Neck warming mobius cowl

As you can see there has been a bit of a distraction from the Autumn project.  I started a cowl, in this yarn, last year and it very time consuming, as I was using a smaller sized hook and different stitches.  I decided that I didn't like the look of it and wasn't sure what pattern I was using, so I unravelled it.

I decided to make my own pattern and this is the result, before I have joined up the cowl.  I am quite happy with the results so far, as the variegated yarn makes the simple pattern look very effective. 

Now to join it up and try it on ...

F is for Fabric

I have to admit I have a problem with nice fabric - I want it all!  That's a good thing about moving from the other side of the world, Australia to Ireland, you can't take it all with you.  However it is frustrating to think that I have treasured pieces in storage and wonder if I will ever get to see them again.

But being in a new country has not stopped me looking at all the new fabric designs that are around.  So I thought I would share some of them, that I have recently discovered, with you.

This one is from Echino a Japanese manufacturer and the fabric is a cotton linen mix.
This particular pattern is bee hive pink and is available from Frumble in the UK.
I don't think this pattern is a new one, but I like the colours and I also like hexagons.

Echino may seem quite pricey, but the quality is superb and it makes lovely bags.

This selection is called Fox Field by Tula Pink.  I like the colour variation and that it has foxes and rabbits in it.  This group is available from Llama Fabrics Etsy.

 

This one is called Fox and Friends by Lewis and Irene.  It is available from the legendary Fat Quarter Shop which offers all the latest quilting fabrics and ships worldwide. 

  

This one is a delightful Christmas inspired design from Jan Shade Beach from Henry Glass Fabrics called Holiday Cheer.  I love the addition of mushrooms into the scene and there is a great snowman quilt panel in the same collection as well, available from Fat Quarter Shop.

This one is another Christmas design.  I am not a fan of pink in Christmas fabrics, but I love this one.  It is by Riley Blake and is available from ChristmasJul on Etsy.  Kathi has over 200 Christmas fabrics and she ships worldwide.

I had better go now or my fingers may do some shopping !

Knee Blanket Ta dah!

Well the blog motivation is working - I finished something!  This is a knee rug using Attic24's Granny Stripe Pattern (found here).
I used Stylecraft Special DK yarn, which even though it is 100% acrylic is very nice to work with and is very soft, but sturdy at the same time.  There are nine colours used - mocha, walnut, khaki, copper, teal, camel, burgundy, denim and parchment.  There are 5 repeats of each colour.  Around the edge is four rows of sc (dc in Australia/UK).  The finished rug is 95cm long by 80cm wide, just enough to go from waist to ankles.
I must admit I am happy with the result.

Now onto the next project the Autumn thingymajiggy ...

Wednesday's Wishes - Birds

The theme for today's post is birds.  I have always being lucky enough to see lots of birds in my garden, no matter what the time of year and what part of the world I am in.  In Australia we used to get various parrots, honeyeaters, wrens and silvereyes.  Here in Ireland we get robins, wrens, sparrows and pheasants.

This is a Great-Tit munching on peanuts from the house on the feeder pole.  I spend many happy minutes seeing what birds are using this pole, especially during winter when the weather is wet and cold.

Getting back to craft ...

These adorable little crochet robins are made from a pattern from LittleConkers on Etsy.  Clare has lots of others patterns and kits for fruit, veges, flowers and decorations.  She also sells ready made items and ships worldwide.

This beautiful print is the work of visualphilosophy on Etsy.  Liz has loads of desirable art prints both retro and modern, featuring Catherine Holm, Eames and travel posters that would brighten any room. 

Liz ships worldwide.

 

This colourful fabric as available from CreateByTheYard on Etsy.  Kristin has a huge range of fabric from the likes of Moda and Riley Blake, as well as organics from Birch and Monaluna.  She also ships worldwide.

This bright crisp screen print of a robin is the work of deebeale on Etsy.  Dee has a good selection of screen prints of other birds, cats, rabbits and motifs available.  Dee also ships worldwide.

