Thursday 22 May 2014

Guys, I crochet now.

 

So over the past few weeks crochet has become a thing in my house. It started off when mum found a pattern for making a bag from crocheted plastic bags, we started it and promptly ran into problems. I decided to find some regular yarn and practise with that. I couldn't do that either...so I went back to the beginning and started making scraps consisting of different stitches until I got the hang out of it. Then the idea of the plastic bag bag seemed dull, so I started looking for other patterns....and that was that.

I now have a new obsession, a whole pile of yarn waiting to be used, and a burning desire to increase the stash. My standard Pinterest search involves crochet patterns and/or dream yarn collections. Imagine just being able to go and find the exact colour and weight you want...drool.

Here are a few of the things I've been making, some are from patterns in books, some came out of my brain and so don't have a pattern written down.

These were made for my parents' anniversary (39 years, woo!) to live in their campervan, Harvey. This was the zig zag stripes pattern from "200 crochet flowers, embellishments & trims" by Claire Crompton, found on sale at HobbyCraft. This was the first time I tried carrying the yarn up the side, and man am I a fan. I didn't for the first couple and weaving in that amount of ends is BORING.

These were another Harvey present, this time a suggestion from mum from "Handmade Glamping" by Charlotte Liddle & Lucy Hopping. These were a lot of fun to make, I do love a chance to use a sewing machine, even if it is only for a circle.

Don't blink.

Here's Lynsey's birthday present, she's a huge Doctor Who fan. Pinterest came up trumps with this wonderful blog post from Crochetbot3000 on making a Weeping Angel. I made it and passed it on to Nich to pass onto the birthday girl, then realised I hadn't taken any photos and asked her to send me a couple. I then got this message...

"So, was going to take a picture of your Angel but then realised that an image of an angel becomes an angel so....."

I lol'd.

These little fellas were a gift for my sister in law, Sara's, birthday and were inspired by this pin and were my very first foray into using my own knowledge to make a pattern. It was very exciting! The body was made using some brilliant textile yarn I got from HobbyCraft. It's beautifully soft, perfect for cuddlies. It was on sale which is brilliant, but does make me worry it will disappear. I've already been back for more once, will have to hope it hangs around for awhile. If you see Rico Fashion Summer Print grab some. Or, equally, grab some for me. I'm happy to receive donations. The fabric came from the wonder that is my mum's sewing room, it's like we have our very own haberdashery in the back room.

I hope the people in my life are starting to appreciate that their presents from now on are likely to be in the form of fancy knitted string. This is Tom's birthday present, an iPod holder. He is another huge Doctor Who fan, and I had originally intended on making him a Tardis version, but if didn't have the right blue, or the time to go get the right blue. So I thought about other things Tom likes, and ingeniously decided to make him an Inspector Spacetime case instead.

 

Now I'm planning for my little Susie's birthday, pondering what I could do for Joe's, and then making up a stash of things for presents or to sell. Having enough knowledge to be able to create the shapes in my brain is amazing, and I'm loving looking for inspiration! I desperately want to make a blanket, but the money for that amount of yarn is not forthcoming. One day!

Stephie

Xxx

I've done what I can to attribute any patterns from other people here, the others are made by me, so similarities will be because that's what you have to do to make that shape happen. These things have been given as gifts, not sold. Just saying.