Busy Little Bank Holiday Bee

What a busy little bank holiday weekend I've had this week.  Crafting away, working on a few different projects, and it has been a thoroughly enjoyable four days!

First up, I've been rushing to finish two little softies for a lovely family I have been working with for the past few months.  I diagnosed the little baby boy with a hearing loss when he was just a couple of weeks old, and so have been seeing the family almost weekly for the past 4 months or so.  Over that time, my colleague and I have built up quite a friendship with the mum, and spend lots of time playing with older sister who comes along to every appointment.  Mum is such a nice mum to work with; she even treats us to sweets and cakes the few times we've squeezed her in over our lunch break.  The little man will be heading off to the cochlear implant centre soon, not to be seen by us again, and so I thought it would be nice to repay mum's kindness in the only way I know how; crochet cuddlies.  I made a little blue dinosaur for baby boy a few weeks ago, but, knowing the family had gone on holiday dawdled a bit on making something for big sister.  When mum telephoned last week to arrange the first appointment after their holiday, I knew I needed to get the second toy finished or I might not get it ready before they move on.

Fresh Stitches has been running a crochet dog club for a couple of months now and as soon as this months pattern, a cute little Maltese, came through I knew it would be just right for older sister.  I scrambled around in my yarn stash to find the right aran yarn and got to it. It's a really quick pattern, I don't think it took more than a couple of hours to complete but I'm delighted with how she turned out:

Look at those cute little loop stitch ears!  Don't they just work perfectly?!  I can't wait to give these little gifts when I see the family this week.  It's the best part of making things.

I've of course had several crochet projects on the go all at the same time!  As well as poodling along with the Crochet Club (new patterns out this week - eek!) I made another Fresh Stitches club toy, a felted Chicken and Egg.  When I first opened the box at Easter time, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed.  I'm not keen on those turn inside out type of things as I never think it works too well. But I was wrong.  This worked out rather well, and I'd definitely make one again.  The secret part of this project was the felting.  Once I'd made my pieces I was a little hesitant to chuck them in the washing machine and see how they turned out, but in for a penny, I went ahead and threw them in with some sheets and boiled the heck out of them!  Actually, I rather liked how it ended up a little fuzzy and less defined, the only problem was that the feet and beak got stuck in the drain of the washing machine and so didn't actually felt (or shrink) so they are slightly out of proportion to the rest of the body.  But hey, I guess this gives him character.  

In just a flash the chicken...

is turned inside out to become an egg!

Last of all, it definitely seems to be that time when everyone I know is having babies.  Literally, everyone.  So it's important for me to get cracking on the gifts asap! The first thing I've started is a beautiful little crochet blanket.  I love love love these colours of Rico Baby Classic DK available at The Homemakery.  The picture doesn't really do it justice  the 'orange is actually a lovely watermelon colour, and the green is a beautiful teal.  The yarn is super soft to work with, and not at all splitty.  I'm really enjoying making this blanket whereas often I get bored a tiny bit of the way through (I know we're all collectively thinking of my stripey granny blanket right now).  

Whilst on the subject, have you tried The Homemakery?  It's a lovely website and the delivery is outstanding.  I ordered around lunchtime and the package was with me before 10am the next day (and it was a Saturday, perfect).  It even included a little handwritten card and some adorable 'made with love' ribbon.  I can't praise this website/haberdashery enough.

I've also been trying out some baby bibs from Love Sewing Magazine.  It's a new one just out  in the UK, and despite some initial delivery problems (i.e. it wasn't delivered at all) I was pleased when it finally arrived and I got the chance to read it.  Now here comes the disclaimer, I know pretty much nothing at all about sewing, but to me it's seems like it's a nice modern mag full of the kind of things that I want to be able to make.  It's not totally aimed at beginners (although many of the designs are suitable for beginners) as it assumes some level of knowledge/skill already in sewing.  I decided to practice my straight line sewing by trying my hand at a couple of different baby bibs.  

 I was so impressed with myself as they turned out pretty much like the picture!  Ok, so the bandana bib is just a triangle, but it still looked like a triangle by the time I finished with it so it means I was doing something right!  I just need to work out how to neatly finish up the unstitched part left for turning the work inside out.  I am not well practised in hand sewing, and my last few attempts have been pretty bad.  Luckily, my mother in law is an extraordinary seamstress, and so I am hoping to persuade her to show me how it's done (possibly on both bibs just to be absolutely certain, tee hee).  

