And the winner of the crochet mag is ......

Hoorah it is the weekend! What better time to announce the winner of the Crochet Mag.

I did the usual, plugged the number of entries into good old Random Number Generator. Pressed the button and waited for it to do it's magic! Within micro seconds it had decided on my winner.

The result is that this.................

will be going to .......................

which is the lovely Sharon over at Clover Cottage.

Congratulations Sharon!!! Just click through my profile to send me an email with your details and I'll whizz it in the post to you.

Art of Crochet - Issue 1 giveaway

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.  

WINNER ANNOUNCED OVER NEXT FEW DAYS.

Morning bloggers!  Anyone fancy a freebie!  I've acquired a spare copy of Issue 1 of the Art of Crochet.  It doesn't have the wool and hook but it does have the DVD and all the instructions and patterns.

Just leave me a comment by midnight on Thursday 14th January and I'll announce the winner of the draw over the weekend.

That's it, simples :o)  xx

Knitted Bag

What do you do when it's snowy and freezing cold outside........................ why you sit indoors all cosy knitting of course!

I'm a great lover of chunky knitting, haven't got the patience for the fine stuff takes too long.  Needed something to keep my current knitting projects in by my sofa so what better than a knitted bag!

I didn't have the required chunky wool that the pattern specified so I improvised and knitted using double strands of some aran wool that I had lying around.  It worked out fine so must remember that trick.

Thought it needed a bit of fancying up so lined it with some calico to make it hold it's shape better and it also stops the needles poking through the bag.

 Added a pink crochet flower that I had made a while ago, it was going to be a brooch but like it better on the bag.

My current knitting project sits in there just nicely, and I love that when I am knitting the ball of wool stays in the bag and doesn't end up running all over the sitting room floor being chased by my kitty cats!

This is the pattern I used by Sirdar.  It does look better in the right wool but I don't think mine is too different.

And the current knitting project in the bag is going to be a snood/scarf.  I've 45 stitches on 10mm bamboo needles which I just love to knit with. They are so smooth and warm, not a lover of metal needles, all that click clicking!

Managed to do this much so far, about 18 inches in good old stocking stitch.  I think I need to get it to about 40-50 inches.  Will post some piccies when it is finished.

Hope you are all well and warm.  Thanks for popping by. xx

The Art of Crochet

Did you all see this magazine 'The Art of Crochet' advertised recently on the telly? Well I did and being the sucker that I am for these sorts of things I was out buying my copy this morning!

The funny thing about this coming out now is that I am having dinner with my friend on Wednesday and she had asked me to bring some stuff down to teach her to crochet in the pub after our meal. Now she can have all she needs to get started and it only cost me 99p! Perfect timing is what I call that.

You get 2 magazines, one has all the free patterns in and the other is step by step instructions, starting with the basics this week of casting on and double crochet.

There is a DVD which I haven't watched yet, later with a nice cuppa maybe! Two balls of nice soft wool 16g each and a metal 4mm crochet hook.

Each week they give you a different square to practice different techniques on and these squares in turn will make up the gorgeous throw above.

Some basic cushion patterns, always handy for using up small amounts of wool.

Stripey scarf, but could be adapted for cushions, blankets and bags.

If you continue to buy each issue which comes out every week it will set you back £2.99 each time. Now that adds up to a lot of money as I think you only get one 16g ball of wool each issue, £13.00 per month is what you are looking at! Ouch!

However if you reply within 10 days for a subscription you will get Issue 2 and Issue 3 for £1.99 plus your wool and the following:

• Travel bag and hook wrap
• Yarn bag
• Binder
• Dividers

And you don't get tied into the subscription as you can cancel at anytime and you get to keep all your free gifts! You can find out more about the offer here.

xx

Crocheted Bunting - do I or don't I?

Like it that is!

I do love bunting but normally go for the fabric kind. Anyway whilst away in Spain there was plenty of time to crochet due to copious amounts of rain. luckily for me, but much to my BFs horror I had decided to bring some supplies with me :o) I started off doing hearts but didn't always like how they turned out.

So instead of decreasing on my next heart I just carried on crocheting until I had a flag size that I liked. That was it, I was off, so quick and easy to do, knocked out 11 of them while away.

Now the question is what do I join them together with. Should I join them by crocheting or stitch with fabric? I think fabric would be the right option to make them hang properly. What do you think? And do you like crochet bunting anyway? Am thinking I might add fabric shapes onto some of the flags and maybe some beads on the bottom. Still not sure yet, hmmm. xx

Anitques Fair - Woodgreen Animal Shelter

My fave animal sanctuary was having an Antiques Fair at the weekend so of course I had to pop along! Took my aunt and uncle from the states with me as they love all things old and english. Now my aunt is like me, can browse and poke around at stalls for hours and hours so it's a good job my uncle is a very patient man!

