My flapjacks recipe

For me, flapjacks are such an English treat. I have images of Quaker oats, golden syrup and good English butter. And tea, of course. You can't eat them without a steaming cup of tea. 

Luckily, and despite living in France, I always keep a can of Lyles Golden Syrup in my supply cupboard. The organic oats I buy for porridge are probably better than Quaker, and French butter is almost as good as its English counterpart. The resulting flapjacks are crispy, sweet and buttery. They're best if your let them go completely cold before eating them, though more than half of the ones I made were consumed while still warm. They aren't for dieters but they are sooooo delicious. And so even easy a (supervised) child could make them. 

Here's the recipe. Simple and quick.

Ingredients

125g salted butter

125g soft brown sugar

2 tbsp golden syrup

350g rolled oats

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add the sugar and golden syrup. Heat until it just starts to boil, then add it to a mixing bowl where you'll have placed the rolled oats.

Using a wooden spoon, mix well until all the oats are covered with the syrupy mixture. 

Press into a shallow baking tray and bake at 200 degrees C for 15 minutes or until golden.

While it's still warm, mark into squares with a wooden or heat-proof spatula. Leave to cool completely before eating (if you can wait that long!)

Recommneded: Drink with tea poured from a real a teapot.

Fun with photos

While I was planning to buy a new camera, one of the options that existed on the more expensive cameras I looked at (but didn't buy) was a gadget that meant you could obtain a black and white photo with just a bit of colour. For example, one red strawberry....

or why not one pink bunny...

Well as you can see, I didn't need the more expensive camera. I found PicMonkey!

Abby on While She Naps has a great tutorial on how to achieve these fun effects. Enjoy!

Spring at last?

I don't know if where you live it has been quite so cold and grey as it has been here. It felt as if winter had been around for months and months. And I was quite ill this winter, with a bad cough and cold that kept coming and going, and coming back again, and a horrible week with a very sore back.

But enough whingeing. Today I went out to the market, as I usually do on a Saturday morning, and the sun was shining! The sky was blue! It even felt a tiny weeny bit warm. Yay! The mountains I can see from our flat are still capped with snow, but with a beautiful blue sky above them. It's amazing how much a sunny sky can lift your spirits!

Here's something else that made me feel happy. Lovely, cute baby goats.

"Hmm what a tasty post"

This one kept jumping on its mum's back. It was so funny.

"There's only room for one"

On the crochet front, I'm desperately trying to finish off some crochet gifts that I'll be taking to England in April. Hoping to show them to you very soon!

I hope Spring has started to show its pretty face wherever you are. Keep smiling!

Cedric Crab

When a friend asked me to crochet him a crab for a crab-loving friend of his, I decided to have a go at designing one. After several attempts, frogging and starting again (which meant he had to wait longer than planned), I'm pleased to introduce Cedric the crab.

Cedric is a happy little chap. He can bend his claws thanks to pipe cleaners, and he peers out from beneath his African flower shell, bordered with (yes, you guessed), crab stitch!

To make Cedric, you'll need a small amount of DK yarn in two colours (more for the claws colour than for the body colour), a 3mm crochet hook, a small amount of polyfil, two 6mm safety eyes, a tiny strand of black embroidery thread (for the mouth), and a blunt tapestry needle or bodkin.

As I mention in most of my patterns, I have chosen to enclose the polyfil in a piece of old tights.

However, the construction of the crab means that if you crochet tightly, you may not need to do this. There are holes in the African flower, but the crab body is closed up beneath the flower so you may be able to get away with not lining.

Please note that because of the pipe cleaners in the legs, this toy is not suitable for very young children. You can stuff the legs instead of using pipe cleaners, but this will not obtain the same result. And if you want to offer it to young children, you may prefer to replace the safety eyes with embroidered eyes.

You are welcome to sell any crabs you make, but please do not sell this pattern. Do not post this pattern to any website, but link directly to my blog. No file sharing of this pattern. Please respect my designer rights.

Special thanks to Heidi Bears for her tutorial for the African flower pattern, which is an integral part of this design. And thanks to Tamara Kelly for her video explanation of the crab stitch. You'll find links at the relevant points in the pattern below.

If you make a crab using this pattern, it would be great to see it on our flickr page, or share it on the Is it a toy crochet Facebook page. Likes, shares and comments guaranteed!

I shall refer to red yarn and yellow yarn as those are the colours I chose and that correspond to the photo. The crab would look great in other colour combinations too.

Finally, there may still be some errors or incongruences in the pattern. If you have any questions, tips or comments, please post them below.


