Yoga for Hands and Wrists

I've just got into doing a bit of Yoga. I'm only really doing it get a bit of strength and flexibility back from when I was a dancer. I'm actually really enjoying doing it.

The reason I'm posting about yoga on here is because I did a wrist and hand yoga session which I thought would be good for those who do a lot of intricate/repetitive things with their hands and wrists such as crafting, crochet, knitting et cetera.

I came across this whilst doing a 30day free Yoga course which is Here. The session for the hands and wrists can be found Here. It's just a 15 minute session and most of it can be done sitting down.


Charity Square Update

A quick update on my charity squares. I've just finished my second square. It's the same pattern as the first crochet square I made, however this one uses back loop stitches only where as for the first one I used front loop stitches only. I also ran out of the green yarn I was using so I made a border with scrap grey yarn to make the square the right size. Find the pattern I used and the first crochet square I made Here for comparison.

In the top left corner of the square is a 'butterfly' this is just a length of the tail (approx. 50cm) so that the square can be sewn to other squares. It's tied up with scrap red yarn to make it obvious. 

Click Here for more charity blogs. 

DIY Paper Candle Cover

I'm obsessed with tree silhouettes at the moment so I was brain storming what I could make involving trees.

I came up with the idea of making a candle cover thinking that the candle light behind a tree would look good.

Here's what I used:

• Plain white A4 paper
• Tissue Paper (I chose red)
• A4 card (I chose orange, I have no red)
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Rubber
• Ruler
• Glue stick
• Craft knife
• Craft Board

First I decided how wide I wanted the cover to be so that it would fit around the candle without being too close to the candle. I decided 8cm by 8cm was big enough for the base. Here's the diagram I made:

I folded a plain A4 piece of paper 8cm from the edge and then folded the paper again 16cm from the edge. I also made a small flap of 5mm after the second fold. The flap is shown in the diagram as the darker gery area.I also drew a 5mm border within the two folds as shown with the orange lines in the diagram. 

Then I drew the design i wanted within the two borders: 

These are the two tree designs I wanted. The shaded parts of the paper are the parts I cut out using the craft knife.(When using a craft knife I always use a craft board underneath the paper as to not damage any surfaces. At the moment I'm using a wooden chopping board).

I then cut the tissue paper to the same size as the tree diagram above and glued it on (I glued the tissue paper onto the side that had pencil markings on so that the front would look 'clean'):

The orange card was cut next. I cut this to the exact same size as the original A4 paper; so I folded the card at 8cm and 16cm as I did with the A4 paper, then I added the 5mm flap to the end and cut it out. Then I used the flaps to glue to paper to the card. 

When the tea light candle is on I think it looks like a sunrise behind trees. However I do prefer the tree on the left to the tree on the right. The one on the right looks more like a leaf... trial and error! 

To keep the naked flame away from the paper my tea light candle is in a candle holder:  

No fires thank you!

(Feel free to copy/amend the design but make sure you link back to this blog if you use it.)

Crochet For Charity

I've just completed my first square for the charity knit-a-square. Although the charity has 'knit' in the title they also ask for crochet squares too. My square is crochet (I don't knit) I used the scraps I had from making my Crochet Creeper. The colour isn't exactly uniform but when your using scraps it's never going to be uniform but this adds to its uniqueness. What better way to use scrap yarn than for charity!

This is an 8 inch by 8 inch square, 35 of these make one blanket that gives an orphan warmth and comfort. 

The square took me longer than expected but this is due to having to attach many scraps of yarn to make the square and I'm still not that great at crocheting in rows. This gave me a bit of practice though. The pattern I used was based on one of the patterns the knit-a-square charity website recommends; the pattern has no holes therefore will be warmer. Find the pattern Here. 

My square looks different to the square shown with the pattern as I used front loop stitches instead of back loop stitches just to see what it would look like. The end effect is thin cables rather than thick cables, it's not easy to see on my picture. Also as I'm not very good a crocheting in rows the square was slightly rectangle when I got towards the end so I added an extra row or two to one edge to make it square again. Shhhh as long as you don't look too close you can't tell. 

I like giving something to a charity that isn't just money because then you know that your not just paying for admin or advertisement. Check out the charity Here they don't just accept squares but hats, vests and pullovers etc. too. There are more free patterns on the website for crochet and knit projects.  

Click Here for more charity blogs.