African Flower Crochet Bunting!

I've just finished my first ever length of crochet bunting!

I made the African Flower motifs without the white edging from this pattern:

http://www.craftpassion.com/2011/04/crochet-african-flower-paperweight-granny.html

I chose 2 shades of pink & 2 shades of green of Patons 4ply cotton yarn, and made 12 flowers, each using a different combination of the shades.

I've just crocheted them onto a long chain of peach cotton with a loop at each end and then pressed each flower. I love it!

Going with the Valentine theme

There may be a few of this type of necklaces appearing in my Etsy shop soon...

Perfect pastels

A while back (ahem, October actually!) I started a crochet project. I knew it would take a while.

The wait was worthwhile though.

The gorgeous pastel wrap is now complete, and available to buy in my Etsy shop. It looks great with jeans, and would be equally fabulous for a spring wedding!

One of those accessories that becomes a firm favourite, and gets worn everywhere.

It's a true one-off, as I can no longer get this yarn and I came up with the design myself using a pattern from my stitch directory.

The yarn deserves a little discussion. It's a hand-dyed cotton/rayon blend, hand-dyed in the U.S. and purchased before I started dyeing my own.

This yarn radiates with the most fabulous sheen, and drapes beautifully. The pastel pink/lilac/blue colourway is perfect for spring and summer.

I've made another of my button brooches as the fastener. It has a button at the front for decoration, but also another at the back so you can use it as a brooch pin to fasten the wrap in whatever arrangement you like.

Now if I really get my act together I'll write up the pattern too!

Bring out the WIP

I knit therefore I have several unfinished projects. Ask any knitter. It goes with the territory.

I have just picked up one of these projects again and resumed work on it. According to Ravelry I started it 2 years ago; really?

It is the lovely February Lady Sweater pattern, which I am knitting in a gorgeous deep teal shade of Debbie Bliss Cathay.

Well that's the plan anyway.

Fly the flag

With the Queen's Golden Jubilee and the London Olympics happening this year, everyone's gone Union Jack crazy. So I decided to join the party!

I've crocheted one of my Galaxy brooch designs into a patriotic brooch to clip to your top, bag, hairband, or wherever you feel the need...


Here is a small selection of many other fabulous handmade ways to fly the flag this year!

Pattern writing

I'm starting to write up more of my own patterns to sell in my Etsy shop and on Ravelry - it's a time-consuming process!

I have completed the first one this evening, for the crochet spiderweb hairband. I have made this so many times, with and without beads, and it looks great every time!

The pattern will soon be available on Etsy but for now you can purchase it (and instantly download it) on Ravelry.

Why is it..?

.. that I have found a great yarn and the colours I like but now can't find any reliable UK stockists?!

I'm referring to Crystal Palace Panda Cotton, which is a lovely soft blend of cotton and bamboo with added elastic for a little bit of stretch.

It's perfect for summer pull-on fashion mitts and  hairbands that don't give you a headache from being too tight!

I've had a bit of a frenzy using up what I have of the yarn, resulting in a few new listings in my Etsy shop - the kids strawberry lime mitts and strawberry lime hairband to go with the teen/adult mitts already there.

If anyone knows of a good UK or even European stockist of this yarn please let me know!

BTW: I have an offer on if you buy the hairband with either pair of mitts - buy both together and I'll refund 20% of the total item cost!

Crochet vs plastic shopping bags

I've been inspired by the current Etsyhookers team challenge - to crochet something themed for Earth Day.

I've recently been encouraging the rest of my family to make more use of our reusable shopping bags rather than collecting endless quantities of plastic bags.

Here are some of the reasons why, courtesy of Wikipedia:

"Due to their durability, plastic bags can take up to 100 years to decompose. On land, plastic bags are one of the most prevalent types of litter in inhabited areas, becoming an eyesore to local residents. At their worst, plastic bags can clog drainage systems and contribute to flooding, as occurred in Bangladesh in 1988 and 1998.

When plastic bags are washed out to sea, they pose a threat to animal life. In the decades since plastic bags first came into wide use, there has been a dramatic increase in the quantity of plastic bags found floating in oceans around the world. Once in the ocean, these bags can strangle wildlife or, if ingested, can choke or cause wildlife to starve to death. Some marine animals including sea turtles, and dolphins have been killed as a result of ingestion of plastic marine litter, including plastic bags. As they slowly decompose, plastic bags break into tiny pieces and leech toxic chemicals into soils, lakes, rivers, and oceans."

Along those lines I decided to crochet some net bags using oddballs and oddments of cotton yarns I have in my sprawling yarn stash.

Here's a preview of one of them - it's appalling light for photographing anything inside today though! Better photos to follow.

Team Theme Project Sneak Peak

CraftBritannia Team Theme

It's been a quiet week on the blog front, but there has been frantic crochet activity here at Chez Skeins!

I decided on my project for the CraftBritannia Team Theme. The deadline is 1st April and the theme is Spring.

I wanted some spring flower type colours so I've chosen to use a ball of Tofutsies yarn that I had in my stash. 

I've only knitted this up into socks before (and very lovely they are) and I'm really pleased with how the colours are emerging as this crochet project progresses.

There will be a sneak peak but I'm not giving too much else away yet..

Create Crochet Team December Challenge

On Etsy I am part of the Create Crochet Team which runs regular challenges.

I took part recently in the December Challenge which had 3 categories: Winter Wearables, Decorations, and New Year's Gifts.

My entry was my Riverbed Crochet Graduated Colour Mat Duo (now sold!) into the Gifts category.

I was delighted to find out that my entry won 2nd place in that category!

The team blog is now featuring interviews with the winners of each category - thanks!

Unexpected channels

Last summer I crocheted a few pairs of lacy summer fingerless mitts. 

I sold some in my Etsy shop and gave a pair each to my daughters - apparently they are a cool style...

Anyway I had also uploaded a pic of them onto Flickr, and was delighted to find a comment recently asking where the pattern could be obtained!

Well after a bit of composition, listing and uploading, the pattern is now available to buy from my Etsy shop.

I never thought Flickr would bring me new customers - well what did I know?!

I'm inspired to make some more of these now - but this time I want to try them in silk and bamboo.

Sunday Showcase

I am very pleased to find that I have been featured in a Sunday Showcase on the fabulous Gifted Designs blog - take a peek!

Shannon has included my Flora Crochet Coaster Duo in a lovely bright selection of items from different Etsy sellers.  Great full summer colours!

Fairground win

Yay - thanks to everyone who voted for my fairground crochet mat in the recent UK Etsy Challenge. 

It won!

Now I'm entering it into the local horticultrural and domestic show this Saturday to see how we get on there.

After that I'll be listing this winning item for sale in my Etsy shop. :)

Summer Fete

Yesterday was our local school summer fete - what a brilliant day!

We had fantastic weather so the many stalls and activities were well-received. The Searchers wild west re-enactment team put on shows during the day which went down very well.

I was helping DH do the barbeque stand - I've had my fill of cutting bread rolls for a while!

I had made 3 crochet flower hairclips during the week - bit of a last-minute project. I sewed button centres and attached them to mini barrette hairclips.

I used my free sample pack of Moo business cards and punched holes in to fasten the clips through - worked a treat! 

I donated these to another stand and happily they all sold.

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..

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.

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.

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!

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..