Knit Relief...

So, Knit Relief has arrived and all items are up on Ebay for everyone to bid on, all the lovely hand-made goodies and helping charity at the same time..

I have donated two of my crocheted bird decorations, so I would be grateful if you guys could check them out and have a bid too!!

A great number of crafters have put forward their creations, and dedicated some of their precious time, to help raise money for charity. There are a great variety of items, from fun toys, to fashion and home accessories, so there is something for everyones taste.



(Kermit by Louise Campbell, Bag by Mhairi Gillespie, Raincloud by Emma Pooley, Meercats by Addie Beckwith and Hat by Jenny Howard)

Follow the link below, and see what items you fancy having a bid on, see if you get to be a lucky winner and help the Sport Relief charity along the way!

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/knitrelief

Last week I completed the 'crochet birdies' that I am donating to 'Knit relief'. I experimented and tried something different with them. Rather than just completing a filled circle for the body, I tried open granny circles.

I am very pleased with the results, and with the fresh, bright colours used i think these make lovely decorations for the spring.

On March the 15th (10 days before Sport Relief) The Knit Relief eBay auction is going to begin! Check out Scarlys blog for details of the ebay auction, and to see a selection of the items which have been entered.
http://teenagegranny.blogspot.com

For my next project, I wanted to try something new, so i found a pattern on Etsy that i fancied having a go at.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ATERGcrochet
Check out her shop.
I was impressed with the fun, funky and colourful creations, and chose to give the little owl a go.

So far ive completed the belly and im looking forward to seeing how it turns out, and Im making this creation for me to keep...

Check back soon to see how the completed owl looks....

A flock of Crochet Birdies...

We managed to have a few days off of work to re-charge our batteries and take some time out. We originally planned to go away, but with the cost, half term falling at that time and unsettled weather we decided against it!  Other than a day trip to Staines basically we had a load of PJ days!!

It did mean that as we settled ourselves in front of the tv for a dvd fest, it meant I was able to pick up the old crochet hook again!

I did have 2 works in progress, which I had been working on leading up to Valentines, and that was 2 ' Love birds '. A continuation from previous hanging bird decorations - I took it a step further and made them a little larger so I could add some heart wings shaped wings !!

I had every intention when I made these to write out a pattern to post on here, but I found it was'nt that simple. As I work free-hand and don't follow a pattern, I don't have a set amount of stitches in each round, so each bird is unique. I tend to go by the look and feel as they grow, dependent on thickness and texture of yarn. I add in or take out stitches where necessary, so they just take their own form. So my next task will be when knitting a new birdie will be to make a note of what i'm actually doing, so hopefully on the next post i will be able to have a pattern available...

I also made 2 more smaller birdies, and have started to add a scalloped edge, as this gives it a nice finish. It is fun making these little creatures as they take on a life of their own, dependant on the colourway and the decorative materials used to embellish them. This means they don't get monotonous to make, although the smaller amount of sewing involved the better for me !

I'm hoping to try doing some flowers soon, firstly it will continue my on-going crochet learning plus I can do some bird and flower combinations in the future especially with Spring around the corner *she adds with hope!

Another exciting venture which is around the corner is "KNIT RELIEF". This is the brainwave of Scarly the founder of 'twitknitclub'. The concept is for club members and any other 'craft maker' can enter their hand-made items and in turn these will be auctioned off on Scarly's facebook page on 15 March and all proceeds will go to charity. So I will be putting forward a couple of Birdies for this. So check back soon for updates and see how you can get involved ...

crochet - hearts, circles, squares...

Well this week has been all about 'crochet'. Knitting seems to have been put on hold for the moment, as crochet has become totally addictive!!

I've tried more shapes out of my book (see previous post). I've done a square, with a circular centre,

 and then adapted the pattern to make a smaller versions

I've also completed some circles again, as i want to make so more 'Bird' decorations... These are in a rich combination of reds, pinks and purples, as i want to make them into "love birds", and i will crochet some mini hearts for their wings, so watch this space for the finished outcome...

On a personal front, the sofa that we ordered on Boxing day arrived. It was a bit of an ordeal, the two of us trying to get the old one out and down the stairs to the garage. It was a major struggle to get it through the lounge door, which then had me worried whether the new one would fit in, but the experts made it look easy!!

