A biscornu is a small, octagonal, stuffed ornamental pincushion. It is usually made out of Aida cloth or linen, sewn from two square sheets of cloth in such a way that each corner of one square is hemmed to the middle of a side of the opposite square. We’re going to make ours out of two crochet squares instead.

Created for Hobbii Yarn’s In Bloom Challenge this spring, 2024, it was time for me to move out of my comfort zone in all respects. The theme was pastels with a pop of colour so I chose one of their cotton 4ply yarn packs and set to working out what to make. The hexagons came first, using three colours in each followed by the arrangement and the...

A new great grand baby to the family and an invite to the baby shower meant the knitting needles needed to come out. I’ve been wanting to design some small person garments for a while so this was the perfect opportunity. This top down jumper with a side button to the neckline means it’s easy to pop on from newborn to 8 years old.

Designed for a new addition to my extended family the Ava Cardigan is knitted from the top down, incorporating the button band as you go with clear instructions for button hole placement for girls or boys. In sizes newborn to 8 years old it’s bound to become a staple for any wardrobe.

A bothy is a place of refuge in a storm, a stone or wood built hut tucked away on a mountain or in the wilderness. This blanket is perfect for snuggling down warm on a cold and windy night. Worked in four pieces, joined and finished with an i-cord edge. In simple garter stitch in an off-set log cabin design this blanket is a perfect mindful kni...

I treated myself to two sets of mini skeins from John Arbon Textiles Virtual Mill Weekend. They are entitled Down the Allotment and have beautiful earthy tones. I wanted to design something that would really show them off and this is what it turned into. This shrug is worked from the top down, I have striped the yarn as it came out of the bag, ...

Named after the stitch, this is my first venture into doing a different heel and continuing the pattern down further. The pattern creates a lovely soft fabric. I have used Stylecraft Head Over Heels sock yarn.

John Arbon Yarns are based in South Molton which is in North Devon and not far from the wilds of Exmoor, of one two National Parks here in Devon. Submissions for their next Annual (a magazine with new patterns showcasing their yarns) came around earlier this year and I designed this stitch pattern. Whilst I didn’t make the final cut I had fabul...

I have been wanting to design a crochet jumper for a while but nothing really inspired me. I saw this neckline on a knitted jumper and immediately thought it would look fabulous in crochet on a top down construction. Coverack is a beautiful fishing village tucked away on the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall. This is a perfect easy fit jumper for ch...

Using a simple Gansey pattern on the sleeves my love of my home county of Cornwall shines through again with this super easy top down jumper. The double neckline is wide and with the slits on either side of the hem it makes for an easy fit on a chilly summers evening. Lamorna is a beautiful village with small fishing coves on the south coast of...

Designed for the Helter Skelter Halloween Challenge run by Hobbii Yarns in 2023 these colour work fingerless mittens, with Trick and Treat on both sides, are perfect for a chilly Halloween night when fingers are needed for eating sweets. Worked from the bottom up with a chart for the colour work in just a total of 60 rows these mittens are made...

I designed this cardigan for the Cool Wool Collective Spring/Summer 2023 edition. I am again drawn back to the Cornish Gansey jumper patterns and have taken a design from Polperro to cascade down the sleeves of this top down knitted cardigan.

Bude to me has always been a seaside town on the North coast of Cornwall where I would visit a great Aunt and Uncle with my parents as a child. We would sit and drink tea from china cups and saucers and there would be crumbly rock cakes. The sea always seemed a long way from the start of the beach and it was always windy. Bude to me now is the ...

I’ve taken part in the Cuddlebums Easter Sock KAL for a few years now. You receive a skein of specially dyed yarn with a mini skein that gives a pop of colour. The idea is you knit a pair of socks over the Easter weekend/break. This year as soon as I saw the colours I thought of honeycomb stitch so set to in working it into the top of a pair of...

My daughter and I are fans of cosplay and go to various comicon shows throughout the year. In March this year I decided to go as the 4th Dr Who (Tom Baker) and of course knitted the famous scarf. My feet were feeling left out so I designed these simple colour worked socks utilising my basic sock pattern.

This design came about from what I call a yarn doodle when I just started knitting and played around with some simple colour work. The drifting squares name comes from the fact you are knitting small squares of colour which are off set on each repeat creating a drift.

