Some of you might have noticed that I’ve been modelling some new homemade knitwear on my twitter profile. What do you do with all of those colorful yarns ends that need using up? Those bits of scraps will forever be at the bottom of your wool bag, but here’s how to make a warm woolly accessory and crochet up all those loose ends.

This hat by bad bad magpie caught my eye on Flickr – as do most of my crochet projects, like the Manta Hueco Zig Zag Cushion cover. I really liked the colorful randomness of the pattern, which is made up of different coloured yarns, but each round has the constant dark green or sage strand running through it. It inspired me for my next project, a thick woolly snood.

I started making this snood while I was between projects, and had lots of yarn ends and scraps that needed using up. I use three colours in one yarn, my main constant colour was going to be purple (my favourite colour), and I decided to keep the colour scheme graduating from one colour to another, with each . For example;

Round 1 was green, black, purple,

Round 2 was red, black, purple,

Round 3 was dark red, red, purple…. and so on.

The wool used was mostly Stylecraft DK and I used a 8mm crochet hook. The pattern was also very simple:

Ch to the desired length of the snood – this one was at least Ch 120 and slip stitch the foundation chain without twisting it so you have a continuous loop. Round 1 is a continuous round of  double crochet stitches, and then round 2 is a continuous round of triple crochets in the same colour. Round 3 is a colour change, and then a repeat of the round of DC stitches and then DTR stitched. Easy peasy, but look tri-brilliant!

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I’m quite chuffed with this pair. They don’t match, but this stripey wool twosome were the perfect crochet cushion covers for some Ikea cushions that we have had for yonks. It’s a really easy pattern, as long as you have already nailed the mighty Granny Square, and I’m going to show you how to make.

I had been eyeing up a Manta Hueco Zig Zag design on a photo on Flickr, and asked the maker who I could make my own amazing creation, and the reply was, just google it! The pattern is  traditionally made of small granny squares and the corners are stitched together, but then zig-zag stripes are made either side of the squares. A tutorial on this Spanish blog ‘buscando comienzos’ provided all the information that I needed to start this pattern off.

How To Make

To make the cover you need to make 3/4 granny squares that are the length of your cushion when arranged diagonally in a straight line. You make the stripes like making normal rounds on a granny square (3TC Ch1 or Ch2 if on a corner) , but when you go to attach the squares on the decent, you need to do this unusual stitch.

1) Begin a triple crochet stitch as normal – yarn over the hook, insert into the stitch, yarn over again, pull through two loops

2) Rather than finishing the stitch, you want to start making the next triple crochet. Do this twice more, so you have four loops on your hook, and three unfinished stitches.

2 ) Continue into the next square, by repeating the above process again, so there are three more unfinished stitches and 7 loops on your hook.

3) Yarn over and pull through all 7 of the stitches. Ch 1.

Once you have nailed that stitch (anyone have any ideas of it’s name?) then this pattern is your oyster! Continue with the rounds until the work wraps around the cushion and the points of the zig zags touch, and connect the work by doing reverse granny squares with the above stitch. Stitch one side together with a DC seam, and the other side sew 5 buttons.

Ta Ta! Now you have a super stylish stripy cushion cover. Who said granny squares are boring? Not when they are stripetastic! Have you made something with Manta Hueco pattern? Feel free to share your stripey wares in the comments below!

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How you read the web – and 5 ways to improve your copywriting

I’ve got some bad news for you. Of all the brilliant, titillating and engaging online content that you are writing for your website, only 28% of those words are read by your audience. Web users don’t gorge over every word when they read the web, they scan for the information that they need. To optimize your copy, you need to understand how people read the web.

The F Word

Our eyes tend to read web pages with this dominant F pattern, rather than left to right, according to research by Neilson Norman. And what does that F mean? Fast, as we scan over pages in seconds, looking for the information we need. We read only two words, before we decide to commit to reading the entire page.

Link: nngroup f shaped reading pattern article

It’s not the same every time, but there is a trend of reading full length of the top bar, a second horizontal movement further down, and little scans dotted in the main copy. This shows how important titles & subheadings are in your content.

