Category Archives: Planet Penny Cotton Inspirations

The Crochet Butterfly & Flower Mobile – Ta-DAH!

At last I can share with you the project I have been beavering away to finish, the crochet Butterfly & Flower Mobile, made using the new pastel selection of Planet Penny yarn.

I’m really happy with this pastel version of the rainbow shades and hope you like it too. I’ve got lots of ideas for pretty pastel blankets and cushions, but for now I’ve been having fun surrounding myself with loads of butterflies and flowers. We may not have had much sunshine this year, but it’s definitely been summer on Planet Penny!

Crochet Butterfly & Flower Mobile - pattern & cotton yarn from Planet Penny I made lots of butterflies in different colour combinations, used the Lemon Sherbet to make the flower centres and saved the Peppermint Cream for the leaves (and then had a happy half hour arranging them for the photos!) But the ultimate goal was to make a mobile. I used a wooden hoop as the base and crocheted round to cover it (but actually it would be fine left ‘au naturel’ or painted)… covered hoop for Crochet Butterfly & Flower mobile …and added three crochet chains for hanging.

After arranging and pinning the flowers to cover the hoop… crochet flowers for mobile PDF pattern - Planet Penny …I used my trusty hot glue gun to fix them securely. Crochet Butterfly and Flower Mobile - PDF pattern - Planet Penny (and then got very excited about the idea of a coronet bed head with filmy drapes over a little girls bed, or a bridesmaid headdress, or framing a mirror…or…or… shhh…calm down dear!)

Anyway, for now it’s butterfly time and I added these with nylon thread which is nearly invisible, hanging each butterfly at different lengths and… da-DAA…! The finished Crochet Butterfly & Flower Mobile…And then the sun came out so I was able to let those butterflies loose to flutter in the breeze… You can find a downloadable PDF of the instructions here: Crochet Butterfly & Flower Mobile and the yarn is available in the Etsy shop.

I’ll be back soon…x

Planet Penny Cotton Colours – Ice Cream Shades

Those of you who signed up for the newsletter will know that the new Planet Penny Cotton Colours Ice Cream Shades selection is now available in the Etsy shop. And despite the ensuing flurry of of orders I’m pleased to say there are still some packs available!

I’ve really enjoyed playing with this new palette of colours, especially as I have got just a little bit obsessed with making these gorgeous crochet roses from the Frank & Olive Crochet CAL. It’s a super simple pattern, and if you would like to join in you can help Ruby with her wedding flowers!

The yarn is exactly the same super quality as the Planet Penny Cotton Colours Rainbow Shades, a lightweight DK, and the packs of 10 different Ice Cream colours in 50g balls is £26.00. It comes with a 3mm crochet hook, which I recommend if you are making amigurumi and need a denser stitch. For blankets, throws etc I use a 3.5mm hook or knitting needles.

Find it in the Etsy shop right HERE…

I’m off to work on the second new collection, a Pastel rainbow this time. It’s going to be soo pretty for baby things, and with a new baby for the family putting in an appearance in the Autumn I’m going to have fun with it.

I hope you love the new Planet Penny Cotton Colours as much as I do…

I’ll be back soon…x

Spinning a yarn…

Probably the last thing I need right at the moment it a large consignment of yarn…

My home is full, the studio is full and also the shed. Full of masses of stuff I’m just not ready to part with at the moment. But hey, why not just add to the fun and throw in a mountain of colour!

And it’s worked…

Planet Penny Cotton Colours Yarn New Colours

Great excitement today when the yarn arrived. I had samples of one of the colour collections over the weekend so I’ve already been experimenting and I’m itching to have a play with the other colours, a pastel rainbow. Plant Penny Cotton Colours pastel yarn I hope to have these ready for the Etsy shop very soon, I’ll let you know.

As a little aside, do you like cross stitch? I’ve inherited sooo many knitting, crochet and needlecraft books from my mum and I’ve had to be stern with myself and say that the one thing I’m not going to have time for is cross stitch. But I do have these lovely books… Cross Stitch books

…from Donna Kooler, Jane Greenhoff, Katrin Cargill, Patrice Boerens and Better Homes and Gardens. If you are interested do get in touch via the contact form.

So, I’d better to get to work. I have a basket of cotton yarn beckoning to me!

See you soon…x

Moving on, new ideas…

There’s nothing like climbing out of a rut with a flash of inspiration and some new ideas.

