New Hat

After searching high and low for one of the many hats I've made myself over the years I came up empty handed so decided I needed to make a new one.

I chose a pretty pattern from issue 11 of Simply Crochet magazine, using Tivoli Aran superwash wool.  I used a 5mm hook though instead of a 4.5mm hook as I tend to crochet a little on the tight side - well either that or I have a big head!  I also did 3 rounds of half trebles instead of double crochets as I wanted a slightly wider brim.

It fits beautifully and does the job of keeping my head warm now the weather's finally become colder.  As normal it's another shoddy photo as its just so dark and dismal here still!

Full of Busy

I'm not exactly sure where the past month went - it's just flown by!  What's more there were only 16 photos taken on my camera too...  The picture above is of the lovely sunrise I witnessed last week.  A few minutes later it had disappeared.  We've been getting quite violent weather just lately with red weather warnings issued for our part of the country.  This morning we woke up to frost/snow on the mountains but the view was soon obscured by the clouds rolling down over them.

One of the things I did manage to take a picture of was the little Christmas gifts I made for my eldest daughter's teachers.  I followed a wonderful tutorial on Attic24 and soon had a little production line going to produce these.  Unfortunately due to bad weather conditions the photos are not their best as light has been a problem.  I'm happy to say the gifts have been well received.

I guess one of the reasons for the month going so quickly, and the lack of photographic evidence for the passage of time is because I've been full on writing and editing.  I want to release my first book once I've worked out how to turn it into an eBook, closely followed by the sequel.  There's still an awful lot of editing to do though...

And finally we are still trying to get ready for Christmas here.  The tree is up, although there are baubles on the floor daily as the girls keep messing with them, most of the presents have been bought and delivered and there are just a few more food items we need for Christmas day.

Have a very merry Christmas everyone & a prosperous New Year!

Lengthening Girls Jeans

Years ago when my eldest daughter was a little tot I bought her a pair of jeans.  They were ridiculously cheap, just £2 and I embellished them with an iron on Hello Kitty patch.  Years later and her little sister has been wearing them.  They've washed and worn well all these years!  Only problem was the fact they were getting just a tad too short for her but still fit perfectly in the waist.  I didn't want to give up on those bargain jeans just yet so I decided to add a little crochet border to the bottom.

First of all I did blanket stitch by hand around the edges of the trouser bottoms using some strong thread so I would have something to start my crochet edge with.  I had some remnants of DK bamboo cotton yarn so I decided to use this for the actual crochet part.

Using a 3mm hook, I did a round double crochet (single US) of blue through the blanket stitch loops then two more rounds of double crochet in cream and pink before doing another in blue.  I then did little fans by missing a stitch, doing 5 treble crochet stitches into the next, missing a stitch then slip stitching into the next stitch all the way around for the edge.  My little girl was absolutely delighted with them when she saw them this morning and insisted on wearing them today :-)

Obviously to increase the length it would be easy to just do a few more rounds before doing the final round of fan stitches.  I think I will definitely be doing this again.

So Long Ago!

Its been a long time since I updated, I know!  You know when you keep meaning too, and then you keep putting it off and before you know it the whole of summer has flown by (plus some of spring) and you're into Autumn!

Well I have been busy at least.  I've just finished the above quilt for my youngest daughter, using the farmyard panels which were in a cot runner which was due to become redundant.  It's a first for me, complete with wonky lines but I'm proud of it.

I also made this Anya blanket (found on Ravelry) over the summer holidays.  I'd like to re-do it in one colour or perhaps a subtle variegated yarn.

I was treated to some fabric - an early birthday pressie and I'm still deciding what to make although I've already incorporated some of the cupcake material into my eldest daughters blanket (still being made).

I also bought a kit from The Sewing Shed and made this lovely bag which is great for carting my crochet out and about.

 I embellished a plain cardigan with some crochet flowers for my eldest daughter....

 And made quite a few cushions for our caravan :-)

And finally I hooked up Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon.  Love the film and just had to have my own Toothless!  I bought the pattern from Etsy - here's the link.