The first two paragraphs

If you have made it down this far – hurrah! You are probably one of the 16% of people who read websites word for word! The first two paragraphs are the most read parts of the article, people rarely tend to read beyond this. Make sure that your opening paragraph contains your article summary or conclusion and your first paragraph is a keeper. Keep it to a point per paragraph, and try to be as clear and concise as possible. If you are inserting dictionary hunting terms or words, you are doing it wrong.

The Left/Right divide

The web is the best place to lean-to the left, as 70% of words are read on the left hand side of the page, compared to 30% of words on the right. Take advantage of this trend with bullet point lists, and subheadings.

Slow scanning

The internet is no Jane Austin – we read the web very differently to books, novels or other documents. When we finally get down to it, we actually read 25% slower when we are online, and this is to do with how we scan for the information we are looking for, picking out individual words and sentences, often re-reading when we having found the information we need the first time around. Highlighting or bolding the important words, tips and keywords. will help your readers find the info they need.

A picture tells a thousand words

A phrase that have never been more true on the internet. How often have you clicked on an article because the image was so inviting? The more relevant images you can use to sell your content the better, as these are better for conveying information than any paragraphs. And if you want people to like it, put a gif on it.

For more tips and info on writing better copy for your webpages, read more of Neilson’s research.

Is it a Violet? Is it a Pansy? Or is it a Waterflower? I came across this beautiful flower crochet pattern and was a little perplexed, not only about what kind of flower it was, but also about the instructions, which were half in Spanish. But after falling in love with the pattern, I decided to take it on, and when I found the spanglish a little confusing, so I’ve decided to re-write the pattern with alterations. Now you can learn the best way that I learn… with lots and lots of pictures.

1) Make an adjustable ring – make a loop with the end of the yarn over the main wool. Insert the hook into the loop, pull the main wool line and twist under the loop.

Round 1 – Yellow

2) Chain 3, and then 15 Triple Crochet stitches (TC), so that you have 16 stitches in total on your first round.

3) Pull the loose end on the adjustable ring and join the rounds with a slip stitch.

Round 2 – Purple

4) In the first stitch, Chain 3 then in the make 3TC in the same stitch. 

5) Skip the next stitch, and 4TC in the next one.

6) Repeat 6 more times. Join with a slip stitch. This will then be the beginning of your petals.

Round 3 – Blue

7) Make a loop in the first stitch, and then insert into the adjacent remaining stitch on round 1, and pull the yarn through the top. Pull the yarn through both loops (kind of like a single crochet stitch)

8) In the next stitch make a Double Crochet (DC). In the next stitch 2 TC 2 chains(C) and 2TC, all in the same stitch! In the next stitch, a Single crochet (SC). This will make a scallop for your petal..

9) Make a SC by inserting the yarn into the spare stich on the first round – like in step 7.

10) Repeat steps 7/8 on the rest of the round so that you have 8 petals. Finish with a slip stitch.

Now you could stop there if you wanted to. But if you want to go the whole hog and add petals… l

Round 4 – Leaf stem

11) Holding the front of the work towards you, insert the hook into the larger loop on the back of your work you created between the 1st and 3rd rounds. 6C.

12) Turn around and do 5 Slip stitches back along your chains, and then 1 more on the loop between your 1/3rd round to secure the stem.

13) Chain 4 to the next 1/3 round loop.

14) Repeat steps 11 to 13 until you have 8 leaf stems.

Round 5 – The Leaves

15) With a lighter green and holding the front of the flower towards you, works from right to left at the base of the leaf stems, 3 TC, 1DC, 1SC, and then a 2 chain picot stitch at the tip.

16) Work back along the leaf with a 1SC, 1 DC, 3TC to the leaf base and do a slip stitch at the base.

17) Moving to the next stem, do a slip stitch halfway round the connecting stem and repeat steps 15/16 on the rest of the 7 leaves.

And that’s it! Ta-da! You have a very pretty finished flower, complete with leaves. You can experiment with the colours with these flowers – I’ve gone for a multicoloured vibe with these.

