Tuesday Through the Window...and other news

So finally the snow arrived in Manchester. Not very much, but enough for #1 to get excited about.  What with snow, her first wobbly tooth and the fact it's only 25 sleeps until Christmas, she's one excited little girl!

So, taken from the upstairs front window, the tyre tracks in the snow...

On Sunday morning we woke to find one of the pipes that feeds the shower had frozen.  Luckily it hadn't frozen enough to cause a burst and it was pretty easily thawed with my hairdryer.  Mr yrh has put extra lagging around it, so hopefully it won't freeze again.  Sunday was COLD and I successfully managed not to leave the house all day. Mr yrh gets cabin fever if he stays in all day, so after breakfast, while the children and I went back to bed with a pile of story books, he went on a bike ride and came back with a water bottle full of ice. Rather him than me!

In the afternoon I made cranberry jam ready for the delight that is Nigella's Cranberry Bakewell Tart, the recipe for which is in 'Feast' (and on the internet here, but all in American terms)...

I also managed to fit in more snuggling with the children - under a blanket on the sofa this time to watch Ice Age 2 and later on  I crocheted another couple of snowflakes.  I'll show you those once I've blocked them. 

More Tuesday through the window here.

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Well, I'm secretly hoping it won't actually snow despite it being forecast for tomorrow afternoon, but we've had a little flurry of snowfall inside over the last couple of days...

Snowflake numbers 2, 14, 29 and 54 from this book...

And a couple of teeny tiny snowflakes from this pattern...

We're out this evening to see the local Christmas light switch on and whilst I'm not hoping for snow, I am hoping for my first mince pie of the season. x

Cable Cushion...again

I've had a few questions about the cable cushion...

I used aran weight yarn (I think this is equivalent to worsted?) and used, I think, 6 100g balls with a yardage of 186yds/170m per ball. (It may have been 7 balls, sorry to be so vague).

I started by chaining 75 to make a 45 x 45cm cover (but my tension tends to be tight).

You will find, at the beginning, that the work curls a lot.

The back of the cushion was made in 2 pieces.  For the first I just followed the cable pattern until the piece was a little over half the size of the front piece.  For the second, I started out with 75 chains and for the first few rows worked a stitch called 'alternate dc (US sc)'.  You can find a description of this stitch here as 'sc worked through alternating front and back loops'.   Then I worked the cable pattern beginning with a cable cross row.   If I made another of these cushions I'd make the 2 back panels slightly longer so that they overlap more.

The  buttons holes were incorporated into the alternate dc panel by working 3 chain and missing 3 dc stitches in the row below.

I back-stitched the cushion cover together, matching stitches.

Hope this helps!

This Weekend...

Macaroons from the little street market that appeared on Saturday...

Brussel sprouts (I love 'em!), the first we've had this season... 

A roaring fire...

Knitting a more-purple-than-it-looks-in-this-photo Milo Vest for #1...

Guilty pleasures in the form of a Georgette Heyer novel while the children were out with Mr yrh...

A bit of sewing - pillow slips, made with left-over fabric and ribbon, for those odd-sized Ikea pillows...

All in all, a lovely relaxing weekend...what about you?

Crochet Cable Pattern

First of all, thank you for all the lovely comments about my finished cushion cover.  I'm glad you like it!

Second of all, here, as promised, is the stitch pattern I used to make it.  To crochet this stitch pattern you will need to know how to work front post trebles (also known as raised or relief stitches).  This is not difficult, I promise - instead of crocheting into the top of a stitch you crochet around the post instead.

For the cushion cover I used an aran weight yarn (think this is equivalent to worsted) and a 5mm hook which resulted in a dense fabric with very little drape.  Making a firm fabric was intentional on my part because I didn't want the cover to look gappy when stretched over the cushion.  So depending on what you're making and your tension you may need to experiment with different size hooks and different weight yarns to get the effect you're after.

Terminology is UK.   (UK dc = US sc, UK fptr = US fpdc).


fptr = front post treble (yrh, insert hook from front to back to front around stitch indicated,

yrh, pull up loop, complete as treble)

Here also is a video from youtube showing how to fptr.

Crochet Cable Pattern


Make a foundation chain of required length, making sure that it is a multiple of 6 plus 3 extra.

Row 1: 1dc in 2nd chain from hook and each chain thereafter, turn

Row 2: 1ch, dc in each stitch across, turn

Row 3: 1ch, dc in first 2 stitches, *fptr around dc 2 rows below next stitch and each of next 3 stitches 2 rows below, dc in next 2 stitches, repeat from *, turn

Row 4: 1ch, dc in each stitch across, turn

Row 5: 1ch, dc in first 2 stitches, *skip 2 fptr, fptr around each of next 2 fptr from 2 rows below, then working in front of the fptr just made, fptr around skipped fptr stitches, dc in next 2 stitches, repeat from *, turn

Row 6: repeat row 4

Row 7: 1ch, dc in first 2 stitches, *fptr around each of 4 fptr from 2 rows below, dc in next 2 stitches, repeat from *, turn

Row 8: repeat row 4

repeat rows 5-8 until work is desired length.




God, I have no idea whether any of that makes sense!  I hope it does but I appreciate that crochet patterns are often easier to understand if you are actually doing them at the same time as reading them.  I took some photographs but I'm not sure they'd help much with interpretation either.  Please let me know if it's just a load of gobbledegook and I'll see what I can do to make it clearer.

