Well! I've just come on here, only to discover that my last post was on 25th Feb, 2016!

I knew it had been some time - but 3-odd YEARS?

Admittedly, my health has been attrocious for a very long time, and then, last year, I lost my darling husband to heart failure, which all but destroyed me for a very long time - but I was totally gobsmacked that it had been so long since I'd been on here!

I have to admit that I don't know how regularly I'll be able to continue posting on here - as I won't make promises I can't keep - but I'll try my very best to at least do some posting, especially as I've recently found the Crojo I'd lost, when my hubby died!

Because there's such a gap in time, I realise there are quite a few items I've crocheted that I haven't posted about, so I'll do my best to start putting them on here from now on - although it's possible that I've forgotten details about the items I made - that old Fibro-fog is still alive and causing me grief! :/ 

To start with, I had started on a CAL on 5th April, 2016, called Frida's Flower Blanket - something I made for my daughter, who has become the recipient of quite a few of the blankets I've made over the years! Lol

I have to confess that I've forgotten most of the details but, fortunately, I took photos of my work-in-progress, so at least I can show them to you all :)

Fortunately (or unfortunately, if you're not keen on sewing) this CAL Blanket was done in small parts, which was easier for me, in that I wasn't trying to crochet around a huge blanket but, as stated above, did involve sewing those parts together which, honestly, took me about 4 times as long to do as the actual crochet work itself!

Having kept the pattern instructions also I can, at least, let you know that it was made with Stylecraft  Classique Cotton DK:

100% Cotton – 50g 92m 100y
39g x 3093 Black
12g x 3567 Plum
48g x 3669 Nocturne
24g x 3665 Ivory
14g x 3672 Poppy
12g x 3566 Teal
40g x 3674 Shrimp
20g x 3097 Leaf
28g x 3662 Sunflower
22g x 3095 Greek Blue
44g x 3658 Mauve (26g left after tension swatc h)
36g x 10904 Toffee (21g left after tension swatc h)
 
Blanket Measurement: approx. 90c m x 120c m
 
I also used 3.5mm, 4mm, and 4.5mm crochet hooks.


Block 1 was called White Cosmos:

 Block 2 was called Dahlia Bud:

Block 3 was called Bird of Paradise:

 
Block 4 was called Rosa:
 

Block 5 was called Heart Rose:

Block 6 was called Ring of Roses:

Block 7 was called Bouquet:

 I managed to find a pic of the completed blanket - I used a few of the colours to edge the blanket, making it complete:
 

 

 Anyhoo, that's all for right now - I will try and post more of the completed items I've made over the last year or so, as and when I can, though :)

TalkTalk - Service with a smile . . . or maybe not!

For much too long a time, I've been with TalkTalk as my internet provider.

This wasn't actually my original choice of providers, as I had first registered with AOL, and they had been providing me with a reasonable service - one that did fine for me, given that, at that time, I had only just started to learn about computers and the internet, and was ready to apply to the Open University, in order to study for a BA in Literature and Creative Writing - which necessitated in me having internet to the house.

For the six years it took me to take my BA, AOL did a grand job of providing me with that necessary link, and I managed to get through it all with only one small glitch - which was my own fault, through lack of knowledge where computers were concerned - and one major glitch, caused by who knows what, where my laptop was fried (forunately, I'd learned by the small glitch to back up everything by then!), and so I had to get a new laptop, which had a much bigger memory, and even a built-in webcam, which meant I could talk face-to-face with my daughter, who travelled all over the world with her work! Wonderful!

Unfortunately, and without my prior knowledge, AOL was taken over by TalkTalk, and I only learned of this after the fact, when I got an email, then a following letter, telling me that my service, and the cost of it, would remain exactly the same.

Fortunately, everything seemed just as they'd told me, and it all seemed the same - I could still stream the occasional movie from Amazon as I had done previously; I could still talk on Skype to family and friends; and my internet usage as a whole seemed fine but, slowly and surely, all of this seemed to degrade over the months, until it started to take an age to do anything on line, and I became hauntingly familiar to the 'wheel of doom', as I named that buffering circle that would appear, every time I tried watching anything online!

