• All about me
  • Blog
  • Favourite links to blogs, places and people
  • Features and Interviews
    • An interview with Dee Hardwicke
    • Knitwear designer Martin Storey – an interview
    • Louisa Harding, knitwear designer talks to Annie Windley
  • How to guides
    • 1 Making a slip knot
    • 2 Cast on – a step-by-step guide
    • 3 Knit stitch – a step-by-step guide
    • 4 Purl stitch – a step-by-step guide
    • 5 Cast off – a step-by-step guide
    • 6 Making a chain stitch
    • 7 Making a double crochet stitch
    • 8 Making a treble crochet stitch
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    • Joining granny squares
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    • Floral granny squares & little flowers pattern
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  • Spring Granny-Square Bag CAL pattern
Picking Up Stitches

Knitting, crochet, cross stitch and more - the wonderful world of working with wool

crochet

Get ready for the Spring crochet-along

April 24, 2020 by Annie Leave a Comment

Get ready – I’ve been busily crocheting in my garden and my Spring Granny Square Bag Crochet-along pattern is now complete. I’ll be putting it up here, section by section from Monday 27th April. If you follow it you’ll end up with a bag made up of various squares and strips, with a variety of stitches. I’m going to explain it as simply as possible, so you’ll be able to follow even if you’re a beginner. And for more experienced crocheters, I’ll put up standard written instructions too!

Here’s one I made in cotton DK yarn (Erika Knight Gossypium Cotton DK)…

And my bright acrylic DK yarn version in progress…

Get ready to make the spring bag which is made in sections like this

So this weekend, why not get ready and gather together lots of colours of spare DK weight yarn? A great way to make use of any you have left over from other projects, or put to use those odd balls of yarn you have lurking in your yarn stash! You can use any type you like – I used Deramores Studio DK for the bright version and Erika Knight Gossypium Cotton DK for the more muted version. You’ll need around 200g in total. Don’t forget the online yarn sites are still delivering if you don’t have any to hand. I’ve used WoolWarehouse, Deramores and LoveCrafts.

You’ll also need a 3mm hook, though I made the bright version with a 3.5mm hook, so whichever you have is fine. The 3mm does give a firmer fabric though, which helps the bag hold its shape.

I’ll be updating all my ‘How To’ pages over the next few weeks too, so beginners can have a go too…

I’d love to hear from you if you’re going to join in, and if you have any questions about the crochet-along, feel free to email me or leave a message here or on facebook or instagram (both @pickingupstitches).

Posted in: crochet, Crochet patterns Tagged: CAL, crochet, crochet along, lockdown crochet

Granny-Square Bag is in the bag!

February 28, 2020 by Annie Leave a Comment
GRANNY-square bag on door

Granny-Square Bag begins

I’ve been thinking of making a granny-square bag for some time – I thought it would make a perfect CAL, (crochet along). However what with moving house (which took over a year, and involved  all my craft supplies being packed away in boxes) I didn’t seem to have either the time or space to begin on a new design project.

However, now I’m happily ensconced in my seaside home in Kent, and my dedicated craft room at the end of the garden is nigh on finished, I’ve had time to sit down and pick up my set of Knitpro Waves crochet hooks again and thought you might like to know how I went about designing the bag!

Making a start

I already had lots of Deramores Studio DK yarn in a whole host of colours, so I decided that this granny-square bag was definitely going to be a multicoloured one! So, I chose a jewel palette of yellow, red, orange, deep purple, dark teal, green and navy. Finally, I took the plunge and drew a rough picture of how I’d like to bag to look. A big square on each side, surrounded by small squares and panels down the side, and a long strap made of small squares.

The main granny-square bag motifs

Granny-square bag main panel

It was fun mixing and matching the colours and deciding on the design of the square as I went along.  I knew I’d like to incorporate a daisy flower in the middle, but apart from that it was trial and error to achieve a square I was happy with. And I quickly made another for the other side to match. What do you think of it? 

Granny square bag both main pieces

Working on the top strip

The small squares along the top have references to the main square and I came up with 6 colour variations, always starting with a yellow centre to mirror the main motif and also finishing with a green row of double crochet. Before I moved on to the side panels I joined the squares into a strip, so that I could see exactly how wide the side panels should be. I decided to complete all the joins in yellow to match  centres of the squares which helped tie the whole design together. The joins were all going to be double crochet ones, to create a touch of raised texture.

