Zooty Owl Cushion CAL (5)

This CAL ended November 2015.   The pattern is now available in my RAVELRY STORE
 
Hello and welcome Crochet-A-Long Friends.

It's hard to believe that October has come and gone and we have reached the final instalment of our Zooty Owl Cushion CAL.


The progress photos sent to me by some of the CAL ladies are quite fabulous:

Elizabeth Koegelenberg

Elizabeth's parliament of colourful owl's are quite an inspiration!

Nancy made these cuties to add to the back of her cushion!

Sharon has almost caught up!

Lynette is adding rows to make a blanket to donate to charity!

Zooty Owl Cushion CAL (4)

Hello and welcome to all my lovely Crochet-a-Long friends.

This CAL ended November 2015.   The pattern is available in my Ravelry Store.

Friday I was happily working away on the catch-up post, when my thought train was disrupted by a raucous coming from the bottom of our garden.    Hubby and I went to investigate and there was a crew of workmen up in the big trees on the property behind ours.      They were cutting down the trees with electric saws.  Nobody had asked us to switch our electric fencing off (mistake number 1), so hubby quickly switched it off.    Just as well!!!    He had hardly turned it off when one of the workmen lost his footing and fell from the top of the tree (easily 4 to 5 metres off the ground).   He fell backwards into our garden, taking down the electric fencing and a gutter from one of our storerooms, before landing on the paving.       He cut himself to smithereens on the way down too.     We thought for sure he would need medical attention!     Would you believe?    He got up, asked for a ladder and climbed back into the tree, bleeding as he went!

Hubby and I were in a bit of shock after seeing this, and I had completely lost my ability to formulate a paragraph!    On top of all this our entire back electric fencing was ripped down and we had to make arrangements to have it fixed urgently.

Anyway the fencing was fixed and I managed to finish and post my catch up post.     By then I was so worn out I had to get some sleep.     I planned to get up early yesterday morning to quickly finish the post for Part (4).    The universe was having none of that!!!!     I had barely started editing when suddenly we had no power (LOADSHEDDING I thought).    It was not loadshedding!    One of the electricity poles had completely toppled over pulling the electrical wires with it.   We were without power the entire day (until about 18h30 last night).    A new pole had been installed and the wires repaired!

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Keep sharing your photos on my Zooty Owl Facebook page so that I can include them in the Gallery!

Please join me again on Friday, for the joining and finishing of the cushion!   (Hopefully this will be a less "exciting" week). 

Zooty Owl Cushion CAL

This CAL ended November 2015.   Pattern is available in my RAVELRY STORE.

The past two weeks have been such crazy busy weeks for me, and on top of that my Internet connection has been so slow that my Blog was not loading properly.  The connection seems to have stablilized (holding thumbs) - so let's make hay while the sun is shining (or at least while there is a speedy connection)!

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Your cushions are all looking quite fabulous!!!

Elizabeth appears to be our most enthusiastic CAL friend!   She is making FOUR cushions at the same time!    WOW!

Lynette and Nancy have been very creative with their cushion backs!!

Robyn, Sharon, Rose and Svanhild have chosen gorgeous colours for their cushions!

Please keep on sharing your photos - it is wonderful to see how each and every cushion grows in such an individual way!

Zooty Owl Cushion CAL (2)

Happy Friday and Hello to all the lovely crocheters who are hooking along with me on this CAL!

This CAL ended November 2015.   The pattern is available in my Ravelry Store.
 
We are going to have some beauties by the time we are done, judging from the photos I have received!!

Elizabeth Koegelenberg is a very enthusiastic crochet-a-long(er) and is making no less than four cushions at the same time!  

 

A lot of people say they "hate" doing their cushion backs as they just want to finish their project once the front is done.   So I thought we would get most of the cushion back squared away before we started with the fun bits!

The back is made from two double crochet stripe sections.   

My stripe composition is 5 rows and 6 colours:

Section 1:  Beige;  Apricot;  Coral;  Dark Red;  Blue;  Light Blue.
Section 2:  Apricot;  Beige;  Light Blue.

