YarnTangling and YurtFurtling

As spring is tentatively starting to show its first shy flowers and buds, I have decided that I might also tentatively start blogging again. I have realised that it is a tricky thing to get right and I am not entirely comfortable with the endless sharing of the small and mundane. However, I have been looking back through last year’s posts and, as a personal record of the things I make, I have found it valuable. It will not change the world but it does make me happier in my skin.

First of all I will show you a round up of some of the things I have been making over the last six months or so, its a rag tag bag of stuff.  I suffer from craft angst where I worry that the stuff I make is not important enough and I should be directing my energy towards something more worthy and urgent. My craft angst also manifests itself in worrying about sharing some of the cutsier makes because I don’t want to be one of those cute-toy-making-crocheters, but people will insist on asking me to make them and I quite like doing it because it feels like magic to make something 3D out of a long piece of string and a hook.

So, in this year of blogging I hope to focus on the aspects of craft that I think make it important and the reasons why I, and many others, feel that it is something that they need to do as much as something that they like to do. I will also show you some of the things I make. That’s what it’s all about, right?

Norwegian Inspired Baby Hat

This is a baby/toddler hat that I have designed myself and is inspired by traditional norwegian knitted hats. I made it in my favourite Drops Merino and I love the yellow, cream and grey colour scheme. The larger red version is modelled here by my three year old and is very cosy. I have written up the pattern and I plucked up the courage to ask one of my crafting friends to try it out. Apparently I crochet very tight and very neat, so I may have to revisit the pattern and figure out the tension so it works for other people. Hopefully it will be ready to post here one day and not result in a whole load of giant bonnets!

Holly’s Crafternoon

My eldest has apparently picked up the crafting bug (can’t think how that happened) and asked for an Arty Party for her birthday. We made pom pom creatures, pipe cleaner and bead tree decorations and decorated party bags. Holly made her own mini-soaps to go in the party bags. We had such a fun afternoon with such a fantastic, creative bunch of girls.

 

Since then she has been really working hard on her sewing skills and has started to crochet a bit.

Some Christmassy Things

I think I can get away with posting these now as they are not classically Christmassy. I made these baubles from a AterG crochet bauble pattern and I loved making them. The inners are made from cheapo pound shop baubles (£1 for 12) and I just sawed off the little hanging nobble-thing. I had a pang of guilt at buying cheap Chinese tat but I think that turning them into something that will be treasured for years makes up for it a bit.  I like making Christmas things in non-Christmas colours and I think they looked really jolly on our tree, which is a riot of handmade bits and bobs collected over the years.

Some Cutesy Things

The giraffe is for a miracle baby due around now some time. I always make my amigurumi up as I go along as, for me, following a pattern takes away the pleasure of seeing the little characters emerge and develop. I tend to look at a few examples for inspiration and then just see how it goes.

The hedgehog and two little mice are for my youngest daughter’s Forest School sessions at nursery. A request was made for woodland creatures because the children like to make nests and dens for them in the woods. I am big fan of Forest School and child led, imaginative play and I thought this was a lovely idea. My only concern is that having made them in realistic brown, they will get lost instantly. I might have to make them some pink and yellow ones next time!

 

Some lino-printing

So, this isn’t crochet. I was bought a lino-printing course with local artist Amanda Hillier for my birthday and I spent a very satisfying day in Amanda’s garden studio making these yurt roof prints. Talk turned to crochet, as it does, and Mandy (we are on short-name terms now) invited me to join her craft group who meet to knit, crochet, eat food, drink tea/wine and share ideas. It’s an irreverent, noisy and creative group, and I love it. We eat crisps and giggle and sometimes we make stuff.

Sunburst Granny

And this is my current work in progress. It is a sunburst granny blanket for my daughter’s bed and she is very impatiently waiting for it to be finished. If the colours look familiar it is because I am using the Attic 24 Harmony Blanket pack but with a different pattern. There are some colours in there (some very sickly pinks and a boring baby blue) that I would never have picked out but in the mix it all kinda works and it will suit Holly down to the ground.

