flowers | Squirrel Picnic

The past six weeks have been all about flowers – well, one flower in particular. The Tall ‘n’ Fast Flower is a very special one that is native to Squirrel Picnic. In “The Big Acorn Race” story, Podge has to grow a flower, fast. Luckily she has a packet of seeds that will do the trick. Sure enough, her Tall ‘n’ Fast Flower grows both tall and fast. You’ll have to excuse my cryptic description there – I just don’t want to spoil the story.

What I can tell you is that just like many of the items in the story, there will be patterns to make your own Tall ‘n’ Fast Flowers. This month I designed a Tall ‘n’ Fast Flower barrette, wall hanging, and 14” round pillow. I even designed a seed packet phone case! So far these are my favorite patterns from the book. I hope you enjoy these photos of them… Continue reading →

May 22, 2015
by JO 16 Comments

Spring Meadow Rug Crochet Pattern

After a thorough cleaning of my bedroom/studio this spring, I decided to crochet a lively rug to cover my very blah carpet. When it came to picking the yarn for this project I knew I wanted a soft cotton, but I also wanted to try something new. I was really curious what a variegated yarn would look like in a chevron stitch pattern and I was ready to experiment.

I always love seeing the magic that happens with yarn of variegated colors. You never know quite what to expect. Sometimes, as with striping yarn, fun bands of color will appear. Other times you will get pools of color. It all depends on the yarn and the stitch pattern. So I was really pleased when this well-known and inexpensive cotton yarn created a mottled look when done up in a chevron stitch pattern.

Despite my breaking the rule against using variegated yarn with an intricate stitch pattern (I think that’s why most people use solid colors in this instance), I discovered with variegated yarn the chevron stitch pattern isn’t totally lost in the play of color. In the end, I think it creates a vibrant effect that you wouldn’t be able to achieve with solid color or stripes.

And now my floor is covered and the cotton feels divine under my bare feet, rather like a soft patch of spring grass.