crochet jar cover ::

A couple of weeks ago I had my first attempt at making marmalade, for a first attempt it came out pretty well, but I made a huge quantity and well as my mr hates the stuff, and try as we might it seemed unlikely that Milo and I would manage the whole 7 jars we have, I figured most of them would become gifts. Of course in order for this to happen those assorted, recycled, jars would need a little bit of prettifying.

I considered making some hapa-zome tops for them like I made for my jam last summer, or maybe embroidering some covers for them. But then I remembered all the lovely orange milk cotton I had stashed away and decided crochet jar covers was the only way to go.

These are also a great idea because the crochet circles can become coasters of washcloths once the marmalade is in use.

If you fancy having a go at making some little hats for you own marmalade/jam jars then you are in luck because I have written out my pattern for you here!

I also made up one up in browns for a jar of chocolates I made for my Mum's birthday.

finding inspiration :: blankets ::

I was up crazy early this morning and I found myself snuggled up on the sofa, browsing flickr and dreaming of hooking up some lovely blankets.

Click on the photo's to find yourself at the flickr page of the creators of these beauties.

heart granny square ::

 With valentines on my mind the last few weeks, I have been working on lots of hearts.  After searching about a bit, I couldn't see any granny squares which incorporated a heart that I liked.  After a few failed attempts and a bit of patience, I came up with my own.



I have been working lots of these lovey squares in order to make a cushion, which I hope to share with you soon, but whilst I continue to work away on that, I thought I would share with you the pattern for the granny square alone.



This is only the second pattern/tutorial for crochet (the other being my granny bunting) that I have ever shared, so if you do have a go at making some for yourself, I would love to hear any feedback you may have.



The pattern in all it's glory is here, have fun! xx

a blanket for the rug ::

well a blanket version  of the rug at least.

Ever since we got this rug I've intended to crochet a blanket which matched in some way.  Originally I was just going to use the colours and do a traditional granny square blanket.  But the more I've admired the rug and thought about the blanket to accompany it, the more I thought an exact replica might be the way to go.

I finally purchased the yarn on Saturday.  I decided to use the fabulously cheap stylecraft 100% acrylic double knit.  Yes I would love to make it a beautiful organic cotton, but realistically I just can't justify spending that much on yarn at the moment.  After hearing about Lucy of Attic 24's love for this yarn, in this post here, I thought I'd give it a go and actually it really is OK.  Plus it comes in so many colours!

After many different attempts (I even considered knitting it) I decided to work each block in straight trebles, working each colour as I came to it, rather than working from the middle out.  This way I can join each block as I go.

So I've only done 3 blocks so far, but so far so good!  Though I do get in a fairly massive tangle, trying to use all those colours at once!  My aim is to complete 7 blocks a week, if I stick to this, I should be done in a month and a half!  I won't be holding my breath!  But I shall keep updated.