Simple crocheted bag

When we were in transit, living in temporary accommodation when we first moved to Canberra, I was bored, needed a craft project, and needed a new handbag.  So I decided to combine the two and crochet one for myself.  We had no internet barring a tiny bit on our phones, all my crochet stuff was packed away in a shipping crate somewhere between Brisbane & Canberra, so I had no supplies, and no patterns.  I decided to wing it.

I bought some yarn (cheapie, $2 a ball stuff, but nice colours) and a hook, and started crocheting.

The finished product has had heaps of compliments, so here's what I did.  This is not a proper pattern, but it's so simple that hopefully anyone can follow it if they've done a little crochet before.  I use UK crochet terms, so convert into US if you need to.

I started with a chain roughly as long as I wanted the side of my bag to be.  In my case, it was about 30cm long.  I then worked in double-crochet in rows until it was as high/deep as I wanted the bag to be, and tied it off.

I repeated this, to be the other side of the bag.  So I had two rectangles, about 30cm by 20cm.

I then made a new chain, about 2 inches long, and worked double crocheted rows as long as I wanted the strap to be.  The strap needed to start at the bottom of the bag, pass across the front of my body up over the opposite shoulder, down my back, and around to the bottom of the bag.  It was basically going to be joined in a big loop (ie stitched together end-to-end), and the rectangles joined on either side opposite each other, with the rest of the loop forming the strap, leaving the top edge of each rectangle open.  Hopefully the pictures will help explain what I mean!

In the very middle of this picture, you can see the join of the ends of the strap at the bottom of the bag.

The strap was too long, in my case, and as soon as I put my purse, phone etc in my bag, it stretched.  It got really long!  To shorten it without pulling everything apart again, I worked out where the mid-point of the shoulder strap was, and folded some of the excess back under, and stitched all the layers together to make a padded section at the top of the shoulder.  The strap has stretched a bit more since, but there's only so far it can stretch, so it's OK now.

The padded section at the top of the strap.

I then crocheted a small rectangle (double crochet) which I stitched to the inside of one of the sides of the bag (stitched sides and bottom, leaving the top open to make a pocket).  It's handy for slipping keys or phone into, so that you can find them easily.  Lastly, I found a pattern for a crocheted flower, made one, and stitched it to the outside of the bag, for a little decoration.  Here are some free crochet flower patterns.

Flower detail

Pocket inside.  I stitched it only into the loops of yarn on the inside of the bag, so that no stitches would show through to the outside.

It was really quick to make, and it's still going strong!

Crochet All The Baby Things!

I have had something of a break from blogging, unintentional really - just life getting busy and various things happening.

But I'm getting back into the swing of crafting, and that means I have stuff to share with you :)

I have a wee bellybabe on board, and that has brought on a sudden *need* to crochet All The Things for baby.

Some of these have been made up by me; others are made from patterns from Ravelry etc - I'll reference those as I go :)

First up is this cute little newborn size vest that I made up.  It's in 4pl Lincraft Lullaby, lemon peel stitch.  It's so eeny weeny & cute!  I dc'd a couple of rows around the armholes and neck, and used front post tr & back post tr around the bottom to create a ribbed effect.

Detail of the lemon peel stitch.  It gives this vest a lovely texture, but is very simple to do at the same time.

Next is a jumper, more like 6months+, from this Ravelry pattern.

The pattern is called Devon Stitch.  I love the buttons at the top, which do actually open to make the neck wider to fit over baby's head if needed.

Close up of the Devon Stitch pattern.  I worked it with a variegated yarn, and a solid colour that matched closely.  You could use any number of different colour combinations to great effect with this pattern.

I also made some longies from this lovely pattern plus a nappy cover based on the same pattern (before I discovered that she had a separate pattern for one - perhaps another project!).

I love the way this yarn worked up for this pattern!

These just need to be lanolised and they'll be good to go!

I crocheted a cute little cotton hat/beanie, nothing special, your basic sort of beanie pattern that I can make without needing to think about.