Finally, and in the spirit of International Women’s Day I will leave you with this thought.

This is not me, I wish it was me. Lisa Anne Auerbach‘s political sweaters are amazing and I think this sums up how I feel about activism, craft and the reasons I keep on crocheting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wrote sometime ago about the bespoke wedding bouquet that I really enjoyed making for Caris. I also made one for her beautiful daughter Lola who has an equally flamboyant taste in clothes. She was persuaded out of the orange racoon option and ended up with an amazing flamingo dress with personalised turquoise baseball boots.

The bouquet was constructed in the same way at Caris’s around a polystyrene ball with a bit of wooden dowel and a long decking screw to hold it all together. I made simple crochet flowers from memory and added buttons in contrasting pink, turquoise, lime and yellow.

 

 

Like the original bouquet, this is actually more of embroidery and sewing project than a crochet project, but I like the mix of different techniques and the varied textures.

12 year old Lola walked her mum down the aisle and read a passage from the Velveteen Rabbit at the ceremony. There was hardly a dry eye in the house. She has also inherited her mother’s photogenic gene and I think you will agree that they make a very handsome pair. Much love to both of you xx

 

Meet my new friend the rattle snake. For those of you who may be easily confused this is snake that rattles, not an anatomically correct rattlesnake! He was a quick make for little Poppy’s first birthday and was inspired by the left over rainbow cotton yarn that I used for my #MandalasForMarinke contribution. When I first started writing this blog I imagined that I would only post very tasteful, scandi inspired creations in grown up colours. However, it would seem that I am often making funny little toys and really enjoying myself.

My favourite thing about making amigurumi is that I can make it up as I go along. This was actually the thing that first appealed to me about crochet: the ability to make improvised three dimensional objects without a pattern. I rarely use patterns and, if I do, I tend to fiddle with them and change them as I go along. They are just guidelines, right? I also enjoy the process of seeing a character emerge as I construct a toy. This one is pretty simple and designed for being grasped in a little hand and waved around, and perhaps being vigorously chewed.

I think he is a jolly, if simple, little chap and he has proved particularly useful for whacking sisters over the head, as my two year old discovered to her joy. I put a rattly bell in his head that has been in my sewing basket for at least 20 years and makes a nice but subtle jingle.

 

I hope you enjoy your new home with Poppy!

This shawl was another commission from the delectable Ms Caris Jackson. It was a very specific brief. A skulls shawl, in turquoise Merino to match the wedding bouquet and bridal petticoat. She wanted something to throw around her shoulders in the evening if it got a little chilly. Caris has a particular thing for the Mexican day of the dead and the skulls motif. Funnily enough, I had already downloaded this pattern from Ravelry with Caris in mind, so obviously it was fate!

Caris and her partner Steve are also passionate about animal rights but had asked for Merino, which doesn’t have a very good animal rights record. Australian merino, which dominates the yarn market, is often from sheep who are subject to to the brutal practice of ‘mulesing’ in which the tails of the sheep are cut off to prevent fly strike. I did quite a lot of research and found that Drops merino is from South American and South African free-range merino and is Oeko-Tex® certified, which ensures that the yarn has been produced to a high environmental standard without the use of harmful substances. I found it difficult to find out information about ethical sourcing of Merino but I think that this is pretty good whilst also being affordable. I love Drops yarn by the way. I think it is brilliant that they take the time to let you know where their products are sourced and how they are made, whilst also keeping prices really very affordable.

So, the skull shawl pattern is available free from Ravelry by Kungen Och Majkis. It is from a blog post originally in Swedish with some English translation. There is also a pdf chart you can download but this has Japanese annotations! All in was a tricky little b3^%$d of a pattern to get my head around! It is a 16 row pattern and all of them are different!! I didn’t enjoy it very much, if I am honest, because I had to frog it so many times. However,  I was very pleased with myself when I finished it, and though I probably wouldn’t choose to wear skulls myself, it is so Caris and I knew she would love it.

