New loves – Crochet

I have decided to do a series of posts on crafts I have picked up whilst I’ve been away and not blogging. I thought I’d start with crochet. I only started crocheting at the beginning of the year and I am completely hooked! (Sorry, I never get tired of that pun!)

I’ve always liked crochet but for some reason thought it was something I would never be able to do. I suppose it’s because I have always associated it with knitting and the one time I tried knitting was disastrous – I was so uncoordinated with the needles and ended up in a grumpy impatient mess!Then earlier this year I noticed that a new crafts venue near where I live was offering drop in crochet and knitting on a Wednesday. So I headed to The Create Place and Marie gave me my first ever lesson in crochet. At first I found it so hard and couldn’t find a way to hold the hook that felt natural but eventually managed a couple of rows of single crochet. I was just getting used to that when Marie suggested I try a double crochet and then once I had mastered that a triple crochet. By the time I left that morning I was grinning wildly and I was clutching a square of purple crocheted yarn that I was insanely proud of......so proud in fact that it sat on my mantelpiece for about a month!

After that I was addicted – I went straight to the shops and bought some yarn and hooks and began trawling the internet for interesting (and simple projects) I could try.The first proper thing I made was the wrist warmers using the tutorial on the wonderful Attic24 blog.


These are coordinated to match a scarf I already have and were a really good beginner project. Plus they taught me a new stitch – half treble (which I call half double because I learnt the American terminology – v confusing!).


After that I was away and started work some circular cushion covers inspired by those in Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicki Trench. I couldn’t get the pattern in the book to work for me so with some more help from Marie I came up with these:

And in closeup:

At the same time as I was making the cushions I became obsessed with the idea of making some crochet bunting. There were loads of lovely bunting patterns about there (just look at this flickr gallery that Lucy from Attic24 put together) but there wasn’t anything that was exactly what I was looking for. In the end, after a lot of trial and error I came up with my own pattern and I’m really pleased with how it turned out.


I’m only giving you a sneak peak here as I was thinking I might do another post on the bunting and maybe even a tutorial if anyone is interested?

Finally, what would a crochet post be without a mention of granny squares! After a few months of crocheting I asked Marie to give me a lesson on granny squares. She showed me how to make a classic granny as well as her own pattern (similar to a sunburst pattern). I went away and this is what I came up with:


I was originally going to make them into a blanket but I decided a cushion would be better to start with! The cotton I used split really easily and it was going to be too frustrating to make the hundreds of squares I needed to make a blanket. Now I just need block these squares, attach them altogether and work out how to make a cushion cover…..that should be easy enough, right?!

I’ve actually already started on some squares for a blanket with different yarn but I think I’ve rambled on enough now so I’ll save that for another post!

Have any of you tried crochet? What patterns and crochet blogs do you like? I’m always on the lookout for new ideas!

Dotty xx

I’m back!

Hellllooooooo! Anyone out there?

I’m back! Finally! It’s been a while….and I’m sorry I left you for so long. Things got pretty complicated in my life for a while and I wasn’t very well. And then by the time things started to improve I’d got out of the habit of blogging.

Anyway, you don’t want to hear about that – you want to know all about the crafting! You’ll be pleased to hear that the lull in blogging wasn’t combined with a lull in crafting. In fact I think I’ve been doing more and more. I find making things very therapeutic and it has been very helpful in improving my health. I’ve carried on with sewing and monster making but I’ve also learned some new skills which I am looking forward to telling you about.

But, before all that, I wanted to talk about this post. I signed up for pay it forward AGES ago and started working away on my gifts for the people who had signed up. I had most of my gifts complete months (years!) ago and then things went a little bit downhill and the PIF project fell by the wayside. I feel really bad about it, especially as Beaky sent me such a lovely gift. So, before I started blogging again I wanted to make up for it and send my PIF gifts on and start with a clean slate. I managed to get hold of Sue from BeeDesigns and her gift is on its way as I write. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to get in touch with Sandra or Wilkie and both of their blogs seem to be defunct now :o( Guys, if you are out there then please get in touch…….

