Category: Ebook

The Crochet Cactus Garden – 7 Patterns.

In today’s world, Cacti & succulents are considered very trendy indoor decor. Crochet Cacti & Succulents give any space natural beauty; whether a small one in a little pot on a desk, a large one for a corner cabinet, or a whole garden for a showy display. Think  gift-giving, for special friends, favourite teachers, loved ones in care or hospital…

The Crochet Cactus Garden is ideal for those who love indoor plants but, for whatever reason, don’t want to deal with the care & maintenance or have small kiddies & pets who like to touch & poke things they shouldn’t.

One of my crochet class groups encouraged me to come up with some basic crochet cactus patterns; ones they could play with to create their own indoor gardens,… stress free gardening if you like. 

I came up with these 7, easy, yet interesting, basic cactus crochet patterns, each different from the other leaving lots of room for creativity. The patterns are mostly worked in dc (US: sc) in the Amigurumi Technique. 

Patterns are in written form with both UK & US terminology 

I encourage you to experiment with different yarns from cotton to sock yarn, acrylics to natural fibres, all give unique effects. 

Tip: remember plants in nature aren’t always perfect, so don’t stress about any imperfections they only add to the charm.

I hope you have fun & enjoy creating a cactus garden for yourself or the special people in your life.

The Cactus Garden Crochet Patterns E-Book is available for purchase here

  • 1. Easter Cactus
  • 2. Succulent
  • 3. Round 9 Lobed Segment Cactus
  • 4. Tall Cactus
  • 5. Ball Cactus
  • 6. Prickly Pear Cactus
  • 7. Agave

A Beginners’ Crochet Notebook…

A Beginners’ Crochet Notebook… click here for the tutorial

I receive many, many emails from folk needing help with their crochet; not only from frustrated beginners, but also from those who have been crocheting for a while asking, what for some are, fairly basic questions… But there is no such thing as a silly, stupid or ‘I should know this’ type of query, even after many years of crocheting there are always new things to learn.

 

And so, I’ve put together this Beginners’ Crochet Notebook to help those of you who want to start crocheting but don’t know where to begin. And, even though I’ve written this notebook mainly with the novice in mind, that doesn’t mean the more experience crocheter won’t find a few helpful tips as well.

~What hooks to use with which yarn. 

~Which yarns are: animal, plant or synthetic. 

~How to read patterns. 

~What those scary, abbreviations & symbols mean…&  lots more.

 

I’ve done my best to gathered together answers to the most frequent questions I receive, but of course, it’s impossible to have an answer for everything. There is so much more information I could have included in this Notebook; so much more the reader might find useful; but it’s such a fine line between cramming in too much & overwhelming you.

Nevertheless, I trust this tutorial is a comprehensive journey through the crochet basics for the beginner & others, & that it encourages you to venture forth with a little more confidence & understanding of this wonderful craft.

Dreamcatchers ~ something new for me…

dreamcatchers

Dreamcatchers… something new & different from me that I’ve wanted to try for some time. I’ve created these Dreamcatchers, not as authentic representations but as my own personal artistic interpretations.

I’m an Aussie, so my interest in dreamcatchers isn’t cultural… I simply love them & more over, I love the idea of them.

Dreamcatchers originate in Native American tradition, believing both positive & negative dreams flow through the night & that a Dreamcatcher, hanging freely over or near a sleeping person, will allow the good dreams to pass through while capturing the bad dreams, which will perish & vanish with the rising sun…

I used patterns from this collection of 16 Crochet Motifs & embellished with wooden, glass & plastic beads & attached swivel cams so the dreamcatcher can rotate freely…

Dreamcatcher 1Dreamcatcher 7Dreamcatcher 6Dreamcatcher 2Dreamcatcher 3Dreamcatcher 4Dreamcatcher 5

Filet Crochet Tutorial – The Basics

FIL-TITLE-1This Filet Crochet Tutorial has been a long time coming &, to those of you who have been waiting for it, please accept my apologies… I have to admit that writing the instructions in ‘plain speak’ for easy understanding proved to be a bit more challenging than working the actual technique itself…