This lovely padded cosmetic bag is the work of CuriousMissClay on Etsy.  Vicky makes all sorts of pouches and purses out of quality fabrics.  She also ships worldwide. 

This print of a watercolour painting of  a cute bird is from lorisworld on Etsy.  Loris has a multitude of other prints at extremely reasonable prices.  They also ship worldwide.

Maybe after seeing all this inspiration you might go out to your garden and see what you can see?

Yarndale Skipton UK

I was just reading Lucy from Attic24 latest blog post.  She is one of the organisers of 

that is on, this coming weekend. Yarndale's website lists a huge amount of great stalls, that I am sure you would like to peruse.  There are also workshops and a chance to chat with Lucy.

However the thing that I would love to see, would be all the yarn bombing including the 600+ mandalas that people from all over the world made and see if I could find mine.

Unfortunately I will not be able to go, but I am sure Lucy will put lots of pics on her blog when she recovers from the festival.

So all of you UK readers why don't you consider going along?

All sorts of crochet stitches

I only know only the basics of crochet, but the reason I like crochet is that you only need to know the basics to make something.  The other good thing, compared to something like knitting, is if you make a mistake you only have to unravel a few seconds work (if you realise the mistake before going too far) and then you can correct it.

However I am always keen to learn different stitches and combinations of stitches.  This post shows some stitches I would like to try and links to tutorials.

This stitch is Catherine Wheel and I think it looks very effective done in different coloured stripes. There is a pattern from The Crochet Crowd here.

This scarf is done in Broomstick Lace Stitch and looks very opulent when using varigated yarn. There is a description and tutorial on b.hookedcrochet.

My golly gosh doesn't this stitch look amazingly 3D.  It is called Apache Tears and is described at Sarahlondon here.

This stitch looks mighty complicated, but is very impressive - it is called Crocodile Stitch (not surprisingly).  There is a good tutorial on Moogly here.

I hope this has given you much inspiration and makes you want to take up your hooks now.

Leaf progress

 

Sorry about the photo quality.  Here are my Autumnal leaves that I have done so far.  I am quite happy with some of them, but my attempt at an oak leaf needs some work.  However I am enjoying doing something new.

I was able to purchase some Autumn coloured sock wool from our local Lidl supermarket (yes - a food supermarket).  It is 75% wool and the darker one is actually varigated with all different tones of orange and brown.  I think it will be very suitable.

Wednesday's wishes - Felt

Today's post has the theme - Felt.  I have always liked felt, but I liked it even more when I discovered I could make it myself by shrinking wool jumpers (on purpose).  I then proceeded to make soft toys from it.

 

Have you ever seen anything so gorgeous?  This lovely wee owl is needle felted by Scratchcraft on Etsy, she makes lots of adorable other cuties such as elephants, penguins etc.

This beautiful toadstool is also needle felted by TheWonderRevolution on Etsy.

This handsome Puffin is a Christmas ornament made by PuffinPatchwork on Etsy, who is based in Dingle Ireland (yay).   She has some incredible felt dogs, phone cases and purses.

This lovely needle case is by FabricandInk on Etsy.  They also have great selection of pincushions, other needle cases and mice.

These fabulous owls are the results when you use Woollysomething's pattern.  She has all sorts of other good patterns and finished goods.

Hope that you enjoyed this journey into felt.

Eight things that make me happy today

1. The sun is out and another of my sunflowers is about to burst open.
2. There is nearly enough beans to have for dinner.  All my plants were planted a bit late, but I am happy to get a bit of produce.
3. The tomatoes in the porch are growing, they are a small variety and hopefully will ripen.
4. I still have lots of cornflowers to pick for my vase.
5. First ever grown Aster - magnifique!
6. Half way through the mini blanket.
7. Yarn ready for Autumn leaves.
8. The pelargoniums are still stunning.  They have been flowering for months.

Crochet leaves

I am thinking of starting a new project to celebrate Autumn.  I am unsure of what form this project will finally take, but I think it will epitomise Autumn with it's colours and critters.

