Tag: Decoration

Happy Circles II – My new experiment in random colour placement

I’m working on a new project – a cushion cover!
I’m finally trying out a colour combination that I’ve wanted to try for a long time. The inspiration comes from a cushion I have from IKEA. It is a mixture of green and blue tones, with a yellow undertone in the green shades. And again I wanted to try a random colour placement.

I’m still a long way from having finished it. But so far I like it so much that I wanted to show it off!

My Colours

Stylecraft Special DK

1822 – Pistachio
1027 – Khaki
1065 – Meadow
1725 – Sage
1820 – Duck Egg

I opted for a similar design to the Happy Circles wall hangings I made last year. Do you remember them? You can find the free pattern here or on Ravelry.

Back then I used 15 different colours and created the random arrangement of the colours with a random generator. And I was totally happy with the result!

If you are interested in the process of my colour placement you will find all information in this post.

Random colour placement

After the random colour placement worked so well last year, I wanted to use the same method for the cushion cover.

Well…

Using a random generator

I have to admit that using a random generator didn’t work out so well this time.

I guess it has to do with how a randomiser works. This is a very complex topic – at least that’s how it seems to me. And that’s why I don’t want to go into it any further here. But if you are interested in this topic you can read about it on the Random.org website. I used their list generator for my purposes.

Anyhow, as a result of the random generator, my colours were – of course – not evenly distributed. By this I mean that the colours used occurred in different numbers. No matter how often or in what order I entered the colours, one colour always appeared very often and the others very little.

So, using only 5 colours therefore led to an imbalance – at least in my eyes.

I think when more colours are used, this will not even be noticeable. And with a larger project, such as a blanket, it can even look very nice if one colour is more dominant than the others.

However, I didn’t like it at all on the relatively small cushion cover.

Creating my own randomness

After several attempts I decided to create my own ‘randomness’ with a more balanced distribution of colours.

To do this, I made a table in which I first entered the colours for the first round of my circles. The letters A – E are the placeholders for my 5 colours.

I would like to design the front of my cushion cover with 4 x 4, i.e. 16 squares in total.

Therefore, I decided to start 4 circles with colour A and 3 circles each with one of the other 4 colours. That makes a total of 16.

To determine the colours for the second round, I started at the first square with colour B and entered the colours consecutively downwards. To avoid two rounds having the same colour, I skipped the relevant letter in these cases. For example, in Square 6, the correct order should have been B in Round 2, but I skipped to C, etc. Afterwards I did the same for round 3, starting with the letter C.

This is the result:

From circles to squares

I then assigned the 5 colours that I had chosen to the letters A – E:

A – Duck Egg
B – Meadow
C – Sage
D – Pistachio
E – Khaki

As with my wall hangings, I then turned the circles into squares. For this I added two more rounds in 1005 Cream, also from Stylecraft Special DK.

Creating a layout

Similar to my wall hangings, I created the final layout with the random generator.

I entered the digits 1 – 16 (which stand for the 16 squares) into the list generator of random.org and generated a random result. According to the this result, I arranged the squares on the places 1 -16 in the 4 x 4 layout, made a few more changes until I liked it, and voilà …

The two grids on the left show the places numbered from 1 -16 (the small one) and the numbers of the squares that were arranged on this places. On the right is the finished layout …

And, to make things a little easier:
Below my detailed list of the colours used for the circles for each round and the corresponding layout.

Final colour scheme and layout

Joining the squares

Currently I am working on the join…

For my wall hangings, I had opted for a relatively inconspicuous joining method in the colour of the squares. In comparison, I now use Pistachio, so it’s more of a contrasting colour. And I opted for the Zig Zag Slip Stitch Join.

I really like how it turns out!

After joining, I will probably have to make a few more rounds around the whole panel to achieve the desired size.

However, I’m still not sure what the back should look like. Single coloured or colourful? I think I’m leaning towards single-coloured, but that could still change …

Have a great start to the new week 💕

My Crochet Flower Collage: Fresh Spring Craft Ideas

About a week ago we came back from a wonderful holiday on the North Sea. The weather was cold but mostly sunny. So we were able to take wonderful long walks on the beach. It was great!!

At home – we live about 500 km south in the centre of Germany – we then realised that spring was slowly arriving …

Our apple tree is getting its first green leaves, the little peach tree has the first pink blossoms and the birds start singing again. Spring time!

