"The Snow Maiden"

Here is my January project! Gosh, I love holiday blog catch up time.  My sister's sister-in-law (my sister-sister-in-law) was due in January and I was determined to make her a little bundle after she so kindly made me gorgeous bibs for my first.  As she is not your average lady, I thought that she would love a non-pink gift for her little girl.  I adapted a simple cardi from Nikki Trench's book "Cute and Easy Crocheted Baby Clothes" to match this fabulous  free bonnet I found  online (I just can't remember where from...).  The Nordic themed colours were because I had just finished a book called "The Snow Maiden" which describes the old lady's winter efforts to make a coat for the snow maiden child who lives in the woods.  The handmade coat is described as being trimmed with white fur and embroidered  with snow flakes and that just sounded gorgeous.  I did have fun finding and buying tiny star buttons and playing with the borders to balance both items.  Looking at them now, they are so very "Frozen"!

The crochet bibs and balls were from the same book using my beloved dk cotton.  The bibs were part joke as the bibs she made for me were used until faded and worn and then folded away in my memory box.  The bibs made for my sister's first born were always laughed about as my sister couldn't bear to use the lovely things.  I therefore couldn't resist making impractical crochet bibs (they are washable...honest).  Do you think she will use them? I just don't know!  The balls  are so squishy and perfect for gummy chews and squeezy fingers.  I popped a few bells inside the yellow ball using a clean kinder egg case firmly glued shut which I then crocheted inside the stuffed ball.  One shakey, squishy, squeezy bit of fun!  I must say that I'm so relieved to find these lost pictures.  My husband thinks I am mad-naturally- but when you give away most of your crafts, having a picture keeps the memories, the textures and the ideas ready for another day.
Congratulations Cara and Nick and I hope your baby managed to wear these at least once before growing out of them!

Happy Hats ( in time for the snow!)

It' s snowing!  Ok, well, maybe not right now.  But it was when we left the house this morning!  It was that perfect, slow, feathery flakes like the ones that "stay on your nose and eyelashes" which makes us all sigh and long to play outside.
So, I am happy that for once I have made a hat just when I need it.  A funny project as this was supposed to be a relaxing treat for myself ( I never get round to making things for myself).  My hat was a loving mix of wool that I had used for my berry baby hats and booties . Debbie Bliss cashmarino which is super soft and such a treat to use.  I found a pattern from one of my earliest crochet books and tried to match the look of my mother' s day flower brooch .  It was a simple pattern worked on a chained base, slipstitched into a ring with reducing rows of triple crochet.  This was great for a simple project and made it very easy to tweak for a perfect fit.  This proved to be very handy as I ended up making four in five days!
My tiny little treasure decided- quite forcibly- that I was to make her one next and her colour choice could not be changed....I did manage to tone down the lurid pink much to her disgruntled opinion but she has forgiven me now!
Just when the pattern book was going away, tiny miss trouble insisted that big sister needed one too!  This was accompanied by much begging and hugging by both girls as I tried to get out of a third hat- she had just got one for Christmas so I wasn't really being mean....  We decided to make a cool school version as a compromise after her last school hat was "lost" at school one week.  As that was a handmade hat, I am still surprised that it hasn't turned up.  This one is going to be hard to mistake as anyone's but Katie' s!  You may have noticed that Katie is also holding one.  Silly me tried to rush the last one and made it too small ( but next doors little girl who goes to the same school loved it!)
So, four great hats in five days.  On their own, they look fab. All together, we look a bit....um.....matching (strange but sweet)

Sew, a needle pulling thread!

Greetings from the Von Trapp sisters!  This was a June project that had to wait until I could pin both girls down long enough to take a picture of them!  Don't they look like the fabulous curtain outfits made by Maria as play clothes?  Now that's what I call "Thrifty" (and bordering on the realms of cruelty to children)

These cute little headscarves were to allow crazy running around without losing their head covers- something which "accidently" seems to happen a lot with big sister.  But, oops, the triangles aren't deep enough for the point to be tucked into the tied up scarf so instead we get that comical blindness as the tail flips over the face as they run around.  

This is just a variation of my pretty bunting.  

