Cornish inspiration...

Well, I've just had the best few days in Cornwall with my big sis. Beautiful weather meant days on the beach and the evenings??...Crochet of course, along with a sneaky alcoholic drink or two!!

 

I wanted to share my purchase with you before I show you my Cornish crochet project.

 

Look at this marvellous wooden pot!

Isn't it fabulous? An absolute bargain at only £7.99 from a lovely little shop in Charlestown that sells all sorts of bits and bobs that you cannot imagine your life without.

I saw it and my first thought? 'Mine! Mine! Mine!' (In almost the same tone of voice as those sea gulls in the movie Nemo - you know the ones I mean?)

My second thought? Buttons, surely this is a perfect pot for buttons? It even looks like one!

Love it. Love it. Love it.

 

Now for the crochet project I began and completed in Cornwall. Flower bunting for my little girl's newly painted and carpeted bedroom.

 

The flower design comes from the Simply Crochet Magazine issue 2. They make beautiful embellishments to projects but are also great in their own right as bunting.

 

I've learnt from previous crochet bunting projects and did something a little different with the loop at each end of the bunting chain. After crocheting a chain and joining with a slip stitch to make a circle I then double crocheted into the ring to firstly make it stronger and secondly to make it a little prettier to look at.

 In situ -

Still rubbish at photography I know!

 

And in her favourite colours of pink, red and purple -

With a nicer loop to hang it with, it got me to thinking about the actual hooks we use to hang it up. I was thinking a nail with a pretty button glued to it but my husband was not convinced that this would be strong enough and thought the buttons may snap easily. So, he suggested attaching the pretty buttons to a normal picture hook and just banging it up carefully. Works for me and I always bow to his more superior DIY knowledge.

The pretty buttons I was desperate to use -

The hook and button on the wall -

This was such a speedy and relatively easy project to complete, I now want bunting everywhere in all different shapes and colours. How lovely to begin the 'crochet-ification' of my home.

 

New word 'crochetification' - to add lots of pretty crochet to your home. I think probably a verb? But what do I know!! 

 

Lots still to report on - a cushion that I'm making with some lovely yarn purchased whilst in Cornwall, our duvet cover that is looking a little sad so I'm planning a revamp with some material dye and some crochet embellishments, a purse I'd like to make myself to a design of my creating (oooh, get me?!!!) and a white unicorn that my daughter would like (may delay that for her birthday in November). Phew, that's enough for now me thinks.

 

I forgot to add the Granny Square blanket to that list! Ooops, and actually that reminds me that I need to make this weeks Granny Square and maybe some spares to cover any missing weeks over the Summer hols. Can't wait to see it all together. Will lay it out over the next few days and take a piccie and we can see how much it has grown recently. How exciting.

 

Until next time. x

Finger puppets with a difference!

My last bit of smugness for today comes not from me but from some very talented 7 year olds that I have been teaching over the course of 5 weeks in a half hour lunch time club at a local Infant School, St Saviours in Bath.

I began by showing them the chain stitch then we went on to the double crochet and look at what they created -

Aren't they amazing?

 

I'd not taught children before so I began by teaching my 6 year old son how to crochet (had to bribe him with a bit of money as he would much rather have been playing Minecraft!). I wanted to see what was actually possible in the space of half an hour.

 

The Crochet Club astonished me. Their memory for stitches was great and their motivation to get their project finished was immense. They were such fun to teach and very rewarding. I've never seen such happy children as them when they could finally name their finger puppet and wave it about on their favourite finger!!!

 

I'd love to do more of this teaching in other schools around Bath and maybe even children's parties. Will have to see what I can organise.

 

Until next time.

Happy crochet-ing!

x 

Brooches and more brooches!

So, the question is, can you ever have enough crochet brooches?? I don't think you can.

I recently took a commission for some brooches with no remit except for pretty colours and maybe a button. I hopped to it, with some glee I may add, and here's what appeared...

A miss-match of styles and sizes and colours but all interesting in their own way.

I have a favourite...do you? I'll let you know mine at the end once you've had a good look and decided on yours!

 

The blue one - 

The pink one - 

 The pale pink one -

 The ecru and pistachio one -

 The lemon one -

 The lilac one -

Your favourite???
Mine...has to be the ecru and pistachio one. The colours and flower shape worked with different sized crochet hooks look really good together and the double button layering was a great feature.

