Episode 9 of a Crochet Podcast

Hey there! Episode 9 of my little crochet podcast/ crochet vlog is up and ready for goggling (I still can’t let go of “vlog” – I’m a pedant). Click on the image above to go to YouTube.

I’ve cut the interesting stuff. Sorry. Therefore there is no tale of how I drunkenly got the bruise on my arm. I deemed the whole saga as just too inappropriate! But give me a shout and I might tell you anyway ;p

Before I list any info about this episode’s stuff, I just want to let you know that there will definitely be a blog post about Connie’s blanket coming soon. I took the pics today. At the same time I also took photos of my fluffy Granny chevron cowl. There will be a post with the pattern for that on here in the next week or so too. Cheers.

Episode 9 gubbins:

The Magnolia Mandala by Crochet Millan is Here.

If you fancy treating yourself to some Phildar Flocon, then that’s Here. But you might want to hang on for episode 10. I’ve been given the go ahead to do a Giveaway!!

Do you think Instagram might have messed up your feed with dodgy algorithms? Check out Lauren Aston’s detailed blog post all about it.

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Crochet Your Fade. The Blurre Shawl

Do you know the Find your Fade? A knitted shawl with glorious colour play, a spectrum of tones and speckled variegated yarns. I absolutely love the Fade but I’m just not a knitter. I was so excited when I discovered that a very clever crochet designer had come up with a crochet version. The best thing of all is that the Blurre is a completely original design. It isn’t a rip off of the Fade, it is its very own thing and it’s totally fab!

I stumbled upon the Blurre whilst watching a fellow crochet podcaster. Claudia of Crochet Luna was talking about it and I told her how beautiful I thought it was. A few days later I found a copy of the pattern in my Ravelry inbox! Claudia had bought it for me, for my birthday!! How lovely is that?!

I got stuck in straight away! I knew that I wanted to use the yarns I’d found at Stephen & Penelope’s in Amsterdam. That was my starting point. At the time, I was making a different shawl with some neon yellow I’d bought in Edinburgh. That was also going in too. I needed two more colours so looked for stuff that would blend the neon with the dusky blues from Amsterdam. The Wool Kitchen’s Nebula sprang to mind pretty quickly. Then a spot of time, trawling Etsy gave me Made By Jude’s When Dye Pots Attack. See here for the links to yarn. That’s also the link to the vlog/podcast episode where I talk about the shawl too!

The pattern is awesome. It’s super easy but creates something really sophisticated and modern. I didn’t know Deanne of Addydae Designs before. Well, I’d seen her work before but not properly registered in my head that one person was linked to all the pretties. Check out the Three Springs shawl. I lurrrvve it!! Deanne also has a podcast, check that out too.

I’m in love with my Blurre!! It’s awesome! However, it has been a bugger to photograph. The neon blows out no matter what I try. It makes the other colours look lacklustre. In real life it is all superb, I promise. If I were to be picky, I’d say that I’d like a few more rows of the first colour (the turquoisy one) and more rows of the Nebula (the dark one with rainbow flecks). I think that would have helped to balance out that crazy neon. For the most part, I’m well chuffed. If I didn’t have so many other things to make, I’d definitely make another one straight away. I know others have said the same too.

I got the camera out the other day and took some snaps that didn’t work too well. I asked my four year old to take some pictures of me too. Initially I just handed him the camera and asked him to click away. It didn’t go down well. I ended up with about twenty blurry Blurres. I got the tripod out but still couldn’t see exactly what was going on (not until I remembered to flip the viewing screen). Anyway, here are a few reasonably acceptable photos so you get more of an idea about how the Blurre looks.

It was fun to play around and the boy enjoyed some “responsibility” as my photographer. His favourites were when the cat got in on the action. She didn’t like being a model much.

What do you reckon? Fancy having a go at your own Blurre? I’d love to see other versions!

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Episode 8 – All the stuff you need to know.

