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Learning New Crochet Motifs

Now that I can make granny squares, I’ve started learning how to make other crochet motifs. The first was hexagons and today I started learning how to make simple flowers. I love the thrill of learning something new and then practising to refine your technique. I’ve been enjoying looking through crochet blogs and come across some wonderful tutorials, two of which taught me the two motifs below.

The flowers are in the order in which I made them, starting at the top, the same with the hexagon motifs. With both, I’m not 100% spot on with the technique, but I’m quite pleased with my progress so far. I haven’t blocked any of my crochet motifs yet, something I really should learn how to do.

For the Hexagon motif, I used the tutorial from Life on Laffer and for the flowers I used a tutorial from Attic24.

Do you have any favourite crochet sites or tutorials you’d like to share? Please do! I’ll include them in a new post with your links plus a link to you, then we can all explore fabulous crochet sites together.

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Update: More flowers! Wheee, I’m on a flower kick:

I played with the pattern and instead of doing 9 dc in the circle, I do as many as fit to make a tight circle, then add the petals. The more dc the more petals, it seems.

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What’s On Your Table?

What’s on my Table or What’s in the Bag?

I’ll open it up a little more, it looks quite full of something squishy and soft. Could it be…

Yes! Yes, it is full of yarn! Glorious yarn in many colours including the shades of pink and white yarn that I need to complete my first granny square blanket.

Ah. Now I can play with crochet motifs in many colours. And feel content that I finally found more hot pink yarn, after many weeks of searching.

I was about to enjoy a cup of tea while writing this post, however I took one sip and felt ill. I may have over-tea’d myself lately. At least with plain black, milky tea. The drain enjoyed that cup. I think I shall have a glass of apple juice instead. Do you ever over-tea yourself?

What is on your table? Join the lovely Joyce’s meme!

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What's On Your Table – Tuesday

Time for another edition of What’s On Your Table – Tuesday. I love Joyce’s squares which she is making for a wonderful charity project. What a lovely thing to do! Once my squares are a bit neater, I think I shall make some for the same project. If you want to join in with What’s On Your Table, visit Joyce and don’t forget to say hello!

I’ve been a bit behind with posting here lately. Hopefully I will be back into regular posting from now on. There has been a lot of, shall we say, ‘stuff’ going on behind the scenes. I’d rather fluff (especially if it is wool fluff from knitting and crochet) but lately it’s been stuff on my metaphorical table. More fluff, I say!

The main crafty thing I’ve been working on is still granny squares. I’m making a lot of pink & white squares plus pink & cream squares for a blanket. I started making random colours because I was just so excited to be able to crochet, but I have now settled into a colour scheme. I just counted my pile of squares – 38! Plus one circle that I made to learn how to crochet circles. The tally of squares does not include my very first square which I want to keep as a special square. Maybe in a crochet/knitting journal. Which I will start one day. Hopefully.

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What's On Your Table – Tuesday.

I’m a little late for What’s On Your Table – Tuesday, this week. Better late than never, hey? Today I went to the library and borrowed a fun stack of books.

1. Villette by Charlotte Bronte.

2. 300 Classic Blocks for Crochet Projects by Linda Schapper.

3. Retro Knits by Kari Cornell & Jean Lampe, editors.

4. Knitty Gritty Knits by Vicki Howell.

I was going to borrow a couple of copies of Simply Knitting magazine, but the other local knitters had beaten me to it! Maybe next time. For something a little different, I’ll share the first two paragraphs of Villette, you may want to read it, too! You can download the whole book from Project Gutenburg, if you’re really keen.

My godmother lived in a handsome house in the clean and ancient town
of Bretton. Her husband's family had been residents there for
generations, and bore, indeed, the name of their birthplace--Bretton
of Bretton: whether by coincidence, or because some remote ancestor
had been a personage of sufficient importance to leave his name to his
neighbourhood, I know not.

When I was a girl I went to Bretton about twice a year, and well I
liked the visit. The house and its inmates specially suited me. The
large peaceful rooms, the well-arranged furniture, the clear wide
windows, the balcony outside, looking down on a fine antique street,
where Sundays and holidays seemed always to abide--so quiet was its
atmosphere, so clean its pavement--these things pleased me well.

~ Villete by Charlotte Bronte.

I’m really looking forward to reading this book. I love the Bronte sister’s work. Treats for the imagination with such extraordinary imagery conveyed by their talented use of words.

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I made a Granny Square!

I finally figured out how to make a granny square! It’s not perfect but it is my very first granny square that actually looks like a granny square. I am so excited! After so long trying to understand crochet, I’m getting close. Ooh, maybe soon I will be able to try all those fab crochet patterns that I’ve seen in books and online. I used some Holiday 8 ply wool and a 4.5mm crochet hook. The yarn is a bit splitty, it’s only Kmart type yarn, but perfect for all the practice rounds of crochet I’ve been making.

I’m excited to have made a granny square, but also to have persisted in learning something, even though I thought I wouldn’t be able to figure it out. I regularly give up projects before I have even started because I think I will do it wrong. Every stitch in this square is a reminder to myself that I can learn new things, I just have to give it a try and practice. Enjoy the whole process, including the mistakes along the way. I’m learning that mistakes aren’t scary, they can be fun & they can help me learn how to do something correctly. Yay for learning new things!

I learnt using the following videos:

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A Photo Essay (of sorts)




1. My darling, handsome Husbitect last night as we enjoyed the delicious mushroom soup that he made. My Dad is visible, too. :)

2. Mushroom soup! Very, very yummy. Flaked almonds & nutmeg on top. Om nom nom.

3. The moon tonight, well before the eclipse.

4. I’ve been practicing crochet & focusing on the first round of a granny square. I think I am getting better & my stitches are getting loser. Yay!

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My Creative Space | Learning Crochet

I am currently learning how to crochet. For some reason it is harder for me than knitting. I’ve been watching videos on how to make granny squares & attempting to follow along. I get close, but my squares are too tight. Am I making a mistake in starting with a granny square or should I learn different type of stitches first?

As you can see, I’ve bought a few books in the hunt for one that makes it clearer and for someone who can’t crochet, I have a nice collection of crochet hooks. When I was learning how to knit, I had a wee bit of trouble picking that up but the owner of the local yarn shop recommended a children’s learn to knit booklet from Panda. Bingo! It all started to make sense. I felt a bit silly, but apparently I wasn’t the only adult who found the kids book much easier to follow. Maybe I need a kids book on crochet, too!

It’s all about learning for my creative space this week. Have a look at other creative spaces here at Kootoyoo.