Easter

For this Easter basket I bought a 99p packet of cleaning cloths, the pastel colours are perfect for this Easter project. In The 99p Shop I found a packet of 15 pearlized eggs, they open up, you can put sweets of your choice inside. Alternatively you could put chocolate or decorated eggs in the basket . For the basic basket I found this comprehensive tutorial on Maya Made Maya has made a beautiful basket, I have just tweaked it a bit for this project.

Using my basic Free Pattern for Knitted Easter Chicks (containing creme egg)  I made some additions. To make the chicks I used Fancy Yarn (Fur), instead of the DK yarn and a pair of 3.75mm (9 UK, 5 US) size needles, you may need larger or smaller size needles depending on your knitting tension. I'm very pleased with the resulting fluffy chicks, they just look so comical. For the hatchlings eyes I used beads.

This egg cosy is a bit of nostalgia, a smaller version of a 1950's tea cosy.

For this project you will need Double Knitting wool in two colours. A pair of 4.5 mm (UK 7, US7) needles

Cast on 64 sts with Main Shade (MS). Join in Contrast (C) colour and work as follows:-

1st row *K8 MS, draw C across back of work to 2 cm (3/4 in) and K8 in C, draw MS across back of work in same manner and rep from * to end.Twist MS over C before starting next row

This bunny would make a lovely gift anytime of year but particularly at Easter. These are very easy to make. Print off pattern attachment.

You will need:

Base of basket

With basket colour DK, cast on 6 sts on 4 UK No. 9 (3.75mm, US 5) dpns.

Row 1 (and all odd-numbered rows): k all sts

Row 2: kfb into each st (12 sts)

Row 4: [kfb, k1] across (18 sts)

Row 6: [kfb, k1] across (27 sts)

Row 8: [kfb, k2] across (36 sts)

Row 9: k all sts (36 sts)

Rows 10: p (36 sts)

Body of basket (knitted in basket stitch)

When I went to Hitchin on Friday I went into a charity shop and found some yarn and plastic knitting needles. When I went to pay for them on the counter they had a basket containing little knitted chicks. I picked one up and realised inside the chick was a Cadbury's creme egg, so sweet! I bought one of the chicks. When I got home I made up my own free pattern.

To make a chick you will need...

This is an Easter gift idea, an alternative to a chocolate egg. Children get lots of chocolate at Easter, this windowsill gardening is both fun and educational. From the website www.allfreecrafts.com download the instructions 'How to Make Cress Egg Heads' buy a packet of cress/mustard seeds and an egg cup. With skill and flair package them up! If you think this is too virtuous just pop a creme egg in the egg cup

Easter Sunday it snowed.