It was a lovely day when we got there, the sheep were making a right old racket outside the arena, assume it was their feeding time. The first stall at the entrance caught my aunts eye, it was full of beautiful old victorian dolls and prams. I took a couple of piccies, the stall owner was very kind and even positioned some of them better for me to photograph.

We came across a beautiful linen stall. Didn't buy anything this time round but she had some lovely stuff.
I managed to get this simple classic diamante brooch for £3.00. I have a plain black satin clutch bag and think this will look great on the front.

My glass candlestick collection is now up to 14 as I got this matching pair for just £2.00.

And this lovely decanter for a mere 99p!

We had a really nice time there and of course did our bit for the animals which is always a nice thing to do. Hope you are all having a lovely weekend. xx

Crochet Flowers

In an earlier post I referred to crocheting a flower needle book for my nan way back when I was just 10! Well you'll never guess what my mum found for me, yep my nan, god rest her soul, had kept it all these years. It is a bit dingy but still in one piece so I just had to photograph it and share with you all.



This spurred me on to look for some free flower patterns online. Found a couple and have been having a play to see if I can still do them. One is for an Irish Rose and the other is for a Daisy Flower. Both are american patterns so had to check the terminology as their stitches are slightly different to the UK. Life would be so much easier if stitch definitions were the same across the board don't you think.

I didn't have the right hook size, think it was a bit big for the wool that I had to use up, but they didn't come out too bad.

Think my favourite is the daisy flower (the white one) as it is a bit more flouncy and full.


I really enjoyed doing these and once you get the hang of them you don't have to concentrate too much. There are plenty of other flower designs on the site so will have a go at some of them too. Great way to use up all the odds and sodds of wool that I just cannot pass up in the charity stores ;o)

xx

Crochet Blanket - it's finished

A few weeks ago I gave you all a sneek peak of my first attempt at crocheting a babies blanket from a 1950s pattern, see here. Well I have finally finished it! Once I got into it I really enjoyed doing the pattern and will be using it again. I made the border up myself, which is not perfect but it does the job. More importantly my mum is very happy with it and can't wait to put it on her moses basket.

Just need to place between two damp towels and pull into shape, at least that's what my Aunt told me to do so hope its right. It is ever so slightly wonky you see, not sure how that happened ;o)

I am now looking for some nice soft white wool to make a cushion front for my bedroom. My hands are already getting fidgety at night with nothing to crochet, I was amazed at how quickly I got hooked (excuse the pun!) on it.

I also want to do some irish roses so if any of you lovely bloggers know of any sites that have any patterns for these I would really appreciate it if you could leave me a comment pointing me in the right direction ;o)

Crochet - Vintage 1950s Pattern

As a child I used to crochet all the time, I made a double bedcover out of crochet squares when I was just 12 years old. Sadly I don't know what happened to it, think it stayed at the school as it was part of a display of stuff we kids did. I also used to crochet irish rose squares and made needle cases for my nans, think one of them may still be in existance. It's sad but when I was in my 20s we didn't think about keeping hold of things, it all appeared to be junk back then! Many a thing has ended up discarded over the years. Wouldn't dream of throwing these things out now, they are part of our history, what made us into the adults we become.

Anyway I digress, on one of my thrifty trips with my Aunt when they were over we picked up a 1950s crochet pattern for a baby's hooded cape which had a lovely stitch on it. My Aunt is a very talented lady and has just made her first 'reborn' baby and it is amazingly life like! And she makes all the clothese for them herself, hence the pattern.

I loved how her cape was turning out but didn't necessarily need one, so I thought I would have a go at making a babies blanket for my mum, no she's not expecting, gosh that would be shocking! She loves baby dolls and has two of them in a moses basket that rocks, what can I say, she's special my mum ;o)

Here's a peek at what I've done so far.....

I think it's turning out rather well, am liking this stitch alot. I can feel a couple of cushions coming on for my bedroom. Am hoping to have it done by the weekend, ambitious I know but can't seem to put it down!

Antique Irish Crochet

Since my last post I have been busy entertaining my aunt who is over from the states for a couple of weeks. We are all having such fun with craft things. She is extremely talented and until recently has been making miniature porcelain dolls and handmade clothing to 1/12th scale.

This work has proved too intricate for her now and she has moved into the world of reborn dolls, a craft to which her previous skills are easily transferred. She came over with this beautiful hand crocheted christening gown to finish and was talking about really wanting to do some antique irish rose crochet. So on to the world wide web I hopped in search of patterns, firstly I found a couple of sites that had some beautiful antique patterns that they sold on CD that were taken from their original pattern books, my aunt was sooo pleased with this find.

Further searching uncovered some sites that had kindly put up some intricate irish patterns that you could download for free, together with indepth instructions as the terminologies they used back then, some of these dated back to the late 1800s!! To say my aunt was excited was an understatement. Needless to say we are off out tomorrow to find some of the very fine thread she will need to start on the Irish Baby Bonnet pattern.

http://www.antiquecrochetpatterns.com/baby-bonnet.html