And I’ve had to work hard to get into the right frame of mind, but I’m getting there! A lot of the problem has been the ‘swimming through treacle’ effect of mountains of STUFF. I’m really bad at parting with things, and my little cottage is filling up rapidly with all the things I can’t bear to part with from my mum’s home, not just yet anyway. (I’m also filling my studio, my shed, the veranda…)

So you can see that with all that going on, there hasn’t been much room to be creative and have any new ideas at all.

However, here’s the first one, a Planet Penny Newsletter. I wanted to be able to add a little something extra to what goes on in my woolly world so I investigated MailChimp and found it was actually jolly good fun finding out just what I can do. If you would like to find out more the sign up is on the sidebar, it’s a work in progress!

Planet Penny Products photo practice digital SLR camera

I’ve had some new ideas about the Planet Penny Cotton Colours yarn too. So many people have commented on how lovely it is to work with but I know those gorgeous rainbow brights aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, and I can do subtle as well, you know!

So this is the first proposed set, delicate pastels which work beautifully together and also with the white ‘Snowdrop’ yarn. I can really see these as a baby blanket or something cuddly for the cot.

New ideas Planet Penny Cotton And the other collection is this… new ideas - Planet Penny yarn I think it’s just scrumptious,and I can’t wait to try out some new ideas with these soft colours!

It’s all in the planning at the moment so I’d love to know what you think. And maybe I will be able to do some limited editions via the newsletter.

I’ll be back soon…x

Crochet Heart Bunting for Little Hearts Matter

Today I am sharing a new Planet Penny pattern for Crochet Heart Bunting to help raise awareness of the Little Hearts Matter Charity.

This is a great charity which raises funds and awareness for children born with only half a heart, something I admit I knew nothing about before. During the month of October there is a lot going on with the theme ‘Handmade Hearts’ and you can find out all about it on the Little Hearts Matter website.

I’ve made my bunting using the Planet Penny Colours range which is perfect for this pattern, but it’s also a great stash buster. (Sadly no longer available but any dk cotton yarn is suitable) If you’ve made a pretty baby blanket as a pressie, coordinated bunting for the nursery would be a lovely little added extra.

The pattern is available here as a FREE downloadable PDF ,however if you use and like the pattern it would be great if you could visit the Little Hearts Matter website and make a donation to help these amazing and brave youngsters.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, and if you decide to make the Crochet Heart Bunting I’d love to hear about it!

See you soon…x

P.S. If you like hearts, you might also like the small heart pattern I created for the #PeytonHeartProject which you can find here.

Mollie Makes and a Little Down Time

This was the week that I finally decided I wasn’t going to beat the bugs on my own and headed off to the doctor. So, with a large box of antibiotics and some concern from the doc that I’ve been overdoing things I’ve tried very hard to keep myself confined to the sofa. This was helped by Higgins’ favourite Post Lady arriving with my copy of Mollie Makes with a crochet project which looked right up my street.

I’ve been very focused lately on creating my own original ideas so it was nice to relax and enjoy someone else’s pattern! This garland has been devised exclusively for Mollie Makes by Emma Lamb and is very easy, and oh so pretty. I love Emma’s colour palette, very delicate and pretty and very much in the Mollie Makes style.

But I have lots of odds and ends of Planet Penny cotton in the Planet Penny palette so I’ve made my own interpretation of Emma’s garland…

Nothing delicate about this colour palette!

I thought it might be fun to try a little Mollie Makes styling for the photos…

I don’t know whether all that was strictly restful, but I am definitely on the mend now!

This is a perfect project for using up yarn from other projects, and I found the Planet Penny Cotton ideal. I’ve just been looking on line for approximate yarn prices and found that Debbie Bliss Cotton, 50g /84m is around £3.30 a ball and Rowan Cotton Glace 50g/115m is around £4.95 per ball. The Planet Penny Cotton packs are £36.50 per pack of 14 50g/125m balls making them just £2.60 per ball. I like it more than ever!

Spring is trying hard to arrive here in Norfolk, it was very nearly mild yesterday, and taking my camera out when Higgins and I go walking is essential. Otherwise I’d miss recording little sights like this…

…and yesterday’s evening sky…

And finally, I know some of you feel deprived if you don’t get your Higgins fix and he has been working very hard at being cute this week. (He needs to, he’s eaten the corners off yet another cushion!)

I’m joining in as usual with Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour which starts on this evening. I’m off to walk Higgins while the sun shines and I’ll be back soon….x