Bring Me Sunshine - A Free Festive Corsage Pattern

The Festive season is drawing ever nearer, so to continue my theme of bringing you some sunshine, I’ve decided to share with you an incredibly simple pattern for a knitted corsage.  You can really let your creativity run wild with this pattern, as it provides the starting blocks to all manner of beautiful corsages, brooches and hair decorations.  It only takes around an hour to make so is perfect for making last minute gifts. An added bonus is it only takes a few grams of yarn to make one. In fact you could knit the petals in different colours to use up the smallest of left overs!

The pattern can be followed using thicker or thinner yarn, smaller or bigger needles, all just resulting in bigger or smaller finished items.  Decorate with oddments of ribbon, lace, buttons and beads for a truly unique looking piece.

You can download your PDF copy of the free pattern by following this link.  Don't forget, you don’t need to be a member of Ravelry to do this. 

I do hope you enjoy this little ray of Yuletide sunshine! 

For now, 
Susan xx

Images copyright Susan Crawford 2015 Images not to be used without permission of the copyright holder

Bring Me Sunshine - The Bowtie Tie Free Pattern

So to get this party started here is the Bowtie Tie knitting pattern. The tie is knitted in a standard 4ply yarn and can be customised to suit whatever colour or style you might fancy knitting.

The pattern includes charts for two logos which can be knitted as part of the tie - the Chevrolet logo - known as the Bowtie and the International Harvester logo - known as Man on Tractor. You can knit the tie with or without the logos. You could add your own logo or knit it in one colour or striped if you prefer. The world is your oyster!

The pattern also includes instructions on how to back the tie with fabric if you prefer.

And the pattern is completely free. Just follow the download link below to obtain your PDF of the pattern.

download now

I hope you enjoy it. Stop by tomorrow for a delicious and simple soup recipe.

for now,
Susan xx

Bring Me Sunshine

With Advent upon us and with so much sadness and conflict all around, I felt I needed to do something positive to bring just a little light and happiness - to the pages of my blog at least.

So for the whole of the Christmas period, I will be sharing some quick posts which will include free patterns, recipes, tips and hints, favourite songs - whatever makes me happy on a given day - in the hope that it will bring a little sunshine into your day too.

As I tried to think of a working title for these posts, the theme tune to the immortal comedy duo, Morecambe and Wise came into my head.

 
As a child of the 70s and 80s I grew up watching Morecambe and Wise every Christmas. I still watch them at every opportunity to this day and I only need to see Eric Morecambe on screen for the briefest of moments to start to giggle. They are so much a part of me that I bought the videos and then all the DVDs of their TV shows so I could introduce my daughter to them and keep watching them myself. My Albert grand-dad modelled himself on Eric and to me as a child I guess they became almost interchangeable and watching Eric on TV was as though I was getting to see my grand-dad on the small screen.

I now live not far from Morecambe Bay and to the seaside town of Morecambe itself, where Eric Bartholomew was born, and from where he took his stage name. The rest as they say is history. A fabulous statue now stands on Morecambe promenade dedicated to the town's most famous and most loveable son.

So without further ado, for our first ray of sunshine on a cold, miserable day, here are the dynamic duo singing their famous rendition of the song

And here are the words if you want to sing along - try it. There's something about it that cheers the soul no matter how bleak the world is around you.

Bring me Sunshine, in your smile,
Bring me Laughter, all the while,
In this world where we live, there should be more happiness,
So much joy you can give, to each brand new bright tomorrow,

Make me happy, through the years,
Never bring me, any tears,
Let your arms be as warm as the sun from up above,
Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love.

Bring me Sunshine, in your eyes,
Bring me rainbows, from the skies,
Life's too short to be spent having anything but fun,
We can be so content, if we gather little sunbeams,

Be light-hearted, all day long,
Keep me singing, happy songs,
Let your arms be as warm as the sun from up above,
Bring me fun, bring me sunshine, bring me love.

Sylvia Dee & Arthur Kent

For more wonderful clips from this amazing duo, head to youtube and search for Morecambe and Wise and while away a few hours!

