Favourite Craft Blogs - Australia

Even though I have now lived in Ireland for over a year, I still like to know what is happening in the craft world in Australia.  One way of doing that, is reading several blogs, that have regular posts.  These are my favourite ones:

• Retro Mummy is a fantastic blog written by Corrie.  She is a Mum to 6 children under 8 and is supercreative.  She often blogs about wholesome cooking (often gluten-free), crafting and being a superbusy Mum.
• One Crafty Mumma is a fabulous blog written by Melissa.  She lives in Tasmania and is a Mum to 2 children.  Melissa comes up with some great craft ideas.  At the moment she is working on handmade Christmas gifts for her whole family and she has also started a PenPal group.
• little woollie is a great blog written by Julie.  She is a Mum to 3 boys, who has recently started an online yarn shop.  Julie has lots of great ideas for crochet and also has a fab vegetable garden.
• Two Little Banshees is a creative blog written by Kate.  She is a Mum to 4 girls and is into all sorts of crafts.  Kate started quilting a while ago and now has a book published, detailing her own designs - Strip Savvy.  She also does a lot of clothes sewing, including shirts for her husband.
• Foxs Lane is a very pictorial blog written by Kate.  She is a Mum to 3 girls and is an organic farmer.  This blog has lots of great photos of an Australian farm and beautiful countryside.  Kate does crochet and knits lots of socks too.

Well I hope that you will make a cuppa, sit a while and check out these talented ladies' blogs.

Halloween Crochet Projects

Well it looks like our beautiful indian summer weather has gone and we are faced with lots of rain over the coming week.  So I thought I would track down some Halloween projects that you could do over the weekend.
I must admit I am not a big fan of celebrating Halloween, but some of the following projects are cute, in a spooky kind of way.

This little spider looks pretty easy to do.  It is from Julie at Kundhi.com and the pattern is here.

These cute cup cozies are from the USA Yarn company Red Heart and the pattern is here.  A lot of USA patterns use worsted weight yarn, which is equivalent to our "aran" weight.  I generally use DK weight yarn, so that is what I would use to do these patterns, with a 4mm hook.  The finished items would come out a bit smaller, but the tension would be correct ie. the crochet wouldn't be too loose.

I love this one, especially the ghost on the end hanging upside down.  The pattern is from Talking Crochet and is available here.

This not so ugly bat is from Shala at Shala Beads and the pattern is here.

 

 This quite pretty skull garland is from the yarn company Red Heart and the pattern is here.

I think these ghost coasters would look good hanging from a row of chain as a garland.  This another Red Heart pattern and is available here.

This adorable set contains the sweetest black cat and is a pattern available from kseniadesign on Etsy here.  It is an instant download, so you can use straight away, once you have made payment.

I hope that I have inspired you to use up all your small amounts of yarn on some seasonal decorations.

Wednesday's Wishes - Irish Woolcrafters

There is a whole lot of sheep in Ireland and I think it makes the country fields seem right, being dotted with sheep.

There is also a lot of people that use wool for their crafting in this country and today I would like to show you a few of them, that have shops on Etsy.

Firstly we have a fab pair of fingerless gloves from SophiesKnitStuff .  These look so warm and comfortable and I might need a pair myself, to keep my fingers warm when blogging. Sophie has all sorts of useful winter woollies such as hats, cowls, shawls, scarves, cosies and ear warmers. She does custom orders and ships worldwide.

This great little doggie coat is from IrishSmallKnits.  I don't have a dog, but if I did, one of these dog coats would surely keep it warm.  Jane does a variety of patterns in different yarns and sizes.  She does custom orders and ships worldwide.

This adorable babies hat is from BabiesRepublic. It is one of a multitude of styles (all supercute) that are available from this shop.  Justyna also does wraps and blankets and ships worldwide.

This is one of many personalised Santa's stockings available from SantasSockCentral.  There are lots of other designs available, as well as normal knitted socks and patterns. Gigi does custom orders and ships worldwide.

This beautiful little matinee set is available from AnkasCrochet.  Anka makes a lot of toys, baby rugs, hats, tea cosies and headbands. She does custom orders and ships worldwide.

This very pretty ornate tea knitted tea cosy pattern is from DathuilDesigns.  Teresa has a variety of patterns for tea cosies, handwarmers and cushions in very ornate designs. The patterns are an instant download once you make payment.

This colourful scarf/cowl is from craftynannie.  Anne makes a large variety of scarves, hats, cowls and greeting cards. She also ships worldwide.

Well I hope this gives you a warming feeling, as the temperatures begin to drop.