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.

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.

Jelly legs...

I had been seeing these cuties all over the internet and was pretty intrigued by them. I wanted to have a go at making them, but as I have a few other projects on the go I didn't actively look for a pattern. Then scrolling through tumblr one day, there was a pattern staring me in the face. It even advertised that there was minimal sewing required, which for me usually means the project will be a bit quicker!

The pattern I used can be found here.

And here is my lovely little new friend!

I think his curly legs are super cute too!

New slippers!

I often get an urge to treat myself to something new. I shop around for a while, find something I like.. then talk myself out of buying it. (I've even managed to do this with some shoes, which would be my only pair in my size.. if I ever give in to them!).

Friday night I started making something for myself instead..

These were super quick! I started them Friday night, and finished them Saturday morning. They would have been even quicker if I hadn't managed to miss out 2 rows on the first slipper as I was reading it on screen. If you're wondering, the pattern for these cuties is here. 

They are very warm, and despite using cheap acrylic yarn, they are really soft!

Sewing machine: second project

Again, in Basingstoke with Sue I tried another wrap. This time for my knitting needles!

I'm much happier with this one. I preferred working with this material and having some practise with the crochet hook wrap helped too.

I didn't attach the tie with this one and I left a couple of pockets on the inside (as shown by my bracelet) that I can use to keep small projects, or balls of yarn, in. 

Using a sewing machine

While I was in Basingstoke, Sue showed me how to use her sewing machine. I've attempted to use one before, but I've never been able to figure it out on my own, so it was helpful to have some guidance. I've now successfully created 3 different objects using Sue's machine!

The first isn't perfect.. but it is functional, which is good enough for a first attempt!

A wrap for my crochet hooks!

I attached the tie with a decorative button using hand stitch after hemming the material and sewing straight lines along the fabric to create slim pockets for my hooks to sit in!

A relatively easy and quick (ish - probably up to 2 hours) first project!

4KCBWDAY5: Something a bit different

Today we can blog about anything we like, but we have to try to do it in a way which is different to how we usually would. 

Frankly, posting every day this week is different enough for me! But, I've attempted to make a gif of one of my projects, rather than showing you lots of different pictures.

And here is my little graduation owl! I think that turned out quite well. Now I'll try to talk you through the project more than I normally would. I'm usually pretty bad at this bit.

I started this project ages ago, back in January. For such a small project, that seems like years ago. I made his little body and his graduation cap and left him alone for quite some time (do you see why I'm a bee yet..) Then a couple of weeks ago, I got around to making his head. The head and body were fairly easy to work, just working a spiral in the round, then working straight for a few rows.

The cap was so long ago that I can't remember how the "board" was worked, but I don't think it was like any ami I had done before.

I'm tempted to re-do owl's beak, as I'm not keen on this crochet beak. I might change it to just an embroidered beak.

I'm also not totally happy with the wings on this owl, and as I'm planning on making a few more, I think I'll need to try and make them a bit bigger!

The most difficult part of this project for me though, was putting the safety eyes in. I'm really bad at trying to put the backs on them, and I find it so fiddly and it starts to hurt my fingers! But they look so good!

This is only the second time I've used them though.. so maybe it'll get easier with practise :)

Finished project: Sail boats!

I have been wanting to make this pattern by Jacquie at Bunny Mummy every since I found it whilst "stumbling" the crochet interest nearly a year ago! In fact.. I think I found it just as I was starting to crochet and though "Help! I'll never be able to make something as pretty as that". Well... here we are and I've managed to follow the pattern and as Jacquie's tutorials are always so well illustrated with well-taken photographs it was nice and easy! In fact.. it only took me a couple of days and that includes drying time for the starch!

I didn't embellish these ships as much as Jacquie did but I'm glad I finally found a use for these little fish! They came with my second (?) crafty creatives subscription box and I adore them, I just never thought of anything to use them for until now. This decoration is actually a house-warming present for my parents, but I have an idea for these boats for the future for my own home :) May be a few months before I make them again though!

P.S. I'm attempting to be a bit more conversational in these posts now. I read one of my older posts the other day and realised it was all short statements. Not fun to read hey? Let me know if this is any better and I'll try to keep it up :)

Looking back...

