SPRING Baby Crochet Knits

Loads of crocheting happening lately... 

made these for someone special... 

MEN, HATS, BEANIES and CROCHET PATTERNS

Photography by Britt Spring

The time has come to talk of crochet hats for men, young men, middle-aged men, and old men.  And talking of time, enough time has now passed and my ECHO Man Hat Crochet Pattern is now available from my online shops:   Ravelry     Craftsy

Photography by Britt Spring

PATTERN DETAILS:

Chunky texture stitch, with echoes of art deco design, adding extra warmth and elasticity to the fabric. It's perfect for winter walks in the woods or along a bracing seafront.

Yarn:  Jarol British Wool Aran 100% wool OR Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed Aran

Hook:  5mm or H-8

Sizes:  S/M/L

Pattern is available in USA  or  UK crochet terms PLEASE SELECT THE CORRECT PATTERN TERMINOLOGY prior to purchase

ECHO Man Hat Crochet Pattern 

is available from my online shops

     Ravelry     Craftsy

Ciao, ciao...

BRIGHTEN UP WITH COLOUR

Oh these grey, grey days, hard to put a smile upon my face days,

nothing but grey, cold, wind and rain...

can't wait for spring, where's the colour in my world?

Hidden in the darkness, these fabulous colours appear, perfect for happy and vibrant crochet fun, to brighten up my gloomy world!

You can never be too busy to have some fun with happy colours.

AND with Easter festivities coming up soon, I have decided we need loads more happy colours indoors to make up for the grey gloom outdoors.

Here is what I have been playing with: brightly coloured coasters, in three (3) sizes.

Now you can make them with the King Cole Bamboo Cotton as I have, or use any other colourful thread you prefer to use, so the smaller the hook and yarn/thread thickness the smaller the size.  

You can have loads of fun with these, changing colour every round, every other round, or only change colour once, it's all up to you.

Let's talk crochet coaster design:  inspiration came from the colours of the bamboo cotton, the coaster needed a spring feel.  Spring means colourful blossoms, something we don't see during the winter months. 

And I wanted to keep it simple, so a basic little blossom edge, around a simple colourful centre.  So easy!

EASTER BLOSSOMS Coasters Crochet Pattern
is available from my online shops:

Ravelry

Enjoy every moment,

focus on every stitch,

create a masterpiece....

ciao, ciao...

Copyright © 2008

Barbara Summers Hand Knit and Crochet.

All rights reserved.

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HAPPY CROCHET HEARTS - FREE PATTERN

You can never have too much LOVE!  and this Valentine's Day is just a little reminder to spread the love around.  Loving you, loving me!  

I am dressing up my home with HAPPY crochet HEARTS, happy love hearts. I have crocheted a total of 30 hearts and hung them from a very long chain of loops.

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE FREE UK British Crochet Terms CROCHET HEARTS PATTERN written by me (Barbara Summers) for DMC Creative World

HERE

PATTERN DETAILS:  

YARN:  DMC |Petra 3

HOOK:  2.5mm

MEASUREMENTS:  Length of chain - 194in (493cm) OR 16ft 2in (4.93m)

Total Hearts:  10 SMALL, 10 MEDIUM, 10 LARGE

COLOURS:  Lots of orange, little bits of red, white, yellow

DOWNLOAD the FREE Crochet HEARTS PATTERN HERE

TO HELP WITH THE WRITTEN PATTERN 

Here's a VIDEO of the making of the happy hearts

MAY YOU HAVE A HAPPY, 
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, 
AND 
A VERY HAPPY, 
HAPPY HEARTS LIFE!

Ciao, ciao...

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A pocket full of ebooks...

Simple, practical and beautiful...

the Crochet Pocket JAWS

Contrast, texture and illusion - the perfect pocket for your "Kindle" e-reader.  Make it as colourful as you like OR simply stylish and subdued.  It is the perfect gift accessory.

I made this for "my man", he has the Kindle "Paperwhite" and this is the perfect pocket for keeping it safe and protected.

The stitch pattern is my own design, created in the spur of the moment, I just love it when creativity and necessity come together. 

This stitch design gives the pocket a sturdy structure with the slightest stretch sideways and a little more stretch lengthwise.  And the Kindle sits nice and snug inside the pocket and does not slip out.

Personally, I prefer the pocket made from 100% Aran Wool, much more sturdy and robust, just perfect for my man and his big hands. 

I have also made this pocket in the softer Rowan Belle Organic Aran, it is still sturdy but softer in feel, just perfect for the lady.

You can find the Crochet Pocket JAWS pattern 

JAWS Crochet Pocket Pattern

in available from my on-line shops

Ravelry     Craftsy

Enjoy every moment,

focus on every stitch,

create a masterpiece....

ciao, ciao...

MIDNIGHT in the HIGHLANDS

Late last year, whilst on holiday, I was inspired by the autumnal colours of the west highlands of Scotland.   Simply they were MAGIC.  I know I have shared these photos before but the highlands are just so amazing I am sharing again.

How can you NOT be INSPIRED to CREATE with colours like these?  So, finally this week I managed to get some work done on my first highland inspired pattern.  Here is my highland project a delightful, winter warm HAT and MITTENS set.

