Yarn bomb at home

Do you remember way back here I began these. Well somewhere along the way I got distracted, probably by hexipuffs (which I am still slogging away at). Well they were always in the back of my mind, but deep down I knew I was never going to finish a bed runner of them. The turning point came when I started a whole new crochet blanket for our bed and the bed runner became obsolete. So instead I had the brilliant idea (tooting my own trumpet) of beautifying our very sad and old looking letter box. I think it does the job (somewhat) and I hope it makes the postie smile.

Love to all

xx

February Crochet

Back in February, that 4 months ago. Oh my can you believe we are in April. The 4th month of the year. Time is flying around here, I still haven’t even sent out our thank-yous for our wedding in January. It has just be so busy since the wedding but I really need to get on to that. It’s just been so busy, 2 weeks after the wedding I got my tonsils out. After being on the waiting list for little over 2 and half years. Though I have needed my tonsils out since I was a kid. I have the kinda tonsils that look like the are cutting off my airway even when I’m healthy so it’s been a long time coming. The surgery wasn’t too bad and neither was the pain, but it took me a full 2 weeks to recover, some said this was due to the general anesthics. Apparently sometimes they can knock you for six and mine sure did.

After that it was out little princess’  2nd bday. We celebrated with a low key family event and a princess birthday cake of course. Shortly followed was the eldest’s B’s 7th Birthday. So we headed off to laser tag with 9 of his school friends and of course Mr C played as well. Straight after B’s birthday it’s Mr C’s birthday and I gifted him with a coffee machince which is AWESOME. I also gave him the newest book in his favourite series The Dark Towers.  And now I’m working on gifts for my bf’s baby shower next weekend. And all these things seem to happen within a couple of weeks of each other. But I will get on to those thank-you’s it’s driving me crazy. But now I will show you some crochet. Of course

As I was saying back in feb over on the facebook page (do pop by if you haven’t done so before) I recieved a message with a special request. To make this little guy into a amugurumi gift for her partner for valentines Day. Aww how sweet. I’d love to gift Mr C with a crochet gift for valentines or any occassion actually but I can never think of anything to make. So I jumped at the chance to make this little guy and for a romantic occassion too ohlala.  His from a playstation game called Ni No Kuni. I’ve never done a gaming character before but the way my partner loves to game I really should have made many. But I’m not a gamer and have no idea of any of the characters in any of the games he plays. Though I do know that a mirror dropped for him today and that’s a very rare drop. So it’s super exciting. All you gaming WAGS out there will be able to have a little laugh at that one. 

  I do hope her partner had an awesome valentines day. Maybe him and his new toy even play the playstation together now. Aww how cute.

Love to all

xx

A new family member.

I can not believe I have not shown you our new family member sooner, I don’t know why I haven’t she is just adorable and has fit into our family so wonderfully. About a month ago now we made our way down to a local shelter and picked out our furry friend. She wasn’t quiet ready to come home on that day so we popped a deposit on and went to buy her all the new things she would need to be happy in her new home. A week went by, with great anticipation and excitement, Saturday morning came and we went out to our usual coffee spot and then headed back to the shelter to pick up our new family member.

“STARBUCK’

She was about 4 months when she came to live with us. She is incredibly gentle with the kids, prefers the boys over the little princess who has been caught a number of times pulling her tail. But Starbuck is happy to just walk away from her. Though when it’s little princess’ bedtime you can find Starbuck on one side of the door and Little Princess on the other side both meowing to each other and trying to reach each other under the door. Its all very cute. I think it may be a bit of a love/hate relationship at the moment though.

And of course Starbuck also likes to help me crochet I can’t say this ‘help’ is very productive, it may in fact be even less productive then the help little princess gives. But it is cute none the less.  She is very much still a kitten and can be seen running through the house climbing the walls and bouncing about. We recently popped her collar and bell on to get her used them for when it’s time to venture outside. So she can now be heard jingling around the house with her little bell on. Which I believe may just be driving Mr C up the wall but amazingly isn’t bothering me at all. Maybe because I’m home all the time I have gotten use to it very quickly.

Though she does like to come and have a cuddle at night, though she usually waits for all the kiddies to be in bed the other night, she popped up on one side of me and little princess was on the other side and they held paws/hands while we watched the tele.

Can you say aww

She also likes to sew. This was the view I got when I removed me sewing the other night. She really is adorable and most nights now she sleeps on my side of the bed and so does little princess so you can imagine I don’t get much bed With all the help Starbuck has been giving I also have some new crochet just finished yesterday.

