Embroidered Sweater

On the day Thomas turned 15 months, he started going to childcare one day a week. I labelled a bunch of clothes for Thomas to wear with laundry pen and blue ribbons attached to the tag inside. Then I needed to label this plain grey sweater. But it was too boring so I decided to do some embroidery instead!

embroidery detail

My mother first showed me how to embroider chain stitch when I was a child. A couple of years ago I wanted to try it but couldn't remember how to do it. I watched a youtube video to remind me so I could embroider a D onto a handkerchief for David.

embroidered grey sweater

Stitching my son's name onto this grey sweater was easy, I drew it first with white crayon. I used some red crochet cotton for a nice contrast to the grey. I'm quite proud of how it turned out in a rustic kind of way.

Small Crocodile Stitch Purse

I made this small purse as I was learning how to do the crocodile stitch. I liked the stitch so much, I turned my learning sample into something practical.

small crocodile stitch purse

I saw how to do the crocodile stitch on a youtube video by Teresa. But the scales were rounded, like the ones in my first round, which is at the bottom of the purse. Then I saw another video which said to add ch 2 to the end of the scale to make it look more pointed. I did that from the second round up. I rather like how I managed to make the shape of the purse look rounded by folding an otherwise square bag. I added a button hole by (sc sc dc, ch 1 sk 1, dc sc sl st). For this purse, I used a 3.5mm hook and some of the pretty variegated acrylic from Wangaratta Mill.

I think this purse looks so cool, I'm going to carry it with me in my handbag as a small make-up purse.

Hello to all my fellow Pink Saturdayers! I'm linking in with my favourite blog party hosted by How Sweet the Sound, be sure to check out this great blog party!

Here are two other bloggers who link in with Pink Saturday that also like to crochet, check them out!
Charlotte's Web - Oh Baby!
Howling at the Moon - Sort of Grannies

Pair of Mango Flowers

Following the African flower idea, I made two more flowers like this. I used some soft acrylic I call 'mango' which is really nice to crochet with.

a pair of 'mango' flowers

Using a 3.5mm hook, I was thinking this flower would go with my mango hat. With winter coming up, this is one of the many things on my to do list! But when I made the white centre with orange edge flower, I wasn't sure it looked so nice, so I made another flower in reverse colours.

I'm not sure either of these flowers look right on my mango beanie, so I'm not sure what they'll get used for. I'm sure to think of something!

Purple Newborn Beanie

I made this little beanie last week when I thought I was giving up on the hexagon jackets. It was meant for a 1 year old girl, but ended up being too small and would fit a newborn.

purple newborn beanie

I used a 3.5mm or 4mm hook for this, and some of the purple Bendigo wool. I started with 5 rounds of increasing dc, then switched to 5 dc scallops. 7 rounds of scallops are finished off with a round of dainty picot.

All this needs is a pretty flower, or maybe it's pretty enough as it is? I wonder if this is something I could try and sell in my Etsy store ...

Small Pale Green Plastic Bag Holder

I need to keep my smaller bags separate from the larger bags, so I made this smaller one. It's narrower than the other plastic bag holders I've made but otherwise the same, so smaller plastic bags will fit inside it better.

small bag holder

By now this is the fourth bag holder I've done, and I realised if I started with a chain, I could have one less fasten off. The chain at the start will form the first drawstring. The chain is double the width the bag will be. For this one I used a 3.5mm hook and some more of the pale green craft acrylic yarn which was made in Australia.

start with a chain to make the 1st drawstring

Now I've made this and taken photos, it needs to be put straight to work! There are so many projects I want to finish now, and some things for around my own home seem to keep falling down my priority list. Hopefully I can get some more housey things done in the next week or two!

An African Flower

I found a page on crochet African flowers, and the choice of colours really caught my eye, so I had a go at making one!

my first African flower

I couldn't find a pattern there. On that page there are two videos, one is not in English the other video is for a different flower. So I guessed the pattern by looking at the picture that has flowers made in different stages. I used my 4 ply cotton and my new 2mm hook. I don't have pink or purple in 4 ply so made it using yellow, orange, red and white. Here is a link to the photo on pinterest, I think it explains the pattern easily enough.

