My Lollipop Cushion: Tadah!

The weather here in Northern Germany is brilliant! We have lots of sun, a little wind and nice temperatures. I even got a little sun burn on my forearms while I was happily crocheting on the terrace yesterday. But I wanted to finish my Lollipop Cushion by all means and it was late in the evening when I sewed on the last button. But now it is done!

And I LOVE it!

 

 I already showed you the beginning of this little project that I started quite impulsively when I looked at all my little yarn scraps that were lying in a yarny bowl.

I really loved playing with all the colours I had left, always wondering if the remaining rest of a colour would be sufficient for a solid granny square. 

Very quickly I knew how the front of my cushion should look like and in no time at all I had all the solid grannies I needed. If you look for a good pattern to make them, just have a look at the lovely blog of Heather from little tin bird.  Her explanations are very good.

After joining all these colourful grannies, I immediately knew that this cushion would need some extraordinary edging. I thought about so many different patterns but no one really caught my eye. Then I remembered this pompom edging and after a good search on pinterest (I am a Pinterestian, I really am), I found a good explanation of this stitch on the wonderful blog of Robin from once upon a pink moon. The only thing that I change was the number of chains. I wanted the pompoms to stand a little upright, so I just crocheted two chains instead of three.

But then the question of how to do the back occurred again. I had this problem already when I made my first cushion here.

And I really hate that question. Most crocheters write that they just take some fabric they have in their stash and they sew a back with a zipper in a breath. 

I am not able to do this! It takes me ages to sew a cushion and when I think about a zipper I sweat blood. So again, I decided to crochet the back. I had enough yarn for more solid granny squares, but I made them differently. Just one more row and I changed colours after the first row.

This is how it turned out in the end and it is such a little colourful piece of joy that I immediately knew how I would call it:

 My Lollipop Cushion!

This cushion matches perfectly my handmade blankets. It looks like it just has to sit in front of the Villa Villekulla blanket, doesn't it?
This is the front:

 And this is the back:

 Which side do you like more? I just can't decide, I like both sides!

 The only thing that jarred on my nerves was the sewing.  It was a nightmare to sew the back to the front. I had an equal number of stitches on both sides of the cushion but when I had finished almost half of the sewing of one side I always recognised that one side was longer than the other. I don't no how many times I had to undo the stitches, in the end I didn't count anymore I just tried to get the squares even. But finally it worked out.

My Dutch readers will probably recognise the buttons I have used, I bought them at HEMA, a Dutch chain of stores that sell wonderful bits and pieces. I just love these colourful buttons and they are perfect for my Lollipop Cushion! 

And here is one last photo I want to show you. In April I had won a give-away hosted by the lovely Franca from righedafavola.

 This cute little bag is really sweet and I love the cheerful pink. Thanks a lot, dear Franca, best wishes to Italy!

Have a nice and sunny weekend,

Viola

A summer project

Tomorrow will be the last day of this school year and I am so extraordinarily happy about it. The last weeks have been filled with a lot of school work - not only for the kids, appointments and events. Life has been hectic, busy and demanding. We all are in desperate need of a break. But I am sure that from next week on we will slow down, take it a little more easy and hopefully we'll be able to enjoy summer. Summer?

This summer is a 'to be or not to be' summer here in North Germany. One day we have lots of rain and it is cold, next day the sun is shining and you throw off the jeans and the jacket you have worn the day before. We have a big rain barrel in our garden that can save 1000 litres of  rainwater and it is loaded to the gunwales! Usually we don't have any rainwater anymore in July and our lawn looks like a beginning steppe. But this year everything is different.

Nonetheless I still feel summery. I want it to be summery. I long for summery days. And if the weather doesn't cooperate, I have to make my surroundings summery. That why I started a small little summery crochet project, using cotton yarn from my stash. 

I had a loooong look into my cotton yarn basket to decide which colours to choose. Which ones are my summer colours? Finally I chose these ones:

Turquoise, light blue, mimosa, citron, jade, sky, forest and royal. 