After having my new laptop and router checked by a local computer engineer, who assured me that it was working fine, I started to phone TalkTalk with my complaints, all the while talking to someone different every time, and knowing that they were in a call center somewhere abroad - and each one would ask me to do certain tests with ethernet cables, and various other things that sounded so complicated that I couldn't understand the instructions, let alone know how to do them, even if my health had been better!

I told them, time after time that, even if I understood what it was they were asking me to do, all of it would be impossible for me, given that I was housebound, and virtually 100% bed-bound, and with a husband who was a total technophobe!

And so the ever-decreasing circle started between us, of me asking for an engineer, and them promising me that the 'glitch' would be fixed, as long as I did the tests required first - which, as I told them time and time again, was a physical impossibility for me and so, having no choice, I would persevere with the problem, as I was told by another internet provider that I couldn't change providers until the problem was fixed!

I sat there so many times, hoping against hope that it would improve - which it occasionally did - and, being ever the optimist, this kept me from going elsewhere, especially as one advisor after another told me that it was actually the area where I lived that was at fault; it was the phone lines; there was a temporary fault on the line that would be dealt with as soon as possible, etc., etc., etc.

Now, during all of this, I had been (and still am) battling various health problems that are only getting worse, and so fighting TalkTalk was becoming such a stress on my health, and what energy I had, that I just left things as they were - until December 2015, when my internet became so bad, that the only way I could get online, was if I phoned somebody (or they phoned me), and we stayed on the phone while I did what was needed, such as checking my bank account, or putting in a shopping list - it had got so bad that this was all I was able to do!

And so I phoned TalkTalk yet again - but this time I lost all patience with their excuses, and told them that they should send an engineer to my property to investigate something that should have been fixed many months ago! I told them that I was fed up of paying for a service I'd very rarely had, and if they didn't do something soon, then I would let the world know about it.

They promised me an engineer on the 2nd January!

When the day came, the BT engineer appeared. He checked my  equipment via a laptop/tablet thingy (I'm sooo technical, aren't I? lol), and assured me it had nothing to do with the fault - that whatever the problem was, it was outside the house, and had something to do with the telephone lines near the house. He promised that someone else would be sent to fix the problem, as his only remit was to check for a fault, and not to fix anything. He then left.

Later on that day TalkTalk actually phoned me (a real rarity), and told me an engineer would be coming on the 8th of January, to fix the problem. The 8th came, and nobody knocked on the door but, later that afternoon, my internet access improved very slightly - well, enough that I had access for more than a few moments at a time.

A couple of days later, it went right back to me having to make a phone call to get internet access, but I was so ill at the time, I couldn't do a thing about it.

February came, and my health improved enough that I wanted to go online again - only to face the same problems so, once again, I phoned TalkTalk, and explained everything that had happened, and that I needed the engineer to call again, as the problem was still with me.

I was told that it couldn't be the same problem, because engineers had fixed it. I asked when, they told me an engineer had called at my home on the 8th - to which I replied that nobody had called at the house that day! The person I spoke to practically called me a liar at this point - and so I lost my temper!

I admit to feeling bad about this, but to be called a liar, when I knew for a fact that nobody had come to the house that day (we had deliberately made sure we were awake early, and had sat in the house all day, waiting!), made me mad!

The operator told me that the only way an engineer would call, would be if we paid for it! I asked that, as I had been paying them for a service I hadn't had for months - if not years - then surely I was entitled to an engineer calling to finally fix the problem? But they insisted that, the only way they'd send an engineer, was if I paid for it! At that point I really lost it, and said 'So, in fact, you are holding me hostage - you won't fix this problem, unless I pay you even more money?'

At that point, they put the phone down on me!

By this time I was at my wit's end! I had been putting up with such a shoddy service for so long, that I really didn't know what to do - then, that evening, my hubby was watching TV, and he called out to me that a firm called Plusnet, who were based in England, were advertising, and that they seemed like a good service (not that hubby would know one, if it bit him on the nose, bless him! Lol)

At this point, I should add that the only way I had figured getting online without constantly disturbing family and friends, was by phoning my hubby's mobile phone, which, because there was no mobile signal in our part of the village, would go onto answerphone, and so open up the telephone lines enough to get internet access, so this is what I did to get online, and look up Plusnet.

