Crocheted rainbow bunting

Crocheted rainbow bunting made in June 2019 to celebrate Pride month. 

I started making it when Ravelry made it's announcement that it was banning conversation about Donald Trump on its website as follows:

"We are banning support of Donald Trump and his administration on Ravelry. We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. Support of the Trump administration is unambiguously support for white supremacy. For more details, read this document: https://ravelry.com/content/no-trump"

This is a position I wish to support.

Blue moon ... blue (and purple) beads

I recently received a message via my Etsy shop asking for some renegade beads. This particular customer wanted some cooler spectrum beads in blues and purplee instead of the single colour options I list quite frequently. I had a root around in my leftovers jar and managed to come up with the above selection. They look so pretty together, I might make up some more bi-coloured renegade sets as I'm sure other people would be interested in them as well.

Immediately after I listed them in the shop (along with some other sets), I made a note in my diary of the amount I listed today (this is a habit of mine) and my diary tells me that there's a bloon moon today. This bodes well for this blue and purple lampwork set, fingers crossed the customer likes them!

Please feel free to make suggestions for other colour combinations at any time either via my Etsy shop or right here in the comments section. 

I hope everyone is having a Happy Blue Moon Easter Saturday.

Toilet roll cover-free crochet pattern in Scheepjes Catona

One of my Christmas presents this year was a box of 109 mini balls of Scheepjes Catona yarn. When we were in the Wool Zone in Oakham a few weeks ago, MTM pretended to be reading a text on his phone whilst I enthused over it with Julie, the shop owner. I hoped he was listening to my heavy hints!

So 109 ... one ball of every single delicious colour in the 100% cotton range ... I couldn’t wait to get started; my first project uses nine colours!

I made a prototype first, many rows were unpicked time and again getting the details right. I had to change hook size on the final article but eventually it was made and I love the cheerful rainbow colours I have selected to chase away the overcast skies so redolent of December 2017. My new year gift to you is the first free crochet pattern of 2018 (see below). I wish all my blog readers health and peace of mind in 2018.

Happy New Year!

TOILET ROLL COVER - free crochet pattern

The pattern is written using UK terms throughout and will fit a toilet roll measuring 11.5cm (4 and a half inches) diameter

MATERIALS
3mm hook 
10g each of nine different colours of Scheepjes Catona 
Pom Pom maker or cardboard to make your own 
Sharp scissors

ABBREVIATIONS
ch - chain
tr - treble
sp - space
beg - beginning
st - stitch
col - colour
sk - skip
comm - commencing

col 1 - light green 513
col 2 - aqua 397
col 3 - blue 261
col 4 - lavender 520
col 5 - purple - 282
col 6 - red 516
col 7 - pink 256
col 8 - orange 411
col 9 - yellow 280

GAUGE (measured over pattern)
21sts x 14 rows = 4 inch square

Row 1
With col 1, ch 5, (1 tr, 1ch) 9 times into 5th ch from hook, ss into 3rd ch of beg 5 ch to form a circle (10 spokes and 10 ch sps) 

Row 2
ss into first ch sp, 3 ch to count as 1 tr, tr into same sp, 2 tr into each ch sp all the way round, ss into top of beg 3 ch (20 tr) fasten off col 1 

Row 3 
Join col 2 inbetween any two trs, 3 ch to count as 1 tr, tr into same sp, *2 tr inbetween next two tr, repeat from * all round, ss into top of beg 3 ch (40 tr)

Row 4
3ch (to count as 1 tr), tr into same st, *tr into next st, 2 tr into next st, repeat from * until 1 st remains, 1 tr in final st, ss into top of beg 3 ch (60 tr) fasten off col 2 

Row 5 
Join col 3 in sp inbetween any 2 tr, 3ch to count as tr, tr into same sp, ch 1 *(sk 2 tr, 2 tr in sp before next tr, ch 1) twice, sk 3 tr, 2 tr in sp before next tr, ch 1 repeat from * 7 times (sk 2 tr, 2 tr in sp before next tr, ch 1) ss into top of beg 3 ch (26 groups of 2 tr+1ch)

Row 6
ss into top of next st, ss into ch sp before next group of 2 tr, 3 ch (to count as 1 tr) 2 tr in same sp, *3 tr in next ch sp, repeat from * all round, ss into top of beg 3 ch (26 clusters of 3 tr) fasten off col 3

Row 7
Join col 4 in sp between any cluster, repeat row 6 comm with 3 ch but do not fasten off col at end of round

Row 8
(ss into top of next st) twice, ss into sp inbetween clusters, repeat row 6 comm with 3 ch, fasten off col 4 

Rows 9-22
Repeat last two rows, changing col as appropriate. 

