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Hello! I've just whipped a few of these little crochet amigurumi eggs last minute to pop on our Easter tree and they are such a quick make I thought I would share my pattern with you in case you too are in need of some joyful crochet this long weekend. They use such a small quantity of yarn they would be great for using up colourful leftovers. I have written them up in two sizes, one slightly bigger than the other. You can stuff them or keep them flat. I did a bit of both for mine - I stuffed...

So it's advent eve! And I thought I'd put together a little round up of some of the patterns I know that some folk have already bookmarked for yarn advent making. Yarn advents are amazing (I make one so obviously I'm slightly biased) but working out what to make with 24 mini skeins can be a conumdrum. So I asked over on instagram what everyone was planning to make with theirs this month and here are a few of the suggestions, click the photos to see the pattern links.   Do you have a yarn advent this year - if...

As today is the day we start the Summer of Crochet Socks crochet-a-long and the first pattern (Cranage Socks) starts with a row of Foundation Double Crochet, I thought it would be a good opportunity to do a little tutorial for this stitch. I love this method of starting any crochet work - I much prefer it to starting chains - and it's particuarly useful for this pattern as we go around and work into the underside of the foundation row and I think it makes a nicer base of the stitch. If you really don't want to do this...

Last weekend I was away at The Crochet Sanctuary, where I taught my first ever workshop - socks! So that everyone would have time to work through all the techniques for the sock pattern, I added a sample sock size to the pattern, a little baby sock. I'm so pleased with this idea as not only did it mean there was time for everyone to get to grips with the pattern in the time restraints, it also worked really well as a gauge swatch and served as an excellent example as the importance of swatching. Below you can see one...

It's been over 10 years since I had my first crochet pattern published. How I got into crochet design is a question I get asked a fair amount so I thought it would be good to write up a blog post explaining how I did! I will be completely honest with you, I have zero training or education in this field, I am just an avid crocheter. I did do a theatre design A-Level that involved an element of costume design (though this was back in 2000!). I considered various degrees that included fashion and set design, but in the end did...