A Rather Hooky Ta~Dahhhhhhhhhh!

It's finished!!


At long last, my Japanese Flower Scarf is completed!  I finished it last week but the weather has been so drab and grey here for days on end it has been difficult to photograph it.  Anyway, today the fog cleared for a few glorious hours and I managed to take a few pictures for you.  It was made from remnant balls of wool that were left over from my Rainbow Ripple Blanket; it's mostly Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK with the odd bit of aran here and there.  It's lovely and soft, and surprisingly warm, what with all those holes!

It's a feast of colour...

...I am smitten!


And I am also pleased to share with you that my other scarf, my Stripy Rainbow Bliss one is also completed.  I spent a long while the other afternoon sewing in all the ends; you may recall me not so long ago sharing some WIP photographs with you:

To be fair, it doesn't look that much different now it's actually finished off properly, it's just a little bit longer than it was.

I'm well and truly kitted out for the cold weather now, lots of soft warm woolly goodness to wrap around myself...I'm actually kind of looking forward to the colder days now so I have an excuse to wear them!


And of course with two projects done and dusted, it doesn't stop there.  I have embarked on another Japanese Flower shawl! There is something so lovely and cosy about shawls and I've developed a bit of a need for them around the house; they're so practical and yet so comforting.  I trawled the internet for a while, looking for another pattern but something kept on bringing me back to the Japanese Flower one.  It's so easy, so quick...and it wasn't long before I remembered something Vanessa did here.  I was all fired up with enthusiasm for this idea and before too long made an excuse to visit my local yarn emporium (aka John Lewis).  I came home very happy with a brand new yarn stash...isn't that one of life's little pleasures?  No, it's actually a Great Big One.

And so here are my colours ~ a dark peaty grey, a vanilla cream and soft purpley heather shade.  The wool is a gorgeously soft, chunky merino by Wendy.  I'm rather glad it wasn't super expensive either as it seems to disappear quite fast (it been made on a No.6 hook).  I haven't used this particular brand before but I'm quite happy with it so far, and the shawl (due to the thickness of the wool) is growing at a satisfying speed!

It's been a pretty creative time here this week what with all this hookyness and my on-going purges of decluttering.  In the middle of said decluttering a favourite painting was rediscovered.  Tucked away for safe keeping during our decorating renovations a couple of years back I had actually (believe it or not) forgotten all about it!  It's an acrylic painting on a box canvas, and goes by the name of Yorkshire Snow:

I am wondering if it may make a rather nice Christmas Card, as an alternative to the illustrative ones I have on sale...?  

...I could perhaps temporarily re-name it, to make it more appealing to everyone...maybe 'Winter Snow' instead of 'Yorkshire Snow' - what do you think?

And it may also work rather well as a print.  I'd love to hear your thoughts on this!

Anyway, I've just noticed that I shouldn't be here - I need to be getting my bod off to Zumba!!  Thanks so much for popping in to see me! 


Sending love to you


Julia x x x

'Mug Hug' - Making Handmade Gifts

I have recently become rather involved in Little Handmade Projects of the gifty variety.  I like handmade.  I love that you can pootle about on the internet and find all manner of inspiration and ideas.  I love that there is such a wealth of good craft books these days, such as this one and this one.  I like finding time to make something special for someone special, someone who I know will appreciate the effort and love that goes into handmade.

I also like the recycling element of it.  Using up scraps of old fabric from tiny toddler dresses and tops that don't fit anymore; finding age old threads and buttons to make pretty things with.  But I also like trips to craft shops to buy the necessary ingredients to make things with too; embroidery floss, pretty textiles, new yarn, unusual buttons...

So, you get the idea that I'm all for handmade making and giving, and with a family birthday looming it was with some excitement that I finally got to make something I'd had my eye on for a while in this book here:

Some of you will be more than familiar with Nikki Trench's book, Cute and Easy Crochet.  I have already started to make that pretty squares blanket, but these little Mug Cosies have been calling me for many moons.