I don't know if I'll make any more of these, maybe I'd add green to the mix. If I do make more, I don't know what I'll make them into! Time will tell ...

Purple Flowers & Blue Butterflies

I've made up these little flower and butterfly embellishments to go on a larger project I've been planning for a while. I couldn't find any patterns for these that I liked, so I made up my own! I want to write down some notes here on how I made these so I remember what I did for next time.

purple flowers and blue butterflies

I used a magic circle to start the flowers. One flower started off with a pink 10 dc centre, but I prefer the other flower which has a pink 5 sc centre, then a 2nd round of 2 sc in every sc. Then using purple, a petal is (2 ch 3 dc 2 ch sl st into same) sl st into next, sl st into next, repeat petal, sl st, sl st to create 5 petals.

I was inspired to make these butterflies by some I saw on Pinterest, but I didn't follow anyone's pattern. For the butterfly, I started with a 4 ch loop, then 4 ch 4 trbl 4 ch sl st into loop to form one large upper wing. For a smaller lower wing, ch 2 3 dc ch 2sl st into loop. Repeat a small low wing and a large upper wing to complete the butterfly and fasten off. In a contrasting colour, tie some wool around the middle and knot it at the top to form the antennae.

I used a 4mm hook and some of the classic wool from the Bendigo Mill for these. I'm looking forward to seeing them on a two way tea cosy I'm going to call "Royal Garden"!

Dainty Pink Flower Headband

On a whim, I decided to make this headband for myself to wear on a special day for good luck.

dainty pink flower headband by Teena Sutton Murphy

I used my new 2mm hook and some silky variegated cotton my mum gave me, it took me about an hour while I had trouble sleeping. It often happens when Thomas has gone to sleep, then I can't sleep myself!

Basically, this headband started as a chain, then a row of dc, then a row of 5 dc scallops. I turned and continued scallops around the other side. I finished with rows of 6 dc, every 2nd row leaving a 2 ch space for a button. This way the length of the headband can be adjusted.

The 7 petal flower is for good luck. It's the same as my simple 6 petal flower, except the 1st round has 13 dc instead of 11.

I don't often wear headbands, but I rather like this one. Maybe I will wear them more often now?

As usual, I am linking in with my favourite blog party Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound, check it out!

Baby's St Pat's Bow Tie

After I did my yarn stocktake, I realised I had quite a bit of this green acrylic, but what to do with it? Well for starters, with Saint Patrick's Day coming up, why not a cute little bow tie for baby?

Baby's easy St Patrick's bow tie

This is the same as my easy red bow tie, except a little smaller.  I used a 4mm hook and it took me less than an hour to make. Easy!

The difference between acrylic and wool

I just learnt how to tell the difference between acrylic and natural fibres like wool. This is important because you don't want to mix them together in one project, especially because they have different washing instructions.

my stash of 4 ply cotton

After finishing a rush of projects I had to finish by birthday deadlines, I did a stock take of all my yarns to decide what I would make next. I realised I still hadn't sorted all of my yarns into acrylic and wool, although my cotton is all separate. I've already made a couple of scrap rugs out of unidentified yarns, now I know that wasn't a good idea because some of it could be wool, while most is probably acrylic. I will have to wash those rugs as if it is all wool. I still had left a big bag of yarns that I assumed was acrylic, but I wasn't sure. How could I tell what was wool, and what wasn't?

I asked Google, and found on a site called Yarn Yak that one way to tell is to burn a small section of yarn. Here is the direct quote from that site "take a tiny snip of yarn, light it with a match. If it smells like burning hair, it's wool. If it smells like plastic, it's acrylic"

the reclaimed wool from a big pile of unidentified yarns

David and I couldn't tell the difference by just the smell of the yarn burning. We burnt lots of tiny sections of yarns that I knew were either acrylic or wool to learn the difference. What we found was the acrylics will melt, the ends becoming hard like melted plastic. The wools and cottons will ash, the burnt part falling away when you touched it. We blew on the burnt yarn to cool it then felt the end.

Burn a tiny section of unidentified yarn.

If the burnt end is hard and melted like plastic, it is acrylic. 

If the ash falls away, it is a natural fibre like wool.

Hoorah! I have now properly sorted my stash of yarns! Now ... what shall I make next???