Space Invader!

Our rather precipitous return from our camping holiday meant that I had time to put together an entry for the Crafteroo Forum Summer Challenge (there's still time if you can get something made by Friday!). The theme is Space Invaders - which I've interpreted very loosely as anything vaguely alien!  I used Tom's (my youngest twin by 2 minutes) drawing of an alien as my starting point.  Here's the drawing - cute isn't it?!  Tom has just started drawing obsessively after barely picking up a pencil or felt tip before.  We are quite astounded and feeling very proud of him - we love his pictures - they are so full of imagination and verve. I've been wondering if I could try and get them printed up onto T-shirts and maybe even on some fabric.  I'm definitely going to look into that... my son the designer!

I thought about creating a softy with some felt, but in the end decided to turn to my trusty crochet hook, especially as I have lots of lovely new colours of yarn, picked up in the sale at my local wool shop. Here's the finished article - I dithered about adding a trunk-like mouth, but in the end decided I like it how it is.. poor alien is going to have to take in sustenance in some other way!  I also can't decide if it's a male or female, which is hampering any attempt to think of a name.. any suggestions gratefully accepted.  Maybe I should ask Tom...

Craft Neutral Christmas Bauble Swap

Slightly crazily, a little while before Christmas, I signed up to the Food of Love's Craft Neutral Christmas Bauble Swap. It was a bit crazy because I didn't really have time available to do it, but I couldn't resist - I'm always after more decs for my Christmas celebrations! And of course swaps are a great opportunity to experiment with new ideas - as you try to make things that you think will appeal to your swap partner. My partner was Caroline of Seawood Designs. She sent these brilliant ami reindeer for my 2 boys (they never made it on to the tree!). Caroline tells me that she used a free pattern that is available on the Lion Brand Yarn website if you want to have a go next year. As if that wasn't enough, she also very kindly sent these very pretty and delicate beaded snowflakes. I am sure that she put masses of work into these - they look very starry and shiny on our tree in amongst all the lights. I also got some rather scrummy G&B chocolate - although I nearly lost the chocolate to the boys and had to hide it in the bread bin! So a huge thank you to Caroline for being such a generous swap partner. For my part of the bargain I did some experimenting with crazy patchwork to make a little tree, and had a go at making yoyo hearts for a wreath. Here they are: I was pleased with both of these - particularly the wreath. It was fun to make the yoyo hearts and I love the way the colours are Christmassy without being too obviously 'green, red and gold for Christmas'. The fabrics are all from a Kaffe Fassett charm pack that I got from Cotton Patch. I used this excellent tutorial at Penny Sanford Designs for the hearts. The wreath is made with a circle of twisted wire which I single crocheted round in order to form a good base to sew on the hearts. I sewed the buttons on at the same time as sewing the hearts to the base, if you see what I mean! All in all it was a hugely satisfying swap, so huge thanks to Eileen at Food of Love for organising it. This is my 99th blog post! Look out for a 100th post giveaway coming your way soon.

I'm still here, crafting away!

I haven't had a lot of time to blog here over the last few days, so I thought I'd just do a quick 5 minute post on what I've been up to. I've just finished this cute little hippo as a commission for a Christmas gift. I am pleased with the result - although I'm not sure whether hippos would make the best health professionals... I'm also busy making 5 Christmas stockings and 2 ami bunnies, all sales/commission pieces - I'm really delighted that people have been making orders, and I am feeling very satisfyingly busy. Otherwise I have a couple of Secret Santas and a Christmas ornament swap to do. The ornament swap should be fun - it has to be using material that you already have in your stash. This should be interesting because I haven't got anything hugely Christmassy left after all these stockings! I've been looking at this really great Handmade Christmas Ornament group on Flickr for some inspiration. My final project at the moment is our Christmas Matters blog. It's a record of all that we are doing to prepare for Christmas, along with recipes, crafts, music and book reviews. We've made a pact to try and blog every day, which is quite hard work, but I think we've only missed a day so far. I'm really enjoying all the anticipation!

A Cuddly Little Owl - Pattern

You can now find this pattern at my new blog - Very Berry Handmade.

