Tag Archives: crochet

Advent Calendar – Day Nine

It might be Day Nine on the Advent Calendar, but it’s also Sunday so I think we’re allowed a bit of a break. Feet up with the Sunday papers, and a magazine or two. I have a new favourite magazine which I have to say saved me from a bit of a downer a couple of weeks ago. I was having one of those anti commercialised Christmas moments. You know, when you go into the supermarket at the beginning of November and they have the ‘Seasonal’ isle all stacked up with tins of chocolates, bumper bags of nuts and crisps and Christmas puddings as far as the eye can see. And Father Christmas hats, and Elf suits, and illuminated antlers. Oh, and mince pies with a sell by date a good month before Christmas. And it all seems too much, there’s just too much STUFF!

But then my Christmas Issue of ‘The Simple Things‘ landed on my doormat…

and it made me stop and think of what Christmas really means, and what it means to me as a celebration.

My fantasy Christmas would involve a log cabin in the woods and lots of snow, a reindeer drawn sleigh to take me visit Santa (I expect my grandsons would like to come too!) and a Carol Service (with a choir) A log fire, a big Christmas tree filled with my eclectic collection of ornaments gathered over the years. A traditional Christmas dinner with all my dearest family and friends and Higgins and Henry of course (and lots of help in the kitchen!) Dr Who, ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’and ‘White Christmas on the TV’, and someone who can sing and play ( guitar, piano? I don’t mind) for the musical entertainment.

Well, it’s not going to happen quite like that for me or anyone else for that matter, but it does make you think that actually, whatever the TV ads tell you, Christmas isn’t about cut price tins of Quality Street and Roses chocolates or the latest electronic gadget.

We can find our own magic if we look in the right places…

Do you have a fantasy Christmas? Do share it if you do…

The other magazine in the reading pile is a new Crochet magazine which was sent to me to review. Have you seen it yet? I spotted it for the first time on the High Street yesterday and you can also find it here.

Ideal for beginners as it has a comprehensive ‘How-to’ section at the back, and lots of different project for different skill levels. Some pretty baby blankets, this neck warmer which is on my to do list..

(and the dog’s cute too!)

And these pretty mats which would be a great project for honing newly learnt crochet skills.

I love these subtle natural shades, but these patterns would work well in the Planet Penny Cotton yarn, especially using either the warm part of the spectrum…

or the cool one…

Hope you’ve had (or are having) a peaceful Sunday, I’ll be back tomorrow!

Don’t forget to call over to Handmade Monday to find lots of other Christmas makes, and if you haven’t entered the Prize Draw you can find out all about it, and the fab prizes on this post…

Chilling out on Planet Penny

Brrrr, it’s sooo cold! I’m ensconced in my little Planet Penny office wearing my Boneyard scarf…

wrapped several times round my neck, the pink version of the wrist warmers and with a cup of hot lemon and ginger tea to hand. Apart from the miserable weather a lot of it is to do with sitting still too much, needlefelting, crocheting and winding wool, or tapping on a keyboard does not generate enough heat! Tim’s on dog walking duty while I finalise the craft fair bits and pieces, so at least he and Higgins are getting proper exercise.

The needlefelting? Well it’s robins as usual! I think I’ve got enough now to be going on with. My latest version, and I think my favourite, is attached to a wool covered crocodile clip which means it can be clipped on the branches of a Christmas tree, or a pot plant…

…he’s got a little button heart in his beak…

The crocheting, well I’ve made some tiny bunting, it’s great for using up left over Planet Penny cotton and would look lovely strung on shelves or a dresser. For the moment I’ve just added it to my bunting and garland collection in the studio add a little colourfulness against the gloom…

The winding has been for more rainbow mouse kits (this can be done in front of the fire watching Strictly Come Dancing so I did manage to thaw out a bit!)

And the tapping away on the computer was for my first proper book review which, if you missed it, is here. It’s worth a look, it’s a fabulous book.

Finally, with Halloween around the corner, Higgins had a go at pumpkin carving yesterday. When I came in with one to turn into pumpkin soup, Higgins when wild with excitement, convinced it was a football, just for him.

