Crochet Christmas Wreath 2011

After a long pause, here I am with this year's Crochet Christmas Wreath.

All you need is a base and zillions of chains... the base and the pretend branches of the wreath will take you only a few hours to finish, so no big deal. If you click here, it will lead you to the first part of the tutorial I posted last year. And please don't look for the second part of it because it has never been written... I know, I know... shame on me! For the holly leaves and the berries I followed this pattern. And for the crochet candy canes after a long session of googling I came across with this blog, which has video tutorials besides written instructions. I wanted to make smaller candy canes, so I chained 33 instead of 50.

This year I tried to make my wreath to have a snowy effect, so I used a glittery white yarn as well as the regular green one. Enjoy it!

Love,

Gonca

Amigurumi Workshop

I attended a wonderful workshop at one of the coziest places you'd ever want to be in Istanbul. I didn't think crocheting deer would be so challenging but great fun. Duygu, who was really patient to deal with 6 women crochetting deer and hearts, is a great crafter and a fun blogger. I'm looking forward to attending the next round on January 16, to move to an upper level in the world of amigurumi, where we'll learn how to crochet a cute bunny...

We also learnt to rochet an amigurumi heart. I was in a kind of hurry, so I decreased the bottom of the heart more than necessary, so the shape of it was not as yummy as I'd wanted it to be. But who cares? I now know how to make amigurumi hearts in any shape and size...

If you're in Istanbul on either 14th or 23rd of January, you still have the chance to attend the beginner's level amigurumi classes

Cookies

In between too many projects waiting to be finished, and tons of housework to be done, I cooked some cookies for the craft party I was going to attend today. The recipe is very simple.

All you need is

• 125 gr fine sugar
• 250 gr butter
• 520 gr all purpose flour
• 1 egg

First you beat sugar and butter until it is creamy. Then you add the egg, and the flour. Don't add all the flour at once, as the amount might be too much depending on the other ingredients. Knead until you have a stiff enough to be rolled cookie dough. It wasn't mentioned in the original recipe, but I chilled the dough for about 30 minutes in the fridge. Then, flatten it 1/2 cm thick and cut into shapes. I got my lovely cutters from Vienna a few years back and used them for the first time yesterday. Shame on me for not putting them into use for so long. Aren't they adorable?

For those who can read Turkish, the original recipe is here.

Crochet Christmas Wreath Tutorial Part I

This is my first time trying to write a tutorial, so please excuse my probable mistakes in advance. I hope you find my instructions clear enough :)

I started with the base, which I used exactly the same stitch numbers as Lucy's Springtime Wreath.

Then I started working on the "pretend-branches". Chain 20. Sl st into the 18th chain. *Ch 19, sl st into the 18th ch* repeat as long as you get the desired length depending on your yarn and hook choice.

When you finish crocheting the branches, start sewing the long line made of a few zillion chains on the base starting from the inner circle.

Go on sewing until your "pretend-branches" chains tour around the base 3 times.

If you're new to crocheting you might take a look at this website for basic crochet stitches.

And please feel free to upload your crochet or knit Christmas ornaments to the Crochet or Knit Christmas Ornaments Flicker Group .

Christmas Wreath

Since the day I noticed the Springtime Wreath at Attic24, I've been planning to make something like that for Christmas. And here's my version of a crochet Christmas Wreath...

I started making it yesterday morning, and in the afternoon it was finished. I used exactly the same numbers of stitches in Lucy's tutorial. The only difference I made was not to change colors in every other row. For the rest of it I'm planning to add a tutorial tomorrow if the light is good enough to take pictures. And hopefully I'll change the picture in this post as well because I couldn't capture the exact colours of the pretend branches and holly leaves due to poor sunlight.

Kitties test driving

Kitties seem to have approved the quality of the new blanket without I've been able to finish it properly.



Although I call it the new blanket, I started doing it about 3 years ago. At firt, I was very eager to finish it, but then I didn't like the color combination, so I neglected it until one day I remembered having it around when it suddenly got really cold here. It's not my favourite blanket, but it serves its purpose well for the time being. Until I finish my other and "favourite" one, I'll have to keep myself warm under it while watching TV or correcting papers. Happy Monday y'all!

Sneak Peek

I just can't take my eyes off of especially these two photos. Don't they look so yummy?