Check back soon for a great way to connect these flowers and make something very useful…

Another year has rolled around already. ALREADY? In 2012 I have mastered the art of cross-stitch and crochet, worked on a lot of TV programmes and websites. Now is a perfect time to set up those goals and dreams that you would like/hope/wish/bleakly aspire to accomplish in 2013. I’m hoping that writing them down will mean that I will stick to them (or others will encourage me to stick to them too), here’s mine. Just a few.

1.) To post a blog post a week. Either for this blog, or others. Note: it doesn’t need to be writing specific, but it can just be something that inspires.

2.) Do more. Read more. Tweet more. Make more things. Take more photos. Go to more events. See more of my friends. Do more fun stuff.

3.) Make a video. I’m not saying I need to learn the entire mechanics of FCP, but at least make a short video and put it together.

Short, sweet, simple. Here’s to 2013!

Image by elycefeliz via creative commons on Flickr.

Another year, another list. I am sure you music fans have read enough summary lists to make your eyes bleed, but here is another one to add into the best-of pot; my favourite musical stylings of the year. As always, it’s a lot of electronica with a few guitars hidden in there, but 2012 might be the year that I am finally starting to accept and, dare I say it, like R&B – see Usher and Everett James. Childish Gambino almost made the list but as I still can’t bear to like Community, that heart can beat somewhere else.

There’s two entries by John Talabot, so my album of the year has to be his masterpiece Fin. While there are several standout tracks, the record is a seamless after-party journey that stands strong in the age of downloads and playlists. This list, like the rest, is in the order of discovery and personal poignancy. And you can listen to them all in this Spotify playlist.

Nightcall – Kavinsky

So Will be Now…feat. Pional – John Talabot

Genesis – Grimes

Dsy Chn – Scuba

Modern Driveway – Luke Abbott

No.1 Against the Rush – Liars

Get Free – Major Lazor

Climax – Usher

Shot Through the Heart – Everett James

As a Child – Lone (feat. Machinedrum)

Acireams – Dauwd

When the Past was Present - John Talabot

Exercise 5 (September) – CFCF

Cool Party – Groundislava

Good Enough – xxyyxx

Champagne Coast – Blood Orange

Hanging On – Active Child

Steve McQueen (Maps Remix) – M83

So there we have it. My big tunes. Want to check out some of my old lists? Here’s the posts from 2011, 2010 & 2009.

To begin with I did a lot of Pinterest research – If research counts as looking at other people’s gorgeous items and thinking “I wish I could make that”, until I finally settled on recreating a similar design to this one featured on the Little Tin Bird blog. It’s not in my nature to keep things small and square. With Rosie, life has to be big, bold and colourful. And even better for me, there was a tutorial to recreate the magic on the post, as well as plenty more tutorials to look through. Hurrah!

So. I had picked the pattern. Now to pick the yarn. I had discovered that my local sewing shop lives up to it’s name, Sew Amazing. It stocked lots of different varieties of the colorful Stylecraft Double knit DK, which was my yarn of choice, for cost (£2.50 a pop) and aesthetic reasons. Living room wise, we have a  red sofa, a green rug, and accents of different colours around the room, so I decided that the main colour of the blanket should be lime green, with each square having a different multicolored accent colours. In practice, some of the squares took a  rainbow and graduated turn rather than completely random. Armed with a 4mm crochet hook from amazon, I was ready to rock & wool!

I was going well… until I got stuck. I had forgotten all those wise words those amazings taught me! Thankfully Youtube came to my rescue. If you ever have a question, 9/10 there is a YouTube tutorial answering it. And for me, this was my gospel. Four months later I had completed all the squares, or so I first thought, thinking that 12 squares was going to be enough, bearing in mind it took me about 3 hours to make justvone square of 18 rounds. It wasn’t. I had to do 15, or else it wasn’t going to cover my toes. This was going to be a giant blanket…

Post assembly, joining and a few extra rounds around the whole blanket and I’m not just impressed with the result, I’m now properly addicted.

