Pinaddicts Challenge - March 2012

It is that exciting time of the month for me!

I've been waiting almost all of February to get to this point so that this month I could enter the Challenge properly, well, OK prepared!

As I told you in this post, Lovely Mother-in-Law and I viewed my Pinterest Boards to see what delights I might create to enter for the Pinaddicts Challenge I told you about back here.

It has taken time and a bit of experimenting and sadly (or should that be stupidly!)  I didn't take any photos during the making process!  (Doh!)  But I have rectified that...just for you!

But lets go back......

I follow a blog called Tangled Happy, the colours, creativity and total deliciousness of this blog ticks ALOT of boxes for me.

There are so many thing I like!

One little thing in particular caught my eye.....a bag for my daughter based on the pattern for these ones.....

You can find the tutorial for the basic boutique bag here and here you can find all the pattern adjustments to make the three variations above. (Sara also has an Etsy shop where you can buy bags).

I took the basic pattern but made it slightly bigger by having 20 clusters or shells along my foundation chain instead of the 17 Sara has.

So this is my version.....

Oh!  I had to start with Tiddly Toes FAVOURITE colour!  Look....

It is Stylecraft Special Double Knit (100grams) and is available from Deramores at £1.99, this STUNNING colour is called Jaffa!  (Oh!  Hang on....just got to get a biscuit to go with my cuppa!)

I had some left over after I made this Mad Bag.......

So, as it's Double Knit (DK), that's a 4mm crochet hook.  I cast on 60 stitches (3 for each of my 20 clusters....so if you want it bigger just make sure your final stitch count is divisible by 3) plus 1 extra for turning as I'm now going to go back along my chain doing 1DC (Double Crochet, or SC - Single Crochet in the US) into each chain.

Slip Stitch (Sl St) into your turning chain to join into a ring.

Now make 3 chain (equivalent to a Treble here in the UK, which I think is a DC in the US!) .....like this....

and into the same chain that your 3 chains come out of make 2 Trebles (or DCs)....

then miss 2 chains and make 3 Trebles into the next chain (by missing 2 and doing 3 into 1 chain you are keeping the same number of stitches...get it?)

When you finish that first round....Slip Stitch (Sl St) into the 3rd of your 3 chain that started you off.  Sl St across the next two chains (last 2 stitches of your first cluster of 3 or shell) AND Sl St into the first gap between clusters or shells.

Then, chain 3 and Treble 2 into the same gap, then 3 trebles into the next gap, 3 trebles into the next gap and so on, you're still keeping 60 stitches or 20 lots of clusters but now working in the gaps not stitches......it'll start to look like this.....

The picture above shows 6 rounds in the making, once you've done 8, finish your round by Slip Stitching it closed as before...BUT...this time you are only going to make 1 chain as you're going to do a whole round in DCs (or SCs in the US)....go!

At the end of this Sl St, make a chain and go round again and Sl St to end that round.

Next is the round that splits the handle, so start with your one chain then DC (or SC) into the next 7 stitches, then chain 15, count 15 stitches and leave that gap and then DC into the 16th stitch (if you want a longer handle then why not try 30 or 45 Stitches but remember to DC back into the 16th stitch).

DC a further 15 stitches, then chain 15 (or however many to match your other side!) and DC into the 16th stitch, you should then have 8 stitches left to make and that's your 60 stitches again!

Your handle gap should look like this each side......

Do 2 more rounds of DCs, Sl St the rounds to a close.  On the final Slip Stitch, cut the thread leaving a tail for darning and pull the tail through the Slip Stitch.  It should now look like this.....

Darn in your ends and turn it inside out to whip stitch or oversew the bottom.

Now....... I wanted to decorate mine with a flower.

Knowing a good Crochet Flowers and Leaves Pattern (and Tutorial) that I used on my Mad Bag from....yes...... you've guessed it.......Lucy at Attic24...I just thought I'd do that again!

I use a magic ring so that I don't get a hole in the middle, 3 chain (count as 1 Treble) then 11 Treble....so that's 12 'spokes' in all....like this......

Pull the tail of your magic ring to pull it closed and Sl St into the 3rd or your 3 chain at the start.  Like this.......

I went on to do the next round in the same colour (but you could change colour if you like)......4 chain (first one counts as a DC), miss a 'spoke' and DC into the top of the next 'spoke', chain 3, miss a 'spoke', DC into the next 'spoke', chain 3 etc, etc....Sl St back into the place where your original 4 chains come out.

You should now have a 'tyre on your 'spokes' with 6 chain-y gaps!

Into these 3-chain spaces make :Sl St, Half Treble (htr), htr, Treble (tr), htr, htr, Sl St.

Sl St into the next 3-chain space and repeat the sequence and so on.....at the end Sl St back into the base where you started, cut a tail and pull through (as you did with the bag).

With a different colour....hook through one of the chains you missed on the 2nd round (putting on your tyre!) on the tops of your original 'spokes'.

If you bend the petals back you might see the chain more clearly.

So the sequence for a smaller petal here is: dc, htr, tr, htr, dc.

This is half way round that round......

Finish with a Sl St into the first dc of this round.

And here we are tails 'n' all!....

So here's my bright little bag.........

......and here's my bright little bag with bright little flower!!  (I used one of the 'tails' to attach it to the bag).......

Ready for the full monty......

Ta-Dah.........

Here are my 'practice' ones that I shall fill with Easter Eggs for cousins we shall see over the holidays......

SORRY....about this pic being sideways!!!  The computer just wouldn't behave to twist in 90 degrees!!

The purple one now belongs to Twelve-Teen Teenage Daughter, who loves butterflies and has a dress in these 3 colours.

So there we have it!

My Pinaddicts Challenge Entry for March 2012!

What do you think?

I've had great fun with this and I'm looking forward to next months entry.....!

See you soon....Nora xx