I adore this little cotton vest, too.  The heart applique was made up on the spot (the whole vest was, actually) - it turned out just perfect, though.  It's probably sized for 6mo+.

The red is much brighter in real life - it looks like a muted dark pink in the photos.

Detail of the heart applique - the first round of a granny square, with a shell on two adjoining sides, and edged in a couple of rounds of dc.  Stitched on in the contrasting red thread, using backstitch through the outer round of dc.  Easy peasy!

And last but not least - and these get a whole blog post dedicated to them! - hexagon cardigans :)

Baby Hexagon Cardigan

 The concept of a hexagon cardigan is not my invention.  Again, I've built on what others before me have made, but I've added just a few differences which give the finished product a different look and feel.  Lots of the patterns you will see use a granny-square type stitch pattern - I personally feel it looks too chunky on a baby/small child.  I prefer what I've done - but that's purely personal preference.

This one was a project for my current bellybabe.  It's newborn size, and rather cute, if I do say so myself!

This is more or less what I did :)  Apologies if it's a bit vague - I am recording this after having completed the cardigan.  If you need any help following the instructions, please just ask!

I used 8ply Lincraft Cozy yarn (in this case, a lovely variegated yarn, and a matching yellow), a 4mm hook, and a 3.5mm hook.  Also, sewing thread in a coordinated colour, and 4 buttons.  I work in UK terms.

Make 2 of the below, worked in the round, using your main colour and 4mm hook.

Ch 6.  Join with sl st to first chain.
Rnd 1: ch 6 (counts as 1 tr, 3 ch). * 3tr into ring, 3ch ** (5 times), 2tr into ring, join with sl st into 3rd of the original 6ch in this round.
Rnd 2: sl st into middle of 3ch sp, ch 6 (counts as 1tr, 3ch). * 2tr into 3ch space, 1tr into each of the next 3 tr, 2tr into next 3ch space, 3ch ** (5 times), 1 tr into first 3ch space, before the 6ch from the start of the round, sl st into the 3rd ch.
Continue in this way until desired size is reached, adding a total of 4tr to each side each round.  For this cardigan, I had a total of 8 rounds.  Finish off.

Your hexagon will not sit flat, unlike a hexagon that you might make for a blanket or similar.  It's meant to be wibbly-wobbly.   Trust me :)

I actually prefer the look of this cardigan using the wrong side as the outside, but you can work to your preference, it makes absolutely no difference to the method.

Wrong sides together, stitch one side of each hexagon together from corner to corner.  This seam is the middle of the back of the cardigan.  It looks a pretty wonky shape at this stage.  Don't worry, it's about to all come together!

Fold each hexagon into a neat "L" shape.  Two of the sides will be folded in half.  The centre of each hexagon will form the armpit of the cardigan.  One arm of the "L" will form the sleeve; the other will form half the back, and half the front of the cardigan.

This is what your folded hexagon should look like

Still with wrong sides together, start at the wrist end of each arm, and stitch the top edge together, leaving about 2 inches unstitched.  This leaves room for baby's neck!  For a larger size cardigan, you may want to increase the amount left unstitched.  Have a play with it to see what works.

Now the basic cardigan is in shape.  Turn the right way out & continue as below.

Switching to your matching colour, and 3.5mm hook, join with a sl st anywhere on the wrist edge of one sleeve.  Ch 3 (counts as 1 tr), and stitch 1tr in each tr around, 2tr in each ch sp where the sleeve join is.  When you reach the beginning, join with a sl st into the 3rd ch of the original 3ch/tr.  Ch 3 to begin next round, and then alternate front post trebles and back post trebles into the tr of the previous round, joining with a sl st into the 3rd ch of the original 3ch/tr.  Finish off.  This gives you a nice ribbed cuff that is slightly narrower than the sleeve. Repeat on the other sleeve.

Then to the cuff around the bottom of the cardigan, and the edging and buttonholes.  These are all going to be worked together, in the round, continuing with the matching yarn & 3.5mm hook.