The deals they had seemed really good and, being a British firm, I hoped it would help where customer service was concerned, and so I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained, and filled in the forms to apply to them, paid the initial fee, and waited.

I heard almost immediately by email - which told me I would be transferred to them on the 16th February and a week later received the router I'd need, along with a booklet with comprehensive, and easy to understand, details on how to get the router working! Compared to the instructions I'd been given by TalkTalk, it seemed even I could manage to do this and so, on the day stated, I got into the living room with my laptop and the equipment and, between us both, hubby and I managed to get everything working!

And it was working!

I actually got online without having to use the phone to do so!

Admittedly, there was a crackling noise on the phone when we used it, but I was actually getting online!

For the next few days, I went online a couple of times, to do my usual bank checks and shopping for food, but wasn't well enough to do much more, but my husband told me the noise on the phone was getting worse, and so I went onto Plusnet's site, signed into my account, and looked for something on there to see if it could be fixed.

There was actually a test that I could do from my laptop, to check my line and, when it finished, a page came up, telling me to contact Plusnet on the number provided, and so I did, with my heart sinking, as I expected the same old go-around that I'd had with TalkTalk.

To my wonderful surprise, I had a great chat with the person who answered, explained my situation to him, and he asked if it was okay if he did some tests on my line, and then phoned me back with the results! Of course I was okay with that! So I put the phone down and, 15 minutes later, it rang, and the chap I'd spoken to told me that there was definitely a problem, and would I mind if an engineer called on my home the next day to see what the problem was!

I was gobsmacked that they were that quick and so, of course, said 'yes, that would be fine'! :)

The next afternoon, as promised, 2 telephone engineers called, and did a thorough check on my eqipment, then told me there was definitely a fault on the line outside my home.

I expected them to tell me that somebody would come sometime to fix it, but the 2 chaps immediately went outside to check the lines. After about half an hour, they knocked on the door again and, when they came in, told me that they'd found the fault - a connector had literally fallen to pieces in one of the engineer's hands as he checked it, and so he had replaced the connector, and they asked if it was okay for them to check to see if the fault had been fixed by using my telephone.

I was absolutely delighted to say yes, and they did another thorough check, and stayed until they were certain the fault was fixed, even going online to check that, too :)

One of the engineers told me that it might be a few days before my line settled down, as the internet was really low, but, if it didn't get better within a couple of weeks, to contact Plusnet again, and they would sort that out, too!

Well, a week later, and I am actually able to get online whenever I feel well enough to. It's not super-speedy or anything, but it's the best it's been since before TalkTalk took over so, until Fibre Optics comes to our neck of the woods, I'll be a happy bunny to use the access I have now.

As for TalkTalk, they actually had somebody phone me a few days ago, asking about the complaint I'd made! I asked if I was going to get any compensation for all the grief I'd been through, to a hurried, 'I can't authorise that' as a response - the chap who phoned wasn't even aware that I'd left TalkTalk, even though they'd been informed!

As far as Plusnet are concerned, I couldn't have asked for a better firm to go to. They were so quick to respond to my problem, the engineers who called couldn't have been kinder, or more helpful where fixing the problem was concerned, and I know I can get back to them, and any problem I have will be dealt with quickly, with courtesy, and treating me as if I am a real person, and not just a bother to them.

Well done, Plusnet!

As for my blogging - I can now start letting you know all that I've been doing since the problems getting online started, and I promise to start that within the next day or so :)

Happy New Year for 2016

I've been absent most of the year, with health problems, operations, bereivements, and other stuff that tends to put a block on a person but, with just under an hour to go before 2016 starts, I figured it was time enough to wish everyone who calls on my blog a Very Happy New Year :)

I hope to be a good girl, and start posting again in the new year, especially as I haven't actually stopped crocheting over this last year, so I've lots to show you :)

So, until my next post, I wish you every joy, happiness, and the peacefulness that comes with these things, for the new year to come :)

A New Year and, hopefully, a new start . . .

