classes Archives — Picking Up Stitches

Spring crochet in pastel shades

February 20, 2024 by Annie Leave a Comment

I can’t believe that spring is nearly here again! The spring flowers are beginning to bloom. Hellebores, daffs, and crocuses, snowdrops and primroses all bring a welcome dash of colour to the garden.

Welcome spring sunshine is gradually replacing the cold, grey mornings! So what better than a few projects in pastel shades to brighten up the wardrobe too!

Diving into the yarn stash

Luckily I found a few balls of Stylecraft Special Baby DK in my craft room. They were just waiting to be turned into something springlike! I decided to design a special square block to take advantage of all the shades. The block starts with a circle in the middle, followed by ‘petals’, and then builds up outwards until it almost turns into a granny square at the edge!

close up of centre of spring pastel block

Spring accessories

Once I’d made a few of these, I had to decide what to turn them into. I added a pretty picot edging, and turned five of the squares into a Spring neckwarmer. (Well, the chilly temperatures haven’t disappeared completely yet, have they?) And doesn’t it look perfect on this pinky-purple heather?

It’s even more beautiful worn around the neck, as this stylish model demonstrates!

I still had lots of yarn left though, so I decided to crochet a series of circles, simply using the centre of my pattern. I turned them into this spring belt – very 70s style! (It reminded me of my dog Lily’s collar, which is just like the one on this lovely wooden model of her from Studio Todd in Margate!)

70s style spring belt with a model of our dog Lily

And here it is on the heather in the garden!

Of course, to finish off the look, I had to make a matching circular bag! The strap has picot edging, just like the neckwarmer…

Hope you like my spring look!

Want to learn how to crochet them?

And, don’t forget, if you’d like to learn how to make any of these items and you live in Thanet, why not arrange a lesson and I can teach you. See here for details. Or see the Kent Adult Education website for details of a half-day Easter crochet class I’m teaching – perfect for a spring treat!

Easter Bunnies

February 3, 2023 by Annie 2 Comments

Easter Bunnies – what’s not to love! This year I decided that they definitely deserved an Easter garland all of their own. After all, Easter is only a hop and skip away!

I discovered that I had lots of pastel colours in my yarn stash. So I soon hooked a series of pretty little Easter bunnies with cute white bobtails. (Also, I’ve just taken delivery of a lovely colour pack of Stylecraft DK yarn in beautiful spring colours from Lincoln Wool Pack, so I feel a few more of these Easter Bunnies will be appearing around my house soon!)

The rabbits are each worked in one piece, apart from the tail, starting with the body, followed by the head and finishing with the ears. The little tails are sewn on at the end.

Although the little rabbits would look perfectly fine and dandy on their own, I thought little flowers would make the garland perfect.

I had so many flowers to choose from – remember my Springtime wreath (this is one of the crochet projects I teach, by the way)? Would any of these fit the bill?

Or maybe one of these, that I made years ago to grace the picture at the top of my website?

In the end, I came up with new one! Each flower is worked in two colours – so quick to make.

I chose to have a rabbit each end and a flower in between each pair.

Eastern bunnies and flowers laid out in order

Then they were all crocheted together with a little loop at each end of the string – a perfect garland of Easter Bunnies ready to hang up.

And once I’d finished the Easter bunnies, I realised that they’d go perfectly with a string of bunting I made before. My carrots and peas bunting! Do you remember that?

The pattern for that one is here.

Or you can read about the background to this bunting here

Don’t forget that if you live in Thanet, I teach classes for beginners, and the Easter Bunnies will be added to my list of crochet projects to choose from (I also teach at Broadstairs Adult Education College – see Kent Adult Education site for details about current classes). The pattern will be available on Ravelry soon, so keep an eye out there! I’ll hop along now!!!

December is here!

December 1, 2022 by Annie Leave a Comment

December Crochet Xmas tree garland with crochet hook

December rolls around again! Time for some new crocheted decorations, methinks!!!

Of course, the old favourites are back – Santa, the reindeer, the little Xmas dogs and cats. But this year I’ve added a few more – and they were a great success at the craft fair in Broadstairs that I took part in last week, so I hope you’ll like them too.

For this December, the decorations include a couple of new garlands, and a neon-bright version of the fairy lights, plus more cards too!

Crocheted Christmas Garlands

Here is the Christmas Tree Garland – sweet little trees topped with buttons!

December Xmas tree garland with 5 button-topped crocheted trees on a black string

And our good old reindeer is making his debut on the Reindeer Garland – three reindeer and two cute little red baubles that reminded me of Rudolph’s red nose!

crocheted garland featuring reindeer and red baubles

Here’s the neon-bright fairy lights with the tree garland – they definitely get themselves noticed!

neon-bright crocheted fairy-light garland with Christmas tree crocheted garland

Crocheted Christmas Decorations

The decorations for our December tree haven’t been forgotten either!

The mice are back again, but this time, they have joined the church choir and have sweet little white ruffs!

Little crocheted mice with choirboy ruff collars.

I’ve added a traditional poinsettia too – well, poinsettias scream Christmas, don’t they?!

crocheted Christmas poinsettia decoration

New cards for December

There are a few more Christmas card designs to choose from this December too! All feature detachable decorations.

As well as the traditional holly and mistletoe, there are also little Christmas trees, which match the garland.

Xmas cards with crocheted tree decorations attached.

And no Christmas is complete without the Xmas wreath and some brightly wrapped parcels, so they’ve made an appearance too! Which do you like best?

Xmas cards with detachable crocheted wreath and present decorations

I’m going to put the pattern up for the little mice soon, so keep a look out on my instagram for news!

New crochet courses coming…

And in other exciting news – From 2023, I’m going to be teaching some crochet courses at the Broadstairs Adult Education College here in Thanet (that’s the region of the county of Kent, where I live). If you’re in the area, please let me know if there’s anything you’d like to learn and if possible I’ll add in a course. And if you’d prefer a solo lesson and you live in the Thanet area check out details of lessons here. I also offer Zoom lessons if you live further away!