Day to Day

Better Homes & Gardens - Crocheting & Knitting

The other day I was pottering around Ravelry and spied a few cool projects created from a 1981 Better Homes and Gardens book, Crocheting & Knitting.  A quick google search pointed me in the direction of Ebay, where I found the book for a mere $4!!  Add on $12 international shipping and that book was jumping in my cart.

It arrived a couple of days ago and I thought I'd pop in and share some photo goodness from inside.  There are a good mix of crochet and knitting patterns inside and lots of variations - pillows, tablecloths, blankets, etc..

As far as the actual patterns go, I've read (on Ravelry) that many of them do have errors, but I'm okay with that. I bought the book mainly for it's charm and actually I've discovered that a lot of crochet patterns can be worked out by looking at the photo....well, so long as the photo isn't too complicated! 

How good is that hexagon quilt above?! 

I have another couple of old crochet books on their way and I'll be sure to share photos of those too, when they arrive.

I'm finishing off my starburst crochet cushion tonight, which I'll share soon too! Are you crocheting anything this week?

Easter craft ideas

Just popping in quickly this evening to link up some of my older Easter craft tutorials for Easter, incase you're after something fun to make for next weekend.  Eek, I know - it's so close!

Make your own bunny headband - tutorial HERE.

Sweet bunny packaging - tutorial HERE.

Sew your own Easter mug rug - tutorial HERE.

Egg wagon wheels, yes! These are fun and easy to do in the microwave, so tasty. Tutorial HERE.

Bunny ears anyone?  Go HERE for the tutorial.

Something for the little people to do - Easter basket with salt dough eggs!  Tutorial HERE.

Felt bunny card - tutorial HERE.

...and in-between all that Easter craft I found this photo of my two working on their Easter crafts, way back in circa 2006.  We had some FUN times dying eggs every year when they were little.  Oh my, how I miss having that tiny cuteness around the house.  Well, they're still cute - but older and doing their own bit of fun now.

It all goes too fast!

Ice Magic giveaway winners

Happy Friday!

Just popping in quickly to announce the lovely Ice Magic giveaway winners who are going to be receiving two bottles of caramel Ice Magic + a $50 Coles voucher each.  Hooray!!

The lucky winners (selected by the Ice Magic team) are:

Magdalena: I love ice magic. I have grown up with
it too, but didn\'t know about the caramel
flavour. Yummo.
I would like to create a 3D house out of ice
magic. Kind of like the sweet house out of Hansel
and Gretel. Can you imagine! It would be so much
fun!

Heidi T: Hi Mel! Love what your hubby made - what
a creative family you are! I think, with Easter
approaching, an ice cream Easter Egg (made in an
Easter egg chocolate mould), then decorated with
all sorts of patterns and dots in the many
delicious flavours - it would be the Easter Egg to
rival all Easter eggs! Yummo....

Congratulations Magdalena and Heidi.  Please pop me through your mailing details (onecraftymumma@internode.on.net) so your prize pack can be mailed out.

Don't forget to enter the Ice Magic competition over on their Facebook page to win a trip to New Zealand to go skiing.  There are just THREE DAYS left to enter.

Felted Easter bunny making

Yesterday was Easter bunny making day at my house:

Hooray! One bunny all happy and sewn:

Then, just like that -----> they multiplied:

That's my happy Easter sewing all done and dusted.  Tell me, do you make goodies for Easter, give chocolate eggs or perhaps not celebrate at all?

P.S. If you would like to make your own Easter bunny, the pattern and tutorial is over HERE. 

Granny square pillow gift

A few weeks ago I taught my mother-in-law how to crochet.  She's an incredibly creative person and can already do a huge assortment of crafts already, but hadn't quite mastered crochet.

Her first project was this delightful crochet pillow in green, cream and chocolate, which she surprised me with during the weekend - a gift to me for teaching her the basics.  Isn't that lovely!!?

We've popped it in the caravan on top of a knitted blanket - my Grandma knitted all of those squares several years ago.

It's nice to now have two crocheted pillows in the caravan, mainly because last trip there was a whole heap of arguing over who was going to use the one that I made as an extra prop for late night reading.

We're heading away in the van again soon and I can't wait to do a bit more on the granny stripe blanket while we're camping.  The weather is suddenly chilly in Tasmania, so I think we're going to need all the extra warmth we can find.

Around our home

Baking, crocheting, sewing on buttons, cups of tea, cleaning up and other nice indoor things.  It was really chilly today - there was snow on the mountain!

How was your day?

Learn to crochet

Yes! You can learn to crochet!!  This is one of the most common questions that hits my inbox, with lots of lovely people asking me some tips on how I learnt to crochet.

I actually taught myself by trawling YouTube and watching mini crochet movies, over and over again.  But the lovely Dana from Crafty Minx has an entire blog dedicated to teaching you - so much easier than late night YouTube trawling!!  

Go HERE to see and then work your way through the steps. 

Ta-da! Easy peasy - you'll be hooking in no time.

Crochet projects on the go!

Welcome to my coffee table this week - jam packed to the brim with yarn, hooks, scissors, craft books and crochet projects on the go. 

There's a nice new stack of pretty 8 ply yarn because I really (super duper really!!) need to finish the starburst cushion that I'm working on for a swap.  I was running short on a some colours, so grabbed a few new balls to keep me going.

It's coming along quite nicely and I did manage to finish the back, which is a continuous round of trebles in cream/off white.  Nobody really sees the back of a cushion anyhow.....right?

The sampler blanket squares are growing too - hooray for night time crocheting.

Here are a few of my new favourites:

So, there you go - a little round up of my slightly messy, but creative coffee table.

What are you working on this week?  Do share!

Lego crochet blanket tutorial

Lego anyone?  Yes please!

One of my lovely readers (thank you Sue!) sent me the link to this beautiful Lego crochet blanket.  There's an entire tutorial on this over HERE with gorgeous step by step photos.

I really want to make one!  It's okay though - I won't start another crochet project just yet, but it's definitely on my radar for later on.

Any crochet/Lego fans out there that are tempted to start?

How to do a popcorn stitch :: crochet

*please note - photos are a little bit blurry because they're instagram pics taken with my phone*

I shared a mini tutorial over on instagram the other day and thought I'd pop the photos/steps on my blog too.  I know quite a few of you have either purchased or are keen on getting hold of the 200 crochet block book, so this might be handy for the super cute pop corn stitch that's used for some of the blocks.

The popcorn stitch is quite addictive once you start - it creates a little crocheted puff or 'pop corn' for your block.

Step 1 - Do three trebles into your centre of your work:

Step 2 - Remove the crochet hook:

Step 3 - Put the hook back in, like shown:

Step 4 -  Pull the hook through like you are slip stitching:

Step 5: Final step - pull it nice and tight, then do 3 chain & start the next popcorn! Super easy peasy:

Happy popping!