This first soft green has inspired me to bring some colour into our home! Although I really don’t crochet much at the moment, I spontaneously thought of making something Easter-themed. I only couldn’t decide on a pattern. Then I remembered a lovely site that I discovered last year, just before Christmas: Bomuldskys .

Bomuldskys is a Danish site. Emilie, the person behind it, lives in Copenhagen. She offers both paid and free patterns. And I just LOVE her designs, especially her greeting cards.

Last year I already fell in love with one of her Christmas designs. Due to my eye problems, however, I didn’t have the patience to make it. This time Summer Flowers caught my eye. It is one of the greeting cards and available for free on her website.

I just had to try it!

So I grabbed out my crochet hook and some yarn from my stash.

My yarn and colours

I used 3 different shades of pink for the flowers:

  • Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4 (160 m / 50 g)
    • 64 – Dark Powder Rose
    • 46 – Old Rose
  • Drops Safran (160 m / 50 g)
    • 57 Mauve

A green shade for the leaves

  • Cotton Kings Cotton 8/4
    • 41 – I have no name for this one, sorry

(I got this some time ago as part of a colour pack from Hobbii yarn shop but it looks like the brand Cotton King doesn’t exist any more.)

And a light yellow to embroider the stamens of the flowers

  • Drops Safran (160 m / 50 g)
    • 10 – Vanilla Cream

Greeting Card

I found a suitable card and paper (for the little bag) in the stationery shop. I used a card for crafting which is about 12 x 17 cm (4 3/4 x 6 3/4 inch) in size. It has a window on the front so that you can place a photo or something similar.

For the assembly of the flower bouquet I orientated myself on the instructions and the photo from the pattern.
I first made the little bag and glued it on using a craft glue. Then I arranged the flowers and leaves. After all had found a position that I liked, I glued them on as well.

In total I made

  • 1 big and 2 small flowers in Dark Powder Rose (Hobbii Rainbow Cotton)
  • 1 big flower in Old Rose (Hobbii Rainbow Cotton)
  • 2 small flowers in Mauve (Drops Safran)
  • 4 leaves in green (Cotton King)

I absolutely love the result and will probably use it as birthday card for a dear friend. But it would also make a nice Easter card, wouldn‘t it?

The flowers and leaves are really quick and easy to make! I also can imagine them in different colours. Light blue and white, for example, would also look lovely together!
However, I just felt like making a few more and assembled them in a

Flower Collage

For the collage I got a white picture frame that is 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 inch) in size.

At first I took the frame apart and removed the glass. Then cut a piece of cardboard to the appropriate size and inserted it in place of the glass. That way I got a nice background for my bouquet of flowers.

The further process was basically the same as for the card. I first arranged the flowers and leaves until I liked the placement and colour distribution. Then I glued on the individual parts. I started with the stems and then worked from the bottom upwards.

The little stems were not part of the pattern. So I just made a chain in a suitable length (mine are between 18 and 20 chains long) and slip stitched all the way back in each chain.

For the Collage I made

  • 1 big and 3 small flowers in Dark Powder Rose (Hobbii Rainbow Cotton)
  • 3 small flowers in Old Rose (Hobbii Rainbow Cotton)
  • 1 big and 1 small flower in Mauve (Drops Safran)
  • 5 leaves and 3 stems in green

A quick word about the crochet hook size: according to the instructions, a 2.0 crochet hook should be used. Personally, this seemed a bit small to me. Especially as the cotton yarns I used tend to split a bit. Don’t get me wrong! I love both Hobbii Rainbow Cotton and Drops Safran. I especially like the softness and the matte look. I just find it difficult to work them with a small hook.

For the card, I therefore crocheted the flowers with a 2.75 mm hook. This is the size I normally use with this yarn. At first they seemed a bit loose to me. So I went down to a 2.25 mm hook when I made the flowers for the collage. Although liked the structure better I have to say that the flowers I made with the larger hook were easier to shape.

In my opinion, you can’t see any difference in the end result. So both seems to be ok.

What do you think of the result?

I think it could become a new passion of mine… I have two crochet books with different flower motifs. I’ve been wanting to try some of them for a long time. Maybe I’ll make some new decorations for our living room. Let’s see …

I hope I was able to inspire you a little for a beautiful and quickly made spring decoration. I’m going to see if I can make something Eastery after all. I’ve seen a cute little rabbit. Or should I make a few more flowers? Hmmm …?

Have a nice time 💕