoy!  Give it a go!

Have a great week end!



Let me know how you get on!

Brick stitch crochet bag - just can't stop!

25 February 

Side view of the brick stitch bag
made with scrap yarn!

They are growing and it is out of control.  I have always loved bags and shoes and when in my sewing phase, I made many bags in all shapes and sizes but now it is filtering into my crochet life!!  This is bag number two in less than a week, both made with new stitches I had not tried before.  To find the previous bag using the cluster stitch, I love the colours I made that one in, just follow the link:  http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/crocheted-bag-i-didnt-mean-to-make.html

This bag was made in the same way as my previous bag, but instead of watching the video tutorial (there is one for this too) I worked straight from the written pattern.  However, I love the fact that each of these patterns from Bob can be used either by watching and following or by the traditional method of a written pattern.  This bag was quick to make, not super quick as the cluster stitch bag, but it was made in about 3-4 hours.  I would call that a quick make for a crocheted bag, wouldn't you?

I found this brick stitch a better stitch for a bag than the cluster stitch as it has no gaps between the stitches and is quite dense, thus making for a sturdy bag all round and no chance of lip liners or pens falling through the stitches.  For me personally the stitch looks grand, but perhaps not as attractive as the cluster stitch.  So I will need to make a third bag and line a cluster bag and then decide which I prefer!  What about you, cluster or brick stitch for a crocheted bag?

I will not go into the details here of how to make the bag, you can find the link below, but will post my photos to show you how it grew...

Circular base made to desired diameter and then new colour added for the beginning of the sides.

 



 

After two rows of the blue brick stitch the sides are already clearly forming.

 

 

Side view showing row 1 and 2 of the brick stitch in blue.

 

Close up of rows 1-3 of the brick stitch

 

Below you can clearly see the difference when only one row of brick stitch is used and the difference when built up with the second row, look at the white yarn.

 

The bag begins to feel spacious and deep very quickly.

 

As I was trying to use up stashed scrap yarn, I was beginning to doubt the colour combination for the bag and almost lost heart with it.

 

Re-introducing the red from the base of the bag began to bring it all together and my faith slowly became restored.

 

Once the desired height was reached, stitch markers, in this case different coloured yarn, were put in place to mark the handles.

 

The same technique was used with the cluster stitch bag to make the handles, starting with chain stitch and then triple crocheting into the chain to add the desired width.  I used a much smaller hook to get into the chain as that made it much easier.  Bag was crocheted with a 6mm hook, but triple stitched into the chain with a 3mm hook.

 

The finished article.  Not too shabby for a free bag made from scrap yarn! 

And all it took was a few hours!

Link to making the brick stitch bag can be found on the brilliant website of Bob Wilson, she gives clear and concise video tutorials or you can use the written pattern:
http://www.bobwilson123.org/uploads/1/6/3/0/16302954/brick_stitch_bag_bobwilson123.pdf

 

I would love to know if you make either of the cluster or brick stitch bags.  If you have trouble commenting, email and let me know at:

 

eclectichomeandlife@gmail.com

 

 

Would love to hear from you, after all, that is what it's all about!

Crocheted bag - I didn't mean to make!

23 February



Small cluster bag stitch

Do you surf the web?  I do but also increasingly more so. Sites like Pintrest, Ravelry. Facebook and Instagram are my more recent downfalls but to and a few. There are not enough hours in the day. I might just have to reduce my sleeping hours!?! Do you feel the same?

What with working, raising a family, looking after the home, being the best support for my husband and now having started this blog, life has not enough hours in it for all the wonderful things I would like to try and experience!

It was on one of these surfing trips that I came across Bob. Bob is a teacher of crochet and gives free, clear and easy to follow video tutorials. Pardon the pun but I became hooked. And it was here that I found my next crochet project that I wasn't evening looking for. The cluster stitch bag.

I was drawn to it as Bob used a large hook and chunky yarn. I wanted to follow her immediately and so grabbled around my yarn stash to see what I could use, knowing I didn't have any chunky yarn. It was 9.30 pm and I really shouldn't have begun a new project. But the lime green yarn was begging me and teamed up with a black I thought I had a winning combination. As the yarn was not chunky I had to double it up and hooked it with two strands. It worked well.  I won't give you the details of the pattern here but there will be a link below to Bob's pattern and you can follow her tutorial. Much of the tutorial is in real time, I found that fun too!

The bag itself is a cute size, big enough for the essentials and no more. The gaps between the stitches would mean you could loose a lip liner or two so either don't put those in the bag loose or else the bag would perhaps need to be lined. I am going to make another and line that one and see which I prefer. Hope you may be tempted to try this. It is another super super quick make. Less than an evenings worth of crocheting!!

 The base of the bag is a basic circle pattern, very quick to make.  Being double yarn makes it thick and sturdy too!



The cluster stitch is a quick stitch and the sides of the bag grow quickly.