She didn’t actually wear it at the wedding, we were far too busy dancing and enjoying the ever flowing prosecco to worry about chilly shoulders. Never mind, she has worn it since and tells me that she will definitely wear it many times into the future.

I have discovered that I really do love giving gifts and sharing my work with my friends. It gives me great pleasure to see people wearing and enjoying the things that I have made. Hopefully they like it too, well they are at least very polite about it xx

I think this deserves a Ta Dah!! I LOVED making this wedding bouquet for my dear friends Caris and Steve.

This has been a special commission for me and it seems like an age ago that Caris and I first discussed her wedding bouquet. I am SO excited that I finally get to write about it and share pictures of a very special day. This was never going to be a conventional wedding: think Mexican Day of the Dead, tattoos, circus, red and turquoise vintage net frock, giant yurt and flamingos. It was a lot of fun.

Henry and I contributed in various ways including providing the giant yurt (this is what I do in my day job) as part of our family business Yurtmaker. I also made crochet bouquets for the bride and the bridesmaid, and a crochet shawl for the bride. I warn you all, there a number of wedding related posts coming up….

So, I started with the theme of red and turquoise, a pile of broken jewellery, buttons and bits.

I made a number of crochet flowers from memory and made other bits up as I went along. Not all of these made the final cut as, at the last minute, we realised that I had had leaned more towards the teal and away from the turquoise. Nothing short of perfection would do for this one.

The bouquet is constructed mainly from felt around a polstyrene ball and a bit of wooden dowel. I appliquéd the leaves with felt designs that are personal to the bride and groom including the date of wedding (which is another thing I got wrong the first time, must pay more attention). The bits of jewellery, beads and buttons are all things that are personal to Caris. I spent a lot of time pinning and repinning all the various bits in different positions to make sure that it was exactly right for her.

This is actually more of an embroidery/sewing project than a crochet project, but I think the crochet roses look really effective. It also really appeals to me that she will be able to keep the bouquet for ever. She did declare that she was throwing it nowhere!

It was such a fun thing to make and it is great to see something I have made playing a small part in a big day.

Do I say Ta Dah? Do I say Hooray? Anyway, the rug is complete and I, after a bit of tweaking I am really pleased with it. It feels lovely underfoot and doesn’t slip around on the wooden floor as I had feared it would. We shall just have to see how that whiteness fares with the little ones around!

This Tek Tek yarn is not without its challenges, particularly the variation in weight meaning that keeping it square was a battle. In fact, it isn’t square at all but with some aggressive blocking and a border to even things out, it looks fine, if a little weebly. I call it ‘rustic’ or ‘characterful’. The yarn is made from factory waste, hence the manufacturer’s claim that it is upcycled and this makes it more sustainable than most cotton, although I don’t know anything about the factory it came from so I will reserve some judgement on its ethical credentials. I am personally very committed to reducing environmental impact wherever possible and on ethical sourcing so I do tend to think quite hard about my purchases and end uses for the items I make. I often think that the crafting community doesn’t think hard enough where its materials come from,

I made up the pattern based on this picture I had seen on Pinterest and I haven’t achieved the same level of finesse but I think this one must either be much bigger or uses a finer and more regular yarn. I simplified the pattern because this one wouldn’t have fitted between the sink and the shower!

 

This is our bathroom with rug in situ. In case you are wondering, I am fairly sure that the avocado sink and bath will become ‘vintage’ some time soon!

And I believe that it is customary to take a picture with ones’ feet! Here it is, to prove that I am a person with feet:

You can clearly see the variation in yarn weight in this picture, some patches are very dense and other quite loose. It also looked RUBBISH until I put the final border on, in fact it very nearly ended up as mulch mat for the flower bed it looked so wonky. As it is, it will now grace my bathroom and soak up shower drips for years to come. It is also completely machine washable and dyeable so if that whiteness starts to tend to the grey I can always spruce it up. Thanks for visiting.