Finished!

I completed my first commission!

They took so long to make because I had to figure out the pattern for the medium and small babushkas as I was crocheting them and I kept making mistakes. Also, I was halfway through making the large blue one when I found out that I had been using a crochet hook one size too small. These are the tags that went with them:

hurrah for craft shopping!

The other day I visited Spotlight the other day and these are the goodies that I picked up:

Grey felt, calico and some gorgeous mushroom fabric,

two balls of Yarn Bee Down to Earth (55% acrylic and 45% cotton)

which I have already started knitting up into a new project,

(more when it is finished),

and some buttons.

Love love love craft shopping :)

No elves, but there's a shoemaker!

Okay, that was a little corney. But I really have been making shoes!

This pair is made from acrylic felt in grey and greyish blue, embroidery thread and pink ribbon.

And this pair is made from blue wool felt, white acrylic felt, embroidery thread and two red buttons.

My mum requested them for a colleague who had not had her baby at the time, but who is now about two months old! Thank the lord I made the larger size. The pattern I used was Heather Bailey's Bitty Booties. This is a great and easy to follow pattern, and I would recommend visiting Heather's blog. It's pretty. Also, if you want to learn how to make yo-yos, she has a great tutorial for you to follow.

Little babushka doll

So this is the little (but not littlest!) babushka doll that I made as part of the set:

And next to Mama babushka!

This is just two thirds out of one of three sets I have to finish by Christmas. So I better get that hook flying so they're finished in time!

New and improved babushka doll

How is it improved?

The body is larger




The shaping is different and



The embroidery is more detailed.



The only problem is that I took these pictures, then realised that I hadn't added any eyelashes yet. The good news is that there will be more pictures soon as I just finished a smaller sized replica of the same doll.

I've been managing to finish quite a few projects lately. Maybe its the transition of seasons from winter to summer that is so inspiring. Whatever the reason, October has been "finish projects before you start new ones" month. And I challenge everyone else to do the same. So go on, for every new project you start, complete at least one old one!

Deer baby

This is one of my favourite critters- a little baby deer. It's been sitting half completed on my desk for months and the other day I finally motivated myself to finish it.

This little guy is made with brown felt, some of my favourite apple printed fabric and is sporting a hand knitted bright blue scarf.

I also wanted to share with you this scarf that I made for myself a while ago, photographed and then promptly lost the photos for:

I was thinking about including the free pattern for it here- what do you think?

Meet Oliver and Harper

Wow! Actual completed craftiness on my blog! A doodle, a couple of hours, some corduroy, fabric and yarn and a whole lot of embroidery thread later and I had a couple of new friends to share.

This is Oliver. He likes books, chocolate biscuits and whistling. Oliver was kinda my prototype and after finishing him, I just had to make another.....

.........and this is Harper. Harper likes Gregory Peck movies, listening to music and thick fluffy carpets.

I've been quite good lately in that I have been actually finishing projects that I have started. Also completed are a (modified) babushka doll and a deer. Those I'll share in the next couple of days.

It was my birthday yesterday too. Happy birthday to anyone who shared theirs yesterday also or today!

Free Pattern #2

Hurrah! Another free pattern! This time it’s a hat. It reminds me of when we were young.

Whimsical Hat

Materials:

- 5 mm crochet hook
- DK/ Worstered/ 8 ply yarn. I used Pallette Collection (155 m/ 170 yd, 50 g per ball) a 100% acrylic yarn in Sage ( available for 99c at K- Mart in Oz)
- A stitch marker or scrap of yarn to do the same job
- A small wooden button for the centre of the flower
- Yarn needle

EDIT- The following are US crochet abbreviations. The UK equivalents for slip st, sc and dc are sc, dc and tr respectively. Sorry about that!

Abbreviations:

ch= chain
sc= single crochet
dc= double crochet

yrh= yarn over hook
inc= increase
st/s= stitch/es

Tension:
Approximately 21 sts by 25 rows per 4 inches/ 10 cm

Note on sizing:

This hat may be a bit on the large size as it is made to fit my unusually large head. The increases in the pattern should only be used as a guide, so what I would recommend is following the pattern until the top of the hat is as large as the top of your head. Then just stop increasing and single crochet for the specified amount of rows. Easy!

Copyright note:

Method:

Start by making a circle. Here’s how (hope these pictures are clear enough):

- Hold yarn with the tail in your right hand (sorry lefties!).

- Place yarn tail behind itself.


- Insert hook, yrh, draw yarn through then ch 1.