It being Mum's birthday, it seemed like a good idea to make her one of these.  She likes tea, she likes handmade and so I felt I was off to a good start.  What's not to like eh?!!  I'd also seen something in the current edition of Mollie Makes magazine that caught my eye; an advertisement for their next issue featuring this:

Ooooh yes - me likey that!! A little teabag type thingy on the side of the Mug Cosy.  So I thought I would improvise and make my own.  
On looking at the picture and pattern in Nikki's book, I noticed that the cups they had used were straight sided, whereas mine were curved.  I knew I'd have to decrease or add stitches a bit in order for the Mug Cosy to fit nicely, so I ended up making up my own pattern and working from the top down in double crochet and single crochet, with slip stitches in cream to finish.  Would you like to see how it turned out?

I'm really quite happy with it, considering I didn't use the book pattern at all, and it ended up being an Adventure in Crochet as I fumbled my way along and hoped for the best!

To finish off the Mug Cosy (which from this point on I'm calling Mug Hug because it sounds so very warm and huggy which is exactly what it is meant to be and also because it's my own slap-dash pattern and therefore methinks it's ok to re-name it!), I found a little wooden flower button at the very bottom of my button tin!  What luck!  It finished off just nicely!


Next, I found a little piece of creamy muslin and embroidered the message "I 'heart' tea" on it.  I hand sewed the edges and then used daisy stitch to make the teabag string which I just ran up the side of the Mug Hug.


The wool I used for this was one of those bargain buys too - a ball of Sublime cashmerino aran (I used a number 4 hook as opposed to a 5 too, for a tighter finish).  It only cost £1.99 and the cup cost £3.00 from Sainsburys so I reckon that's a bit of a bargain, don't you?!

Anyway, one more bit of hooky news before I go.  You may remember a week or so ago I told you I wanted to give that teeny tiny crochet a crack, the one where you use a really tiny hook, a 1 point something or other and fine crochet thread...well let me tell you I've made a start, I've had a go and boy oh boy do I admire the folks that make ridunculously big scarves using this method.  I have made several circles, it took me forever:

Although I do like them.  Very Much Indeed - and I am thinking that rather than die of overwhelm thinking about making a scarf (thing of dreams at this point in time) I shall perhaps tackle a colourful doily to stand a nice plant on or something.  It's the kind of crochet I've got to be in the mood for, and I've got to have natural daylight to be able to see it well enough as those wee stitches are very tricksy.  So I won't be abandoning my rainbow bliss scarf just yet...oh no, infact I'm hoping that's going to be my next completed project - the chilly weather has prompted me to dig it out and get it finished!


Right - I've a Special Birthday Meal to prepare, so I'm away to the kitchen to be busy!  


See you again soon, thanks for visiting today!


Much love
Julia x x x

Toasty Mitts

Morning folks!

As promised, today is Free Tutorial day, for a pair of cosy arm warmers.

For those of you who don't want to read all the pattern bumf, you can scroll down for a scoop of other news at the end :D

My pattern is written using USA terminology so for those who usually follow UK, I hope you can convert it easily. Only the basic stitches are used, SS (slip stitch) SC (single crochet) and DC (double crochet).

I used Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK wool in three shades, on a Number 4 hook to make my warmers, and here's how you can make yours!

'Toasty Mitts' Arm Warmers Pattern

First of all, measure your forearm roughly half way up. Mine measured 24cm and you will need to keep a note of this so that you can create a cuff that fits snug (without being too loose) to this length.

Make Your Cuff: Chain 10 + 1 (11)

Push your hook under the 2nd Ch from the hook and single crochet into each stitch along the row until you reach the end (this is a fiddly bit, yes).

Ch 1 for turning chain, and turn your crochet around to work the next row.

On this row, you are going to crochet a SC into the BACK LOOP of the stitch only.

Here is my hook, going under the back loop to show you:

Do a SC into the back loop of each remaining stitch on the row.

Ch 1, turn your work and continue, SC into the back loop of each stitch.

As your rows grow, you will notice a pretty rib pattern emerging:

When you have crocheted enough rows to meet your arm measurement, you need to join the cuff to form a ring.

Turn your crochet work around so that the rows are vertical when you look at them, and push your hook into the topmost corner stitch at the other end of your crochet work to form a ring:

Join with a SS.

Next, we are going to work around the long edge of the cuff with DC stitches.

