Koala

Hi there

I'm running very late this week, as you have probably noticed.  Just turned my computer on to find that lots of you have already posted on Handmade Monday, I will sit down this evening and have a catch up.

I was cooking a roast for a pre football dinner last night and of course then there was the football.  Not that I am a fan but when food, drink (just a little of course, it would be rude not to!!) and a get together with friends are involved, it just has to be done!  We had a good evening though, despite England losing (although with my very limited knowledge of football I personally didn't think we deserved to win!)

I'm sat outside waiting for the sunshine to come out, probably my fault it's not though, as I put a skirt on today, first time for weeks, in the hope of catching a few rays on my lily white legs!!  But it does mean I can actually see the computer screen, I suppose!!

Maisy


I must thank you all for your comments on last week's post!  I'm really pleased you all liked Maisy and I have to admit I had wondered about a Jumbo version just like some of you did!  But it was only a passing thought for now!!!!  It seems as though everyone likes the sound of Jumbo crochet and I agree with you it does sound a lot more friendly and like you said "It does what it says on the tin" :)  I had a good few laughs reading your comments, thank you so much!! Keep 'em comin'! :)

Koala

I have been messing about again this week and found a rather cute pattern for a little koala so thought I'd have a go.

I crocheted him in Sirdar Blur as I thought he would look nice slightly fluffy.

Here he is next to my mug of tea so you can get a sense of scale, looks like he's giving you a little wave in this photo!!  He doesn't have a name yet!  Anyone got any suggestions?  I'll let you know what I've decided next week.

I've also been trying to come up with ideas for the Textured Crochet Workshop I have coming up in the Autumn.  I'm intending us to have a go at as many heavily textured stitches as we can find.  If anyone has any favourites please pass them on to me.

Here is the beginning of a popcorn square and I'm afraid that's as far as I got yesterday.  So when I have finished writing this blog, I shall carry on.

Rather than just churn out samples my idea was to make these samples into a bag or a basket come the end.  Perhaps a bag with 4 different stitch squares on each side, at least then you have something useful after all your efforts.  Or maybe a basket with 6 squares sewn together to make the edge and a spiral base.  A bit like the granny square bowl I made a while ago.

Ok, that's it for this week, I'm going to carry on with my squares now and I shall sit down this evening and have a relaxing browse through all your lovely blogs over on Handmade Monday.  Can't wait to see what names you come up with for 'Koala'!

Thank you for reading folks, see you later :) x

Maisy the Elephant

Hello Everyone!

Have we all got webbed feet then!  I've given up wishing for sunshine! Hope you've all had a fun and productive week.  I've had a bit of a break from the Jumbo crochet (not to be called extreme crochet anymore! I'll explain in a mo!) this week and decided to do something just for me.

I came across a gorgeous little crochet pattern for a tiny elephant. The pattern was designed by Sharon Ojala.  Her elephant was called Gracie but I decided to call mine Maisy.  She has two or three blogs and is on facebook too.  Here is the link to Sharon's blog Homemade Obsessions.

Below are the components that made up Maisy.  I put them on facebook with a caption "Can ya see what it is yet".  It brought a few smiles to people's faces!!!  I can't think why though!

I then added a few more bits to help people guess.  Although by the lack of guesses I had, I don't think it helped much!

Allow me to introduce you to Maisy!

Here she is all finished!

Maisy was made using a 1.5mm hook and cotton thread. She is about 3.5" tall.

Sharon's blog has some cute amigurumi patterns, I think I may have to try a few more!  She makes them available completely free of charge, just requesting that you credit her for the patterns if you use them.  A big thank you to Sharon for this and just to say, she was really taken with Chester and sent a lot of people my way to have a look at him, which I appreciated greatly!  Thank you :)

Jumbo Crochet

Well you may wonder about the change of name for all this enormous crochet I have been doing.  I wont mention any names but I came across someone else doing big crochet recently.  I thought extreme crochet was just a generic term for the extreme stuff, but it appears not!  So as I don't wish to step on anyone's toes I have decided to refer to mine as Jumbo Crochet which I actually think describes it more accurately.  What do you think?

Crochet Workshops

Also just to keep you in the picture Fiddly Fingers has now confirmed dates for September, October and November crochet workshops!  The workshops will be held down here in Devon and will be Introduction to Crochet, Textured Crochet, Jumbo Crochet and a Knitted Wire Brooch workshop.  I will put all the information together as soon as I can and add it to the Workshop page of my blog but in the meantime if anyone is interested please get in touch.

Ok, that's all for now folks!  I hope you have a really good week and I am now looking forward to browsing the wonderful things that all the lovely crafters have made over at