Advent Shawl

(Well, it is Advent season!)

Hello my lovely ones. How are we all on this cold wintery mornings. It’s been rather chilly hasn’t it! It is rather nice to have all the warm yarny woolies out though. We have had a bit of strange week – I picked my little lady up from her week long residential on Friday. It’s been so weirdly quiet! The house doesn’t seem to function without her at all. It seems strangely unbalanced. So nice to have her back in the house. Feels complete again. Not a fan of her being away. But I know they need to do these things to grow and spread their wings and oh boy, did they have fun.

So I just wanted to pop on & talk about Advents! I know many of you lucky ones will have had a gorgeous delivery this last week from some of our incredible yarn dyers. I hope you have all managed to grab the one you wanted. It is such an exciting time of year for the yarny world. Can’t wait to open mine. So exciting.

I have tried to behave this year and not buy too much yarn, so that I could buy the advents. They are a great way to create a really spectacular piece, as many of the dyers will create each mini skein of yarn to sit beautifully with each other. With many of them dyed in a gradient manner, allowing the colours to flow and compliment each other. As of next year, I am hoping to bring you more crocheted garments, so with this in mind, the advents are win win for me.

I feel that the advents can say a lot about a dyer and really gives them a chance to shine and show their true colours. Many of them start planing their advents in the spring!! Can you imagine! So a lot of hard work and thought has gone into these beautifully little advent parcels. Ekk. I am now getting super excited.

In the past I have been super lucky to have Orchidean Luxury Yarn Advents. They are so scrumptious and so luxurious. Such a pleasure to open each day and see what squishy yarny treats are in store for you. But this year I have also branched out for one of Lisa’s advents from For the Love of Yarn too. I am super excited to be bringing you an exclusive pattern for her advent later in the year, with all proceeds for the pattern going to Children’s Liver Disease. An incredible charity that is very close to Lisa’s heart too. I was so humbled to find that Lisa has chosen me as one of her top crochet designers for her advents, such an incredible honour. Thank you Lisa. So kind of you.

Some of you may be starting to think about what kind of projects you would like to work on with your advents, so I couldn’t resist sharing my Advent Shawl pattern with you again this year. It is one of my all time favourite advent yarn pieces and, as many of you know, I am never far away from it! Well it’s rainbow and it’s soft yarn and it’s warm, what more can I say!!

Now this year I have created the pattern in an easily downloadable file, so that you can get going with your advent project straight away.

As with all my patterns now, I would be extremely grateful for any possible donations, however small, to my Crochet for Charity Just Giving Page. At the moment, I am hoping to support Child Bereavement Charity, which has been close to our hearts for a few years now. Thank you so much in advance for any donations you are able to give.

So here are the links you need:

The Advent Shawl PDF Pattern

Just Giving Crochet For Charity Page

Crochet for Charity Just Giving Page

Keep your eyes peeled for some other advent projects that may find their way onto my website too. There’s another one that I really can’t wait to share with you. In time, I will create an Advent Category on the website, so you will be able to find the patterns easily. Don’t forget that if you aren’t able to buy the advents, then all of these patterns can be made my yarn stash diving. Just grab a big bundle of your odds and ends and get crocheting. Ooo, imagine the possibilities!! Oh dear, what am I like.

Ooo, I nearly forgot. I may have been working on a rather secret advent project with the incredible Abby from Orchidean Luxury Yarns, so keep an eye out for that too. It’s a goodun, I promise you! But Mums the word I am afraid.

Anyways, happy hooking. Keep warm and have fun with the run up to, dare I say it – CHRISTMAS! Ekk!

🌈Xx

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A little Chicklbert

Well hello my lovely ones. How are we all? It is very nearly Easter. Whoop, whoop. My little boy, has asked if it is Easter, every morning this week. It is so disheartening telling him that he still has to wait a few more days. Poor thing. I reckon Easter is up there with Christmas and even his Birthday!!! Bless. Love that he gets so excited about things. He keeps talking about last year’s Easter egg hunt and how the Easter bunny hid some really high up in the tree. The Naughty bunny. Hopefully he won’t be disappointed this year and rhat bunny finds some good hiding places!

It does feel very strange to be celebrating Easter though, when there is such heartache and sorrow in the world. I still can’t quite believe that we are even in this situation in 2022! Everyday I read the news and pray that something has changed and that the end of the suffering is near. My heart just goes out to all of those families who have lost loved ones and who are struggling to keep safe. I know that this Easter, I will be cherishing my little ones even more and keeping them just that little bit closer. Definitely time to be truly thankful for all you have.

Now onto a spot of crocheting. Every Easter, I like to add a new little member to our Easter Eggle family. The first year was Mr & Mrs Egg. The parents of the family.


https://pipsrainbow.com/a-little-eggy-love/

They definitely have their work cut out with their little tribe. The first little one was Egglebert. Ooo, he is such a cheeky one. Likes playing tricks on people. little pickle.

https://pipsrainbow.com/lockdown-life-with-egglebert/

Then there was Bunnybert. The bouncy one of the family.


https://pipsrainbow.com/bunnybert/

So this year, our little Chicklbert is joining the crew. Now she is a very shy little chick, who tends to keep snuggled up close to her parents.

