Valentine Crochet Hearts Tutorial

Happy Valentine Hearts 
 

How to make some sweet crochet hearts filled with lavender, just in time for Valentine's day.

You will need:

3mm crochet hook

a button

a small amount of Double Knitting yarn

Toy stuffing

dried lavender (optional)

yarn needle.

British crochet terminology.

Instructions:

Front:

1.     Ch8, Dc in 2nd ch from hook and in each stitch across. Ch1, turn. (7dc)

2.     Dc in each stitch across, Ch1, turn. (7dc).

3-8.  As row 2.

9.     Skip 3 stitches, work 8 dtr in next st, skip next 2 stitches, slip stitch in last st. Do not turn.

10.   Working along the edge of the rows, skip 2 rows and work 8dtr in the edge of the 3rd row. Skip the next 3 rows and slip stitch in bottom corner (the start of foundation row).

Fasten off.

Back:

As front, do not fasten off.

Edging row:

Dc front to back, stopping at the 'v' between the two bumps of the heart. 

Stuff the heart with toy stuffing and lavender. 

Ch35, slip stitch in next st. Continue to Dc around edge back to the start.

Fasten off leaving 6" sewing length. Sew button to front.

Happy Valentine's Day!

White

Last summer I made some funny looking hats for a childrens show performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The show has done really well and they asked me to make a few more hats for their new tour, about to start in Australia and New Zealand. How funny that something I stitched in my living room is now on stage halfway round the world! The tour is coming to the UK in the spring, it's a show for children aged 2-4.

Lovely new colourful things in my etsy shop...

Happy New Year! (A bit late...)

I have decided that 2012 is going to be the year of COLOUR! I always used to like dark, earthy colours, greens and browns and the colour of trees and woodlands. Most things I crocheted for myself were sludgy organic earthy 'Rowan' type colours. I would never, ever choose pink. Even though my vintage shopper bike is pink. When I worked in a fabric shop, new yarn would arrive and we would all choose which where 'our' colours, and mine were always the natural undyed organic yarns, or deep jewelled shades. But gradually bright colour has been creeping in more and more, especially now I've been crocheting a lot for babies. Lots of bright colour in my etsy shop! 



I'm blaming blog-land for this tranformation, in particular, Nina and Lucy! I think it's safe to say that i have been Lucy-fied. Her blog is so warm and comforting and colourful, I love the photos of her sofa covered with about a bazillion brightly coloured crocheted blankets. I still shirk away from pink though! Insired by Lucy, I am making her crocheted hexagon blanket for my armchair. 



Look, it even has pink in it. It isn't finished and it still needs to be edged. I spend a lot of time in my old-lady armchair, I'm 7 months pregnant and find my sofa impossible to get up out of. We bought it from a junk shop when I was pregnant with H (I had SPD then, too). So, inspired by this post by Cecily Mae (she makes gorgeous colourful cushions by the way), I have transformed my dull and practical armchair!

Before & After:

        


Yellow shawl I crocheted for my wedding (but never wore!). Mini cushion is from Needful Things at folksy. Definitely helping to make dark, dank, dismal January a bit cheerier!

Making Christmas Gifts

Stuck at home because I can barely walk, so I may as well have fun making things for Christmas! I like to give 'consumable' presents because I think everyone has so much stuff already. I like receiving things to eat / drink / use in the bath. In grey January when Christmas is over, you can look in the cupboard and find a lovely jar of chutney or some chocolates you had forgotten about, and it cheers you up, I think. 

Sloe Gin:

Chocolate lollies with cranberries, almonds, golden raisins and white chocolate drops. From an Ina Garten recipe:

 
  

Peanut Brittle, from a simple Nigella recipe, except I doubled the quantity of sugar in the 2nd batch. This was amazing and my husband tried to eat it all:

Paper gift bags with luggage tag labels:

Only 4 more sleeps!

Christmas Crafting...

Inspired by this gorgeous post at TeaWagonTales, I decorated some baubles. After trawling ebay for vintage glass baubles which cost a fortune, I managed to find a set of 12 in a charity shop for 50p. 

I used narrowboat style flower decals. A really easy and fun project! Got a bit addicted to making them. Our house is too small for a real tree, so I just used twigs in a jar.



Crocheted baubles from a pattern by Lucy at Attic 24. I love her patterns!






Crocheted Santa and his helpers, from this Gnome pattern.



Stocking pattern from my etsy shop. We put the decorations up early because it's H's first christmas and we're a bit over excited. Must calm down...

Other things...

Experimenting with Vegan Cupcake recipes, because our hens have stopped laying for winter.

These are Coconut Heaven Cupcakes, from Vegan with a Vengeance.

Golden Vanilla Cupcakes, from somewhere on the internet. The coconut ones were amazing, the vanilla ones not so great, although the 3 children I made them for managed to wolf down a couple each...

Frome Flea Market & Christmas Artisan Market, so lovely, but you can't actually get to any stalls because it's so crowded. The Flea market was much quieter. If I was rich I'd buy everything. 

What's happing here? We stumbled upon a rabbit show, it took us a while to work out what was going on. Really bizarre! I dont really like 'pets'. I only like things like chickens and goats. I am absolutely terrified of dogs.

 

I'm looking forward to a couple of quiet weeks of present-making, baking, avoiding christmas shopping, snuggling on the sofa, and crocheting.

Happy Christmas Crafting!

20% Off All Patterns at Etsy

To celebrate my best ever month for crochet pattern sales, I'm offering a 20% discount on all patterns in my etsy shop.

Just enter the code CHRISTMAS2011 at checkout, on the right hand side of the page where it says 'Apply Coupon Code'. Offer ends Saturday 10th December, at 8pm.

There are patterns to make lovely christmas presents, and many projects work up quickly, including socks, mittens and baby cardigans.

Happy making!