And the Winner is…

I’ve just picked the winner for the Buttonbag Advent Calendar Giveaway and it was SO hard! So hard in fact I gave up trying to choose between all the wonderful Christmas traditions which so many people had told me about and went for the trusty Random Number Generator…

So the winner is Frances, who has a great family tradition which I would like to copy myself…

“Our Christmas tradition is that my husband and I buy each other a pair of pyjamas and a pair of slippers/or cosy bed socks, we give each other the gift on Christmas Eve so we go to bed and wake up Christmas morning in our new PJs. This is a tradition carried on from when my husband was a kid and his parents would give him and his brother new PJs on Christmas Eve, and has been carried down to our two children (our daughter nearly 3 years old and 7 month old son), as since my in-laws have had grandchildren they have sent a PJ parcel in the post to be opened on Xmas eve. There are so many things right about having new pyjamas at Christmas!!!”

Congratulations Frances, I hope you and your family have years of fun and Advent anticipation with your calendar…

Thank you all so much for taking part. As always I wish I could give everyone a prize. Do take the time to visit the post to read the other entries, they are lovely, really bringing home the family spirit of Christmas. The shops may be full of ‘stuff’ and consumerism, but the heart of Christmas is really about being with the people you care about…

I will be back before long with news about the pattern testing from the last post, so see you soon…x

Crochet Christmas Baubles – The Pattern

Oh the joys of pattern writing! I seem to have spent most of the last week fiddling around with these Crochet Christmas Baubles.

I know a lot of you out there do the most wonderful tutorials and patterns on your blogs, but for those who have never tried I’ll give you a little flavour of it.

First, as you sit playing around with yarn and hook you have an idea, and you make a ‘thing’ that you quite like. So, after a bit more fiddling it turns into a ‘thing’ that you really like…. Hooray!

Then, trying to remember what happened the first time round, you make it again, this time jotting down the process as you go.

And then you make it again, this time from the pattern, scribbled on the back of an envelope, correcting the mistakes.

To the computer to type it out…

Print it…

Make it again, to pick up typos.

Back to the computer for corrections. Then go through with a fine-tooth comb trying to put yourself in the shoes of someone who has never seen the pattern before. Is it explained it simply enough?

Decide some bits need pictures. Make it again, taking pictures.

Photoshop next, cropping and balancing to make the pics as good as possible.

Put the pattern together on screen. How does it look?

Print it.

Panic… Have I looked at it for so long that I’ve missed some howling error?

Have some down time on the Facebook Page and discover that someone has left a comment on a picture shared of a beautiful original piece of work with a link to the Ravelry pattern and find someone has said, and I quote,

“It is BEAUTIFUL! but $5 is too much for a pattern!”

Aaaaaah!

And so this pattern was sent out to some lovely volunteers to try out, and having been thoroughly tested by a textile artist, a crochet newbie and an old hand at crochet, the Crochet Christmas Baubles pattern is now available, FREE! Find it here!

November 2014 UPDATE:

You will also find it as one of Attic24 Lucy’s picks in the Christmas 2014 edition of Simply Crochet Magazine just here…

Have fun…!

Advent Calendar Giveaway

In the run up to the Christmas season upon us, I thought I’d share an early Christmas present. I have been very kindly sent a wonderful Buttonbag Advent Calendar kit, perfectly timed for next month. I love Buttonbag, do you remember I went to the book launch last year? The bright cheeriness of their ideas and kits are right up my street, very Planet Penny!

The kit has everything you need to make a personalised Advent Calendar for your children or grandchildren, and it’s simple enough for it to be a joint project, something exciting to do together in the run up to the main event.

It’s lovely to get something fun in the post…

And I couldn’t resist a peek inside…

And one lucky person will have this pleasure too, because I’m giving it away! And not only the kit, but also £20.00 worth of John Lewis vouchers to buy some little goodies to fill the pockets of the Advent Calendar.

All you have to do is to leave a comment on this post, and share your favourite family Christmas tradition. ( I’m sorry, the prize is limited to the UK only)

I will make the draw next Sunday 10th November, so you won’t have long to wait and then I can get the kit posted out in plenty of time for you to make the Calendar before the 1st December.

Looking forward to hearing from you very soon…x

Ed. to add: Thank you so much for so many of you sharing your Christmas traditions. I’ve so enjoyed reading them, it’s really put me in the Christmas spirit! The entries are now CLOSED, I shall announce the winner very soon so watch this space!

Crochet Balls of all Sizes!

Oh my goodness it’s been difficult not using my sore elbow! I’ve got so excited about the crochet balls I’ve been making. They started off as Christmas baubles but they are so pretty I think I want to have them on display all year round! I’ve been doing a little bit here and a little bit there and ended up with a bowlful…

and then had a happy time with needle, thread and beads giving them hanging loops.

