Lariath- Live a Little.

It's been while I know, life is busy and my crochet has suffered for it. However,  I got my crojo back after my colleague complemented the Mini Triceratops  badge I made for a friend, without knowing it was me that made it! He then asked if I could make mushrooms. I jumped right on it and created this little thing.  There is no pattern for this lil mush I made it up as I went along. I may make a pattern in the future. For this one I used handspun yarn, that I  spun myself a few years ago , for the stalk. I'm surprised that the yarn looks alright in this pattern as its a bit thick and thin (it is the first yarn that I tried spinning!).   Hook off! Enjoy this post?

My Grandma sadly passed away recently, after being ill for a while. The nurses who were looking after her gave my Grandad two knitted end of life hearts. I have always thought these are a brilliant idea, However, I have never seen anyone receive one before. It definitely drove home how much they can mean to those that receive them.  My Grandad kept one of the hearts and the other was given, by my Mum, to my Uncle (he has had a really heard time recently and it was agreed that he needed it more).  So that my Mum had something too I decided to crochet her a little heart, it wouldn't look the same or have been near my Grandma but I hoped that it would mean something. I also crocheted one for my brother and one for myself so that we all had one and maybe they would be little family momentos with Grandma being at the centre.  I gave them to my Mum and Brother the night before the funeral (whilst we were having a very small, close family service).  The pattern can be found...

I wanted a dark blue crochet salvia but couldn't find a pattern I liked. So I used a pattern for lavender instead. This pattern is very easy and quite fun to make. Definitely a good pattern for a beginner. It is a video and easy to follow along. I have noticed that a lot of crochet flower patterns are videos as it's easier to show how a flower is made rather than following a written pattern. You can find the video  Here . As salvias have leaves along their stems I added a few leaves to my flowers. For this I used a leaf pattern found  Here . I used leaf pattern number 5- long and narrow leaf.  Hook off!  Enjoy this post?

I love plants. Infact I have a slight obsession with houseplants. That being said, they do have to be alive; buying flowers that are destined to die, just to display them for a few days, doesn't sit right with me. Not when you can buy a plant that can thrive for a long time. I do understand that they can look gorgeous and add interest and a pop of colour though.  This got me into thinking about fake flowers, there are some lovely fake flowers to purchase now but many are made using plastic, again this doesn't sit right with me. So I decided to use things I already had around the house (and garden) to make some decorative flowers.  I used some stems from a Crocosima in my garden that had died back for the winter. I think they give a nice natural look, they are quite sturdy and will last quite a long time. To add a bit of colour I chose three shades of purple with pop of yellow to make small crochet lilac flowers.  I think they look nice and simple by themselves but would a...

I crocheted a mini dog as a gift for a work colleague/friend. I looked at multiple photos of her dog, in secret, that she had posted on social media and tried to get the markings and colour as close as possible. I think its super cute and, thankfully, she loves it. I have never made an amigurumi where I haven't had to sew on the legs before, but with this pattern the legs are crocheted adjoined to the body. I love learning new ways of doing things and hate sewing, so anything to get out of sewing on appendages is an absolute win for me!  The free pattern can be found  Here . I am not going to post pictures of the dog this was based on as I have not asked for permission to do so. The finished dog measured  2.5 x 3 x 1 inches:  Hook off. Enjoy this post?

In the past I have had to re-purchase and re-purchase chargers because they get borrowed or moved and never returned, be that at home or not. So I wanted to customize my charger so that, 1 its easer to find and 2 nobody can mistake it as their own. So I had a quick peruse on the internet and found that there are a few good crochet cable customisations out there but, as I am OBSESSED with plants, it had to be a vine. The problem now is that I want vines everywhere not just on my charger. I have a plant problem.  Find the pattern I used  Here . Hook off.  Enjoy this post?

In the midst of doing multiple projects for various people I decided to be selfish and make something for myself. I have been wanting to make a crochet top for myself for a while now. As I haven't got a lot of experience making crochet garments like this I tried to find something simple yet becoming.  This pattern used simple stitches to create 2 rectangles which are seamed together at the shoulders and sides to create the top shape, with a few extra simple stitched to create interest at the sleeves.  The pattern I followed can be found  Here . It is a free pattern and very well written. In my usual fashion I did change it a little as I do not enjoy doing bean stitch therefore I did 2 rows of single crochet instead of the 2 rows of bean stitch; doing the bean stitch rows would have detracted from my enjoyment of making the top so I changed it up to suit me. I think it turned out really well in all honesty, I am happy with it. An added, extremely useful, bonus is that from...

