Hi everyone 

I have been sick with a virus that was doing the rounds in our house. By the time the kids had recovered, I was ill. To all of you who have children or interact with kids, you will know the feeling? Suddenly one afternoon I have this wave of tiredness and exhaustion, I felt unable to clean and tidy and just wanted to sit down. At times when I feel like this, or in the past felt much worse, I have turned to crochet. Working with my hands calms me, enagaging my brain keeps my self esteem in place and it helps me heal on an emotional level. 

While I haven’t been able to take up my hook recently as much as I usually do, I have been reading a lot. Here is something really valuable to check out: http://blog.lionbrand.com/2014/07/13/5-women-share-how-crochet-has-helped-them/

The women speaking here are all people I admire personally as crafters, designers and high achievers in their own right. Check it out! 

I do have some beautiful projects brewing in my brain, so watch this space… More juicy creative crochet coming soon. Until next time, stay well dear reader. I hope the sun is shining where you are! 

P xx😘

Hello lovely readers, isn’t it funny? This is my 3rd blog in 2 days. How come suddenly I have all this time…? It’s because my dear husband is away. Once I put the kids to bed, wash up the dishes, iron the school uniforms… I’ve got nothing to do. So what do I do? My brain and my fingers scream for yarn and want to do something to curb the boredom. So guess what… I faced a old demon and unravelled my hanks of alpaca wool into balls so I can start crocheting with them. 

   

  

 Then of course it became clear that I needed some inspiration and really wanted to ask you all… How do you do yours? Each one of us who crafts and works with yarn must have had to do this. Someone suggested to me once to use an upturned chair and that’s what I’ve used in these pictures.

I admit the first hank I ever bought, about 15 months ago, was a sock yarn. I had never bought a Hank before and did not know how to roll it into a ball. Naively, I just started crocheting from the yarn while it was still in its dubious hank state. Needed less to say, a few days into the project, it started to resemble tangled spaghetti. The more I pulled, the worse it got. I’d un clog a little bit, then work a few rows to find another clogged up bit if yarn, each larger than the last one. My crochet rythm gave up on me and I just couldn’t do it anymore. I wish I had taken a photo… Just to remind me how brave I am. I did give up on that yarn, then went back a few months later to finish off the unravelling. It wasn’t easy, certainly wasn’t much fun. Took the time it would have taken to create a beautiful project and tested my patience too. But I like to look at everything positively… Of course even that experience taught me some patience! 😂 
So my question to you is… How do you wind your ball? I’d love to hear everyone’s ideas. 

Looking forward to your responses, 

P x

Hi everyone 

I found this very interesting article on the lion brand website. It’s about how crochet can be used as a kind of meditation… Have a read if you are interested 

http://blog.lionbrand.com/2013/07/24/crochet-as-meditation/

P x

🤔While I tackle the learning curve of setting up my first Instagram account, gmail account, face book account and get my head around blogging, I’m very very lost trying to figure out how to make my blog better. 

I simply don’t know how to introduce a drop down menu, extra photos, put words into current photo, reply to all the people who were kind enough to like me Etc… 

Eventually if it could work out I’d like this blog to be my identity for all the crochet work I manage to work on. I’m hoping to soon acquire some paid work too and I’d really like my blog to look like an introduction to me…. But that’s not what’s happened so far. 

I’ve been out of my comfort zone eversince I ventured into blogging territory about a month ago. I’d read a lot of people’s blog over the years, but never considered myself savvy enough to make one myself. 🤔 Then something made me brave enough to try my own. 

After a while the crochet work grew into an art for me and I really wanted to share it with everyone. Of course then I thought I was going to be OK starting up a blog. Did I mention I’d never been on social media before this? With the exception of a rarely accessed Facebook account which I’d created years ago so my mum (who has since passed away) could see the photos of my kids. I now don’t have the email address of password linked to that account, so it’s been dormant for many years. Other than that I don’t know how to use Facebook or any other social media. 

In the last week I’ve signed up for a new facebook account under the name of crochet princess. I want to upload crochet photos… That’s been a challenge. I know it just be hard for some of my readers to understand this, but I don’t know how to navigate myself. I’m feeling so left behind, so lost on the world of social media… The phrase digital foot print was mostly scary in the past… 

But have a heart little crochet princess, I tell myself often, you will unravel the mysteries of blogging, facebooking, instagramming etc. It will be slow, it will take a lot of reading and self learning… But hope makes the world go around. So I’m not giving up on myself yet! 

If any of you can help me, lovely readers, please shoot me an email on mymindfullcraft@gmail.com and let me know how. 

Love 

P xx

Isn’t it amazing how something simple like a granny square can be joined up and made into something so beautiful. Here is a top I made for myself in a gorgeous cotton yarn. It’s a simple design that anyone can make. Here are the granny squares I made up…. 

  
They ultimately were joined together to make this top: 

  
As you can see it’s a very simple thing to put together. It’s an absolute pleasure to wear. You can dress this up or down, and every time I wear it, I smile all day! That’s just priceless. 