I love a bit of local history and always knew that I had connections with the North Cornwall coastline at Morwenstow. Robert Hawker was the Vicar of Morwenstow from 1834, known as Parson Hawker to his parishioners he would wear a blue Gansey fishermen’s jumper and had a driftwood hut overlooking the Atlantic Ocean from the cliffs of Morwenstow ...

This is also available on my blog: https://www.bluebirdanddaisy.com/post/konin-the-bunny if you don’t mind dealing with adverts.

A simple one piece knitted heart which can be made in 4ply or double knit yarn and is ready for embellishment, hanging up or just as a squishy pocket filling gift for a friend or loved one.

Using the same stitch pattern as my Cadgwith cardigan these socks are knitted top down with the pattern spread across the front of the sock. As always I’ve included tick off charts within the pattern so if you print it out you can keep a note of where you are.

A simple checker pattern works down the outside of each leg and onto the foot of these top down socks.

This scarf was created for the Cal Crochet A Long Design-a-Scarf Challenge 2022. The colours of the yarn and the time of year that we are slowly entering, Autumn, inspired the name of this shawl. The yarn is called Crisp Apple and Crisp Autumn. The purples of the yarn reminded me of plums and orchard fruits ready for harvest.

This scarf was created for the Cal Crochet A Long Design-a-Scarf Challenge 2022. Being from the UK a scarf to me is something akin to Dr Who so I took the challenge literally. This year has seen an explosion in crochet across the fashion world, particularly the humble but wonderful granny square. I love granny stitch, it’s what my gran used to ...

This is a half size to the pencil case designed especially for Yarnstravaganza run by UK Hand Knitting between 17 and 24 September 2022, a nationwide celebration of yarn shops across the UK. The pouch is made up of just two granny squares joined together and then attached by crochet to a zip with a fabric lining. Instructions for all aspects ar...

I am inspired by the traditional Cornish Guernsey jumpers worn by the fisherman around the Cornish coast. Depending on where they worked was shown through the stitch pattern used in their knitwear. The pattern in this cardigan is called The Lizard Lattice. One of the last remaining fishing villages on the Lizard is Cadgwith Cove. It is a beauti...

I love a bobble stitch blanket and since designing the Superhero one in 2018 I’ve meant to make another but just haven’t got around to it. Well here we are, 2022 and the Christmas Blanket has appeared. Consisting of nine 10 inch / 25cm squares worked from a chart with a simple single and half double crochet boarder the blanket measures 34 inche...

Having made the granny pencil case for Yarnstravaganza (a celebration of all things yarn run by the UK Hand Knitting Association and local yarn shops in September 2022) my yarn doodlings turned to a bag. They seem all the rage at the moment but something I’ve made since I started crochet to keep projects in.

Crackington Haven is a rocky beach in North Cornwall that used to be the regular primary school trip for me, usually in the autumn or winter when it was cold, damp and raining but it was always just a bit magical. This cowl is inspired by waves and by the texture of the smooth sand to the lines of rock spearing out toward the sea. It can be mad...

I love a top down knitted garment. There is something about how it just appears from a circle of stitches and gives such a neat finish. I designed it to use a skein of beautiful hand-dyed yarn from Siobhan’s Crafts which I bought at the yarn show, Stitch Fest in Totnes, a few years. It has sat waiting for the perfect project but that never came...

This shawl was inspired by the yarn to start with, I had no idea how it would work out until I’d finished the first few wedges of the shawl, it just developed from there. I do love garter stitch, it creates a lovely fabric and really shows off a colour changing yarn. It can be made in any yarn and even stripped. The pattern itself is repeated f...

On the 15 August each year we celebrate Granny Square Day. Using the hashtag #grannysquareday2022 we fill the pages of social media of beautiful granny squares making a virtual blanket. This is my design for 2022, which accidentally became the start of a new crochet along, it is 6.5 inches / 16.5 cm square.

Being from Cornwall I have a natural love of the sea but only recently found out about the Cornish Guernsey jumpers (known as Gansey’s elsewhere in the UK). They are the often dark navy blue hand knitted jumpers and tunics worn by the fishermen, utilising knit and purl stitches with the odd cable. This scarf uses a number of the traditional pat...

This pattern came about as a complete accident. I started doing some slip stitches thinking it would give a nice texture, turned the piece over and realised that the stripes of yarn were horizontal on the front and vertical on the back. I then could see that you could knit this as a straight forward scarf or start a bit differently and create e...

