Crochet Necklaces

I'm almost done making my entry for the CreateCrochet team wedding challenge, which is a crochet necklace.

I was pleased to discover tonight that one of my crochet necklaces already listed in my shop - Coast - is currently feaatured in two Etsy treasuries!

Garden colour

I am pretty useless in our garden as it stands at the moment. I have no idea what most of the plants are! 

They were either there when we moved in or have been brought to us by Mother Nature (thank you).

But I do know that they are looking pretty stunning at the moment, so we're enjoying them anyway.

Mission accomplished

Phew! After much manic crocheting and mini-skein winding, I've finally sent off my parcel of 70 promotional items today. Hopefully the receipients at the We Make London craft fair in Chelsea next month will like them enough to take a peek at my shop.

It was good fun to see what I could come up with. I've already told you about the mini-skeins, which I have fallen in love with.

Here is a selection of the colour graduated mats and coasters I have included. Suitably summery I think!

I still love the red colourway the best, and those are the colours I tend to wear.

I have also been taking pics of the gorgeous flowers we have around the garden at the moment. 

The aquilegias inspired me to crochet another mat in the pink-green colourway. 

My daughters love it, and I have to say it does make me smile.

Colour!

After I've spent quite some time gathering together an entire collection of all the colourways of the cotton yarn I use, the penny has finally dropped. I love colour. Duh!

Not just colour but graduated, tonal colours and shades together. It's always colour that attracts me to an item, more so than form or function.

It started young - I remember reading through a 1970's craft book and the thing that stuck in my mind to this day is the image of bargello embroidery. It was the shapes but more so the graduations of colour that I loved - and still love to this day.

Hence the latest obsession with colour graduations in my crochet.

Here's a recent project, which has just been sent off to the Med as a birthday gift. Hot and spicy coasters!

We Make London Summer Fair

I follow the UK Handmade group over on Flickr and recently read there about a promotional opportunity.

There are going to be 70 tote bags for sale at a nominal price at the We Make London Summer Fair to be held at Chelsea Town Hall on 26th June.

Anyone can contribute 70 promotional items to go in the totes, so I decided to do just that. Seems like a great idea to me!

One of the items I've come up with are mini-skeins of my hand-dyed yarns. When I rewound my laceweight yarns after dyeing I wound off any broken lengths into little balls and have kept them aside. They are perfect for making into mini-skeins!

These are so cute. I had a look at the patterns on Ravelry and it struck me that there are many patterns using laceweight yarn for smaller projects. So these mini-skeins are useful to the buyer too - they can be used to make a bookmark, jewellery, etc.

They also make a great "taster" for somebody wanting to try out lace knitting without being overwhelmed by a full-scale lace shawl type project.

I think I may work up a little pattern and sell some mini-skeins in my Etsy shop in the future, with the free pattern included.

How cute?

DH's boss and wife had their first baby last weekend - a beautiful little girl. How could I resist such an opportunity?!

I've crocheted these super-cute little baby booties in candy pink and plum. I don't think they'll fit for long but they're just too sweet to resist.

Baby items are such gratifyingly fast projects!

Featured!

I was delighted to find today that I am currently featured on the SWAC (South West Arts & Crafts) team blog! 

Woohoo! Thanks guys!

Please do check it out.

Sneak peek..

..at what I'm currently playing with - colours!

100th sale promo

My etsy shop currently has 99 sales - bag the 100th sale and I'll refund your shipping cost via PayPal after payment!

Treasuries

I've been lucky enough to be featured in several treasuries recently. Here are a couple of current ones:

Green With Envy - gorgeous shades of crocheted items!

Earth and Water - turquoise and brown - what a great colour combination!

All Tooled Up

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Day Eight - The Final Instalment!

 My favourite tools for yarny crafts have to be these:

Firstly my beautiful wooden swift bought as a birthday gift from my DH from Purlescence - he was under strict instruction!

This feels so wonderously smooth to use and is invaluable when working with skeined yarns - either winding from them to knit up or re-skeining yarns that I've dyed, ready for my Etsy shop.

It makes life so much easier when the penny finally drops about which way up to use it too.. ahem...

