Behind The Scenes

The good photos are all taken by Sean, Nikon D750 body, usually Nikon AF-S NIKKOR 50mm f/1.8G lens.

The other photos are taken by my Samsung Galaxy Tab S (8.4 inches), which I use with a matching bluetooth keyboard to write my posts. The bronze finished keyboard is on the table in the picture above. I'm holding the tablet to take that picture of Sean taking pictures of my Donald Duck Tsum Tsum (which I still think is pretty freaky, the whole Tsum Tsum series).

No. 30 - Crochet Tsum Tsum Donald Duck

Another Tsum Tsum character, Donald Duck for Sophie. 100% acrylic dk yarn, 3.5 mm hook (I think). I keep forgetting the hook size by the time I post the finished thing up! Usually I'll be already onto another project.

All the shapes are easy. The body is just regular hemisphere - cylinder - sortofhemisphere, the bill is like the start of a tiny handphone case, the feet are hemispheres folded in half, the bow is a cylinder wound about its middle with yarn, the beret is a black cylinder joined to a hollow circle for the underside and a whole circle for the top, and the black ribbon is just four rows of single stitches, differing row heights. Tail and little hair tuft are just chains with various stitches worked backwards on them to get roughly the shape in my mind.

No. 29 - Crochet Sun Hat for Rachel

100% Acrylic Aran yarn, 5mm hook.

Worked entirely in the spiral.

Top: dc
Upper sides: dc in back loop only, to give the visible horizontal line of yarn for each row
Lower sides: dc separated by single chain, each dc worked in the single chain space of the previous round, to give the holey finish
Brim: First round dc in front loop only, remaining rounds tc.

For the brim, rounds start and end with increasing and decreasing stitch heights: sc, hdc, dc, tc .... tc, dc, hdc, sc. The start and end height changes overlap, giving a sloped joint, but this means that the round has an overall even width all around while being worked in the spiral.

Hmm, on closer inspection, I realise the sloped round ends should overlap more.

I quite like this way of joining rounds where colour changes are needed. For some reason I really dislike joining rounds and starting new rounds with chains, but colour changes between rounds are very visible when working purely in the spiral.

The flower was made following a rose pattern that I found online, using 100% acrylic DK yarn, 4mm hook.

Rachel has an usually large head circumference, so I'm glad I can make her a clearly little girl's hat that will fit. Normal kids' hats are way too small for her, even my own cap is too tight for her.

Most importantly, she likes it!

No. 28 - Crochet Market Tote for Ms Stefanie

Made this for Rachel's teacher who takes her home after school every day!

100% Acrylic Aran yarn, 5mm hook. Pattern from Daisy Cottage Designs.

No. 27 - Crochet Phone Cover for Sarah

100% Cotton 5-ply yarn (Red Heart Miami), 3.25 mm hook. I really like the way cotton yarn shows the stitches so cleanly, compared to acylic.

No. 26 - Crochet Baby Boat Shoes for Lucius

More baby shoes! Made these for colleague's son. 100% Acrylic yarn, Aran weight. 4mm hook.

I got these light blue/turquoise organza drawstring bags to give my crochet creations in, inspired by the way www.loveknitting.com packages their yarn in such bags when they're delivered.