Happy Birthday & Happy Hooking.....

It's our friend Big Miss A's birthday today......HAPPY BIRTHDAY!......so I got my hook out on Tuesday and rustled this up for her.......

I haven't picked up my hook since the school holidays started......it was really enjoyable to feel it in my hands again, the yarn being drawn through my fingers, the calm rhythm of hooking......so peaceful and soothing.


I'm relatively new to crochet.....well, I say new.....my Nana actually taught me when I was a little girl....she taught me many things, my wonderful Nana.....I used to sit for hours at her feet, sewing buttons onto facecloths, sorting the buttons into sizes, colours, etc.....my Pop made me a finger knitting doll from an old wooden cotton reel and some nails.....then my Nana taught me to finger or french knit. Anyway, I digress .....my Nana taught me to crochet when I was little, but then knitting took over, and I completely forgot how to do it.....then in my late twenties I asked my Nana to crochet me a blanket....something to occupy her really.....I bought the yarn and had high hopes for a cuddly, cosy blanket.....by now though, I think she was really past producing something on this scale......so I asked her to teach me to crochet instead, so I could complete the blanket myself, and not waste the yarn. I picked it up quite quickly, my old memories brought back to the fore.....and I completed that lovely blanket..... unfortunately, as time has gone by, my tastes have changed, and the colours are less than appealing to me now.....but I still have the blanket, stored away.....think it's about time to bring it out into the light of day again though.


Anyway, after finishing it, life kinda took over.....I had one Angel, then another.... and before I knew it, I had four darling Angels.....a crochet hook was never held again. Until quite recently that is......I had rather a stash of balls of yarn, all odds and sods that had been used for a variety of knitting projects over the years, and I decided it was time to get rid of them....use them up.....I had this idea that if I taught myself to crochet again, I could just make some little things like crocheted flowers to use as brooches or the like, which would use up my stash....AND....give me some pretty new brooches to boot. So I took a cruise around Amazon and bought this lovely book Cute and Easy Crochet which has easy to follow tutorial pictures for beginners, and some lovely patterns, including some easy flowers. Within minutes of starting, I was up and running.....well hooking actually....it feels like I was meant to hook....the skills my Nana taught me way back when must be somehow embedded in my brain ....I was surprised how much I enjoyed twisting and twirling that little hook.....and produced several little flowers before you could say "by hook or by crook".....my poor fingers ached!

Then I saw a picture of some charming crocheted heart bunting in a magazine which really got me excited....I set to, searching the internet for patterns to make it....I did find the pattern I wanted here, which I haven't tried yet..... but I also came across a most delightful teeny tiny heart pattern and tutorial at Attic24....this incidentally opened my eyes to the world of blogging, of which I now hugely enjoy....both reading my favs .....and writing my own. But again, I digress....I was off.....teeny tiny hearts strung onto a ribbon of single crochet were popping up all over our house.....in the kitchen...

in the larder......using a slightly different heart pattern I found here.......

on the Miss' bedroom door.......

And of course, I couldn't leave my Lads out, so I thought little flags on a string of single crochet would be more appropriate for their bedroom door......

And strung in the bathroom too.......

Then the third issue of MollieMakes dropped through my letterflap with gorgeous teeny tiny flowers and butterflies.....so they were made with some teeny tiny hearts....and strung onto a ribbon of single crochet.....a gift for my friend S, for her new campervan.......

Which brings me back to Tuesday....enjoying the feel of a hook again, the soothing rhythm of hooking. I'd love to make a gorgeous snuggly ripply blanket like Lucy's here....but it would use just soooo much yarn....and I have rather a penchant for deliciously soft, cosy, natural yarn.....the thought of all the necessary pennies makes my eyes water......that ripply blankie will just have to wait for now....I'll have to stick with the pretty flowers like Big Miss A's, and teeny tiny bunting.

-xx-