Category Archives: Spring

1970s Vintage style crochet waist-coat

Hey all!

It’s festival season and my latest creation is a 1970s-inspired waist-coat. This style is very much in at the moment – and you can use whatever colours you like! 

The waist-coat has been made using cotton sport-weight yarn and a 4mm hook. In all, the item is made using 24 unique individually-made granny squares, each using 8 different colours.  

Hope you get inspired by this! Enjoy!

Beach / Sun Hat Pattern

With summer now in full swing, I decided to designed a sun / beach hat. This hat is made using cotton yarn, and pattern incorporates holes, to keep it light and allow for good air circulation.

I originally made this in one colour, and the pattern has been written accordingly – however, you can choose to use more than 1 colour. Yarn used is sport weight cotton yarn – I used again is Katia Menfis . You will need just a bit over 1 100g ball, so I recommend you get 2.

The pattern is available in my Ravelry store.

The hat will fit an adult. It is made in one piece, but has 3 distinct sections:

  • the top part, measuring approximately around 6.5 inches,
  • a middle section measuring 3 inches in height and
  • the rim, which is 2.75inches.

Plain Bucket Hat with Flowers Pattern

Here is another pattern I have designed – this one is plain with large flowers. 

This beautiful bucket hat is made using 1 main colour in sport weight cotton yarn, and then embellished with flowers in 3 colours . The yarn I used again is Katia Menfis cotton yarn. You will need just a bit over 1 100g ball, so I recommend you get 2. In addition, you will need 4 more colours for the flowers – 1 colour for the centre of each flower and three colours for the flowers.  I used 3 round mirror tiles in the centre of the flowers to give it a bit of sparkle.

The pattern is available in my Ravelry store.

The hat will fit an adult. It is made in one piece, but has 3 distinct sections:

  • the top part, measuring approximately around 6.5 inches,
  • a middle section measuring 3.5 inches in height and
  • the rim, which is 1.5inches.

Crochet Striped Bucket Hat

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been working on the pattern for a bucket hat. This is my striped bucket hat embellished with flowers. The pattern is available in my Ravelry store.

This beautiful bucket hat is made using 2 colours in sport weight cotton yarn . The yarn I used is Katia Menfis cotton yarn. This comes in 100g balls, and you will need 1 ball in each colour.

The hat will fit an adult. It is made in one piece, but has 3 distinct sections:

  • the top part, measuring approximately around 6.5 inches,
  • a middle section measuring 3.5 inches in height and
  • the rim, which is 1.5inches.

For the flowers, you can choose to make these in any other complementary colours, or stick with the 2 main colours of the hat. 

Here are a couple of colour variations which I have made. Also, as the flowers are crocheted separately, you can decide to leave them out. 

Pot holders – Farmyard Collection

I came across a wonderful set of farmyard inspired tapestry crochet potholders and have been busy as a bee crocheting away a whole range of them – they are simple but really cute.

Here are some of the ones which I have made – they make real cute sets! I always use mercerized cotton for these as it is heat resistant. These are made using either DK or 4-ply cotton and a 4mm or 3.5mm crochet hook – of course the 4-ply using the 3.5mm hoot results in a smaller pot holder, but it’s still a pretty decent size.

I have made some others (which are not a set – and you can see the below). I’m not very fond of the goose with the purple background – it does not seem to look as neat as the ones where the background is light.

My next post will also be more pot-holders – but this time, it’s my own design and they are Grand-Prix inspired 🙂

So stay tuned and in the meantime – why not try making these!! Patterns are by Raffamusa Designs and are freely available on: https://raffamusadesigns.com/tapestry-crochet-potholders-farmhouse-collection/

Crochet Granny square handbag – getting ready for spring!!

Hey fellow crafters!  With the weather getting a little warmer, I thought that a nice spring handbag would be a great project – so here is one I made up.  I used mercerised cotton DK in 3 colours and a 3.5mm crochet hook.

20210228_124809

Each side of the bag is made by joining 9 granny squares, and then joined by crocheting single crochet through adjacent aligned squares. Below is the pattern of the granny square seen in this bag.

The granny square pattern

LRM_20210228_125530



Abbreviations (US terms):
CH – chain
SC – Single Crochet
HDC – Half double crochet
DC – Double Crochet
TC -Triple Crochet
DC2TOG – 2 DC together (for instructions of how to do this please refer to external link)
DC3TOG – 3 DC together also known as cluster stitch (for instructions on how to do this, please refer to this external link)

Round 1 : Using grey yarn, in a magic ring, CH, 8SC, join with slip stitch into the 1st SC to complete the ring. (8 stitches)
Round 2 : CH, 2SC in  each SC from Round 1, all the way round. Join with slip stitch into the 1st SC to complete the ring (16 stitches). Cast off.
Round 3 : Using the lilac coloured yarn, join the any SC from Round 2, and CH 2. In the same SC, DC. CH, Repeat (DC2tog in next SC, CH) all the way round . Join with a slip stitch into 2nd chain of the first 2 chains which you started the round with.  Cast off. (16 Stitches, 16 spaces)
Round 4 : Using the grey yarn, join in any chain space made in Round 3 and CH 2. In the same chain space, DC2tog, and CH 2. Repeat (DC3tog, CH 2) all the way round in each chain space from round 3. Join with a slip stitch into the 3nd chain of the first 2 chains which you started the round with. Cast off. (16 stitches, 16 spaces)
Round 5 : Using the white yarn, join in any chain space made in Round 4 and CH 3. In the same chain space, 2 DC. 3 HDC in next chain space. 3 DC in next chain space. (3 TC, CH2, 3TC) in next chain space – this forms the first corner of the granny square. Repeat {3DC in next Chain space, 3HDC in next chain space, 3DC in next chain space, (3TC, CH2, 3TC) in next chain space } 3 times. Join with a slip stitch into 2nd chain of the first 2 chains which you started the round with.  Cast off.

Joining

Once you have completed all 18 squares, join them by aligning 2 squares next to each other and using SC to join the corresponding stitches . I used the lilac yarn to do this, but you can choose the colour of your choice. Do this to create 2 panels of 9 squares joined together (one for the back and the other for the front of the bag).

To create some depth in the bag, with the external side facing you, join lilac yarn in any corner or panel and DC in each stich all the way around 3 of the sides of  the panel and cast off – do this for both front and back panels of the bag. Then, place the front and back panels on top of each other, so that the side where there is no DC rows aligned and with the inside of the panels facing you – i,e. this inside out. Using lilac yarn, join the panels on the 3 sides which you did a row of DC by doing SC through DCs on both panels – i.e  the SC would go through the DC on front and back panel. This way, the join which is created will be on the inside of the bag. Do this all the way round the 3 sides.  Do not cast off yet! Turn the bag the right way round . Do SC in each stitch on the edge which is the opening of the bag- this will define the opening of the bag nicely. 

Handles

This is always somewhat of a challenge – what handles to make ? I decided to try something different and came across a lace like design – while the pattern is for a much finer yarn, it has worked very well with DK too and I think make ideal fancy handles! Here is the tutorial of how to make them – though the video is not in English, it is very easy to follow. 

LRM_20210228_125612
  I am now off to make some more in other colours! Hope this has inspired you to make your own. Please share and Happy crocheting!