crochet gift bag
Halfterm over and I am nearly through all the muddy clothing (camping in the Brecons, lots of rain, even more mud but a brilliant time with friends) some have even needed second washes…
I have been crocheting, lots actually! 3/4 way through ‘Zany’ for my mum, I am thinking of turning those crocheted and knitted squares into a blanket and have done some bigger ones, I need opinions though so will photograph and will be asking you soon, also it was a good friends 60th last week. If it wasn’t for this lady me and my other half wouldn’t get any nights out at all really and the boys adore her and strangely she adores the boys! She loves bright colours and chunky jewellery so I bought her a gorgeous silver and turquoise bracelet and was going to make a box to put it in, but it was a funny size, so, resort to what you know!
I’m not sure what the thread is, just a mercerised cotton I think in ecru, I used a number 2 hook. To make the pulls for fastening I was going to do that twisty thing with a pencil and a door handle to make a cord, but I wanted neat ends that joined up, so I googled how to crochet a double crochet base which gave a lovely cord. Before I sewed the ends together I threaded on a crocheted curtain ring so you could pull them to fasten it.
I will be back soon asking for advice re blanket!
Keeping busy
Things have been up and down around here for the last couple of months so, keeping busy is the best thing to do. And as I like to think; every cloud has a silver lining – see what I’ve been doing!
The sock blanket is finished and I love it.
I spent so long deciding the placement of the squares; randomly, tonally from the centre, tonally from a corner, opposing… Then I crocheted them all together in the sort of pale sea blue colour, finished the edging in the grey and realised the blue made it look more disjointed. So carefully unpicked the joins (with the edging till in place) and re crocheted the joins in the grey. Much better. The colours are fairly random, being left over oddments from numerous projects and I think the grey does bring some sort of cohesion to it all, and I love the lacy edging, just what I’d pictured in my head.
With it being sock wool it is really quite soft and lacy to the touch, I love it and want to do another one with lots of different patterns again, but all in cream, that would be lush!
What else…
Another good friend is pregnant so I am crocheting a blanket. For some reason I couldn’tfind a pattern I liked or a stitch. After lots of samples I decided on this one.
I wanted a pattern that was lacy but not too lacy, not flowery, not too simple or too complicated, and found this in my old copy of Vogue dictionary of crochet stitches. It doesn’t have a name but is a fairly simple 4 row pattern. I’m doing it in a lovely and soft 4 ply, 3.5mm hook.
I want to do this: (link here)
in this wool:
those eagle eyed will spot 2 balls re wound. I did 2 lines to test the tension and hook size, though the 4mm was too big so went down to a 3 1/4. I gotdown to the armholes and it was too small, aaarrrggghhhh! But like I say, every cloud… so it means I can get on and finish the baby blanket without any distractions, as I want to do the cardy!!
Lastly for today, we are away camping next week for the school holidays and everytime we go I pack all our clothes/bedding/towels in bin bags as space is a premium and proper bags take up space. So I made 4 large bags out of an old duvet cover, they fold up small and carry a suprising amount and are washable so can carry the muddy and dirty returns back home too – sorted!
Plans
Aside from the mundane though needed plans i.e get a job, write more tutorials for the magazines while trying to find a job, complete the maths course I’m struggling through to help me get the said job… I’m talking about more interesting and fun plans.
This year I want to concentrate on creating some ‘vessels’ from crochet. I’m not going to worry about producing cost effective things for my shops – I want to get really creative and experimentive again. I can’t say much more as I don’t know, I just feel the need to experiment, so look out for hopefully interesting though possibly bizarre photos soon, I’ll document the process here.
I do like to have a few things on the go at once though and have been crocheting a scarf for myself over Christmas from lace weight wool. Its a sort of sampler and I’m making it up as I go along. It a lovely merino silk mix in my favourite teal colour and is so light and delicate. I got the wool from fyberspates, it is a dream to work with.
Next my mum bought me a lovely Japanese crochet book last year and I have been wanting to make this since then though am slightly intimidated by it.
I do like a challange and this is certainly that, but it would be so worth it. To cover myself immediatly I am not envisaging finishing this in 2011, I definately see this as an ongoing thing!
