Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays!
Lean back, chill out and put your feet up high. Sip any enjoyable beverage there is, eat to much, crochet yourself blind. Hug your peeps, laugh out loud, feel the pressure, embrace it and it won't be a pressure anymore.

Fill your home with spices and Christmas carols, cuddle up and lit candles. Open gifts carefully and slowly and feel the joy of being given. Gift with love and sincerity and enjoy the act of giving.

Lay puzzles, play cards, do charades and watch your favorite holiday movies (My faves: Elf, How the Grinch stole Christmas, Love Actually, The Holiday, Walt Disney's Christmas...).

Let the dust bunnies be a part of the fun together with candy wrappers and lost present bows and curled shiny gift string. Don't pressure yourself, just go with the flow. Christmas passes so quickly, cleaning can wait.

Take a break and go outside alone if it gets crazy, shed a tear and shake it all off before coming back inside and feeling the love. Go for walks in the woods with your dog, your children, your family and pour yourself a large cup of Chocolate with ridiculous amount of Chantilly cream and marshmallows on top when you get back inside. All this and much more is the perfect holiday for me.

My Rose Valley will be tucked in to a Sleeping Beauty for the next few weeks while I am enjoying this time of the year to the absolute full. But of course I'm not far away, you can find me at Instagram Café, follow me at @myrosevalley. Pop in for a cuppa and a chat and I'll show you what I'm up to. I'm taking with me a handful of crochet WiP's including a Daisy Square project my Nelly Bo has already started on. I'll wake this place up again in the New Year of 2015.

Thank you for a fantastic year. I have had the time of my life!

Merry Christmas to you ALL!

Kärlek
Annette

FREE PATTERN: Christmas Sweet Heart

There are not many days left until Christmas but there is still plenty of time to make some Christmas Sweet Hearts to decorate the tree, give to a friend or make as a garland.

The pattern is based on my simple Sweet Heart Pattern and I have added festive shiny beads and an extra row to make the heart more bigger and a bit more stable. Lets get started!

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CHRISTMAS SWEET HEARTS
Time approx. 15 minutes - Level ♥♥♥ (Intermediate)

You will need:
♥︎ Shiny red beads that can be threaded on your yarn.
♥︎ Christmas red Sport Weight/4ply yarn (I have used Tilda yarn, a cotton/acrylic mix from my Yarn Shop.)
♥︎ Crochet hook 2,5mm-3 mm/ C-D (US)
♥︎ Darning needle
♥︎ A pair of scissors
 
Abbreviations UK/US
ch - chain UK/US
dc/sc - double crochet UK/single crochet US
dtr/tr - double treble UK/treble US
sl st - slip stitch
st/sts - stitch/stitches

Left picture: Thread 9 shiny beads on to your yarn and push them down towards the yarn ball out of the way.
Middle picture: Follow the Sweet Heart Pattern making Row 1 and almost finishing Row 2.
Right picture: When at the last corner of Row 2 it is time to add a bead. See the illustration above where beads will be inserted in the next row.

Left picture: At the last corner ch1 and then lead a bead up to your hook.
Middle picture: Make sure to have the bead close to your chain stitch and make another chain stitches around the bead.
Right picture: Finish with another chain stitch after the bead, all snug and neat. Continue to follow the Sweet Heart Pattern for Row 3 (dc/sc in every stitch until next corner, slip stitch in corner - 3 dtr/tr in fourth stitch from hook...)

Left picture: Pull up another bead close to your stitch
Middle picture: Yarn over twice for the next dtr/tr.
Right picture: Insert your hook in the same stitch as your previous 3 dtr/tr stitches.

Left picture: Fetch yarn (4 loops on your hook).

Middle picture: Fetch yarn and pull through 2 loops, repeating this twice and making sure the bead stays at the top for the last pull-through movement.
Right picture: Finish the heart curves making 2dtr/tr in between every added bead (Right curve: 3dtr/tr - add bead - 2dtr/tr - add bead - 2dtr/tr - add bead- 2dtr/tr -add bead - 2dtr/tr). Slip stitch in corner from previous row (see Sweet Heart Pattern) and repeat for the next curve (Left curve: 2dtr/tr - add bead - 2dtr/tr - add bead - 2dtr/tr - add bead- 2dtr/tr -add bead - 3dtr/tr). Slip stitch in last corner. Now all beads are on the back side of your work but we will fix that in a second.

 Push the beads to the front, I twist them slightly in place.

Last Row:

• Ch1 (doesn't count as a stitch), dc/sc in next 7 stitches.
• 1htr/hdc - 1tr/dc in space in front of bead - ch1 above bead - 1tr/dc - 1htr/hdc in space after the bead.

• Dc/sc in next 11 stitches up until the first bead in the curve.

• Make 2dc/sc in every bead stitch and 1dc/sc in stitch between beads.

• Finish curve with dc/sc in last 2 stitches - slip stitch in stitch in between heart curves.

• Make dc/sc in next 2 stitches.
• Make 2dc/sc in every bead stitch and 1dc/sc in stitch between beads.
• Finish curve with dc/sc in last 3 stitches.

Cut yarn and make a neat finish by securing the last stitch by stitching from the front to the back in the first dc made and then back into your last stitch. Fasten off on the back. 

Your heart is finished! Now you can either make a loop to hang your heart on the Christmas tree (Join yarn between the heart curves, crochet 20-30 chains and slip stitch in between the heart curves to create a loop for hanging.) or you can make many and turn them into a garland following the instructions for the Maybelle Flower Garland or use them to decorate your gifts as they are. Try blocking and starching them for better appearance on the tree!

Thank you for visiting today and I really hope you have enjoyed this tutorial. Please use hashtag #ChristmasSweetHeart and #myrosevalley or if you share in social media.  I would love to see your interpretations. Imagine these Sweet Hearts in silver for New Years eve... Or in white with pearls...

Kärlek
Annette

Everyone is asleep but me...

I tossed and turned and tried my best to go back to sleep with no success. I got up, put my cozy socks on and tip toed down stairs. I lit the star and some candles. The clock on my kitchen wall showed no more than 3 am.

I've said it before and I say it again. It is something special to be up all alone while the rest of your dear ones are still fast asleep. There is a comfort in knowing that they are all there, cuddled up in their beds nice and warm, dreaming the dreams... And now suddenly I have some bonus hours to spend all on my own. :)

A bad back woke me up and once up my mind just started to work overtime. Strings of things I want to do and things that has to be done in a certain time before that BIG day comes. You know which one I'm talking about...

So instead of fighting it I enjoyed the silence and the candles, a cup of hot tea and spent some time working on my blog make over... And without even taking notice it was soon 6.30 and my oldest Nelly Bo sat down for breakfast with me. She is the first one up usually and soon the rest of the bundle started to roll in. Roof lights got turned on, the TV were flashing, the coffee maker were making noise... The moment was gone but remains special in my memory.

Kärlek
Annette

PS 1: So did I get tired later? No.
PS 2: So did I take a nap in the afternoon? No.
PS 3 : So did I at least go to bed early that night? No.
PS 4: Surprisingly the day became a super efficient day with a lot accomplished and maybe just a little bit of a grouchy mum appeared around dinner time or just before, but that was all. Maybe I should become an early bird?