I hope the recipients of these brooches love them and enjoy wearing them as much as I did making them.

If you fancy a quick crochet make, brooches are a great thing to create as they come up fast and can add a lovely touch to a top, coat, hat or even a bag. Multi-functional you could say!

x

Granny Square Delight! (6)

I'm feeling pretty smug today as I have a lot of things to Blog about - am going to Blog about them separately as I feel that they all deserve their own place in Lovely Land.

So, the first one - my latest Granny Square!
Ta-da!!...

 

My husband chose this design and picked out the choice of colours. I'm liking it a lot and not just for the afore mentioned reasons!

My Granny Square blanket must be coming on a treat now. Am feeling more and more confident that it will be a fairly decent size by December. Oooooo, how exciting!

Someone recently Facebook-ed an image taken in Norway (I think it was) of the steps of a Cathedral completely lined with Granny Square blankets. It was amazing. Yarn bombing at its best and greatest visual accomplishment. I wanted to reach into the photograph and run my hands over the yarn, they all looked so soft and inviting. Apparently, the plan is to donate them to charity once they've finished being incredible on the steps of the Cathedral. Aren't people the world over incredibly creative and kind?

x

Granny Square Delight! (5)

For those of you with beady eyes you'll notice that I've fallen behind with my weekly Granny Square creation...sorry!

 

So, I've been catching up....

1.

 

2. 

3.

Hee-hee! Feeling a little smug I must admit.

 

Seeing these pictures though it does remind me that I will need to block the squares once I'm finished creating as some of them have either curled a little, like the one above, or aren't all uniform in size. I've not blocked any of my crochet before so I am looking forward to giving that a go.

 

Am feeling more and more confident that my blanket may be larger than a lap blanket by the end of the year :). Fingers crossed!

 

Happy Crocheting..xx

Widcombe Summer Fair

Here I am at the Fair - my husband says it should be 'Fayre' not 'Fair'. I'm not sure so may attempt the rest of this post without mentioning the word at all!

 

What a day. The sun shone, the wind blew - which was a little entertaining at times! - the band played, the Pimms flowed, and the interest in crochet grew!

I took all my crochet prettiness and advertised my crochet teaching for which I received a lot of positive feedback and am ever hopeful for some further lesson bookings.

So, on display I had some bunting (flowers, hearts and the traditional triangle shape), clutch bags, purses, brooches, kindle cases...

baby booties...ahhh,

 

coasters...

 

hair clips...

 

and for this year something a little new that I thought I'd give a go, some DIY bunting kits...

 

 

Strange picture I know! If you look closely you can see my reflection in the first packet! Tee-hee!! Good to see that my level of photography never fails to entertain, or indeed, improve!

 

It was such a lovely day. I love displaying everything I've made as it is usually the first time that I've seen it all together and actually become aware of how productive I've been. Which does remind me that there is a lot of crochet waiting to be achieved around my home. There's my Summer holiday project work me thinks.

 

Just want to leave you with a couple of views of the bunting I had on display. I love a good bit of bunting! Sounds a bit 'Carry-on' that does!

 

Oooh, would you look at that? A sneaky peek of my granny square bag in the back ground there? Can you see it? Still loving it and the lovely comments I get about it.

 

Happy crocheting x

 

 

 

 

 

Gorgeous hairclips a-plenty!

Well, I found some time and made some lovely flowery hair clips with a statement button on them. I've been wearing one myself as I'm a little partial to a bit of prettiness in my hair! I used alligator clips (the ones that open like an alligators mouth - Snap! Snap!) and embroidery silk in a range of amazing colours. They certainly look great all gathered together....

 

 

 And some close ups, for your pleasure!!!

I certainly have some favourites. How about you??

Oh, and I found time for another purse, astonishing!

 Now, for the Fair which I'm going to Blog about separately as I think it deserves it's own little mention.
Before I go though, a little word about scissors - again! Whilst making the beautiful hair clips I managed to snip two of my fingers. So, not only did I not learn from the dangerous snipping of my crochet top a couple of weeks ago, I didn't learn after the first time I snipped my finger, I did it TWICE!!! What a wally! May you all be warned!!!

Until next time.
Happy crocheting x.