Crochet Giftage

Work in Progress

I was just looking through my recent posts and there seems to be a heavy crochet bias at the moment. Not wanting to break the trend, here is another post featuring crochet. I like crochet because it is quick and so projects can be finished in a short amount of time, giving that lovely thrill of achievement that comes with completing something handmade.

Valentines card (detail)

Valentines day present

View from the back

The middle of February brings (rain, wind, snow) my Mum's birthday and Valentines day, both days that are for celebrating two of the most important people to me. So, I like to make my gifts for them if I can.

Heart detail

For Valentines day I made a mug cosy for partner of patience; he has no real interest in or desire for a mug cosy but he is very difficult to buy for (and in the preceding two months I've had to deal with the trauma of finding him Christmas and Birthday presents) so this seemed like a nice little project to let him know how much I care (buckets available on request.) I found this lovely mug to wrap it around and finished the gift off with chocolate, which in my opinion improves most things.

Notebook cover and mug cosy

Mug cosy

I used to find it very easy to buy presents for my Mum, less so now as she has most things she wants and I really hate buying things for the sake of it, I love getting presents for people but I want to get things that they will like or use. I saw a granny square notebook cover in one of my books and, being slightly obsessed with granny squares at the moment, decided it would be a good project to make for her as she could use it for covering a notebook, reading book or sketchbook. I then made a matching mug cosy because there are few things lovelier than curling up with a book and a nice hot cup of tea.

Front of the book cover

Back of the book cover

Backwards BookJacket

The Backwards Book Cover

I thought one of the projects I could do with my textiles group this term is book covers. The construction is fairly simple and there's plenty of scope for embellishment. So I dutifully began making a sample, merrily embroidering a bird and branches in sparkly thread (ooh, shiny!) I cut a lining and stitched that on, using some interfacing for increased stiffness. It wasn't until I actually came to press in the folds that I realised my minor error. I had embroidered the bird on what would be the back part of the cover. I'd been so involved in the decoration I'd neglected the construction! However, it's a very pretty bird and it really doesn't matter, I just laugh at myself every time I see it. I'm using the book jacket for my little knitting notebook as it was getting a bit dog-eared. Hopefully next time I'll get it the right way round.

Opened out book cover

The back/front!

The front/back!

The lining