Do you see how the spots run right down the middle of the bandana?  The Great British Sewing Bee would be so proud!  Once sewn, I'll need to add on some poppers and they'll be all done.  I think I'll invest in some fancy pants material and make some more now I know it's within my ability to make them and for them not to look completely homemade.  I've got some John Lewis vouchers that I've been saving up for just such a task...

Spring Bunnies Free Pattern Release

I'm so excited that the Spring Bunny pattern is now available to download from Black Sheep Wools.  Designing a toy can be a stressful business; as I send over the pattern and pictures,  I anxiously hover over my inbox, waiting to see if they're happy.  Happy with the toy that I designed, happy that it meets their needs, that what I thought was cute they think is cute and something that their customers want.  It's a strange experience for me, in my day job I'm confident and sure of myself, of my expertise and ability, but designing is a huge leap outside of my comfort zone, opening myself up to public critique, good and bad.  I'm very pleased with how the bunnies turned out, and I hope you think they're as cute as I do!  

What's made the Spring Bunnies even more exciting is that Black Sheep Wools ran an Easter competition in their honour!  Twitter, Facebook and blog followers were asked to think of some adorable names for the bunnies to win everything you need to make them  including yarn, stuffing, safety eyes and crochet hook.  A great Easter present I think!

Good luck to everyone who entered; I'm choosing the competition as I write this post.  Don't forget to tweet, Instagram and email your pictures of the bunnies, I really do love to see them :) 

Fork Pom Pom Tutorial

Pom pons are a staple part of every crafters toolbox.  They can be used as decorations in their own right or jazzed up a little just like my pom pom flowers.  Pom poms also make the perfect tails for my Spring Bunny pattern, so here's my tutorial on how to make a mini pom pom using simply yarn and a fork!

That's it!  It really is that simple to make a mini pom with just a fork.  Make sure you tie the centre thread nice and tightly to keep all the yarn in place once you cut along the edges then simply stitch the pom pom into place. 

What a little cutie!

Sneak Peak! Spring Bunny pattern

For the past week or so I have been burrowed away (ha!) working hard to make an idea spring (ha!) to life.  Ok, ok, I'm sorry for that, but it was just too hard to resist; my brain has turned to all things Easter Bunny related following a week desperately trying to bring a rabbit to life in extra quick time :) 

The lovely ladies at Black Sheep Wools have asked if I have had any ideas for new designs a few times now.  Valentines, Mother's Day has come and gone whilst I've found myself disappointingly uninspired.  I was getting a little worried; perhaps I was not cut out to be a designer after all?  I was determined to make something for Easter, but found it very hard to find ideas I wanted to turn into something more.  Scanning through Pinterest and Ravelry only made me more miserable as I realised that it would be hard to come up with anything particularly original.  

I doodled in my little ideas book, a coral (my favourite) coloured leather bound book trying out different possibilities and shapes.  Doodle is an accurate word for what I was doing, drawing has never been my strong point and apparently I am particularly bad at drawing rabbits.  Still nothing.  But then one morning I woke up and had a perfect idea in my head of what I wanted to make, and how I wanted it to look.  I scooped up some cotton to get started on a prototype and crocheted away...

And realised I'd made a cat.  Rubbish. (although on the plus side, free cat pattern coming soon!)  I went straight back to it and by now had received some delicious Sirdar Cotton DK through the post from Black Sheep Wools in a selection of rabbity colours which spurred me to keep on.  I could see a little more clearly how I wanted the bunny to look; big feet and a round body.  It was starting to come together.  

So I worked away each evening to make sure the pattern was ready with just enough time to get crafting for Easter.  I even made a second bunny, partly to test the pattern out and partly to try out a couple of different looks.  I have to admit, the little cream bunny is my favourite, although there's something cute about the brown bunny too.  

