Tea and Vaginas!

Hello fellow make and do-ers.

Are you thirsty?  Lets have some tea, oh.  Oh no, the tea has gone cold.. 

Never fear, the loop stitch is here!  Woohoo.  Loop stitch.. lovely loop stitch.  I have this old crochet book that I like to look in for inspiration and in this case, learnspiration and happened to do so at the weekend.  I found this loop stitch and got on with it. 

Although 'spike stitch' is in focus, the how to is actually at the top of the page.

Spike stitch may have to be next though, it looks great!

So loopy loopy (my pet name for this fun stitch) is quite easy to crochet and remember, it's getting your fingers in the right places and holding the loop right that takes a little bit of getting used to.  As loopy loopy was being stitched into my brain, I was wondering what to actually make with it as I was doing all this practicing.  And TaDa.. what else, but a tea cosy.  Loop stitch is going to be very insulating for our tea pots because of all the heat keeping loops.  And check out the purple wool belt, even tea pots can accessorise.

I crocheted two rectangle sides, adding in the purple belt, then joined at the sides leaving space for the spout and handle, then decreased around the top and only a little round the bottom so I could get it on and off easily, and finished with purple around all the edges.

The loop stitch only makes loops on one side, leaving the side closest to the tea pot all smooth and normal crochety looking.  You loop one row, then sc back then loop.  So you end up only looping from left to right.  So for around the handle, I decided to loop my loops on the inside of the cosy to add some detail to the handle area in purple, just testing ideas out.  

A close up of loopy loopy stitch in action below.  

So I was inspired by the handle area and thought it looked a little bit like a you-know-what-ladies-only-kinda-thang and so I made one.

Not just for fun, this loop stitch vagina is for a cause.  Perhaps some may know I can't wait to join the Women's Institute and there is a campaign we are supporting with Craftivists against Female Genitalia Mutilation and we are making a quilt to draw awareness to this, as mentioned here in a post previ.. oh no. I have NOT posted about it. Gosh, lets bring you up to speed then.. we/you/anyone who supports are making a quilt out of vulvas which can be made from fabric or wool or stitched paper if desired all in 7"x 7" squares.

Here is a photo of the stand at Spitalfields where I met some more girlies and was recruited to the cause.

I made the one with the odd flowers coming off from it! 2nd from left.  Oh.. look at them all, I love the sparkly one!

So all this is leading to my loop stitch vulva!  I am yet to sew it on a patch, but I like how it turned out, all inspired by my tea cosy.

There will be much more talk of the WI and of this quilt, but not tonight!

If anyone would like to make and send a vulva patch, send to the details in the photo below.

Let me know if you do and share your creative vulva creations!

To learn the loop stitch, I shall leave you with this lovely video that I found on youtube.  This lady has a great accent too.. check it out!

O_o