Sew in yarn tails.

Make a pom pom using a Pom Pom maker (see instructions below if you don’t have one). Stitch Pom Pom to top


MAKING A POM POM

Draw two donut shapes on the back of an empty cereal packet. Use a wine bottle for the outer circle an a 10p piece for the inner. Cut the shapes out.

Place the two donuts together and wrap lengths of cotton around them. I used a few yards of each colour in the same order used to make the cover.

At first, you’ll be able to use your fingers to pull through the hole but when it gets thicker, use your crochet hook to do it.

 When you can’t fit any more yarn onto the donuts, push aside some of the strands to expose the edge of the two cardboard donuts.

  

Insert the scissors inbetween the cardboard donuts and cut the strands all the way round.

Wrap a length of yarn around the middle of the pom pom very tightly and tie securely. Remove the cardboard donuts and fluff up the finished pom pom using your fingers. 

Leave the ends of the yarn long enough to stitch to the middle of the top of the toilet roll cover.

Rare lampwork rainbow spankle set

It's quite rare for me to have a set of rainbow spankle beads available in my Etsy shop as I don't always have all the colours in stock. I just listed them for sale so if you want them, better grab them quick, they usually go pretty quick when I do!

Better news on Missy, our dog. Following diagnosis and her new tablet, her appetite and energy levels are much improved. She still likes to spend alot of time on her bed by the radiator but I think that's also because the weather is so cold. She's always been a fair weather dog so I think when the temperature improves, she will be out on her garden cushion again keeping me company when I'm making beads in my shed!

She's been with me this afternoon whilst I was sowing seeds in the greenhouse for a couple of hours. The sun was warming us up through the glass and bubble wrap insulation. The weather was so bad on Sunday here (sleety rain all morning, cloudy coldness in the afternoon), I did some work so I could play hooky on a day when the weather was nicer and today was the day! All the tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are sown as well as some annual bedding plants. My propagator is full, lots of others waiting to be sown as and when they germinate. Missy and I are really looking forward to the Spring gettting going properly. 

Nice one Ritchie - Rainbow at the NEC in Birmingham

MTM, our mate Steve and I were very lucky to get great seats to go see Ritchie Blackmore playing some Rainbow and Deep Purple numbers at the Genting Arena at the NEC in Birmingham on Saturday night. We were in Block A and about 20 rows from the front.

This is just a screengrab from some YouTube footage, taken when they were playing Burn, which is my all time favourite Deep Purple track. Before they played the UK, they did two gigs at open air festivals in Germany. Burn was actually missing from the set list on those gigs so I was desperately grateful they decided to treat the UK to it. I think Soldier of Fortune was also a UK only track. I have this dream that one day, when playing Soldier of Fortune either with the reconstituted Rainbow or Blackmore's Night, David Coverdale will walk on stage and take over the vocals ... c'mon David, you're friends with Ritchie again now, you know you want to ...!

My second favourite Deep Purple track is Mistreated, a complex song, slow and bluesy and needs a really good singer. Ronnie Romero is the dynamic young singer Ritchie Blackmore chose to front the new line up, This guy shoved a stick of dynamite in his vocal chords and just exploded at us ... what a talent! Ritchie always has a knack of choosing really great singers and Ronnie is no exception. Nice one Ritchie!

There were too many highlights to mention them all but Stargazer was a wall of sound, the keyboard player was amazing on Burn and Child in Time, in the absence of John Lord, wow! he'll do!

The drummer, base player (Bob with his natty black and white polka dot shirt) and the keyboard player have all been in Ritchie's other band, Blackmore's Night, at various times and all are exceptional musicians.

This was definitely gig of the year in my book by a long chalk. I don't want Ritchie to stop doing Blackmore's Night but I, for one, won't be complaining if they decide to do an album and tour some more.

Long Live Rock 'n Roll!

Two totally unrelated matters

First, this is a picture of my latest crochet WIP, a tablecloth for my patio table. I'm using Frank O'Randle's Rings of Change pattern which is on Ravelry. Every row is different on it so it's quite a challenge. I'm using two strands of Scheepjesw Maxi crochet cotton and I'm really enjoying making it.

I've adapted it slightly. I needed a hole in the middle for the parasol to go through so I omitted some earlier rounds and started later on with a twenty chain hole. I've also missed out some rounds later on where there were 3-D dragon scales going on because a tablecloth really needs to lie totally flat. The scales would've been right in the red wine glass region. The thought of spilling wine that I could so easily drink is slightly shocking, so I've repeated some of the earlier flat rounds and then gone back to the pattern for the later rounds. It's a little ruffled around the edges as you can see in the second pic but I will be stretch blocking it so it'll lie flat when it's finished.

