New Flickr Groups

Good morning! It's high time I got back into my online activities. To kick start this I've just created two gorgeous new groups over on Flickr. The first is one loop ahead, a showcase for all the best in contemporary crochet and knit culture. I hope to create a book from the best of the pool's submissions eventually, so in order to keep the standard as high as possible, it's an invite only group, but do let me know if you'd like to be considered for inclusion. Once the group takes off I may start a dedicated new blog to include artist interviews and features.


1. yippee sonia arrives home today, 2. Phydeaux Twist Cowl Honey Dijon redux, 3. more pincushions, 4. Petri dish No.3, 5. all together now, 6. Cinder, 7. the twins..., 8. megadoilyrug_pillows, 9. just say it like it is...

The second of my groups is button it, a place for all creative button enthusiasts. If you use buttons in your creative projects or just appreciate the beauty of a good button why don't you sign up.


1. Necklace of Buttons, 2. Buttons & Doilies, 3. Antique Mother Of Pearl Buttons, 4. a little wall vignette..., 5. For Button Phobia exhibition, 6. Violette talc box & treasure!, 7. altered envelopes, 8. sew-easy-close-up, 9. miss Evelyn...

Feeling creative again!

I seem to have a constant string of crochet projects on the go. I've just finished this little cushion for Leo's room, which seemed to take an age to do!



And I'm playing around with these buttons that I've just unearthed in a jar somewhere... but what to do with them?


Suggestions please. I'd love to string them into a necklace but haven't the faintest idea how to do it!

A Very Large Doily

I'm into doilies again... with not much else to do right now, except get married and wait for my baby to come, it's the perfect time-killer.


This is a whopping 17"/43cm across! Maybe I'll frame it.


And it is infact a lovely shade of mustard/chartreuse and not bogie-green as the pictures seem to portray :)


Pattern details on Ravelry.

Happy Christmas!!

A big thank you to all of you who have supported me and inspired me this year!! I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and New Year wherever you are...


1. The Real Beauty Of The Candy Cane...., 2. Waiting for Santa, 3. natural christmas sparkler, 4. xmas decoration, 5. Untitled, 6. looking..., 7. a small miracle..., 8. Baubles, 9. Block printing + embroidery / Estampado + bordado, 10. englar, 11. >>> PEACE <<<, 12. Snowflake Curtain, 13. wreath light, 14. white christmas, 15. Untitled, 16. -10°

expecting

I have to apologise for the extreme lack of activity on my blog in recent weeks. Now I can finally share the reason with the whole world... I'm pregnant! And for the past 5 weeks or so I have spent most of my time looking down the toilet. I'm starting to finally feel a bit human again...

It's been a struggle for us. I was told in May 2008 that I had started my menopause (at 39!!) and there wasn't a hope of me producing my own eggs. So we started on the long and financially crippling road of IVF and egg donation. The third attempt worked and thankfully all is going well. I realise we are incredibly lucky - I've heard some real horror stories of 9 or 10 attempts and counting!!

So now I can focus a bit on the months ahead. One of my first baby projects will be this beautiful mobile from spool.


You can select the pattern for the bird under their 'Free Pattern' menu on the left.




And I love this Lizzy House fabric from A Fabric Outlet


I'm going to try and be a bit more productive here from now on, so see you very soon!

November inspiration

It's been a while since I posted a mosaic of my Flickr faves, but here's a little warming collection now the nights are drawing in. And Mosaic Maker just got a whole lot more user-friendly!

(click on image to super-size)


1. Vintage Notions, 2. Some Vintage Finds, 3. My bedroom (and Emiliano), 4. 100 yards., 5. etsy, chickens & me..., 6. vintage mugs, 7. snippets of color..., 8. Green Pincushion, 9. bada bing, 10. ||, 11. Firki, 12. living, 13. red stripes, 14. Untitled, 15. Assorted nuts, 16. sage

spotlight on... Emma Lamb

One of my most favourite of blog friends and goddess of granny chic is the one and only Emma Lamb. I'm sure many of you are getting to know her name as she is deservedly appearing everywhere lately and slowly taking the yarn world by storm with her cushions and potholders. Which all have fantastic granny names like Audrey and Doris by the way!



Her sense of colour is outstanding and her work is so exquisitely executed... just get a load of those granny squares!!



And I just love all the beautiful little details too...




Emma runs some amazingly inspirational groups on Flickr too including .knit.solid.yarn., granny chic... and all colours in... which are definately worth a look over a cuppa. All this along with a day job as a textile designer - I really don't know how she fits it all in! But I'm glad she does. Here's to you Emma!

trying to cope

I just have way too much on my plate right now to blog properly, so sorry for the sporadic posts. I am desperately trying to motivate myself and not let myself slide into depression, and job-hunting like crazy. I have one or two issues in my life which make this a slightly more complicated task for me than for others, but I won't bore you with that right now.
One thing I am trying to figure out is what to do with my crochet skills, money-making wise, but I just keep staring at my hooks. I hope the lightbulb in my head will come on soon... in the meantime, a few shots from my workspace. And all inspirational, motivational comments/stories are most welcome!




