Monday 13 March 2017

The one with the skulls

Spring is in the air.
Think sunshine, daffodils, baby chicks and ...

SKULLS.

Oh yes. We like to mix up the seasons in my house.

When I bought some of this amazing glow in the dark yarn from Unique Yarns Co recently, I wanted to make little stars, or hearts.
But my children had other ideas.


These cute skulls would be perfect for bunting, or a mobile (they would probaly need blocking with spray starch beforehand, perhaps?) but I decided to decorate the kids' lampshades (which are decidedly manky and have definiely seen better days).


I simply glued them in place, using PVA glue.

Lights on

Lights off - spooooooooky

Tricky to photograph, but the green definitely glows a little brighter than the pink - both are amazing, though and I haven't seen anything like it before. Have you?



And here's a mega-skull, using the same pattern and made in Squiggly yarn from Woolly Mahoosive and a 25mm hook!


I'm so pleased wtih how they've turned out - aren't they fab? 

If you fancy making one, or two or a billion, then the pattern's next and scroll further down for a stitch-by-stitch YouTube tutorial.

Skull Pattern:

You will need
Glow in the dark yarn
3.5mm hook
or any yarn and hook to match 

Chain 6 (counts as 5ch and turning ch)
Row 1: 1dc in each st, turn.
Row 2: 2ch (counts as tr) 1tr in each st, turn.
Row 3: 3ch (counts as 2ch and turning ch), 1dc in each st, turn. (7sts)
Row 4: 3ch (counts as 2ch and turning ch), 4dc, sk st, 4ch, 4dc, turn.
Row 5: 1ch, 4dc, 5dc in ch4-sp, 4dc, turn.
Row 6: 7ch, 1dc in stitch at middle of nose, 7ch, 1sl st in last st, turn.
Row 7: 1ch, (3dc, 1htr, 4tr) in ch7-sp, 1dtr in stitch between eyes, (4tr, 1htr, 3dc) in ch7-sp.

Fasten off

(With the orange skull, I made 1dc around the edge of the skull)

YouTube Stitch-by-Stitch Tutorial 


Have a great week,
Sarah xx


Episode 4 Show Notes: The one with the skulls

Watch here:




Glow in the dark yarn in Pink and Green from Unique Yarns Co

For Star Pattern try here:

Approx 230g Squiggly yarn in Orange from Woolly Mahoosive

Mini skeins of Mineral Dyed Yarns from Unique Yarns Co
Unique Yarns Co  - Glow in the dark yarn 
The Gymnastics Shawl (no pattern yet) Whimzy yarns - Sokkusu O Max in 'Man of Rock'
Knitted jumper (pattern to follow) in The Women's Institute Soft and Chunky yarn in Grey - from here
Yarn and Colors Must-Have Minis

Monday 6 March 2017

The one with a chunky yarn rug-let

Rug-let?
Yep, I made it up.


Well there are piglets (small pigs) and capelets (small capes) and now there are ruglets (small...er...rugs).

I know - I am a semantic genius.


This all came about when I received some gorgeous super-chunky yarn from my good friend Andrea at Woolly Mahoosive (excellent name for a shop selling mega-yarn, eh?).
Andrea has kindly supplied me with lots of her fab yarn for my new book, Supersize crochet (available for pre-order here). 

This yarn is called Squiggly in Peach. It's 100% acrylic and comes in gigantic skeins of 300g (ish) and it is SOOOOOOOO soft. And I mean really, really soft.

I wanted to create a project which would use as much of a skein as possible and so decided something in the round might be the way forward. And so the ruglet was born.



I just love how it turned out.


And here it is, in situ next to my roaring fire*
You can see what I mean by 'Ruglet' - it's quite petite. My plan is to make several and lie them next to another on the floor, OR, I'd like to put them on the wall. I'm sure the Mister would be thrilled by that idea.

*kindly made by my 7 year old, using black card and torn strips of fiery coloured paper, should you want to recreate your own.
To see more about the chunky yarns, then take a look at my latest YouTube video here, or over in my sidebar ----->>>

If you'd like to make a ruglet (or many ruglets), then here's the pattern:

Have a great week,
Sarah xx

A Chunky Ruglet (Uk first, US below)

size = approx 50cms

You'll need:
Approx 300g Squiggly Yarn in Peach
20mm hook

To make a picot, 3ch, then sl st in 3rd ch.

To tr2tog, *yarn over hook, hook into stitch, yoh, pull yarn through st, yoh, pull yarn through 2 loops. repeat from * (3 loops on hook), yoh, pull yarn through all loops.

Rnd 1: 3ch (counts as tr here and throughout), 9tr in magic ring, or 4ch, 9tr in 4th ch fom hook. Sl st to 3rd ch to join.
Rnd 2: 2ch, 1tr in same st (counts as tr2tog), 2ch, then (tr2tog, 2ch) in each st around. Sl st to 1st tr to join, then sl st into 2ch-sp.
Rnd 3: 3ch, 2tr in 2ch-sp, 2ch, then (3tr, 2ch) in each 2ch-sp around. Sl st to 3rd ch to join.
Rnd 4: 2ch (counts as htr), 1tr, picot, 1htr, 1dc in ch1-sp. *1htr, 1tr, picot, 1htr, 1dc in ch1-sp. Repeat from * around.

Fasten off

US version

size = approx 50cms

You'll need:
Approx 300g Squiggly Yarn in Peach
20mm hook

To make a picot, 3ch, then sl st in 3rd ch.

To dc2tog, *yarn over hook, hook into stitch, yoh, pull yarn through st, yoh, pull yarn through 2 loops. repeat from * (3 loops on hook), yoh, pull yarn through all loops.

Rnd 1: 3ch (counts as dc here and throughout), 9dc in magic ring, or 4ch, 9dc in 4th ch fom hook. Sl st to 3rd ch to join.
Rnd 2: 2ch, 1dc in same st (counts as dc2tog), 2ch, then (dc2tog, 2ch) in each st around. Sl st to 1st dc to join, then sl st into 2ch-sp.
Rnd 3: 3ch, 2dc in 2ch-sp, 2ch, then (3dc, 2ch) in each 2ch-sp around. Sl st to 3rd ch to join.
Rnd 4: 2ch (counts as hdc), 1dc, picot, 1hdc, 1sc in ch1-sp. *1hdc, 1dc, picot, 1hdc, 1sc in ch1-sp. Repeat from * around.

Fasten off

Episode 3: Chunky Yarn Show Notes

Drops Polaris 100% Wool in Grey

Tshirt Yarn available from Tshirt Yarn Shop

Stylecraft Special XL in Plum

Woolly Mahoosive Mammoth Yarn in Turquoise
Woolly Mahoosive Superfine Giant Merino in Navy
Woolly Mahoosive Wiggly (not available at present)
Woolly Mahoosive Squiggly in Peach, Orange and Cream
New Woolly Mahoosive Yarns in Navy and Purple available soon.

Supersize hooks

Glow in the Dark Yarn from Unique Yarns Co

Yarn and Colors Must-Have Minis

Inside Crochet Magazine

Bilum PukPuk (shawl yarn)