Christmas cushion

It seems so strange making things for myself for a change I feel quite guilty but after my lovely friend bought me Jan Eaton's 200 crochet blocks for my birthday back in November I have been drooling over all the possibilities in there ever since, it quite sent my mind spinning with idea's.  I fell in love with the christmas squares  and I have actually had time between all the usual christmas madness to make this cushion for myself.  I just love the way it has turned out.  Of course I did have plans for more than one but I know that time won't permit not for this christmas anyway. So I have compromised by making a two sided cushion I can display it either this way or that, maybe change it round on alternative days.

Christmas Decorations

A big thank you to all of those who made such lovely comments about my Granny Ripple, I'm so glad that you liked it and I hope some of you will be inspired to make one yourselves.  After such a large project it's nice to make something small for a change, I have have been inspired by all the beautiful christmas decorations which everyone has been making at the moment and I had to make some for myself, so I have taken idea's from here and there.  What fun they are so addictive I can't wait to hang them on my tree this weekend.  I am going to pop some inside christmas cards for my friends too.

These stars are so lovely and easy to make. they are beautiful in all colours but I like the silver ones best. 

Tutorial

 I love these little trees even more, with or without decoration they are so sweet.  I need to buy some coloured beads to add decoration to some more, I'm going to make lots :)

Tutorial

Then a little wreath, I would like to make more of these too.

Last but not least this cute little snowman, and yes I want to make more of these too, if only you could just sit and crochet all day just think of all the lovely things you could make :)

Pattern

Granny Ripple Finished at Last

I seem to have been working a long time on this blanket but in actual fact it's only been just over a month so not too bad really.  I have made this for the homeless as part of the Loving Hands winter Challenges, I'm hoping that besides providing warmth the bright colours will give some cheer to someone who is living rough and doesn't have a place to call home. 
This blanket was a joy to make, such fun to see the colours rippling along, I found the tutorial for this blanket here
I do encourage you to have a go, it's a great stash buster too and much quicker than a traditional granny blanket made with squares and fewer ends to sew in, can't be bad :)

Sweet Girl

Lots of lovely positive comments about the granny ripple thank you everyone, it's lovely to make and best of all no squares to sew up.  The trouble is although I love making blankets they do take an age and I like to see results, so I start to look for some small things to make just so that I can feel like I have done something, the searching can take a while bit in the end I always find something and if that something is cute then so much the better.  This week I found this little sweet girl motif and I fell in love just had to make her not once but twice.  She was such fun to make and is now hanging on my study wall, but just think how good she would look embellishing a bag or little sweater.

Please inspire me and tell me about your favourite cute patterns :)

New Challenges

I would just like to send a huge thank you to everyone who has given me such lovely feed back in their comments on my work it is very motivating and means a great deal to me  :) 

The Halloween fayre was such fun, I was amazed at the beautiful things the ladies of loving hands had sent in, so much talent, and the good thing is that items that wern't sold will be sent on to worthy causes so nothing is wasted.  

Now I can turn my thoughts to the new challenges.  I have decided to make two blankets, one for the homeless and one for the elephants.  Hats and scarves for the homeless and in between all that, christmas gifts for friends and family so it's going to be a busy couple of months.
I have started to work on the first blanket already it's something I have wanted to try for ages and now the new challenges have given me the opportunity.  I love making granny squares but I wanted to do something different and I think I have found the ideal solution in this granny ripple.  I know some of the ladies in blogland are busy making ripple blankets and they are coming on a treat but I have just made one of those so a granny ripple I think is the way to go especially having seen a beautifully made one on Chalky's World yesterday I think I have made the right decision, if I can make one half as nice I will be happy.
So here I am at the moment planning as I go, it is going  to be a stash buster blanket, so it is a bit of a challenge trying to fit in what colour goes where and whether there will be enough wool to finish two rows lol, I have tried the weighing the wool method but I have found it isn't that accurate, the only real fool proof method is to crochet a row, pull it out then measure it and then you know exactly how long your piece of yarn should be.

Here I am at the start of my journey and I must say I am loving it so far. :)

Halloween Fayre

I will be going to the Halloween fayre this Saturday and I'm getting so excited, it is going to be lovely to meet Lou and some of the other members of Loving Hands. 

Here are a few of the things I will be taking with me.  You have already met George the elephant now meet Petunia and Penelope.

Link to Pattern.

Then the ghost gang Mr Boo and some finger puppets.

Link to Pattern

Halloween would not be the same without pumpkins :)

Link to pattern

Link to Pattern

I had so much fun making these wrist bands/ bracelets, just choose a motif you like and use cotton or embroidery thread to produce a bracelet for any occasion. :}

 I couldn't go without taking a couple of Tiny Teds. :)

I will be taking all the scarves I made and these hats too.

Cowl

Link to pattern

 I adapted the pattern of the child's hat above to make this adult version.

Last but not least some home baked cookies :)

George The Elephant

I thought it was time to show you George the elephant, I got the pattern from here, I love all of her patterns  I think they make beautiful gifts.  The elephant was a challenge because I had to go soo slowly counting every stitch which meant complete silence in order for me to concentrate, I'm not very good at concentrating my mind seems to scoot off in all directions but in the the end I succeeded and here he is, I will be taking him up to Scotland with me at the weekend hopefully to be sold in Lou's Halloween fayre.  I have been busily crafting none stop one thing leading onto another mostly making things for the fayre and I will put a picture of all of them on here when I can.  
Why is there never enough time to do all the things you want to do lol

Autumn Challenge 2011 Draws to a close.