And a BIG thank you to all of you who replied to my previous post... you really did make me smile :)

Home Spun

There's not much I miss about England, but I do miss events like this. If I were there now I would do my best to attend this years Home Spun fair in Cornwall, followed by a large cream tea!


And such a pretty shop too...

one hot hooker

It's 42 degrees here, but... I'm still crocheting... very slowly... with wool!! Just putting a companion together for my Granny Square cushion below...



There is a great tutorial for larksfoot stitch here.

it's not supposed to be difficult

I seem to be spending way too much time making this damn cushion cover. Apart from procrastinating for weeks over the perfect colour combo.. which I'm now pretty sure is right... I just seem to need so many squares to cover one side of a 50x50 cushion pad. Twenty-five infact!

And I could never quite 'get on' with granny squares personally. They were never quite cushy enough - I've got round that by doing 4 dcs instead of 3. And I hate the way that (well, mine anyway) kind of start 'skewing' once you get past a certain number of rounds. I block them of course - slowly, one by one.

So I've gone for the 'many-small-squares-joined-together' option.

But then there's the joining together. Took me another couple of days just to figure out which kind of join I like best. But I think I like my single crochet ridge the best.

I still haven't decided how to back this yet. Another side of crochet or backed with fabric?? Decisions, decisions... it might be ready in time for Christmas...

super simple hexagon

While I love my regular hexagons, I do find them a bit tiresome after a while and by the 4th chain round (of 5 rounds) I'm usually reaching for the kettle for a wee break. But these whip up in minutes and have only 3 rounds! They work in a very similar way to a granny square, but are much prettier I think.


So, here it is as promised... my Super Simple Hexagon! It's a short pattern so I'm posting the full instructions here, but you can also download it in printable form here.


There is no copyright on this... please feel free to use it for whatever you want! But a little credit and a link back to here would really make me smile! So, now on with the pattern:

Abbreviations Cl St = Cluster Stitch: YO and pull a loop through ring, YO and pull through 2 loops on hook (3 times), YO and pull through all 4 loops on hook.

Pattern written in US English. (because it’s what I’m used to)

Ch 5, join with a sl st to form ring.

Round 1 Ch2, yo and pull a loop through, [3 loops on hook], yo and pull through 2 loops [2 loops on hook], yo and pull a loop through [4 loops on hook], yo and pull through 2 loops [3 loops on hook], yo and pull through all 3 loops on hook, ch2, (cl st, ch 2 into ring) 5 times. Join to top of first cluster with a sl st and fasten off. Pull central thread gently to close ring. [6 cl st and 6 ch2 spaces]

Join in new yarn. Don't forget to work in your ends as you go!

Round 2 Pull yarn through next ch2 space, ch2, (yo and pull a loop through, yo and pull through 2 loops) twice, yo and pull through all 3 loops, ch2, cl st in same space, ch2, *(cl st, ch2, cl st, ch2) all in next space*, repeat from * to * 4 more times, join to top of first cluster with a sl st and fasten off. [12 cl st and 12 ch2 spaces]

Join in new yarn.

Round 3 Pull yarn through next ch2 space, ch3, 2dc in same space, *(3dc, ch2, 3dc) all in next ch2 space, 3dc in next chain space*, repeat from * to * 4 more times, 3dc, ch2, 3dc in final ch2 space, join to top ch of first ch3 and fasten off. [18 3dc groups and 6 ch2 spaces]

You can join your hexagons in whichever way you want. Alex at Moonstitches has quite a good method for joining as you go. Otherwise, you could stitch them all together at the end with a contrasting yarn, which looks lovely.

Do let me know if there is anything you don't understand or if you find any mistakes. Other than that, I'd love to see what you do with it!

too much talent

OK... let's kick off the inspiration side of things. Flickr is a hotbed of talent and I always try to spend a few minutes a day there. I have developed some wonderful contacts through it and hopefully some life-long friends too! Here is just a tiny taster of what can be seen on my favourites pages... more to follow.

1. Doilies on the stair. And Papu!, WIP, 2. Untitled, 3. Buttons & Doilies, 4. vintage threads, 5. 09:25, 6. Step by step guide to doily invite, 7. Dancers without foot in Aqua, 8. pinky dinky doo, 9. Voodoo Pierre, 10. close proximity, 11. Untitled, 12. sketch 18th march: a little more than I had bargained for..., 13. Spools, 14. project about senses, 15. Bird-speak, 16. flowers and grannies...