After reading a blog post by Donah at Sweet Jelly Bean about spring cleaning your blog, I thought I'd have a go while I'm sat down on my lunch break. I looked back through my old blog posts and I found my first attempt at crochet! Whenever anyone asks how I got into crochet, I can never remember, but here it is, sat on my blog. It's not the most detailed blog post by any stretch, but it does at least tell me what inspired me to try the craft I find myself indulging in most nights.

It's quite fun to see how I've improved from that tiny 3cmx3cm square now too and to look at all the lovely things I've made since!

 

In July I started with this:

 

 

And by August I'd managed to crochet a whole teddy!

 

And a second one!

 

 

Thankfully my photography improved a little along the way too!

 

I've made a hat

 

And even some slippers..

 

 

I'm quite impressed with all the different things I've managed to try, and largely I'm happy with their success! I still try to wear my hat (although I made it a little bit big and I've had to try and shrink it with elastic!) and Hope is sat in my Mum's living room.

Of course I still like to try new things, and I'm still yet to complete my first blanket, but I hope I can continue to improve and maybe even design something myself one day...

New yarn!

I treated myself to several small balls of yarn so I have plenty of colours for smaller projects.

Mostly, the yarn is the same as I've been using for my baby blanket.. with the addition of a lilac.

I didn't bother to buy black or white as I can pick those up easily in town :)

I've already used one of these on one of my current projects and can't wait to use the rest!

Finished project: Trying tunisian crochet

Basic Tunisian Crochet Stitch

Tunisian Crossed Stitch

Tunisian Crochet Bias Stitch

I stumbled across how to do Tunisian crochet without a specialised hook and whilst I didn't get along with the instructions I'd found I quickly googled for more tutorials.

I found a great blog with really clear instructions and got a bit carried away trying 3 different stitches!

I think they turned out quite well though, and I really enjoyed the method

I might have to try and find some patterns.. or attempt to make some up.. soon!

My first swatch - the basic stitch was done using a 4mm hook (just my standard one with a hair band wrapped round the end so the stitches don't fall off the end)

The other two swatches were done with a 5mm hook.

All swatches were done with Hayfields Baby Changes DK yarn is yellow/green.

If you don't know anything about Tunisian crochet I suggest you check out this blog - Crocheting the Day Away which is where I got all the tutorials for these stitches.

I'm itching to either try more stitches, or make something with them!

Finished project: Mother's Day Mug Hug

My Mum requested a mug hug this year, for Mother's Day.

I had this yarn left-over from when I made my plum snood and know that she loves the colour as much as I do!

I wanted to test myself on this as it could become quite a simple thing to make, so I decided to try a new stitch!

After a lot of hunting, I finally decided on the cable stitch.

I followed the pattern for the stitch from here.

Other than that, the pattern for the hug itself was made up as I went along. 

I think I did 3 rows and skipped 3 stitches out of the 5 when making the button hole.

I also used this bright green spotty button that came in a pack that my Mum got me for Christmas. 

I thought the green contrasted quite well with the plum to give a bit more interest!

Finished project: Grumpasaurus!

This little monster was made as a birthday present for my Dad.

Part of the reason I wanted to make this was to test myself.

I don't knit very often, and when I do it's not often great!

This was done (mostly) on DPNs (double-pointed needles) which means that there are some imperfections.

I've only ever made one other toy with DPNs, and that was just to practise, so this is the first real project using them!

Mostly I think it was okay, but you can see where I managed to stretch the stitches too far in places!

The "comb" along Grumpy's back was actually quite fun (and simple) to make.

When I looked at it, and the instructions I thought.. "oh no!" but it was a lot nicer to make than I thought it would be!

I don't think I'll be in any rush to make any more knitted items, they're not my favourite, but at least I know that I could if I wanted to!

Now back to my crochet blankets!

The pattern for Grumpasaurus can be found here.

#imapiece

Now, embroidery isn't really my thing, but I thought I'd give it a go for this project that I blogged about here.

Considering I wouldn't consider myself good at this craft, I actually think I did quite well. 

Here's what I came up with..