knit relief finale

So the Knit Relief items have been up for a week, and what a great response there has been! Well over a £1000 has been raised so far.
There are only 2 days left... Just 2 more days to check out the fantastic hand-made goodies and get bid,bid,bidding!!

In other 'crafting' news...
I was given a great stash of yarn from my mother in-law, Mmmmm goodies :)

I've started 2 more 'Birdie' decorations, with 2 new themes. One will be a Spring chick and the other a Jubilee birdie. Pictures below show their bodies just need to get their features completed...

I've also started a New Project. I wanted to make some crochet bangles. As I've never tried these before it will be very trial and error, trying different stitches and edgings to see how they turn out. I managed to pick up a set of 3 plastic bangles at a charity shop, and I'll have some fun playing around with them to see what can come up with!

Next time I will let you know the FINAL TOTAL that knit relief managed to raise!
In the mean time follow the link below to put in your final bids...

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

Other news...
ps... Other goodies that my hubby managed to pick me up for free..... Huge bouquets of flowers that were going free at his work,left over from mothers day, so I lucked in!

pps.... I had a lovely trip to Caterham to catch up with two girlie friends, that i used to work with, until I moved away. Ive not seen them both since the baby shower, and I was able to see baby girlie for the first time (previously only saw a bump!). She's already stomping around in her baby stroller, speeding around the living room. She was a cutie though, and had a happy grin on her face especially when mesmerised by the characters on tv. Oh and she has a thing for hair too, I did manage to leave with a bit let on my head.....

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!