Happy New Yeahhhhhh!!!

Hi there. And welcome back. I don't know about you but our holidays flew by and I can't believe I'm back at work already.

I hope you all had a great relaxing break and Santa was good to you. I got lots and lots of treats and was very spoilt by my visitors. Lucky! Hopefully Z and M had a good time being shown around NYC.

And yay the best thing about being back is I can now show you what I have been crafting over the last few months. Nothing compared to some of the amazing treats out there but I tried.

First up the Glow-in-the-dark Monogram ipod/camera/phone/whatever covers I sewed up on Odette, to slip in with some Xmas cards. Pity most of the cards were opened by the UK post and the pouches were either lost or shoved back in and taped back together. Ugh. Thanks for that.

I made them with some neon grosgrain ribbon and soft natural linen from Mood Fabrics, I'm soooo project runway.


And embroidered each recipients initial on in glow-in-the-dark thread from Sublime Stitching.


This is the closest I could get to glow in the dark :(


And this is one of the ones that got lost!! Ill make you another one soon C.


Next up is a matching scarf and hand-warmer set I made for my friend Z for Christmas.


The hand-warmers were an experiment and (even though I had to re-do one of the hands) I think they turned out good!


I also posted them on Ripple-Along here before Christmas and fellow rippler Jan has even made her own versions! Awesome! Let me know if anyone else is interested in the instructions and I can post them here as well. So exciting to think that someone can follow my instructions :)


Next is a Queen Anne's Lace scarf for my Mum. My first attempt at lace and once I got the hang of it (ripped and re-started 3 times...) it was actually really easy.


I am making a few more in this pattern and cant wait to experiment with brighter colours and also thicker wool.


Download the pattern (for a small fee) here.


And lastly 4 sets of hand-embroidered pillowcases for my parents, grandparents, aunt & uncle and poppa.


The pattern I kind of made up myself after being inspired by some stitches I found online.


The purple wasn't my first choice but time was running out and funds were running low. I think it looked ok once it was all done.

Other than that I actually made 2 scarves for my brother but accidentally forgot to take photos of either of them, durrr. They were both black so nothing to get too excited over ;)

Well after all that it doesn't look like I even made that much! Now I just have a few more things on my list of WIPs (tea-cosy, 3 bday presents, scarf for me etc) and maybe sometime this year I can start on my first afghan. Scary!

Hope you are all well and 2009 has been good to you so far.

xxxxx

PS: New years resolution, post on GC more often!

Ripple WIP

I did heaps and heaps and heaps of crafting in the weekend, are you guys proud?
Again most of it is not stuff I can show you till December 26th but I did manage to whip up a couple of non-presents.


This is the first project that is going to be for me! Its not quite finished because I ran out of wool on the last 2 rows but it will be soon I hope. I need it badly, its getting very very very cold in old NYC.


Its made of neon pink and a dark grey marl. The pink is supposed to glow in the dark but, alas, it does not. Still cool though.

Let me know what you think!

More One Skein Presents

Sorry, yesterday was a bit of a slow craft news day on old GC. Blimmin' WORK getting in the way of BLOG! Huffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff.

So today we shall start off with some craft from yours truly. Below are two more one skein scarves I made for some good friends birthdays.

First up a yellow number for C.




This was made from the One Skein Scarf pattern in Stitch & Bitch: The Happy Hooker, but also available here for free.

I really enjoyed making this one, it was so quick and the edging made it turn out really pretty. I added another row of dc to the middle and still had some left over at the end so could have possibly done another one but didn't want to risk it. Ripping out is the worst ever.

Yarn: Cascade 220 Peruvian Wool, in yellow
Hook: G 4.25mm
Time took: One evening in front of Extreme Make-over Home Edition and Family Guy

This next one was for another internationally jet-setting friend A, who might not get it till she gets back to her Mum's house in NZ. But I can't wait any longer to show y'all.




A ripple scarf loosely based on this pattern, but I changed the number of base chains and rows.

Chained 250 + 3, did 7 rows. 1,750 dc stitches all in all. Ripple crochet is so fun to do, but would have been more so in a variety of colours. I'm building up to that blanket!

Yarn: Cascade 220 in blue.
Hook: G 4.25mm
Time to finish: 2 nights in front of the TV

This one also doubles as a good sea for pengy to go swimming in...


And now for all of the one skein scarves together. Drum roll.......

Goin' for a swim

A new little friend, awash at sea...

Crow-Shay - Update

Looky looky! I moved to the big city (New York) in January and found myself in need of a new hobby. I simultaneously discovered all the amazing craft blogs that are out there, and became obsessed with amigurumi and other crochet craftiness.

I'm pretty sure I was shown how to crochet when I was younger but it had completely escaped me, so I signed up for some classes at The Point Knitting Cafe in NY's West Village. They were great, and the teacher Megan made it all really easy. 2 weeks later I was away!

Now I have a whole list of things I want to make, for myself and for others, namely a queen-sized ripple blanket. But first I need to finish all the birthday presents I owe everyone! Sorry buddies, you know I love you.

First I started with some amigurumi cupcakes - chocolate...


... then had to do the vanilla ones to match.


Followed by attempts at ripples and granny squares to see if I could...


...a few tries later it looks like I can.

Then more amigurumi...


... this guys name is Octavius.

And thanks so a super nice treat from M, my crochet book library is growing too! I am a very spoilt girl.

Fruits from those books and the birthday presents so far will be posted once they have been sent to their owners - stand by this weekend is going to be a big one on the hook.

UPDATE: Forgot to include links to the patterns! Naughty.
Cupcake by Ana Paula Oli
Octopus by PepperKitty on Craftster.org
Ripple pattern here
Granny Squares from Stitch & Bitch: The Happy Hooker book by Debbie Stoller available here. If anyone is thinking of taking up crochet this is a really good book to help you.