Category Archives: Craft
FollowBirthdays and Crochet Butterflies
Oh, how wet and miserable it’s been today! Tim has just donned waterproofs and wellies and winkled a very reluctant little dog out from the bottom of his bed to go for a splosh down the road. I have to be on standby with towels and a roaring fire for their return. Meanwhile I have crochet butterflies to make…
Hang on! That didn’t last long…they’re back…Higgins got 100 yards down the road, did what he had to do, then made a determined bid for home and the towel on the utility room floor. It’s so comical the way he goes flat on his tummy and wriggles around to get dry, before I even get down there with him to help…
Then on to the dry towel in front of the fire to finish off…
Steaming nicely now!
I mentioned that March is birthday month in our family, starting with younger son on Friday, and today was my mum’s turn, 83 today! A small family gathering for tea and birthday cake, deliciously chocolatey and made by my sister, whilst the smallest great-grandson entertained my mum in fine style.
So of course there were presents…
…and flowers.
And also crochet butterflies! I found these little lovelies on line and thought they were perfect for the Planet Penny cotton. Because there has been an issue with the link breaking I have written and photographed my own version of this pattern so it’s available to you as a downloadable PDF. Just click this Crochet Butterflies link. They are sooo quick and easy to make…
I also tried knitting with the cotton as someone said it looks as if it’s only suitable for crochet, and I have to report it knits like a dream. I made another little jar cover, as it’s ideally suited for showing off a sample. I think I could have cast on another 2 or 4 stitches as it’s a teeny bit stretched but it still works well and shows off the colours…
So I hope the weather is being a little kinder where you are, but in the meantime make some crochet butterflies and dream of summer!
If you’d like even more butterfly love, how about a Butterfly and flower mobile You can find the pattern here.
See you soon…x
Hooray for Crochet Mice!
The Making of the Crochet Mice…
I’ve set myself a challenge, to see just how many projects I can get out of the Planet Penny Cotton pack, at one ball of each colour. One of the reasons I put this collection together is that I found it impossible to find one stockist, on the high street or online, who had every colour to make up a rainbow, and going from place to place, or buying a ball here and a ball there from different online stockists was time consuming and expensive.
From the time I dyed my own colours I was determined to use every scrap of Bluefaced Leicester 4 ply I had so painstakingly coloured myself. I’m still using the little leftovers the needlefelted pincushion from this post, and the Sophie Digard inspired scarf from this post.
I wanted a pattern for crochet mice which was just right for small amounts of yarn and this silky smooth cotton yarn is perfect for amigurumi, and the bright colours just lend themselves to something fun so I devised this cute crochet mouse pattern and made one in every colour.
So I developed my own simple pattern for crochet mice, and used beads for the features as I have made them to be strictly ornamental However, with embroidered features they are ideal for a small child (just right for little hands) or filled with catnip for your favourite puss cat.
And so the knitters out there don’t feel left out, there a knitted version too!
You can find the yarn, the knit and crochet patterns for the mice, as well as other patterns using the gorgeous Planet Penny Cotton yarn in the Etsy shop here…
Ed. to add. the Etsy shop has now closed but you can find the patterns FOR FREE here…
I’ll be back soon …xxSharing our Reasons to be Cheerful…
…just one more time!
Which doesn’t, of course, mean we can’t keep looking for them!
Here on Planet Penny, I’m still finding little flashes of springtime promise, (even though as I type the wind is howling and rain is lashing against the window!)
Higgins is not quite so cheerful because although the ‘boss’ came home from work last week, he’s had to go away again on a course…so Higgy hasn’t got his early morning vantage point. The routine is that Tim sits in the reclining chair to drink his morning tea, and Higgins gets as far down the chair as possible, so he can lie on ‘ a person’, always the best place as far as he is concerned, on red alert, looking down the garden ready to leap, like a coiled spring when the post lady and the paperboy arrive. This is how he does it…
After my last post it’s been very cheering to have lots of enthusiasm and lovely comments (thank you!) for the Planet Penny Cotton Club project, and I’m still trying out different ideas…
…and I’ve been happy to pack up the cotton packs in the pretty pink mailing sacks!
(If you’d like to join in do get in touch, there are still some packs left, and if I sell out there will be a waiting list!)
This is the last Reasons to be Cheerful post and Linky for now, I hope you’ve enjoyed it, either joining in or just following the links to meet other bloggers. I know I’m really happy to have gained some new bloggy friends!
