Sunday 5 April 2015

Easter Greetings & More Stash-busting Mini Baskets

In the night sky, a full moon in the earth's shadow. A slight reflection of sunlight is visible on the bottom left edge of the moon.
Happy Easter!

An awesome Easter for me and my family as we spent the evening observing the lunar eclipse.



This photo was taken with a domestic camera on a very cloudy night.  We were very lucky to have a break in the clouds at just the right time.  Within 3 seconds, the clouds had come across again. 

When we come indoors from the cold night air, 
this is what we see:

A row of seven wooden wall pegs (painted black), each peg has a mini easter basket hanging on it. Each mini basket is crocheted in a unique colour and contains mini eggs.
Seven mini Easter baskets crocheted by Jodiebodie

A row of crocheted mini Easter baskets; each basket filled with mini chocolate Easter eggs. (By the time you read this, at least three of them will be gone because these baskets are for our young visitors to choose and take with them).

Three of these baskets were crocheted last Easter–I blogged about them in my post "Last Minute Easter Baskets"–and I quickly crocheted a few more this year.


Front view of 7 mini crochted baskets hanging in a row.
Seven little baskets hanging in a row.


These baskets are a great way to use up surplus yarn.  In this case, I used two strands of 4-ply cotton worked together instead of a single strand of DK weight yarn as suggested by the pattern ("Mini Crochet Easter Basket" by mrsbrownmakes.blogspot.co.uk)

Coincidentally, Caissa "Cami" McClinton acknowledged on Crochet Spot (blog) that the double stranding technique is a super strategy for stash busting because it works double the amount of stashed yarn with no extra effort.

I like the double stranding technique for its colour effects.  There are examples and further discussion of colour combinations and double stranding in my previous post about mini baskets and tips for how to do it in Cami's Crochet Spot article "Stash Busting Tip: Double-Stranded Crochet!". 

Easter 2015 Colour Combinations

Variegated mint/white + navy and variegated mint/white + emerald green
variegated mint/white + navy and
variegated mint/white + emerald green
to make a striped basket



apricot + yellow and apricot + light blue
apricot + yellow and
apricot + light blue
This was such a great stashbuster, all that is left of the light blue is a tiny scrap!



variegated aqua/white + royal blue
Variegated aqua/white + royal blue


Yarn Details

Some of these 4-ply cottons have no yarn information because they were either remnants or given to me without labels.




Mini crocheted basket with main colour green/variegated mint and navy/variegated mint contrast stripe (horizontal)
Natural Soft Crochet & Knitting Cotton 4 Ply Equivalent
Colour: Green 36010
Lot:  5126

Variegated mint (remnant)
Solid navy (remnant)
Mini crocheted basket with main colour solid apricot and one contrast section of 5 horizontal stripes yellow/apricot, blue/apricot, yellow/apricot, blue/apricot, yellow/apricot.
 Sullivans Super Saver 4 Ply cotton
Colour: Apricot 36004
Lot: 4587

Lion Brand Bonbons Nature Pack
Colour: Lightest Yellow 640
Lot: n/a

Solid Light Blue (remnant)

Crocheted mini basket with solid navy right through combined with either aqua or white at random according to variegated pattern in aqua/white yarn.

Milford Soft 3 Ply Cotton
Variegated aqua/white
Colour:
Soft Ombre Pastel 0740
Lot: unknown 

Solid Royal Blue (remnant)

Three black wooden wall pegs in a horizontal wall; each peg has one mini basket hanging from it. The baskets contain 3–4 mini chocolate eggs each. From left to right: blue/aqua/white, apricot/yellow/light blue, green/navy/variegated mint
Three new baskets for 2015

What do you do at Easter?  This year we had a luncheon gathering with extended family on Easter Saturday which included a big Easter egg hunt for both adults and children.  Having little nephews and cousins to share the excitement made it extra fun and magical.

As my own children get older (but never too old for an Easter egg hunt) the hiding places become trickier. This year I added an extra twist to our traditional Easter Sunday morning hunt: an egg timer!  The challenge was to find all the eggs within a 7 minute time limit.


Do you observe Easter?  
If so, what do you do at Easter time?

For many it is the chance to get away over the long weekend holiday break.

Some people will celebrate Easter twice as they will eat hot cross buns this weekend and then celebrate Greek Easter in a month's time. 

We have a large Greek diaspora in Australia, especially in Adelaide and Melbourne. It is great to live in a country where we can learn about each other's cultures without even having to travel!

I will end with a roundup of 2015 Easter greetings from fellow bloggers.  
Please add your own greetings. I would love to hear from you and find out how you celebrate Easter.  

May your Easter be peaceful and joyful!
xxx
 
A Collection of mini baskets and chocolate Easter eggs from 2014.

