Crocheting a rose brooch ...

Hi everyone

Are you enjoying summer where you are? We have been promised a heatwave but it has yet to materialise.

However, I am loving my time off work to just catch up with friends & things for a change.

I recently showed you my tentative crocheting efforts following some beginner lessons. My late Mother & Grandmother could crochet & chat at the same time & they were always making something while muttering about my 'idle hands' ....

I am ambidextrous so I do some things with my right, some with my left hand & it so I skipped certain skills (knitting as it was easier to get my Mom to do it)

However, the lovely crochet tutors have been brilliant & have let us find the way that we are comfortable with ... my thread holding works for me is all I am saying.

I saw a workshop to learn to crochet a rose brooch & talked my friend Liane Pearl in to joining me at a local craft shop. It was intense to get the rhythm of the pattern .... 5 trebles ... 2 doubles ...  5... 2

Amazingly, it took on the shape & I was even impressed with how neat mine was - progress!

One leaf done & then time for a crochet button for the centre ....

Finishing them off & putting the backing pin on - fabulous achievement.

Oh yes - a great evening was had by all, a new pattern learnt & a lovely brooch too.

My lifelong learning aim continues this year ... I need to practise this while it is fresh in my mind because it is so effective!

I am sure I am not the only one learning new skills. Do you figure it out yourself or are you happy to enrol on a new course? Tell all & thank you for stopping by & taking the time to read & comment.

Dee ~♥~

A new course ....

Hi everyone, I hope you are all enjoying the season whatever it is your side.

I recently saw a beginners crochet course offered locally. My late Mother & grandmother were dab hands at crocheting but I took little interest & so never learnt to crochet. It always seems so social & relaxing with people chatting while they work away ...

I was relieved to find all at the course to be complete beginners, like I was because we were all starting from the same uncertain place.  I was pleased with my first effort - not too uneven at all.

The second lesson proved to be a bit more challenging with granny squares. It look a while to get my head around the pattern & how many stitches for each section etc. I admit to quite a lot of pulling out on this section.

On a Friday night, us three cousins were really rock 'n roll - sitting round crocheting granny squares so that I could get my homework done. They have both had a little lay off from crocheting but were now fired up again... 

I was quite pleased that mine were a uniform size & shape. I did not change colours on these because I was doing them while chatting ... 

Our final lesson was sewing our squares together with various methods to find which we preferred. 

 I was looking forward to learning to do this pattern in our last lessons once we had stitched up our granny squares.  I love the freshness of this pattern ... 

 For the practice, I used darker colours - it was quite tricky but we all managed with lots of help.

Not quite as bright or as pretty as the example but time was limited & so it was a small section to get our heads around the pattern.

After 3 lessons, I am happier about crocheting but realise that I still have a long way to go to be proficient at the techniques & being able to do it without pulling out too much. Like any new skill, it is all about practicing it & learning the terms associated with the stitches & patterns. 

Perhaps in time, it will become a more natural action .... 

What needlework skills do you have? Tell all,  

Dee ~♥~