A Big Pink Project/Work-in-Progress Basket

Here's what I've been working on in quieter moments amidst the great wedding outfit crisis that I've been having for the last 6 weeks... (sob).  The yarn is the lovely Debbie Bliss Donegal Chunky Tweed, which comes in some gorgeous colours, as you can see here.  I don't think I could wear anything made with it (except maybe a big winter scarf) because it would be far too itchy for me, but it is lovely to use for this kind of housewares project, because it has so much body and texture.  

I am dithering about selling the finished article because I like it so much, and I badly need the storage (most of my stash, yarn and fabric, is in plastic carrier bags...).  I am definitely going to sell the pattern though - as soon as I've got it written up, that is.  


The wedding is on Saturday, so just 4 days to go, but I think I have something to wear... wish me luck as I finish it all off. 

Quite a bit on my plate..

I've got a lot to do over the next week!  I am still in pursuit of a lovely dress to wear for my brother's wedding... I've been dithering about this for days now, and in spite of my plans weeks ago now, I am as disorganised as ever...  So, rushing around at the last minute, I went ahead and bought some absolutely glorious fabric from Ray-Stitch.  I am so delighted with it - it's an organic crossweave cotton in a shade called rust.  I think I am going to pair it with some of this lovely Amy Butler fabric (Martini in grey) - they do look fairly scrumptious together, in fact they look so scrumptious that I am afraid to start in case I mess it up.  Fingers crossed I get it right.  

I'm also crocheting a little cardigan to go with the dress - that's a bit easier because it's a fairly straightforward pattern.  But I have to go and really crack on with it this evening or I am going to be in a serious panic because I have to do all this by next Saturday...  And worse than that next week is a really busy one because we have family visiting on Monday, and then we are off up to London for the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) on Thursday. This will be my boys' 5th GBBF I think - it's a very civilised festival with an ace family area with lots of toys and games for them to play with.  An excuse to include a cute picture of them at the the festival in 2005 - aged around 20 months.  Lovely boys!

I'm also got a swap to do - I couldn't resist Meridien Ariel's Bookish Craft swap.  I haven't really got the time but absolutely couldn't resist this one - books are so important in my life.  My partner is Melanie who likes The Hollows series by Kim Harrison and other urban paranormal books.  Urban paranormal is a totally new phrase to me, so you can see how far this is out of my comfort range!  But that's what these swaps are all about - it's fun to have a challenge.  I have an idea of what I am going to make for her - I just hope it works out ok and that she likes it. And that I get it finished somewhere even close to the deadline!

And on top of all that, today, I get an order for one of my crochet bunnies...  I am delighted to get it - especially as it's from someone who has bought from me before - I love a repeat customer.  My gosh, it couldn't have come at a busier time - but hey!  I can take crochet to the beer festival can't I?  I've breastfed twins there in the past, and no one batted an eyelid - so crochet's not going to cause a stir!

Right, I have to go and tuck my boys in, and then it's time to get to work!

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...

Holiday Drama!

Well, we have had such a week in our tent in Wales...  Ned and I are pretty seasoned campers by now - we've been camping as a couple since the early 90s, and with the boys since they were 9 months old. As you can seen from our lovely camping set up - we take it all pretty seriously!  We're particularly proud of our tarpaulin... but maybe that's something that only fellow campers will appreciate...

In all our years of camping though, we've never experienced weather as bad as we had last week.  We coped ok in the rain - in fact we rather like sitting in a cosy tent, with hot cups of tea, just spending time with the boys.  And we had some lovely sunny spells too, when we spent time exploring the hills and rivers nearby, and taking a ride on the local narrow gauge steam railway.  It was all going pretty well, in spite of the very damp conditions.  

However, on Thursday night at about 11pm, the wind started to get up very strongly.  We rushed outside and cleared away what we could and then went off to bed, hoping that all would be ok.  I don't know about Ned, but I spent the next 2 hours praying that the tent would not collapse on top of us!  It's hard to describe how scary it is to be inside a tent that is being violently wrenched about in the wind... 

Sadly, at about 1am, a guy rope was ripped away from the tent causing one of the main tent poles to collapse.  All of this was totally fixable, but not in pitch darkness in a howling gale, with rather upset children to sort out.  We dived out of the tent and spent the rest of the night squeezed into our car, trying to get a bit of sleep.  

