Book review "Crochet - the complete step by step guide"

#crochet @dkbooks

I love crochet, but then you all knew that, didn't you? So it was hardly surprising that I spotted an advert for this book in Mollie Makes magazine # 37. I had bought the Mollie Makes magazine because writer, needlefelter and artist Gretel Parker featured on the cover and I was off to her workshop at Cinderhill Farm the next day.

The front cover image of this book is very memorable and eye catching and is what I remembered spotting in MM so kudos to the art editor, photographer and whoever made the throw most of all! I thought at the time that this looked a good book to add to my collection and that I might save up and get Crochet (or drop lots of hints before my upcoming birthday).

Imagine my surprise, therefore, when I was sent a copy of Crochet to review along with the Small Spaces Big Ideas book I wrote about here



The DK website says of this book

Crochet is the go-to crochet compendium, with more than 80 crochet projects, from simple flower blankets to crocheted baby bonnets and chunky scarves. Crochet uses step-by-step techniques and photography to cover basic stitches, such as chain stitches and treble crochet, and includes helpful practice projects to build your confidence, before embarking on more adventurous and impressive crochet patterns. Beginner crocheters are clearly led through every stitch or if you are already familiar with knitting and other crafts you can pick up a great new skill quickly to create beautiful crochet projects, such as cute gifts, things to wear and items for the home. Crochet is the perfect guide for crocheters of all levels of ability.

Having had a good look through this book over the last couple of weeks and tried out a few of the stitches and ideas I can only conclude one thing - this book is excellent and DK are absolutely correct in what they say

I am a moderately experienced crocheter (some stitches at least) and there were loads of interesting ideas for me to try in this book. The how to pages are detailed and clear and I was able to learn some advanced stitches to try out, but if you needed to learn the basics it is all there with very clear illustrations. Patterns and charts are all explained as are the tools you need and different yarns to try.

I loved the pages about alternative yarns - as I am in the middle (still!) of a crochet rag rug it was great to see this included and the metal wire crochet had me dashing to sort through the Cupboard of Doom to find my stash of wire and seed beads.

There are lots of ideas for real, proper, useful things to make ( I loved this wrap!) 

and also different types of "granny squares" to try, not just the usual square but hexagons and suchlike.


 
as well as bags and rugs and sweaters and cushions and hats and ...oh so many lovely things!

In conclusion - if I were made to chose just only one book on Crochet to keep from all the ones I have, this would be it. I think it is really good, with wonderful illustrations and photographs and a very good contents list and index. 

I love it. 

Crochet

DK Publishing - Author
Publisher: DK
Hardback : 03 Feb 2014
£25.00

With thanks to Vivienne  at DK for sending me the books :) I did not get paid to write this post apart from having the book to keep.

A crafty challenge - with fabric from Hillarys Blinds

If you remember, I was recently sent some lovely fabric by Hillarys Blinds as part of a competition to design and make a craft item from a 100 x 100 cm piece of fabric chosen from one of their fabulous Country Retreat fabrics.





I chose the Wild Poppies Vermillion design and have had such fun over the last week or so making things with it.

I love a challenge so I decided to see how many items I could make from the square metre of fabric. I also decided to have a go at making or crafting things I had never made before and to use recycled materials wherever possible in addition to the sample of Country Retreat fabric I was sent (ambitious, or what!)

I have written here  and  here  about my efforts so far; this post tells you more and reveals what I managed to make. So read on...

As I looked at the very lovely fabric, the design of the flowers simply begged me do something involving a frame and paint.  So I decided to mount some of it in a frame and hang it as a picture. I selected and cut out some of the fabric and mounted it onto canvas using pva glue. When that had dried I began by adding some gold fabric paint as a colourwash over the cream background.

Mounted and waiting for inspiration

Once that had dried I then used a selection of fabric paints and metallic acrylic paints, which I got from the Scrapstore some time ago, to change the colours and alter and (hopefully) enhance the fabrics. I wanted to end up with some original artwork which reflected and echoed the pattern on the soft furnishing item I also planned to make from the fabric (but more of that later on).