Join yarn with a sl st at bottom front right corner.  Dc in each tr up the front of the cardigan.  5dc in 3ch space in the top corner of the first hexagon, and continue with a dc in each tr around the neck.  When you reach the back seam, st 2dc into each ch space and continue as before.  When you reach the left front of the neck, 5dc into 3ch space in the corner, and continue dc in each tr down the left front.  At the left bottom corner, 3dc in 5ch sp.  Ch 3 (counts as 1 tr), 1tr into 3ch space, then 1 tr in each tr along the bottom of the cardigan, with 2tr in each ch space at the back seam.  Finish with 1tr into the first dc of the bottom right front corner.  Stitch 2dc into the side of the last tr you just made.  Dc into next 2 dc up the front, then ch 2, skip 1dc (forms first buttonhole) dc into next dc.  You will need to work out how many buttons you want (I used 4) and space the buttonholes evenly up the front right edge, leaving 1-1.5 inches free at the top which can be folded down as a little collar.  On my cardigan, there were 8dc between each buttonhole.

The top button is placed below the top corners to make the fit a little more comfortable

 Continue to dc in each dc of previous round.  In the front top corners, 3dc into 3rd of 5dc of previous round.  Continue around neck and down the other side.  When you reach the bottom corner, ch 3, and alternate front post trebles and back post trebles in each tr of previous round.  When you reach the bottom left corner, as for previous row, 2dc in the side of the last tr, and dc in each dc up the side (2dc in each 2ch button hole).  3dc in 2nd of the 3dc in each top corner, and continue to dc around and down to bottom left corner.  Finish off.

Detail of the ribbing

Now all that remains is to use a needle and thread to stitch on the buttons onto the left front edge, opposite each buttonhole.  I like to stitch mine on in a fleur-de-lis sort of style if it's a 4-hole button - just a little different to the normal ways of stitching on a button.  It's cute.

A different way to sew on a 4-hole button

Don't forget to weave in your ends.

You're all done!  Enjoy the adorableness.

I have done another similar cardigan previously.  I followed the same basic idea, except that I used tr around the neck instead of dc, to form a complete collar that can be folded down.  I also used a 4ply yarn & smaller hooks, and consequently more rounds.  I have noticed a similar looking one on Ravelry more recently (as in, the picture of it looks similar, but I have no idea how the pattern compares to what I did), but as I actually made this one months ago & made up the collar etc myself just by playing with it, I'm claiming ownership over it as my own work.

The other similar cardigan, also in a variegated yarn, with collar added.

Wedding Cake

This may well be the one and only time I ever make a wedding cake, 'cause it nearly killed me.  But it turned out so well, that I thought it would be worth putting up here.

The lucky recipients were my mum & step-dad, and the big day was 7 May 2011.

The bottom layer was a deliciously rich and sticky chocolate mud cake, coated in ganache and then white plastic icing.  The top layer was a dense fruit cake, which they saved for their first anniversary - coated in marmalade and then the plastic icing over the top.  The flowers were white chocolate dyed purple, and hand-shaped.

The top layer - fruit cake!

This one was easy because it was smaller!

Bottom layer - mud cake with ganache on

This was the second attempt at putting the icing on the bottom layer - the first was a disaster and my poor mother (whose cake it was) arrived to find me hacking icing off with a knife because it had cracked so badly

It took three of us to lift this huge slab of icing onto the cake

No cracks this time!

Perfect!

Handmade white chocolate flowers

These were done in several batches, so there was a lot of variation in colour which worked out really well

Detail of flowers

Testing out flower arrangements on the top layer

The big day is here!  Starting to assemble the final version

All put together

Picture perfect

Top view

Final flower arrangement up close

With the ribbons as well

More flowers :)

There were a bunch of flowers left over, so they were randomly inserted under layers of the cake, which looked rather pretty.