Oh jeez, I wish I’d noticed the lipstick!! I’m such a lipstick numpty, I look like the flipping Joker!! Please click on the pic above to travel (in swift fashion) to Episode 8 of the latest crochet podcast vlog. I hope you can ignore my face and simply enjoy the waffle. X

I have plans to write separate blog posts about both my beautiful Blurre shawl, and the colourful granny square blanket (a border colour and pattern have been chosen!).

Here are the links to all the info in this episode….

Pixie Day     There’s a YouTube video here too from a few years ago, to get more of a gist.

Blooming Marvellous

Addydae Designs. Deanne also has a podcast you should check out ~ Here.

Circles in Squares Stylecraft Blanket

Take Two crochet pattern book

Yarns: Dandelion Yarns.    Made By Jude.   The Wool Kitchen.    Viking Hand Dyed.   Undercover Otter.

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Blooming Marvellous – A Knit & Crochet Garden.

I love the Thelma Hulbert Gallery, it’s always welcoming and they have a really eclectic mix of exhibitions. A couple of years ago I went and saw a collection of Matisse paper cut-outs, which was great for a small town gallery (the Thelma Hulbert is in Honiton, East Devon). Sometimes we go just to use their fully stocked art and craft room. The kids love grabbing glue and making collages, or drawing the biggest pictures they can on massive sheets of paper.

I left it really late to visit their latest exhibition, the last day is this coming Saturday (24th June). I can’t believe I didn’t see that it was on until now.

Blooming Marvellous is right up my street because it is a knitting and crochet exhibition! It’s a garden of all things yarn. People from all ages, from all walks of life, hand stitched every item on display. I wasn’t sure if it’d be a bit cutesy but I was delighted to see it all! We also contributed by adding a few rows to some knitting that was there. Can you believe that there weren’t any crochet hooks?! I forgot to take crochet flowers with me. Annoyingly, I have some at home that would have been perfect to donate.

I went with my friend and our two youngest children. The boys had a great time finding things on a list they were given. A mole in a hole, tick! A ladybird wearing a lace collar, tick! A plate of prawns, tick! (The boys were also really pleased to find plug sockets hidden in the floor. But they are only four years old). After the exhibition one of the people working there told us to go and explore the gardens. There were plenty of strawberries to find and eat, she told us. It’s little things like that, that make me like the place so much.

Blooming Marvellous has been touring the UK for the past six years and I wish I could tell you where it’ll be next so that you might get to go. Sadly, I have no idea. Hopefully it’ll be on somewhere else soon. I did take pictures though…

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Crochet Catch up on Episode 7!

Wait! Don’t go, there are more pictures down below! You can still see what crochet I’ve been up to even if you don’t fancy sitting through the crochet vlog. However, you’d completely miss out on a woolly GIVEAWAY and some totally unexpected “live” cat on bird action. Click on the pic to go to YouTube!

The links for Episode 7 are…

My Ravelry gubbins – Come and join me.

My little holiday to Saleres, Spain.

Geo Rainbow Blanket info

Tina Tape Yarn by Wool and the Gang.

The Blurre shawl by Addydae Designs – I forgot to mention that Deanna is doing a Blurre CAL, so get your skates on if you fancy joining in! It ends 30th June.

Caron Cakes Beach Bag

The Crochet Circle – Fay’s informative and awesome crochet podcast.

Summer Romance CAL – I didn’t mention my couple!! I’m sticking with the Dr & Rose.

Crafting is My Therapy.

I hope that’s everything. Please let me know if I’ve missed something or whatevs. Give me a shout. Cheers. X

“I’m not a girly pink person” And then later….. “pink is more my colour” Wha?!

Thanks guys. X

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Geo Rainbow C2C Crochet Blanket

Helloo!! How’s it going? It’s all crazy here at the minute, I have many “things to do” lists strewn about the place! One thing I can tick off the list is: stop worrying about the Geo Rainbow blanket pattern. It’s out now! This month’s Inside Crochet (issue 90) is in the shops. There are loads of great patterns in there but when I opened it’s pages, I went straight for my colourful crochet blanket.