The next day saw us waking early to more torrential rain and a lot of very wet stuff... For the first time ever we decided to give up on a holiday and come home...  So here we are, back early, but glad to be safe and sound.  We had lovely fish and chips last night and I've made scrumptious Victoria sponge today to cheer us up.   

Some good things on our return: 

An Etsy order from from someone who had actually been waiting for me to turn off my Vacation Mode setting - what a compliment!  

The crochet project that I took with me to work on during the holiday survived all the trauma, and is looking pretty good so far.

Our garden is looking very pretty after some much needed rain.. tomatoes are growing to epic proportions and I harvested 4 courgettes for our pizza tonight.

So it's not too bad to be home (and we are planning to go camping again in September...). 

Mind the Gap - A Granny Square Pattern

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

Crochet is for (Granny) Squares

Although I do try and make a bit of money out of my crafting (haha) it's always good to be able to make something for yourself too - otherwise I find resentment builds up very quickly.. It's also really nice to have an easy, long-term, project to be getting on with in times when inspiration fails, or when you just need something to do whilst you're watching Mad Men (it's back - hooray!). So when I spotted the Granny a Day Challenge at Meet Me at Mike's, it didn't take me a minute to decide to join in. The aim is to crochet a Granny Square every day, for as many days as you like during 2010. I signed up sometime in mid-January and I have managed to finish quite a few squares, although definitely not one a day. It's more like none for 5 days then 3 on the next 2 days! Granny squares are great for beginners to crochet because they come along very quickly, they're very straightforward to make (some more than others though, so make sure you choose a simple pattern!) and they can look absolutely brilliant. Have a look at the Granny a Day Flickr group for inspiration - it's fabulous. If you haven't learned to crochet yet then I highly recommend it - it's one of the most rewarding & gratifying of crafts, and so versatile too. There's lots of fantastic resources to help you on the web - here are just some of my favourite places: A Little Bit of Crochet Inspiration Meet Me at Mike's Crochet School - with lots of lovely video clips to help you with your skills - and it goes very very slowly so you never feel out of your depth. Planet June - masses of tips here with loads of inspiration and patterns to make amigurumi (tiny yarn creatures) Attic24 - a wonderful blog by Lucy who has provided the inspiration for my Granny Square colour scheme - a great place to go if you need a cheer up.. Ravelry - a brilliant online community with 1000s of patterns and people to inspire crocheters and those other people What Not to Crochet - if you need a break from your experiments in crochet... there's a truly terrifying selection of items here ******* Back to my squares... This is what I've done so far. Pretty colours aren't they? I'm using some leftover Mirasol T'ika 100% Cotton, and although this is supposed to be a stash-busting project I expect I will end up buying more Mirasol cotton because it's so lovely to work with and the colours are great. For most of the squares (which are just 6") I've used the Summer Garden Granny Square from Attic24. The others are mostly versions of squares from Beyond the Square Crochet by Edie Eckman. I've also used a pattern of my own which I am hoping to post on here if I can remember exactly what I did... My plan is not very original - I want to make a great big blanket for our bed. As I type this I'm looking at snow falling again, and thinking that this time next year, I will have a lovely bright blanket to snuggle up in on days like these. Can't wait!

Some Commissions!

I've had some commissions lately which is really great - it's good to be working on something that you've already sold! Far better for your confidence, although it can be more stressful, especially as you have a customer's expectations to worry about too. But my customers have all been lovely so far, so fingers crossed. It's a real mixed bag of projects. Gill wanted a hat... it's just been finished, and this is me wearing it - excuse the crazed smile (see below, I'm very tired). The yarn is Colinette Point 5 in a shade called Velvet Damson. It really is lovely and a real pleasure to work with. I've also crocheted up another in a shade called Bright Charcoal (I couldn't go to the shop for just one thing could I?) - can't decide whether to sell or keep that one! I am becoming slightly obsessed by Colinette yarns, they are such blissful colours and I love the different textures and structures that they produce. I've had some requests for proper full-sized stockings, so I've been having fun working on designs. I thought it might be interesting/scary to post a picture of my initial design so that you can compare it to the final result. So, here's my design.... The customer requested pink and wanted the stocking personalised, and I suggested the applique. I think the one thing that this tells everyone is that my artistic skills are extremely limited. And don't you like the use of the pink gummed paper I pinched from my sons' craft box?! I'm going to be using pink corduroy for the main body of the stocking, and felt for the tree and the letters. The stocking is going to be lined with some gorgeous Michael Miller fabric called Yule Trees (the link will take you to Hancock's of Paducah - I warn you not to click on it if you suffer from fabric issues). We tracked down a UK supplier of this fabric on Ebay - it's been a very helpful service so far from Quilted Mouse Fabrics. Another item I've been asked for is a blue hippo amigurumi with a nurse's hat and apron. I'm thinking felt for the hat and apron - I'm hoping it's going to look pretty cute. Other stuff I have almost finished at the moment are: business card wallets made with some really funky Free Spirit fabric, 2 or 3 crochet brooches and a patchwork bag. Phew! And of course there's just the small matter of my lads' 6th birthday party at the weekend and finishing decorating the front room by Christmas. See, I told you there was a reason I look tired...