She is rather clever though. Maybe this is because she listens so much. Little bit like the wise old owl that sat in the oak. My Dad used to tell me that story when I was little. Loved how the owl learnt more by listening. So true!


Well anyways, without further ado, here is my little Chicklbert pattern.

Level – Easy

Supplies – 

15g of double knit yarn, 3mm crochet hook, black yarn thread for eyebrows & orange thread for the beak, pair of 5mm safety eyes, scissors and a blunt ended tapestry needle. And don’t forget the toy stuffing. 

Stitches – 

Slip Stitch (ss) – This is where there is no height to the stitch. It’s usually used to join rounds. So insert the hook into the front of the stitch you are joining to. This is usually the first stitch you made in that round/row. So yarn over hook and pull through that first stitch then also through the loop on your hook.

Chain stitch (ch) – To make a chain, place the yarn over the hook then pull it through the loop on your hook.

Magic Ring (mr) – Fold over the yarn to make the loop. Insert your hook through the loop and grab the working yarn (long piece) and pull through the loop. Hold the tail and the working yarn and pull so that the knot tightens, but you still have a loop. This has created a magic ring.

Double Crochet (dc) – Insert the hook through the stitch, front to back, then yarn over hook and pull back through stitch. You will have two loops on your hook. Then yarn over your hook and pull through both loops.

Double Crochet Decrease (dc2tog) – This is where you crochet two stitches together to decrease the amount of stitches in the round. So insert the hook through the front of the first stitch only (the front V) and then insert again through the front of the second stitch (the front V). Now yarn over your hook and pull it back through both stitches, so you will then have 2 loops on your hook. Yarn over your hook again and pull through both loops. And there is your 2dctog. (Basically 2 double crochet stitches crocheted together.)

Ok so here we go… 

Body – 

Rnd 1 – Make a mr, 1ch, then work 6dc into the ring. Then pull the tail tight. (6)

Rnd 2 – [2dc into each stitch] 6 times. (12)

Rnd 3 – [1dc, 2dc into each stitch] 6 times. (18)

Rnd 4 – [2dc, 2dc into each stitch] 6 times. (24)

Rnd 5 – [3dc, 2dc into each stitch] 6 times. (30) 

Rnds 6 – 8 1dc in each stitch. (30)

Rnd 9 – [4dc, 2dc into each stitch] 6 times. (36)

Rnds 10 – 11 1dc in each stitch. (36)

Rnd 12 – [4dc, dc2tog] 6 times. (30)

Rnd 13 – [8dc, dc2tog] 3 times. (27)

Rnd 14 – [7dc, dc2tog] 3 times. (24)

Rnd 15 – [6dc, dc2tog] 3 times. (21) 

Rnd 16 – [5dc, dc2tog] 3 times. (18) 

Rnd 17 – 1dc in each stitch. (18) 

This is a good time to stuff your body and attach the safety eyes. Make sure you align them properly, before you attach the backs.

Rnd 18 – [4dc, dc2tog] 3 times. (15) 

Rnd 19 – 1dc in each stitch. (15) 

Rnd 20 – [3dc, dc2tog] 3 times. (12) 

Rnd 21 – [2dc, dc2tog] 3 times. (9) 

Rnd 22 – 1dc in each stitch. (9)

Now ss into next stitch and sew up the hole and fasten off. Don’t forget to sew in your end. 

Wings – Make 2

Rnd 1 – Make a mr, 1ch, then work 6dc into the ring. then pull the tail tight. (6)

Rnd 2 – [2dc into each stitch] 6 times. (12)

Rnd 3 – 1dc in each stitch. (12) 

Rnd 4 – [2dc, dc2tog] 6 times. (6) 

Rnd 5 – 1dc in each stitch. (18) 

Then ss into next stitch, sew up the hole and fasten off, leaving a tail so that you can sew it onto the body.

Assembling your Chicklbert – 

And there you have it. You’re very own little Chicklbert.

If you would like to make the whole Eggle family, then just have a peak in the Patterns section or click the links above by their pics.

Now, as with all my patterns, they are all here for you to enjoy. And in exchange for these patterns, I would be very grateful if you could give, however little, a donation to our chosen charity Child Bereavement UK. This is an incredible Charity, that was been close to our hearts for a few years now. I cannot imagine how important the work they do is to the families that help. So if you can, however small, donate to the charity, in exchange for my pattern, then I would be so grateful. Thank you. Here’s the link to the Just Giving Page

I really hope you like this Easter pattern. Don’t forget to share all your creations and tag me in. If you have any questions or queries, just give us a shout. 

Happy Hooking.

🌈Xx

(Free pattern brought to you by PipsRainbow. Thank you for not copying or recreating it.)

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