Miss Piglet

Here's a new little bit of ami fun... I call her Miss Piglet because she looks a bit like AA Milne's Piglet, but she's definitely a girl... The pattern is taken from Nicki Trench's Super-Cute Crochet.It's the 1st one I've made from there and I'm really pleased with the book - the pattern is very easy to follow, and there is a helpful template for the dress. I have no idea what the yarn is. All I can say for sure is that it's definitely cotton! It's a present for my friend's daughter - her birthday is next week, so I am a little surprised at how organised I have been!

What I haven't been organised about is taking a photograph of all my lovely swap goodies from Izabela as part of the Time for Tea swap. I have to confess to diving on the contents of the box, immediately starting on trying out one of the ginger teas (yum!), putting the cute teapot keyring on my car keys, putting the yarn and buttons in the relevant stashes...and completely forgetting to take a photo. Naughty me! So I have reassembled all the goodies - thanks so much Izabela and thank you too Vonnie at Blotted Copy Book for organising the Swap - it was fun. I was particular pleased that Izabela was kind enough to send me The Encyclopoedia of Crochet Techniques by Jan Eaton. It was a book on my wishlist and has already come in handy a couple of times. Sometimes I forget that although I crochet a lot, I am still a beginner, and it's good to have something to refer to when I get stuck.

Amigurumi Crochet Bunny Pattern

This pattern can now be found here at my new blog - Very Berry Handmade.

Update on the 50 Things Challenge

Originally uploaded by Craft Matters

Thought it was time for an update on how I've been getting on with the 50 Things Challenge as a quarter of the year is all over with (how did that happen...?). Here are some more bunnies (my latest "thing")! Yes, you've seen them before - but they do demonstrate that I can crochet the same thing in lots of different colours.. So - to the list:

1-7) They're all done!

8) Brown and turquoise bag - all done and blogged about here. Not sure what I'm going to do it - wondering about listing it for sale on Etsy in a 'prototypes' section of my shop.
9) Crochet hairband for me to use when gardening. All done but I hate it! Like the pattern and the yarn, but hate the way it looks on me... so it will probably never see the light of day...
10) 1 pair of daisy hairclips for Molly - not done, but there's a birthday coming up..
11) 1 gold slouch bag - almost done, but for some reason haven't got round to finishing the fastening.
12) Pink cupcake needle book - another prototype.
13) Owl needle book for Meridien Ariel's Owl Swap

Originally uploaded by Craft Matters

14) Blue cupcake needle book - for sale on Etsy. Pictured here because I don't think I ever blogged it.
15) Wallet/purse using Kaffe Fassett fabrics for my SIL's birthday
16) Prototype bunny
17) 8 more bunnies...
18) Placemats for our dining table using thrifted fabric
19) Gift for the Time for Tea swap - which I'll blog about as soon as I know that Izabela had got her parcel

Plans
20) Stuffed toy - preferably made with sewing machine, and probably for a present
21) New wallet for me using a pattern of my own design (I hope)
22) Another owl needle book
23) Another cupcake needle book
24) Crochet and fabric coaster for sale in the shop

Bunny and Clyde

Bunny and Clyde
Originally uploaded by Craft Matters

I've been away for a while - yet again! I've been overwhelmed by the sudden demand for bunnies and by the very strident demands of our garden at this time of year. I've crocheted 4 bunnies so far, and have an order for another 4. When I got up this morning I noticed another Etsy sale & had a slight panic, but fortunately it was for the already-completed owl needlebook, I think I might have freaked a bit if it had been another bunny order. And of course, I have the Tea Swap items to complete and send by a week on Friday. Hmm, well, at least I've selected the fabric for that one... I took this photo of the 2 new grey bunnies yesterday, and Mr SM's immediate reaction was - it looks like Bonnie & Clyde... I've tried to think of a joke involving bunnies, Bonnie and Clyde & Warrens, but I just can't think of a punchline... probably for the best.

I popped up to my local wool shop this morning to buy some more Sublime Organic Merino (lovely stuff, lovely colours) and was inveigled into an impulse buy (well, it they will display books on shelves). I spotted Super-Cute Crochet by Nicki Trench and was absolutely bowled over by the really lovely designs. What I think is really lovely about these are the little touches like bows, ribbons & flowers. She also recommends some great yarns in gorgeous colours. Looking forward to having a go at some of these - I am hoping that it will add to my skills and ideas (that's what I told Mr Seasonal Matters anyway).