Winter hats

I've had some Rowan Ribbon Twist hanging around in my stash for absolutely ages, and I've experimented with it several times, but whatever I've tried has never turned out quite right. The other day I had the sudden inspiration (must have been the sudden drop in the temperature here!) to try and crochet a beanie hat with it. This is what I came up with. As I crocheted I realised that it was going to turn out kid-sized and I tried it on one of my little boys for size. He seemed to like it, and I think I am going to have to track down some more Ribbon Twist to make another one. I really enjoyed doing the hat and I had some nice feedback about it, so I thought I would make a few to see how they go in the shop.


My 2nd attempt (purple again!) is in Rowan Plaid - another discontinued yarn, and is adult-sized this time. I am very pleased with this - I think the yarn really suits the project and I am totally in love with the black button at the centre of the flower. The good news is that I've got a commission to make a hat for my friend Gill and I am going to be using the supremely gorgeous Colinette Point 5 in Velvet Damson. I love Colinette!!

I was feeling super-positive about my crafting over the weekend - the hats turned out well, I have had a lovely crop of sales during my first week on MISI, and excitement of excitements, my lovely amigurumi bunny currently has pride of place on the MISI front page. There he is, in the top right hand corner...



Thanks to Kerry for the inspiration and the original commission to make bunnies for her kids.

A Frothy Flower - Crochet Pattern

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

A Couple of Crochet Projects

I realised recently that I've never crocheted anything much bigger than my tawashi pot scrubbers, so I've been feeling ambitious to work on something a bit larger - whilst feeling a bit concerned that following a complicated pattern might be a bit outside my comfort zone right now. I am not up to complicated at the moment! I decided to have a go at creating a wrap / stole /scarf (I'm not sure how big it's going to be yet!) made up of smaller motifs which I would join together.

So here's what I've been working on...

I'm using yarn that was an impulse buy on my last Saturday trip to the Co-op (why is Cucumber Patch right next door??). It's made by Araucania yarns (from Chile) and is called Ranco Multi - the shade is 301, which I gather is now discontinued. It's hand painted in a beautiful combination of sea green, pale raspberry and very muted orange. Lovely to work with and it's very nice to see the way that the colours work in the flower pattern. I'm really enjoying making it, although darning in the ends is extremely tedious.

For a bit of a change, and now that I feel a bit more up to the challenge, I decided to have a go at following someone else's pattern. Mostly I make up my own designs so I am still a real beginner at following crochet pattern instructions - especially those without a helpful diagram. I picked up a copy of Rowan Classic Babies (Book 4) at one of our local charity shops recently. Mostly I got it for the designs and ideas, because I don't really knit, but flicking through it I realised that the bootee pattern was actually crochet, so I thought I'd have a go. I've only made one so far, I need to have another daytime session of crochet to do the other one (I can't do complicated in the evening!). It doesn't look too bad (please bear in mind I haven't blocked it yet) - I've used a Sublime Organic DK Wool in a shade called, bizarrely, asparagus.

An update after a long long break...

It's been so long since I've blogged that I actually had to think to remember my blogger password. It's been been a tough couple of months in our household, with illness and a very very sad bereavement. As a result I've just got utterly behind with blogs & forums, and my online life in general. What I have managed to do is a bit of crafting - it's been so good to sit down with a hook and a bit of yarn - crochet and reading have been my saviours at times like this...

