New Crochet Magazine

Have you seen the new magazine Simply Crochet?

It is produced by the same people who make Mollie Makes and Simply knitting. I received an email in November to say I could subscribe to the first 3 months for £5 so I thought I would give it a go!

It is full of crochet patterns, ideas and advice and is produced in the same colourful and familiar way that Mollie Makes readers are used to.

There are a range of patterns: clothes, both dinky and full sized, accessories, jewellery, furnishings and a toy dragon!

I suppose it has left me wondering whether it is really offering me anything more than I could already find for free on your lovely blogs, but I have 2 more to go before I need to decide whether to continue a subscription.

Have you seen it yet? What do you think?
Becky x
PS I am using my new Xmas pressie to do this - after agreeing to not buying each other too much for Xmas my husband surprised me with an ipad mini! I'm struggling with the blogger app a little and have no idea if the photos are where I want them to be in this post so I hope it's ok!
PSS Sorry, all pics at the end and apparently nothing I can do about it! How annoying!

WIPs!

Forgotten, lost and forlorn! Lying hidden in drawers or buried deep in cupboards. Why, oh, why do we spend our hard-earned cash on beautiful craft supplies only to abandon projects halfway through and move on to the next?
I must be the worst offender and this post is about prove just that! As I list them, I'm going to put a rough estimate on the cost of the materials for each one, just to see how much I have spent (not wasted - they still have the potential to be finished). I may regret doing this by the end of the post!

WIP 1:
Felted Flower Bag

Cost of materials: £20
Work to completion: sew in lining and buttons. Add handle.

WIP 2:
Granny Squares Cushion

Cost of materials: £12
Work to completion: make two more squares and crochet them all together. Crochet a back with button opening.

WIP 3:
Ripple Blanket

Cost of materials: £90 (I hope my husband doesn't read this)
Work to completion: hundreds of ripples...  aaggggghhhhhh!

WIP 4:
Felted Matryoshka

Cost of materials: £5
Work to completion: sew embellishments on remaining two and loops to hang.
WIP 5:
Japanese Flower Cowl

Cost of materials: £36
Work to completion: 3/24 to go. Why haven't I finished this? 1 flower = 15 minutes which means in the time I've spent doing this post I could have finished it!

Is that it? That seems quite a short list for the guilt trip I've been on lately!
No wait...

WIP 6:
Felted Baby Booties (yes this is the project I gave you a sneaky peak of in my last post)

Cost of materials: varies, total perhaps £20
Work to completion: 3 pairs need buttons sewing on and ends woven in. 4th pair (above) needs crochet 'cuff' and flower.

Reviewing my list, (which totals £183 of materials,) the flower cowl, matyoshka and booties will all be quite quick to finish. The cushion and bag will take a little more time and the bag will require the sewing machine to have a bit of a dust off! The one I think that is realistically out of my reach is the ripple blanket :( It's been nearly 12 months since I've added any ripples. I have thought about pulling it all out before and could perhaps use the yarn for smaller more achievable projects ;)

Or, I could make a runner from the amount I've crocheted so far.

There.
That feels better!
All organised and conscience clear. Until the next WIP anyway!

How are your WIPs?!
Becky x

P.S Is anyone having problems uploading photos? I can't upload any from my computer and have to save them all to picasa before uploading them. Any ideas why? HELP!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway - ends Monday 27th August.

click to go to my giveaway post

Crochet Wire

I have finished one of the felt flowers I have been working on. I did a little experimenting with wire and crocheted a layer of petals to lie on top of the felt petals.


This was easier than I remembered. I don't know why but it just clicked this time and was made in a flash! Last time I got into a real mess with knots, messy loops and tangled hooks! Perhaps I'm just a little more confident with crochet itself and so found working with wire easier this time.

I used the shell button for the centre of this brooch and added blue and green glass beads. I love the yellow, turquoise and lime green combination.

                                                            This crochet wire is still in the experimental stage! It sticks out quite far but is quite pretty. I think I need to use a contrasting colour of wire to the felt. It gets a little lost against such a similar colour.