You can see here in the close up that the bag will have some gaps!  so either it needs lining, or you do not put small items in loose!

Marking in a different colour yarn for the handles positions.





Below, you can see the start of the handles, chain stitch.





Handles now increased in width.



The finished bag.  I am really pleased with it and will make another one.  That one I will line and see which I prefer, will keep you posted!

Link to Bob Wilson's tutorial for this cluster stitch bag is:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO5kYGJ7tDg

Should you just want the written pattern, it can be found here:  http://www.bobwilson123.org/uploads/1/6/3/0/16302954/cluster_stitch_bag_or_hat_bobwilson123.pdf

Her website where you will find many other great tutorials is:  http://www.bobwilson123.org/

Enjoy and let me know if you make one!

Crocheted heart pillows

Crocheted pillow hearts take just over an hour each to make

19th February 



There is no denying it, I love hearts, this is my fifth posting on hearts and all are different, if you are interested here are the other posts:









Christmas baking, Scandinavian heart style: 
http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/2nd-december-this-is-family-recipe-we.html

Christmas heart crafting:
http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/norwegian-hearts.html

Paper heart crafting:
http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/hearts-hearts-and.html

Crocheted hearts and felt heart garland:
http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/hearts-hearts-and.html

So why more hearts?  My daughter has been ill, nothing serious, but it has wiped her out for the last week and I wanted to show her how much I love her and wish her better, so as we have both been forced to stay indoors during half term (school holiday in the UK) whilst she was still sleeping this morning I decided to revisit a blog that I love and finally 'have a go' at the pillow heart cushion that I had been coveting since I had seen it  a few weeks ago.  The blog in question?

http://www.monmakesthings.com/p/about.html

If you have not visited Monica's blog before, then I urge you too, she is inspirational and it is easy to catch her enthusiasm.  Her patterns and tutorials are clearly written and easy to follow.

Crocheted heart pillow

I will not write up the details of how to make these hearts as there is a link below to Monica's pattern.  But thought I would share the photo journal of my creations from today. 

 

♥

 

Already I was glad my husband was not around as I was crocheting these,  I am sure I can imagine what he would say...

♥

 





♥

The shape just became funnier and funnier, but my excitement grew rapidly as these are fast and fun to make!  (Notice I was crocheting in bed this morning!  Daughter was also in her bed ill, Mr H was at work and my son is away for the week, I should have been concentrating on admin and paper work but... who could resist these over chores?)

 

 ♥

 



 

♥

 

 In just over an hour I had made a heart pillow for my daughter ill in bed

♥

 





♥

And a few hours later I had made three hearts

♥

 



♥

The pattern as I have said, is easy to follow, quick to make and exciting to to have something so gorgeous, so quickly produced.  Those of you who know me that this pattern is 'just up my street'.  I love this pattern and think Monica is a pure genius.  I am sure I shall be returning to this pattern again and again over the years to come. 

Monica, thank you x

 



http://www.monmakesthings.com/2014/02/crochet-heart-pillow-pattern-tutorial.html

Rainbows, wristwarmers and flapjacks!

18th February 



Rainbow, light shining through a glass of water
creating the rainbow on the bedroom floor

Sunday was such a lovely day after all the horrendous rain we have had, that it was a pleasure to look out of the bedroom window on awakening.  Made doubly so by the beautiful sight that greeted me as I finally arose from bed, having had an unusual lie in without having any children's sports chauffeuring to do. 

There on the bedroom floor was a rainbow...



Sometimes you just know when a day is going to pan out well and this was one of those days.  My
sister had asked me to stop crocheting hearts via my
facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/eclectichomelife and so with Valentines day finished for another year, I thought I had better respond quickly.  She had asked for wrist warmers as she was finding the daily commute on the Metro cold and really fancied a neutral coloured set to keep her toasty warm.  So what does an older sister do but oblige:


Finished wrist warmer outer layer, and towelling inner layer

I chained 30 and triple crocheted (UK term) in the round, slip stitched in at the end of each round then chained two before continuing to triple crochet the new row.   I continued until each wrist warmer was approx 7 cm long.

As I was using stashed scrap yarn (sorry sis) it was not the softest of wools, decided it needed something more snug on the inside and found some old striped towelling material that would do just the job.

I measured the towelling material to fit around the inside of the wrist warmer and then machine sewed it into a continuous loop.

 

Remembering to turn the crocheted wrist warmer inside out, I placed the towelling material over the outside of the wrist warmer, (see photograph).  Once fully over the wrist warmer, it was important to remember to turn in the edges of the towelling material to ensure a neat edge and to avoid fraying.  The towelling material was then machine sewed at either end to the wrist warmer.










I did not like the end finish so then decided to scallop edge the wrist warmers.  Using the same neutral coloured yarn, I joined at any point and followed the pattern of :  dc, htr, trc, htr, dc, ss and repeated this until I had crocheted all the way round the wrist warmer.  This was repeated on all four edges to produce a softer line to the finished project.

