The one where she knits a really big thing

Alrighty. Knitting is a new skill for me. And not one I've mastered yet either, but I felt the need to actually make something and have a project to call my own.

 

 

 

I'd seen these floor cushions on the web here and recently on the high street. 'I can make that!' I thought to myself.

(and a lot blimmin' cheaper, too).

 

 

 

So I armed myself with some of my Hooplayarn and some mahoooooosive needles and set about finding a pattern to work with.....

 

 

This is what I used:

• Pattern from Drops Design here (free, yay!)
• 20mm needles
• 3 skeins of Hooplayarn [T-shirt yarn] (I bought mine aaaages ago online. Don't worry -the pattern suggests other yarns you could use, too)
• Bean bag filling (I bought mine from this great seller here on eBay)
• Lining material to match your yarn choice (details below)

 

This is what I did:

I worked with doubled yarn, cast on 24 stitches and followed the instructions to make the cushion.

It grew quite quickly as the pattern is very easy.

 

 

I made mine until it measured 120 cms in length and boy, did it weigh a tonne to work with by the end.

 

I followed the instructions for how to assemble the cushion: you'll need to gather up the stitches around the bottom first..

 

PAC-man's knitted cousin

 

...sew up the sides and insert the filling.

Now, the pattern suggests you could use feather duvets. Not something I have going spare in my house, so I opted for bean bag filling. Luckily, the beanbag I bought came with an internal bag o'beans, so I stripped it of its outer cover and attempted to stuff it into the cushion.

 

 

Hehehe. Comedy failure.

Too many beans and the white material showed in a not-good way through the stitches.

 

 

 

So I bought lining material. No I didn't. I bought a £4 grey jersey snood from Primark, which happened to be the exact size I needed.

 

I used elastic bands to secure the bottom of the lining, added my beans (having removed a fair few first), stuffed the bean-filled grey snood into the cushion cover and secured the top with another elastic band.

 

 

I then gathered the stitches around the top of the knitted cushion and voila!

 

One floor cushion-y thing!

 

And my kids have already sat on it.

(I admit to holding my breath in case it all came unravelled, but so far, so good)

These would look great in different colours, and you can easily adapt the number of stitches/ rows to make bigger or smaller sizes.

Have a try. It really was a nice beginner's project.

Enjoy your week. Xx

 

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Wubberducky Crochet Duck: A free pattern

 

 

This was a really quick little make and uses only a small amount of yarn.

The pattern is worked amigurumi-style in continuous spirals, so you'll need to mark the beginning of each round.

 

You will need:

Yarn of your choice and a hook to match

(I used RICO Creative Cotton, main colour 63 [light yellow] and bill colour 74 [orange] and a 4mm hook)

Stitch Marker

Toy stuffing

Embroidery thread (to coordinate with face and bill colours) and needle

Tapestry (blunt needle)

Felt (for face, optional)

2x 9mm black safety eyes

1x 12mm safety eye if you want a moving head (optional)

 

Stitches and Abbreviations:

I use US terms, so single crochet is the same as UK double crochet here.

Chain (ch)

Single crochet (sc)

Stitches (sts)

Single Crochet 2 Together (sc2tog)

 

To single crochet 2 together:

Insert hook into next stitch.

Yarn over, pull up a loop. (2 loops on hook)

Insert hook into next stitch.

Yarn over, pull up a loop (3 loops on hook)

Yarn over and pull through all 3 loops.

 

PATTERN

Head (beginning with neck and working up)

1. 5sc in magic ring OR

ch2, 5sc in 2nd chain from hook.

2. 2sc in each sc (10)

3. 2sc in each sc (20)

4. Sc 20

5. (3sc, 2sc in next sc) repeat around (25)

6. Sc 25

7. (4sc, 2sc in next sc) repeat around (30)

8-9. Sc 30

10. (4sc, sc2tog) repeat around (25)

11. (3sc, sc2tog) repeat around (20)

12. Sc 20

Measure 2 arm lengths of yarn and cut. You'll finish the head in a bit...

 

Body (neck down)

1. 5sc in magic ring OR

ch2, 5sc in 2nd chain from hook.

2. 2sc in each sc (10)

3. 2sc in each sc (20)

4. Sc 20

5. (1sc, 2sc in next sc) repeat around (30)

6. Sc 30

7. (5sc, 2sc in next sc) repeat around (35)

8-11. Sc 35

12. Sc 10, 2sc in each of next 5 stitches, sc10, sc2tog over next 10 stitches (35 sts)

13. Sc 35

14. (3sc, sc2tog) repeat around (28)

15. Sc2tog around (14)

Attach the body to the head (if using safety eye): push the eye shank into the bottom of the head and into the neck of the body and attach the collar tightly.

Stuff firmly.

16. Sc2tog around (7)

Sew closed.

 

Bill:

1. 6sc

2. (2scs in each of next 2 sts, Sc, 2scs in each of next 2scs, Sc) (10sts)

3. Sc 10

4. Sc 10

Fasten off

 

Finish Head:

Make small slits in the felt 'face' and push safety eyes through. Push eye shanks into crochet face and attach collars behind.

Sew on felt face

Attach beak

Stuff firmly

13. Sc2tog around (10)

14. Sc2tog around (5)

Sew closed.

And that should be it!

Enjoy making

Xxx

 

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The one where she learns to knit ...

