Selling for charity!

I haven't posted on here for a few months because there's been a lot going on.

I mentioned the Mad Hatter's Tea Party on here before, and said that my Mum and I were going to host a stall with all our proceeds going to charity (Cancer Research UK). 

My family and I went to Mad Hatter's on 8 June with a stall full of baby dresses, cardis, hats and blankets as well as earrings, bookmarks and a few kittens. We had an amazing day with lots of support and lots of money being raised.

(Photograph by Tigerfly Photography)

There is still some stock left over and I'd still like to sell it on for charity, so I've taken advantage of eBay's selling for charity feature, and listed some of the spare stock on there (I may not list it all this month, as I'd also like to take advantage of the 20 free listings per month).

Please, please, please take a look at what I'm selling on there, if it isn't appropriate for you, maybe you could share it with someone you know.

I'd really like to raise as much as possible for Cancer Research UK. It has always been a charity close to my heart as many people in my extended family have been affected by cancer. I think I've mentioned on here before about my Mum's struggle with the disease too.

Sadly Mum never made it to Mad Hatter's as she was taken from the world far too soon, on 6 June, aged just 43. So now, more than ever I want to keep fundraising for Cancer Research, so that no-one else has to struggle the way she did, and the way my family does!

With Race for Life happening around the country most weekends at the moment, let's all tell cancer to jog on!

Cushion cover

This is one of the gifts that seemed to take the longest time, and I finally finished it on the 21st!

I don't think I realised how long it would need to be!

I had been wanting to try a ripple pattern for a long time now, but I knew that a blanket would take me far too long (and probably never get finished.. I still have 3 blanket WIPs). Eventually I realised that I could use the ripple pattern to a make a cushion cover. Incidentally, not much after that I was gifted a crochet book by my mother-in-law which had a pattern for a ripple cushion.

I attempted to follow that pattern in the book, but I just couldn't get to grips with the way their ripple was constructed. I decided there must be an easier method, after a little searching I rediscovered Lucy's ripple pattern. I then just adjusted the stitch count so that it would fit the cushion pad that I bought in Wilkinson and off I went! When I finally finished the crochet I sewed up both sides with an overlap and dug out some pretty buttons. All finished!

Yarn - Stylecraft Special DK in Turquoise 1068 (darker blue) and Cloud Blue 1019 - 100g of each

Pattern - http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/neat-ripple-pattern.html 

And here it is:

Oo look at this.. exciting news...

I've been a bit behind with my blog reading, but I'm glad I finally got to Woolhogs this week

I found out that I was awarded the voters' choice for September in the Made It Challenge.

As a result I'm allowed to show that lovely little badge over on the right >>

Isn't it beautiful?

Thank you to everyone who voted! :)

Octopus number 2

I whipped up another octopus this week for my friend's 19th birthday. I was really surprised with how quick it was to work up.

I used a slightly different pattern than for my last octopus. When I went back to the pattern I've used before the webpage wasn't there any more, so I did a quick google search to find another.

The new-to-me pattern makes the body and the tentacles separately so that you sew a circle of tentacles on to the body at the end. Easy-peasey :)

The pattern can be found here.

CAL week 6

Oops I've done so much in the way of crafting this week that it's taken me until now to get around to finishing week 6's rows and posting them!

I finished them off this morning before starting on week 7.

Here are week 6's rows:

And here is the entire blanket so far:

It's getting so big now! Exciting stuff :)

Week 5 of the CAL

I went to start this week's rows when I realised that I had missed the last one from last week!

So, I started with that.. and here was my blanket after last week's rows.

 Now on to this week's rows..

A double crochet row..

The "Mirrored chevron" rows:

A row of half double crochet (HDC):

Another DC row:

Another HDC row:

And my blanket progress so far!

I really liked the mirrored chevron rows.. I love how they turned out!

I think they might even be my favourite part of the blanket so far :)

Happy with my colour choice with those rows too.

Definitely the right decision to add in the turquoise-y colour!

CAL as-we-go stripey blanket, week 4!

This week was relatively straightforward, mostly DC (US terminology) and HDC rows. 

We had the addition of the bobble stitch this week though!

I liked the look of this in Hannah's post but mine just don't look as good!

They're not very bobble-y, but at least they provide a bit of contrast.

Hannah has stated that week 5 is a fun one, so I'm looking forward to that as I've already been enjoying what we've done so far.

The next instruction or guidance post from Hannah should be up tomorrow :)

Here are my pictures from the week (apologies for the low lighting in some - I usually crochet in the evenings after work)

I added a new colour in this week too. Just a subtle bit of turquoise. Hopefully I'll be able to use it for a thicker stripe this week and it'll stand out a bit more :)

CAL week 3!

Oops!

I kept meaning to blog about this and I can't believe it has taken me this long!

I finished week 3's rows on Thursday and week 4's rows are already out now!

I won't say too much on this as you've probably seen it all on other blogs, but here are my pictures from the week!

As you can see, I started using my stitch markers this week as an easy way to keep track of my stitches! It made it a lot easier on the rounds where Hannah said the count number being right was very important.

Rose earring

Finally posting the rose earring I mentioned a while back.

I have a confession to make though...

I've only made one earring!

I find crocheting with a 2mm hook a little bit fiddly, it takes a lot of patience and I crave the feel of yarn and a larger hook. That means I have to take my time with smaller projects, and do other things in-between. So a small project turns into one that takes a lot of time!

That being said, I should really start the second of the pair, as I'd like to make at least 3 more pairs in the next 4 months!

Wish me luck!

Anyway, this is what they'll hopefully look like to wear! :)

CAL as-we-go stripey blanket: week 1!

When I saw that Hannah from Not your average crochet was running a CAL I knew I wanted to join in. I had initial doubts though as the project was a blanket and I wasn't sure if I could take on another big project like that. I'm so glad I did though as I whizzed through the first 5 rows on Sunday!

First job was to start my foundation row:

Yes these are my baby feet that I showed you the other day! (Size 2.. sob!)

Next was the HDC (half double crochet - using US terminology) round.

This is one of my favourite stitches and I really should use it more!

Row 2 was the double crochet row!

Then this was topped off with 3 "granny stripes", or rows of clusters.

And that's the end of this weeks rows!

I have been good and sewn the ends in as was suggested, but that was after I took the pictures!

Here's Hannah's first 5 rows..



Click the picture to go back to Hannah's original post!

I can't wait to get started on week 2!

This weekend I..

Moved house..

Started my CAL blanket...

And made a rose earring....

I have a few posts waiting to be written now to catch things up and I have a LOT of posts to read.

Graduation owl.. number 2!

This time the graduation owl is for my brother, Mattie who finishes his A levels this week!
So congratulations to my little brother :)

I'm going to *attempt* to give more information about what I use to create different things.
So, the upper body of this owl is using African Expressions Joy blended yarn. It is a lovely mix of mohair, wool and acrylic and it part of my (randomly picked) prize from Maryanne at Woolhogs for the made it challenge (December 2012).

The white and black yarns are both acrylics that I picked up in cheap stores. I don't think either is branded and I no longer have the labels for them.

Owly's beak is King Cole Dolly Mix DK in shade 144; orange.

I used a 3.5mm hook for this project. The pattern, here, suggests 3.75mm but I don't own that size, so I had the choice of 3.5 or 4mm.