As someone who loves to craft, I have many hobbies involving creating things with my hands. It brings me joy to see something like a piece of paper become a card, a drawing into a sticker, a collection of videos becoming a montage. This summer, I decided to take up another crafting skill, crochet, where I could turn yarn into mini crafts! I get excited about crochet now, probably driving my friends crazy showing them every creation. I decided to get in touch with my good friend Iona, who also loves to crochet, to bring a colourful article of what we have learned to crochet this summer!
Iona here! I have been dabbling in crochet for years but started properly honing my craft during the first lockdown of 2020 after finding a ‘basics of crochet’ book in the middle aisle of Lidl (aka heaven). Much like Chels, I love showing people what I make and am constantly gifting useless yet cute crocheted items to my friends and family, keep reading to see some of my best bits!
As someone who loves to read, I wanted to make cute bookmarks to use when reading. I decided to create teabag bookmarks due to my love of tea! As well as doing tea bags in your more standard green teas and dandelions, I decided to incorporate different pride colours too as part of the LGBTQ+ community!
This was the first item of clothing I ever crocheted, so I am very proud of it! Following a basic daisy granny square pattern, I created lots (and lots) of squares before using my previous experience in making clothes to construct the cardigan. The design isn’t perfect, and there are many things I would have changed, but I still love it very much and think it is the perfect project for crochet beginners who want to branch into clothes making.
I had a tonne of leftover wool from my cardigan, so I decided to make a simple crop top. Although I used my knowledge of clothes making and my body measurements, I freestyled this pattern, but there’s a multitude of basic crochet designs that are perfect for beginners!
Chels: I started my very own little Etsy Store this Summer, and, with that, I wanted to create something to share the love and happiness that crafting brings me to my customers. So I learned to crochet a mini heart to put into my orders!
Gertie Cardigan (Iona)
Following this free pattern, I decided to make this gorgeous cardigan. The colours are some of the absolute favourites I have ever worked with, and I loved how meditative the crochet stitches were to work up.
Scrunchies (Chels)
I learned to make two types of scrunchies, one being the more traditional type and the second being ruffle scrunchies. These were incredibly fun to make, knowing I can make my scrunchies in any colour I like to match any outfit I wear!
Cat Sweater (Iona)
Okay, I’ll admit, this project isn’t finished yet (and I think you can tell) but I am truly obsessed with it and feel as though it needed to be in the article! I can’t wait to finish the hems and cuffs, and then weave in all the ends – the part I am most dreading! If you want to make this glorious jumper, click this link to be taken to the creators Etsy.
Random Tops (Chels)
Like Iona, I have been experimenting with designing different tops! Because I lose focus easily, a lot of them were done by watching random parts of a YouTube video and by looking at Pinterest inspiration. This summer, I made a collection of three crochet tops, which will certainly not be the end! Also, shoutout to my mum for making me a Harry Styles inspired cardigan – which is the sole reason I got into crocheting in the first place!