Author: Jo Bund

I came across a pattern for a really cute crochet Easter bunny and couldn’t resist making one.

The body was super-quick to make and I thought I would have it done in no time. Wrong. The ears were sooo fiddly to make, that it took me about six attempts to get something that resembled ears. In the end I only loosely followed the pattern and that seemed to work for me.

For the bunny’s tail the pattern suggested making a little pom pom.  However, I found the pom pom came apart really easily (it probably just needed to be tied tighter) and as it’s for a child I wanted something really secure.

As an alternative I used the pattern for the nose, which I made slightly bigger, I then put a running stitch along the edge and pulled it up to form a ball. After adding a little stuffing I stitched it onto the back of the rabbit.

I recently bought some Hoopla yarn from a local craft show. This eco yarn is created from the edges of cotton and jersey fabric that would otherwise be thrown away. The yarn is very chunky and can be knitted using a 10mm needle or crocheted using a 9mm or 10mm hook.

Having pondered on what to make for while I decided to have a go at crocheting a small bag.

Initially I thought the colour of the yarn looked a little ‘flat’ on its own, so I mixed it with a turquoise DK wool to add a bit of texture to the look. Using a DC stitch, I crocheted two oblong panels for the front and back of the bag and then crocheted a thin oblong that I wrapped around the sides and base to give the bag some added depth.

I stitched the bag together using Hoopla yarn and a blanket stitch on the right side and then crocheted a row of DC’s around the top edge.

The next step was to make the handles. I measured the width of the bag to work out where the handles should be positioned. I started by making a row of chain that measured the length of the handles. For the next row I made DC’s ‘under’ the chain (I added a couple more DC’s than chain stitches here to give a neat, strong edge) then I finished with a row of DC’s into each DC. To join the handles I made a slip stitch at the end of each row into the bag as I went along.

After sewing in the loose ends inside the bag I wanted to line it with some contrasting cotton fabric. I made a paper template for the front, side and base and cut out my fabric leaving a 1cm seam. After machining the pieces together I put the fabric inside the bag, folded a hem along the top edge and hand-stitched the fabric to the bag using a simple running stitch.

For the finishing touches I added a loop and a button that I made from polymer clay (more on this later!) and a couple of flowers.

I’ve just finished crocheting this ombre basket after finding the pattern online.

I made a few tweaks to the pattern as I was using dk wool instead of aran. To crochet four strands of dk wool I used a 6mm hook, I then added an extra row to the base and crocheted three rows of dc, instead of the suggested two, for the remaining eight colours.

I’ve undone and redone this project about three times (due to user-error) but I’m really pleased with the finished result.

Following on from my earlier blog I have now completed my crochet flower project. In the end I opted to make a cushion (16 squares were enough to make lol).

Using a combination of four colours, plus the cream base colour, I crocheted 16 squares each with their own unique colour combination. I then crocheted the squares together after reading these guidelines on the Attic24 blog, which gives a really neat finish.

I wanted to keep the back of the cushion quite plain. I made a chain that was a multiple of two and did a simple tr in the first stitch, dc in the second stitch, and repeated this along each row. I therefore ended each row with a dc and started the next row with a tr and repeated the pattern. This creates a really strong structure and I love the pattern. To make it easy to remove the cushion cover I simply crocheted two pieces and buttoned them together.

I chose to make mine into a cushion but they are so versatile that you could easily make them into a blanket, bedspread or a bag (to name but a few ideas).

Having recently re-discovered a love for crocheting I’m always looking around for inspiration for my next project. One such idea that caught my attention is the crocheted flower-square. After a few failed attempts at trying to make up my own pattern (converting a circle to a square didn’t quite work. My mum found this really good tutorial on nittybits blog.

I’ve used four different colours for the flowers and have so far made 16 that are all unique colour combinations.

This is still very much a work in progress and I can’t decide whether to stop at 16 squares, and make a cushion, or whether to carry on and make a throw. They are very quick and easy to make…decisions, decisions lol.