Bubbling with Creativity . . .

Once again, I've managed to keep my creativity bubbling this last few weeks although, due to a downturn in my health once more, not as much as I would have liked to do! Lol

I managed to crochet a cushion cover for a dear friend of mine. The pattern was a Chevron, and I used Caron One Pound yarn, in a lovely burgundy and cream colour scheme, as I knew my friend loved burgundy - I got the pattern from:

http://solgrim.blogspot.in/2012/10/chevron-pillow.html

 

I also made a Lacy Market Bag, as my June challenge with The Crochet Crowd. I really enjoyed learning a new stitch for this - the cross-stitch - and the bag I created went to a friend, who much prefers a 'real' bag to use for shopping, rather than the plastic variety :)

I used a Bernat 4-ply for this one - unfortunately, I can't remember the exact name of the yarn! Fibro-fog wins again! Lol

The pattern for the bag is here:

http://thecrochetcrowd.com/market-bag-challenge/

As I had plenty of the yarn left over (minus the label, unfortunately), I decided to make a small shopping bag for my friend's young granddaughter, who delights in 'shopping' with her grandma :)

I used the same basic stitch pattern, but changed the shaping, to get the more 'shopping basket' shape I had wanted for her - I also lined the bag, using single crochet, to prevent little items from falling through :)

I also managed to crochet a hat, jacket, mitten and booties set, for a newborn baby boy, which I was very pleased with :)

I used Red Heart Super Saver to make this and, as the yarn can feel a little bit scratchy, I gently soaked the outfit in some slightly warm water, with a small amount of fabric conditioner in, and the outfit dried out feeling really soft :)

I also used a mixture of patterns for this:

The booties pattern comes from Mikey, of The Crochet Crowd. The pattern is called the Sweet High Top Baby Booties, and was designed by Mikey, or Michael Sellick. Here's the link to them:

http://thecrochetcrowd.com/crochet-sweet-high-top-baby-booties-2/

The bobble hat and jacket come from a Hoodie and Hat pattern that I found, and I just changed the hoodie pattern to become a jacket. I got this pattern from the Caron website. The link is here:

http://www.caron.com/projects/NEWPROJECTS/br/br_cno986_baby_hoodie.html

The mittens were a basic pattern that I purchased a while back. I bought it from the Crochet Spot website:

http://www.crochetspot.com/crochet-pattern-classic-baby-mittens/


I was also really pleased to have been able to start on an amigurumi pattern, taken from a new book of amigurumi animal patterns, called Animals at Work! I bought this from Moji Moji Designs, as I'd fallen in love with her Squirrel pattern:

http://mojimojidesign.com/2014/05/10/amigurumi-animals-at-work/

It was Cyril who had initially caught my attention, as he was a gardening Squirrel! I just fell in love with that amazing character!

I'm so very glad I that I bought the book, as the other patterns are also amazing, and I've already ear-marked some of them to make for various family and friends. But it was the squirrel I was determined to try first, as it is an ideal pressie for Mr Night Owl, what with him being a very keen gardener and all :)

At the moment, I've almost finished it, but there are still a few things that need to be done before I take any pictures of it. I didn't follow the exact colour choices of the original, as I was determined to use up some of the huge amounts of scrap yarn I've got, and so I chose the colours from what was available. My Squirrel, which I named Sam, isn't as professionally made as the original - but then, I wouldn't expect it to be, considering my amateur status where amigurumi is concerned! But I've had so much fun in it's creation, that I'll probably make a few more - well, Sam will need some company while working in the garden, don't you think?

All in all, I think this book of patterns is going to be my absolute favourite source of amigurumi animals! Lol