I have also felted another pair of baby shoes.

This pair are royal blue inside and lime green outside. I used a multi-coloured yarn and overstitched along the edge. Then I crocheted a strap to go across the foot. They are nearly finished, just need to sew the buttons on for the straps, but I was too impatient to save them for my next post!
With each pair I am learning something new about the process and slowly perfecting it. I cut the opening for this pair a little large and as I continued to full the felt (second stage in the felting process) the opening just kept getting larger!
I don't feel any of them so far are quite good enough to sell, but I'm hoping the next pair might just make it to my Folksy shop!


I am trying to pull together a post about the garden in all it's spring colour, but getting photos in reasonable light is proving a bit challenging at the moment - if you are reading this and live in the UK you'll know exactly what I mean! I can't help but smile when someone mentions a drought - I emptied a leaking waterbutt 2 weeks ago to reseal the tap connector and it's already full!

Hoping for some sunshine this weekend (ever the optimist!),
Becky x

PS A huge hello to my readers in Russia (almost as many as here in the UK according to blogger stats!). Can anyone tell me why my blog is attracting so many readers from Russia? I'm just a little curious!

Spring Felt Flowers

I wanted to show you my latest little bit of felting.

I made some felt samplers a few weeks ago, playing around with surface texture and colour.

From these 3 pieces I cut some daisy shaped felt flowers. They need finishing yet, with buttons or glass beads and maybe some coloured wire.

I managed to get some really great pictures of them during a short spell of sunshine we had yesterday afternoon, so this post may be a bit photo heavy!

Can you see the silk fibre and sari silk waste glinting in the sun?
I haven't quite decided what to use them for yet. I might make them into brooches or use them to decorate a bag.

 

I can't decide whether I prefer the shell buttons or the glass heart beads in the centres. Which do you like?

I was really sad to read that Clara Luna of The Rainbow Room won't be selling her felt packs anymore. She is moving to sunny Ibiza for 6 months so has decided to stop stocking the felt in her Folksy and Etsy shops. It is of course great news for her and I took advantage of a bargain when she reduced her last few packs down to half price!

All this for only £25.00 (inc' p+p) - bargain! That should kep be going for a little while.
I have also finished (well, very almost) the little blue felted boots I made some time ago.

I just need to sew the wooden buttons on and they're done (I carefully balanced them in place for the photo!).

I have gathered 2 items for a giveaway that I'm hoping to have soon! I won't show them to you just yet, but they are good ones!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend. The sun is shining here and my sinusitis is a little better today so I might just get out in the garden - next post will be all about our green-fingered projects!
Becky x

Baby Shoes and A Felting Tutorial.

Hope you're having as nice a week as I am. There has been a lot of relaxing and catching up with my favourite magazines. Molly Makes arrived just at the right time. I sat down to read it Monday morning with some homemade scotch pancakes and look who was eyeing up my treats!

I didn't even realise Little Mannie was in the room until the hand shot out as I was taking the photo! I did let him eat it and made several more for the family before I got to sit and enjoy mine with the mag'!

My husband made a lovely fuss over me for Valentine's Day, he's a true romantic. We went to some stunning gardens and ate at a seafood restaurant at St.Ives in the evening. Bliss!

There hasn't been a lot of felting or crocheting going on, but that's OK. The weather has been too kind to sit indoors. However, I did promise to show you the baby shoes that are now finished.

Adding crochet to felt is in several projects in my new Japanese felting book. It inspired my crochet and felt jar jacket and now it has inspired these little shoes.

They are just so cute now they are finished. They make me want to add a pair of little feet to the family just to fill them!

You may have noticed that I have added a link to felting tutorials in my sidebar. Some of the lovely comments I have received have said that many of you would like to try felting and I thought I would share some of the things that I have learnt so far and tempt you all to give it a try! I have started with a simple piece of flat felting.

This is the piece I made for the tutorial. It's ever so easy to make. This technique could be used to make a picture, a book cover or could be cut up and sewn. If you make something and blog about it or post pictures on flickr, please let me know, I would love to see how you use my tutorial.