When I put down for him to check it out he made a huge effort to get his teeth in it…

But the disaster came when he finally managed to get it to roll. It rumbled across the floor, hit a small table on which Tim had just placed a fresh cup of tea and knocked it flying, soaking poor Henry who was just passing. What a good thing Henry has thick fur, just his dignity was hurt!

He managed to make quite an impression on the pumpkin before being bribed away with a doggy treat so I could hide it in the pantry! (I now have a lot of soup, a lot of frozen pumpkin, and I still have half left. I wonder if I can chop it up with dog food? And this was a small one!)

So for now I’ll leave you with the usual link to Handmade Monday and get back to work. If you’re in Norfolk on Wednesday it would be lovely to see you at How Hill for the Craft Fair but if not, I’ll be back soon…x

Planet Penny Cotton Inspirations:Week 2

Hello… I’m back again, hoping to be inspiring! If you spotted last week’s mid-week post you will know I have been keeping my eye out for pretty little things which can be made using the gorgeous Planet Penny Cotton rainbow and trying out the patterns so I can recommend them to you.

This week’s beautiful pattern come courtesy of Craft Passion, the African Flower…

…and you can find the pattern here…

I have made a start on a patchwork style cushion using the Planet Penny Cotton…

Obviously very much a WIP at the moment, but I’m enjoying making it, and planning the colour combinations. It requires a bit more concentration than the basic Granny Square but it uses basic single and double crochet stitches (and trebles too for UK readers). It all fell apart slightly last night at our Knit and Stitch Group, (chatting with a glass of wine at one’s elbow does not aid concentration!) It’s written using US terms so bear that in mind if you are used to UK patterns.

There is also a pattern for a beautiful bag if you are feeling really ambitious…

I’ve added this to my ‘Wish List’ , I really do need that extra pair of hands!

With that in mind, I’d better get back to work. I hope this has given you some ideas, I’ll be back soon….x

Planet Penny Cotton Colours

I’ve been feeling the need for a little colour fix just lately, of the rainbow cotton variety, to counter balance the Christmassy slant which my creativity has inevitable taken.

There’s no getting away from it, robins are basically shades of brown with red, and although it suits them very well, it doesn’t press all the buttons for me, colourwise. So off to the Planet Penny Cotton Colours shelves…

and POW!

… oooh, I feel better already!

What started as a very tentative foray into importing something from Europe which I couldn’t actually purchase in the UK is still going well, and I’ve had great feedback and repeat orders from people who have been so happy with not only the gorgeous colour range but the quality of the yarn. (If you are a new blog visitor you can find out the beginnings of the Planet Penny Cotton Colours yarn here and here)

There are only two areas where I feel I’m letting the side down, and the first only is completely out of my hands. It’s so expensive to ship outside the UK! I’ve pared down the packing to the minimum, (and the girls at my local Post Office are impressed that the parcels come in just below the point where the cost goes up to the next band!) so I do apologise to anyone who feels the shipping costs are high, and I really appreciate the loyal customers who buy despite the Royal Mail’s costs. In fact someone in Australia emailed to say she loved the yarn so much she would have paid double the postage rate!

And really the other area is out of my hands too, unless I can magic some extra hours in the day! I’d like to produce more patterns, but is a very time consuming affair … Coming up with the idea, making the item, writing the pattern, typing the pattern, then following the pattern whilst making it again to check it works, etc. etc. you get the picture…

So my plan is to research other peoples patterns, to find pretty ideas which can be made up in the beautiful Cotton Colours and then giving you the links to the websites to try them for yourselves. It also seemed like a cheerful thing to do as Winter approaches and nature makes things a bit dark and monotone. You’ll find plenty of inspiration too, if you visit me on Pinterest!

And this is the first pattern I found…

Aren’t they pretty? So easy, and compulsive to make. At this rate every one will be getting one for Christmas, including the boys!

This has been about for a while and appears to have originated on a Danish blog, but I found a great crochet blog called Hooked on Needles where there is an English version of the pattern

Check out the shop for the yarn and the patterns, and also for the new limited edition, Christmas Crochet Collection…

Which includes the PPCC ‘Snowdrop’ yarn, hook, buttons, ribbon and the pattern for the Christmas Crochet bunting featured in the Winter Simply Crochet magazine, and the heart and snowflake patterns to make tree ornaments or a garland.

