Christmas time already?

Wow, it's been awhile since I've been here, hasn't it? I guess this once a week thing isn't really working out for me at all! Oh well, better late than never...

So it's almost Christmas. Again. Time to put up the tree and organise presents.

This year, seeing we have a mobile toddler in the house, the tree has been put up inside the portacot (for it's protection). I reused the decorations from last year's jacaranda colour theme that L wanted but decided that the star was too heavy and kept wanting to make the tree lean, so I would replace it with something home made. I haven't really decided what yet... maybe a star or snowflake... maybe an angel.

But, while I was looking for inspiration for what to do, I had an idea for what to do with some of the milk bottle top rings that I've been collecting... Would you like to see?

I found a nice pattern for some itty bitty stars (with 5 points) but I thought they didn't really say "Christmas", so I played around a bit and tried them with 6 and 8 points... The 8 point ones look a little more snowflake-ish to me, what do you think? I'm going to play around with some different colours and yarns and see what happens. If you want to make some, the pattern for them is as follows:

Materials needed:
small amount of yarn (I used 8 ply, about 5.5m to make the 8 point star version)
3.5mm hook (or whatever size hook needed to make star small enough to fit inside milk bottle top ring)
milk bottle top ring
yarn needle

Abbreviations (International/UK terminology):
CH chain
SS slip stitch
DC double crochet
TR treble
MC magic circle

Pattern for 5 point star, changes for 6 and 8 point stars in (brackets).

Rnd1. magic circle [or CH5, SS into first CH to create a ring]
Rnd2. (Work all stitches into ring or MC) Standing TR [or CH3], *DC, TR, CH3, TR* 4 (5,7) times, DC, TR, CH3, SS into beginning standing TR [or third CH of initial CH3]
Rnd3. Turn, SS into CH3 space. *DC through CH3 space and around milk bottle top ring, DC9 (9,7) around milk bottle top ring* 5 (6,8) times. SS into initial DC. CH20, SS into initial DC. Fasten off, weave in ends.

That's it! You're done. A pretty little snowflake-esque star to hang on your tree, or embellish your gift with, and all done in about 10 minutes!

Flutter Flutter Flutter...

It's been awhile since I've posted anything - I've been busy with L & M and trying to get some presents finished. Not really very good excuses, but they're all I have. Anyway, to make up for it, I thought this time, I would share with you some lovely butterflies that one of the ladies from the Krista group made.

Sue spent quite a bit of time at a hospital recently while her daughter underwent surgery. To fill in the hours, she yarnbombed the place with some butterflies. I think they are gorgeous and hopefully cheered up the day of the other visitors.

What do you think? Would one of these cheer up your day? If so, you're in luck because Sue has graciously shared her pattern with the group and has given me permission to share it with everyone who reads this blog! Hooray for Sue!

Sue's butterfly (© Sue Taylor SmocknBird 2012)
Start with a magic circle or 5 ch joined into a circle
Round 1: 3ch 2dc, 2ch *3dc 2ch* 4x( – 5 3dc groups) 2ch turn work – do not join
Round 2: *3dc 2ch 3dc into 2ch space* 4 X 2ch and join with a slip stitch into top of treb le of previous round. Turn work
Round 3: Work *5 dc into 2ch space, 3ch make picot by sl st into first ch, 5 dc, sl st into space between 3dc groups of previous round* repeat 3X
Slip stitch down to the V. Tighten thread from magic circle but do not weave it – we are going to use it for one of the antennae. Using the working thread cut off about 12 “.
Pull through loop to fasten off.
Wrap thread around body of butterfly about 4 -5 X. Knot both threads together at the top and trim ends to desired length for antennae.
Your butterfly is complete!

I also have a pdf of the pattern that includes step by step photos but can't work out how to upload a pdf to my blog, so if you want a copy, leave me a comment with your email address and I'll send one off to you. Otherwise you'll have to wait till I make a couple of my own and take some pictures to post up!

Not Quite a Granny Sunhat pattern

I was asked by some of the lovely ladies from the Krista group if I could give them the pattern for the sunhats that I made recently. I've never written a pattern before so I'm expecting lots of mistakes. Feel free to let me know if something doesn't make sense, that way I can edit the pattern to make it clearer.

Those of you who have read my earlier posts will know that the sunhat came about quite by accident. I made a beanie for the daughter of a friend, but when I gave it to her and tried it on her daughter, I decided that it was a tad too short. Being the perfectionist that I am (or can be), I decided to take it home and add a couple of extra rows to it. Once I got home though, it occured to me that the weather was already starting to warm up, and it wouldn't be beanie weather for much longer, so rather than making the beanie longer, I decided to add a brim to it and make it into a sunhat. A bit of Googling and Pinteresting and I discovered that if you increase the number of stitches by 12 each round, you end up with a sunhat brim.

