Granny Christmas Stars

Over the last few days I've become slightly addicted to making these crochet granny stars. Since I discovered the pattern on Jelly Wares blog (via this post on Paisley Jade) I've been crocheting them every spare moment!


They are really quick and satisfying to make and I am planning to hang them on the tree once I have blocked them with some PVA glue. I might even add some glitter if I'm feeling particularly festive!!

I made the smaller stars by missing out the last round of the pattern and in the second round replacing the half double crochet with a single (this will make sense if you look at the pattern).

My original plan was to make crochet snowflakes for the tree. I even bought these books for that purpose. Unfortunately it turns out I don't have the patience for the snowflakes - they take FOREVER! I don't mind all the fiddly bits on the first or even second branch of the snowflake but by the third and fourth I get grumpy!! I've started about five snowflakes and haven't managed to finish one yet! If you want to see some beautiful crochet snowflakes from the book then check out these posts from someone who has a lot more patience than me!

Maybe I'll have enough patience to attempt snowflakes next year but for the moment I'm pretty happy with my cute little granny stars!

Crochet Cowl Workshop

There's not been nearly enough time for crafting in the DottyHouse recently - I am taking a psychology course and my first essay is due on Thursday (eeek!) so a lot of my spare time has been concentrated on that. I love the course but I haven't written an essay for years so its taken me a while to get my head round the whole thing! However I did manage to fit in a bit of crochet on a Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago.

My local craft studio, the Create Place was running an afternoon course to learn how to make a crochet cowl so I thought I'd pop along. Lisa (our teacher), the other student and I had a lovely afternoon chatting away and learning how to make Lisa's crochet cowl design (hopefully coming to a bookshop near you fairly soon!). I'm not sure there's a better way to spend an afternoon! We were using chunky wool and so the design came together pretty fast - a few hours in the class and a couple more at home and I was left with this beast:

Its HUGE and really snuggly.I really like the way it can be worn in so many ways - long like a scarf, across the shoulders, one end tucked inside the other or doubled round to keep my neck super warm. I'm a bit disappointed it hasn't been cold enough to wear it since I finished making it!!

I really like working with the chunky yarn and larger hook size (it was a size 10). It meant that the cowl came together really fast so there was a real sense of achievement plus it didn't hurt my hand and turn it into a claw like some of the smaller hooks can do!

I'm not sure if you can see from the picture but the yarn is an interesting mix of colours - from a distance it looks grey but close up there are hints of pink, turquoise and green. You might be able to see it on this picture better even though its a little blurry:

I wasn't sure about the yarn to start with but it has really grown on me. It is Wendy Serenity Super Chunky which is 10% wool, 20% alpaca and 70% acrylic. I think the colour is called thistle. I've bought another ball to make the matching wrist warmers. Which I am looking forward to starting on as soon as I finish that bloomin' essay!!

Hope you have a lovely week xx

Crochet Toadstool

I've been getting overwhelmed by the size of my crochet blanket project so I decided to work on a couple of smaller crochet projects that I could finish quickly - sometimes you need to bask in the satisfied glow of a finished piece! First up, a crochet toadstool! I found this pattern on the lovely Annaboo's house blog and as soon as I saw it I knew I wanted to make it!

This is my first attempt at amigurumi and it wasn't as tricky as I expected! Apart from a short break because I ran out of red yarn it all went pretty smoothly. I think I lost count of my stitches a couple of times but the pattern was pretty forgiving and it all seemed to work out OK in the end!


As you can see here I used crocheted circles the spots for the toadstool top. The pattern uses beads and crochet to decorate the stem of the toadstool which looks gorgeous however I decided to put a classic amigurimi face on mine instead as I have been waiting to use the eyes I bought for ages! The smile is a bit wonky but I think my toadstool looks pretty cute! I am really pleased with him and am enjoying having him smiling down on me from the mantelpiece!

I think I must have a bit of a thing about mushrooms and toadstools. As soon as I saw the crochet toadstool pattern I knew I wanted to make it and looking round my house I have been drawn to mushrooms in the past. There were the felt mushrooms I posted about way back in 2009:

These were one of the first things I made when I started crafting again.


