How to Crochet a Bow Brooch

Hello, today I'm going to show you how to make a crochet Bow Brooch, once you get the hang of the pattern you'll be able to tweak it to your requirements. 

To begin you'll need everything below, the yarn I used was Rico Essential Cotton DK but you can use any yarn you find easy to crochet with, it only uses a small amount. 

If you wish to use a different size hook feel free, I choose the most appropriate for the yarn.

Work the pattern flat in 2 pieces.

Piece one: Chain 36, DC(double crochet) into 2nd chain in row until the end, and turn work over.

Chain 1, DC in 2nd loop on first row and repeat till end, turn. 

Continue this pattern until you have 9 rows, cast off.

Piece two: Chain 13, DC in 2nd chain and until end turn work over.

Chain 1, DC into 2nd loop and then DC until end, turn work, repeat pattern and cast off.

You should have 2 pieces of crochet as below.

Bend the first piece in half and join the ends either by sewing with darning needle or crocheting along the seem. Use any left over thread to wind around the centre of the bow and tie off, you won't be able to see this thread at the end but it helps give the bow a solid centre.At this point I sew on the brooch back, keeping it centred but not covering it too much or else it won't close properly.Then use the smaller piece to wrap round the centre of the bow in a loop and cover the attachment of the brooch back. Stitch the ends together at the back using small stitches as below, this covers any work up and makes everything...

There you go, you should have your very own Bow Brooch. Well done. 

If you don't fancy making your own you'll be able to buy them in my shop soon, or if want a huge one or a different colour made, please drop me line. 

I hope you liked my first crochet make, please let me know if you make your own by leaving a link in the comments below.

A tale of 2 blankets

Having got my crafty mojo back I feel as if ten minutes don't go past without me being hook in hand, I've been trying to be good and finish off past projects or adding to them. These are now sat awaiting a light day in which I may photograph them to add to my shop, although I feel the darkness of Winter may never leave.

Instead to bring some colour into the grey I start 2 blankets, the first is for myself. After years of using my spare time to make item items for others, I thought I'd be a little greedy and use some time to make something for me. I ready don't have enough of my own stuff in my home, and this year that will change. 

This is my Little Squares blanket, made up from what be be hundreds of little squares, I'm using Sidar Supersoft Arran in a colour combination of Mid Green; Plummy;Tangerine; White; Oaty; Bright Pink & Sidar Country style Arran in Honeyconb. A couple of squares look blue but that's just the pesty light.

This yarn is so soft and wonderful to work with, the Supersoft is 100% acrylic which I know some people are against but I love, the colours are vibrant and the yarn feels as good as a high quality wool. The Country style is a blend of  wool, acrylic and nylon, which is equally lovely to work with.

 I've been very good with the project so far and have weaved the ends in as I go, just the outside squares to do, and I've using a technique of attaching the squares as you go. This is wonderful if planning on a large blanket as the finishing isn't such a daughting task, and you can see how far you done more clearly.

Or in my case how much further you have to go, so far I really like this colour combination, and am trying really hard to keep my colour choices random; which is harder than you think.

I may add different colours as I've got lots of oddments to use up, but these colours match my living room plan perfectly and I may have to invest in some more yarn to continue the theme.

My next blanket is going to be a large lap blanket which will go on sale in my shop, I've called it Circle in a Square because within each square is a little circle.

I'm using the same Sidar Arran yarn in the colour ways of white; plummy; Bight Pink & Moss and the Countrystyle Arran in Honeycomb.

As you can see I've not been a good girl with this blanket and having a lot of weaving to do, a job for a Monday evening if there ever was one. My plan is to join these squares up in this grouping now and then have a different colour way of Circles in Squares going around them, we'll see how it goes. I have the squares arranged on my bed at the minute and keep rearranging their placement but I'll have to make a decision before bedtime or I'll be sleeping on the sofa.

What crafting have you started 2013 with, feel free to leave a link in the comments section, I'd love a nosey.

Happy Monday

Christmas Countdown

I love the countdown to Christmas , the last couple of years we've had a small cheap advent calender that was a string of little felt trees with a pouch for a chocolate at the front, but it was really only small enough for 1 chocolate. With 2 children last year we managed to squash 2 in each tree but it's seen better days and is falling apart now.

I thought I could make one, okay I thought about it weeks ago, had a plan and promptly forgot about it. 

I remembered yesterday when I couldn't find any chocolate advent calenders in town. 

So last night I made this.