That's not all I've been up to but a snap shot.  Hopefully it won't be so long before I update my blog again!

Full On February

Life has been rather hectic here since the end of January.  Mr TMC has had a lot of upheaval at work meaning we've hardly seen him for the past 3 weeks.  Of course when he was away life sent a few little annoyances like the car breaking down and the baby monitor breaking too!  Oh and sick children, mustn't forget the sick children.  There are so many illnesses going around at school right now and they're finding their way to our house...

Anyway I've certainly kept myself busy during this time and in no particular order (because I still haven't figured out how to put my pictures in a particular order) this is what I've been doing...

First up is a dolls/teddy blanket, complete with a little 2 year old arm creeping into the shot for scale.

While Mr TMC was away I decided to surprise him by building the flat pack chest of drawers which had been sitting around in its box for a while.  I knew he wouldn't have time to build them.  I felt faint when I saw the sheer number of parts and the very tiny picture only construction leaflet!  The build needless to say wasn't without its problems...

Here is the 2nd dolls/teddy blanket I made.  It's just slightly smaller than the first.  I made one each for my girls who have an abundance of baby dolls and teddies.

This was my attempt at working out where to put the squares.  I thought if I took a picture it would help with the placement once I started hooking them together.

I hooked up this little chick last night.  My eldest daughter came out of school with her normal 11th hour request of making something to take into school tomorrow.  The pattern is by Heather Casavant at snoodlestudio.etsy.com.

I've also been experimenting with mug hugs and mug rugs.  This one I made for my own mug although it is a bit high as my lips touch the wool!

I made another 4 squares for the charity blanket for Crafts Beautiful/Lets Knit.  The response from the forum members has been fantastic with loads of squares already made and sent off to be hooked together :-)

This set of mug hug and mug rug (complete with spotty mug) went to my eldest daughter's teacher who was leaving due to the usual teacher returning from maternity leave.  She was such a lovely teacher and I was sorry to see her go.

Yet another mug hug, this time for Mr TMC for Valentine's Day for his very tall mug. 

And I finally finished the shamrocks and thistles for my friend's wedding.  This is a small selection of those made as there were 32 of each.

And finally a very tiny blanket.  I was inspired by the mini granny squares on Attic24's blog but my sewing together skills were, well quite frankly awful!  I managed to put 12 together before I decided to call it a day and made it into a very tiny blanket, probably suitable for Barbie.

Hopefully I won't leave it so long before I next update my blog and hopefully I will find my misplaced camera too as I had to take a lot of these pictures on my iPad.  I have quite a few WIP's I need to finish and projects I either want to continue with or start.  Oh and of course 2 extra chicks for my girls :-)

How Time Flies!

I can't believe how quickly the past few months have gone, what with the rush of Christmas (with accompanying illness!) and January zooming up!  My smallest child turned 2 at the beginning of January too - it doesn't feel like it's been 2 years since we brought her home from hospital I can tell you!

Anyway during this time I've been busy crafting away and trying to come to grips with my new camera.  Seriously, I need to work out how to take better pictures although the light here has been awful as it's normally overcast and raining...

First up are some granny squares I've made for a charity blanket.  I've done a few more but not taken any pictures yet.  Two lovely women on the Crafts Beautiful forum are organising this and will both turn our squares into blankets.

The next is a picture of my (very small) Nativity.  One of my forum friends (Linda) sent me a pattern book she wasn't using but I only had time to make Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.  Hopefully by this Christmas I will have a few more characters to add.

I was also commissioned by my 6 year old daughter to make her a Santa hat for her school Nativity.  She came out of school one afternoon and asked if I could make it for the following morning!  I was very pleased not only to have the supplies to hand but to actually hook it up in one evening!

Now this is where bad lighting comes in and my lack of ability with a camera.  The above hat is actually purple!!!  I also made one in black for my sister but forgot to take a photo.

The granny triangle is also a gift for my sister (she really like my crochet).  I was attempting to send messages to her whilst doing a square and ended up with a triangle which she quickly suggested I make into a mug rug for her for work.  Once again the colours are not true as the mustard colour is actually green...