Feel free to play around with the your stripe composition for the cushion back, or even use a solid colour!

Remember to post your progress shots on my Zooty Owl Facebook page so that I can include them in next week's post!

Have fun crocheting your cushion backs and please join me next week for Part 3:   Owl Features and Embellishments (the FUN part!!!!)

Zooty Owl Cushion CAL: October 2015

This CAL ended November 2015 - the pattern is available in my RAVELRY STORE

Thank you all for the wonderful response to the idea of hosting an OWL CUSHION CROCHET-A-LONG!

It gives me great pleasure to announce my 4th CAL (crochet-a-long):   
THE ZOOTY OWL CUSHION CAL!!!!!

The CAL will be held during the month of October 2015 and I will post a pattern and a photo tutorial every Friday - starting this Friday!


I added a bit of oomph to the Jumbo Owl Cushion to make it more fun to crochet and to make the cushion more durable.

My patterns are all written in US TERMS

The pattern is suitable for DK (8ply / light worsted) weight yarns and a 4.50mm hook OR Worsted Weight (10ply / Aran) and a 5.50mm hook.      

You can use an assortment of scraps to make your cushion, or choose a special colour palette, the choice is yours!

I have used a small amount of "Eyelash" or "Feather" yarn to add a bit of detail to the wings and owl belly - this is entirely optional, but it does give the body a bit of dimension.

For my "showcase" cushion I have used a selection of 100% Acrylic DK Elle Yarns (made by our South African Saprotex Mills) in six main colours: Apricot, Coral, Pink, Light Blue, Blue, Deep Red and Beige (with small amounts of white and navy for the eyes)

My colours were picked randomly for an "autumn feel" with a bit of pep (since this cushion is made from 100% Acrylic).    

If you would like to make a cushion to add some warmth to your autumn decor, you may want to select your colours from the Pantone Autumn Palette for 2015:

For those in the Southern Hemisphere a cool cotton cushion made with colours selected from the Pantone Spring Palette for 2015 may be more practical:

You could even be bold and mix the two palettes up a bit, depending on what you have in your stash!

You will need a minimum of three colours to make the design work (as well as small bits of contrasting colours for the owl's beak and feet, white and navy or black for the eyes).    There is no limit to the maximum amount of colours used - go wild!!

I am looking so forward to having you join me for this CAL on Friday!!!!!!!

Sunshine and Happiness

My son moved to Cape Town in March this year - 1399.6km as the Boeing flies.

Cape Town has really wet and windy winters so I thought I would make him an extra "warmie" for his bed or to keep him warm while watching telly or working on his computer.

In the evenings while he still lived at home he and I would make dinner together.   We would crank up the stereo up and listen to all sorts of good tunes (choonz - as we pronounce it here in SA).      One of our favourite "karaoke" songs was Rod Stewart's "Forever Young"

So this blanket is called "Sunshine and Happiness" (to surround you while you are far from home)!

I make heaps of odd granny squares during LOADSHEDDING and then join them together when we have power again.

For this blanket I made 48 squares - worked around 12 with "Bright Yellow";   12 with "Banana" and 24 with "Red".     I then joined them using the VISIBLE JOIN.

I then worked two rows of dc around each 4 x square block - "Dark Brown" around the yellow blocks and "Chocolate" around the red blocks.

The centre HAD to be special - a variation of my POPCORN OWL

The crochet "Sun" and granny hearts were appliqued on, and the eye feathers are "tassels".

I worked a few "patterned" rows around the Owl Square, and then joined the completed 4 x square blocks to the centre block.

I did not add a border; just a sweet little pompom edging - the same edging used for my POPCORN OWL CUSHION

Now all that remains is for me to box it up (with some other home treats) and have it couriered to my son!

Another Owl Cushion

In the process of sorting and tidying out my EMPTY NEST I have been doing some major stashbusting. 

There were a  few bits and pieces of Raeesah Cotton Soft DK;  Strawberries & Cream (a recycled cotton / acrylic blend) and Coffee Cotton (a panfibre / cotton / coffee extract blend) in one of my baskets - not enough to make anything "big" but just enough to make a cushion!!!!

