Crochet Ruffle Throw

My first completed crochet project. 

It's not quite big enough for a blanket but just about enough for a sofa throw, 120cm (48") square. I used Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino in the following shades and quantities, x9 50g - 031, x3 50g - 101, x4 50g - 700, with a 4 mm crochet hook. 

The basic design is granny square using a double crochet stitch and two chains to link the stitches with three chains at the corners. The ruffle edge is made by making three double crochet stitches into every chain along the edge. I would recommend Baby cashmerino yarn, it's very easy to work with, washes well, does not pill, and feels extremely soft to the touch.

Wholemeal carrot and honey cake

Wholemeal carrot and honey cake

Originally saw this cake being made on a Channel Four TV programme about landshare presented by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I used a 23cm (9") square cake tin rather than the round tin mentioned in his method. A word of warning - the recipe instructs to beat the eggs and sugar together in a bowl for ten minutes using an electric whisk. It does actually take the full ten minutes to achieve the consistency stated. My arm was almost numb when I'd finished, can't imagine how long it would take with a low tech balloon whisk....Anyway the cake is delicious! Click here for the recipe.

Granny Squares

My very bad habit, of starting yet another project before other items have been finished has surfaced again. This latest crochet project will be a cover for one of my Ikea pieces of furniture. The crochet motif I'm using comes from very clearly photographed instructions I found on a lovely blog called Attic24 and the link for how to make them is here. So far I've manage to make 33 of these squares out of a total of 70....

Creatures Round Robin

Sometime in April I put my name down to join a "Creatures Round Robin" on the UK Handmade members forum. What exactly is that you may ask? The idea is that each participant makes a contribution to a creature design before sending the design onwards to the next person so that they can make their contribution. As there were four of us participating, four designs were being worked on simultaneously, each design had five stages which each participant contributed to. Very briefly the design stages were as follows;

1. Write a description
2.Draw a design based on the written description
3.Make a pattern, cut out and sew a creature based on the information in 1&2
4. Make a face
5.Finishing touches

Confused? If you are still reading, then I should tell you that it all worked perfectly and went like clockwork due to the excellent organisation of the host "Olly" who is the writer and artist behind the blog Wollies. The two other talented participants were Shaz of The Sock Garden blog and Kathleen of Murgatroyd Hoots. If you would like to see the other lovely finished creatures then click on the links below to visit each participants blog and read more about their creatures and the design process...

Olly - Wollies
Shaz - The Sock Garden
Kathleen - Murgatroyd Hoots

My rather long winded design description went through the stages and came back to me as this beautiful, colourful sleepy and awake owl.....

Colourful and beautifully detailed design interpretation from Shaz.

Pattern cut out, fabric and creature sewing done brilliantly by Olly.

Fabulous eyes and face embroidery detail by Kathleen.

A few buttons and ric rack added by me...