Lotus Cowl :Horn OK Please!

So we are enjoying the summer in London with some bright sunshine this weekend but winter is coming! I wanted to make something really colorful for the coming winter. I took inspiration from the lovely painted trucks that are so easily visible everywhere in India.

Photo credit: Meena Kadri/Flickr.

So I picked bright pink and green to do a play on the Lotus/ Leaves motif. I ordered Stylecraft Special DK in Fiesta  and Kelly Green from the lovely people at LoveCrochet.com. The order arrived in just a few days in a cute fabric bag. I am really impressed by this website and will definitely order from them again.

So back to the pattern. I wanted a pattern with alternating green and pink and to give the look of lotus petals and leaves. After doing several trials with different stitches I zeroed in on this pattern from mypicot.com . This is a really great website for crochet patterns and they are an amazing resource and have a big selection of crochet stitches to try. This pattern worked perfectly for me and I just did a pattern repeat for 6 rows to get 3 rows each of pink and green. I also added a bobble border to it for added fun!

The great thing about this cowl is that it can double up as a headband and the bobble border works really well as a headband too.

Pug ghungroo! Crochet Coin Purse Free Pattern

I love puns! My husband actually gave me the idea for this one. "Pag ghungroo bandh" is a very popular Bollywood song. It just naturally lent itself to an amigurumi project with a pug wearing bells! I wanted to give it a further twist so I made a coin purse instead!

I used yarn from my stash for this one. The brown one is actually camel yarn that I got from Spittafield Market from a lovely lady who sells some unique yarn. The black one is sparkly black yarn I had left over in my stash. This project is made with Aran weight so it a quick one.

I did line it with some fabric  and added a small handle and a snap fastener.

There are a couple of things that I liked about this project, firstly, the eyes were glass ones that I got from Amazing Craft from their stall at the Ally Pally Craft Fair and I just love the glints on it. It makes the pug look really lively and cute. Also, the bells make a lovely jingle when I carry it around so it makes me happy whenever I use it. The hand strap was a really useful addition and I just wear it like a bangle and this makes it really convenient to carry it around. 

Free Pattern Pug Coin Purse

Material:
Aran yarn Brown Color 50 grams
Aran yarn Black Color 50 grams
5mm Crochet Hook
a pair of amigurumi Eyes
a plastic bear nose
6 bells to attach at the collar
Yarn needle/scissors
stitch marker
For lining: small scrap of fabric,thread and needle,fastener, can use sewing machine to sew the lining but can be hand stitched as well

Abbreviation: (UK Notation)
ch=chain
dc=double crochet
hdc=half double crochet
tr=treble
sl st=slip stitch
sts=stitches

Pattern: 

The pattern is crocheted in a spiral, so its good to use a stitch marker at the beginning of each round to keep track of rounds and stitches. We will need to make two pieces for the head, attach the nose to the front side

Head(make two)

Make a magic circle and 6 dc in the circle.

Row 1:    2 dc in each stitch around (12 sts )

Row 2:    (dc,dc,2dc) repeat 4 times (16 sts )

Row 3:    (dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 4 times (20 sts )

Row 4:    (dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 5 times (25 sts )
Row 5:    (dc,dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 5 times (30 sts )

Row 6:    (dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 5 times (35 sts )

Row 7:    (dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 5 times (40 sts )

Row 8:    (dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 5 times (45 sts )

Nose

Make a magic circle and 6 dc in the circle.

Row 1:    2 dc in each stitch around (12 sts )

Row 2: hdc,hdc,hdc,hdc,tr,tr,tr,tr,hdc,hdc,hdc,hdc (12 sts )

Row 3:(dc,dc,2dc) repeat 4 times (16 sts )

Row 4:    (dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 4 times (20 sts )

Row 5:    (dc,dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 4 times (24 sts )

Ear: (make two,for each of them, fold it and sew it shut resulting in a triangle shape)

Row 1: 1 ch

Row 2: 2dc in chain, turn. (2sts) 

Row 3: 2dc in each of the 2 sts, turn (4 sts)

Row 4: 2dc,dc,dc,2dc, turn (6sts)

Row 5-7:dc in each st,turn  (6sts)

Row 8:dc2tog,dc,dc,dc2tog (4sts)

Row 9:dc2tog,dc2tog (2sts)

Row 10:dc2tog (1 st)

Fold in half and sew  all around,making  a triangle.

To make up, position the nose piece on one of the head pieces, and sew it in place, sew the plastic nose on top and attach the teddy bear eyes. Sew the ears in place as well. I attached both the head pieces together and made the lining separately and attached it into the purse later, but I think in hindsight it might have been easier to make the lining sew it to the head pieces and then sew the head pieces together. Either way, it should not be tricky to line it.

Raffia Storage Basket :Free Pattern

Hi everyone,  I realise I have not updated my blog for a while. This does not mean I have not been making stuff. I just find crocheting more exciting than writing about what I make. Need to setup a blog schedule to get better at it. Anyway, we have recently moved into a new apartment and this has motivated me to get crafting for the home. I got some RICO Creative Paper yarn from a trip to Hobbycraft and decided to make some baskets using this yarn. There are many patterns for this online already but I wanted to make my own pattern and really just made this up as I went along.

One ball was enough to make one whole basket with a little left over. So I could have made a bigger one. But this one suited my purpose. I use it as a key bowl in my hallway and it was a great way to add some color and make a useful piece at the same time.

It was a really quick one to make and just took me a couple of hours. The yarn is a little tricky to work with but I am sure for people who have a lot of experience with crochet, this could possibly be done in under an hour.

I am thinking of using the left over to make some coasters and the same pattern could be easily modified to do the coasters. I would think just stopping after the first 7 rounds would make a good coaster. I have found working with this yarn a little tricky but its such a versatile material that I think I will continue to use it for coasters/placemats/bags/table runner. Will definitely blog about those as and when it happens.

Material: 

RICO Creative Paper 1 ball

5 mm Crochet Hook

Yarn needle/scissors

stitch marker

Abbreviation: (UK Notation)

ch = chain

dc = double crochet

sl st = slip stitch

sts = stitches

Pattern: 

The pattern is crocheted in a spiral, so its good to use a stitch marker at the beginning of each round to keep track of rounds and stitches.

Make a magic circle and 6 dc in the circle.

Row 1:    2 dc in each stitch around (12 sts )

Row 2:    (dc,dc,2dc) repeat 4 times (16 sts )

Row 3:    (dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 4 times (20 sts )

Row 4:    (dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 5 times (25 sts )

Row 5:    (dc,dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 5 times (30 sts )

Row 6:    (dc,dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 6 times (36 sts )

Row 7:    (dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 6 times (42 sts )

Row 8:    (dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 7 times (49 sts )

Row 9:    (dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 7 times (56 sts )

Row 10:  (dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,dc,2dc) repeat 7 times (60 sts )

Row 11-15:  dc in each st around ( add more rows if you want a taller basket)

Row 16: ( sl st, ch 5, skip a st, sl st) 20 times (this makes a cute border for the basket)

Fasten off.

Pattern for Coaster:

Follow pattern for row 1-7 fasten off.

With 1 ball of RICO Creative paper you should be able to make at least a 4 coaster set.