I still consider myself relatively new to the whole world of yarn. I taught myself to crochet just over 2 years ago and I am still learning.

 

 

And I love it, I really do.

But I felt the urge to learn something new. A challenge. Something to keep the ol' cerebral pistons and cogs turning and stop the rust from taking hold. Feeling reassured by the whole adventures-in-yarn so far, I decided knitting would be the way to go.

 

Knitting?

I recall that childhood memory of squeaky yarn on needles and triangle-shaped pieces of 'knitting', no matter how hard I tried to make rectangles.

But I had been reassured by the well-lush ShabbyChicSarah (on our recent Instagrannies knit-and-stitch meet-up) that I would, indeed be able to knit. Sarah told me matter-of-fact that not only would I be able to knit, but that I would love it.

Game on, I thought.

And so, armed with some freebie needles (thanks to the also well-lush County Rose) and a book (see below) I began my knitty journey:

Lesson 1: Casting on

 

Hey, I can do it!

 

Lesson 2: Making the knit stitch

 

 

Oh, blinkin' 'eck! MAJOR disaster.

This is actually terrible. I felt a terrible sense of doom and disappointment.

(Naturally I blamed the glass(es) of wine which accompanied me on this lesson.)

 

Lesson 3: Try again with bigger needles, chunkier yarn and TEA, not wine.

 

 

Ahhh, a bit more successfull and I have something which actually resembles knitting.

 

A bit more and I'm trying the purl stitch too.

 

 

 

Buoyed by my new-found yarn-confidence, I try this:

 

 

And this:

 

And this:

 

And I feel genuinely chuffed with my efforts.

I don't really know what to make for real yet; I'm searching out Ravelry and Pinterest for something very easy to get me started (any suggestions gladly appreciated) but I'm really pleased that I've tried.

It may come to nothing and I may decide that it's not really for me, but who knows, eh?

 

Have a great week!

Xx

PS the book I learned to crochet with was this:

'Stitch and Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker' by Debbie Stoller:

 

 

And for knitting:

'Stitch and Bitch: The Knitter's Handbook' also by Debbie Stoller

 

 

I would recommend them both! And I bought them from Amazon.

X

 

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Random crochet

 

We have two children. Eldest aged 6, youngest, 3.

 

And a pushchair, also 6 years old.

 

 

To be fair, it's done rather well considering the years of punishment it has suffered; you know the sort of thing- overloaded with shopping, thrown into the boot of the car, holidaying on airplanes, and the everyday abuse subjected by small people and all their muck.

Oh, and being run over by my 4x4. No kidding - I'd forgotten that I'd left it folded up on the ground and reversed right over it. This was recently too.

 

Sturdy old thing, really.

 

But not pretty.

 

 

No, not pretty. Look at the handles...

Yeuuuck.

They have totally perished and become grossly sticky.

 

 

What to do.....?

What to do.....?

 

 

 

 

 

What would any yarn-y gal do in this situation?

Why, crochet of course!!

 

 

(Actually, this was the Mister's suggestion 'like, why don't you crochet something to cover it?' he says.)

 

Tadaaa!

 

 

 

Hehehe!

These make me laugh.

And they certainly do cheer up my travels.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random, I know.

But good fun, eh?

Have a great week, everyone!

Xxx

 

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Wabbiting around

 

 

Hello to you all in 2013!


 

 

I cannot believe that Christmas has come and gone (as have all the icky bugs) and that the New Year is upon us (and has already settled in and got its feet well and truly under the table).

 

 

 

 

 

I have so much to share with you. I really have been a most busy bunny.

Ahhhh, bunnies. Let's start there.

Last year I made little rabbits from a pattern I found here on the Internet. And very cute they were too.


But I wanted more: Bigger. Longer. Leaner.

And I wanted to use my pompom maker (onto that later).

 

So I had an idea.

 

Some people have asked how I develop a pattern.

I begin with a sketch (and not always a good one at that) one which gets the dimensions right.

I then muck around with the yarn a bit; I sort of know how to make sphere and cone and tube shapes, so I try different things.

There is a lot of frogging at this stage.

And swearing.

And cups of tea.

 

Sometimes I draw an actual sized sketch. This helps with shaping a lot.

 

 

 

 

I try things out for size and try to imagine what the whole piece will look like.

 

 

The most important thing is to keep a track of exactly what I've done, writing down every round of stitches. Every increase and decrease.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then I get to a point where I'm happy and the Wabbit is finished.

 

This one is going to be a newborn baby's gift.

Nice. I like it when people buy my little toys and there is a story to tell.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And once I've made one, I set about making another, straight away (and then another and another) to test the pattern and check for inaccuracies.

 

This one worked out rather well. I love the Peruvian colour print in this yarn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here he is, finished.

 

This one was bought by a lovely lady who gave it to her little girl. She was then kind enough to send me some photos. So I could see my Peruvian Wabbit being hugged and cuddled, taken for a trip in the buggy and fast asleep with his new owner.

It made my heart sing to know he has a story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fancy making your own Wabbit?

There's patterns a-plenty for everyone in my Etsy shop.

 

Oh and the pompom maker?

Not a necessity, but such fun!!

 

(Incidentally mine is made by Clover and I bought it on eBay)

 

 

 

Have a lovely week.

Xxx

 

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