So, I'm just to try and get back in the swing of things for now & post a few pics of the things I've been working on. In the mean time, to all my friends in the craft blog world - I am so sorry to have been out of the loop for such a long time, but will be back reading, admiring and commenting very soon.

A couple of log cabin-style patchwork needle books. Made with Kaffe Fassett fabrics, vintage buttons and crochet closures.

A couple of new designs for brooches/corsages, based on my tiny crochet flower pattern. The yarns I've used here are Debbie Bliss Cashmere Cotton in the 1st pic, and some of my favourite Mirasol T'ika 100% cotton in the 2nd pic. I love those colours, and I've actually made something that isn't purple..



An old favourite brooch/pin design that's always sold well for me on Etsy (thanks to all my lovely buyers!). I think the yarn in the 1st picture is Debbie Bliss Rialto, and the 2nd is some RYC yarn, but I have no idea which one... I really need to get more organised with my stash storing!

There's a few other things to come, but that will do for now.

Lovely crochet!

I've been beavering away to complete my 6 granny squares for Hannah's Granny Square Swap, and get them sent off by the end of July. After a lot of last minute faffing around (why do I always forget things need washing and blocking?), I managed to get them in the post just in time. What I failed to do was take a picture of them before I packed them up - can't believe I forgot! Hopefully Jane and Izabela might take a pic or two and I'll be able to link to them another time. I'm so excited to have received one and a half of my swap gifts in return. Look at all these lovely goodies from Marie (woollyholic):

The squares are great - in lovely funky colours, and Marie made me a cute little brooch and a drawstring bag (with teabags - hurrah!) as well. Lucky me eh? The only thing missing from this pic is the lovely little mini Green & Blacks collection - they all disappeared very quickly - I promise I DID share!! I am receiving my other granny squares from Amy in instalments, which makes it even more exciting! I'll post a pic of them when I've had them all. By the way, don't visit Amy's blog if you are on a diet - she makes and decorates the most unbelievably gorgeous cakes! Good luck with your new business Amy.

Whilst I've been crocheting I've been wondering what to do with the 6 granny squares that I'll eventually end up with. I wondered about using them to make pot holders - - as you can see from these pics on Flickr, it's a pretty standard use of a granny square. All I'd need to do is perhaps crochet 2 squares together and add a loop. But now I am thinking - bags! All the brilliant crafters on Flickr are providing me with lots of inspiration.

The other bit of crochet I've been doing recently is making these coasters for my friend's birthday.

The pattern is based on a round motif pattern from Beyond The Square Crochet Motifs by Edie Eckman. I would really recommend this book - there's hardly a duff pattern design-wise, and they're all written very clearly. She also includes some really great hints and tips that I have already benefitted from - like how to do invisible joins. I bought the book with the Amazon voucher that I got for winning The Duelling Crafters challenge, so I should take this opportunity to say a really big thanks to Vonnie of the always-readable and inspirational Blotted Copy Book. It was a real treat to be able to browse and choose from all those lovely craft books.

I really like the way the coasters have turned out. I was a bit concerned about the way in which machine sewing the fabric layer would affect the crochet, but it's actually worked pretty well. Sadly, I was so rushed to get something together that I only managed to crochet 3! Not much of a set really is it...? So Becky, I owe you!

Finally got a few new things into my Etsy shop

Gosh my Etsy shop was looking sad and dusty. The online equivalent of one of those sad shop windows with displays of kitchen roll and dead flies...! I've finally had a chance to list a few new things, so I hope you'll forgive a little promotional post.

Here are the new things:

A toddler (12-24 month) sunhat using gorgeous Michael Miller Zoology fabric.

A toddler (12-24 month) sunhat using funky Kaffe Fassett Fan Flowers fabric.

Some tawashi veg scrubbing / dishwashing cloths.

There's more to come, but that's enough advertising for today!

Actually that's not quite true because I also wanted to write about some brilliant yarn that I'm using for my granny square swap gifts. I am a huge fan of the yarns and the ethos of The Mirasol Project. I've used their Miski baby llama yarn before - it's gorgeously soft and fluffy and comes in a great range of colours. This time I've invested in some of their T'ika 100% cotton. Again, there are some great colours, and it is an absolute joy to crochet with. And great to feel that by buying the yarns I am supporting the textile heritage of Peru. You can read more about the Mirasol Project and their yarns on the project blog. It makes really interesting reading.

