Crochet doodle flowers free pattern

It's interesting the way new patterns take form. For amigurumis, I usually start with an idea, that becomes a sketch, that becomes an amigurumi. But sometimes I just doodle with some yarn and a hook, and interesting things can happen.
Yesterday I was doodling with some Catania yarn and a 2.5 mm crochet hook, and I decided to have a go at designing a little flower. I wanted something quick and easy, and after just one unravelling I got it!
You can use any yarn and matching hook for this project, but I prefer to use a small hook and fine yarn. The flowers in the photo are just 4cm across and would be ideal for decorating a bag, or a hat, or an amigurumi... just use your imagination! I purposefully left long tails of yarn on the flowers so that they can sewn on easily.

Here's the pattern:

You need a very small amount of yarn, and a crochet hook that's suitable for the weight of the yarn.

Make a magic ring, leaving a long tail of yarn. (if you need to know how to make the magic ring, see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLuSVyKvoUg)

Rnd 1 - Make 11 sc into the magic ring, pulling it closed enough for the scs to join, but not too tight that it would deform the circular centre of your flower. Join the last sc to the first sc with a slip stitch.

Rnd 2 - Turn, and make 4 ch. *Ss in next 2 sts, then 4 ch, repeat from * to the last st, ss. You should have six 4ch loops separated by ss.

Rnd 3 - Do not turn, but make 5 dc in the loop formed by the 4 ch, followed by a ss in the same loop. Repeat for the remaining loops until the end. Finish with a ss in the first dc of the first petal. Fasten off.

Wasn't that easy? If ever my explanations are not clear enough or if you need any more info, just leave a comment below :-)

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Once upon a time there was a pouffe...

A few years ago I bought two orange pouffes to brighten up my living room. They were a perfect size for my children to sit on and very comfy. But years passed, and the poor little pouffes became faded and stained, though they were still just as comfy. Here's one of them, you'll notice that it's seen better days:

So, what did I do? I made it a new cover, of course!

Now I just have to make a cover for the remaining pouffe and then I'm sure we'll need some matching cushion covers too...

Treasures for free (almost)

Hi everyone, hope you're doing well and enjoying this lovely month of August. I've at last got around to taking a pic of the second-hand goodies I found while I was on holiday in England:

I picked up this lovely vintage teapot from a very small car boot sale we went to on the first day of our holiday. Given the small number of sellers, we didn't think we'd find much, but then I spotted this and at pound I thought it was a good bargain. These days only my OH and I drink tea, and this is just right for two mugs. It is an unusual oval shape and made of delightful bone china. I wasn't so keen on the rose pattern at first, but it's grown on me.

Then the backdrop you can see in the photo is the BEAUTIFUL silk dress I bought from a charity shop for four pounds. It is really gorgeous, isn't it? It looks lovely in the photo, but it's even better in real life, wonderfully shiny and silky, and the colours are amazing.

So the items in the photo above cost the grand total of five quid! Quite a bargain, methinks.

That's the end of this quickie post. I'm very busy working on a new project that's taking me longer than I thought it would so my blog's a bit quiet at the mo. But as soon as I can I'll come back to show you what I've been up to.

Have a good week!

My late holiday post

Hello there!

I've already been back home for a while after spending a very enjoyable two weeks in the UK. We travelled around a bit and did lots of things, caught up with family and friends and made some exciting purchases.

We went for a couple of days to the seaside because we hadn't seen the sea for ages and ages. It was wonderful. The school holidays hadn't yet begun, so the beach was empty and even though it was too cold to swim we did enjoy spending time on the beach.

The pebbles on the top part of the beach looked good enough to eat.

We also took a rather wonky-looking cable car to the top of the hill. It was a bit windy up there but in that part of the world they call it "bracing".

There were some spectacular views on the way up.

We were lucky with the weather and had blue sky during most of our seaside trip.

We went to another nearby town where there is a lovely castle and also the smallest house in Great Britain, together with a charming lady in the traditional Welsh costume.

From the castle itself we had a lovely view of the harbour.

We visited Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare's birthplace, and saw the house he was born in. We ate a delicious cream tea - two huge scones each with a pot of jam and clotted cream, and a teapot of tea which contained three cups of tea. All for £4.95 each. Not bad, especially in a tourist town.

We also visited the butterfly centre in Stratford-upon-Avon where butterflies fly around in semi-liberty - there is a roof so they can't escape!

Over the following days we visited Alton Towers and Cadbury's chocolate world too, but I think I've said enough about our travels for now.

To be honest, with all that travelling and eating fish and chips, I didn't really have much time for a lot of hooky business, but I did do a bit:

Lime and beige flower coasters for M, made with this pattern:

Multi-coloured flower coasters for L, using the same pattern.

Pretty bunting to decorate P's bedroom.

And a little monster toy for A.

I also bought a crochet magazine and a couple of very good finds in the charity shop, but I'll save those for a future post.

It's nice to be back! I look forward to hearing about what you've been doing during the summer.

See you soon!

Well, holiday time is here, and I'm off for a couple of weeks to the land of my birth: England!