I was asked by a customer to make a Minnie Mouse set in classic red and black with polka dots of course. I used this pattern though I heavily improvised and the hat doesn’t follow the pattern at all. The little booties are a pattern from here, but I made them bigger as the 6 – 12 months didn’t work out to the size I thought I would need. All the buttons were inherited from my mums button stash. I love it!! It is too adorable. It think I might need to make my little princess something very similiar.

Well I still have so much going on at the moment. It never seems to end around here with the craft that needs to be done and of course you know the running of the house and looking after the kiddies. I just don’t know how other mummies do it . For me I’m off now.

Love to all xx

Summer . . .Autumn . . .Winter who knows lets crochet

Deary me yesterday was 34c here and beautiful and sunny, I washed all our linen and hung it out to dry. Little princess even got a new donna cover for her bed which I am growing more and more jealous of every time I walk into her room.

(and yes she is hiding in there)

But today is freezing and cold and wet. Right now the wind is howling outside. But on the plus the cooler weather has seen me in the mood to do a little cleaning. I feel like I have been spring cleaning the last 2 days. But we are in autumn with weather like who the bloody hell knows so I feel I shouldn’t say I’ve been springing cleaning. I have however been cleaning up a storm. Our house is now sparkling a little bit more and the carpet feels oh so nice under foot and all the kiddies mess has been cleaned organised and put away. Oh and of course all of my crafty mess has been cleaned, organised and put away. Except of course the baskets with projects I have on the go. I must show you my new basket. You will not believe where I got it. ‘Hard rubbish’ and I didn’t just get one I got 2 perfectly good baskets that would go for around $30+ in my local op shop (thrift store). Yes our op shops have cottoned on to the bargain hunters and are now aiming at the middle class and as such prices are through the roof.

But anywho I love this basket!! I gave it a fresh coat of stain and made a liner out of what else but red and white polka dot fabric. It’s the first time I’ve ever made a basket liner and I really just winged it so I was pretty happy with out this turned out. A basket with yarn makes me so happy, I love going to my crafty cupboard and collecting all the bits and bobs I need for the next project and packing them all nice and neatly in my basket and heading in to the lounge to create and relax. This one above contains all my supplies to start on the next order for a hoot and hootabelle which is due after the easter weekend. My other basket has a secret blanket in it, So I can’t show it to you just yet.  But the blanket is a very special one. I have absolutely loved working on it and one more row of a border and it’s done! It’s for one of my besties. She is having her 1st baby “YIPEE” and if you can’t tell I am just a little excited. The baby shower is in april and I plan on making a few more goodies to go with the blankie so I will reveal all after the big day.

I’ve also been playing with fabric. Mr C was busy a few weekends ago with Karate business so I took the boys and little princess with me along to a Quilt show organised by the lovely people at Mrs Martins’s. Surprisingly the boys had a ball. The kind ladies let them also vote for a quilt and they loved wandering about looking at all the quilts and I think the felt very special choosing their favourite to go in the draw. But the most exciting bit for me was when a wonderfully amazing lady showed me how to do english paper piecing.  Something I have spotted about but never thought I could do it. Well after discovering it is all done by hand I was very keen to give it a go.  I headed down to Gail B’s (if you haven’t been, and live in the area you must go!) as soon as I could and purchased all of my supplies and began straight away. After sewing 3 hexagon flowers and not liking some of my combinations. I decided maybe I was a little eager and decided a plan was to be made. So in msword I came up with this

following a wonderful tutorial I found here. So with a plan I restarted and so far I’m liking what I have and loving stitching them together. This is definitely going to be a long term project and by long term I’m talking years. I’m not sure how big it will be, maybe it will be little, maybe it will grow and grow over time but for now it’s an in between project when I can fit some stitching in.

I’ve also been designing lately, mainly new toys of course but a few other little things here and there. My latest design is  Raggedy Piglet. I’ve had an idea for an old fashioned style piglet wondering around my head for a while.