Once again it has been some time since I posted anything on here. 

To be fair, because of yet another flair-up of the Fibro and ME, I've had a lot of problems with staying awake, plus I'm still coping with the gall bladder problem (which is probably why everything else is playing up), as it turns out my blood platelets are far too low for the surgeons to risk operating on me, at least until they get to a reasonable level and, as I've been informed that only my bone marrow can boost this aspect of my blood, it's a case of waiting, and hoping, that it will get on with it :(

It turns out that I can't even have a gall bladder problem, without it becoming something even worse, which is a pain, both physically, and mentally, as I'd - just for once - like to quickly get over something that goes wrong with me!

But, as far as crafting goes, I haven't exactly been totally idle, as there were plenty of times, normally at silly O'clock in the morning, when pain would wake me up, and I needed to do something to distract myself - I thank God that I was given the chance to learn how to crochet, as it has been such a blessing for me this way :)

Anyhoo, my parents and brother came for a visit in September and, due to both of my parents being in bad health themselves (Mum has a variety of health problems, including a weak heart, plus was diagnosed with cancer last year, and Dad has Parkinsons), I decided that, to make them more comfortable when they sit down, I would make a foot stool of some kind. We already had one, which I knew would be great for Dad to use, but I wanted one for mum, too. So I looked through my stash, and came across a box full of bits and pieces left over from other projects, and so I decided to use them to crochet up something bright and cheerful for her :)

I hadn't got a pattern for anything like this so, as I tend to in this position, I immediately went to Ravelry, to see what I could find - and what I found was this lovely, and free, pattern from Sonea Delvon Designs - Sitting Bag which seemed like the perfect thing :)

I used the pattern as the basic start, then just let myself enjoy the act of creating something both pretty and colourful, but also useful:

 

I hadn't thought much about how I was going to stuff this, especially as it was quite big but, fortunately, we had just replaced an old sofa for a couple of armchairs, and so I used the seat pads, cut into rounds, to fill most of it, then used a sleeping bag whose zip had broken to make a nice and soft padding on top. Fortunately, I also had a lovely set of plain wooden buttons in my button stash, and so I used them as fasteners around the lid, so that I can easily wash the cover when needed. I was quite pleased with the results :)

After my parents went back home, and I had recovered somewhat from the visit, I started to feel restless again and, after making Sam the gardening Squirrel, as mentioned in my last post, I then made the Elf Coat for my daughter to wear - and it was just a few days after finishing it, that I was rushed to hospital with a badly inflamed gall bladder thing - and my health went rapidly downhill again :(

It was quite strange for me that, although I then spent the next 10 days in hospital on a permanent drip of antibiotics, I didn't miss my laptop too much, but I really missed my crochet work! Lol

Unfortunately, poor Mr Night Owl was too worried about me to be able to work out what project I might like to work on (I always have several things on the go at once), and so I made do without my usual comfort, and it took a good week after I was able to come home again before I felt able to choose which item I would work on next.

As it happens, I still had plenty of that wonderful Stylecraft Trendsetter Chunky yarn left, and so, as I mentioned in my previous post, I made my daughter two pairs of fingerless gloves - one pair in the Ebony, and the other in the Lilac, then I used both colours to make some striped legwarmers to match:

After that, I wanted something quick and easy to make, and so I decided to make an earring and brooch set for a dear friend of mine, who happened to be visiting my corner of the world for a few weeks, and so I settled on a lovely pattern I had come across only a few weeks before on the Red Heart.com site.

These were called Rosebud Earrings.