I had to plan out the colours carefully so that I would only use up the scraps!     

I mixed and matched the buttons for the back too so that I could start clearing out my odd button stash!

If you would like to make one of your own the pattern can be found on RAVELRY

For the next 10 days only you will receive a 30% discount on this pattern if you use the following code:

POC0001

Popcorn Owl Cushion

Last year I was asked by a South African Group to do an "OWL" project for a crochet along.

I totally forgot about it was in a bit of a pickle when I realized I had a week to come up with a project worthy of a crochet along!

I merged a few ideas that I had been playing around with and came up with a Popcorn Owl Cushion:  The pattern is for sale on RAVELRY!!

I adapted the back from a cushion I had made some time back

A few very kind crochet buddies helped me test out the pattern with lightening speed!!!

Due to the time difference I have not received all the photos yet!    I will do a follow up post with more photos!

In the meantime!     Thank you so much Lezelda Barocci Faul for your exceptional work, late night chats and endless stitch counting!!!!!

Zooty Owl Trivets: Pattern

I have been messing around with the font style and size on my blog and for some unknown reason extra line spaces have started inserting themselves.    No matter what I do I just cannot seem to get rid of them.    So please excuse the weird spacing - I am trying to figure it out!    Blogger does seem to be misbehaving today - wrongs dates and all sorts of funnies!!

Whilst on my Autumn cleaning mission my ideas got a bit of a clear out too !

This was initially supposed to be a cushion (made from Chunky yarn), but after about six attempts at the gusset I gave it up as a bad job.    I was about to frog the idea altogether then I thought - HEY!!! -  Owl Trivets for my daughter's kitchen! Could work??

The Owl Body I had designed for the cushion was a "solid" circle.    Since I was a bit Mandala Crazy at the time of making these trivets I designed a Mandala Body for the Trivet

(I will add directions in the pattern for those who would rather use the "solid" version)

The feet and the beak on the first one were a bit of a production.   I was happier with the second trivet, which I made while writing out the pattern:

Made a third trivet for the photo tutorial - sewed the beak on really skew.   I was about to unpick it and re-attach it when my son said I must leave it - he reckons that is how I pull my mouth when I am unimpressed with something!!   (Apparently that was exactly what I WAS doing when I saw how skew the beak was!!)

and a fourth while running through the pattern with the testers:

Eleanor Thomson, who has a lovely blog called NELNANANDNORA, was one of the ladies kind enough to test this pattern for me (Thank you so much Eleanor!!).  Here is her Zooty Owl Trivet:

HANDMADE BY:   ELEANOR THOMSON

ZOOTY OWL TRIVET

PATTERN TERMS:   US

My patterns are all written in US terms - I have included this little chart to make it easier for my UK readers to reference the difference in stitch terms.

Skill Level:  Easy

Approximate Time:  3 hours

I would recommend any DK 100% cotton if this IS going to be used as a trivet (or in the kitchen) - if not, any yarn whatsoever can be used - from 2ply to t-shirt yarn (depending on what you would like to use it for!!)

Use whatever hook size suits your choice of yarn and your tension.

MANDALA VERSION: 

Yarn:  Raeesah Cotton Soft DK (100% cotton)

Hook Size:   4.00mm 

Size:  Top of head to foot = 30cm;   Mandala diameter = 23cm

BODY

Foundation:   4ch, sl st to form circle OR make a magic circle 

Row 1:  3 ch (counts as 1 dc), 11 dc into circle (12 dc), sl st into top of 3ch to join, break off yarn

Row 2:  join yarn in any dc; 3ch, 1dc into same place as join;  2dc into each of next 11dc  (12 x 2dc groupings = 24dc), sl st into top of 3ch at start to close, break off yarn.
  
