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.

Crocheted lacy dress scarf - free pattern

I've made this lightweight dress scarf for my mum as a Christmas present (don't worry, she won't see it before the big day, she's not on the internet!)

I like it so much, I thought I would make one for myself as well and if I like it, others may as well so I'm sharing how I made it as a free pattern.

The stitch is a modified version of one I found in a book. The original is a kind of diamond lace but it was more solid, I've used dtrs (UK terms) instead of trs and opened it out using more chains. Here's a chart of how the modified stitch is worked along with top and bottom finishing rows.

EDIT: As of 15 July, there is now a written pattern (click here). 

I used Drops Baby Alpaca Silk (yarn group A, it's a three ply yarn) and a 2.5mm hook. I did around 70 rows (I've wrapped it up now so I can't double check that, sorry!) I used two 50g balls of colour 6235. Starting chain is 8 plus multiples of 7 so you can made it as wide (or as narrow) as you like. Skinny scarves are very "in" at the moment, I've noticed. I started with 43 chain for mum's which has 5 pattern repeats.

Work the foundation row first and then repeat rows 1 and 2 until the scarf is as long as you want. The top finishing row is worked after you've done all your repeats. Fasten off, turn your work upside down and work the other finishing row to match. 

The scarf is fully reversible so no side is right or wrong.

I was going to add a simple fringe to it, there was just enough yarn left over after I got the length I thought mum would like but I have been meaning to use a fun bobble stitch border I found on Pinterest using Once Upon a Pink Moon's blog's instructions.  I did four bobbles on both ends. The pattern on Once Upon a Pink Moon's blog uses US terms so I made trs instead of dcs and I made my chains a little longer, 9 inially to make it drape nicer on my project.  Obviously you can do whatever border you like to personalise yours or you can leave it plain with the finishing rows. Either way looks nice.

The scarf will benefit from blocking. Drop it in a bowl of tepid water and then very gently squeeze the excess water out (do not wring!) Roll it up in a dry towel to blot out some more. Lay the scarf on fresh dry towels (I needed two laid end to end) over carpet or your usual blocking board and then pin it out gently, stretching it a little as you go using rustless stainless steel pins. Leave to dry overnight. 

If you've got any questions about how to make it, don't hesitate to ask in the comments section and I'll do my best to answer them. If there's enough demand, I may do a written version of the pattern as well for those who find following charts difficult..

Before I wrapped the scarf with her other present, I've been running around the house and garden taking photographs of it.

I can envisage it being worn loose around the collar of a jacket or knotted at the throat, there are lots of different ways to wear it. I chose the colour because I think it will go nicely with a jacket that mum's got. It’s lightweight and airy so might not work well in the winter, it IS long enough to be wrapped around the neck twice for warmth but it’s meant to be more for decoration; it'll look really nice in the Spring with her blue jacket. Fingers crossed, I hope she likes it!

Happy Christmas to all my blog readers.

Happy birthday, Bongo - ten years old today

Many Happy Returns to Bongo who is 10 years old today. He’s been our family dog for the last 5 months. 

Back in June, he was about to be surrendered to the Dogs Trust by his former owners. A change of circumstances meant they could no longer look after him. The Dogs Trust got in touch with the Manchester Terrier Club. They knew we had lost Missy and asked us if we would be interested in a 9 year old dog.

I was a little reluctant initially. It was hard to think of losing another dog after only a few years. After talking it over, we decided to go ahead and meet him at his foster carer’s home down in Surrey one Sunday. Well of course he came home with us, we couldn’t bear to think of him going into kennels and maybe being there for a long time due to his age. 

Mostly Manchester Terriers are generally quite wary of strangers, it’s a known trait but it’s almost like he knew we were there for him. He took to MTM straight away during our visit. He was a little unsure during his first few days at home with us. MTM was out site visiting every day for Bongo’s first week. As I went about my business in the outdoor studio, around the house or on the computer, I got used to having a little shadow literally everywhere I went. He is more relaxed now and isn’t under my feet as much as he used to be now he has more confidence around us.

He folded into our lives very easily as we had a Manchester Terrier shaped hole to fill. He’d been extremely well cared for and had no behavioural issues beyond that which is normal for a Manchester Terrier. We feel extremely fortunate to have him in our lives.

People who saw us around the village those first few days thought they were seeing things as he is physically very similar to Missy. We can see the differences, his snout is a little longer, his back end is sootier and he’s a trifle taller.

Here he is with the BONGO car. We spotted this registration on a car the very first time we took him out to explore our village. We took it as a sign that he’s meant to be here with us. 

He loves being fussed and nudges you to continue if you stop. He has great recall (if he knows you have food), walks very nicely on the lead and is a great little character. He loves to play shakey when I’m trying to get the log burner started. Because I’m sitting on the floor to do that he thinks I want to play and I never say no.