The other tool has to be my many sets of long Addi Turbo knitting needles in different sizes which I've invested in over several years. 

I love magic loop for circular knitting, and find long Addis the most lightweight and smooth needles to use.  Circular needles are great for straight knitting too - much more portable!

What a Yarn

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Day Seven

OK, coveted yarns... When sorting out what to include in this post I realised that for me a yarn has to be soft. I mean really soft! So here are 3 yarns from my stash - amongst many others that could have been included too!

1) Hand Maiden Lace Silk in colourway Nova Scotia

100% silk

I bought this several years ago at the same exhibition as I got the Hipknits cashmere (previous post). I couldn't resist the intensity of colour, the gorgeous sheen, and the luxurious softness of the silk. I don't do much lace knitting but this yarn is so worth it!

2) Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in colourway Vera (shade 70)

80% superwash wool, 20% nylon

I had been on the lookout for this colourway of this yarn for so long. It's not the easiest yarn to get in the UK, particularly if you want a specific shade. I finally found somebody destashing 2 skeins on Ravelry last year, and jumped on it! Fabulous colour combo - and so soft!

3) Mirasol Sulka in Cream (shade 200)

60% merino wool, 20% alpaca, 20% silk

I got this in a sale from an online UK store to try out for winter neckwarmer or such. The finished item was originally to be sold in my Etsy shop but it's soooooo soft and squishy and yummy I may not be able to let it go...

Revisit a past FO

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Day Six

I don't think cashmere is the most durable yarn for a pair of socks, but sometimes you just have to go with your heart instead of your head!

I knitted my Tidal Wave cashmere socks in March 2008 from a great free pattern which I think I'll probably knit again. I used some Hipknits cashmere sock yarn in a gorgeous Raspberry Ripple shade which I had bought at a great price from the Knitting and Stitching Show at the Birmingham NEC.

In November 2009, disaster struck - the most enormous hole in both heels! They had actually lasted over 1.5 years, which is pretty good going for a luxury yarn I suppose. They are still in the same state today, as I haven't got around to fixing them yet. One day..

Oh and by the way - Happy 70th Birthday Mom!

Location, Location, Location

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Day Five

I guess my favourite place to knit is my armchair. I've found that I need my arms to be supported but not restricted, so a wide armchair is ideal. Knitting on a chair without arms or a sofa for anything more than a few minutes makes my back and shoulders ache!

My crochet projects sometimes come with me to the beach - but only when I'm too cold to go in the sea! Knitting projects rarely do - there are usually too many interruptions to finish a whole row at a time. I find crochet is much more portable for that. 

I used to take knitting/crochet projects to the swimming baths while my kids had their lessons, but we're past that stage now. We're in the process of joining the local surf lifesaving club which I imagine will be much more hands-on!

The other great place to knit is in the car when we're going upcountry to visit my family - obviously I'm not driving! It doesn't happen often, but when it does it's great. I get several hours of knitting time without many interruptions as our DDs are busy watching the in-car DVD system or sleeping. Perfect!

*Note - Cushion cover from UK Etsy seller MariesCosyCushions - fab!

A New Skill

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Day Four

I've been knitting for literally longer than I can remember now but of course once you learn, you tend to stick to the same methods most of the time.

One of the most important contributions to the final result of a knitted piece is the making up - seaming - finishing, and there are not many knitters I know who actually enjoy this! It's one of the hardest parts of the process to get to a level that you're happy with in my opinion.

That's why I went on the finishing techniques course run by the lovely Jane Crowfoot way back in April 2005 (was it really that long ago?!). I said at the time that it was the best £35 I had spent in ages, and I still think that now. 

I bought the book beforehand and have referred to it many times - I thoroughly recommend it:
Finishing Techniques for Handknitters

I had a quick look through recently to find out how to do a one-row buttonhole, and decided that I'd like to try to master the continental knitting technique as it's supposed to be faster and also different cast-on methods. A see sample squares in my future!

One Great Knitter

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Day Three

This is a tough one - to write about a knitter whose work I enjoy. There are so many thanks to the web!

