One Box Ticked!

The other day I picked up this months edition of Simply Crochet. I have maybe bought this magazine once before. I don't do a lot of crochet and I find it difficult to follow crochet patterns. This tends to put me off (I think it comes from starting off as a knitter first). I picked up this one though because my friends business was being advertised and I wanted to see it. Lets face it, I really only need the slightest excuse to pick up a crafting magazine.

There was a section on decorating your craft space. There were quite a few things in there that I liked. One of them was a lacy border for embroidery hoops. Normally this sort of thing wouldn't appeal but tastes change. Plus I am working on a camper van cross stitch which is going to be framed in a hoop and thought that this would be perfect. I did the medium size in white with pink to match the cross stitch. I am so proud of myself that I managed it. And it's not a granny square! That means I can actually tick something off my bucket list.

I'm not going to lie, it wasn't easy. Doing the initial double crochet around the hoop was both awkward and sore on the hand. The third row I had to do about three times before I got it right. That was down to my lack of experience in reading patterns. The photo above was my first attempt at that row. I did eventually get it and although it took me all afternoon I am pleased with the result.

 

Since I got the hang of it I then decided to do the bigger lacy hoop border for the frog prince cross stitch I did last year. I had picked out white with a black border. I forgot that the fabric of the cross stitch was an off white so it looks a little odd. Plus the hoop is really a little too small for that design. However, I got it right first time so it stays for now.