A Teeny Tiny Crochet Break

teeny tiny

We have a baby! 

She came five weeks early but is doing really well. 

So I am going to have a break from crocheting for a little while, because as you know crocheting takes two hands and this little poppet is definitely going to be taking up at least one of mine for the foreseeable future.

hands full

A Special Craft Fair

Two weeks to go until my next Craft Fair, and this one is particularly dear to me because it is the ever-so-local, ever-so-lovely Articulate Fair.

This is my fave fair of the year because their is such a lovely vibe.

Customers get wrapped up warm to come and browse the stalls for beautiful high quality arts and crafts Christmas gifts. Residents of Oldfield Park or Moorfields are bound to bump into a few friendly faces as lots of the beautiful things for sale are made and sold by local people from throughout the neighbourhood.

Come along...

For more info visit The Bath Chronicle's website or UKCraftfairs.com

On a personal note, this fair is special to me because it is put on by my community craft club that I absolutely love being a part of throughout the year. Plus, I have just moved house to just around the corner, making me more of a local member than ever before, and Articulate thrives from its wonderful community feel as like-minded crafters come together from the same neighbourhood. But it is also important to me because this time last year I did the Articulate craft fair, and it was the first time I had ever attempted to sell my own hand-made goods, and it was so exciting that from that day forth The Flower Mill was born!

Hope to see you there!

Crocheted Broccoli

My very close friend recently bought a toy broccoli from Ikea.

This soon turned into a bit of a thing when she began to take pictures of 'Brocolli''s visits to tourist destinations and uploading them onto Facebook.

So for her 30th Birthday I decided to attempt something I had never attempted before - crocheting a vegetable!

I made her a miniature version of her beloved a vegy-pal. 

Here he is. 

An ever so slightly bonkers birthday prezzy for my ever so slightly bonkers (but then who isn't?!) and truly lovely friend...

I would give you a free pattern, just in case you have the urge to crochet some greens, but I'm afraid I completely made it up as I went along.

I worked the stalk in the round (light green) and the cloud-like part (dark green) was an amalgamation of pop-corn stitch and trebble crochet decreasing into the stalk at the end. I sewed on some little beads for eyes and stitched a couple of simple stitches of black cotton to make the mouth and tada!

One cute little broccoli, crocheted with love! 

New business cards

When you are out and about selling your goods it is essential that you have some publicity with you at all times to hand out your contact details at the flick of a wrist. This is how I get most of my stalls at new fairs - people like what they see, they ask for my card, then they email me about their own school fairs or craft events inviting me to get involved. So when it comes to business cards its worth paying a little money to get them just the way you like them.

I have recently updated my business cards. After many hours of thought and design, this is the new and improved end product.

I'm especially pleased that these cards have a business email address on them! This is my new email account especially for The Flower Mill, which I hope you'll agree gives an extra professional feel. I can't wait to start giving them out at craft fairs across the South West.

Specifications

• Shop: Zazzle
• Size: Business, 3.5" x 2.0",
• Quantity: 100 pack 
• Price: £17.95
• Paper Type: White, 99.20lb white card stock for added quality/strength.
• Design: Grunge floral custom. Dark blue.

A sunshiney crochet picnic

My friend Lucy is a whiz with a camera and one sunshiney day she invited me along to a crochet picnic in Parade Gardens. Situated in our beautiful home town, Bath, we sneaked in through a side gate with an oversized key (that are entrusted to a few privileged local residents) and had the most beautiful day watching the world go by, by the weir. Here are the pics that prove it...

Joined by these feathery fellas

Curioser and curioser

Craft on the grass

Crocheting some hair slides for sale via The Flower Mill

I scream, you scream, we all scream for...

Sunbathers by the bandstand

Me... in my element

Crocheting the day away

Some of my brooches for sale via The Flower Mill

Me and my hooks!

The perfect refreshing snack (after all I am pregnant and it is hot!)

My first ever crocheted project, a kindle cover that I made last summer

All of these pics are courtesy of Bath-based photographer Lucy, of Dot &Lucy Photography.

Out of this world

I've wanted to crochet some naughty little monsters to put on my stall for quite a while.

My husband helped me to design these little fellas. He loves the mathamatical side of my crocheting hobby.

It is kind of an amigurumi egg and a crocheted flower crocheted together as one shape. I crocheted a straight forward circle and dot for an eye on each monster.