All the colours of the ocean and the beach - summer for me.  

I wanted to make a mandala for the kitchen table with matching coasters which we use daily for our teacups.

Have you seen the mandalas by Ayda Algin in Mollie Makes issue 54? I totally fell in love with her design and this was the perfect pattern for my summer project.

This is my version of her design:

 It's so pretty, isn't it? I immediately went into the garden to pick some wonderful white hydrangeas to brighten up my kitchen table. They match so nicely, don't they?

 Here is a bunch of photos, sorry, I just can't help it:

 And here are my coasters. I made 6 of them, because the children often bring some friends home who will need a coaster as well when joining us for lunch or dinner. 

 I didn't follow any pattern making them, I was to lazy to search for a nice pattern in the net. I just made some granny clusters, not forgetting to increase each round so that they lie flat on the table. The edge is simple picots.

 And as I am writing this post, the sun is coming out. I will make use of these rare sunny moments to work a bit in the garden, my raised bed need a thorough weeding. 

I hope that you are able to savour the sun, as well. If not today, maybe tomorrow. 

Happy summer for all of you!

Viola

Granny blanket love - my 'join-as-you-go' method

A while ago a visitor asked for a tutorial on how I join my granny squares using the 'join-as-you-go' method. I thought I could try to work out a photo tutorial, this is my first one, I hope that everything gets clear, ... here you are ....

My blanket is made of 3-row granny squares. I generally have no chain in between my granny clusters and 2 chains in my corners and that is what my Join-As-You-Go Tutorial will be based upon. I work my tutorial in US terms (which make much more sense to me than the UK terms, sorry for all my readers from the UK).

Start with one completed square.

Crochet a second square until you are making the last round. In the last round you just crochet two sides and then you begin to join the second to the first granny square.

 When you reach the end of the second side of your granny (the last 3 double crochet cluster) make one chain like you normally do in a corner. Then lead your hook from the front to the back to fetch the yarn in the pink corner of your first granny, pull it through the corner and then your loop. It is the easiest if you twist the hook while pulling the yarn through the corner, so that you won't drop the yarn.

 Next you make a chain without joining, just like normal. Make your second 3dc cluster in your squares corner.
Now you have connected the corner of your first granny with the corner of your second.

  To join the side of the blue granny you repeat the joining procedure in every space between the granny clusters: Lead your hook from the front to the back to fetch the yarn in the space between granny clusters (don't forget to twist your hook), pull it through the space and then your loop. 

 

 When you reach the second corner, you do the same as in the first one: Make a chain, then lead the hook form the front of the pink corner to the back to fetch the yarn, pull it through the space and then your loop. Next you make a normal chain.

 Your grannies should be connected by now and you can finish the last round of your second granny.

 Now I want to join a granny to a corner with 3 granny squares (a grey one on the right, a red one in the corner and a light blue one on the left). I start with making 3 clusters of the granny I want to join (the pink one in my picture).

The trick is to only join into your right square and the one to the left and skip (in this picture) the red one in the corner. You do it like this: Lead your hook from the front to the back to fetch yarn in the grey corner, pull it through the corner and then your loop. This is the 1st chain that you usually make in the corner. 

Then lead your hook from the front to the back to fetch yarn in the light blue corner, pull it through the corner and then your loop. Make a chain without joining, this is your 2nd chain that you usually make in the corner.

 Now make 3 dc cluster in your corner and continue to join to the light blue square like you did before.

 Join your last corner like you did with your first (chain -join-chain), finish your granny square and there you are! All nice and neatly joined.

 If you have any further questions, please let me know. I am always happy to help. 

It is such a joy to work with these grannies, I do almost nothing else at the moment. Playing with the colours is so satisfying, I can't understand anymore why I was so afraid of starting a granny blanket.

 This is my progress so far. I joined already 199 grannies. What a joy! 

My other blanket is lying neglected in the basket. But I will continue with is soon, so that I can show it to you, as well. 

Take care of yourself,
Viola