I’m home!

Thank you all for your well wishes, I am now home from hospital and slowly recovering. The tumours have been removed and my liver should be beginning to grow back! There was a slight complication and I lost a lot of blood resulting in 7 pints having to be given back to me through a blood transfusion. I was on Intensive care but recovered well, and would have been moved to the high dependency unit and then the ward after a few days but neither had beds available for the whole 2 weeks I was in!

My scar is very big and looks like I’ve been attacked by a shark! Thankfully I don’t mind scars much, and it does look kind of cool ;) It goes from my breast bone and curves down and round to my waist and towards my back – like I said, big!

I didn’t actually manage to get any crochet done while in. For the first week I wasn’t well enough, then I was waiting to go onto the ward before asking for it to be brought in and as I said, I never got onto a ward so never got any crochet done!
Here’s a picture of my progress from before hospital:

I will be continuing to make it as I recover and will show you my progress!
Sam xx

Upcoming Surgery (And a Sneak Peek!)

I am very sorry for being away for so long, but I have been having tests done. I have had the results, and have 2 tumours on my liver. Thankfully they are benign, but they are very large (around 10 cm each) and have to be removed by liver resection. I am scheduled for the major surgery on Friday and I am incredibly scared! I’m going to be in hospital for about 2 weeks, so won’t be able to post until I’m back home.

When I get back I will show you all the things I have been making! I have a lovely blanket to make while in hospital (I wanted something easy and repetitive). I have made some of already so I can get used to the pattern, so hopefully I will finish it in hospital and can recover at home snuggled underneath it!

Also to keep you interested while I’m away, here’s a sneak peek of something I have been making lots of recently! ^_^

Sam xx

 

Free Pattern: Weave Square

Here’s what I was making from this post! Did you guess right?

I thought I’d share with you a square I have made! I got the idea from a picture I found online. I couldn’t find a pattern so created my own! I hope you like it :)

Click here to add to your Ravelry library!

Skill Level: 
Easy to intermediate. The pattern is basic double crochet and half-treble crochet, but putting it together is a bit more complicated. I’ve explained each step as clearly as possible though, and included lots of photo’s to help 

Finished Dimensions:
4×4 inches, but it can be easily adjusted. If you need help with this just ask!

Yarn:
I used a mix of brands in DK. It can be any yarn, but remember it will change the dimensions if it is a different weight

Hook Size:
3.5mm

Other Materials:
Scissors
Darning Needle

Tension:
Unless you are after a specific sized square tension is not necessary. If you do need it to be specific, each strip should measure 9×1 cm each

Stitch Key:
This pattern is in UK terms; for the American terms please see ‘tips’ below 
htr – Half treble
dc – Double crochet

Tips:

• I find weaving in the ends as you go along really helps. That way all you have to do at the end is weave the last end in. The way I do it is I crochet over the first loose end made, then sew in the one at the end of each strip. None of my strips had loose ends once I started connecting them, making things much easier and neater.
• The coloured strips are only fastened down at the ends. 
• American term conversion: htr in UK is hdc in US;  dc in UK is sc in US

Making the strips
You need to make 5 white, 2 orange, 2 medium yellow, 1 light yellow, or any colour combination! 

Row 1: ch 18. htr in the 3rd chain from hook, htr along (16 sts) Fasten off and weave in ends. Repeat until you have the right amount of strips.

Putting the square together
Row 2: Join in with white on a white strip as if you were about to do another row of htr. dc 1. Then pick up one of the dark strips. Place it vertically at the back of the white strip and dc in the next 2 sts, making sure you go through both strips. dc in the next st on the white strip. Repeat this process with all of the coloured strips, overlapping and under-lapping alternately, with a dc between each one. Use the picture for guidance. End with a dc.

Row 3: ch 1, 2 dc down the end of the white strip you’ve been working on, then ch 1. Pick up the next white strip and dc twice along the short edge, then ch 1. repeat with the rest of the white strips. Make sure you don’t dc through the edge of the coloured strip here, only crochet the white ones. The coloured strips only get dc along the short ends. You don’t need to worry about the placement of the coloured strips until you do the next side, so don’t worry about them for now.

Row 4: This is where you start needing to make sure the strips are in the right place, but the weaving is not super important other than for guidance until you get to the white strips again. The main thing to remember is if it under-laps at the top then it does at the bottom too. Starting with the dark colour, overlap and under-lap in the right place, again using the picture for guidance. Then ch 1 and dc along in the same way as round 2.

Row 5: Now you need to make sure the colours are weaved properly. All the coloured strips are fastened down so you will only be able to move the white strips. Once that’s done: *ch 1, dc in next 2 sts of the short end of the white strip* repeat along, making sure the strips are weaved correctly for the final time, ending with a ch 1

Row 6: starting with 2dc  in the next st (the corner), dc around the whole square, making sure you do 2 dc in the rest of the corners too Fasten off, weave in the final yarn end, and you’re done!

Hope you enjoyed my tutorial! If you have any questions feel free to ask me, and if you send me photo’s of your finished squares I’ll post them here! (I’ll get round to this soon, I promise!)

If you’d like to save it for later here’s the Ravelry link!

If you’d find it easier to read this pattern in Hungarian, The wonderful Mercédesz has translated it over on her blog! Go here to check it out ^_^
Translations are always welcome as long as they credit me and link back to my blog. If you’d like to be added to the bottom of the pattern post your link below or message me!

Sam xx

Etsy Finds Friday – Special Edition

Another special edition!
Today’s is dedicated to everyone affected by hurricane Sandy. As I’m sure you’ve all heard, The East coast of America was hit by hurricane Sandy a few days ago. Lives have been lost and many people are homeless and jobless. The great people of Etsy have been donating all or some of their profits to the American Red Cross and other charities that are providing disaster relief to the East Coast. I have done this post to support their great work in trying to raise money. If you can spare a few pounds/dollars please donate, anything will help. I will put links at the bottom of the page. Thank you.

Every shop above is donating money from the items sold, please take a look. As always I have included something for every budget!
Here are the links:
‘After The Rain’ Latin Ring
Hair Ties (I love these!)
Crochet Blanket Pattern
‘Adopt’ T-shirt (I love the idea behind this)
Tigereye Bracelet with silver ribbon
White Ribbon Earrings (So pretty!)
Crochet Apple Charm (Love this)
Actual Photograph of Sandy
Glass Heart Ornament

A few ways to donate:
Itunes store – Apparently you just need to sign in to your account and click “donate” so you can donate to the American Red Cross (I couldn’t check as I don’t have an apple product) and donate from $5 to $200. It will be anonymous, and 100% of your donation will go to the American Red Cross.

Ebay – They have a page set up so you can donate in a variety of ways: buying items, donating directly, or selling things. They also have a list of items on the page that are for sale that will be donating proceeds to charity. There is also a list of charities down the side with links to listings specifically for that particular charity.

American Red Cross – Their website has a lot of information about how to donate and about the disaster Sandy has left behind. There is 11 ways to donate by following this link. The easiest ways are online and via text. For texting, you need to text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10.

There are many other ways to donate and other charities to donate to, but I thought I would just stick to the main ways I could find. 

Everyone that has been affected by Hurricane Sandy is in our thoughts and prayers. I hope you and your family are safe and well, and can get back to normality soon ♥

Thank you for visiting, and I would love to know if you make any donations/purchases!
Sam xx