 
The fabric before I got to work

 

 and after

(colours are not this orange really, I am afraid it is the artificial lighting)

I also did two smaller pictures and experimented with altering the background colour using fabric paints as well as adding paint to the surface of the fabric.

I reused some old frames from prints I found in a charity shop to add the final touches to the "paintings" I had made.

Having satisfied my painting urge I went back to playing with the fabric. I used a kit I had previously found in a charity shop from a craft magazine (Mollie Makes) which contained the materials to make a small metal clasped purse. I used "my" fabric rather than the one in the kit, and after choosing a striking flower from the design and cutting it out of the fabric, a bit of hand sewing and gluing of the clasp produced this.
 

Small change purse

Next I decided to make a slightly larger, zipped purse. I have put in a few zips on skirts (many years ago!) but have never made a lined purse like this. No pressure then!


 

The size of purse I wanted to make was dictated by the recycled small zip I had to use - so I cut out the fabric and recycled liner freehand to fit it and then put in the zip by hand, as it was a bit small and fiddly to do on the machine. I also like hand sewing! After a bit of thought and head scratching and looking around online, I worked out what to do next to sew up the liner and fabric so they would end up how I wanted it. I did actually get this bit wrong a couple of times, but that is what a seam ripper is for.

I put the right sides of the liner and patterned fabrics together (as above) and stitched around the hem.

 ...leaving a small gap in the liner to turn it all " right way round" by pulling the whole lot through the liner hole. Which is harder than it sounds!  I then hand sewed up the inner hole in the liner and stuffed the liner inside the purse having turned it the right way round.

I knew I also wanted to make a cushion and a tote bag from the material and looking at my fabric, I could see I would have around an A4 sized piece left over.

After a bit of thought I decided to make an A5 notebook cover.

I cut out the fabric so it was slightly larger than an opened out A5 hardback book and hemmed all around the edge - I used a 1 cm seam allowance.  I then folded the top and bottom over the book cover to mark where to stitch and then made a small pocket to slip the edge of the cover in each end.

Here are the notebook, metal clasp and zipped top purse waiting to be finished off. Lots of loose threads to tidy up and lots on the floor, the rug, the cats, me...

 I felt flushed with success at my efforts so far :) So I decided  to have a go at a simple envelope type cushion cover. I looked at a pillowcase and worked out how to make it and got cutting. I used a cushion pad I already had, free hand cut a rectangle of material slightly larger and then hemmed all around it.

I then turned over one end to make a pocket and pinned it , then with the rest of the fabric right side to right side I hemmed around three sides ( not the opening side, of course!) 

 Cushion waiting to have the ends sewn in, with the fabric pocket for the pad now hidden inside at the top.

 
I had planned to have just enough material left over to make a small tote bag which would hold a magazine and purse, phone etc. I cut two strips for the handles and hemmed them all around, folded them wrong side to wrong side and stitched along one side as close to the edge as possible.

Bag handles

I made a simple bag shape by hemming the rectangle of fabric all round, folding it in half lengthwise and then right side to right side stitching the two long sides. I attached the handles and squared off the bottom of the bag inside by stitching across the corners. I then attached the handles to the inside at the top.

 After all this flurry of activity I had some very small scraps of fabric left over - about 20 cm x 20 cm. I had to think very hard what to make with them.

 
 But I did use them up :)

...............................................................................................

  So - the big reveal! How many items did I manage to make from a metre square of fabric?

A cushion

Tote bag, notebook and zipped purse

Large framed painting on fabric,  next to cushion to show size

 

A very small fabric chicken :)

Small framed paintings on fabric

Collection of things I made

Large painted fabric

From a square metre of Country Retreat Wild Poppies Vermillion fabric I ended up making 

A cushion (35 x 30 cm)

A tote bag (30 x 40 cm)

An A5 notebook cover

A small clasp purse

A small zippered purse

1 large (35 x25 cm) painting

2  small (15 x 11 cm) paintings

and a very small chicken !