Call back tomorrow morning for our first free pattern. Just perfect for rustling up a quick hand made gift.

for now,
Susan xx

Torshavn - free pattern

I had so many patterns planned to be released, published, uploaded, introduced, you name it, before I head off to Shetland, however, as often seems to be the way the four page list of things to do grew and grew and grew and before I knew it, I've almost run out of time and my case isn't even packed yet!

So instead I will simply introduce Torshavn.

This great little cowl takes only only ball each of two colours of Excelana DK, knits up extremely quickly and is a fabulous introduction to both traditional Faroese patterns and stranded colour work.

Torshavn is knitted from the bottom up in the round using an all-over 6 stitch/row pattern repeat. The intuitive pattern is adapted from one first recorded in the 1920s in the book "Foroysk Bindingarmynstur ". The pattern repeat cleverly ensures that no weaving of colours at the back is required as colours are never carried across more than a few stitches at a time.

I've deliberately made the cowl quite short to fit in with vintage styling more. I often wear a winter coat that has a decorative collar - quite widely cut and very 1950s in style and topped with a brooch - so rather than cover this up I have designed the cowl to sit inside one's collar to fill the gap above your coat and to keep you snug. No need to tuck in under your coat as you would a scarf and no hiding of your favourite coat.  However if you prefer a more contemporary look you can very easily make the cowl longer by increasing the number of stitches cast-on by 12 stitches at a time.

So, to celebrate that Shetland Wool Week is nearly here and that I am off to Shetland I am offering the pattern for FREE until the end of October. You can download the pattern on my ravelry page here.


Here is the information you need to know if you would like to knit Torshavn:

Materials Required

Excelana Luxury DK, 100% pure new British wool, 119m/130yds per 50g ball

1 ball each shades Persian Grey & Alabaster

1 4mm circular needle, 60cm long

Finished Size

Circumference: 52cm (20.5in)

Height: 15.5cm (6in)

You can purchase the yarn for the cowl here

If Faroese knitting and patterns interest you I am also running a Faroese knitting workshop on the 27th October with the lovely ladies from Purlesque. Expanding on the basic Torshavn cowl we will expand the techniques employed and the patterns used to create a cowl unique to you.

You can find all the details on the Purlesque website here.

Internet connection being what it is when you're in a beautiful cottage overlooking the Atlantic Ocean I may not get to blog properly until I return, but I will tweet and instagram as often as possible so please do take a look at my feeds on both of these for photos of Shetland.


So for now,
Ruby xxx

Simple Crocheted Bath Mat

A few weeks ago I decided to use up a large stash of aran or worsted weight cotton. We had just begun renovating our tired 1970s bathroom on an extremely limited budget and a simple, quick to make, washable bath mat from stash yarn was just the ticket! I decided on crochet as speed was of the essence. I also decided to double up the yarn to really get it moving and here is the finished result.

Pretty fab! A lot of people on twitter were asking all about it and whether it would be released as a pattern. Now I really don't think even as a full time designer I can claim the finished product as a pattern but I thought it would be really nice to share the simple instructions with everyone here so that you can use whatever stash you may have to create your own version. I've used UK crochet terms for the instructions but I've added a little translation too.

Materials

10 50g balls Jo Sharp Desert Garden, aran weight cotton in green (55m/60yds) per 50g ball - MC
6  50 g balls Jo Sharp Desert Garden, aran weight cotton in light grey - CC
5mm crochet hook

Yarn used double throughout

Finished dimensions
before edging - 50cm (19.5in) wide by 61cm (24in) tall
after edging - 60cm (23.5in) wide by 70cm (27.5in) tall

UK trebles = US double crochet

Instructions

Using MC doubled, make 60 chains.
** Continuing in MC, work 6 rows of trebles across all sts.
Change to CC doubled and work 2 rows of trebles.

Repeat from ** a further 5 times, then work 6 rows of trebles in MC once more.

Edging
Commencing from the same point work a row of trebles using CC doubled up to first corner. Work three trebles into corner stitch then work along first side edge working 2 trebles along the side edge of each treble row until corner is reached. Again work 3 trebles into corner. Work a row of trebles along cast on chain and then 3 trebles into the next corner. Work along second side edge again working 2 trebles along this side edge as for the first. At the last corner work 3 trebles into corner then slip stitch to beginning st on row. Change to MC doubled and work a row of trebles in the same way working additional trebles up to new corner stitches and then working 3 trebles into each one. When row completed change back to CC doubled and work one final row in the same way.