Although the pattern isn't up on www.blacksheepwools.com just yet, I'm sure Black Sheep Wool wouldn't mind if I gave you all a sneaky peak of my bunnies, especially as I'm so proud of them :)

I hope you love them as much as I do.  I'l be sure to let you know as soon as the pattern is available to download.  I also have a photo tutorial coming out just in time to show you how to make a mini pom pom, perfect for a fluffy little rabbit tail.  I'd love to know what you think of the Spring Bunnies.  Have you been crafting for Easter this year too?

Projects, Projects, Projects!

Arrgggh, what a miserable day it is.  Rain, rain, rain.  Poor Squitchy is feeling very sorry for himself as I won't leave the back door open for him to wander in and out of the house as he pleases, and so he's curled up on the sofa, occasionally huffing to make sure we know that he is one unhappy husky.

It is not such a problem for me though as I have plenty of projects to keep me busy.  Usually, January is the month that drags on forever where I have to watch every penny to make sure I can make it through to the 25th (otherwise known as payday).  And there's so many temptations; a final dash for some extra christmas presents, sales, splashing out for my birthday, January is definitely there to test me.  But not this year, no.  This year, it seems like I've been much more in control (plus I was very lucky to get money/vouchers for Christmas and birthday so I didn't have to dip into my bank account too much) and so I've had a little bit spare.  And what better way to spend it then buying more crafty goodness!  I hadn't really realised just how much I've purchased until I had to try and find a home for it in my craft room, instead of my usual spread around the house approach.  

There's been a couple of books:

First up is modern baby crochet by my fav, Stacey Trock of Fresh Stitches fame.  Yep, I know I bang on about Fresh Stitches, but I genuinely love love love her stuff.  Now, I'm not a baby person, (I spend all day with other people's kids, it's enough to put anyone off!) but whilst this book certainly has a focus on designs for a new baby's room, there's so many other things in it that would work in any house.  I've already made a cute little amigurumi bird, but have my eye on the sea urchin pouf (I started making a pouf ages ago with Zpagetti yarn and it looks pretty average.  I want to frog it, but know how long it took me to get that far.  Maybe this is the push I need) the asymmetrical basket-weave blanket and the colourful wiggle pillow (which my sister has also put in an order for already).  

Then I bought My Crochet Doll by Isabelle Kessedjian.  This is a truly beautiful book; the first half is photos showing all the items in the book, laid out in a really inviting way that makes you want to make everything on each page RIGHT NOW!  I love that the crochet doll is in fact just a tiny part of the focus of this book; it's all the accessories that go with it that catch my eye, like the teeny tiny camera, or the little bucket and spade for the beach.  My particular favourites are:

There have been a couple of other pattern purchases, but these are for top secret projects and will be revealed all in good time :) 

I've also bought my first big yarn pack of the year, from Wool Warehouse, the Attic 24 colour pack.  17 skeins of Stylecraft Special DK in an Attic 24 inspired colour range. When I opened my huge bag, I was a little uncertain as to how this might pan out.  Not all the colours were those that I would pick myself, and certainly weren't ones I've put together in one project.  But I don't know why I doubted Lucy, it's not often she gets her colours wrong.  I've already made a good start by following her granny stripe tutorial:

...but being that it's 240 stitches across (about the size of a double bed) I've still got a long way to go!  I've decided to weave in the ends every so often so I don't have a big pile to work through at the end.  I'm sure you will be hearing a lot about this blanket over the coming months ;)

I was also very lucky that timing paid off in my favour.  I keep seeing a very lovely embroidery design popping up on Instagram which made me very tempted to give it a try.   It's Sew Laugh Love by Leanne's House but unfortunately it's no longer available to buy as a kit anywhere, except in Australia which just so happened to be where my parents were over Christmas, visiting my sister.  Following a desperate email, and a long flight it made it's way over to the UK and straight to my craft room.  I'm really looking forward to learning a new skill and hope I can do it justice on my first attempt.   

So I'm definitely going to be busy for the next few months!  I'm excited that it's a mix of projects that I love like amigurumi, easy going pattern free projects like the granny blanket, and a completely new skill in embroidery.  What are your crafty plans for 2014?

 

Christmas Crochet

So Christmas has been and gone already.  And what a fabulous Christmas it was too.  A little different for me as my parents spent the holidays over in Australia with my sister and so it was just me, Coop and Squitchy.  I have to admit, I was a little bothered about having a Christmas on our own.  Without the family, and the food and games that come along with them, how would it be different to any other day?  I needn't have worried.  Christmas was a lovely relaxed day which is just what I needed as I worked until late on Christmas eve.  Lots of presents, lots of food and lots of time spent together.  Perfect.  