These need to be evenly spaced, and if you study your work you will see a space at the top of each rib indentation, and a stitch roughly at the top of each rib protrusion (if that makes sense, oh I hope it does!)

First of all, push your hook under the first stitch on the cuff...

...and Ch3...

DC into the next stitch:

Continue around the long edge of the cuff, until you reach the end of your piece.

(here the hook is showing you roughly where to be looking for your stitch to DC into).

When you reach the last stitch space, DC into it and then join with a SS to the 3rd Ch of the first chain you made.

Fasten off, and tie/add another colour.

Hook under 1st stitch, Ch3, then DC around the row, SS to join into 3rd stitch of first Chain.

(it may be a good idea to have a stitch count, to make sure you are keeping each row the same length).

Work this way until you have approximately 14 rows (feel free to add more if you want them longer though).

Now its time to make the thumb holes:

Now this is where the arm warmers differ slightly, and is the only difference in the pattern that you need to take note of. To keep the seam running inside the glove (ie, palm side) we do our thumb holes in different places on the two gloves.

For the RIGHT HAND WARMER:

Hook under 1st stitch, Ch3 and DC around.

When you have 7 stitches left at the end of the row, it is time to create your first thumb hole.

Do 1DC (6 stitches left)

CH 4

Count (and miss out) 4 stitches and DC into the 5th stitch.

DC into the 6th stitch and SS to join to the 3rd stitch of the first chain.

Fasten off, tie in your new colour and as before, hook under 1st stitch, Ch3, then DC all the way around, simply DC into the 4 Chain stitches you used to make the top of the thumb hole as normal.

For the LEFT HAND WARMER:

Hook under 1st stitch, Ch 3 and do 1 DC into next 2 stitches.

Count 4 stitches and Chain 4, DC into the 5th stitch and carry on with 1DC in each stitch until you have completed the round.

Fasten off, tie in your new colour and carry on, as before.

You will need to crochet 3 or 4 more rounds of DC, depending on where you want the arm warmer to finish on your hand. To finish the arm warmer, the last two rows are both SC done into the BACK LOOP of each stitch:

*Attach new colour wool.

Hook under 1st stitch, Ch1

SC into BACK LOOP of each stitch to complete round.

SS to join into the 1st chain you made, fasten off.

Repeat from * for the second round.

You will now need to join together the edges of your cuff - there are a couple of ways to do it:

Turn your arm warmer inside out. You can simply sew the two edges together with the same colour wool, or you can SC them.

To SC the edges, hold the two edges together and push your hook through the two outside loops of each stitch. SC down the edges until you reach the end, finish off.

All that remains to do now is that nasty job of sewing in all the ends - just turn your arm warmers inside out, get a big pile of biscuits and a cuppa (always helps at these crucial mundane moments to have something nice to take our minds off it I think) and get busy.

By now I hope you are posing in your new Arm Warmers and making Happy Noises :D

I also hope the pattern has made sense - I really do, please holler if there are any bits you don't understand or you don't think Ive explained very well, I will email you back with some help.

Well!

I don't want to turn this post into War & Peace, so I will just quickly tell you about two other bits of news before I go - the first is very nice - two very kind and thoughtful fellow Bloggers have given my little blog an award! Yes, Two of them!! I couldn't get my hat on to be honest and feel very pleased at being chosen.

This one was given to me by Jessie

...and this one was given to me by Hilde at Quilts & Boxes

Thank you both so much!

I know I'm meant to distribute these awards, but you know me of old - I can't choose to save my life, there are way too many good Blogs to pick from - so I invite each of you, my dear readers, to please take a wee award for yourselves, you each deserve it for stopping by and reading my waffling...I trust you're still reading...you haven't gone have you? (although by this point I wouldn't blame you, it's been a lengthy tome hasn't it, what with that pattern!)

I will also endeavour to share some vital bits and pieces with you on my next post, as the rules do state you have to reveal things about yourself...but I think I've gone on quite long enough today!

Although there is one last thing before I go...

I have a new print for you - it's called Bear Hug, and it is a picture with some special meaning for me at the moment. Right now, my Little Egg is experiencing her first taste of nursery...we're off to a shaky start, and this picture is helping to remind her how loved she is, and to reassure her that Mummy will always be there.

