Make mine an amigurami mushroom

Whenever I went into The Wool Bar in Worthing, I was always taken by the crochet mushrooms by Louise Tyler.

When I saw Louise was hosting amigurami mushroom workshop I had to join in.

It wasn’t too difficult. What was interesting was winging it, as Louise wrote out a pattern (I’d hidden somewhere) but it was essentially freeform.

We started off crocheting trebles into a magic ring and then create a lip to crochet the stalk upwards.

I can’t remember what we did exactly, but it was a case of crocheting into a front or back loop for the ridge.

As we worked our way up the stalk in double (US single) crochet Louise advised us to put a penny or 5p in the bottom to weigh it down and keep the shape.

Treble trebles formed the gills before it was time to change colour for the top.

I opted to crochet upwards while others opted to make separate mushroom domes.

A separate top gives a dome-like structure started with a magic ring. You gradually increase in double (US single) crochet and when you have the desired dome form continue downwards without increasing.

The key reason for crocheting upwards is I’m rubbish at sewing, so I joined the yarn and decreased to a point.

I rather like the pointed finish.

Check out Louise’s style on Pinterest

If you’re in Worthing, West Sussex on November 10, 2012, visit Louise’s fair Handmade Christmas.

Slightly rippled with a flat underside

Now I’m a confident crocheter I really enjoy learning new skills.

At the moment it’s just simple stuff, but I’d like to work my way up.

I said to my teacher Karen Mayger, “I’m going to be brilliant”. This may sound arrogant but I honestly believe if you put your mind to it and practice, practice, practice, you can achieve great things.

This is the first post about Crochet Crew, the monthly meeting where I join Karen and fellow students Jane, Lucy and Julia, as we learn a variety of techniques.

Our first session focused on ripples.

One of my friends loves rippling and I was pleased to discover how simple it was.

I would like to make these ripples sharper. Something like Rosie Roger’s scarf I reblogged a while ago.

The principle is there though. Increase an decease. Unfortunately I haven’t practised this for a while and probably won’t until after Christmas.

We also worked on 3D.

I started trying to crochet 3D earlier this year after receiving a copy of Creepy Cute Crochet: Zombie Ninjas, Robots and more by Christen Haden, and hadn’t managed a simple head.

Karen had us work on an urchin from 75 Shells, Coral & Colourful Creatures of the Sea: to Knit & Crochet by Jessica Polka.

It is a simple design and helps novices understand how to decrease and increase to create rounded shapes.

I am pleased with how this turned out. I’ve since managed to create a toy from Creepy Cute, too. (More on that in another blog).

What I particularly liked about the urchin was how similar it looked to contemporary crochet designs I liked on Pinterest.

Emily Barletta’s organic sculptures look like coral reefs and a wall piece by Cornflower Blue Studio that seemed inspired by barnacles.

It’s the type of thing I’d like to create myself once my skills improve.

Problems with pineapple stitch

While on my honeymoon earlier this year I took a couple of hooks and a vintage looking pineapple style doily patterns.

After the beach section of our holiday (I spent my time snorkeling in the Indian Ocean) I picked up the hooks and whiled time away on the Queen Mary 2, while my husband focused on puzzles.

We had six days at sea between Oman and Egypt. I wasn’t short of things to do but I do find crochet extremely relaxing now I’ve got the hang of it.

Once I’d reached the point you can see in the picture below I was stuck.

I think I had gone wrong with the arches, but then I couldn’t understand the pattern either.

When I got stuck I decided to search for the craft corner.

Cunard cruises have a social hostess who hosts afternoon crafts. I heard this from my crochet teacher Karen Mayger.

She enjoys a cruise and told me to look out for it.

I scoured the daily guide and finally found it as hostess corner.

When I arrived I was the youngest person there. The other minority was the lone man.

They were all rather excited to see a new face. We were on the final leg of a world cruise so many of the participants had spent months on board.

Unfortunately for me there were no American crocheters in the group and the pattern used that terminology.

I couldn’t progress.