OK I'll pick one - The Keyboard Biologist. I have followed her blog for several years now, and her work is beautiful. She shows incredible attention to detail and takes on all manner of projects - making for interesting reading. Her photography is lovely and it's always fascinating to read of a fellow crafter's experiences when they're based in a different country.

There are so many others I could mention, but they would be similar comments attached to different names. We're so lucky to have the web to keep us all in touch!

An Inspirational Pattern

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week - Day Two

I seem to be drawn to cables consistently. Two of my queued patterns in Ravelry are the Central Park Hoodie and Rogue. Both have been in that queue for a while!

I bought yarn to make Rogue quite a few years ago now - Adriafil Point in a lovely pistachio green. I still have it, marinating way in my stash. One day I might even knit it up!

Another is Alice by Kim Hargreaves from Rowan 35 - an old classic again! I just love the lace design and simply have to knit this as a summer cardi for myself. Just need the time.

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week

I came across this post about a blog week and decided to take part. Here's today's entry - I can't promise I'll do them all but I can try!

Day One - Starting Out

I really can't remember when I first started to knit. I can't remember ever NOT knitting! All I know is somebody must have taught me how to knit when I was little.

My great-aunt knitted constantly - mainly skintight acrylic sweaters for us kids or the most beautiful lace christening shawls. My nan knitted sometimes - she could do so many arts and crafts - she was my heroine, and who my one daughter is named after. :)  My mum could knit but never did as she didn't actually enjoy it. Can you imagine that! My mum and me have always been quite different. :)

As for crochet - my nanny taught me that when I was in my early 20s I think. I had tried before but gave up as it felt so awkward. I decided that I had to learn it as it would be such a shame if she passed on without me sharing the craft with her. 

I can't imagine not crocheting now. My nanny crocheted armchair covers, doilies, coasters and mats. I crochet anything but my favourite is beaded jewellery.

Been hookin'

The crochet hooks have been calling to me for a while now and I've completed several projects.

We have a new hairband design for my Etsy shop. I've listed it in Chilli; the Olive version will be up soon too.

I also have some more colourways of the fingerless crochet summer gloves to list. This Peacock and Teal one is available now - funky summer colour combo!

Finally I can show you a sneak peak of a design which is still in progress. 

I felt rather inspired by all the Spring blooms appearing! More on that soon enough..

Twin treasuries

I am very happy to be currently included in not one but two treasuries - neither of which I have created myself. :)

The first is the Red treasury featuring members of the CreateCrochet Etsy team - with red items of course!

The other is a Craft Britannia Team treasury - lots of gorgeous UK handmade items in there. 

Click on the pictures to take a closer look!

Spring Moss unveiling

It's done! I have finished the Spring Moss Jacket at last.

It had sat in a bag whispering mournfully at me for a while, and last night I finally got around to putting on the fastenings to finish it off.

I have to say I'm not keen on seaming moss stitch. If I did another moss stitch project (which I might) then I would try to make it completely seam-free.

I ended up using popper fasteners with buttons on top for show - the main reason being that I forgot to do the buttonholes while knitting the front!

I'm really pleased with it - and also that it was made entirely from my (almost vintage) stash of 500g of Rowan All Seasons Cotton.

Perfect for the spring.

Monochrome crochet

I recently finished a very long crochet beaded wrap necklace, and have just listed it in my Etsy shop.

When I say long, I mean l o n g! If I stand up and hold with my arm outstretched it trails on the floor..

I've used Rowan Shimmer yarn in shade "Jet", with a selection of clear and black beads threaded on before I crocheted the long loop. In the middle is a gorgeous starfish pendant.

It seems that most things I do now are inspired by the sea - I wonder why?!

You can also see my star buy of this week - a lovely dressmakers dummy in great condition on a pine stand for just £25. There's always something interesting to be found by browsing through the classified ads in your local newspaper!

Easter treats

I hope everyone has enjoyed the Easter break! We're still making the most of our week off work with our daughters.

This year has shown us how much our girls are growing up; the focus hasn't been so much on chocolate eggs!

They were sent some money to choose their own Easter gift from their nan, and they invested in some (more) RubyRuth dolls which they spotted at the craft fair in Truro.

These are handmade individual dolls, very unique and strangely wonderful!