Hope you are all having a blessed and inspired day! 

P x

You know that song… The one with all those beats… Yeah that one. I felt just like that and this post is my explanation why….

Easter was just so lovely…. It was relaxing, it was fun, most of all we connected to the ones we love the most. That was the best feeling in the world. The other best thing was that I managed to finish two projects that I’d been working on and I was a bit worried that I’d never finish…. You know the feeling? 

I managed to give myself a brain workout by converting a knitted garment to a crochet one. It was a knitted sleeveless vest that I had seen somewhere. It was so comfy and lovely, but there was no crochet pattern for it. 

Therein lay the challenge. After measuring up the rough length and width of the original vest, I managed to make up my own crochet version. And it made me feel so happy that I felt I had the power to do simply anything! 😎😉

Here is a photo of the one I made in Katia Aztec yarn. 

  
I’m really looking to wearing this come the cooler months. Except now it’s just warm everyday… And it simply can’t cool down soon enough for me! Of course whenever I want to wear any of my lovely crocheted items, it’s always too warm. Although we are almost a month into autumn in Sydney, it’s still 27-28 degrees and yes it’s nice, but hey… You can’t wear a nice crochet shawl in that weather can you…. 🙃 here are some photos of our local beach where we go quite often with my dog. 

   
 
Hoping it’s cooler wherever you are…. 
P xx

It’s impossible to explain creativity. It’s like asking a bird, ‘How do you fly?’ You just do.

Eric Jerome Dickey
Happy Easter everyone…! 

 It’s so lovely to have 4 days of holidays. Sydney weather is forecast to be absolutely fantastic… We are just getting into autumn and the temperatures are perfect. The days are warm but not hot, the nights are cool but not cold and uncomfortable. We are all planning long drives, walks with the dog, late nights and lie in mornings…. And lots of crochet time for me! 😉

I wanted to make something colourful and happy. Just to bring out the holiday spirit. Here are my Easter birds. They are quite easy, as you simply make a circle of your choice, fold in half, stuff, sew on eyes and tail…. Done. Have fun choosing the colours. I had a great time choosing the beads too. 

  
   
I hope these inspire you to get creative and enjoy the long weekend. Ah for long lazy days, cool nights of take away…. and lots of crochet in front of the TV with my family milling around me. Bliss…. 

Love

P x

If you shut your eyes and are a lucky one, you may see at times a shapeless pool of lovely pale colours suspended in the darkness; then if you squeeze your eyes tighter, the pool begins to take shape, and the colours become so vivid that with another squeeze they must go on fire.

J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Colour is so inviting. It beckons and calls, persuades you to express yourself in its moods. You could be bright orange with happiness and hope, calm with blue and green or just be happy in a colour of your choice. I find engaging with colour a form of expression.

 I made this bunting over a couple of days to express the different moods that I felt. The real challenge was stopping at 17 circles. I could have just gone on and on…. 

   
 
Pattern for circles. 

You will need a size 4.5 mm hook and medium (DK) weight yarn in a wide array of colours. I have used acrylic for my bunting. 

• Start with a circle. Using white, either make a magic ring, or chain 3, join with first chain for a circle. Sc at join, chain 2, makes 1tr. Make another 13 tr into beginning circle, 14tr all up. Snip off yarn. 
• With new colour, sc into any tr space from last round. Chain 3, 1tr into same space, forms 2tr together. (Ch 1, tr2 together into each space from previous round) slip stitch into first chain, 14 tr together. Snip off yarn. 
• With new colour, sc into any chain 1 space from previous round. (Chain 2(acts as tr) tr twice more into same stitch) makes 1 shell. Skip two stitches from round below, three tr in next chain 1 space. Repeat till you have 14 shells. Slip stitch into top of 1st tr. Snip off yarn. 

I really hope you enjoy creating these wherever you are dear reader. I hope you love watching the colours merge and take shape like I did, I hope you love what you do… And I hope it makes you as happy as I was when I’d strung it up. It hangs over a doorway in my kitchen, makes me smile when I look at it, and brightens my day just a little more! 

Love, 

P x

Ps: please like my post if you like it. It’s so very encouraging…. 😊 

I’ve made the bag! It was such fun to do, so easy and oh my god blocking is just miraculous. Before I’d blocked the granny square the bag was about 2/3 the original size. Here’s a photo of the finished product… 

Thank you to my dog and my son who sportingly posed for me in his pj’s. I’m so blessed. 😇 

The bag is great for waking the dog or for a quick dash somewhere… you know when you just want to carry your phone, wallet, keys and maybe a small bottle of water. 

I really hope you feel like crocheting something like this for yourself soon. It’s very easy and so rewarding. 

P  x

I’m addicted to crochet… I know it because I’ve just cancelled lunch with a very important man (my husband) who has returned from a lengthy work trip… Just to crochet. I’ve had a new idea for a square…. I want to use lots of colour and want to depict delft blue tones…. 

Here we go!

What do you think…. ?