Please join in for this last Linky below, or leave a comment so we can go out on a high, I do love to hear from you…thank you for taking part x
Wearing my Miss Marple Hat…
(not the most dynamic of sleuths, but the only one I know who knits!)
It’s time to tell you about my detective work, which started back in the Autumn and all because I really, really wanted something.
And what I wanted was a rainbow…
And I knew there was one to be had, because I kept seeing them, out there in cyberspace…
Lots of beautiful crocheted bit and pieces, in a rainbow of glowing colours.
I looked and looked, but couldn’t find anywhere to buy exactly what I had seen in the UK.
So, having got the bit between by teeth I trawled around the net searching for clues until I found the supplier, in Europe, who confirmed that they didn’t have a UK stockist.
The good news was that I could buy the yarn, my rainbow, directly from them. However, the bad news was that I would have to buy…a lot…
More than I would probably manage to use up in a month of Silent Sundays or Handmade Mondays.
But it occurred to me that if I love it, then maybe you out there would love it too, and maybe it could be the start of something exciting, and something we could share.
I took the huge step, and ordered the minimum order, which was still a great deal of money and yarn, and three months after started the search and the negotiations I took delivery of a large carton of gorgeousness. I opened it full of trepidation, having chosen from a huge colour chart of tiny swatches but it was a bit like opening a treasure chest…
…just an explosion of colour!
I’ve shared with you some of my experiments over the weeks, the crochet carnival bunting…
The Hearts and Flowers Garland…
and all the other bits and pieces.
…so I hope it’s whetted your appetite! The rainbow packs of mercerised cotton DK, comprise one 50g ball (125m) each of 14 different shades priced at £36.50 per pack. It has a lovely sheen, and I’ve found it very easy to work with, sometimes cotton’s lack of stretch can make it less easy to use than wool. It knits beautifully too, and I imagine would lovely for bold and colourful embroidery.
You can find out all the details on the Planet Penny Cotton Club page here.
So, what do you think? Is this something you’d like to try, or will I be giving my family and friends rainbow coloured lovelies for the rest of my life!?
Edited to add: The yarn is now available via the Planet Penny Etsy shop via this link
I’m linking up with Handmade Monday again on 1st Unique Gifts, I hope I qualify even though this week has been mainly sorting balls of yarn and getting ready for the needlefelt class I’m teaching on Tuesday at the OutHouse Studio.
I’ll be back soon, I’m looking forward to hearing from you! x
Reasons to be Cheerful
I can’t believe it’s that time again, time flies by so quickly! I’ve just looked up when, officially, Spring starts in the UK. Not that I’ve found the definitive answer, the Met Office say it’s the 1st of March but historically it’s the time of the vernal equinox, 20/21st March. I think it’s best to let nature decide, and we’ll just watch!
But it’s not far away, and so I’ve decided that next week will be the last Reasons to be Cheerful Linky for a while, as I started it to get us through the winter gloom. Not that I shall stop looking on the bright side wherever possible, Planet Penny is supposed to be jolly place to visit!
So I’m going to share my own Reasons to be Cheerful this week, and hope that as many of you as possible will join in for this week and the next and we can finish on a high.
Firstly, there were flowers, Valentine’s Day flowers, flame coloured tulips, frilly orange roses and lilies, such a lovely surprise…
Despite the cold the seeds I’ve sown in their mini propagators are beginning to germinate, always a moment of magic. If you are interested in my garden project for this year I’m keeping a note in The Garden Dairies, with weekly updates on the drop down menu at the top of the blog. Nothing much is happening just yet, mind you, but it won’t be long!
And yesterday I had a small parcel, which made me very cheerful…
Sometimes you see things you just can’t resist, and this was one of them. Over on Fan my Flame, Gina is on a mission to raise funds for an exhibition and has started a project, putting little books in altered match boxes. You can read all about it here.
Anyway, one of the had my name on it! And this is it…
Alice in Wonderland, a teeny tiny Alice in Wonderland, in a matchbox…
She is just exquisite, so tiny… Don’t forget, a matchbox is only 2″x1.5″ or 5cm x3.5cm, and even enlarged here, the details are perfect.
Gina is making 50 little books in altered matchboxes, for the incredible price of £10 each, no matter how intricate they are. If you visit Gina’s blog you can follow the project, and see whether you fall in love with a matchbox book like me!
I hope you’ve liked my little dose of cheerfulness this week and I do hope you join in by adding a link to your blog on the Linky below, or in the comments. It’s always lovely to hear from you…
See you soon…! x