I am popping it in my Print Gallery and in my Folksy and Etsy shops (links above), it might just make a lovely wee gift for someone and it costs just £14.00 with free P&P in the UK, and a small shipping charge for overseas.

If you are still reading at this point, can I just say 'Thank You' - and also 'Welcome' to some new followers, its nice of you to drop by!

Have a glowing weekend, sending you steaming mugs of hot tea, apple pie and clotted cream, and a golden September sunset...

Love Julia x x x

Rainbow Days

Hello :)

There is rather an exciting 'something' happening in my crochet bag. My gorgeous new wool supply is rapidly becoming a gorgeous Rainbow Ripple blanket (henceforth known as RR). Ive even splurged on a couple of extra colours, a lighter shade of green to balance out the darker olive shade (I wasn't too happy with it sitting on its own in such a dark manner!), and a bright blue. These will be added to the ripply layers that follow.


Oh my goodness, its so nice to crochet ripples though, after many moons of creating grannies that needed 4 colours or more its a pleasure to glide up and down these little ripply hills with no need for changing wool shade every few minutes. Which makes it quite a fast thing to do, and ulitmately very relaxing (although you must stay on the ball with your counting, several times Ive cocked up and had to undo a whole row!!)


We are really feeling spring here in fits and starts now - starting to notice that the evenings are lighter for just a little longer which is heaven, and then there is an occasional 'feel' in the air when the sun shines that makes you suddenley very happy and heart skippy. The irises in my green pot outside the back door have produced their first beautiful flower, and Im called to filling jam jars and the like with outrageously bright tulips!

I can't choose a favourite flower as I like so many, but these do bring a much needed shot of colour into the house after such a long, cold and dreary winter. Just the tonic I think!


Another necessary tonic in our home is of course, chocolate. Its a staple food here as much as bread and potatoes are!! And how tempting are the shops right now with their shimmering pink and red foil wrapped delights, all dolled up for Valentine's Day! I couldn't help myself, two little bags of caramel hearts found their way home with me the other day, I was completely seduced by them!!

I think with the days getting gradually longer, and a chat with a friend yesterday about holidays it was only a matter of time before I got seriously thinking about where we might take ourselves this year. Serendipitously, my copy of Coast magazine appeared with the post (a timely visual treat) and a visit to the library to return the Little One's book stash resulted in me finding the Time Out book of the Seaside, now thats a nice book to get your hands on - its crammed full of all the best beaches in the UK and the pictures and descriptions are fantastic! Needless to say I am now spoilt for choice, the South West beckons, yet so does the Norfolk coast, the Gower and Northumberland...Scotland looks as wild and as beautiful as the Caribbean in some photographs and the Isle of Wight conjures up some wonderful nostalgia from the time we lived there for a couple of months one hot and splendid summer...

Anyway, as I was flicking through Coast, my eye caught sight of this photograph...spot the crocheted granny blanket in the corner! I love this little room, leading out onto a tiny garden!

Meanwhile, on the art front...

Oh goodness, time is slipping away from me at the speed of sound these days. I am making slow progress at the moment with my painting, although the character is ready in all her guises in my sketchbook. Ive done a couple of paintings of naughty Mo so far, this one is almost finished and the minx is clearly running away from some grave misdeed judging by the crafty look on her face! I just need to tweak a few bits, add a bit more depth and detail here and there and the background needs playing about with too. But you can get the gist of her now I think.

This weekend Ive got a few hours grace to work on these properly, so the images will be all packaged up and heading South in a few days. It's the Bologna Book Fair in March too, so Ive also got to make a mini portfolio of my illustrations to send to the Agency so they can take some examples of my work with them when they go. I wish I could make myself small enough to travel with them!! :D


Anyway, Im off to visit a few of your blogs now - cup of tea on the table and a nice chocolate brownie baked by me and the Little Miss! Thank you to all of you who have stopped by, its always lovely to see you! Do leave me a little note if you like and I'll make sure I pop by your blog to say hello!


Have a magical weekend, filled with sparkling surprises and love!

Julia x

When a blanket became a cushion and other stories

Hello!!

