Quick and easy chunky flower brooch - FREE PATTERN!

Completed Flower Brooch

Brooches are pretty "in" this summer and there are literally hundreds of patterns on Ravelry for all manner of flower brooches. Most of them are made with thinner yarn as I wanted to use up the last bits of my Wendy Fusion chunky.

I whipped up this flower pretty quickly (5 mins!) and I thought I'd share this quick and easy flower brooch tutorial with you. 

Central & Middle pieces

Outer Flower Piece

Yarn: Wendy Fusion or other chunky yarn

Hook: 6mm

Gauge: not important!

You'll also need: Brooch blank / brooch pin

Instructions:

Central circle:

Using a lighter colour, use a magic ring and make 10 single crochet in ring. Pull tight and fasten off.

Middle Flower:

Ch 4. Join with SS to first SC to form a ring.

Ch 1, 12 DC in ring. Join with SS to 1CH.

*SC, HDC, DC all in next SC. DC, HDC, SC all in next stitch** repeat from * to ** all around for 6 petals. Join with SS to 1CH.

Fasten off.

Outer Flower:

CH4, join with SS to first SC to make ring.

*CH 14, SC in ring** repeat * to ** for another 9 times (10 petals in total).

Finishing up:

Place the 3 flowers on top of each other and sew together. Sew or glue a brooch blank to the rear and you're done!

You can always add a button to the centre or even beads to it!

I'm actually going to make another and attach it to a hair elastic to spruce up my dreads a bit!

Firstborn Knitted Baby Bobble Hat

I was looking around the Internet for a knit flat newborn baby hat and didn't have much luck finding one. They were all either knitted on DPNS or on circular needles in the round. I really couldn't be bothered to dig out my circulars and I don't own DPNS, so, you guessed it, I wrote my own pattern. It's so easy and I was surprised that I couldn't find one online. Maybe my pregnancy brain made them invisible...

The newborn baby hat is knitted flat on 5mm straight knitting needles and sewn up the side once finished. I'm not the fastest of knitters and this only took me two evenings (approx 6 hours) to make, so I'm sure the more experienced knitters will be able to complete it in half the time.

The size of this hat is for a newborn, approx 11-13 inches head circumference and 5.5inches tall. This hat should fit newborn up to 3 months of age.

The materials you will need to make this easy newborn hat:

• wool of your choice, I used Patons 'FAB!' DK
• straight 5mm knitting needles
• darning needle / crochet hook to make up
• measuring tape / ruler

The stitches/techniques you will need to know to make this hat:

• cast on
• knit and purl stitches
• K2TOG - knit two together
• whip/blanket stitch to make up
• pom-pom skillz

The easy-peasy pattern to make this hat is as follows:

Using straight 5mm needles, CO 60 stitches (I used a long-tail cast on but use whatever technique you're most comfortable with)

Ribbing: K4, P4 until end
Work in k4,p4 ribbing until ribbed band measures 1 inch

Work in garter stitch (knit every row) until entire piece including ribbing measures 4 inches


DEC row 1: *knit 6 stitches, k2tog* repeat to end.
Knit next row without decreasing to end

DEC row 2: *knit 5 stitches, k2tog* repeat to end
Knit next row without decreasing to end

DEC row 3: *knit 4 stitches, k2tog* repeat to end
Knit next row without decreasing to end

DEC row 4: *knit 3 stitches, k2tog* repeat to end
Knit next row without decreasing to end

DEC row 5: *knit 2 stitches, k2tog* repeat to end
Knit next row without decreasing to end

DEC row 6: *knit 1 stitch, k2tog* repeat to end
Knit next row without decreasing to end

DEC row 7: *k2tog* repeat to end

Break yarn leaving a long tail and thread tail through remaining stitches on needle. Pull tightly closed. Use the rest the tail to make up the side using whip/blanket stitch.

If you so wish, get your pom-pom skillz out and make a fancy topper for your hat. Voila! Told you it was easy :)

I haven't died... I've been busy!

OK, so I got a job. Finally. The hours, 11am until 8.30pm, are killing me but at least I have an income now. I feel like I have dedicated my life to it but I don't mind.

I have also been busy making things, mainly as gifts for Christmas. I won't have a lot of money to spend this year so most of them are going to be handmade gifts for family and friends.

Here's something I'm particularly proud of. It's a scarf/cowl made from Wendy Fusion acrylic, colourway Autumn. I edged it with a cheap fancy bobble yarn. I also made two button holes and used some buttons my MIL gave me.

The pattern is plain and simple and is a perfect stash buster as it uses nearly a whole ball of yarn.

• With a 5mm hook CO 25, DC in each stitch, CH 3, turn. Repeat until it's long enough to wrap around your neck. 
• BUTTON HOLES: DC in next 5 DC, CH4, SKIP next 4 DC, DC in next 5 DC, CH 4, SKIP next 4 DC, DC in each remaining DC, CH 3, turn.
• DC in each stitch across. Fasten off.
• Edge with eyelash or bobble wool. 
• Fasten buttons on other end to buttonholes.