The yarn-bombing of our brewery home is spreading slowly, very slowly, like one of those garden weeds that – once you initially notice it’s there – you keep spotting more and more outbreaks, until you realize that it’s actually everywhere.
Stand still for too long (say, approximately a week) in our house and you risk being measured up for adornment with crochet, or perhaps having your extremities entrelacced (ouch). Consider y’self warned, my friend. Unfortunately the Toddler Twinnage move too fast to be effectively yarn-bombed as yet: I’m waiting until they slow down into lethargic hormonal teenagers before I attack. (I’m sure they won’t mind in the least – it’s not as though teenagers are bothered about looking cool or anything.) As for the Stoic Spouse, his stoicism doesn’t quite extend to knitwear, and certainly not to this.
So for now, I’ve had to stick to adorning inanimate objects.
Anyway, we’ve long had a row of grown-from-seed basil plants on the kitchen windowsill. They make a hairy herbal hedge that affords our poor neighbours some privacy from the sight of us bickering about The Correct Way In Which To Load The Dishwasher*. The pots were dull, though. Witness! (Photo taken before the plants got big: it’s like a proper little hedge, now.)
That’s not very good, is it? Needs a bit of colour, don’t you think?
So I bought some cheap and cheery nuclear-holocaust-proof acrylic, dug out a crochet hook, and started ‘bombing. What do you think so far? :-
For the main body of each pot, I used a spare pot to get the size right. I started about a centimetre above the bottom of the pot (because I don’t want the bottom of this thing soaked in water every couple of days), and chain-stitched until I had a ring that fitted very snugly, joining with a slip stitch at the end. I then worked rounds of double-crotchets (US terminology) upwards, increasing whenever necessary to ensure that the sleeve got wider at the same rate that the pot did. A very very snug fit was essential, and I paused to try the sleeve on the pot at the end of almost every row. For the last round I added some picot edging.
Then, of course, I mooched around online until I found patterns for crocheted flowers that looked pretty.
As for the flowerpot saucer, I started the initial round slightly smaller than the circumference of the saucer’s base, because I wanted the sleeve to begin just out of sight beneath the base. It thus pulls inwards underneath the saucer and holds itself in place. I then worked upwards and outwards in the same way as for the pot. When I got to the top, I crocheted a super-tight round with a few decreases, so that the circumference of the last round was smaller than that of the top of the saucer, meaning that it stretched inwards and held itself in place at the top.
As I’ve said before, Am I making sense?
And as I’ve also said before, Pretty, no?
* A subject in which I’m undoubtedly right.
Love it. You make sense and pretty. Someone yarn bombed a tortoise the other day into a dinosaur. Fabulous!!!
Oh wow, do you have a picture?
Great!Just great!And so fresh!!!
…And crazy!!
😀 😀 😀
Of course you are right about the dishwasher. I am in my house. And the yarn bombed flower pots are gorgeous. Do you think the bananas could be yarn bombed too? 😉
Bananas…. hmmm… maybe a little light crochet in rainbow colours?
Sounds promising!
They are fantastic, and of course you are right about the dishwasher 😉
Awwww, hello, thanks for popping up on here.
So it’s not just our house who “debate” dishwasher loading etiquette?? Love the pots, but then you’re preaching to the converted! I did something similar with my pots of mini daffodils in the Spring. Who wants to see a boring brown plastic pot? Yours look fab!
Oooh, pictures, pretty please???
Love the pots makes me want to start to crochet, I am only a knitter
Like you, I started as a knitter. Learning crochet is easy as a second craft. I hope you do it…
Love the yarn-bombing and love the (knitted?) body suit link. I’m sure I could create one of those around my eldest!
I know, that bodysuit is genius. I’d love to meet the person who made it.
I can say, quite honestly, that I never experienced self-doubt about the state of my flowerpots . . . until now. 😉
Week, I really didn’t intend to give you flowerpot anxiety. Apologies.
They look great 🙂 And your kitchen does too, by the looks of it! Btw : any tips on the basil? We never manage to keep ours for long…
I know the feeling – basil is stroppy stuff. I can only grow it indoors. And it demands huge amounts of water. Also it gets leggy and flowers and doesn’t taste so good. So this is for appearance more than eating, these days.
lol! Fantastic. And now I want to try it. I have a pretty little clover plant in a pot which could do for some lovely crocheted what-not. The plant had a four-leaf clover on it when she gave it to me. I potted it deciding that this was good luck my family and I needed. It has been alive every since.
Much happiness,
Megan
Awwww, that’s so lovely. And definitely worthy of crochet. And thank you so so much for re-blogging my post.
Reblogged this on Colonial Armory and commented:
Too cute! Hoping to try this too! 🙂
They are great and so colourful. No need for pretty flowers any more 🙂
And there is certainly no doubt about you being right about the dishwasher!
I still don’t understand how you are getting everything done. I consider myself as slightly obsessed and actually a fast knitter but I wouldn’t even get half of it done. Clearly 7 hours of broken sleep are too much.
Confession: I made these a while ago, but didn’t get round to blogging about them. Also, I don’t get enough sleep. Am typing this at 4.45am. One day I’ll keel over and sleep for a year, so the knitting/crochet will slow down, rather…
I feel extremely relieved now 🙂
Wow, amazing! I have 3 pots on the sil I want to bomb. I’ve probably thought about covering everything in our home in yarn at some point.
Ha ha, I like your thinking! 🙂
I’ve got to do it slowly so the other half doesn’t notice it haha!
I load our dishwasher correctly, my husband does not. I have been known to point this out to him on occasion 😉
Love the yarn-bombed pots. Very, very pretty.
Excellent. He does need to know that he’s Doing It Wrong.
I love a good crocheted flower pot cover! 🙂
🙂
Love the crocheted pots very colorful.
Thank you. 🙂
LOVING those flower pot frocks! Not at all stylish or trend setting of course – but most eye catching! I just found myself looking at my unexciting pots with a slightly raised eyebrow and a thoughtful air ……. but I haven’t got to the mandala yet …… I;m going to have to give up on the art!
That’s ‘I’m’ – sorry 🙂
Well whichever you do (mandala or flowerpots) will end up looking enviably beautiful, because you’re so artistic and creative.
Agree with everyone re the gorgeous pots and the dishwasher, we also disagree about hanging out washing!
Yup, hanging out the washing is a whole other area of controversy! 🙂
Loving the continuation of the yarn bombing, you must have the brightest windowsill in your location. You have made me realise that it is not just me who has a thing about how the dishwasher is loaded, my lot just pop stuff anywhere because “Mum always re-loads it anyway”. They just don’t get it do they, there is defininitely a right way to complete this task.
Yup, totally agree! 🙂
Bet they make you smile every time you look at them.
Yup, in a slightly ironic sort of way.
Lovely and really make you smile
Thank you.
Totally awesome yarn bombing!! Great idea! Truly love the happy color.
Thank you muchly!
Yep, I wholeheartedly agree that the female of the species knows how to load the dishwasher in the correct manner – it’s a joyous relief to find I am not alone!! ;-D
Love your yarn bombed pots and really looking forward to seeing how it progresses.
I started yarn bombing the car a while back, you can see a pretty but useless design here on this post:-
http://amjaylou.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/flowery-functionality.html
I was also going to make a stripy crochet cover for the steering wheel, but then decided against it when I saw it in the Harry Hill movie on the car which his mum (Julie Walters) was driving. It was too fine a line between looking hip or completely naff…I’m guessing it would have been the latter!
Amanda x
LOVE IT!!!! crochet makes everything pretty and cozy 🙂
Love it! I have a bored crocheter who just might be talked into doing such a thing for me.