Row 3:  Join yarn in sp bet any 2dc grouping;   3ch, 2dc in same sp as join; 3dc into each of next 11 sps bet 2dc groupings; sl st into top of 3ch at start to close (12 x 3dc groupings - 36dc);  break off yarn

Row 4:  Join yarn in sp between any 3dc grouping;   3ch 1dc, 2ch, 2dc into same space as join;  (2dc, 2ch, 2dc into each of next 11 spaces between 3dc groupings)  sl st into top of 3ch at start to close;   break off yarn

Row 5:  Join yarn in 2ch sp in the middle of any grouping;   In same sp as join 3ch (counts as 1dc) 2dc, 1ch, 3dc, 1ch;   (3dc, 1ch, 3dc into middle 2ch sp of next grouping; 1 ch) x 11;   sl st into top of 3ch at start to close;   break off yarn

Row 6:  Join yarn in any 1ch sp;   3ch (counts as 1dc), 2dc into same sp as join, 1ch;  (3dc into next 1ch sp, 1ch) repeat to end;   sl st into top of 3ch at start to close;   break off yarn

Row 7:   Join yarn in 1ch sp between any 3dc grouping;   3ch 1dc, 2ch, 2dc into same space as join;  (2dc, 2ch, 2dc into next  space between 3dc groupings) repeat to end;   sl st into top of 3ch at start to close;   break off yarn

Row 8:  Join yarn in 2ch sp in the middle of any grouping;  in same sp as join 3ch (counts as 1dc), 3dc, 1ch;   (4dc in 2ch sp in the middle of next grouping, 1ch) repeat to end;  sl st into top of 3ch at start to close;   break off yarn

Row 9:  Join yarn in sp bet any 4dc grouping;   in same sp as join 3ch (counts as 1dc), 3dc, 1ch;   (4dc in next sp between groupings;  1ch) repeat to end;   sl st into top of 3ch at start to close;   break off yarn

Row 10:  Join yarn in 1ch sp between two 4dc groupings;  3ch (counts as 1dc) in same 1ch sp as join;  1dc into each of next 4dc;  (1dc into 1ch sp bet two 4dc groupings; 1dc into each of next 4dc) repeat to end;  sl st into top of 3ch at start to close.

HEAD

In same colour as Row 10;

Note:  Head worked over 37 stitches

Row 11:    4ch (counts as 1trc) in same sp as sl st;  1trc into each of next 6dc;   1dc into each of next 7 dc;  1hdc into each of next 4dc;  1 sc into next dc;  1hdc into each of next 4dc;  1dc into each of next 7dc;  1trc into each of next 7trc;   turn

Row 12:  4ch (counts as 1trc);  1trc into each of next 6trc;  1dc into each of next 7dc;  1hdc into each of next 4hdc; 1sc into sc; 1hdc into each of next 4hdc;  1dc into each of next 7dc;  1trc into each of next 7trc,  turn

Row 13 - 15:   Repeat Row 12

EYES 

MAKE 2

Foundation:  navy, black or dark brown yarn - 4ch, sl st into first chain to form a circle or make a magic circle.

Row 1:  2ch (counts as 1hdc) into same place as sl st;  9 hdc into circle;  sl st into top of 2ch at start to close (10hdc);  break of yarn.

Row 2:  blue or green - Join yarn in top of any hdc,  2ch (counts as 1hdc), 1hdc in same sp as join;  (2hdc into top of next hdc) x9, sl st into top of 2ch at start to close (10 x 2hdc groupings = 20hdc);   break off yarn.

Row 3:  white - Join yarn between any two 2hdc groupings;  3ch (counts as 1dc), 2dc into same sp as join;  (3dc into each next space 2hdc groupings) x9;  (10 x 3dc groupings = 30dc);   sl st into top of 3ch at start;  break off yarn.