 I used an old picture frame (I seem to have a few old fashioned frames knocking around) and strung 4 lines of string at the back. Then sat for the long hall making 24 small bags with numbers patches on the front. I just used a fabric pen to write the numbers on (eventually I may embroider over them so it looks better) and picked a selection of 4 styles of fabric which were in my stash. I wanted to make bags big enough to fit small lego toys, sweets and crafty treats in them. The little Christmas pegs were ones we'd made last year to hold up cards ( I'll show you how another time) and I've still to fill a lot of the bags but I think it works well.

I was worried this morning when Maisie asked if she had a Moshie Monsters advent calender, but when they saw this set up they were really excited and began working out who'd open the first bag. Lucas got to pull out the first treats(Mint chocolate trees) and with that the countdown begins :-)

How did your countdown begin?

Amanda.x.

The first rule of Craft Club is...

TALK ABOUT CRAFT CLUB

The second rule of CRAFT CLUB is..... you see where I'm going with this right?

This week I went to a training session for Craft Club, this organisation is all about championing Craft in schools, galleries, libraries, community centres and anywhere else that will bring people together in there love of trying something new. 

The session gave a great insight into something which I think should be part of the school curriculum anyway,  doing crafts encompasses a huge number of skills and helps with co ordination and concentration.

The training day was hosted by Jessica Worley a textile artist, with a special speaker of Deirdre Nelson who discussed her recent community projects. 

The actual day was very hands on and interactive, we did some finger knitting which Craft Club use as a good introduction to craft for everyone. We also made some knitted fish which linked back to the community projects of Deirdre, I think knitting fish may now become a small obsession. 

This was a wonderful, inspiring and creative day and I now have a head buzzing with ways to bring this to my local area and my Daughters school. I hope more people join this cause and help pass on their skills to a generation which seem to have missed out on these gentle arts.

If you would like to sign up as a volunteer or want more information the link is here 

And remember, the first rule of Craft Club is talk about it.....  lets get this organisation known about.

Thank you, Amanda.x.

Why I'm a bad crafting blogger?

Because I keeping making things and not showing the process before it's done.

I got this far on making Maisie a crochet cardigan before going "Bugger I should have blogged that", and there was plenty to blog as it's the first crocheted garment I've ever made. 

A quick run down would be I picked the pattern, printed it, started the first line of cardigans bobbles and decided I didn't like it, threw pattern away, and made up the rest. 

I got this far before even thinking to try it on Daughter.  

Yes I'm that type of crafter, but thankfully it does indeed fit and looks quite cardigan like.  

I have the yoke to finish and Maisie would like little sleeves added.

I may have to try and work out how I made it now, so I can write it up as a pattern.

 Also another crafting success but forgotten in the blogging write up was my little Mistletoe brooch, it took few goes to get this right, the hardest bits being the little bobble berries, they can end up looking quite big or messy. The brooch is now for sale in my Maisielu shop here.

I think it would make a nice gift for any Winter loving friend or relative, I have one on my jacket and it gets lots of comments.

Thank you for reading,

love Amanda.x.

Barbie/Disney Doll holder.

As a Mum finding your Daughters collection of Disney/Barbies like this not uncommon. Which is a shame after spending all that money on them, you can't see them, also their hair goes crazy. After this picture was taken I spent 20 minutes combing Rapunzels hair and it's still all matted.

 So I came up with a plan, I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this but I bought a over the door shoe holder from Dunelm £3.99, and a fabric pen. I liked the plain colour but they did have bright blue and pink too.

 I wrote the names of the dolls Maisie already has, leaving gaps for future dolls, I kept them even at each side so the holder didn't lean. I used the last row for shoes, clothes and accessories.

 Then I got some glue, flowers and buttons out.

This a job your child could do themselves, and could be a great way to spend their day.

 Ta da, a completed doll holder.

 No tangle dolls, and you can see them all and know they're all safe.

A good way to help a 5 year learn how to look after her treasures.

Hope this was helpful

Amanda.x.

For the love of Granny

Some time away as I lost my camera charger but now I'm now back.

 And with some WIP to show, these are 4 of the Granny Square Blankets I'm working on, and they're growing well.  When I first started to crochet as a child my Nana had blankets like these, she'd start you crocheting round and after a while she'd start on the next colour and chase your loops as you went.

 

 As I crochet these and feel the yarn through my fingers I'm reminded of my Nana, her smell (Lavender perfume and Parma violets) and watching her hands wrinkled and soft working their way round behind me.

 I've used arcylic yarn to make these, which some people will barf at I know, there's a few reasons behind this decision. 

First is I'm not made of money or sponsored by a yarn company, to get the huge array of colours I like I need a reasonable priced yarn. 

Second is I'd been approached by vegans about things I make, and was told there was not alot of vegan friendly items made from lovely colourful materials.

Third is washability, I hopeing that people will buy these to be used not just for decoration, so it helps to have an easily washable yarn. 

