Sunday 22 March 2015

Alan the Lion


This week I crocheted Alan from Super-Cute Crochet (from this old post) but I used different yarn then the pattern suggested; a cool multicoloured acrylic for the body and a strange shaggy acrylic (find this yarn on my Ravelry page) for the mane.


Because of his little body and crazy big hairy head, he is really hard to photograph, so hopefully you get a good idea of what he looks like. If you have a look at the picture in the Super-Cute Crochet book, you can see his face looks pretty different to how mine turned out. Because I was making Alan for a one year old, I thought it would be a potential choking hazard to put on plastic eyes, so I just used scrap yarn to embroider his face. 


He is very cute and was very quick to crochet together, so I would recommend projects from this book for a quick easy gift, or just if you want a new stuffed toy friend!




I would also like to share this amazing card my hubby gave me for my birthday this week:


He even incorporated my fave knitting brand, what a cutie!


Sunday 15 March 2015

Patchwork Baby Boy Blanket

So as I mentioned in my post back in February, I have made a patchwork baby blanket, and this weekend was the baby shower where I gifted it, so I can now share it with you:


I started with a centre panel where I wanted to knit in some wording, and then I used the pattern from my cable knit throw.  Around the outside of this panel I created a patchwork made up from squares.




I came up with the idea of making a patchwork because I wanted to use up the scrap yarn I already had, but because I hadn't calculated how much yarn I would use, I did need to buy some extra yarn to finish off the blanket. Rather than make a poor colour match with the yarn I already had, I chose too buy a new shade of blue altogether; 'Pale Ocean'.

Baby Blue   turquoise   Ocean Blue  Pale Ocean  Navy Blue  Pale Blue  Charcoal  
     Baby Blue            Turquoise            Ocean Blue              Pale Ocean            Navy Blue             Pale Blue               Charcoal

I knitted the squares in garter stitch using 4mm needles, cast on 19 and did roughly 36 rows (all knit), this gave me the 4"x4"square. Initially I was going to make all of the squares using the plain garter, but on the outside border I decided I could mix it up a little bit; I used the stitch library in my Knitters Bible, to find some cool patterns, and also just experimented with some simple stripes and shapes with some other squares






I thought the blanket knit up really nicely, the squares all kept their size perfectly and I only had to block the cable squares and the knitted writing.

I started by attaching the squares randomly as I knit them, but the closer I got to the end, I had to start plotting where each square would go so that I didn't have two of the same colour touching. I found this easiest to do on the computer so I could keep changing them around.


I am really happy with the finished blanket, although I couldn't picture exactly how it would look like when I first started, I had a certain 'look' in mind, which I think I have acheived!





Sunday 8 March 2015

I'm Back!

Sorry that I have been absent for a couple of weeks, I have had some things going on that have been consuming my attention and distracting me from updating the blog. I also haven't been able to put loads of concentration into my knitting, but I have been slowly but surely finishing off my one WIP... which I will be able to reveal next week!

So for now I wanted to share two books I recently borrowed from the library; Super-Cute Crochet by Nicky Trench and Super-Super Cute Crochet by Brigette Read:


I am currently trying to only start projects which I already have the yarn to make, I also have a few children's birthdays/baby showers etc coming up, so I thought these were perfect for some project ideas.

Both of these books are published by Cico Books, they are the same size, very similar titles and the books are laid out in a very similar style; but when it comes to the actual content, I have to say I prefer Super-Cute Crochet by Nicky Trench. Each of the toys have been given cute names and a funny little character back stories, and generally look more cartoony and fun, which personally the style I am more drawn to.

Here are some of my favourite 'characters' that I hope to make; Camilla the Pretty Pony, The Fish Brothers (I don't particularly like fish, but know someone who would love these!), Alan the Lion, Dimitri the Donkey and Pickles the Puppy!

Camilla the Pretty Pony The Fish Brothers
Pickles The Puppy

Super-Super Cute Crochet by Brigette Read had a lot of cute toys, but the book just didn't have the same finishing touch making me fall in love with the little characters. Having said that, there were a couple of toys I would be interested in making, in particular the gorgeous little puppy and the cute crocodile.

 

Although I am sure I have got suitable yarn to make most of these, I did have to go and buy more toy stuffing, and I may have to invest in some toy eyes… but I still think this makes for thrifty crafting!