Crochet black cat - a first attempt at amigurumi

So, the weather at the moment is absolutely glorious. It doesn't seem do long ago that we were experiencing stormy weather with high winds, thunderstorms and even snow so the sunshine is a welcome change as it doesn't seem to happen very often and when it does it is gone just as quick as it came.

This weather got me thinking about how whatever the weather it can cause problems for someone. the cold temperatures can effect the elderly especially if they struggle to get out and about and with heating their homes. Although I love the snowy weather the cold effects my mobility with my joints really aching. It is a good excuse though to snuggle up under the latest blanket that I want to be doing! The hot weather also can have its issues with sunburn and sunstroke. I certainly don't like making my blankets in the daytime, preferring to make them in the evening.

I have seen many online posts and pleas recently about this hot weather effecting animals and how we need to make sure that with the ones we look after that they are staying cool enough and hydrated. At the moment I don't have any pets but in the past I have had both dogs and cats. The dogs loved paddling in the sea, although not always the walk to get there. They needed to go early in the day or in the evening when it was cooler for their paws. The cats were able to find shade in the garden under the leaves of the shrubs with plenty of water bowls in the shade too.

This thinking of animals brought back memories of the first amigurumi that I attempted. I cant believe that it was four years ago. My Mum had been in hospital but needed looking after once she came out for the first couple of days. I had seen a pattern in a magazine of a lovely little black cat and I thought that I would have a go to see if I could do it. I was just starting out with my crochet at the time having only even done granny squares before so it would be a case of whether I could advance my skills. It was a perfect project to do whilst looking after my Mum as it was only small sections to complete at a time. My mum also loved seeing how it was coming along.

The finished crochet cat sits on top of one of  my speakers in my craft room, watching over me when I am in there working away. It reminds me of one of my cats that I had years ago who was also black and white. Her favourite place to be would be stretched out along the back of the sofa. I am thrilled with how my little amigurumi cat turned out even if she does look a little sleepy!

Mandala Madness - starting to square the circle

So, the last mandala blanket to get started, out of the four, is going to be the first one that gets squared off. It is a glorious day today with the sun shining brightly. It is also going to get much warmer as the day goes on. The world cup is also on the TV.

I have been putting off starting to square off the blankets. Firstly, I really like how they look as a circle. Secondly, it has been warm and I haven't wanted the heavy weight on my lap so have been doing lots of small crochet pieces - mostly my calorie free bag charm treats. And lastly, I have been really nervous how it will turn out using the colour change wools. Ironically it is the colour change blanket that I have decided to jump straight in and start with.

The instructions are very well written, and although they are by a different designer, it could be from the same one as the stitches are similar and the flow of the pattern is also not out of place. There are 29 rows to be done in order to complete the squaring of although once the corners have gone in on round 14 I can imagine that more or less rows could be done in order to achieve the desired effect. I have done 11 so far but it does give an idea of how the colours are going to blend in. Where the wool is a colour change wool I made the decision to not do one corner at a time and complete it but to do one row at a time on each corner so that the colours are matching as each one blends into the next one. This I am hoping will give some sort of symmetry before the corners get too big and before the straight edges start to come in.

I am really pleased with how they have started to go in and am looking forward to the next stage, finishing them off and starting on the long sides. Its not long to go now before the blanket will be completely finished. I am hoping to get all four done and squared off before winter starts to set in. It seems a long way off having only just had the summer solstice yesterday but we all now how time flies and before you know it summer is over and it is back to those cold long days of winter. I am going to make the most of the warm weather whilst it lasts, even if it does mean trying to crochet the blankets in it!

Mandala Madness - Part 16

So, part 16 saw the shape of the blanket change again. The last round of part 15 had large sections of front post trebles and then smaller sections of ruffle stitches. I love those, they add such texture and add a really touchy feely element as well. They are definitely one of my favourite stitches that I have done.

The first round of this part folds over these long trebles to give a beautiful curved stitch that reminds me of the texture of rope. The next few rounds saw these lovely petal shapes appearing, done again with lots of treble stitches which is great, as the blankets grow quickly in size. Even the one done with the thinner Scheepjes whirl. The colour change with this whirl certainly starts to show towards the end of the part. The light grey colour that is there at the start gets gradually darker towards and the next colour starts to creep in which is a burgundy colour.

The white version has the green colour that is present at the edge of these petals. The back post stitches  that are one in some of the petals, create a ridge where it is folding over a small amount of the previous rounds stitches. I like how this has been done, I think it adds another level of interest.

The blankets are getting so large now, they easily fit on a double bed. The next part sees the spaces that are between the petals getting filled in and smoothing out the perimeter. More of the burgundy colour will also be added to the Scheepjes whirl blanket and this adds another depth to the range of the colours that are already present. I still however need to work on the blanket and get it caught up some more!

Onto part 17 .........................................

Calorie free doughnuts - more stash busting of the yarn mountain

So, after making my calorie free crochet ice lollies the other week I thought about what other types of calorie free food I could come up with a pattern for and crochet.Top of my list was doughnuts. I mean, who can resist a doughnut! Especially mid morning with a nice hot cup of coffee.

Now I had an idea I needed to think about how they would look. I could either do the classic filled doughnut or an iced ring doughnut. For the first ones, I decided that I would go with the iced ring doughnut shape. I may however do the classic filled ones later on but add icing to them. This I thought would be another great little project that could use up some more of the small little balls of yarn that I have left over from other projects. It would also again be great for doing when the weather is hot and I don't want the big blankets on my lap.

Having already done the emoji's I thought that would be a great starting point in working out the pattern. Rather than starting a circle though I started with a chain and worked out from there increasing until the right size and then decreasing until I got back to the starting number of stitches. The icing used the same pattern but only up until the end of the increases.

I am really pleased with how they have come out. I did use two different hook sizes on them to see how they would differ and I think I prefer the one that was made using the smaller hook size as the stiches are more compact and in my opinion, look neater. I love the bugle beads that I have stitched on to look like sprinkles. I did think about using yarn to recreate them and I may do in the future. The last thing I did was to put a face on one of them. I do quite like it but am not one hundred percent sure. I think if I make more I will do a mixture of both styles. I just now need to write the pattern down that I have been working from as at the moment it only exists in my head!

So, now on to the next coffee time treats .......................

Watch this space