Crafting comfort

Today I was all set to do a review of Cute & Easy Crochet with Flowers. But it will have to wait until tomorrow.

I lost my mojo this afternoon. Something about the dreary greying of the skies, the chill-to-the-bone wet weather, combined with the early darkness of evening...around dinnertime I suddenly felt like a deflated balloon. And I’m talking about the balloon that is all lovely and buoyant when all of a sudden it’s let go and the air comes fizzing out of it, then blah. Blah.

Never mind. I’m sure all will be well tomorrow. Just a bit ho-hum now. So I’m going to take solace in some crafting.

I’m nearly done with the bright and happy floral placemat from Crochet with Flowers. The mat whipped up so quickly, mainly because I’m using the T-shirt yarn and a 9mm hook. It took one evening while watching a film. A set of four could be a quick gift for someone...

I haven’t blocked the mat or sewn on the flowers yet. The blossoms are so dinky and cute; the pattern calls for 16 of them, which won’t take long at all. I’ve adapted the flower, though, because the yarn I was using was leaving a big hole in the centre of the flower.

This is your typical chain and join with a slip stitch, but then the pattern calls for 14 double crochets into the circle – this large number can stretch certain yarns. I’m using remnants of cotton yarn I used for another project, and I wasn’t about to buy a new ball of yarn for these little flowers. So I changed the chain circle to a magic ring, with much better results.

So I’m off to crochet more flowers. Time for a big hot chocolate, my cropped poncho I made a few months ago to keep my shoulders warm, and the Great British Bake Off – things are looking up already!

Chrissie x

P.S. Quick tip: When you’re just too tired to finish the cookie-cutter sugar cookies for kids’ lunchboxes, the gourmet writing pens really come in handy...

peepo!