It feels like a bit of a Ta-Dah moment here - although its also confession time. The next BB is now officially a cushion cover and its the most Juicy and delicious cushion cover in our entire house.
I think I have mentioned before that Im a total harlot when it comes to crochet and Im easily tempted and seduced by new projects and new wool.
Anyway, I got to the last white round on the glorious summer grannies (yes, Attic24 ones if anyone was curious) and I thought to myself...hmmmm, yes. This is definately cushion fodder. It had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that I had been sent delirious by ripple blankets Id seen on various flickr sites, no, it was suddenly just very cushiony looking and so it now sits awaiting its back which Im hoping to make this weekend.



Ive also been working on some characters, that is to say, when I haven't been looking after the Little Person who has the most croaky voice and bad cold - its making her extremely crabby but the little nap she has taken today has given me a couple of hours grace to get the paints out again. So, below is an example of a character that Im in the middle of creating. Im still not too happy with some of the facial features, hence the back view! But Im going at it with determination, I wont be sending them in until Im 1000% happy. This is a sketch/painting and the character is a naughty mischievous little girl Im calling Mo.I even think her hair looks like it belongs to someone naughty...!



Anyway, at the weekend I finally went into our overgrown jungle of a garden, armed with secateurs and some serious intentions to clear up. The whole place had been taken over by crawling nasturtium creepers which had turned squishy and yellow from all the snow. I spent two hours cutting back dead things and raking up old fallen leaves and other such rubbish and I began to uncover the tiniest green buds in the hard soil - after that freezing winter snap we all had it was like manna from heaven seeing these early signs of spring coming through. A broken pot found languishing in a corner revealed a pleasant surprise:

...and as by this point spring was most definately in my bones, I picked up this cheerful little primrose at the garden centre (it was only 65pence!!) and it now glows radiantly on our kitchen windowledge, cheering me up everytime I look out of the window into a fog drenched back garden that is now covered with yet another layer of snow.

So...back to blankets. As I was saying before, I had a yearning to make a ripple blanket and I think that I just really fancied a change from doing lots of little squares, which although pleasurable and fun are sometimes a bit of a faff. I think I was hankering after something a bit different, and when the Little Person in our house peered over my shoulder at the ripplesome lovliness that is Lucy's blanket (at Attic24) and said 'will you make one like that next Mummy?' then who am I to say no!?!

I looked for some scrumptious colours that I could use to create a fabulous rainbow of a blanket with - and I discovered a tremendously beautiful colour palette from this wool, Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK and found this website which has a fantastic selection and picked a few out.


Yes, this blanket will take along time, yes it will cost me alot of money (but I dont mind, its going to last a lifetime and be handed down through the generations) and if I buy the wool in batches then it doesn't cost lots and lots all at once...does it. :D


Im looking forward to getting started on my new ripple blanket, the wool arrived today...

Im having to sit on my hands until I can start it later! The photograph doesn't do the colours justice, they are rich and sumptuous with glorious names for colours like Nest Egg, Shortbread and Periwinkle...oh I just have to keep scooping them up, they are so very soft and Im going delirious again just writing about it!!


Other things that have been happening here this last week is that Ive started to practise yoga. Oh goodness me, how long has it been since I subjected my little bod to anything more energetic than a gentle walk? Ive stretched muscles I didn't realise I had, but Im feeling rather nice and Ive treated myself to a couple of good DVD's to do at home as there is no decent yoga class close enough to us in this far flung country backwater!! It's certainly a nice antidote to the general mayhem that is life in our house! Also, the niggling pain at the base of my spine that Ive had these last few weeks has seemingly (after just 3 sessions of this wonder exercise) disappeared! Hurrah!!


I hope you all have scrumptious weekends, Im hoping mine has lots of little pockets to crochet in, and also if the weather brightens and the Little One is better, we hope to go to the garden centre to get our seed compost! Oh yes, already our little propagator is waiting to be filled with seeds, which we sent for from the fabulous Sarah Raven the other week, picking interesting things like Crystal Lemons (little round cucumbers) and Munchkin Pumpkins (teeny tiny ones) to grow. Can't wait!!


See you all again soon, thank you for stopping by my blog, its a pleasure to see you here!

Much love
Julia x