So we now have a bright red, lovely squishy sofa to brighten up our room...

work in progress...

As mentioned in my previous post, not a whole lot of crafting has been accomplished in the past month!
I'm still continuing with my pastal skinny crochet scarf, which has grown substantially, and I've finally managed to purchase the last ball required to complete the purple/green scarf.

In recent days I have got into learning more crochet skills, especially with seeing some beautiful pictures of Granny squares that have been uploaded, it compelled me even more to have a go... Again, I've hit some issues along the way, but after some practice attempts I learnt from my mistakes and feel pleased when i've finally mastered it.

This leads me on to one of my recent purchases...
A book of both knitted and crocheted shapes, which includes not only squares, but circles, hexagons, snowflakes and hearts etc...

There are so many great shapes I couldn't wait to make a start. So with Valentines not far away I chose a heart shape to get me started, and now I've started, I don't want to stop!

My second purchase, were some sea-grass storage boxes which we found in the sale. We had been looking for a solution for containing all my yarn and makes, so they didn't completely take over the living room, and these are perfect, and so much more stylish!

last year catch up...

We are well into the New Year, and my poor Blog has been totally abandoned for over a month...
Do I have an excuse - well yes! Firstly, working in retail, you hardly have time to draw breath at Christmas, let alone have spare time, and secondly I was not well over the period, and am still stuck with the persistant cough!
So, for a quick re-cap. I won't spend too long, as it all seems quite out of date now!

Firstly, our Christmas cake was a resounding success, and was complemented by family members who actually got to try some. We are looking forward to trying out different styles in the future, and may even advance to decorating them.

I had some amazing presents. Hubby and I had the exact same idea and got each other mountain bikes, not exactly the easiest of things to hide from each other!

I got a great 'crafting' lap tray, which will hopefully limit the amount of bits I seem to lose down the sides of the sofa!!

Plus bits for the kitchen, dvd's and games - in all a great haul :)

Unfortunately we were lacking in any New Year celebrations, due to us both being ill !!!

The major downside has been the lack of energy to even get on with any type of crafting, so all projects have literally been on hold.

On a positive note, looking back over last year, and what I've learnt, I'm pretty proud of myself. Having been advised by Jess @tailor-made-dance, who suggested I use twitter and blogging as a way of promoting my folksy store. I was unaccustomed to either and being a bit of a technophobe, there have been some frustrations along the way, but it's been a great learning curve. I've surprised myself with how far I've come...
Also, another major achievement has been to teach myself the basics crochet. This is something I've wanted to learn for a long time, but didn't know anyone who could teach me - and patterns just looked like a different language! Again, thanks to technology and the videos posted on youtube I've got the hang of the basic stitches and I'm advancing all the time...

So, for the year ahead I'm sure there will be plenty more learning. My main aim is to achieve some sales, and I'm sure I'll feel very proud when that 1st sale happens. I will also continue to expand my crafting knowledge and become more adept at crochet, as I'm enjoying it so much...

And who knows what other skills I may pick up along the way !!

work in progress - birds, scarves and cakes...

So its been 2 weeks since my last work in progress update...and i seem to have a few projects on the go!
Firstly, i have completed the robins which i posted last time, they have now had their tails added, and are up for sale on Folksy (click on link to see my store)

I wanted to update my store, and as Folksy had had a make-over i needed to get a new shop banner. As i am a complete technophobe, i got someone to design one for me and im very pleased with the results and adds a proffesional touch to the store...



I have started knitting a new scarf, which will be lovely and thick, snuggly and warm, in colours of greens and purples, i may in fact have trouble letting that one go!!

I am just waiting to buy 1 more ball, when its back in stock, before i can finish it. With this one i tried out a new stitch, a drop stitch passed on from Tisha (thanks for that!),, and was so quick and easy!

Another scarf i have on the go is not knitted but crocheted! This is a first for me, and im excited about completing my first large crochet project, as i only started to teach myself a few months back...

At the weekend, me and Hubby attempted to make our very first Christmas cake. It was great fun and exciting to do, recipe again passed on from 'the fountain of knowledge' Tisha. As it took so long to cook, the hardest thing, was sit there, whilst the gorgeous smells wafted in from the kitchen!

So the next couple of weekends we will get the marzipan and icing done....
So be sure to check back in, to see how the finished cake turns out.......