valentine's day must be bombed

Bow, as you may know, I'm not the biggest fan of Valentine's day and my partner and I don't celebrate it. However my very dear friend has suggested we do something to celebrate it involving crochet so I have been busy making the kind of icky things I least like to see on feb 14th. That's how much I like her!

So....above is a selection of hearts and below is my finished cupid which I am rather pleased with.

A little 3d heart

my first go at fillet crochet.

Just hooked this up in no time

I did this little headband in about 20 minutes. Now that's what I call a quick project! It's really all about showcasing this really beautiful sari yarn. It's really thick, i used an 8 mm hook but really could have used bigger. I just did a few rows of single crochet and then added some ties that were just a simple decrease in some scrap yarn.

Now the question is: do I go out in public wearing this? Will I be crossing over the border into being one of those crazy people covered in their own creations - usually freeform?

almost finished

Cute little cupid just needs a bow and arrow now.

I've also managed to finish my first strip of a blanket. This has taken me 6 months to do so I'm not expecting the blanket to be finished this decade.

It's done in Tunisian crochet with a border of long dc stitches.

making progress

my little cupid has all his limbs, some dodgy wings a nappy and half his hair. I'm quite pleased about the limbs, I like the way he looks like he is flying. I think it's going to be hard to free form a bow and arrow but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Bit worried that putting a face on him will ruin it too. That's the problem with free form, unless you just have to let go and let your hook think for you.

Below are a couple of finished objects. The star is called Twink, named by my son. He needed a star for a summer club he was going to so I crocheted this one up in an evening. The fish is a pattern (slightly modified) from an ami book I am working my way through. This was for my friends son who calls it Bish.

Cupid

I've had an idea. I'm going to make a little cupid for valentines day. This is how he's starting out, obviously a lot of work to go yet.

Mario Blanket

I made this blanket in the summer last year fro Osiris. It was a labour of love I can tell you! I got the pattern from Sprite Stitch from someone who used it for a cross stitch pattern. I broke it up into squares of 20 x 20 pixels and crocheted each square using a 5mm hook and a Tunisian stitch. It took me a little while to work how to change colours and really I should have invested in a Tunisian crochet hook.

Things I have learnt from making this blanket:

Buy a long hook

Maybe do long strips instead of squares

That people are impressed easily because I can really see all the flaws in this but people have been very nice.

Pea Shooter Amigurumi

Pattern by Erika Devine

Yarn: DK very dark green

Dark green

Light green

Hook: 3.5 mm or your favourite hook and yarn ;)

US stitch names

Made in spirals with no joining at the end of rounds. Use a stitch marker.

Number in brackets () denotes number of stitches at the end of round

In = increase,

Dc = decrease

Head

With very dark green mak

e adjustable ring

Round 1: 6 sc

R2: in (12)

R3: in, sc (18)

R4: in, 2sc (24)

R5: in, 3sc (30)

R6: sc (30)

R7: change to light green, sc (30)

R8-9: sc (30)

R10: in, 4sc (36)

R11: in, 5sc (42)

R12: dc, 5sc (36)

R13: dc, 4sc (30)

R14: 3sc (24)

R15: 2sc (18)

R16: sc (18

R17: in, 5sc (21)

R18: in, 6sc (24)

R19: in, 7sc (27)

R20: in, 8sc (30)

R21: in, 9sc (33)

R22: in, 10sc (36)

R23: in, 17sc (38)

R24: in, 18sc (40)

R25: in, 19sc (42)

R26 – 31: sc (42)

R32: dc, 5s

c (36)

R33: dc, 4sc (30)

R34: dc, 3sc (24)

R35: dc, 2sc (12)

Place eyes between rounds 21 and 22, 7 posts apart.

Fold end with very dark green end

into itself and keep in place by sewing with light green yarn.

Stuff and sew up end.

Small leaf

With dark geen chain 8

Sl st in 2^nd chain from hook, sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc, sl st, sl st into other side of starting chain, sc, hdc, dc, hdc, sc, sl st.

Fasten off leaveing long tail for sewing.

Sew onto back of head.

Large Leaf (make 4)

With dark green chain 12

Row 1: dc in 2^nd chain from hook, 9dc, 5dc in last chain, work up the other side of starting chain, 8dc leaving the last 2 chains unworked, turn

R2-6: work in back loops only from now on. Ch 1, 10 dc, 5 dc in next stitch, 10 dc, turn

R7: ch 1, 10 dc, sl st into next dc, chain 3, dc into 2^nd chain from hook, sl st into next ch and following up the centre of the leaf giving a sl st ‘vein’ up the middle to the end.

Pea (make as many as you like)

With light green make an adjustable ring

Round 1: 6sc (6)

Round 2: in (12)

R3: in, 1sc (18)

R4-5: sc (18)

R6:dc, 1sc (12)

R7: dc (6)

Fasten off, stuff and sew up

Stem

With dark green make an adjustable ring

Round 1: 6sc

R2: in, 1sc (12)

R3-17: sc

R18: in, 2sc (18)

R19-20: sc

Fasten off, leave a tail for sewing. Stuff and sew to body. Sew Large Leaves to base.

Final pea shooter

Do you like? I even got it to stand up!

I'm currently working on getting the pattern written up,

New Year - New reason to use this blog

Ok, so I haven't posted for a very very long time. I think it was because I felt this blog was becoming too personal. I should imagine there are not many people out there reading this now, I think that's what I want - new start for my blog but with the old stuff still accessible.

So....the NEW REASON to blog is this......CROCHET!!!!!!!

Yes. I love crochet so much and there is so much going on in my crochet mind that I need to give it form.

I want to share with you my new pattern project and when I have perfected the pattern I will publish it on here and use this blog to link into Ravelry.

SO....plants vs zombies pea shooter mark 1:

I was quite pleased with this one but the stem seemed wrong and I really wanted it to stand up by itself. Here is pea shooter mark 2:

As you can see it's standing up but the base is too fat. So the question is....thin stalk that is more realistic or fat stalk that stands up? Hmmmmm. I'm working on mark 3. I've got all the elements sorted but the stalk.