 

I had already made a very small black heart, see previous post, (for this any many more crocheted hearts : http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/valentines-and-crafting.html  ) and sewed this on just one of the wrist warmers and posted them off to my sister, hoping that they arrive quickly and keep her warm knowing I love and miss her.


But it was to be a very productive day, my daughter concerned for her father, decided to make him his current favourite; flap jacks.  Not being one for doing anything by halves, she looked at a recipe and immediately adapted it to suit her father's taste.  This is what she did:

Ella's Flapjacks 
You will need:

125g butter
125g brown sugar
4tbsp golden syrup
225g rolled oats
1 tsp ground ginger
handful of chopped hazelnuts
handful of chopped glace cherries
handful of chopped apricots

♥  Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/GM5
♥  Grease or line a small tin, approx 20 cm
♥  Melt butter in a large heavy based pan and stir in sugar   and syrup. 
♥  Add oats, ginger, hazelnuts, cherries and apricots and mix well.
♥  Press mixture evenly into tin, best to use the back of a metal spoon to produce an even level finish.
♥  Bake for 15-20 mins until golden brown.
♥  Cool in tin for approx 10-15 mins, then cut into wedges, slices or squares, according to preference

Eat and enjoy!

 

Do you have any favourite flapjack recipes you would be willing to share?

 

Valentines and crafting ♥

14th February  ♥

This was a heart garland that I made for a giveaway
on my Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/eclectichomelife

I always seem to only be half a step ahead at best and so begin to think about craft ideas for the next
celebration a short time before.  Really after all these years on this planet of ours, you would have thought I would know by now that to hand make anything, takes time and planning...  I have been playing around with hearts for the last week or so, but nothing has really jumped at me to make and so I have tinkered with lots of different heart pattern, big ones, small ones and mid size ones, I like them all, but perhaps not surprisingly prefer the ones that are the quickest to make. See here for the small crochet hearts I like:  http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/hearts-hearts-and.html

A good selection of heart patterns can also be found at these sites, remember hearts can be used at anytime of the year, not just for Valentines.  I think I might make some yellow ones for Easter, look I might be learning, I am thinking ahead?!?  All patterns below have been tried and tested my me, so I know they work and are my current favourites.  I did try others, but these are my top 5 ♥

 

Lucy from Attic 24 make tiny hearts, this year I used these to make my Valentine card:  http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/teeny-tiny-hearts.html










Lovely detailed yet quick small hearts, ideal for a garland: http://www.crochettoday.com/files/patterns-pdf/CrochetValentine_0.pdf







Super quick and perhaps my current favourite small hearts: http://www.thestitchinmommy.com/2013/01/valentines-day-crochet-heart.html?m=1

 

I love this multicoloured heart. I have only made one, but the designer suggests making two and filling with lavender! I may just do that! http://bunnymummy-jacquie.blogspot.nl/2013/02/simple-sunburst-crochet-heart.html

 

These lovely and detailed hearts come from: http://myrosevalley.blogspot.ch/2013/04/sweet-heart-crochet-pattern.html

♥Apologies to knitters for not posting any heart pattern, I will get round to testing out hearts through out the year and will get back to you.  In the mean time if any keen knitter can recommend some heart patterns for me to try, I would be grateful ♥





But, as I had only tinkered with the hearts and not really come up with a finished product, except the garland that I gave away,  I needed another quick fix at crafting and thought to make a felt version of the paper hearts I made a few days ago, http://eclectichomelife.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/hearts-hearts-and.html



A no sew project if you prefer!

Felt hearts on a string ♥

You will need:
felt in chosen colour (s)
ruler
pencil
scissor
needle and thread
glue (or a sewing machine)

 

♥ I used a ruler to measure the width of my strips, and kept them all the same width. Mark on the felt and cut out as many strips as you want,
1 strip = 1♥







♥ Glue each end following your glue instructions. mine said to leave for 30 seconds before attaching to anything.

♥ Attach the two ends to each other, this is a little counter intuitive, the ends come in on each other to join, see photograph.








♥ Pinch the bottom of the heart to adjust the point and make it more heart like.









♥ Line up the hearts and sew through the middle of them, making sure that you are threading them at approximately the same height as each other.  I found it best to thread through the felt inside the heart shape too, if you do not add that onto the thread, your hearts could be too top heavy and will not stay the right way up when hung on a garland.  I found this out the hard way.  These photographs show the hearts without threading through the middle section, so be warned!!

 

♥ Once thread, find your hanging location and then space out the hearts within the garland.  you will need to tweak the heart shapes as you go along.

 

And ...Ta da...

 ♥

 

 ♥

 

♥ Happy Valentines Day everyone ♥

I'll be eating heart shaped waffles for breakfast, are you going to be doing anything over the top too?