That being the case, you could adapt any beanie pattern you have to turn it into a sunhat. Just skip the last round or two of the beanie pattern so the hat section finishes at the top of the ears, then start your increases to make the brim. I chose to do one with a fairly open pattern to let lots of air through to keep the wearer cool. I've done a few of these using different size hooks to vary the size of the hat, you'll find the details of the approximate sizes in the pattern.

Some things you'll need to know for this pattern:
Magic circle aka adjustable ring. There are heaps of youtube movies about this, as well as tutorials with lots of pictures. You can try this tutorial from Crochet Spot but if it doesn't work for you, do a search on google or youtube if you're a visual learner.
Initial Treble without Starting Chain. Again, lots of youtube movies and tutorials around for these. I much prefer the look of these to doing chains at the beginning of a row/round - they get rid of that weird skinny stitch and hole you see in your work when you do a chain 3 at the beginning in place of a treble. Try this one from Crochet Spot but keep in mind they are AMERICAN so they refer to the stitch as a DOUBLE CROCHET, not a TREBLE.
Initial Half Treble Without Starting Chain. You guessed it! Where would we be without the internet? Try this one from Crochet Spot but keep in mind they are AMERICAN so they refer to the stitch as a HALF DOUBLE CROCHET, not a HALF TREBLE.

You'll notice that I turn my work after each round for the main part of the hat for this pattern. I mainly do this because I'm lazy and this way the next chain space after joining each round is right there next to the join (all the stitches are done in chain spaces for the hat body). No slip stitching to the next chain space for this girl!

Anyway, without any further ado, here is my "not quite a granny sunhat" pattern. Enjoy!

Pattern uses international terminology.

Materials:
approx 50gm 8 ply yarn of choice

yarn needle
* sizing will depend on tension - as a guide:
4.5mm hook for newborn size - 9 mths
5mm hook for 9mths - 2 years
5.5mm hook for 2-5 years
6mm hook for 5-10 years


Stitches and abbreviations used:
ch (chain)
htr (half treble)
ss (slip stitch)
tr (treble)

Start with a magic circle/adjustable ring or ch 4, join with ss in first stitch to form a ring.
Hat top -
Rnd 1: *tr into magic circle, ch1* 6 times. join with ss in to top of first tr. turn work.
Rnd 2: *3 tr in next ch 1 space, ch 1* 6 times. join with ss in to top of first tr. turn work.
Rnd 3: *(2 tr, ch 1, 2 tr, ch 1) into same ch 1 space* 6 times. join with ss in to top of first tr. turn work.
Rnd 4: *3 tr in next ch 1 space, ch 1* 12 times.  join with ss in to top of first tr. turn work.
Rnd 5: *(2 tr, ch 1, 2 tr, ch 1) into same ch 1 space* 12 times.  join with ss in to top of first tr. turn work.
Hat side -
Rnds 6 - 13: *2 tr into next ch 1 space, ch 1* 24 times.  join with ss in to top of first tr. turn work.
Hat brim -
Rnd 14: *2 htr in ch 1 space, htr in next two stitches, htr in next ch 1 space, htr in next two stitches* 12 times. join with ss to first htr. DO NOT TURN FOR REMAINDER OF HAT.
Rnd 15: *2 htr in same stitch, htr in next 6 stitches* 12 times. join with ss to first htr.
Rnd 16: *2 htr in same stitch, htr in next 7 stitches* 12 times. join with ss to first htr.
Rnd 17: *2 htr in same stitch, htr in next 8 stitches* 12 times. join with ss to first htr.
Rnd 18: *2 htr in same stitch, htr in next 9 stitches* 12 times. join with ss to first htr.
Rnd 19: *2 htr in same stitch, htr in next 10 stitches* 12 times. join with ss to first htr.
Rnd 20: *2 htr in same stitch, htr in next 11 stitches* 12 times. join with ss to first htr.
Rnd 21: *2 htr in same stitch, htr in next 12 stitches* 12 times. join with ss to first htr. 
Rnd 22: ss round. fasten off, weave in ends.

If you are a little on the lazy side like me and don't particularly like counting,  you could use 12 stitch markers when you are doing the brim. Place a marker in the first of each of the "2 htr in ch 1 space" stitches in round 14, and then increase when you get to the marker on each subsequent round. No more counting backwards when you've had to put your project down to tend to little people!

After round 6.

Starting round 15.
See all the stitch markers placed in round 14?
No need to count stitches from now on.

Finished!