Wild About Yarn Magazine, Issue 2, Summer - The Mindful issue

 Wild about Yarn Magazine - The Mindful Issue

Issue 2, Summer, out now!

Click here to Order it on Etsy: Wild About Yarn Magazine Issue 2!!

 This the Mindful Issue, arriving just in time to whisper in our ears to slow down and take some time out. It's going to be a wonderful Christmas, don't you think?

(P.S. if you missed Issue 1, it's available at a discount  on Etsy here: Wild About Yarn Magazine 1 and 2)

The magazine is ready to ship and there are three interviews, patterns, a recipe of course, and free stuff too!  You'll receive a free PDF downloadable pattern for the handy Circles of Summer Pouch  (right)  that goes with the gorgeous bag in my favourite colours!

The amazing and generous Marianne Dekkers-Roos  from the Netherlands is our featured creator and the pages are just bursting with  the colour and of her designs!  Marianne comes from a long line or matriarchal creatives on both sides of the family and shares some poignant moments with us.

The magazine has a mandala to colour in, a delicious recipe for cute cupcakes and a link to a free crocheted mandala online!

The Tassel for the bag and pouch are both on the blog and free for everyone. I  love the embellished top using buttonhole stitch - it's so easy to do and finishes the tassel beautifully!

Did you miss the first issue?  Don't worry...it's discounted and available on Etsy with the current issue (go to the shop here  )

We love to see where you read your magazine so send us photos on Instagram with the hashtag #wildaboutyarnmag or #waymindfulness (wild about yarn mindfulness) and we'll feature some of these in the next magazine!

Have a happy start to December and take some time  for you.

Happy Yarning,

Lu x

Your pouch pattern will arrive in your email inbox once you have ordered..

Click here  Tassel Time tutorial for the link

This gorgeous Circles of Summer Bag pattern is in Issue 2...with its pompom border and tassels 

           

Tassel Time Tutorial

Tassel Time TUTORIAL 

– the tassel for Circles of Summer Bag and Pouch

                   Here is a free tassel tutorial.  You do not need to do the decorative  netting across the top. The tassel will still be functional as it is.

3m of one colour or 1.5 m of two colours.

Tapestry needle, scissors 

Cardboard 12cm x 5cm                                                                                             

1. Cut yarn 1.5 metres in two colours (or 3m of one colour) for the bag.  (Cut the fringe shorter for the pouch.)

2.  Make a twisted cord.   (A great tutorial can be found here Twisted cord Tutorial) 

**Twisted cord instructions – take 1 metre of yarn. Fold it in half and tie the two ends together in a knot.

Put both loops over the index fingers of both hands. Keep the tension on the yarn and twist the cord in opposite directions until it starts to get tight.  To test if it’s ready to twist, release the yarn a little.  Does it twist madly on itself?  It’s ready if it does. If not, keep twisting in opposite directions.  You might like to hold the cord it in the middle before letting go gently.  When you let it go, it will twist on itself into a cord.    

(i) Attach the twisted cord with a larks head knot

3. Wrap around a piece of cardboard 15cm x 5cm.  (photo i)

4. Loop the twisted cord under the top of folded tassel and make a larks head knot to secure it.     Cut the bottom edge of the tassel on the cardboard.                                         

5. Wrap and tie a 30cm piece of yarn 3cm from folded top of the tassel. This is the BAND.  Secure with a knot and then hide the loose end back inside the tassel.     

                    

The embellished top starts at the wrapped band. 

Decorative top

Attach yarn to the wrapped band. 

1. Thread up a metre of yarn onto a tapestry needle. Turn your tassel upside down to start the decorative top by attaching the yarn to the tied skirt.

2. Loop all around the skirt band with buttonhole stitch as shown to the right.

3. Continue doing buttonhole stitch.  As the tassel belly gets narrower, make the loops a little tighter.  Secure the end of the yarn inside the tassel.   

L. Douglas  ©2015  

Bunny jacket and bunny brooch - free pattern

Blossom with her brooch and Charlotte, the ladybird, hitching a ride  

A jacket and a brooch for someone special...

  

Yay!!  Now Blossom is getting a wardrobe!   I have designed a sweet jacket and brooch - a bunny of course!   So easy to make. The brooch would be perfect for a child .   
(Charlotte the ladybird brooch can be found as a free pattern on the blog)

In the weeks leading up to Easter, I designed a most cute bunny
    

 (find it here http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/blossom-bunny-and-her-pocket-pals ) 

 but as Autumn arrived, I thought it was time to make a jacket for Blossom! And what better than a mini bunny brooch to put on the jacket! Take a look...