This stitch pattern is very adaptable.  You could do the cable crosses less often, increase the number of dc stitches between cables, make the cable 6 stitches wide rather than 4, etc.  If any of you try it I'd love to see what you come up with.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edited to add extra photographs for clarity (hopefully). Once again, this pattern is written using UK stitch terminology


Start with 2 rows of UK dc stitches...

Row 3: 1ch, dc in first 2 stitches, fptr around 3rd dc from row 1 and each of next 3 dcs from row 1, dc in next 2 stitches of row 2, and so on... 
at the end of row 3 the work should look like this...

Row 4: 1ch, dc in each stitch across


Row 5: here we work the cable crosses... work 1ch, 1dc in each of first 2 dc of row 4, skip the first 2 fptr and work fptr around the 3rd and 4th fptr from row 3...

then, working in front of the fptr just made go back and fptr around the 1st and 2nd fptr from row 3, dc in each of next 2 dc from row 4... and so on


at the end of row 5 your work should look like this...

Row 6: 1ch, dc in each stitch across...

Row 7: 1ch, dc in each of first 2 dc of row 6, fptr around each of the fptr from row 5 working around the back two first, dc in next 2 dc of row 6, and so on...


at the end of row 7 your work should look like this...

Has this made it any clearer? I hope so...

Off the hook :: Cable Cushion

The cable cushion cover is finished at last!  I have to say that it took a lot longer to make than I thought it would and I was getting bored of it towards the end.  I had to tell myself that I couldn't start anything new until I'd finished it.  I'm very pleased with the finished result though.  It's a very soft, squishy, over-stuffed type of cushion...

Here's the back - I made an envelope style back closed with 3 buttons...

Have a closer look at those buttons...

aren't they gorgeous?  I'd already sewn 3 buttons onto the cushion before I bought these, but I couldn't resist these, much nicer than the originals.  I found them in the new Purl City Yarns shop.  Go and visit if you're ever in Manchester.

Right, details...

Yarn: Rowan Pure New Wool Aran in cream (shade 670)

Hook: 5mm

Pattern: my own, to follow when I have more time. Find it here

Lessons learned: make the overlap on the envelope back much bigger than you think you need to

Off the hook :: A Dress for Baby Gert

This is baby Gert (or Gertie)...

the first doll that #1 owned.  We'll have had her 4 years at Christmas.  She's wearing her new dress - a doll size version of the sunshine baby dress that I first crocheted back in May/June.  

Please don't ask me why she's called Gert because I have no idea - who knows what goes on in the mind of a 21 month old!

Yarn: not sure - found in a bargain bin without its label - dk weight

Hook: 4mm

Pattern: modified version of the Sunshine baby dress from Crochet Today, May/June 2010

Have a lovely weekend everyone - let's hope the rain and gales give it a rest for a while.  I'll be back next week with (hopefully) a finished cushion cover to show you.

Off the hook :: Kahlua Scarf

Do you think 'blocker's thumb' exists as a medical complaint?  If it doesn't then it really should.

I made this scarf at the weekend.  It was really quick and easy to make but blocking was most definitely necessary.  I think it was half the length it should have been when I finished! The gauge was given for a blocked piece of work and as I'd only bought only just enough yarn I didn't want to block my gauge swatch.  The swatch was the right width but an inch too short, so I just decided to go with it and add more rows if necessary, but after blocking it's worked out just fine.

The lace pattern was really easy, but I'm glad there was a chart to work from.  Written lace patterns can be hard to follow.


Yarn: 100g Sublime Extra Fine Merino Wool dk
Hook: 5mm
Pattern: Kahlua Lace by Julie Armstrong Holetz.  Available from the on-line Tension magazine.  


How's the weather where you are?  It's awful here today - last night saw me up at 2:30am jamming pieces of folded paper between the window and the frame to stop them rattling!  I've blogged about the joy of original features before - they look nice, but they don't make for a warm snug house.  Good job I've got a new scarf.

Bonfire Night

It's Guy Fawkes night tonight.  The weather here is shocking so we're staying in, but I can hear some fireworks going off as I type.  

#1 came home from school with the above picture.  I think it's rather good.  Also rather good is the smell coming from the kitchen - I took a sponge parkin out of the oven a while ago.  It smells so, so good.  It's one of those cakes that gets better after a couple of days, all sticky on the top due to the copious amount of syrup, treacle and muscovado sugar it contains.  Whether it's going to last long enough to get to the sticky stage, though, is anyone's guess!

Wishing you all a great weekend and Bonfire Night x

Weekend Away

This was the view from my bedroom window for 2 nights at the weekend...

The children were left with my parents and Mr yrh and I headed off to Yorkshire for some rest and recuperation.  Now, I am a Lancashire girl, born and bred, but even I must admit that Yorkshire is looking mighty fine this Autumn...

We had a lovely lazy time.  The children had a lovely time too - colouring, baking, being taken for rides in a wheelbarrow! - but I think they missed us.  All #2 has wanted to do since getting home is cuddle with Mummy.

Before I go, I know it's a bit late now, but I must show you the latest addition to our Halloween display - the toilet tube bat...