I crochet with two different yarns - first yarn is one of my favourite Donegal Tweed Aran  

and the second yarn Rowan Alpaca Cotton  

Aren't the colours simply divine? deep, rich shades of purple, reminiscent of blackberries and blueberries.

The two yarns compliment each other very well and create the perfect gaps of colour between the different stitch rows. 

Of course, you can choose other yarns, the pattern can be adapted to other similar yarns, just match the yarn weight and gauge/tension. 

How much yarn?

  

Hat - whole of one 50g ball of Rowan Alpaca Cotton = 135m

Mittens - 3/4 of one 50g ball of Rowan Alpaca Cotton

My estimate for the Donegal Tweed Aran is approximate 80-100gr for both hat and mittens, because I was using my leftovers from a 200g hank.

Naturally, I have made this set for moi.... I am in desperate need of a new hat and mittens... I seem to be always making stuff for everyone else... and I end up wearing something I made 5 years ago.... doh!  

Here are the PATTERN DETAILS:  
Skill Level:  Intermediate
Yarn:  Donegal Tweed Aran and Rowan Alpaca Cotton
Hook:  5mm
Gauge/Tension:  16sts to 4in (10cm)
Size:  Adult - Ladies - Medium/Large

the pattern is now available 

from these on-line shops

Ravelry       Craftsy

Enjoy every moment,

focus on every stitch,

create a masterpiece....

ciao, ciao...

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Merino Wool all the way!

I love merino wool and my latest favourite has to be James C. Brett

Pure Merino DK (update: which now goes by the name JW Pure Merino, the JW stands for Jenny Watson).  Check out the website here.

Luxuriously delicate to the touch and incredibly soft yarn made from 100% Merino Wool and available in a range of colours (18 approx). 

I've used this JW pure merino wool to make baby hats and mittens, adult hats, headbands, neck warmers and mittens, and I love how super soft it feels, without the scratchy feeling usually associated with natural wool yarns. simply I love, love, love it!

AND I have yet to find any other yarn similar, so if any one out there knows of a beautifully super soft pure merino, please let me know I would love to compare them.

JW Pure Merino Crochet Projects

I decided to make a silly pair of mittens which I have called "LOOPY" because of the loops within the pattern and of course a matching headband/neckwarmer.

I first designed the mittens in late 2011, all in one colour, as you can see in photo below.

and then left the pattern sitting on the back burner because I just wasn't sure about them. Luckily last year I was playing around with my stash of odd balls of yarn and decided to make the mittens again but this time using two colours. 

and what a surprise, they looked so much better with the two colour combination than with one, I much prefer the two colour combination and now I have ideas for all kinds of other stuff using this LOOPY design, just need to have the time to crochet them up. 

LOOPY Crochet Mittens AND Headband/Neckwarmer 

pattern is available from my online shops

Ravelry          Craftsy  

Enjoy every moment,

focus on every stitch,

create a masterpiece....

---ooOoo---

Enjoy!

ciao, ciao!

Barbara Summers Hand Knit and Crochet   www.crocknit.com
(C) Copyright - All rights reserved.

CROCHET BABY BLANKET "SUN & STARS"

CREATIVE MOTIFS - OCTAGONS and SQUARES

OCTAGON - the eight-sided motif is a striking alternative to the SQUARE granny motif.

To make a solid afghan blanket with octagons you need small squares to fit in between the octagons.

The pieces fit together like a puzzle - four octagons surrounding a square.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

My focus for the design of this octagon blanket was to keep it as simple as possible.  By using only two colours for the motifs and by repeating the same colour sequence for each motif, I found the whole process of creating each octagon and square very relaxing and satisfying.

It was so easy to keep track of my progress, I was able to lay out the octagons and visually gauge the size of the blanket I wanted to make.  

This pattern was also published in the INSIDE CROCHET magazine, Issue 37, January 2013. 

When I finished making all the octagon motifs, I then proceeded to design the square motif to fit into the gaps.  Again, I kept the square filler motif very simple, just enough definition to highlight the octagon motif.

 Joining Motifs

The next task at hand, sewing the motifs together, and as you all know, sewing is not my favourite handcraft. But this was a very special project, for a very special person, my first grandchild, so I was prepared to do what it takes to get it done and get it done well.

Octagon motifs were joined side-by-side into long rows, and then each row was joined to next row, and finally, the square motifs were added into the gaps.  

Finishing Border

After all the motifs were joined and the gaps filled, the blanket took on a whole new look, and the result was very pleasing indeed.

Only at this point, after all the joining was complete, did the blanket present the SUN and STARS mosaic, therefore the name.

So, to finish off the motif blanket, I proceeded with a contrast row of cilantro around the edge of the motifs and finished with a simple row of reverse crochet in slate.

Simply perfect! I presented the blanket to my daughter in Australia, two weeks before the baby was born (CC was born June 30).

(You may have noticed my blanket for my grandchild, was made with Cilantro and Slate, whereas for the magazine, I used Cilantro and Aubergine.)

Both blankets were made using

ROWAN Belle Organic ARAN and 5mm hook.

SUN and STARS Baby Blanket PATTERN 

is AVAILABLE

from my online shop

CRAFTSY 

Enjoy every moment,

focus on every stitch,

create a masterpiece!

ciao, ciao...