Valentines cacti

 Well, with January finally coming to an end thoughts turn to February and in turn, Valentine’s Day. January always seems such a long month. One that never seems to end and that seems even more so this year with the lockdown that we have been living through. 

February always gives me hope. It is a month that I welcomed in my first child many moons ago as well as a month that seems to be to me a turning point in the season. Whilst we can still get many wet and windy days as well as in the past snowy days where I live, it is also the month when I start to see the little changes happening in nature. The first spring flowers starting to show their presence as well as more evidence of animals and insects as well as the birds. 

This year I decided that I would see if I could mix it up a bit with my cacti. To see if I could use the valentines celebration as a theme to extend my range. Christmas seems like such a long time ago but I still see lots of images of the gnomes/gonks that seem popular every year. These can range from shop bought to hand made using a variety of different techniques. This got me thinking about how I could add a nod to this popular style and “marry”it with my cactus form. After different sketches and thoughts I decided to experiment with the typical gnome/gonk style hat. I have made carrots before so thought I would adapt my pattern that I made up for them and make it shorter and wider. After a few experiments I arrived at my solution. A rib in length that matched the number of stitches in the circumference of the cactus. From there it was just a case of picking up the stitches and working in the round, decreasing every set number of rows until the the cone shape was formed.

Every crafter that I know seems to have a stash of things that they just buy because one day they know they will find a use for them. Looking through my own I found the perfect heart buttons to go on the hat. I went for having two of them rather than one because aesthetically I thought it worked. But hey, that’s just me. Next time I might go for one instead. I have left the hat removable so that it can be used all year round. Thinking along these lines gave me ideas for hats for other dates. But you will have to wait and see the outcomes of those thoughts later on this year. For know, this is the first of many. I have other ideas for my valentines cacti so am off to put them into practice. This is the first. 

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