Flowers off my hook !!!!

Exactly one month ago I started this flowery project ….

Today, I can show you the simple idea I came out with : a Starburst Flowers Centrepiece !!!

Wanna look?

Please, you are really welcome …

…. some flowery details…

Are you interested in some technical data?

I was working with a 3,5mm hook.
The cottons used are : Catania 100% cotton for the petals ; Sirdar FLIRT double knitting black (SH 226 LOT 91016) for the centres and Sirdar FLIRT double knitting beige (SH 222 LOT 10308) for the outer round; DALLA ROSA 100% cotone perlato (made in Italy!) in white (bagno 117) for the round around the black circle!
The pattern for the STARBURST FLOWER was found on the book "150 Knit & Crochet Motifs" by Heather Lodinsky.
The final measurements of the centrepiece are : 45cm for each side and 41cm in width (or depth?).

More photos …

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Sunday afternoon, I crochet a little black gift for my mum (she is coming to visit us next Sunday!!!)…

This is a lace headband, whose pattern was found on the same Japanese crochet book I was using for the scarf/shawlette pattern (soon a new post about that little beauty !!!!) !!!

xxxx, Alessandra

Make it! Placemat part #2 : embellishments!

Ok!! I hope it was not a long waiting! I left you (here) with the placemat done, but with something missing....So today, I'll show you what I've added in the meantime to my work!!

I took some white yarn

and I crocheted a border in single crochet (sc)

Then I took some light blue to make 1/2 border (the second row)

and for the other half I used some orange

When completed the border, I was not still satisfied with the result, so.....
Why not add some yarn pom poms ??
I did four of them, using a fork! I just wrapped the yarn around the fork ( for each pom pom ) 50 times...

With the help of a tapestry needle I put a couple of pom poms on the top left of the placemat...

...and the other couple at the bottom of the same side...

Is it ok now???? NOT YET!!!

Infact, there is still one thing missing : a cutlery pocket!!! Oh yes!!!

I did follow the video instructions that you can find here and I started to crochet with 5 clusters, to obtain this ( after 3 rounds )..

With the leftover of the dark grey I crocheted a cord (95 chains), just a little thing to add and complete my work....finally!!!

What to do with the cord? Just tie a knot!!! I decided to position it on the same side of the pom poms as a napkin holder (!!!!)...

Note that the cord is passed trough 2 stitches of the place mat, to keep it in place ....

And what about my fork/spoon/knife set?

The cutlery pocket was added on the placemat with a simple stitching (whip stitch???), using the light grey yarn (the same used for the background) and adding a short border in sc (same yarn)...

...so slide the set in !!!!

Now the placemat is ready to be used :

I really hope that the waiting was worth it!! If you prefer a neat look, remember to block your work (ops, I didn't!!!).... ;oD

Any problems/questions, please contact me here, thank you!

If you like, you can add your photos of the project completed on my Flickr page group : homemade@myplace ; Make It !!! : you are all really welcome!

xxxx, Alessandra

P.S. : I'm really sorry for the quality of the pictures from #8 to #15....we were in Singapore for the last weekend and that afternoon was raining cats and dogs, while we were safely dry in our hotel room...crocheting!!! xxx