Crochet Towel Toppers

I used to watch my Mum crochet toppers to hang her hand towels years ago and thought that was just something 'old' people did as she was in her nineties at the time. I didn't mind though when she gave me some to use along with her padded coat hangers. Although I had been 'into' crochet when granny square rugs were the rage back in the 1970s that was about all the crochet I had attempted until the last couple of years when I have been motivated by some of the very skilled members on the Down to Earth Forums. Of course not everyone there is experienced with the crochet hook and there are also lots of us who are plodding along and learning as we go.

 Recently I remembered a pattern for a Crochet Tea Towel Topper from Laughing Purple Goldfish Designs so I thought I would unearth it and give it a try as I needed hand towels for the kitchen. Some of my readers might like to make some of these for Christmas gifts as most people I know really appreciate being given them as they are so handy....being hand towels and all ;-) Pardon the pun!

My problem when doing crochet or knitting is (one of them that is ) that I forget where I am up to so each topper I make looks slightly different. LOL! I also am making the buttonhole too big so I need to concentrate a lot more or just use larger buttons. Ha ha! I don't plan to give any of these away until I am a bit more of an expert but they do the job for me. I find that the towels wear out before the crochet topper though as it is hard to find good quality hand towels.

My daughter bought me this hand towel when I was in Mt.Isa and instead of cutting a towel in two as instructed in the above pattern, it has been left as a double thickness which I might try in the future due to the towelling often being so thin. We are having a Down to Earth Forum swap in February for a hand towel and a dishcloth OR an apron and I am not sure at this stage what I will make so I will keep trying to create a swappable hand towel and see how I go. 

My knitting skills also need some polishing up so I have enrolled in an online knitting course from scratch on Craftsy called Knit Lab as it was on special recently. I can do basic knitting but would like to make some beanies etc. to give to the homeless next year for winter. I have already had a peek at one of the videos on garter stitch and the instructor actually does garter stitch differently so it is going to be an interesting course. 

She seems to hold the yarn in a way that is quite foreign to me as I just knit the way my Mum taught me and that is how I have shown my granddaughter as well. Oops! Oh well, as long as the result is the same it doesn't really matter does it?

It rained all morning today but we were spared the tornado that swept through parts of Sydney and I hope that any of my readers from down there are okay and they have had no property damage. It must have been a very scary event. It is nice to get rain but not when it comes with damaging storms.

 Our plants are just loving the light misty rain and I guess the weeds are too. :-)

 Have a great week everyone and stay safe!