Crochet bunny for Easter

Crochet bunny for Easter

Here's my latest project... After a long break from amigurumi, Kerry set me the challenge of creating bunnies for Easter presents. It's the 1st ami that I've made that I've done from scratch without any kind of pattern, only a picture, as a guide. It was quite scary, and there was rather a lot of unravelling at first, but once I had an idea of how to make the shapes that I wanted to create, it wasn't too difficult.

Crochet bunny for Easter - back view

The yarn is Sublime Organic Merino in shade called Chalk. Terrible name but great to crochet with, and it gives the finished bunny a lovely fluffy, furry quality. I was a bit stuck when it came to the features. I really hate sewing directly onto bumpy crochet because I can never get the stitches to go just where I want them to be. So I thought I'd sew them onto lovely woolly felt first & then sew the felt pieces on to the face. It was strange to do because it's quite hard to get a real idea of how the features will look once they're sewn on, but I hoped for the best & I'm quite pleased with the result. I'll definitely use this method again next time I'm doing an ami.

The other thing I learned whilst completing this project is how to do an invisible decrease in crochet. It has always bugged me that decreases, especially on little, tightly crocheted amigurumi, look so untidy and obvious (well on my crochet they do!). So I wondered if there was a better method than the one I had been using. After a brief look round I hit gold with this tutorial with brilliant photos. It is fantastically clear, and it really makes a difference to the finished article. It's made me much more enthusiastic to do more ami. But next on my list is a wallet for myself - I'm going to decide on the fabrics I'm going to use later - can't wait!

My swap parcel got to where it was supposed to go...

For some reason I was convinced that the parcel I sent to Fischer & Lisa as part of Life With Nature Girl's One Good Book Swap wouldn't get there. I think it was because the parcel rattled in a most suspicious manner (due to the Smarties sweets I enclosed) & I imagined it would be unwrapped and detained by US customs... But it finally arrived, and I was so excited to read all about it - Fischer looks so pleased I must have looked at Lisa's blog 30 times today. There's nothing like gift giving to brighten your day.

I chose to send We're Going On A Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen, mainly because it is one of my boys' favourites (and I like it myself!) and because I think the style & illustration (by the marvellous Helen Oxenbury) is quite English - which I thought would be good for an international swap. If you don't know this version of the story you can watch Michael Rosen reading it on You Tube. One of the reasons why I am so fond of it is that it always reminds me of holidays we have had on the beautiful coast of Suffolk which certainly has some areas of 'thick oozy mud'. We never saw any bears there though...

The swap challenge was to send a book and associated items picking up on the theme of the book. So I made a reversible 'Bear Hunting Cloak' for Fischer with an appliqued bear on one side & his name on the other. I also sent a little ami puppy to accompany him on his bear hunts - just like the children in the story have a dog to journey along with them. I had a great time making these - once I found this fab tutorial for a Superhero Cape at Puking Pastilles, I knew exactly what I wanted to make - it was a great challenge & I really enjoyed it. Big thanks to Jill for organising & to Lisa & Fischer for being great swap partners.

Finally I have some new things in the shop!

I have had such a productive few days I feel quite proud of myself. I have been working hard since we came back from our holiday to get some projects finished (always a problem for me, a well-know procrastinator...). And I have managed to list 10 (yes 10!!) new things in our Etsy shop. Hurrah! It has been looking so empty lately, although I shouldn't complain about sales, I have been feeling very conscious that it looked so sad.

The amigurumi elephant & octopus look so cute there that they will hopefully inspire to finish the squirrel, the hippo & the frog that I have *almost* completed. And from there I could do with a couple of sales to convince me that it is worth crocheting some more. I really enjoy making them but my boys already have enough stuffed toys!

Excitingly, I now nearly have everything completed & gathered together for Jill's One Good Book swap. I have really enjoyed putting this one together & reading my swap partner's blog - F is for Fischer. Lisa's book reviews are fantastic, as are all the descriptions of what she & Fischer get up to. I am just hoping that they haven't already got the book I am sending as my swap gift. I tried to make it a rather English book & one that my sons really love. Well, I guess I will soon find out - the deadline for posting is this weekend & I hope to get it all finished tonight so I can post it off tomorrow morning.