This is the first miniature crochet I have tried using thread/lace yarn. I was expecting to get extremely frustrated with how fiddly I had imagined it to be. Now, don't get me wrong, it was fiddly, but not horrendous. I will say that it can be quite harsh on the joints though, I had regular breaks whilst crocheting this.  I made this as a gift but it would be a nice addition to the mini crochet badges that I have made (see links at the end of this blog ). This tiny octopus was made following this, very well written, free pattern that can be found  here. Yes I know, the eyes are not the best- I was struggling to find eyes small enough. Even the smallest beads I have looked massive on it. I may need to purchase some smaller beads.  Hook off.  Other badges:  Triceratops ,  Stocking ,  Acorn Enjoy this post?

My mum asked me to replace her very old doily style coasters which she uses for her ornaments. She only wanted some plain, simple and discreet coasters. So here they are:  Crocheting circles in rounds usually ends up with a hexagon shape rather than a perfect circle. To get the perfect circle shape crocheting in rows is better:  End the row with a slip stitch into the stitch at the beginning of the row, chain 1 (if doing single crochet; chain 2 for double crochet ect) do the first crochet stitch into the same stitch as the slip stitch, continue with the next row. There are many tutorials online it just requires a quick search.   This is how the coasters turned out. I blocked the yarn, using pins and an Iron, which worked well to get rid of the curled edges. They worked up nice and quick, hope my mum finds them useful.  Hook off.  Enjoy this post?

A friend of mine went to a crochet class by Toft to make a little dragon amigurumi. I don't think the dragon pattern is the easiest of patterns, particularly for a complete beginner like my friend, so she did a brilliant job! See if you can spot the part that she made in the pictures below. In the end she decided crochet wasn't for her and asked me to finish the project for her, of course I said yes.  The crochet pack is very good, it came in a lovely draw string bag with the Toft logo, the yarn included is of very good quality and lovely and soft, the crochet hook provided at the class has a very comfortable handle and the instructions were well written and easy to follow. If you aren't a complete beginner and have some experience with crocheting I highly recommend Toft. I cannot comment on the class as I did not attend myself.  Here is a link to the website .  Just a quick note- I do not have an affiliations with the link posted I am ...

A work friend randomly sent a link to a tiny crochet Triceratops exclaiming how cute it was. Now I don't know about you but to me this is one very (un)subtle hint! Which of course I started working on ASAP, who wouldn't want to crochet a tiny little Triceratops? It is a very well written pattern with pictures along the way. There is also a video to follow along if that is preferable. Both of which are free. I find this extremely generous knowing, through experience, how long it takes to create a pattern and write it up. Yet they have gone a whole huge step further and made a video too - they have all my appreciation. I give all of the love to those who have crafts available for free!  The finished result measured 5 x 2.5 x 2.5cm. I did not use the recommended yarn and I crochet very tightly so my makes are normally smaller than expected. This dino is so cute, I am very tempted to make another one, or a herd of them...  The writte...

A friend of mine was pregnant with her first child and I wanted a personal gift for the baby shower. What better than some lil' handmade baby Martens?  Now these are one of the cutest things I have made yet, so much so I was asked to make 2 more pairs for another little human (unfortunately I lost the pictures of all 3 different sizes completed). The pattern is purchasable  Here and is quite easy if you are a seasoned crocheter, it may be a bit difficult for beginners, however there are great guidance pictures throughout. If you want an adorable gift for a mini human I definitely recommend these.  Just a quick note- I do not have an affiliations with the link posted I am just sharing the love!  Hook off.  Enjoy this post?

