my creative space: crocheted christmas balls

For this years Kiwi Christmas Ornament Swap after much deliberating I decided to make some crocheted christmas balls. Luckily I started ages ago as life has been pretty crazy lately (Jack's tonsilitis lasted 2 weeks and he was one very grumpy baby) so I only just finished the last one on the day we were meant to be sending them! Am pleased I stuck with them though as I do like the look of them and I really enjoy making these balls- crochet is very relaxing and a great de-stresser as any of you into crochet will understand! I followed the pattern at Kate from Greedy for Colour's crochet ball tutorial but added a few more rounds to make the ball bigger and then made a chain for the loop and added the bow and bell.  

(When I first started crochet I didn't know why my balls had the striped look on them like the red and green ones below but crochet queen Kristy from Paisley Jade and a couple of other helpful bloggers figured out I was only going through one stitch instead of both when doing each 'Single Crochet' stitch.  So for these balls I did some with stripes and some without.)

And I've just had a look at Kate's blog to link to the tutorial and great minds think alike hehe - she has made the most gorgeous crochet baubles using gold thread to make little toppers so they just like a bauble! And they look so divine all together in the box. Kate has written a tutorial for them too being the lovely crafter she is :) Making a crochet ball is a great thing to start with if you want to get into crochet and it gives you lots of skills to make other things like an easter egg, an apple and other stuffed shapes- crochet is a great portable project for the holidays too!

I've received some lovely ornaments from the swap so far thank you ladies- it's been so much fun opening up the little parcels. And thanks again Dione for organising another great swap- you can check out more of the swap ornaments at Dione's blog 'Sew Funky' here.

Megan x