Coldharbour Mill in Uffculme, Devon is just up the road from where I live. It is one of the oldest mills in Devon having continuously woven fabric since 1797. The Mill also spins on site pure new wool on its heritage machinery with colours inspired by the beautiful Devon countryside. This shawl started out in two colours but it just didn’t look...

The inspiration for this wrap and its lace pattern came from the River Inny. It’s a small river that links up with the Tamar in North Cornwall and ran through the farm I grew up on. Shallow enough to walk through with welly boots in the summer and high enough to burst its banks into the surrounding fields in the winter. I had many an afternoon ...

As its my birthday on the release of this pattern there will be a special 45% off for the first week of sales from 19 May to 26 May 2022 just use code Birthday45

Made whilst at home during one of the lockdowns in 2021 this is my seventh crochet along. This blanket was originally released as a free crochet along with six parts from 5 May 2022. It is now, from 24 June 2022, a paid pdf which has all the parts in one document.

I was inspired by summer days at Spitchwick on Dartmoor, Devon. It is a place where the river widens and meanders so you can swim and sit on the lush green common that edges it. This shrug is just enough to keep shoulders warm on chilly Spring or Summer evenings. It is worked flat in a rectangle that is then folded and sewn to create side seams...

This little chap came about from wanting to make something simple in shape with just a few additions to make it into a cute Easter character. He is 9cm (3.5 inches) tall and 8cm (3 inches) in diameter, worked in the round and in US terminology. The shell is made separately along with the dinky daffodil.

Wyn came about as I realised the other week it was St David’s Day on 1 March. I had already made Valentine the Pig for 14 February and was initially going to make Wynn the Pig, but a pink pig holding a daffodil wasn’t Welsh enough really. So Wynn was born.

It is the year of the Tiger in the Chinese calendar and Huan thought he’d join my growing gang of amigurumi animals. The name means happy. He is approximately 2 inches high / 2.5 inches wide.

Jacob’s Ladder is a set of wooden steps that lead from a beach in Sidmouth, Devon up to the beautiful Connaught Gardens. They have been there as long as anyone can remember. These top down socks have a step pattern flowing from top to toe along the outer edge of the front of the socks. There are instructions for three different circumferences o...

Valentine is a simple little amigurumi which can be whizzed up in no time. He measures approximately 2 inches high / 2.5 inches wide and uses a small amount of double knitting yarn and stuffing. You could use any thickness of yarn just reduce the size of the hook by at least 1mm (or 1.5mm for the heart) so the stitching is nice and tight.

Inspired by the lead work windows found in the many National Trust properties we’ve visited I found out that the diamond shaped leaded ones were known as quarrels or quarries. Glass divided by either wooden glazing bars or lead canes. I have used a simple two stitch cable, without a cable needle in sight to recreate the shape. The ones shown ar...

This is my go to basic sock which I don’t need instructions for and can just knit. This example is completed in West Yorkshire Spinners yarn in Bubblegum and the leftovers of some Stylecraft Head over Heels sock yarn.

I wanted to offer keyrings at a couple of Christmas Markets I’m doing this year and came up with this amigurumi single crochet version with a cute little star. The beads and heart charm are optional.

Here I am releasing my sixth crochet along, how amazing is that. This blanket came about through lockdown and home-schooling here in the UK over 2020 and 2021. There is quite a lot of repetitive stitching in this creation but I like to have something rhythmical just to stitch so I hope that you will enjoy that too.

Halloween was never something I really did as a child, probably something to do with living on a farm miles from the nearest village. Since being a mum it has been a thing. Our school has a disco at Halloween and I was asked if I could make some keyrings for the lucky dip. So I went and created these three, spider, pumpkin and ghost.

I had a small amount of two yarns left so weighed them and thought it was time for some yarn chicken. I created these stripped textured socks alternating between stocking stitch and garter. I ran out of the variegated yarn for the second sock but I’m not worried about matching socks.

This is my third own designed sock, I really need to find better names than just numbering them.

As a Brit the 4th of July, Independence Day, celebrations are something we don’t celebrated. This year (2021) I am due to spend the 3rd of July with an American friend and her family for our children to hang out. Apparently playing is no longer done at the ripe old age of 10. I always like to take a little something particularly when the recipi...