It’s a pattern I need to take to Karen for diagnostic purposes, but I will have another bash at it.

All wasn’t lost though as one of the ladies had a pretty bookmark pattern so I crocheted away quite happily.

I’m not sure where the unfinished piece went though.

This piece of pineapple stitch became a leaving present for my former colleague. It impressed all the others who received the assorted mutant coasters from my early days.

Spikey times on the increase

One year after my first crochet class I went to an intermediate session, again hosted by Karen Mayger.

Karen and I kept in touch from the first class via Facebook and she continued to remain supportive of my disasters and encouraged my improvement.

By the time I returned to Karen’s earlier this year I had a few more crochet books in my ever-growing library.

I’d had a couple of quiet months on the crochet front as I got married and 20 week engagements mean you’re in a rush.

My confidence was vastly improved, too.

The first thing we did was practise increasing and decreasing.

Increasing is easy, just shove an extra stitch in and you’re done.

Decreasing I found a mystery.

I’d made an attempt at 3D crochet, a toy from Creepy Cute Crochet by Christen Hayden. I failed but appreciated where I had gone wrong.

After playing around increasing and decreasing I thought my piece of crochet wool looked as though it was something created in the round.

It also resembled farfalle pasta.

Once we had got the hang of this (remember this wasn’t a beginners class so we progressed well) we crochet a simple flower from a pattern.

I’d seen spiked stitches in some of my crochet books but wasn’t really sure how to do it and if it looked good.

As Karen pointed out, it makes really good dog-tooth effects.

I’m not sure about my choice of colour, but I was just after a contrast and I’d worked those colours for the flower.

At the end of the day we crochet little hearts.

I made two.

They looked sweet but it’s not something I’m likely to make again. It was good practice for creating a different shape in the round.

After this class I felt as though I’d really cracked crochet.

At the end of the session we discussed a regular meet up.

Future posts about Karen’s classes will come under the crochet crew category. We meet once a month and learn new things as well as enjoy a little show and tell.

Getting it right – conquering knitting

For years now I’ve never managed to knit something on my own. As I explained in my earlier blog Knitting is my Nemesis, it seems right in classes but something goes wrong at home.

On Saturday (October 27) at Cocoon Knits I had a breakthrough.

Teacher Ann got us all to knit a couple of rows and immediately spotted I was wrapping the wool the wrong way when I purl.

She also pointed out the tell-tale signs of wrongness.

My confidence boosted, I learned how to cable and make little holes for lace.

Finding a motif – a crochet novice finding her way

A couple of months after my first crochet class the endless practise was paying off.

However, I had only two books and I felt I needed more to help me progress into what I wanted to do.

Rather than make garments, which I didn’t think I was up to at this stage, I really wanted to have a go at creating motifs similar to the doilies my grandmother made.

This week my mother passed my grandmothers crochet hooks and threads on to me. A few months back my grandmother passed on her patterns and said I could have the hooks when she found them. My mother did.

At 87 my grandmother’s hands aren’t what they were and she finds crochet impossible, so the hooks are doing nothing but collect dust.

Back to the motifs.

I pondered assorted crochet books on Amazon and found Beyond the Square – crochet motifs by Edie Eckman. It caught my eye and was a good buy.

The first motif included popcorn stitches which were beyond me so I sought help from the Crochet Geek on YouTube.

Once I watched the video I’d grasped the concept and had a go. The image below was the result.

The first popcorn motif from Beyond the Square.

When I watched the video I noticed another featuring a bedspread with a popcorn pinwheel design.

I have seen this design sold on eBay but Frances Johnson’s video is extremely inspiring.

Once I’d completed the popcorn motif I started working my way through the book. Most of these have gone as gifts to colleagues along with the pieces of work from my Mutations in Crochet blog post.

They form the great coaster collection at the Worthing Herald.

The one above really looks like this because it seems strangely squashed.

Rainbow Ripple Stitch Crochet Scarf

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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…

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I was pointed towards Rosie's blog by a mutual acquaintance and was delighted at the colours of her ripple scarf. Ripple is good.