Busy, busy bee

Things have been very busy around here of late. The calendar is looking crammed with places to go and things to do or to remember. I hate that, I like empty spaces, I like daily routine. I get a little headless and panicky if there is too much going on. I depend on those empty spaces to catch up on chores and garden work. 

Currently I hear myself too often saying: "Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot." or "If it's not on the calendar, I won't remember it!" I feel like I suffer from "cerebral congestion", phew!

School term is nearly over, summer holidays are just around the corner but there are still so many things to do. My two little ones go to a Waldorf school and since they started their school career I got the feeling that J, my husband, and I have to attend school again, as well because there is so much parents work to be done. 

But that is nothing I wanted to write about, instead I wanted to explain how I crocheted my little vases (actually small milk bottles). I didn't follow any written pattern, I just started and it worked out somehow. If you are interested, I will try to write down how I made them. But before I do this I have to admit that I have never written a crochet pattern before.  So forgive me if there are mistakes and do not hesitate to contact me if you have any problems.

Here's a picture of one of my small milk bottles and another bottle jacket I crocheted some time ago. The design is not a product of my own creative mind, I was inspired by wonderful Lucy from attic24, it's her Herb Pot. When I saw her pot I immediately fell in love with it and I had to adopt it to my beloved bottles.

Here is my first pattern (hopefully understandable...):

You have to make a foundation chain to fit around your bottle. I would say that if it looks like it won't fit exactly - for example it is coming up a little shorter or longer than the circuit of your vase - then go shorter as your work will stretch a bit as you crochet. The vases look better if they are stretched over the bottle. 

For my milk bottle I used a cotton yarn on a 3.o mm hook, and made a starting chain of 46 and 2 for turning. 
Join to the first chain with a slip stitch, be careful not to twist your chain.

Round 1: Begin in the second stitch from hook and work 1 htr into each stitch around, make  a slip stitch to the first chain.

Now you have to repeat round 1 until you have reached the height where your chosen bottle narrows. I crocheted 27 rows. Then you have to start decreasing.  

For a htr decrease you must do the following: (yarn over, insert hook into next stitch, yarn over, pull up a loop) 2 times, yarn over, pull through all 5 loops on hook. 

I decreased 3 times in a row, that means I decreased the 14.+15th., the 29.+30th. and the 44.+45th. stitch. I decreased 5 rows, so that I had 31 stitches in row 32.

I did a total of 36 rows and in the last row I increased 1 stitch because of the scallop edging. 

The edging is a simple one:

*Skip 1 stitch, 5 tr in the next stitch, skip one stitch. 1 slip stitch in the next stitch*

Repeat between **. Fasten off.

The white vase is made in the same way (concerning the decrease), but as this milk bottle is a little higher and the pattern differs I crocheted more rows. I did it as follows:
In this pattern I didn't use htr, I mainly used dc.

Round 1:
Begin in the second stitch from hook and work 1 dc into each stitch around, make a slip stitch to the first chain.

Round 2: Chain 1, work 1 dc into each stitch around, make a slip stitch to the first chain.

Round 3: Chain 3, work 1 tr into each stitch around, make a slip stitch to the first chain. 

Round 4: Chain 3, work *1tr, chain 1, skip 1 stitch, 1tr, skip 1 stitch **, make a slip stitch to the first chain. 

Round 5: repeat round 3

Round 6-13: repeat round 2

Round 14-16: repeat rounds 3-5

Round 17-24: repeat round 2

Round 25-27: repeat rounds 3-5

Round 28- 32: repeat round 2

Round: 33-35: repeat round 3-5

Round 36-44: repeat round 2

And then again the scallop edging.

It is very easy to transfer this pattern to all kinds of bottles, you just have to start the decrease when your bottle narrows. And you can of course decrease more stitches in a row if it's necessary. I hope you have fun with it!

So, I think I should finishe here. But before I shut the doors, I will show you what my next post is all about. 

It is about a beautiful shawl I started many weeks ago and still haven't finished. But I want to show it to you, maybe it inspires me to do the last missing rows. It would be so nice to wear this shawl on lovely summer evenings ...

Have a nice evening and sleep well!