Right, that’s the business out of the way. Now for some sneaky previews of what I have been up to in my time away……

There’s crochet:

And fused glass:

Screenprinting:

And stained glass:

Patchwork:

And Tapestry:

And finally a spot of mosaic:

More detail in later posts…..

I’m looking forward to it.

Dotty xx

Hours of Stitching

I never thought tapestry would be my thing until I spied some beautiful designs by Emily Peacock. They are much more modern and funky than most of the tapestries out there. After some very heavy hinting I was given a set of two kits for my birthday to make a HUG and a KISS design (Picture is from Emily’s etsy site.):


So, since the summer I have been spending my spare hours quietly stitching away in front of the TV. And it has been a lot of hours! And finally something to show for it:

Although I made a few little errors along the way I am really pleased with the results. As the days (months!) passed my technique improved and I’m hoping KISS will turn out a bit neater! I also found it a very relaxing craft and once I got in "the zone" I could stitch away for ages - very therapeutic!

One down and one to go! Next to start work can’t wait to get the KISS tapestry finished too….

I haven’t decided what to do with the tapestries once they are both finished. Emily shows them made into cushions on her website but I think they might get damaged too quickly in my flat (I have a propensity for throwing red wine around the place!). I am thinking of getting them framed and putting them above the doors as they are just the right size for that. Anyway, if it takes me as long to complete KISS as it did to do HUG I have a few more months to worry about it yet….!

Dotty xx

The Pig of Happiness

Latest Monster!

Thought you guys might like a quick peek at my latest monster creation.

There haven't been many monsters recently so I was pretty pleased when I came up with this scary fella. He was actually created to be one of my PIF gifts but my mum saw him and has claimed it for herself! Aaarrggghhhh - back to work!

Dotty xx

PS. I am starting a photography course this week so hopefully we'll see an improvement in my pics!

Its been a long time.....

Hellllooooooo! Anyone still there? Its been a long time since I wrote my last post....a very long time! Sorry! Its been a bit of a strange summer but I'm back!

I lost my crafting mojo for a while and motivation was at an all time low but something has finally happened to kick me back into gear. A lovely package arrived on my doorstep. And what was in this lovely package I hear you cry. These beautiful things:

Look at those pretties sent to me by the lovely Bonita of Beaky Crafts. Aren't they gorgeous? The little Russian Doll is lavender scented and oh so cute. The felt ball bracelet is almost permanently on my wrist and the cute little crotchet daffodil brooch is pinned to my black coat ready to brighten up my winter.

My dodgy camera can't really do them justice - check out Bonita's shops on etsy and folksy for some much better shots!

Thank you so much Bonita :o) I have two reasons to say thank you - first for the lovely PIF gifts and secondly for giving me a kick and making me feel like a spot of crafting again! The people who signed up for my PIF gifts will be pleased to know that i am nearly finished making my gifts (finally! sorry guys!) and they will be winging their way to you shortly - I am setting myself an absolute deadline of the end of September.

Right - time to get back to crafting!

Say CHEESE!!

I do like a bit of cheese. Well, more than a bit actually, often a lot! And on everything.... But I'm trying to cut down so had to feed my addiction another way. A few months ago I decided that I simply MUST make a pin cushion that looked like a block of cheese. Once I had the idea in my head I couldn't rest until my creation was complete and ta-da:


Oh dear....not good, not good at all! Not really how I envisioned it! I showed it to my mum, who said, and I quote: "Ooooh that's nice, love the colours. Erm, what is it?" What is it? WHAT IS IT???!!! It doesn't even look like cheese when I put it on a plate with crackers and grapes.

At that point I had to admit that it didn't really look like a piece of cheese at all. It was too curvy. But I couldn't rest until I had my perfect felty piece of cheese, there must be a way to make it work, I couldn't embark on anything else until it was done! (Hmmm....maybe I am a bit stubborn and should learn to admit defeat...)

Some head scratching, felt snipping, bondawebbing and blanket stitching later I thought I might have cracked it:

What do you think? Much better I think (hope?!) you'll agree. Almost good enough to eat!

Although I have no idea what to do with the original....a similar thing happened on my quest for giant liquorice allsorts but I think that is a story for another day!

Dotty xx