The panels

Now I could see exactly how wide the side panels of the granny-square bag should be, I worked a strip to fit.

granny square bag main parts completed

I starting and ending with a row of green double crochet and crocheting a couple of rows of waves, but starting each row from the same edge, rather than turning the work. I then joined the strips to the main square, then finally this section to the strip of squares. The main parts of the bag were now finished.

Joining the sides together

As there was so much colour work going on, I decided to make a plain gusset – crocheting a  5cm wide strip in navy double crochet.

Again, I used the yellow double crochet join to fix this in place around three sides of the main bag panels.

I eased it around the corners, working a few extra dc stitches at the point that I needed to change direction.

The strap

Now it was time to turn my attention to the strap.

I began crocheting simple little two-round granny squares, in as many variations of colour as I could.

granny squard bag strap

I then completed these with green as their final round, joining them together with the Join-As-You-Go method as I went along. 

Then  it was just a matter of deciding when to stop and then attaching the strap to the gusset. Finally I crocheted around the edges of the strap with navy to tie it in with the gusset of the bag.  Ta-da!!

I may add a cotton lining once I’ve unpacked my sewing machine, but I’m really pleased with the outcome so far…

If you’d like to learn to make a granny square

There are instructions of how to crochet a basic granny square here on my website, and if you’re a beginner and live in London or Thanet and would like me to teach you how to crochet a granny square in a 1-2-1 lesson, there’s more info here

Posted in: crochet, inspiration Tagged: crochet

Broadstairs – yes, we’ve moved to the coast!

January 31, 2020 by Annie 4 Comments
Broadstairs beach

Broadstairs by the sea!

I’ve moved – Broadstairs is now the place we call home. More precisely, the lovely village of St Peter’s on the edge of town…

Broadstairs St Peters village sign

Yes, after decades in North London, we’ve taken the plunge and moved to the Kent seaside. It’s a beautiful little seaside town, with stunning bays and cliffs and lots of shoreline walks.

Broadstairs beach in winter

My new village not only has a village green, complete with stocks for anyone who misbehaves, it also has a stunning Medieval church – St Peter-in-Thanet – and one of the longest churchyards in the country that leads out to fields!

St Peters Thanet and graveyard

The medieval church of St Peter-in-Thanet

Angel statue in st peters thanet graveyard

The graveyard is a peaceful place to visit

Fields at end of graveyard of St Peters Thanet

The view of the fields from the end of the graveyard

Field of cauliflowers

Cauliflowers growing in the field beyond the woods

Floral delights

You probably know that I love crocheting flowers (like my floral wreaths and Flora gloves) so I’m more than happy that I’ve now got my first ever garden.  I’m currently swotting up on what to do when, and being surprised by all the lovely bulbs and flowers that are appearing all over.

Christmas rose hellebore

Beautiful Christmas rose Hellebore

Bulbs appearing in the garden

Gorgeously scented winter honeysuckle is blooming now and smells wonderful.

There’s also a bird feeding station just outside our living room window, and I’m also enjoying a spot of birdwatching from the warm – robins, magpies, collared doves, sparrows, blue tits, long-tailed tits, wood pigeons, blackbirds and starlings are all regular visitors (as well as the greedy squirrels).

robin on the fence

Lily’s enjoying watching the birds too!

Dedicated craft room!

Best of all, I now have a dedicated craft room at the end of the garden, with the woods behind it, so, as soon as I finish unpacking, I’ll be organising my yarn and fabric and getting cracking on some brand new designs.

Broadstairs craft room in garden by day

I can even use it at night!

garden with lights at night

Lessons in Thanet

My move, of course, means that I’ll no longer be available to teach in London all the time, though I will be returning on a regular basis (as long as enough people want to learn on the same day). So if you’d like to have a lesson, just join my mailing list, or drop me a line so that I can tell you when I’ll next be back.

It also means that I can now teach in the Broadstairs-Margate-Ramsgate area as well – I already have a few lovely places to teach, so I’m looking forward to meeting some Thanet crafters soon… (If you’re interested in a lesson, email me at pickingupstitches@gmail.com.)

PS Lily’s loving life in Broadstairs too!

Lily on the prom

Posted in: classes, inspiration, Thanet news, Uncategorized Tagged: Broadstairs, crochet, knitting, lessons, Thanet
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  • How to guides
    • 1 Making a slip knot
    • 2 Cast on – a step-by-step guide
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