- sc 6 into circle, then pull on the yarn tail to draw the hole closed tight.



Place stitch marker to mark start of round, replacing at the start of every subsequent round.

Round 2- inc in each st (12 sts).
Round 3- (sc 1, inc in next st) to end (18 sts).
Round 4- (sc 2, inc in next st) to end (24 sts).
Round 5- (sc 3, inc in next st) to end (30 sts).
Round 6- (sc 4, inc in next st) to end (36 sts).
Round 7- (sc 5, inc in next st) to end (42 sts).
Round 8- (sc 6, inc in next st) to end (48 sts).
Round 9- (sc 7, inc in next st) to end (54 sts).
Round 10- (sc 8, inc in next st) to end (60 sts).
Round 11- (sc 9, inc in next st) to end (66 sts).
Round 12- (sc 10, inc in next st) to end (72 sts).
Round 13- (sc 11, inc in next st) to end (78 sts).
Round 14- (sc 12, inc in next st) to end (84 sts).
Round 15- (sc 13, inc in next st) to end (90 sts).
Round 16- (sc 14, inc in next st) to end (96 sts).
Round 17- (sc 15, inc in next st) to end (102 sts).
Round 18- (sc 16, inc in next st) to end (108 sts).
Round 19- (sc 17, inc in next st) to end (114 sts).
Round 20- (sc 18, inc in next st) to end (120 sts).

Sc in each st for 30 rounds.
You will now be crocheting the edging.
Working in front loops only- slip st, (ch 3, slip st) to end.
Working in back loops only- slip st, (ch 4, slip st) to end.

Finish off and weave in all ends.

Crocheted Flower:


Back-

Make a beginning circle as for the hat, leaving a long yarn tail which will be used later on to attach the flower to the hat.
Round 2- 2 ch, 13 dc, slip st and turn work.
Round 3- 2 ch, dc, (inc in next st) to end, slip st and turn work.
Round 4- 2 ch, (inc in next st, slip st) to end.

Finish off and weave in end.

Front-

Make a beginning circle as for the hat.
Round 2- 2 ch, 13 dc, slip st and turn work.
Round 3- 2 ch, (inc in next st, slip st) to end.

Finish off and weave in all ends.

Attach flower to hat using tail of yarn from the back of the flower.

And your finished!

How about trying some of these ideas to individualize your hat?

- Use a multicoloured and/ or glittery yarn to really make a statement.
- Forget about the crocheted edging and flower and work the hat in bold stripes of about five or six rows.
- Add a pompom or two!
- Or........add your own idea here!

Any problems? E-mail me! cookie.monster-36@hotmail.com

Guardian Angel knits...almost due!

Ugghh. Still sick. I hope I'm not infecting everything seeing as I've managed to cough over nearly every part of the house. Loving the Olympics though. I don't think I've ever watched so much television in one sitting. My favourites are the relays- always interesting to see who drops the baton...there's always one!- and the gymnastics- god they're talented. Sooooo, here is the fruit of my labour this morning:

Just a friendly reminder that your Guardian Angel pharmacy knits are almost due. I'm a bit disappointed that all I could produce was one beanie, but due to other commitments (i.e. distractions, i.e. wips, i.e. babushkas, etc.), plus what are actually relatively small and tricky stitches, that's all for this year. All garments still make a big difference though, and will keep a child warm this season. Again, if you want to find out more details (it's not too late!) go here where you will actually find the free pattern for the beanie, plus a matching scarf.

Now I'm off to clean my slippers after an unfortunate accident with some macaroni and cheese. Stay well!

LOADS of WIPs

You may have noticed that I love to take pictures outside. I reckon natural lighting is the best kind of lighting. Plus, I don't have any good inside lighting. Wow I just said lighting a lot of times. Anyways, here are just a few of my works in progress at the moment:

Group shot

New and improved babushka. How, may you ask? This one is a bigger and skinnier shape, taking a cue from babushkas such as this one.

Ohhh, sleepy babushka!

One of my favourite patterns, if I do say so myself. I loooove deers and fawns, and this one is no exception. Deer baby, more pictures when it is actually finished.

Heart decoration. I've kinda stuffed it up though because I've made it too big and not heart shaped enough. To get the shape, I just went onto Microsoft Word and used the heart Autoshape, but I don't think I'll be using it again.

And lastly, an elephant in the near future, perhaps?

Today is actually a sick day for me. I've got a horrible headache/cough which is restricting me to television and crochet *sigh*. But I'll leave you with a couple of outtakes, courtesy of Gypsey!