The bunny brooch is a cute pin for a child too...

Blossom seems happy with her jacket

The Granny hexagon (in fact ANY hexagon) is one of my favourite blocks to make.  It’s so easy and has many applications.  It also reminds me of a time past, when scrap blankets were a necessity. During hard times, the granny square was used widely by even the most inexperienced of crocheters (is there such a word -crocheters?). 

Bunny Brooch

3.00mm hook,  grey yarn ( 4ply) (yarn from Spotlight) 

Magic ring

1ch (does not count as a stitch)

1. 6dc into the ring, slst into the first dc.

2. 2dc in each dc all round.  (12sts) slst into the first dc.

3. *2dc, 1dc, in next dc, Repeat from * all round (18st)

4,5.  Dc in every stitch. (stuff the  head lightly)

6.  1dc, dc2tog, repeat all round (12sts)

7.  dc2tog all round

8. dc2tog again all round.  Gather up the last three sts  by running the yarn through them.  Secure inside the head.

EARS  (make two)

 Slst the yarn into the side of the head and pick up 4 sts.

1. ch1, dc aross the 4 sts. Turn.

2.  ch1, dc across 4 sts.

3. dc2tog, dc across 2 sts.

4. dc2tog, dc across 2st

5. dc across two sts.

6. dc2tog.

Fasten off and weave the loose tail into the ear and into the head. 

Repeat for the other side.

Black yarn – thread the yarn into a needle.   Stitch straight stitches for the nose and eyes, and then do a stitch for the mouth.   Lose the thread in the head and cut it off. 

Sew a brooch pin on to the back of the head using sewing cotton.  

Blossom Bunny jacket

 Yarn – 4ply, 3.0mm hook, tapestry needle, button.

Make two squares of five rows following the pattern as shown in the diagram.   (if your tension is tight, make another row all round each square. )

1. Magic ring, 3c h, 2tr, 1ch.  2tr into the ring, 1ch, *3tr, 1ch, repeat four more times.

2.  Slst into the  top of the beg 3ch, then slipstitch into the next three stitches,  the third  slst will be in the ch space.   (There will be four slipped stitches  at the beginning of each row.)   3ch, 2tr, 1ch, *3tr, 1ch into the next ch space, Repeat from * all round.   Sl st into the next four stitches ending in the 1ch space.  Slst into the top of the beg 3ch, then slipstitch into the next three stitches, the third one ending in the next ch space.  

3. In this row, you are going to do the same 3ch to start, then (2tr, 1ch, 3tr) in the same 1ch space, then

    *3tr, 1ch in the next ch space, 3tr, 1ch, 3tr in the next ch space. Repeat from * all round alternating  a 3tr, 1ch, 3tr 1ch,  and 3tr, 1ch in the 1ch spaces.  Slip stitch into the next four stitches.

4. This time, you will start as usual 3ch in place of the treble, 2tr,1ch, 3tr in the same space,  *3tr, 1ch, 3tr, 1ch in the next ch space,  3tr, 1ch in the next chain space then 3tr 1ch in the next ch space. Repeat all round alternating with one 3,1,3, then two 3,1.  Slip stitch into the next four stitches.

5.  3ch start, 2tr, 1ch, 3tr, 1ch in the first chain space.   

End by slip stitching into the 3^rd ch of the beginning 3ch.

Stitch two squares together along one edge. This is the back seam. (figure I page 3)

Then fold the bottom corners up to make the right angle.

                                   Stitch shoulders for 8cms  

SLEEVE HEM     

Attach yarn to the seam of the sleeve.  Dc around the hem of the sleeve in this pattern:

*Dc, dc, (dc, 3ch, dc) in the same place, repeat all round so you get the picot edge.  Slst into the first dc. Fasten off thread.

Bottom hem

Attach yarn to the bottom of the left side front, crochet all the way around the bottom hem and back to the right hand side doing the same pattern:

 ch1, dc in every stitch.   Slst into the first  ch.  Fasten off thread.

Front bands  

Attach yarn to the neck of the left front opening, D.   Ch1, dc in every stitch from neck to hem (to C) .  Turn, ch1, dc all the way back, turn, ch1, dc all the way along. Fasten off.

Repeat for the right side front, begin at the neck, B, ch1 and dc all the way to A.  When you have completed three rows, and you are at the neck again, make 6 chain, dc in the same place as the last dc, fasten off. This will be the button loop.

Sew button on.

It's time to get back to crocheting my poncho, the baby blanket and those other distracting motifs I keep  designing!   

Happy yarning!
Lu x

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