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...