Apart from the ribbons etc which I obviously did not make, this was all hand-crafted by me.  It was fun and terrifying at the same time.  It all came together rather beautifully, though.  The bottom layer was absolutely demolished on the day, and the top layer held up beautifully for a year and apparently tasted amazing (though the roses didn't taste so good by then, they tell me).

There endeth my career in wedding cakes ;)

Granny/Crone Square Blanket

These are a dime-a-dozen, I know.  The quintessential crochet project.  But this turned out so gorgeous, I just had to share it.

A certain big craft store was having an end-of-season yarn sale.  I couldn't resist.  Cleckheaton's Country yarns were all half-price!  So I bought some (24 balls), in the loveliest colours.

I ummed and ahhhed over what to make with them, as you do, when you buy yarn without a project in mind.  In the end, the yarn itself was screaming to be made into a blanket.  And with so many colours, I could try something a bit unique.

No two squares are the same.  There are some with the same colour combinations, but with the colours in different orders.  The overall effect is stunning.

I enlisted D, with his programmer's brain, to help me work out all possible combinations.  I remember from high school maths was that you need to use factorials to work out permutations.  That's the limit of what I remember, however.  Seven colours (not including the cream for edging/joining), each square with four rounds, with no repeats of any colour within a square.  The possibilities seemed endless!  Mathematically, of course, there is a limit.  It turns out that the limit was 840 different combinations.  I didn't have enough yarn to make all of those (nor the money to buy more), so I just included as much variety as I could, to try to even it out.  I ended up with 108 squares, so  9 x 12 to make the blanket.  Then each square was edged with cream, before being sewn together with cream.

All 108 squares, laid out according to the outer colour (not the cream, obviously)

One thing that I did was weave in my ends as I went, at the end of each round.  It really didn't take long, and meant that I was much more motivated to finish the blanket, because I knew I wouldn't have to do all the ends, at the end!  I wove in the ends using a darning needle, feeding it through the back loops of the row.  This meant that they were not only woven in, but also stitched in, making them less likely to come out.

Needle through the back loops

Needle through the back loops

Insert yarn through eye of needle

Pull needle through loops

Tail tucked in, neat and ready for the next round of stitches

I used a large cardboard box to do my blocking on.  It was a packing box for large hanging pictures, so really solid (two thick layers of corrugated cardboard).  My fingers got sore from pushing pins through it so many times!  I had to do it in four batches, owing to not having enough pins to do more at once, but I had a lovely sunny day on my side, so I'd pin them on, spray with water, and then out into the yarn in full sunshine for a couple of hours to dry, and voila, all done in one day!

Enjoying the sunshine!

I joined on the top side of the blanket, so it has that nice ridged effect.  I tried something new with the joining as well.  Previously when I've made crone/granny square blankets,I've joined squares one by one, in lines/rows, and then joined those rows together.  This time, I tested out doing a running row of joins - not fastening off between joins, but stitching from the last corners of the first set, straight into the first corners of the next pair.  Hopefully the photos will help you to understand what I mean!  This uses less yarn, means less joins, less ends that can come loose, and I think was quicker overall.

Top two squares were joined as normal, and then bottom two squares placed next to them and continued stitching

This is how it looks once you've joined a few rows in this fashion

Five rows joined, still more to go!

Then, I simply did the same joining method across the blanket, drawing the unjoined sides together.

The second set of joins crosses over the first as you essentially fill in the gaps

Finally, I edged the whole thing with three rounds in cream following the same crone/granny pattern, ending with one round of dc to give it a neat edge.  It probably needs to be blocked as a whole now, to really neaten it up, but I'll save that for another day.  It looks pretty beautiful now just as it is!

The finished product!

It's Spring here, so we may have to wait until next Autumn rolls around to really appreciate this one, but I am looking forward to snuggling under it when the weather is cool.  In the meantime, I just need to keep it out of reach of a certain cat ;)

PS.  In his spare time, D is now working on a version of his program with more features, to help me in my future blanket-planning endeavours!  What a fab man he is <3