This super relaxed Christmas has also given me some time to catch up on a little crochet.  Fresh Stitches crochet specifically.  Coop bought me a cute Cath Kidson bag for Christmas and tucked inside was a rainbow of yarns; I was very excited (and impressed, he picked them all by himself - with a little help from Paul the wool man - and they are just what I would have chosen had I been there).  So once the cooking was finished and we couldn't fit anymore sweets or chocolate in, I picked up my hook and set about making this multicoloured monster from a Fresh Stitches free pattern here.

Doesn't he look great in rainbow stripes?  I also finished off my Fresh Stitches Gingerbread Man who I think  is one of the cutest little things I have made.  I just love his smiley little face.

Now those amongst you who are particularly eagle-eyed may notice that his right arm is slightly shorter than his left.  The gingerbread man was my plane project when I flew to Chicago.  Unfortunately, I flew on the day that all air traffic control was down in the UK and so had a rather long wait on the tarmac for the plane to take off. The gingerbread man was finished rather swiftly, but I ran out of yarn with around two rows to go on his last arm!    Rather than wait until I got home and risk him unravelling, I decided that this quirk would add to his overall charm, and I am so very happy with how he turned out!

I hope you have all had an enjoyable relaxing Christmas spent with the people you love.  Did you get any crochet gifts this year?  And most importantly, dud you manage to sneak in a little crochet time over the holidays?!

Free Hanging Christmas Tree Decorations!

A while back I asked you to keep your fingers crossed for me as I'd had some exciting news and was waiting for it all to be finalised.  Well now is the time when I can finally share it all with you!

I'm so happy that the British company Black Sheep Wool asked me to design some free christmas tree decorations for their christmas campaign.  I was a little hesitant at first; I'd only ever designed Sheldon before and that was completely on a whim, what if I couldn't come up with anything this time?  I decided it was a huge opportunity I could't turn down, and set about coming up with some designs.  

And here they are:

Pretty cute right?!  

The patterns are available on the Black Sheep Wools website here along with christmas patterns from popular bloggers Annaboos House and Little Things Blogged.  

And there's something even more exciting.  Black Sheep Wools are launching the Creative Christmas Competition and they need your help.  The christmas tree at Black Sheep Wools' headquarters is looking bare and waiting for you to send in your decorations to make it festive!  There are fabulous prizes for the five best decorations selected the week before christmas so start crafting!  I can't wait to see what fantastic decorations you come up with, so remember to use the tag #bswcreativechristmas on Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest so we can see your awesome work :)

October Round Up

Whoah.  October has been a crazy month for me and Sheldon.  Who would have thought that posting a picture of him on the Yarndale Ravelry group would lead to such exciting things.  Sheldon has gone global!  His popularity has been truly overwhelming, I'm so grateful to everyone who has taken the time to send kind comments about Sheldon and have loved seeing pictures of Sheldon's cropping up on the internet.  

Because of Sheldon, my life of crochet has become even more diverse.  I have been asked to team up with a British wool company to work on some designs, yarn reviews and all that good stuff.  I can't tell you how excited I am at this opportunity.  On one hand, I am a little nervous about being ready for something like this.  Up until now, my crochet has been just for me, occasionally shared with my friends but mostly only to satisfy myself.  What if what I do is not good enough for what they want?  But I've shaken those thoughts off.  When am I ever going to get an opportunity like this again?  So I'm going for it, and plan on doing the best that I can do.  One design is already done, and there are more to come in time for Christmas.  When I can tell you more, I will do, I promise :)

Plans for October - reviewed

• Making some bunting for a friend that I've already taken shamelessly, embarrassingly long to get around to (ok, I'm going to be realistic, I have every intention of doing this, I'm just not sure exactly when it's likely to be, and probably not before christmas now)

• Starting my tunisian crochet Craftsy class - still to do, perhaps when I have some holiday from work I'll get to it

• Learning more about using my DSLR camera - some reading done, more learning to do

• Starting to think about things I need to make for christmas decorations/presents - I've made a start, but there's so much to do!  Another holiday project I think

• Making a cowl for myself (well, I deserve a treat too) - stuff for me has taken a bit of back burner for now, this might have to drop off the list for now

• Trying my hand at a bit of designing (!) - well at least there's one tick this month!

