Forgotten Christening Invititation

I was reminded on Wednesday that I had been invited to my elder niece's best friend's baby's Christening on Sunday. Gracie was the little girl who made her entrance unexpectedly at home on the bathroom floor some months ago. As I hate to go to an event empty handed I did what any good crocheter would do I reached for my trusty crochet hook.

I decided to make this pattern. I started it but I just could not get to grips with the pattern stitch at all. The first row was fine but the second baffled me. I am not usually a lover of charts but one showing a close up of subsequent rows would have been useful or even a close up of the pattern stitch. I decided that as time was the essence that I would, as usual, do it my way and substituted a different pattern stitch.

I have no idea what this stitch is called. I put one UK treble and one UK double crochet into the same stitch and then missed a chain st on the commencing row and then on the other rows I went into the stitch with a treble and a double crochet. As the sleeves and hat were worked in the round and the jacket back and forth I seem to have two completely different patterns going on but as the overall effect is OK then I doubt if anyone ,except me, will notice. I used 200 grams of Studley DK to make this,

As the jacket was  for a present I decided to embellish it with crochet daisies. The centre of each daisy has a small flat topped button and the stems are embroidered in a very pale green. I finished it off by adding a purchased ribbon bow when the two stems meet.

I free styled the hat using the stitch pattern of the jacket and than added a fill brim of UK trebles by increasing twice into each stitch. It was supposed to look like a sun hat but it reminds me of Paddington Bear's hat or a red sou'wester. Hopefully it will look better when Gracie is wearing it.

This is the second attempt at crocheting this top for my friend Julie. The first time that I tried it the yarn was so silky and stretchy it would have been far too large for her. This photo does not do the Ice silky yarn justice. I has a shimmery glow to it reflecting shades of brown in with the grey. On this photo it looks rather like school pullover grey. I had to leave this to finish off the Christening present but will go back to it tonight.

Back to the copy of the Vogue Crochet 2012 magazine. As I mentioned there is an article in it which is interviewing my online friend Babukatorium.

These are just a few examples of her work for those of you who are unfamiliar with the name. She is a designer from Hungary and I love her use of the bold, bright colours.

I am not usually a lover of crochet jewelry but these necklaces from the Vogue crochet magazine look very modern and intriguing. They use a lot of bead work in the crochet.

Crochet over stones takes me right back to being 17 yrs old again. I went with my then best friend to St Ives in Cornwall and it was a haven for artists and surfers back then. There were dozens of small shops selling paintings, pottery and all kinds of hippy styled jewelry and clothes. I bought several pendants made from painted polished pieces of slate that were strung on leather thonging. I came home longing to be part of that artist community and dreaming that one day I would have my own artist studio making crochet hippy waistcoats and pendants. Maybe 49 yrs later it may happen yet. If I win the lottery I would love to buy a bungalow with a proper artist's studio or one of those 50's style caravans that I showed in a previous post. I have just paid for my lottery ticket so fingers crossed  for tonight.

I am not keen on the colours used on the cover shawl but I do like the granny square bag. I have been watching a You Tube video tutorial from One Virtuous Woman showing how to make, and line, a similar bag and would like to make one for myself to use as a craft  bag. I have seen a version on Ravelry that is made of many colours and I loved it. As it is made in a similar method to this and the You Tube bag then it would be a great way of using up part balls of yarn.

The sun is shining today and it does look quite warm and the trees are not blowing about too much. Shower first and then a quick trip to the local shops. I need wrapping paper and a card for the Christening and of course the usual food necessities. First though I need to shower as I am sitting here blogging in my night attire which is a bit slovenly considering that it is 11am.

Have a great weekend. I hope that you have lots of fun things planned. .