I really like her. I love how she has such a flat square bottom like the old floppy dolls my mum used to make. I’ve popped her pattern up on Etsy and Raverly . I want to make a bunny next and then maybe a whole series of fat bottom animals and dolls.  ‘The fat bottom Gang’ maybe we’ll just stick with the ‘Raggedy gang’. Do you see that blanket in the background you will not believe this but I got that blanket for $5. It’s quiet a large blanket made with really nice wool and when the lady in the shop said $5 I have never whipped out $5 faster and handed it over. It is now B’s blanket and he adores it. Most mornings when we get up you can find him cuddled in it on the couch watching cartoons. And I love it as I no longer feel as guilty about not finding the time to make him his very own blanket. So a great blanket and it eased a little mummy guilt all for $5 now thats a bargain. I have a few other little crochet projects to show you but not today, dinner time is fast approaching and I have just typed this up on a computer with Microsoft Office 2013 and I’m feeling a little lost. I think they changed EVERYTHING not one bloody thing is in the place it used to be. Well I’m to cook dinner.

Love to all

xx

Crocheting away

So while planning for our wedding I was busy hooking away too. But mostly just the same characters over and over again. That’s what happens when you begin to sell your creations. And for the most part I find joy in each character I make but there is a few fiddly little bits that I wish didn’t come with it. Like sewing toes together or weaving in ends, but on the whole it’s still enjoyable to crochet orders. But what is even more enjoyable is getting a new character to make and I have had a couple in the last few months. I love when someone asks for a new character. I’m not someone who can draw, the best I can manage is a pretty ghastly looking stick figure so my design process comes straight from my head to the my hook. This sometimes means getting proportions right can be a struggle but the more I design my own toys the more I’m getting better at it. This new character was simply a delight to work on. I even got to learn a new stitch – Loop stitch. Which I used to create his fur, did you know when you work this stitch in the round it actually ends up on the inside and you need to turn him inside out, see learning new things all the time.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Monday where ever you are, it’s coffee for me this monday

Love to all

xx

A call for pattern testers and a new pattern

Deary me, what a season of sniffles. I am suffering terribly from hay fever and sinus at the moment and I don’t seem to be alone. Everyone I talk to seems to be saying this is the worst season!! As I write this I am trying and failing to resist the urge to scratch my eyes out. But as normal the crochet is still going on and I have been working on a new toy.

I used a new technique with this pattern and incorporated the colour change into the pattern, so his muzzel is crocheted all as part of his head. I really like this effect and have always wondered how to do it. Of course when you have wonderful crafty friends like me someone will always know. And this time it was Clair over at MissyMuh who showed me how to do this technique. As it was only a small surface I didn’t cut and tie off the  changed yarn though but left them in tact and made sure they were tight and could not slip. I think it’s worked well. The fabric seems solid and does not seem to have any spaces on the colour changes.

This little horse is for a little girl so I left her hair long, I think a boy might like a horse with more of a mohawk type hair what do you think?

And there she is a little horse for a little girl.

I’m currently working on having this pattern up for sale. It’s going through final corrections and will probably be ready end of January for testers to step forward. But right now I am on the hunt for testers for Peppa Pig. If you have had experience with making toys and would like to test this pattern please feel free to contact me for further details. The pattern is written in UK terminology and is made with 8ply yarn on a 3.5mm (US E) Hook. I’d love to hear from any eager testers.

Love to all

xx

Daisy Doo

She’s here!! Ever since I made Iggle Piggle I have been meaning to make an upsy daisy. But as with a lot of crochet these days – unless it’s an order it – doesn’t get done. Well someone ordered and upsy daisy!! and I jumped at the chance to crochet her.

She is my own design and she took many hours and lots of brain power to figure out. Her body is based off my Dorothy pattern (with a few alterations) and her head is a sphere all quiet easy really. But that hair!! That hair took almost a day to figure out. Gasp. Yep I just couldn’t get it right. I spent many hours crocheting – unraveling, crocheting – unraveling until I finally called it quits for the day and went to bed. Well somewhere in the night I had a brilliant idea and with hook in hand in the morning it took just one go and I had upsy daisy’s hair. I guess the light of a new day really helps sometimes. I’m incredibly proud of her and my ability to make patterns up is growing in leaps and bounds as I discover new ways to crochet shapes. This is what I love most about creating. Discovering new skills and techniques!! I hope you like upsy daisy too and when time permits I think little princess must have her own upsy daisy too. If you haven’t already check out my facebook page you can find iggle piggle over there too.

Love to all

xx

To Market We Go

Girls Night in Market

Raising Money for Breast Cancer Research

Tomorrow night will be my first ever market.

And I can say I am incredibly excited and nervous all at the same time. Having a Market Stall is something I have toyed (hehe) with for a few years now but never felt any of my little creations were good enough to sell. But as I have organically grown a little crochet business which keeps me busy 7 days of the week, I thought why not give it a go.