Row 4:  beige - Join yarn between any 3dc grouping;  3ch (counts as 1dc), 3dc into same sp as join;  4dc into each sp between 3dc groupings;  sl st into top of 3ch at start to close;   break off yarn

Row 5:  grey - join yarn in any dc;  1ch, 1sc in same dc as join;  1sc into each dc;  sl st into 1ch at start to close;   break off yarn

Row 6:  (same colour as the last round of the Mandala Body) - join yarn in any sc; 1ch, 1sc in same sc as join;  1sc into each sc;   sl st into 1ch at start to close;   break off yarn leaving a long tail to work eyes on to head

BEAK

Foundation:   4ch, sl st to for circle OR make a magic circle 

Row 1:  3 ch (counts as 1 dc), 12 dc into circle (13 dc), sl st into top of 3ch to join

Row 2:  1ch, 1sc into same place as sl st; 1sc into each of next 3dc;  2hdc into next dc;  2dc into next dc;   (1dc, 1trc, 1dtrc, 1trc, 1dc) into next dc;  2dc into next dc;   2hdc into next dc, 1sc into next 4dc;  sl st into 1st sc to close

Row 3:  1ch, 1sc into same place as sl st;   1sc into each of next 3 stitches;  2sc into next st;  1sc into next st;  2sc into next st;  1sc into next 3 st;  (1sc, 1hdc, 1sc) in next st;    1sc in next 4st;  2sc into next st;  1sc into next st;  2sc into next st, 1sc into next 4st;   sl st into first sc to close.   Break off yarn.

Detail:  Rejoin yarn in a contrasting colour with a sl st.    sl st into each st around beak, break off yarn at last sl st.  

With a tapestry needle, pull the yarn through from front to back on the first ss, pull to tighten neatly. then thread the yarn through the back loops on the next few ss.   Weave in to secure.
  

FEET

5dc spikes worked into Row 9 as follows:

Right Foot is worked over a 4dc grouping and the space directly after the 4dc grouping
Left Foot is worked into the space directly before a 4dc grouping, and then over the 4dc grouping.

The centre of each foot will be worked in line with the centre of each eye

Row 1:  Join yarn to hook with a sl st;   Working on right side of work crochet standing dc into sp between 4dc groups on Row 9; 1ch;   (1dc spike into top of dc in four dc group on Row 9) x4

Turn (working on wrong side)

Row 2:  Ch 3, 3dc into first 1ch sp;   sl st into next 1ch sp,   4ch, 3trc into same sp as sl st;  sl st into next 1ch sp,  3ch, 3dc into same sp as sl st;   sl st into next 1ch sp,  break off yarn.

SOLID VERSION:

Yarn:  Strawberries & Cream (50% recycled cotton / 50% Acrylic)

Hook Size:   4.50mm

Size:  Top of head to foot = 34cm;   Mandala diameter = 25cm

BODY

Foundation:   4ch, sl st to form circle OR make a magic circle

Row 1: 3ch, 11 dc into circle, sl st to close

Row 2:  3ch (counts as 1dc) 1dc into same dc as sl st from Row 1;   (2dc into each dc) x 11 = 24dc;   sl st to close

Row 3: 3ch (counts as 1dc), 1dc into same dc as sl st;  1dc into next dc;  (2dc into next dc;  1dc into next dc) x 11 times = 36dc;   sl st to close

Row 4:  3ch (counts as 1dc), 1dc into same dc as sl st;  1dc into each of next 2dc;  (2dc into next dc, 1 dc into each of next 2dc) x11 = 48dc;   sl st to close

Rows 5 - 10:  For each subsequent round continue to do 2dc into top of 1st of "double" dc of the previous row;   1dc into top of 2nd of "double" dc;  1dc into each single dc.    This means that every row increases by 12 stitches - thus keeping the work flat.

EYES and BEAK worked as for the Mandala Version.

FEET as for the Mandala Version, but the 5dc spikes are worked into the spaces between 5 consecutive dc.

A FEW IDEAS:

The Solid Version would make a great rug.    For this you could use sheet yarn, t-shirt yarn or even plastic yarn (plarn)

The Trivets are a little bit floppy - you could add a quilted backing to make them firmer and more heat resistant.    I am going to sew mine onto a layer of very heavy denim.    (I always wash the crochet and the denim first - just in case there is any shrinkage!)

You could decorate the owls (especially the Solid Version) if you wanted to use it as a wall hanging.  I have added ear tufts and MAGIC RING FLOWERS (with 5 petals instead of 6).   Think I might add a few beads and buttons too ......

Will post a photo when I have had enough fun decorating this one!