 

Easter Greetings from the Blogosphere


Alison (Farmhouse Traditions)

Amy (Love Made My Home)

Anne (Anne's Crochet Palace)

Annemarie (Annemarie's Haakblog)

Géraldine (Wool and Cats)

Herriet (Stip & Haak)

Jacquie (Bunny Mummy)

Janine (Simple Things)

Julie (Little Woollie)

Liz (Reckless Knitting) 

Meredith (Mereknits) 

Michelle (Crochet Between Worlds)

Natalie (Coco Belle)

Pam (Winkel's Crazy Ideas)

Sara (Tangled Happy)
 Sharon (Creativity and Family)

 

Links & References


ABC News, " Blood Moon Lunar Eclipse", [image], Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 4 April 2015: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-04/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-april-2015/6371412


Crochet Spot, web site: http://www.crochetspot.com

Lupey Loops, "Last Minute Easter Baskets", blog entry, 19 April 2014:  http://lupeyloops.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/last-minute-easter-baskets.html
More colour blending experiments with links to further information about double stranding.

McClinton, Caissa"Cami", "Stash Busting Tip: Double-Stranded Crochet!", online article, Crochet Spot, 31 March 2015: http://www.crochetspot.com/stash-busting-tip-double-stranded-crochet
Explanation of double-stranded crochet technique with helpful links and colour suggestions from readers.

"Mini Crochet Easter Basket", crochet pattern, Mrs Brown Makes, April 2014:  http://mrsbrownmakes.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/mini-crochet-easter-basket.html

Weule, Genelle, "Bad Weather May Rain on Unusual Easter Eclipse", ABC Science, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2 April 2015: http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/04/02/4210045.htm 

10 comments:

  1. those baskets are so cute. My kids are too far away for easter egg hunting this year, but I am hiding eggs for my honourary grand-daughters.
    Cool moon pic!

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    1. Have fun with the youngsters - they do keep one young at heart. I just love it. I will post up a link with more pictures of the 'blood moon' soon.

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  2. I wish you a happy Easter!

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    1. Thank you Anne! Fijne Paasdagen. :-)
      I am bunny sitting this Easter! Lots of furry, fluffy fun.
      Ik ben voor twee konijntjes zorgen. Heel donzig + grappig. Ze heet Ginger en Strawberry.

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  3. Such a gorgeous photo of the moon. I am a big moon fan. Happy Easter.
    Meredith

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    1. It was mesmerising. Happy Easter to you too, Meredith. I was visiting your blog this weekend but did not see your colourful Easter picture on your blog until just now; nice, warming colours on what is a blustery Autumn day for me. I hope you don't mind me sharing the link to your Easter greetings in this current post. Thanks for saying hi!

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  4. What gorgeous little baskets, I'm sure the little ones will be so pleased with them. We went to church Friday and Sunday, Saturday we went to a charity Easter egg hunt held by friends, it has been lovely to have extra time together. x

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  5. The mini baskets are big enough to put a small handful of eggs into them but not so many to give the children a 'chocolate high'. One of my young recipients was excited that the basket was just the right size for her dolls.
    It sounds like you had a very nice Easter time with family and friends. An Easter egg hunt for charity is a very generous and thoughtful way to enjoy Easter. I hope that plenty of goodwill and funds were raised for your worthy cause. Thanks for sharing your Easter activities - it is always interesting to find out how others observe the Easter holiday. Happy Easter, Sharon! :-)

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  6. Happy Easter Jodie, I do really love your little baskets and think that I will make them for future chocolate gifting - a thrifty but thoughtful make to give as thanks to teachers perhaps. I really like them. We celebrate Easter with family and that is always our focus. I believe but the Hubby wasn't brought up with any religion although our kids go to a Church of England school. We do a traditional egg hunt - the Easter bunny is very much believed in in our household!! Your post made me laugh in that my children were much more frantic and concerned with speed in their hunt this year. Swift but very sweet. We had a solar eclipse recently and these phenomenon are fascinating to me. It's a great photo that you took. Anyhow, thanks so much for linking my cake - I do bake a lot and have just experimented with sugar craft. I'm still not very adept but it is the same as anything I think - each time I make another I think the skill improves very slightly each time. I was very good and didn't eat any!!! Take care, J9x

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    1. That is a perfect purpose for little baskets like these as they are quick to make but hold enough little eggs to be a nice gift. The children really enjoyed being able to choose a basket of their favourite colours.
      I love your cake ideas and I don't see any lack of skill because I couldn't come up with such cute concepts. It is the originality and imagination that thrills me when I see special cakes. It is an art form. It looks a lot of fun (and yummy too!) Cheers :-)

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