 I love the colours of the top 3 blankets, but I'm not sure of this one, I wanted it to be bolder than usual blankets but I think I like the effect of single lines of colour.

Which colour do you like best?

Have a lovely Friday,

Amanda.x.

Tutorial: Crayon Butterfly's.

 This is a sweet quick tutorial for multicoloured shaped crayons, we added these to Maisie's party bags and got good reports from parents on them.  

They maybe fun to make during the half term holidays.We use cheap silicone moulds (ours were chocolate ones from Home Bargains) and a couple of packets of wax crayons .

 Remove any paper from crayon, and chop up into small pieces, get children involved by giving them the pieces to fill up the shapes, you need to over fill the voids a little as it sinks down.

 Pop in the over Gas mark 5 for about 15minutes, or until melted down as it depends on your oven. Take out and leave to cool, once set pop them out.

Then draw something beautiful with your rainbow butterfly's.

If you make any in different shapes, please feel free to post a picture as a comment.

Thanks Amanda.x.

A bit of a show, and some crafty business.

April has been full of mayhem, making and madness. On bank holiday Monday while my Hubby and children were playing in the sunshine,  I had a stall at Rheged Discovery Centre Food and Gift fair. I've not done a fair for a long time and was very jittery about this one, having been told it should be very busy. However that was not the case, I don't know if it was the lack of advertising and communication from the centre or the good weather but it was very quite, and not just for me but for all the stallholders. Below is my table for the event.

 

It was such a shame the event was quite as the level of the artists was amazing, below is 

Weft Studio which is an independant gallery and studio, they had a display of all their 

crafters work.

Then my other neighbour at the event was Jenny Lockwood Designs, as a seasoned fair trader her display cases put my stand to shame. 

I especially liked her tea holder birds, and ceramic bunting. 

She'll be at the Country Living Fair later in the year and is definitely a "next big thing".

One stand which really stood out at the fair was Rachel Gaw Jewellery, it was mostly resin pieces and so funky, full of sparkles and funk. A must for any Alternative girl wanting to make a statement.The love heart necklace and sugar mice were my favourites.

The other stall to pull me in was K.A.H Ceramics, her stand was full of beautiful yet 

simple designs.  

Well made, functional and yet so stylish, I loved her vases covered with product labels and the bird feeder bowls. With their cute Owl and bird designs, I wouldn't be surprised to see them in a magazine soon.

So although a bit of bad day for making money and missing out on family time, I did meet some lovely makers and chatted to plenty of(hopefully)would be customers.

Thanks for reading, your comments as always are welcome.

Amanda.x.

Yarn Bombing

My lovely crafty friend Mhairi owns Weft Studio here in Carlisle, I sell some of my wares there and run crochet workshops. However the thing I love best is sitting having a brew and a crafty natter, she has a nice view of Castle (although it would be better without a bloody dual carriage way in front of it- politics, sorry) and people watching is a great hobby of mine. 
However it has become apparent that the drivers of Carlisle cannot park on the street outside her shop, it's quite narrow to squeeze into the spaces and in the course of one day in the studio I witnessed 3 cars bump a signpost outside the shop door, and one car bump into another and drive off.  
So I thought I must do something to help drivers see this post.

This is my first piece of Yarn Bombing, and I'm really chuffed at it, especially when 2 different people stroked it as they went past. I'm hoping to cover the whole pole, but as there's lots of other crafter's that use the studio I think it may become a mixed media affair. 
Some people say why? I say why not? 
I think it highlights the craft, but in this setting does it then become art? 
Have I someone managed to bridge the gap between artist and crafter, this topic is one that comes up often in my crafty chats. I consider myself a crafter, but what is the difference really? And what do you consider yourself to be?


"I don't see craft as something you make, but rather something you need to achieve good art."
 -Dawn Detarando


"Art can't deny craft, but refuses to acknowledge it.  In the end they are still brothers."
-Christian Barr.


Questions, questions my blogging friends.  My mind is full of questions.
Comments, as always are welcome.
Amanda.x.

Queen of Procrastination

So after weeks of illness(mine), Christmas, illnessMaisie), New Year, illness(Hubby) and back to work I've had no crafty mojo spare. However I've suddenly been inspired to do all these lovely things.

Watch Maisie create her first embroidery, it was a alien but could now be a robot, or maybe a bird.

 Start on a great big hexagon Granny blanket.

 Begin a Ripple children's blanket.

 Make some more Granny centres.

 Play with the Jelly roll I got for Christmas, what a lovely selection of fabric.

 And re-pot my chilli plants that we grow from seed last year.

All these are a creative way of procrastination, as what I should be doing is my Tax Return.

Amanda.x.