Hooray! Miss Molly Rabbit

I saw a little rabbit on Sweat pea family blog. I swooned for a bit then followed the link to the pattern which can be found here. It has brilliant instructions. You can buy a kit or use up stash to make it and just buy the pattern.

 

 

I had been given a load of crafting felt and gave it a go.

 

I have not attached the ears correctly so they are a bit floppy but I am going to make another one with the beige felt now that I know what to expect. There are little boots and the shawl to do as well but I just wanted to get started to see what it came up like. 

I think I will call her Molly. Thanks for the inspiration Sweetpea!

 

Jo x

Hooray! Hexagon Blanket

I have finished the blanket. It is not big, it is a little knee blanket or a 'sick blanket' as we call them in our house.(sorry,a trampoline and a plastic table today in shot)

I went for half hexagons along the deeply pocketed edge and was happy with the zig zag edge on the other side after checking out some of the links you ladies pointed me towards(all very helpful, thank you).

I did a few rows of double crochet and a row of purple trebles to make a thick border, as much as left over yarn amounts would dictate.

 

It is fine, I enjoyed it, I sort of wish it was a bit bigger but it looks great over the back of my sofa. Little M likes it and wants it to watch TV under so it has become her blanket.

 

 

So just blocking and a few (hundred) ends to darn in. Off to a little animal farm called Rays Farm today with Little M and her friend. Lovely weather for looking at smelly goats!!

 

Strawberry picking

Yesterday we went strawberry picking with my mum, my brother and his family. It was HOT.
 

We picked lots of juicy strawberries and ate a few in the field (oops!) Today we made Strawberry jam. I froze lots last year and the children would not eat them claiming them to be too soggy, which they were but I thought flavour would win out but it didn't.

So I thought that jam is the best way to savour the taste of summer for the winter months.



We used 2kg of fruit and made 9 jars.

On the make side, I have had a bit of a disaster. I have been trying to make this sublime cardigan for Big Sis and I am on my fourth go at the left front. Grrr! I am having a love hate relationship with it at the moment.

I started it, then mum borrowed the book to do a project for herself and I put it on the back burner with my commissions to make. 



She made this beautifully. I know, look at the back isn't it wonderful?

When I got the book back I had done the rib without the book and guessed but it was wrong. So, I did it again but this time I did the waist decreases on the wrong side, so I would have had two sides the same. I cast on a Third time and knit all the deep rib, did the increases right up to the armhole and thought I had better get the other side out to make sure I don't do the armhole shapings on the wrong side and BUM... I had used 4.5mm needles instead of 4mm and the tension did not match the rest of the cardigan.

I am on my fourth attempt patiently balancing the pattern on my knee and not taking anything to chance.


That is what happens when you leap from craft to craft, project to project - I won't learn my lesson, it's the way I do stuff. I have a half made 1967 shift dress, a small felt dressed rabbit and a border for a hexagon blanket on the go at the moment. Now concentrate Jo, armhole shapings next.

Happy sunshine Jo x

Hooray! felted bag

After playing around with the denim bag last week, I made another bag last week and forgot to post it.

It is made from a recycled wool jumper and the lining is made from an old shirt used also to make the flower and belt here.



The flowers are needle felted. A little kit I received a few Christmas' ago. I don't do much of this but it is so quick and gives an instant crafty fix.

I used the sewing machine to sew it together and I love working with recycled felt because it does not fray and holds it shape well for a bag.

Been to see my massively pregnant friend today who is struggling to stay cool - she has 5 weeks to go and is pretty hacked off with the whole thing right now! Little M was excited because she has a 17 month toddler already and we just sat in the shade, chatted, drank juice and watched the little ones play.
Jo x

Voodoo mouse

I made up this little mouse from a pattern I bought from Planet Penny. I wanted to get my head around a mouse shape so that I could teach my crochet class how to dc2tog (double crochet two together) to enable them to create shaping.

 

He is really cute and fun to make. I just felt a bit bad when I used 'him' as a pin cushion. It seemed a bit painful. I made a smaller one which I sent in the post to my friend and then I wrote my own pattern making adaptations because the one I bought was not allowed to be used in my crochet class. He has some rice in the bottom to stop him toppling over. What are you making this week?

Jo x

Heartwarming

My mother in law phoned me yesterday to tell me I was on the radio... strange I thought as I was crocheting hexagons together while eating redcurrants and playing play dough with Little M all at the same time, I simply can't have been on the radio and been breathing as well.

It turned out there was a feature on local radio about what things people have found to be a real achievement in their lives (it was linked to Andy Murray winning the tennis) and one of my crochet ladies had phoned in to say that at the age of 62 she had learnt to crochet with me! Straight away I phoned the station to say Hi to her on the radio and get a quick plug in for more enthusiasts.

 

Yesterdays allotment gatherings

Isn't that wonderful. She was really under-confident when she first came as she had lost her husband and wanted to get out and meet people in the town. She greeted me on the first day with "Loads of people have tried to teach me since I was 5 and no one has managed it yet" What a challenge I thought at the time. In the second week she turned up with a nervous rash on her neck and said she couldn't do it and thought she was wasting my time. I kept going but more importantly so did she.

I saw her today at our last class before the summer break and it made my tummy feel all funny.

Thanks Rose. You are what makes teaching people really worth it.

Jo x

To half hexagon or not?

That is the question. I have finished the main hexagons.

However, I still have enough yarn left over to make fillers for the sides so that I can achieve a straight edge. This will involve half hexagons. Has anyone done this before, do they look silly and fiddly on the edges or does it finish it off?

I know that a border on a blanket really makes it and I can't see that a wobbly border around the edge is going to look right. I will keep joining them together while you ladies have a think about what I should do next.  All ideas welcome.

I don't think I have raved on to you all about this little bit of kit (or maybe I have anyway...)

 

It is a clover ergonomic hook and it is fabulous, the work just flies off and it was really useful when I was making the commission cardigans to keep up the pace. It was a little more expensive than a grey steel but SOOOOO worth it. It is my new best friend along with my new rotary cutter for fabric.

 

Stay cool Jo xx