Hats, hats, hats...

I've been horribly absent lately, but for a good reason, I promise. I have had an order for lots (well, lots for me!)of sunhats via my Etsy shop. They are off to the Aardvark Tea Room and Craft Gallery in St Leonard's on Sea, here in the UK. It looks like a fabulous place (I wish I lived closer) and I am very excited that they wanted to order from me. It seemed like such a great opportunity that I agreed to come up with half the order before I go camping tomorrow. So I have been working very hard to get 5 hats made (including working out a smaller pattern for a different size hat) in the last week. And here they are! I feel pretty proud of them. They're all made with preloved fabric from a pattern I developed myself. It's a real lesson in not giving up hope - I developed the pattern and did all the work early last year and haven't had any interest until now. I apologise for the rubbish picture by the way... I was rushing to get these into the post this morning and couldn't come up with anywhere tidy or with good light. I had really hoped to get a pic of them all hanging on our washing line - I think it would have looked really cool - but sadly it was chucking it down here this morning!

The other exciting news is that I won Blotted Copy Book's Duelling Crafters competition! It really means a lot that so many people liked what I made with my dad's tie. I've blogged my business card holder before, but I also made a needle book for my sister's birthday. She was so pleased with it that she had to call me from a rehearsal to tell me about it. There's still quite a bit of fabric left (they made ties big back in the olden days!) so I am going to try and come up with something else too. Thanks Vonnie for running such an ace competition - I look forward to the next one. And am now trying to avoid your Bake Swap, which sounds fab, but not good for my diet!

A pattern for a tiny flower

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

A Fancy Card Wallet

Duelling Crafters' Challenge

The last couple of days, when I haven't been busy in the garden, I've been working hard on my project for Blotted Copy Book's Duelling Crafters' Challenge. I decided to use my dad's old tie to make a wallet to hold my business cards, and the cards I get from other crafters. It will be great to have somewhere to keep the safe and easily findable amongst all the rubbish in my bag! I got it finished four hours before the deadline and managed to upload the photos on to the Duelling Crafters' Flickr Group with a couple of hours to spare.

The wallet has a very simple design with 2 business card-sized pockets inside, made using turquoise cotton fabric, which is also used for the lining. There is a little bit of fusible fleece between the lining and outer fabric, just to give the whole thing a bit of structure.

I was quite pleased with the result and was going to submit the wallet at that stage, entirely unadorned. However, having slept on it, I decided that, much as I love the tweedy wool fabric, it needing prettying up a bit. So I added a tiny crochet flower, complete with some recycled, bright red beads. The final touch is a little bit of red stitching - just because I think red and turquoise go so well together. I still have some of the tie fabric left so I've just cut out another piece so I can make a needle book for my sister's birthday next week. It's going to be really nice to use something every day that brings back such great memories of my dad.

Bright and Breezy Crochet Tawashi

Whilst browsing a (very useful) list of lovely Japanese craft books the other day, I noticed one for crochet 'tawashi'. I was intrigued and on further investigation realised that I had been using a traditional style Kamenoko Tawashi to scrub my veggies for a while now, although I no idea what it was called! It's extremely effective and has an excellent name which translates as 'tawashi (bundle) like a larva of a turtle'. So, a plan began to form. I like my tawashi, I love to crochet, I have lots of brightly coloured acrylic yarn (the ideal stuff because it's usefully scratchy)... it had to be time to make some eco-tawashi! Although there are, as far as I can tell, lots & lots of patterns available - just Google crochet tawashi or magic scrubber and you will find loads of links and books - I decided to have a go at my own. The pattern I've used on one side (pictured) consists of rows of double crochet interspersed with lovely lumpy bobbles which are very effective in getting the dirt off your pans. Also great fun to see hanging around your kitchen sink too. The other side is just double crochet stripes in the same eye-wateringly bright colours. I crocheted up the 2 sides separately then crocheted them together, creating a loop to hang it with at the same time. It was hugely fun to do and I've already started another one in slightly more subtle colours. I'm hoping to write up the pattern and blog it here very soon. The other thing that I'm working on at the moment (and in fact is finished apart from it's final press!) is my Garden Swap project. It has taken quite a lot of time, but as far as I am concerned the finished product is absolutely worth it. I hope Chrissy (of the brilliant Spoilt Pig) likes it...

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.