Free Pattern Friday!

That’s right your eyes are not deceiving you, it’s time for a free pattern 🙂

I recently had a commission for a set of cushion covers but the lady liked the look of the knitted style. As you know the art of knitting very much eludes me…give me a hook over needles any day. So I set out to create the look with crochet. Here is the finished result:

Knit effect crochet cushion cover

I made this with the humble half double crochet stitch (htr in UK terms).

Some of you might know this but it was only a short while ago that I realised when you do a hdc there are 3 loops, the back and front loops as normal and then a 3rd one behind. If you work into this 3rd loop it forces the other 2 to the front giving a knitted effect.

Special 3rd loop

This only works properly if you are working in a round. If you work back and forth you get a different look and the knitted effect is not as clear and defined.

When your working your last round will look like there is a large gap between rows (as seen below) but when you then add another row it will force the front down.

HDC stitches worked in the 3rd loop

So enough waffling and onto the pattern. I made these to fit a standard 16″ cushion but you can make them as big or small as you like just adjust your starting chains.
And remember we are working in that 3rd loop all the time unless stated otherwise

I use American terms and the ch2 at the start of each round does not count as your starting stitch.

Materials:

I used Stylecraft chunky in Graphite and I held two threads together at once so it was double thickness.
10mm hook
Tapestry needles
4 buttons

The finished effect

Method:

Ch68 and then join to 1st ch with a ss – make sure that there is no twist in the ch before you join it
1. Ch2 then hdc in the same st and around, join with a ss to first hdc (68)
2-25. Ch2 then hdc in the same st and around, join with a ss to first hdc (68)
I use a stitch marker at this point and count 34 from the joint st and mark it.
26. You then hdc still in the 3rd loops for the next 34 stitches. Ch2 and turn
27-28. Hdc across, ch2 and turn(34)
29. Working through both front and back loops as normal from now on – sc across, ch1 and turn (34)
30. Sc across (34) fasten off and weave in all ends.

You should now have a piece that is open at both ends with a flap at the top.

At the starting end of your work (i.e.the bottom) join some yarn and work across slip stitching the two sides closed. You will need to make sure your hook goes through both starting chains and then ss the together. (34)

Now sew on your buttons to the back, I did them about 3 rows down with 2 near the edges to hold the corners down and then the others evenly spaced. You should be able to just pop the buttons through the space of the sc’s

Finished off with a tag

These worked up super quick and I am a little in love. When I get a spare minute I might even make some for myself!

B x

Another First…

This week I have completed my first ever mandala!
I’ve wanted to make one for a while but never really had a need or time. However after recently revamping our kitchen table I really wanted a centre piece to pop underneath the big glass bowl we usually have on it.

I hunted online for a pattern but none where really catching my attention. I wanted it to have lots of stitch variation and texture. I’m aware I could have taken the time to come up with one from scratch myself but I didn’t really have enough time to plan the pattern and then make it so I continued searching.
The I remembered a really amazing blanket I had seen repeatedly (which I’m sure you will all know as soon as I mention it or show you below) that featured a circular middle before turning square –

Sophie’s Universe Blanket – click pic for link to tutorial

The middle of this blanket is exactly what I wanted.
So off I go working on the first few parts of the CAL to make my mandala

After only a few rounds I am already in love! Look at all those patterns and textures…

I chose to use shades of red with white and grey to balance it slightly (in case you hadn’t guessed our kitchen has red themes) in Drops Paris as it is a lovely thick cotton that has really nice stitch definition.

The further into the pattern we go the more complex the stitches get but it really is a piece of art you are creating.

Flowers & petal patterns emerging

I stopped a few rounds short of the circle part ending as it  was big enough for my table by about round 18.

The completed Mandala

A rouge bit of grey yarn seems to have worked its way into the picture so do feel free to ignore that 🙂 I may have only just spotted it myself!

