Teeny Weeny Crochet!

You have all been wonderful again this week, leaving some very cheerful comments on last weeks post Crochet Baby Sandals.  Please keep them coming, it's what makes this blogging business so much fun   :) If any of you have made the sandals I'd love to see a photo of them.

We have just been for a walk along Teignmouth Sea Front and despite the weather forecast saying it was 5 degrees c it felt more like -5!

Personally I would have rather stayed home doing my crochet but my OH dragged me out!!  It was worth it though as the sea was quite rough which made it a bit more fun!

Only WIP to show this week!

Those of you who follow me on fb may have noticed I shared a picture of a teeny weeny teddy bear made by Sharon O'Jala  I decided I would have a go too.

This is as far as I got!  Not a particularly flattering photo, but you get the picture :)

Sharon's teeny teddy couldn't have been above the size of a penny from head to toe, but she crocheted hers on a very tiny hook and with sewing thread.

I have used a 2mm hook and size 5 Perle thread, so mine will come out a little bigger, but tiny by my standards! Chester springs to mind :)  You may remember Maisy, she was one of Sharon's patterns too.  If you would like to have a go at a tiny creature you can find Sharon's FREE patterns over at Amigurumi to Go!  Have fun!  They are rather cute :)

My other WIP is this .....

I bought some gorgeous cotton yarn in 14 rainbow colours from Planet Penny the other day.  It was perfect for the project one of my daughter's requested.  I am using a pattern posted by Emma of 'I love Buttons'  I'll put you out of your misery and tell you what I am making next week, but in the meantime if you pop over to Emma's blog you may just be able to work out what it will be!

What's the tiniest item you have ever made?

There are a lot of links in this post I'm afraid, although they are all worth a peak.  You'll have to let me know what you think.  Just one more link and I think you regular readers can guess what it will be!!  But, for those of you who haven't experienced the fantastic Wendy over at Handmade Harbour I suggest you grab yourself a cup of tea and pay all the lovely crafters taking part in Handmade Monday over there a visit.  You wont be disappointed :)

x

Crochet Baby Sandals

First of all let me start with a big 'thank you' to everyone for the wonderful comments on last week's blog post Taffy, a birdie decoration and a pot.  I'm so glad Taffy brought a smile to your week :)  I am entering my Birdie Decoration in The Crafty Network's February Craft Challenge - Winter Blues.  Voting is now open, so if you wouldn't mind popping over to place a vote my way I would be very grateful :)

I had a bit of a play this week making some baby sandals.  I know of at least 3 people having babies this summer so thought these may come in handy for one of them in particular!

Here is the link to the pattern if you would like to make some for yourself.

I adapted it slightly by making a half treble foundation with a puff stitch edge for the straps.

The soles are just over 3" long.  I am guessing suitable for 0-6months.

 I'm going to settle down with a nice cup of tea now and pop over to Handmade Harbour to browse all the skilled craftspeople taking part in Handmade Monday this week.

Wait a minute there's something missing??

I think I need a biscuit too!  A Jammy Dodger would be nice :)

Oh! Look at this!  Here's one I made earlier.

Believe it or not this Jammy Dodger took me just over 2 hours to make!

Just as well I didn't have to make a whole packet!

If you would like to make one to go with your cup of tea this afternoon, here is the link, Crochet and Crafts - According to Matt

Enjoy your cuppa and your biscuit :)

See you next week!

Taffy, a birdie decoration and a pot!

Don't you think this is a stunning title for my post this week? :p  I couldn't think of anything witty to combine all three so just said it as it was!!!  No prizes for this one me thinks :D

Before I start I must thank all of you for your lovely comments on my Spin A Yarn blog last week, I have an Introduction to Crochet workshop this weekend, if it goes half as well as the Jumbo Crochet Basket one I shall be very pleased.  I shall be popping over to Handmade Monday later to have a nose at all your lovely makes.

Taffy hasn't been out for a while so we thought we would take him on a walk.  As usual he is into mischief, so took a bit of a tumble this time! (If you are new to my blog and are wondering who Taffy is, just click on the link to find out how he came about - if you enter his name in the search box on the left hand side of my blog you will be able to see what other adventures he has had.)

He didn't seem any 'worse for wear' though and all that messing about made him thirsty :)

In the pictures below you can see Taffy waiting for the steam train to come along.

If you are very astute you will see in the last picture we also saw the train heading back home!

Taffy was a lucky teddy!

I thought these snowdrops were beautiful, but Taffy decided to play a game of hide and seek!

Can you spot him in amongst the snowdrops?

You'll be glad to know, we did find him and he is now safely tucked up at home :)

We decorated our bedroom recently and whilst we were doing this we moved into the guest room.  This room is blue and white (mainly white) so it got me thinking that it needed a few bits of decoration to catch the eye.  So I popped over to Attic 24's website and found this birdie decoration.  

I hope you like my version of it. I adapted the wing and the flowers slightly.

It now hangs on one of the walls in the room.

I also made a pot for the window sill.  I placed a jam jar inside so I can pop a posy of pretty, fresh flowers in it for when any guests arrive

I used front and back post stitch and finished it off with a sort of rope edging.