With the year that we have all had since last Valentines’ Day I thought it was time to have a Granny square inspired creation. This pattern is for a 5 inch square with four hearts.

This is a simple little crochet bookmark, made as a lot of my things are, for a specific reason. I’ve been able to keep a diary for a whole month with to do lists that have really enabled my creativity. It seemed sense to make a bookmark and to that end use two of the first things I ever designed to be part of it.

I have liked from afar temperature blankets for a few years now but was always a bit intimidated by size and the width of some of them and didn’t know if I could keep up throughout the year.

This is my second sock pattern which was made in quick succession to my first.

This is my first sock pattern having knitted socks for a number of years. I started as I think a lot of us do with the Winwick Mum basic sock pattern. I got to a stage that I wasn’t really following any pattern and just knitting socks so decided that I would write it down and have it tested so here we are, Sock One.

This is my contribution to Granny Square Day 2020 on 15 August 2020. Its a simple little square that could be made with a bunch more and into a cushion cover or blanket or just as a single one for something to put your mug of tea on.

This will be a weekly CAL (with a couple of breaks to catch up) starting on Tuesday 8 October 2019 and running to 21 January 2020. CAL-Crochet A Long will be hosting the CAL with the pattern being posted here each week.

I made this blanket in 2015 to use up the colours from something else only to then have to buy more to finish it, which always seems to be the case. Anyway I’ve had quite a lot of interest in this blanket so have decided to write up the pattern. It’s written throughout in US crochet terms using double, half double and single stitches. It measur...

This is my first published knitting pattern. It gained quite a bit of interest when I posted it on my social media pages with people asking for the pattern.

This is my little granny Christmas Tree which came about from the frustration of trying to make crochet holly but it just not looking right, even from an already available pattern. I wanted to make bunting so thought I’d have a go at making a triangle granny and turning it into a tree.

This is my third crochet along and one which was inspired by my previous quilt making and putting different styles and shapes next to each other like a sampler quilt. I love how the same thing can look so different by colour placement or subtle pattern changing. This blanket measures 60 inches by 55 inches.

These guys are another addition to the Alice in Wonderland shop window my local yarn shop was doing for Summer 2017. I could not find a Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum pattern anywhere so there was nothing else to do but create on.

This Mad Hatter’s Hat came about after my local yarn shop were having a window display themed to Alice in Wonderland. I couldn’t find a pattern that I liked or that was the size I wanted so designed this one.

This is a simple little jam tart amigurumi which I created as part of a larger window display for my local yarn shop who are having an Alice in Wonderland theme.

Meet Mr Tumnus from CS Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. I created him after my local yarn shop decided to depict the book for their Christmas themed window. I searched for a pattern but couldn’t find anything quite big enough.

I made this pattern up because I needed some new winter gloves and wanted some that went a bit further down my wrist. I had already made a beautiful cowl from a pattern here on Ravelry so used up the yarn I had left over to make these gloves.

Bluebird’s Granny Crochet Along ran from 25 October to 13 December 2016.

This is a second bag that I designed as a charity contribution to the Fish and Chip Babies (on Facebook) who give items to children all over the world that are less fortunate than us. Yet again my inability to knit anything that neatly or do the sewing up led me to making this Granny stitch inspired bag.

This is a simple small cluster stitch bag which I created as a charity donation project to children who are less fortunate than our own.

I had been following various charities making knitted and crocheted items for children all over the world who are less fortunate than our own, specifically Fish & Chip Babies on Facebook. I took a fancy to a knitted teddy puppet but I really struggled in getting going so decided to design this one.

This is the third of my first little series of amigurumi animals, bunny and cat can also be found free of charge.

This is Daisy’s Cat, similar to my other amigurumi, Bluebird’s Bunny, she is done in the round using single crochet with the arms, legs and tail all part of the rounds as you go, only the ears are added after together with the lengthening of the tail.

This is my first amigurumi attempt and its Bluebird’s bunny. He’s a simple ball shape with the legs and tail all part of the ball, only the ears are added separately at the end.

This crochet along is now at an end although the pattern for it will remain free forever. It was my first attempt and thanks to amazing support from the CAL Crochet-A-Long people on Facebook and my local wool shop (Fudges Wool and Haberdashery here in Cullompton, Devon) it has I hope been a bit of a success.

This little square was my first attempt at pattern writing so I thought it was about time it made it over to my Ravelry designs too.