 

and I have two fabric scraps left over measuring about 10 cm x 3 cm which I might turn into bookmarks...

 
I really enjoyed making items for this competition - I must thank Hillarys for sending me the georgeous fabric to work with - I have no idea if I have satisifed the competition rules as I don't really think I have done anything "original" - all the techniques I have employed are all "out there" somewhere, but regardless of that I have really enjoyed myself. Everything I have made (apart from the chicken) was the first time I had tried to make that particular craft item.

Just another Tuesday ...chickens and crafting; sowing and sewing

Today has been a mixed sort of day, sunshine and showers, good bits and bad bits.

I got up and went outside to let out the hens, as usual despite me shutting the gate to try to persuade them to stay in the wood, they all ignored me and straight away flew over it into the garden. The attraction is the bird feeders, the chickens go and hang around there and eat the dropped seed.

Ho hum.   I collected the eggs (thank you girls!) and had a look in the polytunnel to see what we might have to eat for later. I wanted to know what fresh veg I might need to buy from the shops, also.

 
 We are getting towards the end of the Kales - the outdoor plants got smashed to bits by the heavy rain during the winter but I always have a few inside and they have been giving us a good crop - but are going to seed now.

 

Kale tips can be eaten like purple sprouting broccoli - I also had a few spears of that to cut so we will be eating fresh greens tonight. There are enough pickings left on the plants for a few more days so no need to buy any brassicas from the shops, although we have just finished the last of our stored potatos so now will have to buy some. We usually only have to do this from March to June, so not too bad. We still have fresh onions, squash and apples in store as well as loads of stored fruit and veg (in the freezer or dehydrated)

There are still salads left but again with the warmer weather they are begining to bolt, so I sowed more salad seeds to take their place. I also sowed a load more brassicas in modules. We still have lots of fresh herbs.

 Lots of herbaceous perennials waiting to be planted outside, as soon as the soil warms a little.

As well as some of the scented geraniums which live in pots on the patio ( The new patio! Which we will be able to sit on come the summer!)

After a quick cup of coffee mid morning, I hung out a load of wet washing and put some more on to wash, then we went to Hereford and did some shopping. We had lunch out and also went to a DIY store to look at stuff so we were gone for several hours.

This trip out took it out of me a bit as I have not been well lately and still find I get very tired, very quickly. So the rest of the afternoon involved sitting down with some computer work in the (still tidy) Study :) 

After our evening meal we sat and watched some "Big Bang Theory" which we all love and Compostman and Compostgirl then watched an episode of  "Blandings" I love the books but somehow can't get into the tv series so I went off to the study and did some more work on  my Hillarys Blinds competition entry. This involved experimenting with fabric paints and pens and gold paint on a scrap of the fabric, to see how it would look and how the fabric would behave.

I like the way the test piece is coming along.

I got some inspiration for what I want to do; I also worked out which techniques needed to be done in what order, so as not to ruin the previous work.

All of these paints came originally from the Scrapstore and live in the Cupboard of Doom - it is a good job I hoard stuff! It always comes in useful eventually. I love the idea that this project uses lots of salvaged/recycled materials to embellish and enhance the new fabric.

Later on still Compostman and I watched The Great British Sewing Bee -  I love this programme and think it is really good - better even (dare I say it) than Bake Off ? I had to stay off the computer while in the study,  as we watched it a little later than it aired on tv and I did NOT want to read any spoilers about it in Twitter or Facebook!

I also mused on what I could make with the Hillarys fabic which involved sewing. I have plans ( but not a blouse, coat or anything involving a suit!)

So all in all, a more productive day than I have had in the last few weeks,

Anyone else enjoying watching  The Great British Sewing Bee?