I don't think it's going to be completed before colder weather arrives with a vengeance but you never know. At least I'll be ready for next year and maybe with some matching cushions!

Another thing that is late and the totally unrelated matter mentioned in the title to this bloggage is that my greenhouse is finally arriving next Wednesday. We didn't realise when we ordered it that it was on a four week delivery .... we have ordered three greenhouses in the past and none of them took this long. It's a bog standard size and finish so I would've thought a stock item but unfortunately not. I have been impatiently ticking off the days and putting all my tender cuttings in the house at night.  MTM is taking some time off to help me put it up - another reason to hope this fine weather lasts!

Rainbow spiral blanket (or afghan) finished

My rainbow spiral blanket is finished! 

I had to undo the first border I did, as you can see below, the original edging is all curling up on itself. As I was working it, I was telling myself not to worry, that blocking would soon straighten it out but by the penultimate row, it was clear that nothing short of steamrollering it would make it lay flat. 

This time, I worked up a design on a small scale rather than just "diving in", the swatch I made laid flat and so here is a close up of the new border it as it was being blocked. On the previous version I'd gone round the post of the row underneath to give some interest. This time I just used a double crochet (UK terminology) spike stitch into an intermediary black row.

Here's another photo of the blanket being blocked on my dining room floor laid out on towels.

If you're interested in me writing up the pattern explaining how I did it, contact me through my Ravelry account (SoozJewels) or leave a comment below. If there's demand, I'd be happy to do so!

Rainbow spiral crochet blanket update ... nearly finished!

You may remember my rainbow spiral crochet blanket. Well, all the motifs are all made, they've even been stitched together. I've turned them into squares instead of hexagons. I'm still going to do a hexagon version (because I've already worked out how to do that and don't want to waste the knowledge) in a different colour-way. All I have to do is the edging, as you can see from the photograph. I have started. There are three colours in the border, same as the spiral and the edging colours change according to the spiral closest to it. 

Today I have had so many things keeping me from making beads (which is my proper work really). Very cold again, icy steps, not as bad as last time but I have developed a tickly cough and cold. I just had a cold at the same time as my leg got hurt (DH bought it home from his office). I thought there was some kind of immunity that you build up, when you've had a cold, you don't catch another one for three months (or something). Well, anyway, this is obviously a different bug. Every time I go outside in the cold air, it makes the cough worse.

On top of that, my little dog, Missy isn't very well at the moment. She's very prone to stomach upsets. She got me up in the night to let her out to go eat grass (which she does when she's feeling off). And then she had to go out again to be sick (how lovely!) I wanted to keep an eye on her and it's too cold in the studio for her to go out beadmaking with me. Then there was a bit of mess she made in the lounge to be cleaned up (I will spare you the details!). She's feeling better now, after this afternoon's walk, it seemed to give her an appetite, she's eaten her dinner and looking much happier in front of the fire. 

If I'm honest, all I wanted to do was get on with finishing this blanket's edging, it's sooooo nearly finished! DH was at a training course in Birmingham which meant him leaving the house at a really early hour and he won't be home til late tonight. I can't really sit and crochet today whilst he's working hard at something he REALLY didn't want to go and do. I make money from beadmaking so even though I enjoy that very much, I don't feel guilty when I'm making beads (I'm "working"!) but crochet is just a lovely self-indulgence. So today I have been catching up with the housework so I don't feel guilty about enjoying myself (I definitely don't enjoy housework!) Spent the weekend glossing up the bookcases in the dining room so I am a bit behind with everything.

Tonight is another matter, dinner is all ready, just the pasta to put on when DH gets home, fire blazing away in the grate, dog happy. I will be crocheting ALL evening - happy happy happy! 

Spiral rainbow crochet blanket (or afghans as some people call them)

Being stuck with my leg on a cushion for the past week has meant I've had time to get started on a new project. It's going to be a rainbow blanket made up of these crocheted spiral circles each made with three different colours. The above photograph shows the colours that I've picked, I need quite a few more than the ones in the pic!

These colourful circles are going to be turned into hexagons using a couple of rows of shaping in black and then sewn altogether. Piled up like this, I thought they looked like colourful pancakes, DH thinks they look more like poppadoms, he was about to start cooking a fish curry at the time so I guess the imagery is understandable.

I've started a project for it in my Ravelry account, I'll be adding the yarn and colours I've used in there when I get a chance and I'll also write it up as a free pattern. For now, I've been sitting normally for too long and my shin is complaining so I'm going to put my leg up and get going on crocheting some more.

When I started on this, the weather was really grey and dreary and I was fed up of sitting still, the colours really helped lift my mood, I hope these pics do the same for you!