The end of the Autumn challenge is drawing near and so once again it is time to pack up my box of items to send to Lou, however this time I will be taking the box up to Scotland myself and attending the Halloween Fayre she has organised.  I am really looking forward to meeting Lou and some of the ladies from loving hands, less than two weeks to go I can hardly wait.  So what is going into the box this time? most of the things I have blogged about of course and a few surprises.

I apologise in advance for the poor light quality of the photo's, it's so hard to get a picture minus the shadows.

So we start with all the lovely blankets, there are twelve of them in all mostly for babies and preemies.

Here they all are lying snugly in the bottom of the box making a soft cushion for the little tops to lie on.

Here are the little cute tops for teeny tinny babies, babies and toddlers.

There you have 10 tops, 2 poncho's, 3 pairs of booties and 2 little hats, and here they are lying in the box.

Next come 15 little bags of all colours shapes and sizes, I had so much fun making these.

 All lying snuggly in their own little special box with a little sweetie treat inside.

Remember these little guys, 25 little finger puppets cute when finished but so fiddly to make lol

Then last but not least 8 teenie little shoe box Teds cute enough I hope for any child to love and 3 pair of Angel Teds.

Tiny Teds

They will share a shoe box with the finger puppets.  So there you have it one box nearly full to the top, just waiting for some last minute items I may slip into there before I take it up to Scotland.

Scarves

Inspired by some of the lovely posts in blogland I have been trying out scarves, it does make a change after all the preemie things I have been making just lately. the good thing about scarves is you can use your left over bits and pieces.

I found the link to these here. What could be more simple and as you can see there is a link to matching fingerless mitts too.  I used a bigger hook for mine and I have made different sizes by lengthening, chain size and number of rows.  I love to mix and match the colours, I am still making these can't seem to stop lol.

link to pattern

 This was another scarf which is good for using up scraps of yarn.  I made mine in one colour because I liked the lacy pattern and felt it didn't show up so well when using lots of colours.

I was going to call this a bubbles stitch scarf because I used the same stitch as this blanket but after I had finished it I found this one which is made with the same stitch.

Pattern link

This was so much fun to make and this stitch is so easy to do.  The scarf is soft and snugly just like the blanket. 
I am going to finish here for now but the scarf making madness continues so more to come later :)

Ripples and Flowers

Last week the weather was so unexpectedly beautiful I was able to get out into the garden and do some jobs which should have been done weeks ago, but because of the bad weather and all the rain we have had I have been unable to do it,  I was out there every spare moment I had trying to catch up and I think I did more in that week than I have for the whole of the summer. There are some beautiful flowers still in bloom  so I picked a bunch and brought them in to share with you.:)

 Today the weather is back to normal for the time of the year but last week was like an unexpected gift :)

So back to crafty things, I have been trying to finish off some projects I had on the go like this ripple blanket.

It didn't take me too long really but I ran out of the purple wool before it was finished, don't you just hate it when that happens!  I bought this yarn more than a year ago and it wasn't local, the thought of not finishing it  was really upsetting.   I went onto e-bay and to my great relief they had some, I wasn't sure if it would be the same shade but when it did arrive it was close enough to I was able to finish it. It is made in a 4ply yarn and it's nice and soft and cuddly.  I got the pattern for this blanket from attic24

If you haven't tried a ripple blanket yet I would recommend you do one it's quite addictive and you really don't want to stop until every scrap of yarn has been used up :)

Preemie Ripple Poncho.

I love this sweet poncho, it's made with 4 ply yarn and it's for a preemie baby, I am going to try it with thicker yarn and hook next time I make it and hopefully it will fit a newborn baby.  You can find the pattern here

and little booties

Find a newborn version
here

New Hooks

There are so many clever people out there in blog land it amazes me sometimes when I see the beautiful work that has been created,  the trouble is, it inspires and encourages me to try something new and I drop what I'm doing and start something else. I must have more discipline and  finish what I am doing before I start a new piece of work.  I'm sure that there are many like me.  I am obsessed with crochet at the moment my every spare moment is spent with hook in hand, even when I should really be doing something else.  I even bought  some lovely new clover soft touch crochet hooks, I know I have every conceivable size  hook already but I really love these hooks.  They aren't the most beautiful but they are certainly the most comfortable I have ever used and I know that they will be with me forever so surely that must justify the cost, I keep looking at them picking them up stroking them and now I need to make a case to put them into, I'm off to look for crochet hook case inspiration, but I will finish what I am making first :)

Sweater Set

I found the pattern for this set  here and I love it, another easy pattern that makes up so quickly, made from the top down and then the sleeves are crocheted in.  As you may have gathered  I am always trawling the web for new patterns trouble is a whole morning can go by without me realising lol. I used the last of the James Brent wool I got from Bury market back in February.  It's lovely and soft and I like the speckle of colours.  Of course I had to make a Little Ted to go with it and he wanted sweater made in the same colours  lol.

Bubbles Baby Blanket

If you only ever make one blanket I would highly recommend this one.  It's finished almost before you start, it lays flat, does not need a border and it looks lovely when its done.  I made this in the slightest shade of lemon , it doesn't really show up that well in the picture.  The pattern is done with several strands of wool worked together and a thick hook.  I made mine with just one strand of DK wool and a starting chain of  86 and it made a blanket 20'' square.   Pattern link