Various jobs done today

 Best job done? The one Compostman did to fix my heated propagator cover so it can be used again :)

Other jobs included me putting on one of my volunteer hats to sort out the Love Food Hate Waste cookery demonstration items and box them up so we can store them safely. I purchased a lot of the items,  after discussion with the other volunteers and our Council manager, to make sure we had the most useful set of kitchen equipment for what we needed to do. It was quite difficult to whittle down what we needed to a minimum of useful kit which would serve our needs and be storable as well. I got a number of plastic storage boxes, which are easy to keep clean and sanitised ( important with food handling and preparation). Also they stack! 

One box for clean pots and pans, one for dirty stuff  ( waiting to be washed) after events, one box for clean plates, cutlery, aprons etc and one box for cleaning supplies and other non food items. I have also sorted out the HACCP file and the risk assessment template for the events so we have a folder with all the essential paperwork inside. This can live in one of the boxes.

I am not going to store all these boxes at my house as I do not have the room to do so and so I will be handing them over to Ste the County Council officer for him to find a safe storage place at County Hall. I already store a lot of the Master Composter spare stuff here so have no more room. I have enough "stuff" of my own to find a home for :)

I am still working on the Hillarys Blinds competition fabric - have another idea to try out in "rough" to see if it will work. I knew all those old sheets would come in handy, one day! And what a good job I tidied up the Study of Doom, so I could find the box they were in ;)


In other news,  both Compostgirl and I have been poorly so we watched "Catching Fire" on dvd yesterday - excellent film, nearly as good as the book. Well worth reading and watching, if you have not already.

New followers and the closing of The Crafty Compostwoman Blog

Hello and welcome to all my new followers

I know I have some new followers on Bloglovin but unfortunately  I do not know a way to work out who you are?  But be assured you are most welcome!

And I have a few new followers on my Google feed - thank you ! 

So a warm welcome all my new followers and please do comment if you like  - I do try to respond and am always keen to read your comments :)

And while on the subject of Google - despite my best efforts I cannot renew the subscription for the domain for The Crafty Compostwoman  blog and it will expire on 6th Feb 2014. When this happens I will lose the whole blog as it won't revert back to the free blogspot site.

So, I am going to start  posting the crafting stuff on here, The Compost Bin, again rather than keeping a separate blog for it. Sorry but I can't think how else to manage it!

I have exported all the posts ( and the lovely comments) over from The Crafty Compostwoman and hopefully all will work out ok.

I will just have to remember to wash my composty hands before starting on some crafting :)

And while I am talking about crafts, here is what I have been up to with the crochet hook over the last few days

Catch up with my doings.

Yet more rain is falling, so I have been wandering around today, photographing and making notes of all the things I want  moved/rejigged in winter so I don't have to wade through mud to do them.

These include:

• More hard paths to/from the chicken run area: 

• A new washing line set up by the new patio, so I only have to walk across paving slabs in the winter to hang out washing ( if it ever stops raining long enough for the washing to get to the hanging out point!) .

• More slabs around the polytunnel:

I am sure there will be more things to add to this list! 


Blondin the cockerel is now King of the Roost and lives in with The Big Girls in the Mega Hen pen. He is very pleased with himself.

Still not 100% convinced that Treacle is actually a pullet, but s/he shows no sign of crowing yet, so I guess we will not know for sure until an egg is laid. 
 

 
Inside I have been busy sorting out old paperwork, doing my Tax return and generally clearing out the old to make way for the new.

<cough> The new in this instance also includes ordering some Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino yarn in glorious autumnal colours from a supplier who had lots of now discontinued colours in stock. :) 

Sadly our local Wassailing with The Big Apple had to be cancelled due to the appalling weather, so we will just have to " make do" with serenading our few trees with The Wassail Song and banging some pots and pans around them. Oh, and drinking cider, of course :) .

And for some reason Tabitha has taken to sitting on the Kitchen window ledge, outside .