I didn't have any of the crochet thread needed in my stash, so I searched out the thinnest yarn that I could, and used that instead. Once I had made the earrings, it only took a short while to make 3 more rosebuds, then I glued some green felt onto a brooch back, and sewed the 3 rosebuds on top - and here is the result of my labours:

After that, I made a toy for my little friend, Harry :)

I'd come across a free stacking toy pattern, on the Lion Brand site, that I thought he would enjoy, as it was made up of a frog in the centre, then a stack consisting of a Bee, a Ladybird (or Ladybug to our friends over the Pond), and then a Dragonfly on top - and here's the link to the pdf download:


 http://www.lionbrand.com/printablePatterns/90075AD.pdf

I enjoyed making this, as I'd not done anything like it before, and I could also use up some of my large stash of yarn that always seems to build up from other projects I do :)

Now, being bed-bound so much of the time, and feeling the cold quite badly, I'd often wished for something that I could snuggle into to keep warm, and so, after finishing Harry's present, I decided, for the very first time since I started to crochet, that I'd make myself something - preferably a lovely warm shawl - and I decided to use a wonderful yarn that my Mum had given me as a gift, as I knew this was something I'd enjoy for a long time to come. Unfortunately, I can't remember the brand name of the yarn, but it was a 400g ball, a Tweed Aran, that Mum had bought from her local Aldi's store.

I looked through my shawl patterns, and I found one, by a wonderful designer called Kathy Lashley, who has a crochet Blog, called Elk Studio, which is just filled with the most amazing patterns, and just appealed to me no end - it was the Dixie Charm Shawl. That decided, I took yarn and hook, and started on the pattern there and then.

Here's a ink to the pattern: 

Dixie Charm Shawl - Elk Studio

and here's the results of my work:

My cat, Kushka :)

About this time, our daughter informed us that she'd be able to visit us for 6 days at the beginning of December, so I then looked through my yarn stash, to make her something pretty, and came across a lovely, sparkly, purple yarn that I knew she would like - unfortunately, there wasn't a label on it, and I can't remember where I got it from, but I knew she'd enjoy anything made with it. I looked through my patterns, then finally settled on a really pretty shrug pattern that I'd found a while back. The design is called the Sweet Spring Shrug, and was designed by Michelle of The Painted Hinge. As soon as I saw it I knew my daughter would love it, and didn't have anything like this, so I went ahead and made it, and had just enough of the yarn to complete it, with not much left over! Lol

Here's the link to the free pattern: 

Sweet Spring Shrug - Michelle of The Painted Hinge

Fortunately, I was right, and my daughter loved it - and it fitted her perfectly :)

While Brex visited, she mentioned that a close friend loved Dachshunds, or Sausage Dogs as they're commonly known (or Weiner Dogs to our American friends) and, as I had only just come across some Amigurumi patterns of some, I asked if she'd like me to make one - and so I did :)

I really enjoyed making this. It wasn't too difficult, and I'd not made an amigurumi dog before, so it challenged me in that respect. Brex was delighted with the result, and so I was, too :)

I got the free pattern from the Lion Brand site, and here's the pdf link:

Amigurumi Weiner Dog Pattern Number: 70579AD

Now, what with all the holidays, and my health being so poor, I've only just got around to posting all these pics, but I will have some more to show you soon, as I've kept myself busy making a few more items for my daughter. Once I've had the opportunity to give them to her, I'll post the pics on here :)

Until then, I hope you've all had plenty of opportunities to create your own things, too :)

Oh dear - has it really been that long?

I admit that, when I finally got around to looking at my Blog today, I couldn't believe just how long it had been since I posted anything!

Due to unforeseen circumstances, including serious illness, and hospital stays, for both myself, my mum, and my dad, I'd got into a real fug where creativity was concerned, and my output dropped accordingly. But I'm slowly, but surely, getting back into the swing of things, and so have a few items to show for all the time I've been silent :)

First of all, I've finally got some more pictures of the fancy dress outfits I'd made for a friend's gorgeous little boy (I'd made them in June), so here they are:

Here's Harry in his Frog outfit - and thoroughly enjoying it, too :)

And here he is in his Fox outfit:

. . . with a back view, showing his bushy Fox tail! Lol

Here's another occasion Harry wore the Fox outfit - and looking extra cute doing so:

Here's Harry wearing his Bee outfit:

. . . and with a back view of his folded wings (as with all the other main outfits, I didn't have a pattern for this, and so used Google to find some close-up pics of bees, then made up the shape, using the pictures).