EDIT: This pattern is now available to buy on Ravelry HERE

I made the front cover! Excuse me for getting excited; it’s very novel. I’m mega proud of what I’ve achieved over the last few months and I’m taking time to shirk off the modesty and say “yay me!”. I absolutely believe everyone should do this from time to time. Just stop and tell yourself how great you are, because it’s true! Stop worrying about others and concentrate on yourself for a while.

The idea popped in my head around October/November and the first stitch was made at the end of December. It was born from a crochet cushion I made last August, this one….

It’s funny where ideas take you.  I liked the geometric pattern but there was no way I wanted to make a whole blanket out of such small stitches (even though I have since done exactly that, with a chevron blanket!). The best way of getting the look I wanted was to go C2C.

Not only do I have a published pattern in this issue but there is also have an article about how to do the corner to corner stitch. I submitted the finished blanket in February; in May I was asked if I fancied having a go at writing a “mini masterclass”. I said yes because you can’t say no, can you?!

For the article I made a swatch, with each stage photographed so I could show how to do all the important bits of c2c.  Breaking it down was fascinating. It makes you realise just how much work goes into all the crochet that we do. Think of all those twiddly twists made with hook, yarn and fingers!

Lots of yarn is used at the same time. It’s so much fun to see it all jumbled together. I was (surprisingly) pretty fastidious about keeping it well organised. There’s no way you want this lot to get in proper tangle.

The people behind the magazine would like to take my blanket to Yarndale this year! How fab is that?! I do hope I can make it up to Skipton for September. I don’t relish driving for 5+ hours on my own but I’d love to go…dilemma.

Corner to corner is really popular at the moment. What do you think? Is it something you’d like to try? Have you made a a graphgan before? I’d love to hear. Do let me know.  Cheers. X

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Crafting is My Therapy – A Creative Community

(A glimpse from April – Nicola’s collage with some of April’s contributors.)

About a year ago I stumbled upon a crafty link up called Crafting is My Therapy. It’s run by two crafters: Nicola of Me, You & Magoo and Jennifer of Jennifer’s World whose ethos is pretty self explanatory: it’s about craft as therapy! The link up has now moved to Instagram. More and more people are connecting through their varied crafting and we’re all in agreement that making and creating is definitely an oasis of calm in continually hectic lives.

Last month it was my blogging friend Maura of The Messy Brunette who co-hosted the Instagram hashtag. Read Maura’s thoughts here. This month it’s my turn. I’ll be checking out the hashtags as often as I can and choosing my favourites to post here and over on IG.

If you’re an Instagram user then make sure to tag your crafty projects with #craftingismytherapy_june

We’d love to see your work there!

What Nicola says: “The focus of our hashtag is crafting for pleasure, basically taking some ‘me-time’ to unwind in our busy lives. It doesn’t have to be a finished project, we love seeing work in progress, planning posts or tutorials too.”

This collage is from May and pinched from Maura’s post (whilst I work out how to do collages from other IG users….) starting from top left and its @ crafticland, top right @ yarnandblarney. Bottom left @shirleyrainbow_tb and bottom right is @knottyhoops .

How to Crochet a Beach Bag. Free pattern

Crochet beach bag pattern

At the very beginning of April I had an email from Hobbycraft asking if I’d be interested in designing a crochet project for them. It was really exciting to be asked and really exciting to learn that I could pick any materials from stuff they sold in their stores! Caron Cakes took my fancy, it’s self striping so all colour changes are done for me! The brief was “Summer” and what’s more summery than a beach bag?! The crochet pattern pretty much uses two entire “cakes,” including plenty for pompoms. Honestly, it’s a super easy crochet beach bag and pretty fast to work up too.

Hobbycraft have an Instagram account and blog page especially for knitters and crocheters. The bag pattern is up and ready to grab over on Hobbycraft (see below). The best thing of all is that it’s totally free!! They’re asking lots of IGers to come up with crochet patterns at the moment. I think it’s a lovely idea to include crafters who are already connecting in a virtual community. There are some fabulous patterns available and they’ve all been designed by us!

Crochet Beach Bag PDF : Crochet Beach Bag_zeens and roger

Or pop to Hobbycraft, here.

