Well aren't those flowers ↑↑↑ just utterly glorious?? They're for you by the way, a visual treat to say thank you for all your wonderful comments after my big floral Dahlia post a few weeks ago. It was an absolute delight to read them all and as always I am grateful for your enthusiasm over the projects that I dream up and share here.
It's three weeks until the Dahlia Blanket CAL begins on 3rd January. I've really enjoyed seeing my palette of happy floral brights appearing in homes all over the world during the past few weeks - social media is wonderful for bringing us this connection via our screens. Thank you to everyone who has jumped on board and bought a dahlia yarn pack from my shop at Wool Warehouse, I'm super excited to have your company on this journey. Next week I'll be writing a preparation post with some general information about the Crochet-A-long (CAL), but really there isn't a lot to do in advance of the blanket beginning, apart from a little light swooning over the colours. Aren't they just yummy?! I can't get enough of them.
Anyhow, dahlias aside, would you like to see a bit of the festive crochet I've been doing recently?
Apologies for the blueness of the above photo, that's what afternoon light looks like in my house at this time of year. This is page 18 of Simply Crochet magazine issue 90, it's not the current issue but the one that was out last month. You can read more about it ((here)) with links to back issues and digital ones too.
I absolutely love love love this collection of crochet projects, it's titled "All is Bright" and uses a striking palette of colours (black, white, red, magenta, pale pink, turquoise and soft lime) to evoke a Scandi folk feel. So it's not overly Christmassy, but still has something of a jolly festive look to it.
I was especially drawn to the folksy birds ↑↑ which seemed to call to me from the pages of the magazine, begging to be brought to life. The bird on the right was designed by Sarah-Jane of Flo and Dot and is actually a free pattern, how lovely is that? Go ((HERE)) to find it on the Simply Crochet website.
The birdie on the left was designed by Kate of Make Me Roar Design.
All the decorations in this set were made using 4ply cotton and a 2.5mm hook so it's quite fine and fiddly crochet work. To be honest I really have to be in the mood to contemplate fine-and-fiddly, and a few weeks ago the time was right. It was a dull, grey Saturday afternoon and I felt the need to crochet something colourful and frivolous, just for the joy of making.
The catalyst was an image I saw on Instagram, of this lovely bird made using a slightly stronger palette of bright colours. Oh the colours can SO make or break the appeal of a project don't you think? If you want to see, hop over to Julie's "Little Woollie" insta page ((here)) and you'll instantly see what sparked my interest!
I decided to use scraps of Stylecraft Special DK and a 3.5mm hook for my bird, knowing that he would most likely turn out to be a sizeable brute. Inspired by Julie's colours, I picked out a similar palette which you can see above.
From the top :: Turquoise, Aspen, Grass Green, Pistachio, Gold, Fondant, Bright Pink, Lipstick.
The pattern is beautifully written and very, very clever I have to say. You have to be familiar with amigurumi technique, in particular the art of changing colours multiple times in one single round - yes, it is very fiddly I'm afraid and you do need to properly concentrate and count like a crazy counting thing, but the results are well worth the effort.
The bird is made in three sections - first you make the head and neck...
... then you crochet four tail feathers and join them together to complete the colourful tail.
These two pieces are then crocheted together......
....which I thought was very clever indeed. This gives you a chance to stuff the head and tail before joining a new colour and crocheting the rounded belly all the way down to the bottom.
If you know Kate's work, you'll know she often includes a fair bit of stitch detail on her characters. I happen to love woolly stitching on crochet and really enjoyed myself with this bit - there are stitches around the eyes, and a whole load over the entire belly. It gives such a beautiful decorative finish I think.
Oh, hello monstrous bird!!!
Aren't you a rather lovely Ta-dah moment?!
As predicted, using a 3.5mm hook and DK yarn, this isn't so much a delicate hanging decoration as a substantial free-standing one. He measures almost 6 inches tall (14 cm) but that's OK, I'm quite happy to find him a spot where he can perch his sizable belly..........
....awwww, welcome to the Attic mantel Mister Bird!
The mantel is in the process of being Decked for Christmas and I have to say he looks very much at home sat there. You may remember in my last post that I talked about being persuaded by the Little People to decorate the house on Sunday 1st December this year? Well......I'm rather thrilled to say that I dug deep, unearthed some energy and actually made it happen - go me! I dragged six boxes down from the Attic eaves (The Big Teen helped which I was grateful for) and do you know, I'm so happy that we did it. The Little People were fully involved, and it was super lovely, especially as Little Lady has been very unwell this past week with a horrendous bout of tonsillitis and has been in bed for days on end. It seemed to really cheer her up on Sunday, we played Christmas tunes and got into the spirit of twinkly lights and shiny things.
I'll take some photos in the next few days to show you how it's all looking.
The one thing that is still missing from my mantel is my Festive Garland, which is plodding along and happening very slowly. The plan is to make a mixture of natural things (holly, berries and mistletoe) mixed in with some brighter decs, and I'll be stringing them together in the same way as I did for my Autumn Garland. I'm starting with Jolly Holly as I already have a pattern for that - leaf production makes a lovely portable project (I've been hooking up leaves on a train journey as well as at the café).
I pulled together a selection of greens (Stylecraft Special DK in Bottle, Kelly Green, Cyprus, Teal, Pistachio and Grass Green), and of course Lipstick for the berries.
As you can see, it's still very early days for this garland, although I have made more berries since I took this photo.
You can find the Jolly Holly pattern ((HERE)) and the pattern for the berries can be found as part of my Autumn Garland post (I'm going to add this info to the holly tutorial when I get chance, so it's all in one place).
I need to try and think about a mistletoe pattern at some point, I think it'll be pretty easy to work out those simple leaf shapes?
For the colourful decorative bits in between I'm going to make some simple round ones using a pattern I designed a few years ago for Crochet Now magazine. I've just been back into my bloggy archives to find the photos, and have enjoyed revisiting my festive colour choices.
I'm really liking the tasseled one (and it's a super neat way to deal with the yarn ends) so I think I'll go with that. From what I can remember, this is a really quick and easy pattern to make in 5 rounds (the 5th round joins two circles together to make double sided decs).
Oh, I just had a thought - I wonder if you'd like the pattern? As it's been two years since the magazine was published I'm free to share it now, so I could format a printed version for you if you'd like to try it? Its a great use for all those little odds and ends of colourful yarn left over from other projects, and an excuse to dig out some pretty buttons too.
Right, I'm off to sit by the fire for a while, I've gotten chilled sat at my desk by the window here.
Hoping all is cosy and bright where you are xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