I was far to impatient to block it so I have popped it onto the table already. I will block it soon as it has a rather ripply edge from the bobble stitch round that you can see in white near the outer edge.

In place on the table

I had so much fun with this one that I am going to carve out some time to design one from scratch myself and will most definitely be making lots of Mandala’s. I really want to pop some into frames as artwork for the walls.

B x

A Belated New Year

A very belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a lovely festive period and got a well deserved break.

Ours was filled with food, Christmas jumpers, more food, presents, games and just a little bit more food.
Sadly it is all now over and January has very much arrived, bringing with it lots and lots of rain!

Seeing as January is usually a bit glum with not much to look forward to I am skipping ahead and thinking of Valentines Day.
I keep coming across some wonderful patterns from fellow crocheters so I have picked my favourite 8 and posted them below 🙂 (Just click the pictures to be taken to the FREE patterns)

First up is this adorable heart mug cosy from Kirsten at Haakmaarraak.
I love the use of the popcorn stitch to create the pop out heart!

Heart Mug Cosy

CreatiKnit has provided this fab head warmer pattern. It is in sizes ranging from baby to adult and also has a knitted pattern available!

Heart Head Warmer

Don’t fancy crocheting the gift itself? Then what about the packaging? This adorable gift bag is from Amy over at Little Doolally and the best bit is you can use any size hook or yarn you have to make it in a variety of sizes.

Valentines Day Gift Bag

It wouldn’t be a Valentines round-up without a little cuddly toy included and this one from Lilleliis is just too cute! I’m loving the little sewn heart on the belly.

Valentines Bunny

Cross Stitch and crochet seems to be really popular at the moment and this hot water bottle cover by Cherry Heart features both and its adorable.
I would probably tie some nice ribbon around the neck of the bottle to finish it off.

Heart Hot Water Bottle

This free Drops pattern is a little time consuming as its made with lots and lots of sc stitches but the result is great.

Heart Cushion

I’m a big fan of patterns that allow me to use up some of the many yarn scraps that are too small for most projects and this coffee cup cosy from Cindy at Skip to my Lou guest blogging for Tatertots and Jello does exactly that while making a cute and functional gift!

Heart Coffee Cosy

Last up is the fabulous blanket from MyPicot. The hearts are worked as you go with the blanket rather than added on after and the effect is fantastic!

Heart Blanket

 

Well that’s your lot. If you are planning on making something for Valentines either one of the projects above or something else please feel free to show me as I love seeing what you’re all up to.

B x

Mini Flower Pattern

I love these little hair slides so much that I am often found wearing them. I made them originally for Miss P and then added them to the shop where they have proved quite popular but I frequently pinch them to pin my own hair back!

Flower Hair Slides

Today I have written the pattern up for you so that you can give them a go yourself.
(If you don’t feel like making them and just want to buy some ready made you can find the listing for them here)

I used a 3mm hook and either embroidery thread or 4ply but you can use any yarn as long as you use the hook to match, the flower will just be bigger or smaller.
If you want to make some hair slides as well then you will need the grips and little diamanté gems too.

In the interest of full disclosure I use US crochet terms (just because logically they make far more sense to me!) but this pattern is super simple, so here we go:

Abbreviations:
ss – Slip Stitchch – Chain
sc – Single crochet
dc – Double crochet
st – stitch

1. Start with a magic circle (or ch4 and ss to the first ch)
2. ch1, sc12 into the magic circle (or the ring made with your chain 4), join with a ss to your first sc (pull the free end of your yarn tight to close the gap if you have used a magic circle).
3. *ch3, dc into same st, dc in next st, ch3, ss into same st, ss into the next st*
Repeat from * around, ss into the first st from this round
You should end up with 6 petals each one work across 2sc from the row below.
Finish off and weave in your ends and the flower is done.

I sewed and glued my gems on to make doubly sure they would not come off and the same with the flower onto the hair slide, this was purely for my own peace of mind but either would work.