• Christmas Christmas Christmas really!

Plans for November

Are your plans Christmas focused too or have you got any other things on the go this month?

What are you most pleased to have made this month?  What are your plans for October?

Fresh Stitches Kit Club Big Reveal!

As if going to Yarndale wasn't exciting enough, the day I was driving up to Yorkshire I also received my Fresh Stitches Kit Club through the post.  I love  this idea.  Every other month, a mystery item is sent through the post.  It features a Fresh Stitches pattern, plus everything you need to make your cuddly (except stuffing) and a mystery gift to make your toy something special, more than just your regular singlet crochet.  In past kit clubs, this has included beading and working with pipe cleaners all supported on Stacey's website so you know exactly what to do with it to make sure it turns out super cute! 

As I'd enjoyed my other kit clubs so much in the past, I signed up for this year's one and waited patiently for my kit to arrive.  It's tougher than you would think; as Stacey's followers are spread all over the world, some receive their kits much before I do.  It's so tempting to snoop around on the internet to find out what's in the package, but I resisted this time, making sure it stayed a surprise right until I opened the box.  

And what a great surprise it was!

When I ripped open the box, I have to admit my first thought was "A teddy bear made from plain yarn, is that it?"  but of course it wasn't.  As I dug out all the bits and pieces I realised that tucked under the pattern was the part that suddenly made it all very fun.  Kool-Aid sachets.  Kool-Aid is particularly  exciting to me as it's not something we have here in the UK so it's been one of those things on my list of things to track down, that I never really got round to doing.  In case you haven't heard of it, Kool-Aid is a drink (!) in America, a bit like the squash we have over here.  

After Yarndale, I eagerly watched Stacey's video to get set in my mind what I needed to do, then gingerly emptied the contents of the sachets into two separate bowls; one blue, one orange.

Which didn't look that interesting until I added a bit of boiling water...

The colours were soooo vivid!  There are two packets of orange here with one blue.  And the smell!  A wonderfully sweet fruity smell filled the house once the water was added.  What I hadn't anticipated was how quickly the dye is slurped up by the yarn.  The video had warned the yarn was dye hungry as it was untreated animal wool, but wow this was fast!  Within perhaps two seconds of tentatively laying the wool in the dye mixture it was gone!  I was a bit shocked by this; I had expected to have to poke it around a bit to get it to take to the dye (I had only just finished my yarn dyeing workshop at Yarndale and was thinking of how things had taken there) so hadn't arranged the yarn quite as I might have liked.  

  

I tried adding a little bit more water to see if I could dilute the dye to make it go a little further, but as you can see any water I added had no colour.  I think this is because you use boiling water to make up the dye, it instantly sets the colour so it doesn't leak at all.  I rinsed the yarn well under cold water, but very little dye came out.  A good rinse also makes sure your yarn won't be crispy when you come to work with it, so it's worth taking a little time over it.  

After a thorough squeeze, I had to sit back and wait for the yarn to dry, so I left it hanging in my conservatory, and crossed my fingers that Squitchy wouldn't notice it was there.

I was so pleased with how it turned out!  Not only are there those really bright, bright colours, but there's also some more subtle in-between shades in there too.

It worked up really nicely, although next time I would try to think of my colour repeat a bit more.  What Ive found is that for the teddy's arms and legs, the colour repeat means that one side is really colourful whilst the other side is almost plain.  To try and alter this, I guess I would have to know how much yarn is used in one stitch for example, and then decide how many stitches I want each colour to be, to either make a repeating pattern, or completely avoiding it.  It would take a bit of planning, and to be honest, I quite like the random look!

Meet Teddy, the Bear

Teddy, the Bear didn't turn out quite as cute looking as I had hoped.  I can't quite put my finger on exactly what I'm not happy with, but there's definitely something.  I am, however, very pleased with the effect of Kool-Aid dye and I can't wait to get some more colours so I can experiment in the future.  Have you ever tried Kool-Aid dyeing?  Do you have any tips for me?