I bought a treat to share with my husband - Trenance chocolate - yum.

Apparently you can walk around the factory to see the chocolate products being made - I feel a visit coming on soon! 

There are some great chocolate dinosaurs, butterflies, and teddies, and the taste is fabulous.

Right, it's time to soak my aching limbs in the bath - we walked the bridleways to Perranporth and back today, stopping at the Filling Station to enjoy their super-tasty paninis for lunch. Of course we wandered down to the sea to watch the surfers - too cold for me to go in yet though! 

It was a fabulous walk with amazing countryside and sea views - over 5 miles altogether. We're so grateful to be living here.

Shortlisted

 

Recently I posted about entering the makers-online photo contest with a picture of my lovely hand-dyed Groover superwash wool/silk/bamboo blend 4ply/sock yarn.

Well I didn't win, but I was included in the shortlist of 27 of their favourite photos! I'm really pleased as my photography skills are only just improving thanks to taking produce pictures for my Etsy shop. Check out the winning and other shortlisted photos - they're great!

EtsyHookers Team Challenge

The polls are open for the EtsyHookers Team Challenge! Place your vote before 8th April for the best Irish themed crochet item: http://etsyhookers.blogspot.com/

Sew pleased!

We were fortunate enough to be given a car booster seat for my youngest DD several years back. 

It was very tatty but useable, so I just cut a piece of fabric and glued it to the top of the cushion to make do. That's what you see here.

When the glue finally gave up last week, we decided it was time to mend it properly!

DD chose some lovely bright cotton fabric from my stash and I bought matching purple bias binding from my local fabric shop for 25p. 

The lovely lady there very kindly gave me an offcut of thick interlining to cover up the worst of the torn cushion underneath, and give it a plusher feel.

I've worked on this every time I had a few minutes spare this week, and today dusted off (literally!) my trusty sewing machine for the final part.

Tada! Here it is - beautiful.

Youngest DD loves it and now eldest DD wishes she still needed to use one!

I like my postie!

He brought me a package sent all the way from Canada today.

These are supplies I bought from YukiDesigns which stock some fantastic buttons, beads, and other goodies.

These beads are all resin - they have a lovely chunky feel with beautiful colour depth.

I love the metal flower and molecule bubble connectors, and have vague ideas floating around in my head for incorporating them in some crochet necklace designs..

Stash Enhancement - but not yarn

I'm trying not to purchase any more yarn for "a while" - that's vague enough to keep me from having withdrawal symptoms. In the meantiume though, I have been buying other craft supplies.

I supported my local flea market recently when I discovered a lady there selling beads. Of course I couldn't resist.

This little haul of medium to large glass beads cost me £3. Well who can resist a bargain?

I love turquoise!

We're waiting for some bits and pieces to arive to start crafting with the gorgeous bright felts and buttons. In the meantime, I've been crocheting with some vibrant turquoise blue cotton.

I've made some short summer fingerless gloves in a clean and crisp design. These can be dressed up with beads, buttons and bows - or worn plain and simple. They're available in my Etsy shop now!

A pair of black ones will be flying off the hook next - and I'm hoping to put the pattern up for sale too.

It must be Spring!

The postie brought a lovely package today from Titchables - amazingly fast as I only bought these yesterday!

I would recommend you take a look at the listings in Titchables shop - there are some lovely supplies and cute badges, all at very reasonable prices.

I indulged in some impulse buying and gave in to these gorgeous bright felt squares and buttons. 

They are inspiring me to do some litte fun projects with my daughters for spring - hairband decorations, badges, charms, and such.

I can't wait to show these to my girls when they get back from school - I know they'll be as excited by those colours as I am!

Bahama Blue

I've been feeling the need to crochet some more jewellery recently. Finally I got some time with enough daylight to pick out the beads and yarn that I wanted to use.

This necklace is crocheted with some gorgeous hand-dyed crochet cotton that I bought from fellow Etsy seller Snappish - her shop is Brea-Aly Threads. 

The colour graduations from blues to purples are really lovely, and the cotton is fine enough to make a delicate but strong item.

I added several lots of beads in co-ordinating colours and I love the finished look. 