On the wrong side darn in ends and press mat. And two nights work later a finished bath mat!

You can use any two colours or any combination of colours depending on what cotton you have in your stash. This particular cotton is a soft matt rather than a crisp mercerised cotton so even doubled it was still reasonably soft to work with.

Over to you, have fun!

for now,
Ruby xx

Sometimes, life disappoints

I was really disappointed to find out yesterday that someone is selling one of my designs, knitted up, on ebay. An email has been sent to the person asking them to remove the items from sale, but its just a real shame that people do this. I've had similar experiences before and it always knocks the wind out of my sails. I have offered those designs for free and at my own expense - yarn, time, blog/web page costs - and would like to think that people have the decency not to try and make money from other people's efforts. But I have been proven wrong yet again. I'm sure these people would be the first to complain if there were no more free patterns available, but it does make you want to stop.

I could say a lot more, but I will leave it at that.

for now,
a sad Ruby xx

Necks

Why necks? Well for two reasons. The first is why I haven't blogged for a week. My neck, my dammed annoying neck. Part of my long term reoccuring mobility problems are due to two of the vertebrae being partially fused together and having a fondness to pop out of joint. Tension in my neck caused by this happening at the weekend caused my shoulder to dislocate, the muscles in my thorax to twist and my hip to pop out too! All this has meant repeated visits to the therapist and no knitting or computing. I've got my last visit this morning to put the neck and finally the hip back in. However, enough of the moaning. I really only wanted to tell you yet another saga about the neck so you would understand my absence (shouldn't be here now - but don't tell anyone!)

The second reason to focus on necks is that last week I made my own version of a Tippet (a neck warmer). I took the basic stitch pattern from the 1880 Ladies Knitting Book and 'filled' the instructions out somewhat, and in view of the ice still on the ground I thought I would share the pattern here.

Ruby's Tippet





Materials

Two balls Noro Silk Garden
I Large button
1 pair 5mm needles

Pattern

Cast on 39sts using 5mm needles

1st Row: *yfwd, SL1, K2tog, rep from * to end of row.
Repeat this row throughout.



This one row pattern gives a very nice exaggerated rib effect but much more textural than a normal rib.

Work without shaping until tippet measures 54 cm (21.5inches)

Work buttonhole as follows:

1st row(RS): work 6 patt reps., K2, Cast off first st., K1, cast off 1,
yfwd k2tog., patt to end.

2nd row: Patt to last st before cast off sts., K1, turn, cast on 3sts,
bringing yfwd between last 2 cast on sts., turn, K1, yfwd, K2tog, patt to end.

3rd row: Work 6 patt reps., K1, yfwd, (K2tog)twice, work 6 patt reps to end.

Now work a further 26 rows in patt.
Cast off.
Darn in ends. Sew on button.



Copyright Justcallmeruby@2008

I will try and get some professional photos done at the knitonthenet shoot in a couple of weeks as I don't really think the photos here do it justice.

Unfortunately, I can't find the camera card with the photos of my 40's hair do at
present. My beloved has put it somewhere safe, but as soon as I find it I will put them up.

And finally, last year the lovely Susie Hewer, ran a series of marathons culminating in her entering the Guiness Book of Records for knitting the longest scarf whilst running a marathon.



This is her after the race last year.

Susie did all this on behalf of the Alzheimer's Research Trust. Susie has just announced she's doing it again, and is going to try and beat her record.

You can find out all about it here.

P.S. Susie's also a redhead!

for now
Ruby xx

Last Post - for today!

This is just a little glimpse of my design for www.knitonthenet.com for their February issue. It uses Rowan Little Big Wool and is a great starter project for people wanting to move on from scarves. Its also a great present pattern as it can be knitted in a couple of evenings. Look out for it soon.

For now
Ruby x

knitonthenet.com is online

So excited! www.knitonthenet.com is online with four of my designs being featured. It looks great. I'm really pleased. All the patterns are free.

Go take a look at knitonthenet.com