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| photo courtesy of Nicola Pravato |
I saw this darling pattern for crocheted cherries on Pinterest and wanted to share it in time for National Cherry Month. It would be so cute sewn onto a terry hand towel, or in the corner of a flour sack dishtowel, or on a pair of thick hot pads, or sewn onto a place mat and paired with red napkins. This cute motif has potential! Thanks to the very crafty Nicola Pravato and her blog, Next to Nicx for sharing a great pattern.
Cherries are ever so popular as a kitchen motif. I was wondering out loud to my husband why cherries would be celebrated in February. He laughed just a little and reminded me about the birthday of George Washington and the legend of the ill-fated cherry tree. Ah, now it makes sense! Here are several more links for cute projects around the web. Whatever you do, don't leave cherries out of your hope chest.
French-Knots: All Things Stitchy is a wonderful site featuring free vintage patterns for embroidery, quilting and crochet. This pattern is for embroidering a cluster of cherries. The design would be delightful on a flour-sack dishtowel with a pretty fabric border! Don't miss this site.
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| French-Knots: All Things Stitchy |
Wouldn't this look cute as the cover of a recipe booklet for the hope chest? There are so many yummy recipes featuring cherries and I think it would be fun to make a collection for the hope chest. LeAnne Pugliese is a talented crafter who specializes in stamping and beautiful handmade cards. She has many more ideas at her blog Wee Inklings
Here is a pattern for a charming crocheted cherry pie pot holder by yarnspirations.com. Miss Abigail really doesn't need many more pot holders in the hope chest, but this would still make a lovely gift, especially at a bridal shower, accompanied by my favorite recipe for cherry pie!
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| yarnspirations.com |
A blog called Arte & Ricamo offers this simple cherries cross stitch pattern, along with several other links for free patterns of cross stitch cherries. I could make two or three as decorative jar lid covers and put them with Abigail's canning tools in the hope chest. They would look just as nice on my own jars in the pantry.
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| artedelricamo.com |
Whatever else I might make with the cherry motif will certainly go well with this pretty oven mitt, already in the hope chest. I crocheted the fancy white open fan edging and attached it to the cuff with hand stitching.
I had so much fun surfing the web (and Pinterest) for fun cherry ideas for the hope chest. I started a new board called "Cherries" on Pinterest to collect them all. These five fun ideas could keep me busy for a while though. I do love cherries, don't you?
What lovely cherry-inspired ideas! I wish I could crochet...although I can cross-stitch, so maybe that craft would be something I could whip up! Thanks for featuring my card, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting LeAnne! I'm making a nice collection of cherry recipes as I am completely serious about making a little recipe booklet and I love your design for a cover.
ReplyDeleteAll adorable! Cherries are one of my favorite fruits, I can eats pounds of them. I need a tree!
ReplyDeleteMe too!!
DeleteKathleen, I am in love with crocheted lace borders. I am trying my best to learn how to do this by looking at instructions online, and watching YouTube videos. I can do it with bigger yarn and needles...but I am all fingers, trying to get it with the smaller. Any tidbits of help? Thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteHi Tawn! I know that it can be hard to get the hang of thread crochet. You mention that you are comfortable with yarn, so I would suggest that you gradually reduce the size of the yarn, practicing with baby yarn and then fingering yarn and then size 3 and 5 thread and finally size 10 cotton thread. You'll want to reduce the size of the hook as you do the yarn until you have a size 7 or 9 steel hook. Because the mechanics are the same, problems typically manifest in the thread tension and placing the stitches. I don't know how you hold your thread. If you've watched YouTube you know that people do it VERY differently from one to another person. I hold the loose thread in my left hand, wrapped once around my pinky finger and then through the middle of my palm and up across my left index finger. The index finger manages the final thread tension before it goes into the stitch, but the pinky finger manages the initial tension. If I find that the thread is too loose, I will wrap the thread twice around my pinky finger to hold it from coming too quickly into my index finger. Sometimes, I will wrap it twice around my index finger also because that will pull up some excess thread without creating as much of a stop as the double wrap around the pinky. So - all that to say that figuring out a good way to control the tension of the thread is a key. I'm not sure how you are holding the hook either. Just hold it the way you are used to when you crochet with yarn. Many people hold a steel thread hook like a pencil, but if that is awkward and you don't use that technique in your regular crochet, then don't feel like you have to learn something new. Secondly, because the thread and the hook are both smaller in size, stitches become harder to see and placement sometimes becomes an issue. Getting the hook under the proper thread and counting chain stitches or finding the right chain to complete the picot stitch, etc. can seem very frustrating. I keep a small magnifying glass in my crochet bag because my eyes are just not what they used to be. Be sure to use only a light solid colored thread while you are learning because that will be much easier to see. Finally, matching the right size hook to the right size thread also helps. The thread wants to slip right out of those tiny hooks! If this keeps happening you may want to adjust the hook size to a slightly bigger hook until you learn to manage that problem. It will affect your gauge, but may help you learn. I usually use either a 7 or 9 sized steel hook with size 10 thread. Please feel free to ask specific questions or even e-mail me.
DeleteThank you so much for this information. I will keep trying, and if I do run into a "snag", I will send you an email.
DeleteLvoe all yuor beautiful creations.
Just noticed how I spelled the words in that last sentence. Must of had too much coffee!
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