The first part will involve leaves.

This lovely maple leaf pattern is from Red Heart.

This one is from BellaCrochet and I think it will look nice in a rust colour.  The pattern is for a hotpad, but I think I can reduce it's size by using finer yarn and smaller hook.

 This one is already Autumnal and is done by Art Threads.  I like the contrasting colour of the leaf seam.

This is quite a simple leaf, but will be useful to fill in spaces.  The pattern is by Wind Rose Fiber Studio.

I am still on the look out for some oak leaves, so may have to look in some of my books.  Hopefully next time I will be able to show some progress.

Wednesday's Wishes - Foxes

The forests/woods here in Ireland are very different from the forests/bush in Australia.  However we love both types and like to go for walks embracing the ambience of all things natural.
Since moving to Ireland I have noticed a trend towards woodland themes in things such as fabric, décor, winter and autumn fashion colours and I must say I like it a lot.  I love hedgehogs, deer, foxes and of course, owls and they all seem very popular at the moment.
It took me a long while to say it, but the theme for this post is foxes.

This dapper gent is made by needleandfelt on Etsy and is so cute.  I love the slight fluffy look of this little work of art, due to it being made of felted wool.  Amy makes all sorts of woodland creatures and they are very realistic.

This beauty is made by robinandmould on Etsy.  I like the clean lines that screen printing gives and the crispness of the colours too.

This adorable wee onsie is made by Feather4Arrow on Etsy. She has all sorts of screen printed t-shirts etc in many designs.

This fab fabric is from Brambleboutique on Etsy and it would look good as a hoop picture, as it is so decorative by itself.  Laura has lots of other nice fabrics and hairbands as well.

 

Finally a bit of crochet.  I love this idea that BeesKneesKnitting has done, but I am not sure I could handle the stares that I would get when wearing it. I think I would drape it on the sofa or chair or something. Beesknees has lots of other animal scarf patterns and get good reviews on them.

I think I am all forested out for now, but I hope you have enjoyed the journey.

Change of mind

As you may have read in an earlier post, I started a lap blanket for an elderly man last week.  The plan was to go along Little Woollie's mixed stitch stripey theme.

However after doing a few stripes I thought this is too complicated and time consuming to be done in a hurry.  I really do want to do that type of blanket, but at an easy pace when I can get it right.

So this is the result so far.  I am using the famous Attic24 Granny Stripe pattern, that gives you a nice thick even blanket with not much effort.  I am quite liking the colour combination and it looks a lot brighter when you are looking at the actual thing.

Yesterday I sat outside in the sun (yes we do get sun in Ireland) and did several colours.  It was quite therapeutic, as I didn't have to concentrate much and I could see to do it without glasses, as the light was so bright.

Wednesday Wishes - Hoop Art

I am going to start a weekly post about things I want to try or things that I would like to buy one day. It may be ideas that I have seen to give me inspiration or things that others have made that I find beautiful.

This weeks topic is "hoop art".  This is a relatively new idea of framing a piece of work in a wooden hoop, which was traditionally used to hold the fabric taut when sewing embroidery.  I think it is a good idea as these hoops are quite cheap and they are easy to hang up and you can easily paint them if you want a particular colour.

The great example above is from The Happy Hoot on Etsy.

In the next one the artist has appliquéd a cute Christmas type scene with an English Robin.  I like the fact that you can make the picture 3D with layers of felt or beads etc.

This example is from Ralooland on Etsy.

This is another 3D example from In Little Houses on Etsy and shows how effective the hoop art can be as a work of art.

This is another interesting example from Short Girl Designs using embroidered letters on pattern fabric together with a quilled paper heart. 

You can make an almost instant display by getting 3 different sized hoops and placing circles of different fabrics in them and hanging them.  As you would know there is some amazing art work on fabric nowadays, especially on quilting fabric. It is probably best to put two layers of fabric per hoop to make it more opaque.

I hope these examples will give you some inspiration to do some relatively quick art work to hang up or give as gifts.