A couple of other things, a shawl I’ve secretly started, its a pattern I saw on ravelry and it is gorgeous and quick apparently and I can so see me wearing it in France this summer… pics in the next post. Then there is the lamp I’m covering in patchwork (for the past 3 years) that is nearly finished now and if I’m honest lots of other bits started all over the place. Oh yes, and I signed up for the valentines swap on crafteroo – don’t say anything!
Joel Dewberry home decor fabric
I made a skirt in the summer, it was my first one from a proper pattern, with a zip and darts (!) that I loved. So I thought I’d make one for winter too, but I wanted thicker/warmer fabric. So off to one of my favourite shops Gone to Earth and a little chat to Julia who helpfully sent me a couple of samples through as I was a little concerned being home furnishing fabric it would be too thick. But no, my only dilema turned out to be which one to choose…
I plumped for Joel Dewberry’s gingseng spade damask in mulberry in the end, so what do you think?
I love it! I got the zip in this time a bit lower than last time so it fits a lot better, with a hook and eye at the top its much neater. Though the facing is still too short by a good 5cm either side. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but fortunatly its just for me and I can sort of hand stitch the ends down so it doesn’t fray, but its not right. I added some bias binding to the bottom edge to, well, add a bit more really, but I really like it, I think it finishes it off nicely.
Also, because I had a bit of fabric left over I made a bag too! I joined in Septembers ATC swap the theme was ’space’ but have been a bit distracted so not only have I not blogged about it but also not photographed it – duh! However, Andrea of the wonderul Indigo Blue Designs sent me a lovely one and while reading her blog I saw she did quite a few recyled makes. One of them is this fantastic scarf to bag make, so I followed her tutorial here and ta-dar…
Fab isn’t it! I changed a couple of things, I wanted it bigger so doubled up on the sizes and I like bag to go over my shoulder so I sewed another piece of fabric to to make it a bit longer. There are some great bits on Andrea’s blog so if I was you I’d make a cup of tea and settle down for a good read (and thanks for the atc card too!). I sent mine to Victoria of giddy stuff who I also swapped with on the necklace roundrobin a few months ago. Check out her blog as she has put a picture of her atc and its fab, a tardis that opens!
crocheted cable
You know I said I took that little detour to Hobbycraft on holiday, well here is a pic of my cable, the wool (though rather pink in this pic?) is a lovely blend of wool, alpaca and silk
It did take a while to figure out, the instructions are not that clear and there was a mistake printed too but I will persever with it. I love the chunkyness of it and that fact it looks like knit. I’m think i’m going to make this into a bag, but this has definitely taken over the top of my list of new projects, especially with winter coming!
Update: I’ve finished my bag! I’m quite pleased with it, if I was to do more I need to tweek it a bit. The handles are off an old favourite bag that wore out last year, It was perfect in size and I wasn’t happy when I really couldn’t repair it any more, but it lives on! I’ve lined it with some thick denim left over from some curtains, which give it a bit more structure and I put a little pocket in side for my phone.
my new bag Ta-darrr!
New bags and a clever box
Last week I was trying to figure out a better way to present some of creations at craftfairs. While browing flickr I saw a lady who had converted a large box into a sort of carry case cum display and it got me thinking.
Isn’t it fab! I bought this box, full of old starched collars years and years ago because, well, its gorgeous isn’t it, the history behind it, who was Mr and who starched his collars? But it got to the point when I thought I really can’t just look at it anymore and as much as it hurt to mark it, I did it and I’m really pleased with it!
And some photos of my new bags. I love making these, it’s my own pattern too. I spend far too long matching bits of fabric together (and yes, its craft neutral, all are from my stash or charity shop finds, actually, apart from the magnetic clasps uh oh!) and them embellishing them with bits of ribbon, crochet or buttons. I think they would be perfect for a summer wedding and will be going in my new etsy shop soon!
Tourchon Clutch
Dottie Clutch
Lily Clutch
Cherry Clutch
And finally Buttonista Clutch.
Right, I’m off to play with my fabrics again!
