Tuesday 26 February 2008

Crochet - The Thing Of The Moment

Crochet seems to be the craft of choice for me at this minute in time. I have finished several amigurumi animals and started a couple of granny squares. The granny squares might grow into a blanket sometime.

From Crocheted Flo...


A couple of Avid Crafter's friends have been very interested in the amigurumi critters and expressed a desire to learn to crochet- so it has been crochet all round. The granny squares will slowly grow into a small blanket. I love how easy it is to do and how many colours you can incorporate into each blanket.

On top of one of the squares you can see another crocheted flower that I created. It has two layers that have been stitched together. On the right is the single layer flower that I created the pattern for last year. I am not sure what the flowers will be used for yet but in the meantime they can sit and look pretty.

From Crocheted Flo...


From Crocheted Flo...



The amigurumi obsession appears not to be abating and several more have just been created. A new Simple Arts Planet pattern was purchased and promptly tried out. It is called Inkie and Inko and has the instructions for two owls. The designer of the pattern writes at the start that the inspiration for the design came from a close encounter with a white owl.



From All Things Owl





It was a quick little pattern and there were lots of photographs for me to look at and check my progress. This is the third pattern that I have purchased from this designer, through her Etsy shop, and each time she has been incredibly quick to e-mail the PDF pattern to me.



Two other amigurumi lined up for the photo shoot as well. I gave away the last tortoise that I had sitting around and so another one was quickly made using some lovely hand dyed yarn that I found the other day. I was unable to walk away from the lovely colour combination -- it just had to come home with me. Unfortunately it is all gone now. One tortoise body, one little owl, one granny square and two little flowers!

One more owlet made it's appearance to add to the parliament. With this one I crocheted in the back loop only on the round that starts the side of the body just to give a bit more definition to the sides. I also added some toy pellets to the base as well as the stuffing. This just gave the little owlet a bit better sense of balance.

From All Things Owl

Sunday 24 February 2008

Bootee Central

The bootee creating is in full swing. Two pairs are complete and another are just awaiting the addition of some buttons before being declared finished.

First up a knitted pair.

From Felting Attem...

From Felting Attem...


The pattern for these is very simple (just right for one who knits but prefers crochet) and was given to me ages ago by my grandmother. I have the pattern written out on a piece of very poor quality paper and I should get my act together and type it up so that there is more that one copy. My grandmother passed away 15 months ago and this has now become a precious link to the past. She was a prolific knitter and was always interested in all of the crafting endeavours that I undertook growing up. I do not have a clue where she got it from - it is merely called "Foundation Bootee Pattern" and it calls for 3 ply yarn with no brand specified. Avid Crafter chose the same colours in 8 ply yarn and she is going to make a hat. Hopefully they will make a nice set to give later in the year.

Second up a crochet pair. Again this is an old pattern that I have made previously. I have not followed the pattern for a while so there were a few errors at the start. After reminding myself to read the pattern fully things progressed much more smoothly.

From Crocheted Flo...

At this stage I was halfway through the second bootee. Since then both have been finished but I need to find some little buttons to sew on before they can be put away with the others. I used the same yarn as the first knitted bootees.

Third - a pair of crocheted Ugg Booties. Just what any true Aussie bub should own! I do wonder how well they might stay on but love the look of them! The pattern was purchased from Crochetroo's Etsy shop. Love the pattern and like the many photos included which make it easy to look at what is described in the pattern instructions. I did the shorter version but might try the taller version in a larger size as well.

From Crocheted Flo...

The yarn was from my stash - an 8 ply plus a bit of Caressa for the fuzzy fold down top. I love how bootees are so quick to be finished. These will all be tucked away to be given to a new arrival expected later in the year.

Wednesday 20 February 2008

A Parliament of Owls

More of the holiday crafting included the creation of a parliament of owls courtesy of this great little pattern.

From All Things Owl

This is a great little pattern that can be used with lots of little bits of leftover yarn.

Holiday Crafting

Posts have been few over the holidays but crafting has been happening. A few new books were added to the crafting library.



One was another book of amigurumi creatures called "Kyuuto! Japanese Crafting: Amigurumi" and my first attempt from these patterns was the duck.



I was using up odd bits of wool so the duck on the right turned out more greenish than yellow because of the variegated wool. The ply of yarn for the second try was finer resulting in a smaller finished product! I forgot to put the eyes in before stuffing and sewing up the second try so had to try something different. I crocheted two small circles and added a french knot to these before stitching them on. I think I prefer the safety eyes and will try hard to remember to add these to any future critters before stuffing and finishing off! Both of these critters were immediately christened "not-ducks" by the other discerning members of my household.

As my birthday was quite close to when I was trying out this pattern, DH kindly provided me with a card that had a picture of a duck on the front so that I could see the error of my ways in calling these little critters ducks.


The inside of the card was even carefully labelled with "This is a duck" just so that I got the message. I loved the card and the not-ducks are sitting quite happily amongst the other crochet creations.




The other amigurumi pattern made several times by Avid Crafter and myself was this cupcake pattern by Ana Pauly Rimoli. I purchased her beautiful owl pattern and the cupcake pattern came with that. She also has the cupcake pattern as a free pattern on her blog.



The two bigger ones were created by Avid Crafter and the little one at the front is mine. The beautiful one on the left with the most georgous sparkly beads, for sprinkles, was given to me by Avid Crafter for my birthday which was a lovely surprise as I thought she was making it for herself. My little one is being used as a pincushion.



In various stages of completion are a few other projects - some baby creations for an expected arrival later in the year and some fabric is waiting for the pattern to be drafted before it is turned into a new top for Avid Crafter.

Friday 15 February 2008

Long time no post

Holidays get in the way of blogging so easily!
My aunt is expecting her second child in August, so I see a few baby projects in the not-too-distant future! A few knitted hats, a quilt and something for big sis so she doesn't feel left out. Yarn has been purchased for the hats, any excuse for buying yarn will do. A nice bright green and white, something a little different from the usual pastels for babies. I have a nice easy hat pattern that I used for her first baby and I'm going to add a striped pattern to it I think. I'm thinking of doing the quilt with a log cabin design, nice and simple as I haven't actually made one before. A smaller cot sized quilt seems less daunting than a 'normal' sized one.
In other news, school has gone back for me. The highlight of the first few days? Exploding water filled balloons with matches in science. Easy, fun, messy and VERY satisfying.