Here are the end results...

Photographed by Lucy & Dot Photography

Crocheted Roses

Learning something new

Today I taught myself how to crochet a rose. I wanted to make some to add as a detail on my baby headbands.

The Pattern

I looked at a lot of different free rose patterns on Crochet Pattern Central  and then I adapted the patterns to suit my needs. I like thinks to look neat and delicate, but I need them to be fairly quick to crochet so that I can sell my crocheted accessories for a reasonable price that is affordable to the customer without having taken me houra of unpaid labour. The pattern I settled with is a variation on this one.

Popcorn Stitch Around A Blanket

I'm having a lot of fun putting that bobbly popcorn stitch around my ongoing blanket. I wanted to give the blanket a bit of texture. With baby number one on the way (due in December) I thought it would be sweet to add these bobbly bits around the outside to add cosy tactility for tiny fingers. I'm hoping to do at least two rows of this in a zigzagging alternating pattern. It takes  a while but is lovely and therapeutic once you get into the rhythm of it. Here are some pictures of one side of one row done, to give you the general idea of how it looks...

To learn how to do the popcorn stitch for yourself, or to find out a bit more about it, click here.

How to Crochet a Bobly Popcorn Stitch

One of the main reasons I LOVE to crochet is because there are always new techniques and stitches to learn, so I never get bored of it. Yesterday I taught myself to do a lovely bobbly popcorn stitch. 

I wanted to learn a stitch that would add cosy texture to my work. I learnt this technique by following the instructions in my The Art of Crochet magazine and it didn't disappoint.

I haven't yet got much to show from my popcorn lessons but I did find these gorgeous pictures on-line to give you a good idea of the depth of this lovely stitch.

Pictures from a little vintage doll who
has crocheted/photographed this beautiful
example of popcorn stitches 

Pictures from a little vintage doll who
has crocheted/photographed this beautiful
example of popcorn stitches 

It didn't take me long to get the hang of it. I want to try to incorporate it into my ongoing blanket project, but it takes quite a lot of time - well worth it, I feel, but we'll see what I can manage with all of my other projects on the go.

If you would like to learn how to do the popcorn stitch you can follow these simple on-line instructions...

How to Crochet a Popcorn Stitch

Enjoy!

Super-cute Crocheted Pin Cushions

Look at these crazily cute crocheted takes on the traditional pin cushion. Aren't they just the most adorable things!?! 

Follow the links at the bottom of the pictures to see them in their original context. (The first one has a free pattern so you can have a go!)

Free pattern available on amigurumipatterns

By Doni at Whiskers & Wool

By Becky Oh at Eightlegs

I stumbled across these lovelies on pinterest. To see more of my pins click here.

Crocheting a business card case

I am part way through a really simple little project, where I am effectively crocheting a little sock to fit around my business cards so that they can stay nice and shiny even despite being in the bottom of my handbag all day every day.

Here's what I did;

*Crochet a chain twice as long as the business card is wide.
*Add a few chains if you want to fit a good number of cards in there.
*Slip stitch into a ring.
*Double crochet in every chain.
*Work round and round and round in double crochet stitches until it is long enough.
*Sew or crochet one end together to creat the bottom of the case.
*decorate to your liking

Voila

Emma the amigurumi giraffe

Here she is... Emma the giraffe.

Which ribbon?

Over the last couple of days I have been playing with turquoises, lilacs and this lovely distressed blue for a very special commisioned brooch for a soon-to-be married man to give to his soon-to-be wife on their honeymoon.

Here is the finished flower...

I wonder what kind of ribbon she would like?

I've narrowed it down to three ribbons in particular. There's the turqoise one. You can't see it very well on this photo but this is a lovely, rich turquoise, silky ribbon. Then there's the lovely neutral one. This one is a light creamy colour, with grey stitches down the sides. And then lastly (my personal favourite) the floral grey one, which I would adjust to be a bit thinner. But might this one be a bit too... well... floral for some people?

Will ask the  hubby-to-be in question which one he thinks would best suit his special lady.

Taking a course with Craftsy : Know Your Wool

Craftsy describe themselves as " a community of passionate crafters featuring online classes about all your favorite crafts including quilting, sewing & cake decorating." I became a craftsy member to download a free crochet pattern from them, but until now have never taken any of their courses.