And here's a lovely picture of one of Harry's best friends, wearing the Bee outfit - can you see the sting I made? Lol

There are still a couple of outfits that Harry hasn't worn yet so, when he does, I'll show them here, too :)

As for the things I've been making since my last post in July, as I mentioned in that post, I had been working on a gift for Mr Night Owl. I had bought a wonderful book, published by amigurumipatterns.net, called Amigurumi Animals at Work. 


You can find it in the list of books for sale, here:

 Amigurumi Animals at Work

The book has 14 of the cutest, and very different, patterns of various animals, all dressed up in their work clothes - and the pattern that brought my attention to this wonderfully creative book, was the design I fell in love with, which was by one of my favourite designers, Moji-Moji Design.

Her Cyril the Squirrel, all dressed up as a gardener, with his own wheelbarrow, was just so cute, and also very relevant for Mr Night Owl, that I had to make a start on it straight away!

As it happened, I had a huge plastic box, full of partial skeins of various yarns, that I'd used for different projects, so I thought this a wonderful opportunity to use some of it up. I wanted this to be a complete surprise for Hubby, and so found myself working on it at the oddest times of the day and night. I guess that, in actual hours, it didn't take too very long to make but, due to the secrecy, it was actually a couple of weeks before I'd managed to finish it :)

So, here he is - one Sam the Gardening Squirrel! Lol

I had a lot of fun making this, as I needed to source some tiny items to go with it, such as the seed packets in Sam's waistcoat pocket, and some gardening tools, for the wheelbarrow. I was fortunate enough to find a seller on eBay who deals with Doll House items, and so managed to get what I wanted from him - Mr Night Owl was so chuffed to receive Sam, and he now stands in pride of place on a shelf in our living room :)

I've made a couple of items, for my brother's new dog, Sheba. The first was a bone I crocheted with pure cotton, and a 2.5mm hook,so that it would crochet really tight, as she is renowned for chewing up her toys! So far, she still hasn't made a dent in it, which I'm happy about but, unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of it before she got a hold of it - but I used a pattern that I had bought from Crochet Spot, created by Rachel Choi, which gives 3 different sizes of bone to crochet.

You can find it here, if you're interested:

 http://www.crochetspot.com/store

I've also got another, nearly finished, toy that I'm making for Sheba. It is a Star Ball, and the pattern was created by another of my favourite designers Dedri Uys, whose Blog, Look at What I Made, has a plethora of amazing patterns to try out :)

The ball was actually designed for a child, but I figured that, if I did as I had with the bone pattern, and used a tough cotton yarn, with a smaller hook size than normal, then I'd get another Sheba-proof toy! Lol

Unfortunately, a spell in hospital set me back, and I've still got a little bit more to finish up before it's done but, as soon as it is, I'll try to remember to take a picture to show you - and, in the meantime, here's the link to the pattern, if you'd like to give it a try:

Crocheted Star Ball – A Crochet Amish Puzzle Ball Pattern

The one item that has really taken up most of my time though - when I was well enough to wield a crochet hook - was a coat that I made for my daughter, something that would be thick enough to keep her really warm in the winter.

I got the idea after I'd purchased a wonderful pattern from Ravelry - it was a set of 3 patterns, designed by Sylvie Damey, that I'd bought recently, due to the wonderful detailing of her patterns - she'd created Elf Hoods, and that was just the look I wanted. So, selecting the Jehanne Hooded Cardigan, which can be found here:

Jehanne Hooded Cardigan


I then looked at my stash for a suitable yarn, but couldn't find anything there jazzy enough to suit my daughter's wonderfully outgoing personality - which then drove me to look at all my favourite online sites, to see if I could find something I liked. Fortunately, I came across a wonderfully sparkling yarn at the Deramores site. It was called Stylecraft Trendsetter Chunky, and came in a variety of colours, but the ones I fell in love with, and knew would suit my daughter to perfection, were the Ebony (1685), and the Lilac Cloud (1688). The yarn was, and still is at the moment, on sale, and so I couldn't resist getting it :)