And while I was looking for the links for this pattern I found another one…where are those extra hours in the day? I’ll be back with more ideas very soon…

Christmas Crochet for Handmade Monday

I sincerely apologise to those of you who find it hard to think about Christmas in September, but I’m afraid those of us who hand craft seasonal bits and pieces have to start early or we run out of time! I could really do with an extra pair of hands, as I haven’t yet worked out a way of crocheting whilst needlefelting! I’m back with the crochet hook at the moment because I have just had a new delivery of Planet Penny Cotton Club yarn, and this time I have just a few packs with Christmas crochet in mind, lovely Snowdrop.

It’s perfect for the Crochet Christmas Bunting in the tutorial here, which is featured in a magazine published in a few days time, Simply Crochet.

I’ve been experimenting with my own ball of ‘Snowdrop’ to come up with a couple more patterns to use this lovely yarn. Would you like to see? There are crochet snow flakes…

…and crochet Hearts…

and Snowflakes and Hearts…

Christmas Crochet Packs of yarn, crochet hook, buttons and patterns will be available in the next few days in the Etsy shop…

Re-assuming my needlefelting hat, I discovered a fragment of old lace in a box the other day (you see how I’ve benefited from all that boring tidying up I’ve been doing?) and combined it with a new twig heart. I had been a little wary of it, because the wire shaping was so noticeable, (I presume it was made with florists in mind) but I’d raided my Mother-of-Pearl button box and it made all the difference…

And there was still that last dyed top to transform…Remember this?

A rather uninspiring blue/grey… But then I remembered some beautiful binding I bought in France over two years ago…

(… it was lovely to revisit the occasion on Planet Penny via this post – blogging is a wonderful thing!) and with some matching buttons came up with something which I am very happy to have in my wardrobe…

(The camera is lying about the blueness of the dye, BTW!)

There will be a short ‘break in transmission’ over the next week or so as I’m going to be away. Excitingly, I’ve been invited to a book launch in London on Wednesday for Buttonbag’s new craft book, closely followed by a trip to the South Coast to visit the family so there will be lots to tell you about when I’m here again (note to self: charge the camera battery!)

I’ll leave you now with the usual link to Handmade Monday over on Wendy’s Handmade Harbour. Have a lovely week and I’ll be back before long…

Remembering the Memory Doll

It’s been a really hectic week here on Planet Penny as at last we found a quiet time to make me an office out of the storage room adjoining the studio. When the Studio block was built three years ago I already had designs on this little room as you can see from this post but it’s taken until now to find the time to make the big push. There was so much to clear out of the store, and now I’m having to find all the office related stuff in the studio to move it across and I’m unearthing all sorts of memories and forgotten projects! So as I haven’t got a new Handmade Monday project I though I’d share the Memory Doll with you, who has resurfaced from a box of bits and pieces.

She was designed to use up little fragments of pretty things which had some significance which might otherwise might have been put in a box and forgotten. (The irony of this does not escape me!)

So here she is, with her little cape made from my first (and last) attempt at traditional crochet. A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this small piece which would never have grown enough to be used elsewhere. The dress is made from an old dress from happy days, and the satin covered buttons came from a blouse I had as a teenager. The flower was on a box of toiletries from a long ago birthday, and the pantaloons which you can just see here…

were made from remnants left over from a baby dress of my daughters.

I shall make sure she doesn’t go back in a box, but has pride of place on the dresser from now on!

I’ve been wondering if a tutorial for this might be interesting to anyone? Do let me know what you think…

This is I’m afraid a short post as I’ve been away and it’s nearly time to visit Clovis the Mad French Cat to give him his pill. I will post an up to date bulletin in the next few days when I hope to have good news about his progress. It’s taking a long, long time, but we’re getting there!

I shall leave you with the usual Sunday link to Handmade Monday over on Handmade Harbour where you will find plenty more to see, and I’ll be back soon ….x