Friday 28 October 2011

Free Pumpkin Crochet Pattern

I've been Incredibly excited about halloween since may! And i decided I needed some some crocheted spooky decor! so here is what could be the first installment of a few I mean i know halloween is VERY soon, but who say's i have to be spooky for one day a year only?


As you can see I may have slightly botched the face, i decided to try my hand a gluing felt to the finished project.. as you can tell it did not go so well.. next time I think I'll stick to needle felting or sewing...

so here goes!


I used Robins DK yarn and a 3.5mm (USA - E) crochet hook, for a really dainty and cute pumpkin you could use a 2.75mm (USA - C) hook also.

Abbreviations:

SC - Single crochet
FPDC - Front post double crochet

In Orange
1: 6sc in magic ring
2: *2 sc each (12 stitches)
3: *(2 sc first stitch)FPDC. Repeat from * (18 stitches)
4: *(2 sc 1st stitch) 1 sc, fpdc. Repeat from *(24 st)
5: *(2 sc 1st stitch) 2 sc, fpdc. Repeat from * (30 st)
6: *(2 sc 1st stitch) 3 sc, fpdc. Repeat from * (36 st)
7: *5 sc FPDC. Repeat from * (36 st)
8: *5 sc FPDC. Repeat from * (36 st)
9: *5 sc FPDC. Repeat from * (36 st)
10: *5 sc FPDC. Repeat from * (36 st)
11: *(sc dec) 3sc, fpdc. Repeat from * (30 st)
12: *(sc dec) 2sc, fpdc. Repeat from * (24 st)
13: *(sc dec) 1sc, fpdc. Repeat from * (18 st)
14: *(sc dec) fpdc . Repeat from * (12 st)
In Green
 - 15: 12 sc (12 st)
16: 6 sc decrease (6 st)
17: 4sc 2x(sc decrease) (4 st)
 cast off.




I hope you Enjoy this pattern :) I like the addition of the FPDC as it gives a nice ridged effect :). Happy Halloween everybody!

Also I have a youtube account now and Plan to make basic tutorial videos like the FPDC stitch for example. I'll keep you's updated :)

Sunday 20 February 2011

Spring!

Over the winter months my creativity has been dead. but now it's brightening up (slighlty as it may be) My creativity is flowing without control, I've been making hats recently and tonight im starting a new piece for yarn bombing using an interesting stitch That I've only used once before.

The pattern I promised may be delayed as there's been a few problems with it but there's annother bubbling inside my head :)

Monday 17 January 2011

Why Buy Handmade?

In this article i will attempt to alert you to some of the endless reason to buy garments, tools and toys handmade by everyday people like you and I.

As I'm sure you are aware for good quality home made products it can be quite costly, and If you are waiting for your item to be made you can also be waiting a small while for your order.
 Many people would ask questions like, 'Why would i want to spend £35 on a handmade top when i could go to the store and get one for £25?' I wouldn't blame somebody for asking this question, especialy in the times we live in, Jobs are hard to come by and people are saving every penny just to get by!

Now by no means am I suggesting that everything in your wardrobe and yout house should be handmade, definitely not, nobody can afford to buy everything handmade.


Handmade clothing Is made on the small scale thus original and you will most likely never come accross somebody with the same garment of clothing as you whereas store bought is mass produced and very popular making it hard for you to avoid seeing people with the same clothes as you.

store bought clothes are lovely yes and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with them other than the fact everybody has them, but would you rather be remember as 'that guy/girl with the same top as me,' or 'that guy/girl with the really interesting outfits'

as awesome as this is, it's a fine example of mass produced style and no individuality:



Since the dawn of trade, sellers have followed the cheap labour, which unfortunately in todays world means that there are children in third world countries working for pennies, although many spokespeople for major company's will deny any involvement with these factories, in many cases they turn out to be knee deep in what may aswell be slave labour.

with handmade clothes, you know exactly where your product came from, who made it and how much they will be getting paid for that item, which is great knowing for definite that you are not supporting child labour.


With handmade items generaly are more expensive that those mass produced, you have to take into account what it is you're paying for:

Materials, the people selling their handcrafted wares will most likely not be buying thier materials in bulk so will be paying public rates which can be quite pricey.

Originality, The item being sold will be of their own imagination and they will have spent endless hours planning, sketching measuring and editing this particular design and probably maybe a few prototypes which is more time and materials used.

Time, as the products are handmade the crafter will have spent hours working away on your purchase, whilst it will be doing something they enjoy, it's still time of their life they have spent to make this for you.

you have to take all these facors into account when thinking about the price of a handmade product.



I hope you enjoyed reading this, i spent a lot of time writing this and if this changes at least one person's opinion of handmade goods then that's my aim completed.




I hope everybody is having a great year so far, I have a new pattern to post for you's I was going to post a different one but i figured this one would be better

speak to you's soon bye :)