If you are new to crochet it might be helpful to know that I put together a video tutorial for a small, kid’s crochet granny bag that starts in the same way. I chat more about the differences between this large crochet beach bag and the small granny stripe bag HERE.

pompoms and crochet
A crochet granny stripe beach bag

Whilst I think the Caron Cakes looks fab in this crochet granny stripe bag, I would love to try making a bag in cotton yarn too. I am a huge fan of cotton for bags. It’s strong, sturdy and doesn’t warp or stretch too much. Let me know if you try it!

Seeing as this project came about because of the Instagram community, don’t forget to get in touch with me there: @zeensandroger #zeensandroger. Cheers! x

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Episode 6. Crochet Vlog/Podcast

Hello there! The above screen shot will take you to YouTube for a crochet podcast /video web log experience you’ll never forget!!  Please do pop along and watch; it would make me super happy!  Anyway, what have you been up to? This vlog is pretty much what I’ve been doing over the last couple of weeks. I always have really good intentions about structure, format, order etc. As soon as the record button gets pressed, that all goes out the window! It’s just supposed to be a chat, not a presented programme. That’s what I tell myself.

Here are the links to stuff in episode 6. If there’s anything else you’re interested in please do ask. Cheers.

This week’s bluebell blog post

Japanese crochet books (and other various craft books) can be found here

Nanna Nostalgia. A blog post I wrote last year about my crafty heritage.

Keep Calm and Carry Yarn Podcast

Crochet Cakes Podcast

Crochet Luna Podcast

And here is some of the stuff I talked about this time round…

The Crochet Elephant Ripple Blanket

Hello! Happy May! Love May, May makes me happy. Proper spring you see, it’s magic! Plus it’s my birthday in a couple of days and that always gets me giddy (I can’t believe I still get excited about my birthday). It’s been a while since I wrote a post about crochet. They’ve all been videos haven’t they?! I’m starting to see a divide between blogging and vlogging, that I had no idea about. It’s not a problem but I’d like to not neglect anyone.

Anyway… blanket. At the beginning of April a friend got in touch with me and asked very nicely if I would make a baby blanket for her friend. I liked the ideas she had and fancied having a go at something different. It was nice that I could do a brainless ripple but there was also going to be something interesting in the mix as well.

I know that the baby in question is having a safari themed nursery and because grey was to feature in the blanket’s colour palette, it was elephants that sprang to mind. I did a quick search online and came up with these cuties. The pattern is from Repeat Crafter Me and it’s exactly the sort of thing I wanted.

I like how the secret elephants are hidden inside when it’s folded up. You might think it’s a boring blanket. But tumble it open and the cuteness is revealed!

They had to go trunk to tail, that’s something I definitely wanted. I hadn’t thought much about how they’d be attached. I’m glad it dawned on me not to merrily stitch through to the other side. I paid lots of attention to making the stitches only on one side. I had to forgo safety eyes for the same reason (they’d poke right through to the other side). I forgot to take pics of the other side to prove that there’s nothing on show. Watch my latest vlog, the evidence is there!

I used Stylecraft Special dk as it’s perfect for baby blankets. I ordered the yarn at the same time as the release of the new shades so I knew Buttermilk had to be part of it. It’s like someone has added mayonnaise to the Mustard. They go very nicely together. Also in the mix are Teal, Sage and Grey. It looks quite nice on my fabulous(ly cheap) sofa too!

And let’s not forget the ubiquitous Neat Ripple! I have no idea how many times I’ve made Attic 24’s Neat Ripple! So many! I did 8 pattern repeats and 64 rows before adding the grey. At each end I added a ripply row of grey and then a straightening row. You can straighten it off by following this useful guide from Little Tin Bird. Then it was just a case of making a couple of rounds of UK trebles before going back to Attic24 for the edging, which was pilfered from Lucy’s original Granny Stripe. Phew! What do you think? I like it! Anything with grey and mustard floats my boat though. Grellow they call it.

Anyway, I’m late for an evening walk that I must do. I’ve been very lazy recently and done no proper exercise. And I need to go to the shop for bread and milk…

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