After finishing our Biomedical Science degree my friend and I wanted another project to do together (like we hadn't done enough projects already). We found an amazing website devoted to making gorgeous blankets. The site has a large variety of different blanket patterns, the yarn used to make the blanket is sent out in the post in a lovely sheer drawstring bag. The patterns are very well written and the yarn is good quality with a beautiful array of colours. My friend and I each chose a pack and a pattern to crochet and updated each other on our progress which made crocheting this blanket even more fun!  As I have a habit of mashing things together I chose the blanket with the colours that I loved and then chose the blanket pattern that I preferred. It took a bit of preparation before I could start the blanket as I had to decide what order I wanted the colours in and then transfer those colours into the written pattern. I had to make an excel document so I could follow the colour p...

I was asked by a work colleague if I could crochet Ponyo for her children. Of course I said yes!   I was dreading creating Ponyo's hair as I have never made hair like this before. It took a LONG time to insert all the yarn for the hair and I was super nervous about cutting it into shape, however, I found cutting the hair very therapeutic in the end; maybe I'm in the wrong profession...  Before the haircut: Post haircut: End result: Here  is the pattern that I based my Ponyo on. I found it very easy to follow and quite fun to make. The only changes I made were to the 'tail', I think I prefer the wavy look.  For other Ghibli posts click  Here . Hook off.  Enjoy this post?

Invitations to my sister-in-law's hen do went out months before the event. I thought I had everything ready; my outfit, hair accessories ect. However, 3 days before the event I realised I didn't have a bag to go with my attire. With no time to shop I decided to quickly crochet a simple, small shoulder bag (on the train on the way to the hen do -insert face palm here-). Following the same idea as the  Small Versatile Crochet Pouch  I made a pouch using the basketweave stitch (which I love) and added a strap using single crochet. It isn't the most stylish bag in the world but it did the job! Not sure my efforts were appreciated though as the next gift from the bride to be was a small black shoulder bag 😂 Hook off.  Enjoy this post?

I have recently become a little obsessed with plants. Mainly houseplants at the moment with a mini jungle that I have started. Here's a small section: As my plants have got bigger and created 'pup' or baby plants I needed somewhere to put them and I wanted it to be somewhere decorative and pretty. Who doesn't love to show off baby plants?! I had three glass pots that were previously dessert pots. I keep a lot of glass jars ect because I prefer glass to plastic for storing things and these glass desert pots were dinky and cute, don't judge me. So i decided to use these as small plant pots for the baby plants. Yes I know plants should all be in pots with drainage holes but these are just temporary pots whilst the plants establish themselves a little before being placed in their permanent pot/position. Now, I'm slowly running out of windowsill space for plants thus needing to find somewhere else for the babies. With my crocheting skills I crocheted some ha...

I went to see Stephen Fry in London on his 'Mythos a Trilogy' tour. The show was everything I had hoped for, as he hasn't been on tour in about 40 years this was something I couldn't miss. I find Stephen Fry very relaxing to listen to on audiobooks so when his show was mostly of him sitting in a chair reading different parts of his book 'Heroes' I was very pleased. Obviously there were a few quips intermingled with the discussions of his book which rounded off the show really well. I'd love to see him on tour again. Anyway back to crafting. The drive to the show was quite long so for entertainment I took a small pattern with me to crochet in the car. I struggle finding time to craft from September through to May as I'm studying for university alongside my full time job so I have to make the most of every spare second I get (which is not a lot). Therefore crocheting whilst travelling is perfect. The pattern is quite easy to follow and relatively quick...

'May all your bacon burn' I made Calcifer a while ago find the post  here . I have since been asked to make more on request so whilst making the most recent one I decided to write down the pattern. Now I have it to hand if any more requests come through. So I am sharing my pattern here. If you do use this pattern please link any photos/blog posts ect back to my pattern so that others can enjoy it too! Things I used: DK yarn (yellow, orange and red) Scissors Stitch marker 3mm crochet hook yarn needle Two 4mm black beads  Clear thread (or white thread to sew on the beads)  White felt  Toy Stuffing Pet brush Pattern:  sc = single crochet dc = double crochet  tc = triple crochet ch = chain  Begin with yellow yarn - chain 6 and create a magic ring: Round 1: 2 sc in each stitch around (12 stitches). Round 2: *sc in next stitch, 2 sc in next stitch* repeat around (18 stitches). Round 3: *sc in next two stitches, 2 sc in nex...