You'll have to take a look at the listing to see the two fabulous big beads by the fastener close-up!

Makers online photo contest

The makers-online.co.uk website is currently running a photo contest with a top prize of £200 up for grabs!

I sent my entry in and was thrilled to find that it's been included in their blog feature too. Go take a look and get your entry in - closing date is 26th March.

Mothers Day treats

I hope all mums celebrating Mother's Day yesterday were made to feel well and truly appreciated - I certainly was.

We had a lovely day, some of which was spent at the beach in wonderful warm sunshine. My daughters both worked hard on making me some wonderful cards, and I was treated to two fabulous gifts.

This arrangement is just one third of the gorgeous bouquet of flowers I was given, and I can now book myself to a pampering aroma back massage at my local top2toe beauty salon via my gift voucher!

Nearly there!

My spring moss cardi is nearly done! The back and fronts worked all in one piece are now finished, and I did a 3-needle cast-off to seam the shoulders.

I am going to have to seam the sleeves and sew them onto the body, but that'll be the only sewing in the whole piece.

Eldest DD wants one of these now; if I did do another I may change the shoulder to a modified dropped shoulder with grafted sleeves. After all this is an aran weight yarn worked in moss stitch so I think seams will be pretty bulky.

Anyway, on with the final sleeve!

EtsyHookers Creative Challenge No. 9

I recently joined the EtsyHookers group - crocheters of course!

They run regular challenges and I decided to take part in this one for St Patrick's Day. The challenge is to crochet any item with an Irish theme.

I've crocheted a simple little shamrock bookmark from some leftover Cherry Tree Hill variegated emerald green sock yarn and a dark green glass bead. I made up my own shamrock pattern based on some others that I found. Mine suits the yarn weight better.

Voting opens over at the EtsyHookers blog from 31st March.

Mmmm - cupcakes!

I've just bought my first silicon bakeware after many months of wondering about it - cupcake cases of course!

We gave them a test today with the first batch of cakes - vanilla, coconut and chocolate chip cakes with all manner of toppings! I made the cakes and the girls had great fun decorating them.

The cases are great - no cake left in them when we peel them off. The cakes are scrummy too - had to get a quick shot of these before they disappear.

Housewarming gift

My brother and his family are moving house next week, so I decided to buy a housewarming gift for them - from Etsy of course!

I chose this lovely printed teatowel from Taylors Type and an equally cute "New Home" card from amybird art.

Perfect!

Chugging along

The moss stitch cardi is coming along - s l o w l y.

There are around 170 stitches per row at the moment as I'm doing the back and fronts all in one. Pro - no seaming. Con - only time for about 8 rows per knitting session!

I've also been taking photos of my jewellery at every possible moment when there aren't too many clouds around. That's not today then!

I made lots of items a few months back and didn't get around to photographing them.

Here is my latest Etsy listing - a cute pair of Little Princess earrings!

Mothers Day gift ideas

I finally managed to grab a Treasury spot!

With Mother's Day coming up on 14th March here in the UK I decided to dedicate it to gift ideas for our lovely mums.

Take a look and see if it inspires you!

All mine

I don't know how long it's been, but I suddenley got the urge for a new knitting project - for myself.

I saw this Elissa shrug in the Truro Fat Face store recently. I liked it a lot but wanted longer sleeves and a cotton blend yarn. Time to dig out the trusty Knitware Sweaters software!

I've included three-quarter sleeves in my version and the yarn is 500g of Rowan All Seasons Cotton in the lovely raspberry pink - from stash. (Note the halo.)

I've printed out the front chart and modified it for the curved shaping, and I'm planning on knitting the fronts and back in one piece on a circular needle, bottom-up. The first sleeve is done in two evenings..

Vote of Confidence

Yesterday was officially A Good Day.

First I had a wonderful email praising my efforts circulated at work yesterday afternoon - a rare thing indeed!

Then last night I was voted in as Secretary for our village show committee. Best start being efficient there too. :)

We're looking forward to this weekend - we're going out with friends for a gorgeous Valentine's meal at our fantastic local Italian restaurant - Del Mar. Yum!

 

Hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's weekend!