But I am still nervous as hell!! What if I sell nothing! What if no one even comes near my table! I’m starting small and local hoping to squash those newbie nerves with some great company at a little local market. Also if I should sell nothing I will be helping out a great cause. So I’m heading into my first market with a ‘win win’ attitude. Do you think that will help

While preparing for the market I have been madly crocheting away, and one of the things I decided to include in my market stock was a sock monkey in a light colour. Now I have mentioned before how I find it quiet hard to find freebie patterns for Dk 8 ply wool they all seem to be for 10ply and above. Now there is some awesome blogs out there that give you 8 ply freebie patterns and I love them all, but I thought I might share my sock monkey pattern with you lovlies. Now I have made this twice from this pattern but please note it has not been tested by anyone else. So if you find an error please let me know and I’ll fix it up right away. Otherwise I hope you enjoy making your very own Sock Monkey

Sock Monkey

Legs (Make 2)

Using Cream

Ch 2, 6dc in 2^nd chain from hook

Rnd 2: Inc around (12dc)

Rnd 3: Inc, dc, around (18dc)

Rnd 4: Inc, dc nxt 2 sts (24dc)

Rnd 5 – 12: dc around (24dc)

Change to fawn on last st of rnd 12

Rnd 13 – 34: dc around (24dc)

Slip st to 1^st dc  of previous rnd and fasten off (do not fasten off 2^nd leg)

Stuff

Body (Make 1)

Using fawn

Continue on from 2^nd leg

Ch 4 and dc in the 24dc of the first leg, dc across other side of chain (as if working in the flat round), dc around 24 sts of 2^nd leg. (56 dc)

Rnd 2: Dc across chain for 4 sts and continue around all stitches (56dc)

 Rnd 3– 27: dc around (56dc)

Rnd 28: dc nxt 5 sts, dec2tog, around (48dc)

Rnd 29: dc nxt 3 sts, dec2tog, *dc nxt 6 sts, dec2tog* **repeat around, dc nxt 3 sts(42dc)

Rnd 30: dc nxt 5 sts, dec2tog around (36dc)

Rnd 31: dc nxt 2 sts, dec2tog *dc nxt 4 sts dec2tog* **repeat around, dc 2 sts (30dc)

Rnd 32: dc nxt 3 sts dec2tog (24dc)

Rnd 33: dc nxt 1 sts, dec2tog *dc nxt 2 dec2tog* **repeat around, dc  (18dc)

Rnd 34: dc, dec2tog around (12dc)

Finish off and stuff

 

Head (Make 1)

Using fawn

Ch 2, 6dc in 2^nd chain from hook

Rnd 2: Inc around (12dc)

Rnd 3: Inc, dc around (18dc)

Rnd 4: Inc, dc nxt 2 sts (24dc)

Rnd 5: Inc, dc ncxt 3 sts (30dc)

Rnd 6: Inc, dc nxt 4 sts (36dc)

Rnd 7: Inc, dc nxt 5 sts (42dc)

Rnd 8: Inc, dc nxt 6 sts (48dc)

Rnd 9: Inc, dc nxt 7 sts (54dc)

Rnd 10 – 24: dc around (54dc)

Rnd 25: dc nxt 7 sts, dec2tog around (48dc)

Rnd 26: dc nxt 3 sts, dec2tog *dc nxt 6 sts, dec2tog* **repeat 5x’s, dc nxt 3 sts (42dc)

Rnd 27: dc nxt 5 sts dec2tog repeat around (36dc)

Rnd 28: dc nxt 2 sts, dec2tog *dc nxt 4 sts, dec2tog* **repeat x5, dc nxt 2 sts (30dc)

Rnd 29: dc nxt 3 sts dec2tog around (24dc)

Rnd 30: dc nxt st, dec2tog *dc nxt 2 sts, dec2tog* **repeat 5x’s, dc (18dc)

Rnd 31: dec2tog, dc around (12dc)

Stuff and sew to body

Muzzle (Make 1)

Using cream

Chain 5 Inc in 2nd chain from hook, dc in nxt 2 sts, 4 dc in last chain, turn and work up other side of chain, dc in nxt 2 sts, Inc in last chain (12dc)

Rnd 2: Inc in first st, dc in nxt 3 sts, Inc in nxt 3 dc’s, dc nxt 3 sts, Inc in nxt 2 dc’s (18dc)

Rnd 3: dc nxt 5 sts, inc in  nxt 3 sts, dc nxt 6 dc’s, Inc in nxt 3 sts, dc last st. (24dc)