We're expecting rain (of course!) so I'm going prepared with lots of unfinished projects in tow, and hoping to buy some lovely new yarn too. It's funny that just before leaving I found a supplier in France who stocks Debbie Bliss organic fairtrade cotton yarn, so I've ordered some of that and it will be delivered here while I'm away. It will be something to look forward to. They don't stock the aran weight yarn, so I'll be on the lookout for that in the UK.

Anyway this is a very quick post because I really MUST go and finish my packing, but before I leave here's a sneak preview of the work in progress that will be in my suitcase:

Bye for now, and hoping any of you that are also holidaying will have a wonderful time!

My new blog shop

Remember a few posts ago when I talked about the lady in the shop who offered to sell my baby shoes?

Well I went to see her yesterday, and she said two things: firstly she would only take them in September when she gets the autumn stock in. Secondly she would charge the double of the price I'm asking for them!

So I'm not sure it would work... and I've decided, after encouragement from my family and friends, to set up a little shop here in blogland and see how that works out. I haven't yet set up anything exotic like a paypal account, but if I get enough sales I will do so. In the meantime I can accept payment by cheque in UK pounds or Euros.

For now I've only posted a couple of things, but please take a look at Is it a toy shop.

If you've seen things on this blog that you would like to buy, or if you would like me to make something from one of my patterns in a particular yarn or colour, contact me by email and I'll see what I can do.

Teddy doudou free pattern

In France, every small child has its doudou. I've seen all sorts of doudou - anything from an old piece of blanket or pillowcase, to an elaborate multi-coloured velours soft-toy masterpiece.

A doudou is simply an easy French name for a comfort blanket. I had an idea to make a teddy comfort blanket, using my chubby teddy pattern for the head, and adding some little arms for baby to grab too. I made it out of lovely soft organic cotton, so safe for baby to suck and easy to wash by hand or machine. For extra safety, I lined the head before stuffing it, and embroidered the face with contrasting organic cotton yarn. 

Here's the pattern:

I used one ball of organic cotton in pink and less than half a ball in cream. Of course you can choose the colour you wish, but in the pattern I mention pink and cream so you can follow it more easily.

I used a 3mm hook for the head and the arms, and a 4mm hook for the blanket part.

Head (the same as my chubby teddy pattern, but I'm repeating it here to make things easier for you)

Start with pink yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

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

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

rnd 4 - [2 sc in next st, 2 sc] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 5 - [2 sc in next st, 3 sc] rep around (30 sts)

rnd 6-8 - sc around (30 sts)

rnd 9 - [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 12 sts, [2 sc in next st] 3 times, sc in next 12 sts (36 sts)

rnd 10 - sc around (36 sts)

rnd 11 - sc in each of next 3 sts, [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, [2 sc in next st] three times, sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog, sc in next 3 sts, [sc2tog] twice (36 sts)

rnd 12 - sc around (36 sts)

Change to cream yarn

rnd 13-15 - sc around (36 sts)

rnd 16 - [1sc in next 4 sts, sc2tog] rep around (30 sts)

rnd 17 - sc around (30 sts)

Now is a good time to embroider the eyes, nose and mouth with contrasting yarn or embroidery thread.

rnd 18 - [1sc in next 3 sts, sc2tog] rep around (24 sts)

rnd 19 - sc around (24 sts)

rnd 20 - [1 sc in next 2 sts, sc2tog] rep around (18 sts)

rnd 21 - [sc2tog, 1 sc in next 2 sts] rep around (13 sts)

Stuff!

rnd 22 - [1 sc in next st, sc2tog] rep around (9 sts)

rnd 23 - [sc2tog] 4 times

Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the head to the blanket

Ears (make 2)

Start with pink yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

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

rnd 3 - sc around (12 sts)

rnd 4 - [sc2tog], rep to end (6 sts)

rnd 5 - [sc2 tog] twice

Fasten off, leaving a long tail to sew the ears to the head.

Arms (make 2)

Start with cream yarn and a magic ring

rnd 1 - 6 sc into magic ring

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

rnd 3 - [1 sc in next 2sts, 2 sc in next st] rep around (16 sts)

rnd 4-5 - sc around (16 sts)

now join in the pink yarn and work 6 more rows of sc.

rnd 12 - 1 sc in each of next 7sts, then squeeze the arm flat and working through both thicknesses, sc into the next 7 sts until the end: Fasten off.

Blanket

For the blanket itself you can use any square pattern you like. It would be nice with a granny square or a simple trebles square. I had some problems with the joining of each round, but I'm sure you'll do better. The square should measure around 26 cm. You can find nice square patterns here:

http://yarnberry.wordpress.com/2007/11/18/first-principles-the-humble-crochet-square/

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Crochet-a-Granny-Square/

http://www.crochetspot.com/how-to-crochet-a-square/

Sewing together

Sew the ears to either side of the head, then sew the head to the middle of the blanket. Sew the arms on to the blanket, below and at either side of the head. Please follow the example of the top photo above for how to place the head and arms.

Have a lovely week!