 Here's a link for you to see the gorgeousness of the yarns:

Stylecraft Trendsetter Chunky

Now, as I said, the pattern was for a hooded cardigan but, as I crocheted away, and got to the point where a change in pattern came, I realised that it would look great, and be more suitable for my daughter, as a coat, rather than a cardigan so, going back online, I bought some more of the yarn, then made my first real attempt to adapt a pattern to something else. I made some adjustment to the hood as I went along, making it a lot longer than the pattern specified, due to my daughter having very long dreads, and the skirt part of the coat was made in A-line panels, that I crocheted together after completing them all. I then went back to following the pattern to make the edging specified.

This coat was to be a complete surprise for my girl, as she was due to come for a visit with us, to celebrate our 31st wedding anniversary in October so, as soon as I completed it, using a set of buttons that I'd had in my button stash for ages, and adding some shell stars to the tip of the hood, and around the bottom edge of the coat, I made a granny square belt, using the square used within the pattern.

I then hung the coat in my wardrobe, waiting eagerly for my daughter to appear.

Unfortunately, a couple of days after I finished the coat, I was rushed into hospital with a badly inflamed gallbladder, and was kept in for almost a fortnight, which meant we had to cancel our anniversary plans :(

My daughter came rushing from Bristol to Wales while I was still in the hospital, and so it was her Dad who gave her the coat - thankfully, it fitted her to perfection, and she wore it to the hospital to show me but, because of that, I hadn't taken any photos of it, and so had to wait for my daughter to get some taken - which she sent to me a few days ago! :)

So here it is:

I've now almost finished a couple of pairs of fingerless gloves to match the coat, one pair in the Ebony, and the other in the Lilac Cloud, and then I want to use up the last of the yarn to make some legwarmers and, if there's enough after that, maybe a scarf to match!

At least I know my girl will be warm this winter! Lol

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

Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Open letter to the BBC

Having just read this open letter, by Sue Marsh, to the BBC, I felt I had to post a link to it, as the sentiments involved are very close to my own. Sue has written exactly the way that I, too, feel about what used to be considered a national treasure, one that showed us all the truth of the things happening to the people of our nation - and of the World - whatever else happened.
Like Sue, I despair that a body that takes our money in license fees, can ignore, or even suppress, the truth of the misery caused by our welfare state as it is today.



Diary of a Benefit Scrounger: Open letter to the BBC: Dear BBC, In a list of my favorite public bodies, I value you second only to the NHS. For me, you have always been a shining beacon of tru...

The Art of Being Creative . . .

Due to being tired, I posted the following post in my other Blog a few days ago, and only realised what I'd done earlier on. If you're interested, here's a link to my other Blog, where you can see the original post: 

http://katythenightowl.wordpress.com/2014/06/07/being-creative/

As I wanted to keep all the records of my crafting together though, I decided to re-post the original post here, too - I hope you find it interesting - and the links a handy step to creating something yourselves? :)

Despite having a really bad time, health-wise, this last month or so, I've also had plenty of odd moments, where I've been too bad to do much, but not bad enough to do nothing, and so I decided to use whatever time I had free to take care of various crochet projects I've been working on.

It actually amazed me how much I could get through, doing it in dribs and drabs, but I'm quite pleased with the results of my labour :)

The first things I had to finish off were a set of 6 fancy dress costumes, made for a little baby boy I know and love. He is going to be having his first experience of Glastonbury this summer, and his mum, who is one of my daughter’s oldest, and dearest, friends, had been telling me that there would be fancy dress competitions for the little ones. This decided me and, after talking about what she’d like, I started to make the costumes!

Now, very much unlike me, once I’d finished making the outfits, I’d forgotten to take any pics of each of them, so baby boy’s mum has promised me that she’ll take pics of him as he wears them – and, as it happens, she posted the first picture she took, of him wearing his Cat-in-the-hat outfit, for me. Unfortunately, he wasn't wearing it properly, but I still think he looks as cute as anything in it – and the hat fits beautifully! Lol

Just as I’d finished the outfits, a friend called in, and noticed a pile of items I was preparing to send to my daughter, and one of the items caught his eye – a cowl I’d made for her, using Red Heart Super Saver yarn, in the Tealeaf colour, and with highlights of the Peacock Shimmer yarn.

