Ekte Lykke

Hi friends - long time no blogging!

Times are busy, but with longer and lighter days, and promises of spring, my crochet and blogging mojo is starting to come back, and I figured that a little spring/easter inspired post was in order.

When I posted a photo of these cute tulip-eggs on Instagram last Easter, the response was overwhelming!

It quickly became one of my most liked photos, and so many of my instafriends asked for a pattern.

Unfortunately I did not have the time then to write up a pattern and take photos for a tutorial. I'm sorry about that! I'm not a professional designer, and crafting and blogging are only my hobbies (that I have far too little time to endulge in.....)

But now I have finally managed to shoot some pics of the process, and write up a simple tutorial for you! I hope you will enjoy it - and I'd love to see you finished tulip-eggs either here on the blog or on Instagram.

You will need:

Eggs of plastic og styrofoam. I bought this lovely box with 12 plastic eggs from Panduro.

Cotton yarn in 3 different colours of your choice.
Crochet hook 2,5 mm
Tapestry needle to fasten ends

This tutorial is very "loose", as it may vary a lot what size of eggs you use. This is only to show you how to make them, and I trust you to adjust the increase/descrease according to the egg you use.

Round 1:

Start with colour 1, and make a magic circle of 6 sc, or chain 6 and make a ring. I prefer the magic circe because it closes the circle competely.

Round 2:

2 htr i each sc around. Total of 12 htr. Put a stichmarker at the beginning of round.

Round 3:

2 htr in each htr. Total of 24 htrs.

Round 4 and 5 :

*2 htr, 1 htr, 2 htr* Repeat around.

Round 6-7:

1 htr in each htr around.

Round 8:

Change to colour 2 * htr, ch 1, htr, skip 2 stc" repeat round. End round with sl st in first htr.

Tip: fasten the ends on the inside at this stage - it is very hard to do when you close up the egg...

Round 9:

Change to colour 3 with a sl st in 1 ch space between the htr.

With colour 3, ch 3, skip first dc, * Cl in next ch-1 space, ch 2; repeat from * to last ch-1 space; Cl in last ch-1 space, dc in top of ch-3 changing to colour1.

Cl (cluster) = [yo and draw up a loop, yo and draw through 2 loops on hook] 3 times all in same space, yo and draw through all 4 loops on hook.

Check that your tulips fits snuggly around the egg.

Round 10:

Change back to colour 1, and make 4 htr in in each ch-2 space.

Round 11 - 14 :

Continue with htr around the egg, and decrease by crocheting 2 stiches together in front loop only approx. every 2. stich around. Put the egg in place, and work tightly around it, adjusting it to the size of the egg.

(How much you'll have to decrease will probably vary a lot from the different egg-sizes, so the instructions are very loose here....)

Last round:

Close the egg with a sl st, and chain a loop for hanging. Fasten the end of the chain with a sl st, and you egg is ready!

I hope you will enjoy this little tutorial, and make lots of colourful tulip-eggs!

Until next time:

Live - Love - Laugh

Norwegian version here

I recon most of you have already seen this beautiful "mystery" square featured in multiple social medias during the last year, and so many of you have made this already.

I came pretty late to the "rustic lace" party myself, and made my first square just a few months ago, first of all to find out for myself what all the fuzz was about...

Needless to say, I was hooked from the first square, and fell under the "Rustic Lace Square spell" like so many others...

Many attempts have been made, by many people, to trace the original designer of this pattern, with no success so far, and the story behind this square is a fascinating example of the power of social media.

The name "The Rustic Lace Square" was "invented" by Susan, and is dedicated the talented blogger and IG profile Magda de Lange (Dubai). She calls herself rawrustic on Instagram, and also has a blog called Pigtails . Magda was one of the first to feature this sqaure on Instagram, after being inspired by a blanket made by Cornel Strydom (South.Africa).This was in December 2014, and since then this square has wandered across the globe. When Susan (California) published the diagram on her IG profile in April, and also created the #rusticlacesqaure, it's success was a fact!

"Everybody" in the crafting community on Instagram had to try this beautiful sqaure.

By coinsidence, when browsing the beautiful IG gallery of the supertalented and inspiring Marit K. Skjong @maritparit, I found this beautiful photo from October 2014 of an old tablecloth she had found in a local second-hand store on the west coast of Norway. The pattern was this mystery square!! It is so strange how the dots all connect, and how this old pattern pops up in so many different forms in so many different countries almost at the same time!

Many instagramers have participated in the global search for the original designer, and as far as I know, the design is now traced back to an old crochet book published by the mediahouse Allers in Sweden (and probably also in Norway) in the early 80-ies, and in a similar book in Argentina (?) from about the same period. It was probably a vintage design even in the 80-ies, and the name of the original designer is nowhere to be found.

Where can you find the pattern?

Social Media had now "taken control" of this, and the diagram and even written instructions are now available for free both on Instagram and on Ravelry.

If you look up #rusticlacasquare, you will find many beautiful versions of this square, in addition to the diagram. The same goes for Pinterest.

After I published a photo of this sqaure on my IG account, I got so many requests for a tutorial and pattern, but since this is not my design, I hesitated on publishing a tutorial for this.

When I first taught myself to crochet a few years ago, I learned so much from Youtube and generous bloggers who published step-by-step tutorials. I could not read a diagram, and written instructions without photos were just confusing to me. I'm a very visual learner!.

I now know how to read diagrams, so this sqaure was fearly easy for me now, but a few years back it would have been such a challenge!

I therefore made a step-by-step photo tutorial a few months back,but was not sure wether I could or should publish it. Since then, so much is done trying to find the rightful "owner" to credit, and many others have now alrady published both the diagram and instructions, so I have decided to publish thw tutorial - for all you "visual learners" out there!

This is my interpretation of the pattern, and if any of you who reads this knows more about this sqaure and the original designer, please let me know, so I can give credit where credit is due!

I hope you will enjoy making this wonderful design, and if you choose to share your makes in social media, please use the tag #rusticlacesquare . It is so wonderful to see all the different versions out there!

The Rustic Lace Square

A step-by step tutorial

Note: the tutorial is written in US terminology. Below are the terms in both US and UK versions.

US terms		UK terms
sl st	slip stich	sc	single crochet
sc	single crochet	dc	double crochet
hdc	half double crochet	htr	half treble crochet
dc	double crochet	tr	treble crochet
tr	treble crochet	dtr	double treble crochet
dtr	double treble crochet	trip tr/trtr	triple treble crochet
rev sc	reverse single crochet	rev dc	reverse double crochet
yo	yarn over	yoh	yarn over hook

Repeat directions between * and *