Filet crochet lace is possibly one of the easiest techniques to master. Most of you will recognise Filet as fine lace like items such as: curtains, tablecloths & runners, or ground fabric for Irish lace motifs traditionally worked in cotton thread with a steel hook… it’s delicate, old-world & lovely.Book mark

However, if you take it a step further, Filet also makes a fabulous ground fabric for your Freeform motifs, or scarves & shawls, when worked in 8 ply (or your yarn of choice) with an appropriate hook – traditionalist may cringe at this but most of you know my approach by now… I like to mixed it up & give anything a try…

In any case, whether you want to work traditionally or venture out & experiment, the basics for Filet are the same… I hope this comprehensive tutorial gives you everything you need, from reading charts to working an armhole on a vest, & becomes a good reference point that leads the way into this age-old technique.

Patterns are presented to the reader as charts or grids instead of written patterns so with a bit of graph paper you can even create your own designs if you have a mind to.

You can purchase the pattern from here,

ScarfPurse

The Filet crochet tutorial (17 pages) takes you through the basics of Filet Crochet in both written (UK & US terminology) & diagram form & covers the following:

  • How to read charts (graphs) – (pg 2)
  • Determining the number of chains required for foundation chain – (pg 2)
  • What is a Space, Block, Lacet & Bar– (pg 3)
  • Stitch Abbreviations – (pg 3)
  • Stitch Guide (written & drawings): slip st, dc (US sc), tr (US dc) – (pg 4)
  • Stitch Guide continued: dtr (US tr), trtr (US dtr) – tr decrease (US dc decrease) – (pg 5)
  • Basic Filet Mesh Lace (written, diagram & drawing): spaces & blocks  – (pg 6)
  • Basic Filet mesh lace continued: Lacets & bars – (pg 7)
  • Shaping: increasing space at beginning & end of row – (pg 8)
  • Shaping continued: decreasing space at beginning & end of row, increasing block at beginning & end of row, decreasing block at beginning & end of row – (pg 9)
  • Shaping for Garments: increasing blocks at beginning & end of rows – (pg 10)
  • Shaping for garments continued: increasing spaces at beginning & end of rows – (pg 11)
  • Shaping for garments continued: decreasing & decreasing blocks at beginning & end of rows – (pg-12)
  •  Three super easy projects to get you started
  • Book Mark (chart & photo) – (pg 13)
  • Scarf (photo & chart) – (pg 14)
  • Purse – (chart, photo, written, diagrams, drawings) (pg 15 to 17)

filet purse

Crochet Scallops & Spirals Ebook.

Happy, happy days… the Crochet Scallop & Spiral Ebook is finally finished & ready for sale – it took a while but I feel sure you’re going to enjoy the variety of patterns I’ve included.

If you’re familiar with my work you will know that I really like scallops & particularly love spirals; I incorporate them into my freeform work all the time.

So it comes as no surprise that if there’s one thing that I get asked about, more than anything else, it’s crochet spirals & scallops – how I vary them from pattern to pattern, how I embellish & keeping them interesting.

Hence, I’ve put together this Ebook (17 pages) in the hope that the collection of 7 crochet scallops & 6 crochet spirals will address & answer the many questions you have passed on to me & perhaps even a couple you haven’t thought of yet….

All the patterns are complete in their own right but they also lend themselves beautifully to experimentation & freeform crochet. Spirals are made as separate motifs – Scallop motifs are made separately but I also give instruction for working them directly onto your fabric.

I’d like to encourage everyone to play around with your own ideas, substituting suggested yarns / stitch size / hook size & what ever else you come up with

  • The patterns include:
  • written patterns with both UK & US terminology for each motif
  • pattern diagrams (charts) for each motif
  • clear colour photos of each motif
  • special stitch drawings & instruction
  • a quick bullion tutorial
  • embellishment suggestions
  • Suggested Requirements:
  • assorted hooks (4mm – 4.25mm (US G) – 5mm (US H))
  • assorted 8ply yarn
  • assorted ribbon yarn
  • assorted metallic thread
  • assorted crochet cotton 

you can read my personal thoughts on spirals on this Ideas & Inspiration Page

You will find the The Crochet Scallops & Spirals Ebook for sale from here or, if you prefer, from Ravelry, Etsy or Zibbet

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