The ten legs/claws are the longest part of this pattern, so I suggest you start with those. The rest is plain sailing.

If you want to stuff the legs, do so as you go along. If you choose to use pipe cleaners, that's explained below.

Big claws (make 2)

With red

Rnd 1 - Start with a magic circle and 6 sc (for a tutorial on how to make a magic circle, see this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLuSVyKvoUg)

Rnd 2-3 - Sc around (6 sts)

Rnd 4 - [2sc in next st, 1sc in next st] three times (9 sts)

Rnd 5 - [1sc in next 2 sts, 2sc in next st] three times (12 sts)

Rnd 6-8 - sc around (12 sts)

Rnd 9 - [1sc in next st, sc2tog] three times (9 sts)

Rnd 10 - In back loops only:  [1sc in next st, sc2tog] three times (6 sts)

Rnd 11 - In both loops: [2sc in next st, 1sc in next st] three times (9 sts)

Rnd 12-14 - sc around (9 sts)

Rnd 15 - [1sc in next st, sc2tog] three times (6 sts)

Rnd 16 - sc around (6 sts)

Rnd 17 - [2sc in next st, 1sc in next st] three times (9 sts)

Rnd 18-19 - sc around (9 sts)


Now make the "thumb"

With red

Rnd 1 -  Start with a magic circle and 6 sc

Rnd 2-3 - sc around (6 sts)

Rnd 4 - [2sc in next st, 1sc in next st] three times (9 sts)

Rnd 5 - sc around

Rnd 6 - [1sc in next st, sc2tog] three times (6 sts)

Finish off, leaving a tail of yarn for sewing. Press sides together and sew through both layers and on to three of the visible loops on Rnd 10.


Back legs (make 6)

With red

Rnd 1 -  Start with a magic circle and 6 sc

Rnd 2-3 - Sc around (6 sts)

Rnd 4 - [2sc in next st, 1sc in next st] three times (9 sts)

Rnd 5 - sc around (9 sts)

Rnd 6 - [1sc in next st, sc2tog] three times (6 sts)

Rnd 7-8 - sc around (6 sts)

Rnd 9 - [2sc in next st, 1sc in next st] three times (9 sts)

Rnd 10-11 - sc around (9 sts)

Rnd 12 -  [1sc in next st, sc2tog] three times (6 sts)

Rnd 13-15 - sc around (6sts)

Finish off, leaving a long tail of yarn for sewing


For each leg, fold a pipe cleaner in two and enter the folded end into the leg, pushing it to the tip. Trim the ends, folding them back into the leg to avoid pointed ends sticking out.  You don't need to put pipe cleaners into the very back legs:


Very back legs (make 2)

With red

Rnd 1 -  Start with a magic circle and 6 sc

Rnd 2-3 - Sc around (6 sts)

Rnd 4 - [2sc in next st, 1sc in next st] three times (9 sts)

Rnd 5 - [1sc in next st, sc2tog] three times (6 sts)

Rnd 6-11 - sc around (6 sts)

Finish off, leaving a long tail of yarn for sewing


Body (make 1)

With yellow

Rnd 1 -  Start with a magic circle and 6 sc

Rnd 2 - 2sc in each st around (12 sts)

Rnd 3 - [2sc in next st, 1 sc in next st] rep around (18 sts)

Rnd 4 - [2sc in next st, 1sc in each of next st 2st] rep around (24 sts)

Rnd 5 - [2sc in next st, 1sc in each of next st 3st] rep around (30 sts)

Rnd 6 - [2sc in next st, 1sc in each of next st 4st] rep around (36 sts)

Rnd 7 - [2sc in next st, 1sc in each of next st 5st] rep around (42 sts)

Rnd 8 - [2sc in next st, 1sc in each of next st 6st] rep around (48 sts)

Rnd 9 - In back loop only: sc around (48 sts)

Rnd 10-12 - In both loops: sc around (48 sts)

Rnd 13 - In back loop only: [sc in each of next 6st, sc2tog] rep around (42 sts)

Rnd 14 - [sc in each of next 5st, sc2tog] rep around (36 sts)

Rnd 15 - [sc in each of next 4st, sc2tog] rep around (30 sts)

Attach the safety eyes betwee row 11 and 12. Embroider mouth between rows 9 and 10.

Sew on the legs, starting with the big claws, placing each one about 1 cm from the face. Continue to sew the legs on, one on each side at a time, keeping them as symmetrical as you can.

Place stuffing pillow (made from 2 round pieces cut out from a pair of old tights, sewn together, stuffed and close up the hole) or start stuffing.