His appetite is so good to see, his food obsession has meant he’s very trainable hence he’s now quieter when chasing his ball (which is his most favourite thing to do!).

He has been my confidante and friend, always listening without judgement and gives absolute unconditional love. I don’t like to think about being without him. He’s integral to our family and I feel privileged to be a part of this lovely little dog’s retirement.

Happy birthday, Bongo, may you have many more.

Desdemona’s Presence

Mist on the still fields' early dawn.

Pregnant with false perception, 

I fall below the horizon.

On occasion clouds obscure me,

Sometimes I am so thin you look right through me,

Or you don’t even raise your eyes.

Cast down at the floor or to your hand,

Oblivious days distend to weeks.

Yet I am still here, constant, stalking 

An incipient tiptoeing presence then a sudden ambush!

A spiked bright sickle jagged in your eye

I am eternally present, where were you. 

David Cassidy ... goodbye my Midnight Man

You never forget your first love and though he hasn’t always been present in my life, years went by and I wouldn’t think of him at all but every so often he would pop up and that part of my heart where I tucked him away would melt once again and I would relive my teenage years.

If you were a pre teen in the early 70s at my school, all the girls I knew were either into Donny Osmond or David Cassidy. One of my younger sisters was Donny; David was all mine.

I vividly remember my friend, Lauren, ringing me one Saturday lunchtime to tell me she had just got back from town where she’d bought the single How Can I Be Sure. It had only just been released not even in the charts yet so I hadn’t had chance to tape it from the Top 40. I ran all the way to hers and we sat cross legged on the floor of her bedroom playing it over and over all afternoon.

I’m sure at first I only liked him because of his looks, posters from Jackie were plastered over three walls of my bedroom but as I grew older and had proper relationships, the infatuation faded but I never stopped loving his voice. MTM has often come home from work to find me cooking dinner singing along to some of his songs. Mostly, I listen to them on my own, I’m not ashamed of them, it’s in no way a guilty pleasure; I just know my other half doesn’t really feel the same about him. :-) 

But once, around the late 80s, a group of friends got together for a party. We each had to take a cassette with our top 10 songs on it, the idea being we would listen and talk about them whilst slowly getting sloshed. I insisted on having a David Cassidy track on mine. It was a great night and we should do it again.

A few years later, I was given a copy of C’mon Get Happy, a book he co-wrote when he was in his forties about his life up to that point. And yes, I couldn’t stop myself falling in love with him all over again as I read through how it was at his end of the adulation.

I watched the first series of the Patridge Family on DVD more recently, as soon as I got a LoveFilm account. I don’t have an account any more but it’s available to stream now on Amazon. 

Taking us into the present is David Cassidy’s official Facebook page where I Liked the good stuff, sympathised with the bad and so I knew he was ill, gravely ill in fact. I hoped for a liver transplant. Walter Trout got one in time, maybe David would be the same. 

Today I’m having a David Cassidy day. I’ve been listening to his songs this morning whilst making beads in the studio. I’m word perfect on them all.

This afternoon, I’ll be watching some Partridge Family episodes whilst sorting beads into sets for my Etsy Shop.

This evening I’ll try to find some You Tube tracks from his concerts.

My favourite David Cassidy tracks:

SONG FOR A RAINY DAY 

“The worst part is the knowing

That my castle in the sky

Fell apart and it's too late”

The fourth wall in my bedroom during my teenage years had a castle painted on it, right on the top of a high hill as a black silhouette. I did it myself but I can’t remember what inspired it. Possibly this song. It was painted over many years ago after I moved out to get married but I can see it in my mind’s eye quite clearly. We’re in the process of selling the old family home now. Many a day spent in that bedroom daydreaming. I’ll miss it when it goes to another family, I hope they will love it as much as we did. 

JUST WANNA MAKE YOU HAPPY. I always call this one Tambourine Man, not cos of the Dylan song but from the opening line. It’s about a busker “I’m just a Tambourine man, a lonely one man street band, so many people near me, won’t someone stop and hear me, street light, shine bright, you are my only spotlight”. Magic. 

SOME KIND OF A SUMMER written by the Midnight Man, David Cassidy himself. (Midnight Man is a line from Rock Me Baby). I was always writing stories when I was growing up. If there was a male lead, David was always the hero. I fantasised about being the one singing with him in that gospel choir, watching the northern lights in Minnesota and hitchhiking to California with our wheels on fire. 

I WRITE THE SONGS from The Higher they Climb. This is the first song I listened to today when I heard David had died. Not as well known perhaps as Barry Manilow’s version but David’s vocal performance is much better. With a lump in my throat, I listened to the first few bars. By the time the chord change kicks in, I’m sobbing. 

All those wonderful singers and pop stars we’ve lost in the last couple of years, dammit, David, none of them made me cry.  But today you also made me young again, even though I’m very old, thank you. Rest in Peace. x