Have fun making lots of flowers, don’t forget to show me what you make, I love seeing your pictures!

B x

NB. This pattern is copyright to Miss B’s Emporium you may share it as long as you link back to this page and ensure full credit is given when showing your work or the pattern. Please don’t sell or reproduce the written pattern in anyway. Items made from this pattern are for personal use only so please feel free to gift them to your friends, family, the neighbours dog etc and even for charity but they cannot be sold.

The Bazinga Necklace

Another preview I gave you all in this previous post was of a Bazinga necklace.

It was the second part of sister number 1’s Christmas present and posed a real challenge.

Firstly just in case yu are not familiar with the word ‘Bazinga’ it is a common phrase used by Dr Sheldon Cooper from the big bang theory (that’s right the same guy from yesterdays post). Anyway the necklace is meant to be 3 elements from the periodic table, Barium (BA), Zinc (ZN) and Gallium (GA) which spells BAZNGA … see where we are going here 🙂

It took a few attempts too make this necklace, I had to try a few different types of clay before finally settling on a thin piece of wood measuring 3″x1″ with two little holes in the two top corners.

I painted the wood with a few coats of white acrylic paint and allowed it to fully dry. I then wrote all the letters out using a fine tipped black sharpie and then coated the whole thing with a varnish (for those of you in the UK I used this, its kind of like a UK version of mod podge – although I have see hobby craft now sell that over here too!). One thing to note with the varnish is if I brushed it one it wiped the writing and caused it to run so I took to sort of dripping it onto the top of the piece. This solves the issue of runny writing but also gave it a slightly more domed top which was quite nice. Finally I attached a couple of findings and a silver chain and we are all done.

The necklace is far from perfect and I would like another go to master the method I used and make it all a little neater but I was so relieved to get it finished and in time.

B x

My Mini Sheldon Cooper

As previewed in yesterdays post I made an Amigarumi Sheldon Cooper Doll.

For those of you who have not see The Big Bang Theory firstly go and buy the box sets now!! secondly this is Sheldon Cooper.

I made this as part of sister number 1’s Christmas present and it took me ages! I used this amazing FREE pattern from Amidorable Crochet although I did tweak it slightly as the trouser section got a little confusing.

Now as it was a present I didn’t stop there. Sheldon needed a box! something to showcase him. So I needed to get making. I wanted a proper doll type box so with a little creativity, some brown wrapping paper, clear plastic and a bit of writing we were done.

                                                            

Poor Sheldon’s hair looks a little wild in these pictures but before he was man-handled into the box it was all slick like the real Sheldon’s is.

B x

Christmas Project Number 3 – The Pecans

It’s time to get baking…

Sunday was Christmas baking day. I made my last minute Christmas cake which I love as it doesn’t have to be made months in advance (plus I tweak the ingredients as I am not a fan of mixed peel) and also some cinnamon sugar pecans.

I used the following recipe:

1 egg whites

1/4 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 tablespoon water

200g pecan halves

100g sugar

1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix the egg white, vanilla extract and water in one food bag.

In a second food bag mix the sugar, cinnamon and salt.

Pour the pecans into the bag with all the liquid ingredients, seal it up and give it a good shake to make sure they are all completely covered. Now transfer the pecans into the bag of dry ingredients, seal it up and give it another good shake until all pecans have a nice coating on them.

Transfer onto a tray lined with greaseproof paper (don’t skip the paper like I did or you will end up with some very stuck pecans!).

Bake in the oven at 120 degrees Celsius for 1 hour. Make sure you stir roughly every 15 minutes to make sure they bake evenly.

Once fully cooled they are ready to package and gift (or eat if they are just too good for you to pass on).

I popped mine in a glass jar and decorated with some festive ribbons plus a little gold reindeer tag I also made while these were baking…

This recipe can be easily doubled to make more if necessary. Which I highly recommend if these are intended as a gift as you will definitely want to keep some for yourself once you taste them.