1-Hem a triangle around the two diagonal edges.

2-Fold bias tape over the straight edge leaving long enough tales.  

3-Stitch straight across bias tape to make the ties and Bob's your uncle!

Camping Madness!

My other half has always been a bit loopy when it comes to camping. So, for those early years of courtship, I had to endure many cold, damp dashes to the toilet block all whilst tripping over invisible guideropes. Don't get me wrong, Ienjoyed those strange trips. Only when camping can you take the entire morning to make an egg and bacon sarnie for breakfast and wash up at a chatty sink area. But the time has past and I happily sit in our tiny warm caravan and beam as the rain pelts down on those poor, mad tenters. My poor husband has been missing it though and is over the moon that our little girl is now happily camping out with him. 4 weekend out of the last 7 have seen my two intrepid explorers grabbing pilows and lanterns to go exploring- it won't be long before she is introduced to the fishing lakes! I have been left with the baby "sigh" and had time in the evenings (Yay!) to do some little crafty jobs. It's been a wonderful time indulging in guilty tv pleasures of X factor and Sci-fi films, late night espresso and having all my craft boxes spread around me in chaos! First on the list was a new school hat for Katie. I wanted a cushy, big, warm, blokey hat that would cover her ears and last a good long time. Well, it does the job ampley as it fits me pretty darn good too!

These two are more gifts. The corsage was for Mum's birthday. I used my leftover bootie wool and some tiny soft grey beads. I accidently stitched the leaves on too far out and, even though it looks beautiful, it ended up HUGE. I mean, my Mum's not tall and she may be in danger of getting lost behind it!

The little felt Humbug is cute idea from a book Mum leant me the other week. It's a very detailed book with wool explored in many intricate forms- not for me though. I liked the humbugs though as you stitch together two squares, going around 3 sides. You stuff the pocket and stitch the final sdie by pushing the corners together to stitch the line that runs across in the oposite direction (does this make sense?)

I'm now working on some more wraps for Christmas as my Step-Mother-in-Law has been admiring my one as well as my litle girl who's been asking for her own since last year. It mean that my birthday money this year was used on wool for other people. I know all crafters will understand this madness- bags of lovely wool! I also got some great craft books which I can't wait to try. So, as the Mad Campers are off again, I will get back to my fun!!

That's a lot of hats!

I loved making these Chunky hats by Alexa Riether. The pattern was a bit tricky at first to understand but once I had a few plays with it, it went beautifully. The first hat was made with Mega Chunky wool and came up slightly bigger around my head- which means it will fit my pal perfectly! It feels very comfy but the bulky wool does hide the pattern detail.

I had another go the next day using 2 strands of DK wool from my stash hoping to show off the pattern more clearly. The hat fits beautifully and only needed a few rows taken off to fit my little head. (I think I'll keep this one for myself...)

One finished hat...

Ta Da! This hat whipped up nice and quick I must say. I used sock yarn that came as a gift with my "Inside Crochet" magazine and, even though the mixed colour does hide the pattern a bit, I think it came out pretty nice.

The hat is basically a set of granny squares stitched together to make the brim and then single crochet to spiral up for the crown. I always use one hook size smaller than the pattern as I have quite a loose stitch but it did come up a bit looser than expected- Thankfully my friend's head is a bit larger than mine!

This pattern and the Berry hats both came from "Crocheted Gifts" by Kim Werker. Even with my loose stitching, you have to watch the sizes as my 4 year old ended up with the hat labelled for a 6-9 month old. This hat worked single crochet with alternating decrease rows and plain sc rows. I ended up cutting out 9 rows of the sc rows as it would have been massive.

PS- The funny face is because of the 9 pictures it took to get this one with my iphone. I should have waited for my Hubbie to get home!

Keep it under your hat...

Its Crochet time again and I am making hats all round it seems! Little cute berry hats for my two girls and now a lovely one using delicate granny squares stitched together.
My lovely friend is about to go through chemotherapy and wants lots of hats to keep her little head warm and gorgeous. I’ve started this one and want to get a bunch made in different styles and colours.
If anyone out there has a gap in their project schedule and would like to help me her head measurement is 55cm!