I have so much wool, even now as I type there are balls of wool all over the sofa as I am midway through a project (or ten!). But I must admit, most of the wool I own has been donated to me from people who have finished projects or people who wish to help me out in my little Cottage industry The Flower Mill.

Some of my own wooly work at The Flower Mill

This morning I signed up to a free class called 'Know Your Wool' led by Deborah Robson - click the link at the end of this post to get started! - and I thought I would let you know how I am finding it so far;

Getting started

Getting started was really easy. It took me less than a minute to "buy" the course. (It was completely free, but you still have to add it to your cart and process the order). The course is made up of detailed videos that I can watch as many times as I'd like. They never expire and are easily accessed once logged onto my Craftsy account. There was a short introductory Craftsy video about getting the most out of their learning resourses which again took only one minute. Then I was in...

The Course

This information is lifted directly from the Craftsy website. To view it at its original source please click on the text.

My thoughts...

I have only watched the first session and I am finding it really helpful. After just the first ten minutes, I had already realised how I have no idea about the content of different wools or the sheep that they come from or the way the wools are processed to achieve their different textures and looks. I was lapping up Deborah's vast knowledge. 

So far, I have found Deborah Robson's teaching extremely clear to follow and absolutely brimming full with her life-long learnt, specialist information on wool. I am excited to learn from her as she explains everything very thoroughly without waffling on or entering the realms of patronising.

Deborah's thorough book on wool types

The only thing I would say is that I am wondering if it will get more targeted at knitters (as opposed to crocheters and other wool based artisans) as the course goes on, but I don't think that will get in the way of me learning about making the right choices of which wools to use for various projects.

On the whole, I would highly recommend that you give this a go!

To sign up with Craftsy for free click here or to read about this particular course click here. Enjoy!

A happily accidental reunion

Isn't it funny how people grow up, change, lose contact with one another, and then - out of the blue - stumble across one another again.

When I was at school there was a girl who I never really got to know. I didn't particularly like her, but didn't particularly not like her. You know how it goes. I'm not sure if we ever spoke to each other in the eight years we shared a school building!

Now, another eight years have passed by and both of us have moved to different cities, both have gotten married, we haven't particularly maintained many mutual friends.

A picture from her website to promote her website

...And yet, thanks to the world of social media, we have found each other afresh and I'm so glad because she has set up a beautiful craft business.

Crochet hooks decorated by Hand-Made by Bee  - I 've bought the 10mm one!

As I've stumbled across her work and she's stumbled across mine, we've shared and supported one another's pieces.

A candle jar by Hand-Made by Bee

It's brilliant when small craft businesses support and share each other's work over the interweb. After all, us little guys need to stick together!!

Valentines Cards  by Hand-Made By Bee

So I thought I'd share her with you... so... introducing... the lovely Bee and her deliciously, pretty business (go ahead click here and see) Hand-Made By Bee.

Baby headbands

Since photographing gorgeous baby Eva in a couple of my crocheted headbands I'm feeling inspired to have a go at designing more hair accessories for baby girls. I mean! Look at how adorable she looks...

I am going to make a load of baby-sized ones in different styles and colours because I'm feeling inspired by her big bright eyes and her cute little cheeks. She just looks so cute! I'll let you see how I get on.

Both of these photographs are taken by Dot & Lucy Photography

Here are a few others headbands that were photographed in the Park.

Wool tidy

If you're reading this blog post its well within the realms of possibility that you are also a wool addict. I'm just potty about crocheting and when people realise that they often donate generous scraps from their bygone knitting projects of yesteryear, to help me in my little crochet accessories business.

To the well trained eye you may be underwhelmed by the quantity of wool here but remember my projects are only a few centimetres big so this really is a mammoth collection for me to crochet into little flowers and creatures so I really am grateful to be the proud owner of such a sumptuous feast of colour and texture.

So tonight I had a big sort out. With a spare shelf in our Ikea storage cabinet and a few left over cocoa drums from my husbands café, I have restored some order for the time being. 

Here. Have a peek...

Spring is in the (h) air

I have been really busy today creating lots of pretty little hair-slides to sell at Oldfield Park Infant School's first ever Easter Craft Fair. The fair is taking place on the 13th April from 10am until 12 noon. To go to the school's website for directions to the school click here.