Friday 24 April 2009

Mobile Hangers

A few posts back I said I was going to experiment with baby mobiles. These are the first objects I've crocheted, I'm pretty pleased with them. I think a space themed mobile would be really nice over a little boy's crib (not that I'm stereotyping!).

Now I just need to fathom a method of hanging them.  Any ideas?
I now need some more stuffing before I can start on my other ideas. 

Also, I'm not sure it you've heard of One Pretty Thing it has daily ideas of things to make using all sorts of crafts. It's the kind of site that makes me want to stay at home and craft forever!

Thursday 23 April 2009

Crocheted Rabbit

I actually made this rabbit over Easter but never got round to posting the picture, he's entirely single crochet, I made the ears first and then work him downwards shaping it as I went along. When I first embroidered his face I thought he looked a little sinister, hence I've nicknamed him 'Evil Bunny' but to be fair he's actually quite cute.

Speaking of fluffy animals my dog now has a blog (yes, of course he can type) you can follow his adventures here.

Tuesday 21 April 2009

Normal Transmissions Will Now Be Resumed

I hope you all had a happy Easter! I've been away (hence the lack of wool related postings). I've been to Ayr in Scotland, as you can see the beaches were great! We got lots of walking done and managed to tire out the dog!
I've not done much with wool other than make another of the bags in my last post. I'm now on a mad crochet mission. I need to make my millions through yarn craft so I can spend my life walking on lovely beaches and visiting more remote castles in Scotland!

Thursday 9 April 2009

Granny Square Bag

This in one of my recent completed projects. It's a granny square bag which I crocheted using some rainbowy yarn I had going spare. It looks like it will be a nice beach bag.

Here's a close up which shows the squares a little better.
You can find the pattern here. It's easy to follow and I made it up over a couple of evenings, in fact sewing the bloody thing together took as long as it did to make the 24 squares you need to make it! 

Wednesday 8 April 2009

Crochet Project

I'm setting myself a crochet challenge, I've seen a lot of knitted mobiles a bit like this one. I want to try and crochet one but instead of birds I'm going to try and make a space-y one. I've bought some amazing primary coloured wool and am hoping to get some quality crafting done over the next few weeks as I'm on holiday!!

You've got to love Easter!

Thursday 2 April 2009

Summer Gypsy Wrap

As soon as I finished my knitted summer wrap the sun came out. It was so great to see blue sky for a change! Roll on summer!
I've always like the hippy-gypsy style and wanted to make a wrap which would be great for walking along the beach in the Mediterranean sunshine (not that I have a holiday booked yet this year). I'd also seen a lot of examples of knitting using different textures and thanks to my yarn addiction I have an awful lot of eyelash yarn to use.
I used big chunky needles (about 10mm) cast on about 80 stitches and simply started knitting in a colour. When I got bored of a colour and had reached the starting edge I used another complementing colour - I kept the lengths of yarn as a colourful fringing.
I stopped knitting and loosely bound off when I felt it was long enough. I'm really pleased with the result and am now trying to figure out how to best make a jumper in a similar way.

Wednesday 1 April 2009

Big Needles Little Interest

You can take that shit down now, it’s 12.30” say I, pointing to the savings rate board in my local bank.
Pardon” asks the cashier
0.35% on my Individual Savings Account down from 4.5%? I assume it’s some kind of April Fools joke.”

I didn’t say that, obviously but I have been seething all day. The government’s response to banking industry’s piss poor lending strategy over the last few years is to make it so that these complete numpties (who have borrowed 10 times their annual salaries to buy houses they can’t afford) get to pay back their debts at 2 pence a month. While I get absolutely nothing for being prudent and saving up while living in a bloody caravan instead of buying a house I can’t afford. It’s enough to make you want to withdraw all your money and stuff it in your mattress. We should all do that, that’ll screw them.

Away from fiscal matters I’ve finished my wrap. I tried to get the OH to take a picture of me yesterday in the sunshine but he seemed to want to place more emphasis on his motorbike in the back of the photo rather than the lovely wrap I’d spent 4 days making. Honestly, if you want anything doing right, do it yourself.

I’m now on the hunt for very thick knitting needles. I have a 1cm crochet hook but I find crocheting on that scale very confusing. I want some at least 15mm in diameter. I’ve found these wooden ones but can’t help wanting something a bit more colourful, exciting and possibly even bigger. I found these but can’t help thinking they look a bit rubbishy. I’ve also heard of Speed Stix but can’t find a UK stockist and there’s no way I’m paying import duty on knitting needles. The other option is to buy some dowel and try and make my own…