Rnd 16 - [sc in each of next 3st, sc2tog] rep around (24 sts)

Rnd 17 - [sc in each of next 2st, sc2tog] rep around (18 sts)

Finish stuffing.

Rnd 18 - [sc in next st, sc2tog] rep around (12 sts)

Rnd 19 - sc2tog to end (6 sts)

Sew the hole closed, fasten off and bury the end of yarn inside the body.


African flower shell

Make a two-tone African Flower. You can follow Heidi Bears' tutorial here, but please note that it is slightly different towards the end, so check the round-by-round instructions below too.

http://heidibearscreative.blogspot.fr/2010/05/african-flower-hexagon-crochet-tutorial.html

Some of these instructions are copied from Heidi Bear's website, with her permission.

Rnd 1 - With yellow - Make a magic circle. Ch 3, 1 dc, 1ch. [2dc 1ch] five more times, so you end up with six 2dc groups, separated by a ch. Make 1 final ch and sl st into the 3rd ch of the initial 3 ch. Cut yarn

Rnd 2 - With red - Insert hook into the space just to the right of the 3ch leg from the previous round. Yarn around hook, pull yarn through, ch3 (counts as 1dc).  1dc into the same space, ch 1 and make 2dc into the same space again.

Work the same 2dc, ch1, 2dc into each ch sp around. You will have six groups. Sl st to the 3rd chain to finish the round

Rnd 3 - With red - Insert your hook into the space created by the chain stitch between the 2dcs. Ch 3 (counts as 1dc)
Make 6 further dc into the same space. There should be 7 dc. Continue with 7dc in each ch sp. You will have six 7dc groups. Sl st into top of 3ch.

Cut yarn, join yellow.

Rnd 4 - with yellow - 1 sc into each of next 7 sts. Now work a long dc into the space just above the
yellow "petal" of Rnd 1. Look at Heidi Bear's tutorial for guidance :)

Continue to work you way around the hexagon...7sc, dc, 7sc, dc etc, until you get back to the beginning...as always, join the round by slip stitch into the first sc.

Cut yarn, join red.

Rnd 5 - with red - Working in front loop only. Sc around, but working 2sc in the fourth stitch at the centre of each "petal".

(In rnd 5 I may have used hdc rather than sc, but sc will make a smaller shell, which may look better. Please feel free to experiment!)

Rnd 6 - with red - crab stitch around (see Tamara's great video explaining how to do crab stitch, here: http://www.mooglyblog.com/reverse-single-crochet-crab-stitch/)

Fasten off and weave in the last yarn end. The others can be simply trimmed as they will not be visible when the crab is completed.

Now, using the two visible lines of stiches made which stitching into front stitch or back stitch only, sew the shell onto the crab's body. And you're done!

Pink and pretty shawl

Do you remember when I went to Paris? It was back in November, and I told you that I visited La Droguerie, a beautiful old-fashioned yarn shop. I bought some gorgeous wool, and here's what I made with it.
This shawl is for my Mum. I don't see her very often because she lives in England and I live in France, but I do try to go over at least twice a year. My next visit is planned for April and I'm looking forward to giving her this lovely soft shawl.
If you want to make one, the pattern is by the very talented Just-In on Ravelry. You can also find it on Just-In's website cuteandkaboodle.com.

I do have quite a lot of yarn left over and I'm thinking of making a little vintage baby bonnet. What do you think?

Happy Valentine's Day

Winter blues

Hello there! I don't know about you, but I'm really getting a bit fed up with the winter. The grey days seem to go on and on, the weather is cold and it still gets dark far too early. Actually I shouldn't complain, yesterday was sunny and we saw the blue sky, but that's such a rare occurence these days. Today was grey again, with more snow forecast. 

My son goes to school without anything on his head and in addition, he lost one of his gloves. So I bought some wool-rich yarn in the colours he likes and made this little set. He loves the gloves, but the hat less, so I think I might wear it myself. 

My favourite place during this cold winter weather is... my bed! I love my bed. We bought it when we moved into our new flat in October 2011, after having slept in the same bed for years. We decided to get the nicest bed we could find, and that was a white Hemnes bed from Ikea. It's made of solid wood, which seems to be quite rare these days. More recently we've bought some new bedding that looks just like crochet doilies, and both bedside lamps and a matching ceiling light. Do you want to see? Here's what they all look like: 

The windows don't have any curtains - I'm not a fan of curtains but I do have plans for the windows, and something to make the walls look a bit less plain. 

Have a great week!