He asked if I could make one for him, as a present for his sister-in-law, and so I agreed. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough of the Red Heart Tealeaf, but I did have some Robin’s Chunky yarn, in Pistachio that he really liked, and so I used that.

While I was making it, I realised I had enough of this yarn to make a hat and fingerless gloves to match, and so, using the same popcorn stitch pattern, which can be found right here:

  

http://calleighsclips.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/candy-stripes-hooded-cowl-free-pattern.html

I went ahead and made the cowl, and then used the same popcorn stitch to complete the set for her :)

During our conversation, he also asked me if I could crochet a teapot cosy, in the shape of a chicken – well, I'm always eager to give things a go, and so I accepted his commission, and we added some other stuff to make a kitchen set up, all with the theme of chickens – but they had to be black ones, as these were, apparently, her favourites! Lol

Here’s what I came up with:

 I bought a pattern for this, from Etsy, the link is: 

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Millionbells?section_id=14018297&ref=shopsection_leftnav_4

I then adapted a pattern for a set of 4 egg cosies to match, from a free pattern, called the ‘Eggstremely Cosy Set’ designed by ‘funkynitter’ on Ravelry (here’s her link: 

http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Funkynitter/eggstremely-cosy-set).

The free pattern was made by the clever blogger ‘The Very Savvy Snail’, at:

http://piecesofmylife-victoriag.blogspot.co.uk/2009/04/well-after-having-spent-morning-trying.html

 

I decided that I might as well have some cup coasters, too, and came across a free pattern that looked ideal for my purpose – you can find it here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20060425232136/http://irenecrafts.com/patterns/chicken_coaster.htm

 

And then I thought, ‘why stop there?’, and so added a Chicken hot pad to finish the set. I had a pdf pattern for one of these – it was one of the free Annie’s Crafts ones, though, on looking for it on the site, I couldn't find it, so I can only assume I got the pdf pattern from somebody else’s blog – but I can’t remember who, and I didn't save the link, unusually for me :(

This pattern was called the Chicken Hot Pad & Chicken Shelf Set, and so I decided to crochet the cute little amigurumi shelf chicken, too:

Our friend was really pleased with what I had made, and, as he just loves hats, and loved the pistachio yarn, I used the last of it to make him a hat to wear this coming winter, with a little of the Tealeaf yarn I had in my scrap yarn box as an accent colour:

Next to make on my list, was a Peppa Pig toy for that gorgeous little man I’d made the fancy dress outfits for. Now, I hadn't a clue who Peppa Pig was, until I searched online, but, as it was his favourite TV character, I decided to have a go. As I'm not clever enough, as yet, to make up my own pattern, I decided to have a look at what was available, and I came across this one, by Samarara, on Ravelry:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/peppa-pig-amigurumi

Little man really laughed when he saw her, and immediately stuffed her into his mouth (he’s teething, poor chap!), but his mum says he’s delighted with his new friend, so that’s made me very happy :)

My next project to complete was a Rainbow Project Bag. I’d seen the link to this on a friend’s Blog and, as I was familiar with Lucy, from ‘Attic24′, I thought I’d have a go. I really loved the look of the bag and so I decided to make it specifically out of some of my scrap yarn, to use for my WIP’s.

I finished it yesterday, and I'm delighted with its capacity, and the friendliness of its bright and breezy colours, and I've already filled it with the yarn I need for my next project – well the next, next one, anyway – I might even make another one, too!

Here’s the link to the blog page:

http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/jolly-chunky-bag.html

 

Right now, I've made a start on a Lacy Market Bag pattern that’s the June challenge for The Crochet Crowd. I must admit, it’s a new stitch for me, and I'm finding it challenging but, between that, and starting on my main Crochet By Numbers project, I'm pretty sure that the rest of this month is now spoken for – unless I have a few minutes free to make some small items, anyway! Lol

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