Snoods ahoy!

I'm so happy it's gone a bit chilly, let's get out the snoods!

The blog world seems to have gone mad for them thanks to Karen! Here is one I've just crocheted (using a pattern I blogged last year) which I think will be a Christmas pressie for some lucky person:

It's crocheted from a gorgeous pink wool I got in Loop in Islington, and the flower is done from some cream yarn I had in my stash. I love it and don't want to give it away! It's slightly less snuggly than my snoods from last year as I only used one ball, but I think it still works.

I've also just bought a knitted snood kit from the lovely Nest in Crouch End. They make up their own little knitting kits which are very cute. It combines lace knitting (which I'm attempting to master) and circular needles (which I've never used) so it should be an interesting project.  I don't normally buy craft kits, but they had one knitted up in the shop and I fell in love, what can I say. Plus it's not like it's a mass produced kit so slightly less unoriginal...? Anyway. I'm looking forward to getting started.

I've also got a giant granny square blanket on the go, think it might be next winter by the time it's done though.

Mm time for a mince pie and a cuppa.

Cx

I got an award. Now give me your ideas. And a malteaser bunny.

Well, I feel like I have been neglecting my blog somewhat over the last wee while. I've been neglecting my crafting too if I'm honest. I started a new job at the end of February and am finding it very tiring being a newbie. They are breaking me in very gently, which is lovely, but I'm very keen to take on my own responsibilities and start managing my own time again, I find it a little stressful not to be in control. So the upshot is, I'm knackered every evening and just want to lie on the sofa reading, or watching 30 Rock. I am hoping to get back into the swing of things this weekend and get my red polka dot dress back on track.

Anyway. The lovely Jem over at Beautiful Clutter was kind enough to award me the Liebster blog award.

Thanks Jem! I believe the Liebster blog is one which recognises smaller blogs and maybe even helps them to get discovered by more people and become bigger blogs! If you don't read Jem's blog have a peep over there and be prepared to be very jealous of her marvellous collection of pretty things. The rules of the award are that you must link back to the person who nominated you and nominate some smaller blogs (I think it's under 300 followers - I'm just going by your Google reader subs so apologies if you have heaps of followers elsewhere, take it as a compliment!) to receive the award too.

Without further ado, I choose:

Scruffy badger whose smiley posts have been keeping me entertained all the way through Me Made March, which she has nailed.
Matilde heart Manech who is constantly posting beautiful things - "a blog for dreamers, crafters and optimists" - what's not to love?
Ree Ree Rockette - also hailing from Crouch End (although we have yet to meet IRL), Ree Ree is an inspiring rockabilly gal who is launching her own fabulous range of lipsticks.
Gastrobabble - I have the pleasure of knowing the gastrobabbler in real life (a co-library spod until I left for pastures new *sob*) - her foodie blog always has me chuckling away.

I'm looking forward to seeing what blogs they all pick.

Speaking of picking (nice segue), can I pick your brains? I bought some lovely wool at Loop a few weeks ago and I'm at a loss what to crochet with it.

Any ideas? If you are a crocheter what is your favourite thing to crochet or what are you currently working on? I need inspiration and I need it fast! I've been inspired by this gorgeous flower scarf from Attic24 but I'm not sure the colours really lend themselves to it, plus I don't have the pattern. Yet. ;)

And now for a nice cup of tea and a malteaser bunny. Yum!

Cx

Snowflake garland and Christmas festivities

This week has been light on the crafting as it's been filled instead with Christmas festivities.

Tuesday night was mulled wine night at Drink Shop & Do. For just £1 we were given all we needed to sew mulled wine sachets and fill them up with cloves, bay, nutmeg and cinnamon. There was also a tempting array of cakes and cocktails on offer, and we all went for the 'Hot Granny' which was delicious. I was particularly charmed by the tiny candy cane that comes on the side! Karen from Did You Make That organised the meet up and it was lovely to meet both her and Tilly for the first time. I've been a fan of their blogs for months now so it was great to finally put faces to names. I loved that we were all wearing handmade things as well. Tilly and Karen have both blogged about the event much more eloquently than I could so check out their postings!

Wednesday night myself and my colleagues went to the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park where we froze our toes off drinking mulled cider, trying to knock coconuts off sticks, were snowed on rather heavily and invented our signature dance moves for the work Christmas party....

...which was on Friday! Today has been largely spent recovering. We had lots (too much?) wine, dancing and a photo booth with a dressing up box, all on the house.

So this week all I've managed to craft is a crocheted snowflake garland using this tutorial from Attic 24. Here's a close up:

And this is it hanging in pride of place on my fireplace (please excuse the rubbish photos, I'm too tired to take any properly):

I plan to get back on the crafting horse tomorrow and finish off the snood I've been making for my sister (who just got engaged yesterday! She's 5 years younger than me and I am not yet engaged so I have mixed feelings about this. Humph.). I made it ages ago but have yet to decide how to embellish it. Flowers, bows, a felt badge with liberty appliqué...I can't decide!

And now for some Alan Partridge and another cup of tea.

Christmas hearts and bunting

This week, amongst other crafty endeavours, I've been making some Christmas decorations.

