DIY crochet jewellery

Last month I started selling my wrap necklace kits at Heartlands. I was pleased to find that they were very popular! 

I'm now listing them in my Etsy shop. It's a slow process as each one is different, but it means every finished necklace is unique too.

I LOVE making these kits up - it means I get to sort through my thread and bead stash - for a reason. I like that.

The kits include a mini-skein of hand-dyed cotton perle thread, assorted coordinating beads, and instructions.

Just add a 2mm or 2.5mm hook, a little time, and get a great piece of jewellery as a result!

If you're looking for a particular colourway let me know, and I'll see if I can make up a custom kit just for you.

Amigurumi

Just started my first ever amigurumi crochet project courtesy of Simply Crochet! 

Both daughters ooh-ing and aah-ing over the sweet little Tako-Yaki teddy duo, so how could I refuse?

Even found the perfect shade of Rowan 4ply Soft lurking in my project bag right next to my chair. It's destiny.

4KCBWDAY3 Knitting & Crochet Blog Week – Day 3 – Infographic

Eeuugghh! This post theme has given me the most trouble by far. I've been wracking my brain for 2 days trying to think of what I could base an infographic on, without so much as a sniff of inspiration.

In the end, I chose the 2013 Q1 sales figures from my Etsy shop, just so I would have something to show you.

I guess Supplies are high up the shopping list at this time of year! Interesting to see that crochet items are far outselling knitwear currently too; maybe as crochet is starting to make a strong show in the new season's high street fashion:

Fat Face Crochet Shrug

Joe Browns Fun Flower Crochet Purse

Crochet Pram Shoes

So great to see it out there!

4th Annual Knitting & Crochet Blog Week!

Yes, it's that time again...

I took part in 2010, it may be time to do so again!

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!

Project Sneak Peek

Meet Eggburt!

Meet Eggburt! A cute little chick who leads a double life as a snap-shut coin purse with strap, containing a creme egg for Easter. 

Crochet pattern available shortly, just as soon as I've typed it up.   :)

Craft4Crafters show

Yesterday I had an adventure with my eldest daughter. We went by train to the Westpoint Arena at Exeter to spend a day at the Craft4Crafters show!

It was a long but fabulous day, which resulted in some great new stash enhancement for my bead collection. I feel lots more crochet necklaces will be appearing soon!

My daughters also benefitted as we invested in a set of Majestix stamps, pegs, and ink pads from Card-IO. 

They're being well used already, so I'm sure we'll be adding more sets to the collection.

January Sale

As is traditional at this time of year, I'm having a huge sale over at my Etsy shop. All items are priced £10 or under and you'll find some massive discounts.

This gorgeous short scarf is crocheted using fine pure silk yarn and threaded with silk ribbons then edged with mother of pearl chips.

Perfect for weddings, parties, or would make a fabulous Valentine gift!

This is a one-off item originally priced at £29, but now on offer at just £10!

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!

New Year crochet

Happy New Year!
I have a feeling that 2013 is going to be a year of change, for the better of course!

I have started to replenish the beaded crochet wrap necklaces in my shop; they sold really well leading up to Christmas.

These are lightweight (making them a great gift choice for posting!) and suitable for anyone with metal allergies as they are purely made from hand-dyed cotton and glass/ceramic beads.

Looking forward

Thinking ahead to the warmer months next year already! Thought I'd better start this now as it will take a while to do..

Of course it covers some of those gorgeous Pantone Spring 2013 fashion colours that have been forecast!

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!

Hooked on garters

Candy garter - sweet!

Crochet always gets me in phases.

Currently I seem to be going through a garter phase - it's all I want to crochet, using pure silk yarn with lots of different bead and ribbon colourways!

Last weekend I enjoyed choosing more beads for them from GJ Beads in Truro - I love browsing around in there - so much choice!

We ended up talking about my hand-dyed Perran Yarns as one of the ladies from Truro Fabrics was in there too. A good shopping trip!

Something blue!

I'm currently waiting for my latest order of hand-dyed ribbons from the talented Abby and Ellie - they're always so lovely!

A hairband bonanza!

Right - the crochet spiderweb hairband pattern is now in my Etsy shop as well as on Ravelry.

Now to write up my other 2 crochet hairband patterns - the Lattice Tie and the Trellis Button!

 
Then it's time for a multibuy offer on my patterns I think...

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.

Front Page!

It's been a while but thanks to the efforts of the CraftBritannia team one of my silk crochet necklaces made it to Etsy's UK Front Page today!

It was part of this gorgeous treasury put together by the talented Imynda - who also creates and sells the most fabulous crocheted items herself!

I'm happy to say that views and hearts have gone skywards, which is A Very Good Thing. :)

Lining a bag - sewing for dummies!

I do have a sewing machine but I rarely use it. Most of the sewing I do is darning tears, re-sewing split seams, re-attaching buttons, etc.

But I have this crochet bag - worked from the pattern I have for sale in my Etsy shop.

I love the bag - the weight, size, colours, etc, but I don't use it. It flops about quite a lot and I always intended to line it. Well finally I got round to it! 

I had chosen some gorgeous patchwork cotton to use months ago. I had matching thread, so here's how I did it.

First I made a couple of very rough paper templates from a sheet of paper from the recycling. 

One template for the front/back, and one for the side/base. 

I used this to cut my fabric.

I pinned, tacked, then seamed the sides to the base. 

Then pinned, tacked & seamed the front to the sides & base, and repeated for the back. 

The corners were tricky, and are not the neatest things in the world, but they're never going to be seen, so I figure there are worse things in life. :)

I put the liner inside the bag so I knew how far down to pin the top hem. 

I sewed around the top, then hand-sewed the lining into the bag. 


Done - easily, since I could manage it! 

Hopefully I'll get to use the bag now.

Galaxy mania!

More galaxy brooches awaiting their beads...

Which is your favourite colourway?