I’m already dreaming up new projects. tutorials, and homewares. I’m afraid by previous love of cross-stitch is now taking a bit of a back foot! But if I could do it all again, I would pass on the following tips:

1. Do a test square first. You don’t have to use it in the final pattern, but it’s important that you get the pattern nailed before you carry on. Everyone makes makes mistakes in the beginning, and your first project is not going to be perfect. But the best bit about crochet is that you can unravel if you go wrong!
2. Watch a master in action. They can teach you things about the craft that you can’t learn from a book. Like the best way to hold wool. Or crochet anecdotes. And if you are lucky, their skillz might be catching…
3. Buy all your wool in advance – and then some.  I made the tragic mistake of not buy enough of my lime green wool to finish my lime green border. Unknown to me at the time, wool is dyed in batches, and once the whole batch has gone, the next batch might be the same shade, but not the same tone – which is silly of me not to realise that now thinking about it. I used 3 balls of the lime green, and still needed more. Next time, I’m buying bulk.
4. Buy your wool in person if you can. Then you can really get a feel for the textures and qualities, as well as comparing those all important colours. You can always buy your favourite kinds online later on, but it’s important to support local traders!
5. Absorb ideas everywhere. Read blogs. Make a Pinterest board. Like pictures on Instgram. Keep collecting visual examples of projects to inspire and challenge yourself ton the next project. The craft community is lovely too, be sure to share the love! Books are great, but the internet is your friend. Here’s a few blogs that have defiantly inspired me along the way: One Sheepish Girl, The Purl Bee andA Beautiful Mess.

So there are my thoughts and musings from a crochet beginner, even now I am no longer a novice. but it’s OK. Because I am making pretty things If anyone has any crochet thoughts, stories or musings as a beginner, be sure to let me know in the comments, I would love to hear from you!

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Last weekend, I completed not one, but two (yes TWO!) crochet projects. I have only recently taken up the craft, to take little break from my recent cross stitch embroidery, while I start to draw and come up with some of my own design ideas to work on. This scarf was my second yarn project, I started it when we took a trip away to stay at the Down Hall Country Hotel. I was grumbling that I couldn’t take my first project with me for the trip, so  my boyfriend requested that I started to make him a multi-coloured wool scarf instead.

I began my search for the pattern by searching crochet images on pinterest and instagram, and asking the owners of interesting work where their stitch came from. I’m always big on bright colours (life is far too short to wear grey) and like me, Ross wanted the scarf to be as multi-colored as possible, almost rainbow. The finished scarf has a bit of a Tom Baker about it, and will defiantly brighten up any rainy day. It took me just under a month to make, on and off, growing to be over 6 foot long. In the end he was very chuffed – well I hope so anyway!

The crochet stitch itself a  ripple stitch, or wave stitch. I followed this AMAZING tutorial on Attic24 - this blog is an idea haven. The only tricky part was learning the tr2tog (treble two together), but if you have mastered the granny square, this pattern is a piece of cake. I started with a chain of 45, and did go a little wrong in the beginning as I didn’t follow the pattern as strictly as I should have, but it just made on of the ends a little uneven – but to be fair this stitch isn’t known for being straight!

The thing that make this scarf so special is the mesmerising nature of the ripples, you are instantly drawn into the relaxing nature of this pattern – and I reminded me of my water ripple photographs from my trip to Spain. I have seen many blankets created in this pattern, and it truly does allow you to experiment with the colours as much as you like. You don’t need to use the same colours to again, or repeat the same ones again. But for me it was defiantly the graduated effects of the multi-coloured rainbow that I thought looked the best.

So there it is, my rainbow ripple scarf! And a very big recommendation to any crochet beginners!

Read the tutorial on Attic 24

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We had cream teas, dinner, long countryside walks… and watched a lot of daytime TV from our suite-sized room. The house even had a crazy fake bookshelf lift with classic novels like ‘The Monograph of Horny Sponges’, and a piano hosting giant wedding albums at the venue (although sadly not Jade Goody’s). I took a few pictures of all the antique vintage treasures around the our weekend pad.

To see more pics take a peek at my Down Hall Country House Hotel Flickr set.

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