Rnd  4: Dc nxt 5 sts (Inc nxt st, dc nxt st)x 2 Inc, dc nxt 7 sts, (Inc nxt st, dc nxt st) x2 dc nxt 2 sts (30dc)

Rnd 6:* Inc nxt st, dc nxt 4 sts* x6 (36dc)

Rnd 5: dc around ( 36dc)

Rnd 6: dc nxt 5 sts, *dec2tog* x3 dc nxt 13 sts, *dec2tog* x 3 dc nxt 6 sts. (30dc)

Stuff and Sew to front of head
and attach mouth

Hat (Make 1)

Using cream

In magic ring 10htr

Rnd 2; Inc around (20htr)

Rnd 3: Inc, dc nxt st (30htr)

Rnd 4: Inc, dc nxt 2 sts (40htr)

Rnd 5-7: htr around (40htr) change to fawn on last rnd

Rnd 8-9: htr around (40htr) change to cream on last rnd

Rnd 10-11: htr around (40htr)

Fold last rnd over  attach red parts to top of hat (I like spiky red pieces you might like a pom pom)

And sew to head

Ears (Make 2)

Using fawn

Ch 2 6 dc in 2^nd chain from hook

Rnd 2: Inc around (12dc)

Rnd 3: Inc, dc around (18dc)

Rnd 4-5: dc around (18dc)

Rnd 6: *dec2tog* twice, dc nxt 5 sts, *dec2tog* twice dc nxt 5sts (14dc). Finish off/l

Sew to sides of head

Arms (Make 2)

Work as for legs to rnd 33 than squeeze closed and crochet through all four loops – 11dc

Stuff and Sew to sides of body

Tail (Make 1)

Using cream

Ch2 6 dc in 2^nd chain from hook

Rnd 2: Inc around (12dc)

Rnd 3: *Inc, dc nxt 5 sts* repeat (14dc)

Rnd 4 – 13: dc around (14dc)

Change to fawn on last st of rnd 13

Rnd 14 – 40: dc around (14dc)

Finish off, stuff and sew to body at the bottom

If you decide to make one I’d love to see your sock monkey leave a comment and link back.

Love to all

xx

Peppa Pig inspired

Are you a peppa pig fan, or maybe you like george or maybe it’s mummy rabbit in your house.

Well in one house it’s Peppa Pig who is the favourite. So I whipped up a little crochet inspired toy for the peppa pig lover.

I’m quiet happy with her too and I wrote down the pattern, so after I have done a few photo’s to go with her she will be ready to go up on raverly.

I’m still enjoying making toys but a little bit of me misses my blankets. There is nothing quiet like the giddiness you get from making a blanket. Choosing the design, selecting your colours and than putting it all together with that little hook of yours. I have decided that with a 210 hexipuffs I am going to join them altogether hopefully this will give me the blanket satisfaction I am craving. But come Feb I feel a new blanket must be in the horizon.

Love to all

xx

Pattern now available here

Sock Monkey and Hat to match

Recently I was asked to make a Sock Monkey, I had never made one before and really didn’t know where to start. The lovely customer had sent me her inspiration and so I began making a sock monkey, it turned out to be fairly simple until I reached the head and than I just couldn’t get it how I like, so in jumped the very talented Esme Rudy who had made her little O his very own Sock Monkey and I was able to finish off the head. Do you ever run into problem areas when making your own toys. Heads are the worst for me, I seem to wizz through body planning but head planning takes me quiet a lot longer and several tries.

Well once the sock monkey was complete with little tasseled hat and all I made a hat for the owner of the new sock monkey to match. I love it!! My nephew has already requested his own, or seem his not talking yet his mummy has requested Apart from the crocheting of toys around here, I have been a busy busy little bee making things for our engagement party and sewing meters and meters of bunting to fill the marquee. We need to get invites out soon so they will be next on the list. I can’t wait to share it all with you. Only 3 months to go now it’s getting so close, will be so nice to finally acknowledge and celebrate our engagement. The kiddies around here have been loving the daylight savings and so have I. Last night I cooked dinner and than was able to head back outside to put a 2nd coat of paint on my latest adventure. But the kids have been out after school playing on the trampoline though they can’t bounce too high as little princess insists on being on with them, but really isn’t quiet big enough yet. Who ever invited the cage oops I mean net around the trampoline has got to be a toddlers best friend hehe.

Well thats enough rambling for me, more painting to do and just got an order on my made it shop, so another Hoot is calling to my hook.

Love to all

xx