B x

Customised candles tutorial

So I teased you with a peek at these candles I have made, yesterday and today is the tutorial.

You will need:
* hair dryer
* plain candle – I’ve used a white church candle scented with white linen from Tesco
* tissue paper either white or the same colour as your candle
* computer and printer
* Sellotape
* card
* grease proof paper
* scissors

Firstly you need to decide on the design you would like on the candle. I used this christmas printable that I got from here

Once you have done that you need to take your tissue paper and tape it to the top of your card. Make sure the tissue paper is completely flat and without folds or creases. You also need to make sure you tape in from the edge, this means that there is card all round the edge and then tape and he tissue paper in the middle. You need to do this otherwise the printer cannot grab hold of the card to put it through.
So the next step is to put the tissue paper and card into the printer and then press print on your design. It should go through pretty smoothly providing the tissue paper is flat and you followed my tip above about the Sellotape.

Next you need to cut around your design as close to it as you can get. Discard the card you only need the tissue paper which should have your lovely design on it. Here is mine all cut out…

Now you need to lay down some grease proof paper and put your tissue paper on top of it, face down.
Take your candle

And lay it on top of the tissue paper and grease proof paper and wrap the edges of the grease proof around the candle and hold it tightly at the back

Now grab hold of your hair dryer and on a hot heat hold it over the grease proof paper and tissue paper, move the dryer over the entire design, depending on the size of your design you will need to do this for about 1 minute ensuring you go right up to the edges of the tissue paper.

Once you think you are done slowly peel the grease proof paper away and check if the tissue paper has melted onto the candle, if it hasn’t just pull the grease proof paper tight again and put the hair dryer over it some more until done.

If it is all stuck down then you are done and all that’s left to do is to find the ideal place to put your candle or the perfect recipient

B x

Sister number 1

I titled my previous post ‘The day of birthdays‘ as on the exact same day that my daughters first birthday was, it was also both of my younger sisters birthdays (they are 3 years apart in age).

Obviously this coupled with Christmas being just around the corner means it all gets a little expensive so I decided to make the gifts for sister number 1 this year.

I love the idea of making my own chalkboard paint and have seen loads of tutorial on how to do it. I decided to give it a go and make sister number 1 a chalkboard for her to hang on her wall, but I wanted it to be a bit more than that. I liked the idea of it being somewhere she can clip pictures of friends and family, little note or messages, and be able to write on it in chalk. Here is the finished result…

I started with a plain mirror that my partners Dad kindly framed up for me and added a hanging chain onto the back.

I wanted to have my sisters name showing through from the grout so I cut out letters

and stuck them onto the mirror                         

Then I mixed 1 cup of black acrylic paint with 2tbsp of non sanded powdered grout.

Next the fun bit… the painting. I did about 3 or 4 thin coats, they do not take too long to dry. I highly recommend you use a decent acrylic paint so it sticks well to the mirror.

Once I was happy that the coats of paint where thick enough and had good coverage I left it overnight to completely dry, then I peeled off the letters to reveal the mirror underneath. This had to be done very carefully.                                                     

Next it was time to paint the frame so I covered the chalkboard to protect it and painted the wooden frame in a grey paint. It complimented the black chalkboard paint nicely plus I knew this was going to be hung on a black wall so wanted it to stand out.

Now as mentioned the idea was to have little pictures and notes hung on here so I needed to attach some twine across the frame, I used very very strong glue and stuck the glue right in the edges of the frame so it was nice and neat.

Now an important step, you need to prepare the board for writing on by using the side of a piece of chalk and running it over the entire board,

Rub it off and you are ready to use the board. I added a little message to the birthday girl…                                                                     

..and then I added the finishing touches with some mini pegs to help attach pictures etc.

All that was left to do was wrap it up and gift it, it was well received and I cant wait to see it up on the wall in her bedroom!

B xx