And then, earlier this year I decided to mosaic some mushrooms for my garden (I say garden - its more of a step!)

These were some cheap ceramic garden ornaments which I thought would be greatly improved by covering them in mirror and turning them into disco mushrooms! They haven't actually ever made it out onto the step (apart from for the photo shoot!) and are still languishing in my fireplace.

So, I think we can conclude from this that I have a slight mushroom obsession! There must be more mushroom crafts out there..... Oooooh - a quick google search suggests that yes, indeed there are....I shall have to get to work!

Happy Sunday xxxx

Patchwork Scottie Dog

Hello there! More pink patchwork today I'm afraid....!

I fell in love with this pattern for a patchwork scottie when I saw it on Denyse Schmidt's website.
The pattern is based on an old traditional pattern and it says on the website: "We're not sure where the pattern originated, but it probably appeared in a very popular women's magazine (due to the proliferation of Scotties out there), possibly around the 1940’s."

I'm actually fairly sure my Grandma helped me make one of these when I was little so seeing it was a bit of a blast from the past for me. I couldn't wait for an opportunity to try it again. I decided to make one (using my extensive stash of pink materials) for my friend's daughter's 4th birthday. Here's what I came up with:

And the other side:

Cute eh? I'm really pleased with how he turned out and don't really want to give him away! He's been sitting on the sofa for a while now and I've got used to him being there - I'm going to miss him! I'll just have to make another one for me!

If you want to check out more patchwork scotties there's even a flickr group devoted to them here.

Dotty xx

PS. This scottie and I are getting up very early (4am eeek!) tomorrow and travelling to Germany to go and visit my friend. I won't be around for a little while but look forward to catching up with all your blogs when I get back!

PPS. I know it seems like I go on holiday loads but I don't really!! Just happened to have two short trips in September!

Other People's Projects Post #2

Time for another look at something I've made using a free pattern or tutorial donated by a generous blogger. This project comes from Alice at the fab blog futuregirl. She has some great free tutorials and three free pattern downloads. I chose to make this one but I am also planning to make the other two - a seahorse and a set of four supercute sea creatures.

The pattern is really well written and easy to follow. So may I present my very own Sigmund the Octopus:

I love him sooo much. He's so cute and he fits in the palm of my hand - much more delicate than most of the things I usually make. He currently nestles in one of the plants on my windowsill and gives me a little shock every morning when I open the curtains. I used a really bright piece of felt which I had been saving for something special - you can't really tell from the picture but he is so luminous he practically glows in the dark!

There is also a flickr group with photos for other people who'd used the patterns. I'm going to upload mine too. You should definitely check it out - particularly for the Christmas tree with 99 octopuses on!

I think I'm going to make the sea creatures next and make them into a mobile. Thanks for the fab downloads Alice :o)

Dottyxx

Other People's Projects Post: Number 1

When I first stopped working and got back into crafts I started reading lots of other people's crafty blogs (some of these blogs are listed in my sidebar although I do need to update it bacause I keep finding more and more fab blogs). There is so much great stuff out there and people are so generous with their ideas, many of them offering free tutorials and patterns. I've learnt a lot from following these tutorials and made some lovely things. I thought it might be worth sharing some of them here so this is my first........drumroll please.........Other People's Project Post!! I may have to start calling it OPPP for short - it takes too long to type!

First up a fab tutorial to make mushrooms and toadstools from a lovely blog called The Little House by the Sea.

The tutorial is great, really easy to follow. And look what I made:

I skipped the part with the embroidery on the stalks because I wanted to make mine more simplistic (and more importantly my emboidery is rubbish!) but you should have a look at the emboidered ones. So beautiful! I also had to alter mine slightly because the white felt I used was a bit too cheap and got all stretched when I turned the caps the right way round - easily fixed by adding an extra ring of white felt and I'm actually quite happy with the effect.

There is also a flikr group with photos for other people who'd used the patterns. I've just uploaded mine too.

This is another mushroom I made using the pattern. Its almost exactly the same but I put the stitching on the outside of the cap and used an old cotton reel to stabilise it.

Next time I'm going to have a go at the embroidery on the stalk.

Dotty xx