And finally here is Tyria the Twilight fairy, knit from patterns in a wonderful book my two boys and their girlfriends bought as part of my Christmas Gift.  It's called Knitted Fairies to Cherish and Charm by Fiona McDonald.  They are so lovely!

Hats & a Scarf - Yes it's that time of year again!

Well the weather has been getting a little chilly around here and we've had some very blustery weather too so naturally my mind turned to making a few snuggly things to wear outdoors.

First up is this very bright Granny Hat I made for my 22 month old toddler (above) - which she promptly dumped over the side of her buggy while we were shopping and lost...

So then came Mark 2, this one with earflaps and ties in an attempt to keep it on her head!  I made up the pattern myself and ended up having to look at the photos of the first to try and figure out exactly what I did...

The pattern for this hat was in the latest edition of Inside Crochet (I bought a digital edition) and I loved the geometric design created by the post stitches.  I did do the brim of it a little different to the pattern though.

For myself I made a scarf from some lovely King Cole Riot wool my sister bought me for my birthday.  This was another pattern I made up as I went along.  I just chained until I felt the scarf was long enough then did each row in the back loop only to make the ribbed effect.

Finally I got out my loom and made this hat for my 6 year old daughter on one of my looms.  She absolutely loves the big floppy pompom on top.  My loom skills aren't fantastic though, a lot more practice is needed!

So there we are, we've all got something a little cozy for the end of Autumn and the beginning of Winter :-)

Christmas Baubles

 I've just finished three different collections of Christmas baubles, which I hope to sell.

The first shown above is the Christmas Brights Collection.

 Next is the Funky Christmas Collection.

 And lastly the Traditional Christmas Collection.

I had lots of fun experimenting with colours before I decided on the final 3 collections and all my experiments will grace the branches of our tree this year.

I think as I get older I'm getting more colourful :-)

Halloween and Other Stuff

Well I've been rather busy just lately.  Firstly I've made my eldest daughter a Sonic the Hedgehog for her birthday but I ended up giving it to her early.  I used the pattern written by Wolfdreamer Off the Hook.  You can find it here.

I've also been experimenting with my own design of Christmas ornaments.  Above are my test pieces but I'm now working on different themes.  If I manage to make enough in time I may be able to sell some before Christmas!  I'm working on Traditional, Funky and Brights.  Not sure if I'm going to do a 2nd Brights version and a pastels as well....

It was also mine and Mr TMC's 9th Anniversary of getting together this month and I got a lovely bunch of flowers amongst other things.  He's also got me everything I need to build my own website.  Just need to learn how to use Dreamweaver now!

And finally Halloween.  My eldest daughter wants to be a cat this year so I whipped up some kitty ears for her, covering an old headband with the same wool.  I've got to make her the tail yet and fortunately there is so much stuff out there at the moment in animal prints for girls I've been able to buy her leggings and a top to complete her kitty look.  My youngest daughter will be wearing her witches outfit from last year as she's such a small tot it still fits her :-)

Hair Scrunchie

 I made this hair scrunchie by crocheting around a hair band with some King Cole Galaxy DK.

I'd love to open my own Etsy or Folksy shop and think these would be lovely items to sell in all different colours.

 It looks rather sweet in my eldest daughter's hair - all ready for school.

I just wanted to put a picture up of the Happy Flower I made from this pattern over on Lucy's blog Attic24 too.  I made it as a Secret Summer Surprise swap.  Think I will have to make one for myself at some stage - it was so difficult to give away!

Little Monster

In my last post I published a picture of a pair of eyes.

I'm pleased to say they've now been attached to a body!

Here's my little monster!  I've written the pattern myself and he will soon be on his way to his new home at my sister's house.

Here's a view of his hairy back!

I also popped a little lavender pouch inside so he smells really sweet.

I also whipped up a manly phone cozy for my dad's Blackberry.

I used half treble crochet stitches so it was really simple.

And here's a little brooch for my mum :-)

Hope they are all pleased with their little gifts.