Having discovered a little dish of small crochet balls lurking on the back of a shelf I had a brainwave and threaded them in random sequence onto white cotton yarn…

…and then made a long crochet chain, working the crochet balls and beads in as I went.

Add the original bigger crochet balls and you can see why I am now having to rest my poor elbow yet again!

This pattern really suits the Planet Penny Cotton colours. There are so many combinations to put together, it’s great fun. Would you be interested in a pattern? I’m currently working on it and it’s always time consuming but hopefully it will be available by next weekend.

(Ed to add: The pattern is available here!)

It’s been a busy week in other ways. There’s been a lot of weather about, hasn’t there? I do hope you haven’t been caught up with any of the aftermath of the strong winds blowing us about for the past few days. I’m currently waiting by the phone to see if my dear OH is going to have a helicopter to fly him home today which will only happen if the wind drops sufficiently.

The middle of the week was glorious in Norfolk and I called in at the Craft Fair at the How Hill Open Day. My Open Studios partner and all round best buddy Kit was there with her prints and cards, and several other members of our Two Rivers Trail group. We’ll be getting together later this month for our own Craft Fair and Exhibition so if you are in the area do come along to say hello. You can find out all about the event and the artists taking part on the Two Rivers Trail website.

I also met the lovely Sue of The Mercerie who had a stall at How Hill and drooled over her beautiful wool and colours…

And had a word with the alpacas from Burnt Fen…

..before heading back to the car via this amazing view over the Broads…

Before I go I’ve just time to tell you that I have a fabulous giveaway coming up in the next post, an early Christmas present! So don’t forget to call back or hit the ‘Follow’ button to make sure you don’t miss it.

I’ll be back in the next few days, so see you soon …x

Perfecting the Art of Procrastination…

…or indecisiveness…

Which is it? I can’t make up my mind!

So here’s the problem. I have done quite a few things over the past few weeks, have LOADS of photos and I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few days being completely unable to write a blog post about anything because there’s TOO MUCH STUFF…

Which means I either never write another post, or I just metaphorically throw everything in the air, grab some bits here and there and see what happens.

We went to the Knitting and Stitching show a couple of weeks ago. So much to see, and some amazing exhibitions. I hope to follow up on some of the interesting stalls at a later date but in the meantime, well, I did treat myself. Last time I went, a couple of years ago I fell in love with the wonderful Throw kits on the Colinette stand but there was such a huge choice I just couldn’t make up my mind, and have been kicking myself ever since. I don’t know when I’m going to get time to make it, but this time I did buy one at the special show price I wish you could feel how wonderfully soft and warm the yarn is, and the colours are fabulous…

perugino skylark throw Colinette

My other great buy was a pinnie from Alison Hulme Textiles…

Hand printed by Alison on denim, it’s almost a dress! It’s a good extra layer, will fit over a woolly jumper and has two big deep pockets so it’s a perfect work uniform for me when I’m in the studio.

And then I went off to the seaside…

Just a few days on the South Coast and it was lovely. There was lots of weather…

Bright and breezy…

Wild and windy…

Rainy…

…and peaceful.

A teachers strike meant I had a precious day with my grandsons, a trip to the Observatory Science Centre which I enjoyed as much as they did! I was allowed to have ago on all the scientific apparatus and no one told me I was too tall, or old to join in, and a tour of one of the telescopes. A great way to entertain a granny!

Now I’m home I’m gradually unpacking all the things put away to make way for the decorator and seeing them in a fresh light. It’s so easy to stop actually ‘seeing’ things, isn’t it. when you’ve had them a long time in the same place. I’ve got shelves in a redundant fireplace which is ideal for china and other small and fragile pieces. It spent several years with a perspex sheet screwed to the front when the boys were small, so with another little one coming along in the New Year, I need to make the most of it before we have to replace the perspex!

It’s all been a bit slow on the making front, alas. I’ve been suffering from RSI in my elbow and operating the mouse and the crochet hook seems to be the culprit, which is so frustrating. I really want to write a pattern for the Christmas balls I’ve been making with the Planet Penny Cotton which requires lots of crochet experiments and ‘mouse work’ for the photos, and rest is really the only answer for RSI.

I’ve been good though and have only done a bit here and a bit there so I hope it won’t be too long before I’m back up to speed.

Getting my rainbow colour fix is always good for the spirits!

Well, I have both Henry and Higgins telling me it’s teatime and although they are an hour too early I won’t get much peace right now!

If you are in the UK and are watching out for the weather warnings for tomorrow’s predicted storm as we are here, keep safe and warm.

See you soon…x

Back in the Driving Seat…

Hellooo… I’m home!

I wish I could say I drove home in this fabulous yarnbombed taxi, but I had to leave it at Alexandra Palace and the Knitting and Stitching Show.

Anyway, this is just to say I’m back, the shop has reopened for business and I’ll be along with a proper blog post very soon…

See you soon…x