Nearly the weekend! Hope you have a good one!
Becky x

Felt and Crochet Jar Jacket

Something new from me again, inspired by my lovely new Japanese book (I promise to share it with you soon!).

This little jacket has been felted over a glass jar (quickly whipped out of the recycling box before the recycle van came) and then finished with a crochet collar.

Another fiddly felting project. Or perhaps it's just that I haven't done it before. I can remember when felting little balls was a pain and they would all end up with little creases, but now I can make them with my eyes closed whilst icing a cake! All right, I exaggerate, but you know what I mean!

The felt is quite thin because I wanted to see what it would look like with a tea light inside. I used turquoise and teal felt which I tried to blend subtly into each other. With the light shining through the colours it looks just beautiful. 

I added the crochet to the top using a yarn called Pompeii, it's a chunky wool mix and I love how it looks with the soft felt. I can see a whole batch of these being made in a range of colours and finishes! I'm still thinking of adding some natural shell buttons down the front to finish it.

I think I will mostly use this one for pens and pencils, although it would look great with

some paper white narcissus in it. Or some white hyacinths.

I'd like to make a shorter, smaller one for my crochet hooks too.

So that's my first Monthly Make for February finished.

I have also finished the baby shoes and they are just gorgeous, but I'll save them for my next post.

Half-term is here. I'm looking forward to spending some time with my family. Baking. Walking. Playing. Laughing. Relaxing.

Lovely.

Hope you have a good weekend. Keep warm and if you have the snow enjoy it!

Becky x

Monthly Make 2012 and Time to Craft!

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas.
After lots of preparations, celebrations and entertaining (thank goodness for the dishwasher!) I have finally paused for breath and a bit of crochet, felting and blogging.
Aaaahhhhhhh..... there's the the pause...... and it feels good! Even better when accompanied by by a fresh latte and homemade lemon cake!

I've joined Annie The Felt Fairy 's Monthly Make 2012 and joined the flickr group to share our makes.

I'm really excited about it! I have loved following some other blogger's monthly makes and I'm sure it will motivate me to get creating!  Why don't you join us - the more the merrier!

I have made a little more progress with the Japanese flower cowl, 14 flowers so far (almost!) and I'm aiming for 20-24. Here it is with 13 flowers (no. 14 still on the hook!).

I have a new winter coat that it will look amazing with if I can get it finished before Spring!

I also want to get this done so I can go back to my little (hem, hem) ripple crochet blanket. It has been weeks since I have added any new rows and I'm really quite missing it. Too may projects, too little time.

I received two new crochet books for Christmas. I knew they were going to be good as so many of you have recommended them on your blogs and given me a sneaky preview into their contents.

I haven't seen this scarf in any of the previews however and have completely fallen in love with it.

Yesterday a spot of wet felting was done and it did feel good to get my hands all soapy with the fluffy stuff. I forgot to share my new supplies with you, didn't I?!
Here are my lovely new fibres.

OK, in the bag doesn't show off their beauty at all so here are a few pics out of the bag!

Spring Green - a merino tops and silk mix

Strawberry Sundae - a merino tops and silk mix

Raspberry Chocolate - a merino tops blend (good enough to eat!)

Lagoon - a merino tops blend

White, turquoise, deep turquoise and citrus merino tops 

Damson - a rich purple dyed merino top

All gorgeous. I haven't used any yet, I'm saving them for some special projects - don't know what yet! I also couldn't resist this Gillian Gladrag kit which had been reduced from £25 to £16.

She is a brilliant felter. I have one of her books and follow her blog - quite inspirational.
Yesterday's felting was a little experiment I have wanted to do for ages. My Mum's birthday is mid-January and I noticed that she has a raggedy old cover on her new iphone so I thought I would have a go at felting one. What do you think?

I used a blue shell button and elastic for the closure. The lining is bright pink like the ring around the turquoise spots. It's beautifully soft and quite thick so it should protect the phone well.

Well, I have rambled on for long enough now, thank your for your patience and well done for making it to the end of this blog post!

Hope you are all finding some post-festivities time for a little crafting too!

Becky x