I used this tutorial to make these heart decorations:

I'd already made a tiny string of them in pink just because, but using this chunky wool and a size 8 hook makes really cute big hearts. I think I'll make a lot of them and string them by the window.

I've also made this 'ho ho ho' bunting.

I used red and white felt and a checked ribbon I found in my stash. I think it's quite cute, I'm going to put it underneath my wreath (when I finally manage to make one - I may just cave and buy this one from Paperchase). I haven't decided what to put on the blank pieces yet - thinking snowflakes on the red, but what on the white? A stocking? I think it should stick to the red and white colour scheme. What do you think? 

Carly xo

Christmas baubles: tutorial (from Meet me at Mike's)

(Image taken from Meet me at Mike's blog)

I can't wait to try making these gorgeous crocheted Christmas baubles. Pip over at Meet me at Mike's has kindly posted a tutorial. I'll let you know how I get on!

crocheted wristlets: tutorial

I'm new to crochet, and I'm absolutely loving it. But I never seem to find the exact pattern for what I want to make, so I made these wristlets as a gift for my friend from a 'pattern' I made up myself just using a simple fan stitch. They are by no means perfect as I've only been crocheting since September so am not that experienced, but in the spirit of sharing here's how I made them:

Start: Using a 3mm hook chain 32 (this fits an average wrist - I gave them away before measuring, but I think this was about 16cm)

Row 1: * 1 treble crochet (tr) into 4th chain from hook * miss 2 chain then 5 tr into next chain * miss 2 chain then 1 tr in the next 2 chains * miss 2 chains then 5 tr into the next chain * repeat to end of row.

Row 2: chain 3 * 5 tr into the space between the two side by side tr stitches * 1 tr into the space between the 2nd and 3rd trs in the group of 5 and 1 tr into the space between the 3rd and 4th trs in the same group of 5 * (the previous two steps may be reversed depending on whether you ended your last row with a group of 5 trs or 2 singles) * continue til end of row. 

Rows 3 - end: repeat row 2 until you have the length you require. 

To finish: darn/crochet/stitch up the seam. If you want to leave a space for the thumb you can, mine don't have this. I am currently experimenting with crocheting these continuously in the round so that there is no seam, if I manage it I will update. 

Embellish: I used a flower pattern I found in an old book, but you could embellish with anything - bows, ribbons, pom poms....or you could crochet in a brighter colour/stripes and leave the crochet to speak for itself. There are heaps of flower tutorial videos online, but if you'd like me to share mine just let me know and I'm happy to do so.

If you have any tips or tricks to improve my pattern I'd love to hear from you in the comments. How do you crochet something like this without a seam?

Carly xx

Nest, Crouch End

(image taken from Nest website)

Today I went to check out Crouch End's new (and only) knitting shop, Nest. First impressions, very nice decor and pretty window display. They had some lovely wools and tools and bits and bobs. As well as wools, they sell gorgeous ribbons, beads, buttons and various other embellishments. It's a little sparse inside, I'd like to see more books and ongoing projects, but those will probably come with time. I work very near John Lewis on Oxford Street and spend many lunch hours in their haberdashery department, but I think Nest has a much more inspiring selection of wools.

If you'd like to learn a new skill (or improve on an old one) Nest are also offering a range of courses and drop ins, including jewellery making, crochet and felting.

My only criticism would be that there wasn't much 'fanfare' outside to draw in the customers. Had I not been looking for it I may have easily walked straight past. Perhaps an eyecatching sign on the street? It's on Weston Park, so a bit off the beaten track, and it's not open on Sundays, so I think they're going to need help to spread the word. That said they are on Twitter and Facebook (details on their website) so go and friend them! It's definitely worth straying off the main thoroughfare to take a peep and I'm sure I'll be a regular in the run up to Christmas. I hope they have some crafty Christmas events planned!

learning to crochet: tutorial

I had wanted to learn how to crochet for ages. AGES. But no matter how hard I puzzled over the pictures in books or the online tutorials I just could NOT get the hang of it. I'd get so far then, convinced I was doing it wrong, would stop and rip it all out.

Then in September this year I discovered the granny square tutorial from the gorgeous Pip Lincolne of Meet me at Mikes. This was without a doubt the best online tutorial I found, and made learning to crochet easy. It did. Easy. Lovely Pip.

Once I had the hang of a granny square, I found it was much easier to pick up different stitches and techniques from books. Once you can do a chain, a double and a triple crochet you really CAN do anything. Honest. On the subject of being honest, I will say that at first I was a VERY clumsy crocheter, and if it wasn't for the encouragement gained from Pip's brilliant tutorial I would have thought I was still doing it wrongly. All thumbs I was. My first squares looked like this:


Thanks Pip!

I then added white borders to each of the squares and joined. Unfortunately I am very distractable and a serial non-finisher when it comes to projects, so I don't have a finished granny square project to show you unfortunately. Maybe one day. I've got others to share over the next few posts though.

Have you learned to crochet from these tutorials too? Do you know of other fab crochet tutorials? What was your first project? Please leave a comment and let me know!