I'm crocheting a little pair of baby sandals at the moment so hopefully I shall have those to show you next week, meanwhile, take care everyone and have a good week :)

x

Spin A Yarn

Have you ever used a hook the size of a broom pole?  

Have you ever crocheted with multiple strands of yarn?

 I didn't think so! That was the same for the ladies who came on the Jumbo Crochet Basket Workshop at Spin A Yarn in Bovey Tracey on Friday 8th February.

We began the workshop like 'children in a sweetshop', choosing from all the gorgeous yarns you can find in Spin A Yarn, to make our baskets!  This helped us get to know each other a little and soon the room (and therefore the whole shop!) was filled with cheerful banter and plenty of giggles.

I had made a few samples so the ladies could decide what size baskets they would like to make.

They got off to a flying start.

After lots of counting stitches, a bit of cursing (well perhaps a little more than 'a bit'!),  more counting stitches, a bit of unpicking and more counting ...

.......... the bases of the baskets were complete.  

Time for a bit of relaxation!

We all sat down to a wonderful lunch of Joyce's home cooked quiches and salad followed by homemade cake for desert.  Scrummy :)

After lunch, everyone was eager to get started again!

Feeling rather relaxed now, we all seemed to slip into a jovial, playful mood!  We decided it may be fun to use our partially made baskets as berets!!!

Don't you just love the results?

My apologies to Chrissy as I don't seem to have a photo of your 'beret'! Sorry :(

Following our jovial interlude, the crochet hooks were operating swiftly again and with a little blood (2 blisters acutally!), sweat (we had to turn the heater off, we were working so hard!) and tears (well not strictly true, we didn't have any of these, but it wouldn't sound right without this on the end!) we finally finished our baskets!  

Take a look! What do you think!

I know for sure, from the positive feedback I received from the ladies, how pleased they all were with the baskets they produced.  The colours and textures chosen were stunning, and, I also know for a fact, that at least two of them have started on basket number 2!

I think you will all agree, the ladies produced a wonderful selection of unique colourful baskets.  Well done to all of them! 

And a big thank you to all of them too, for making my day so special :)

I'm off over to Handmade Monday now!  

Why don't you join me and see what other crafters have been up to?

Thanks for reading :)

Crochet Hook Holder

Hi Everyone!

Oooh! Isn't it chilly?

This is a mainly picture post as we have been away for the weekend to snowy Wiltshire and also Gloucester so very little time to write a post.  I wanted to share my creation with you as it's the first time I've got the sewing machine out in a long time.  I also didn't want to miss out, as it is Wendy's 100th post over on Handmade Monday.  Yippee! Congratulations Wendy!

I have been meaning to make a holder for my hooks for a while now, but I wanted a nice large one so I didn't run out of space.

I chose some pretty red floral fabric I had in my stash and edged it in red cotton also from my stash.

You can see how long (wide) it is in this picture.  I even had red ribbon for the fastenings, in the right 'red', in my stash too.

Here is the inside.  I added a flap to prevent the hooks from falling out.

Some of you may remember I had a little play with embroidery, so rather than waste my efforts I thought I would put it to some use.

I embroidered some simple birds on a perch either side of the word .......

You can see I stitched different size spaces for the hooks in gold to pick up the gold in the flowers on the fabric.

And there you have it! A completed crochet hook roll with plenty of space for all my hooks :)

What do you all use to store your equipment?  Have you made things to suit you or have you found some really useful ready made storage?  I'd love to hear from you all.

Thanks for reading!  I'm off to watch 'Call the Midwife' now.  See you over at Handmade Monday.

Kid Silk Haze Follow Up

Happy New Year Everyone!

I hope you have all recovered after the Christmas and New Year celebrations!  Whilst I enjoy all the socialising, I have to admit to be quietly pleased to get back to normal.

Unfortunately I'm starting off with a slightly negative tale!  You may remember quite a while back now I was raving about Kidsilk Haze.

I decided I would use Chevron stitch and make a floppy cardigan.

I couldn't find a pattern so decided to make it up as I went along.  Quite a challenge as I had not done anything like this before.

Everything was going ok. I completed the back and the two fronts, shaping the neck and sewed them together at the side and the shoulder seems.  I began the sleeves .... and then ran out of yarn.  Not a problem .... bought another ball, determined to get this finished.  Half way up both sleeves I tried on the body and began to get a feel for what I had done so far.  I still hadn't decided what to do about a collar!

This is where the uncertainty started!!  You know when you get that inkling that it's just not quite right?  Hmmm, well it wasn't.  Couldn't put my finger on it, but asked a few people's opinion, not a bad response but it was obvious it didn't look fantastic!  So ... I shall .... unpick it all and .... put it down to experience!!!!

I think it may take me as long to undo as it did to crochet!!!  

Anyone got any ideas or patterns for what to crochet with Kid Silk Haze Stripe next time?

I have about 4 balls (400g).  A girl can only have a certain amount of scarves!!

Great to be back and I look forward to hearing your suggestions :)

Let's pop over to see Wendy at Handmade Monday and see what everyone has been up to!