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1000th Sale Countdown

I've had 970 sales on etsy, getting near to a thousand. When I first started selling my crochet patterns on ebay about 7 years ago, it was just for a bit of extra pocket money, and I never thought it would become my 'proper' job. The craft world has changed so much since then, especially online. I'm still selling patterns on ebay but I've opened two etsy shops and a Ravelry store, and I get to be a full-time mummy too. As a thank you to all of my lovely customers on etsy, I'm offering 10% off all patterns until Monday, (just use the coupon code THOUSANDTHSALE when ordering) and whoever gets the 1000th sale will receive a $20 voucher to spend in either of my etsy shops. Thank you!

Father's Day Socks

crochet socks, a photo by tree_bridge on Flickr.

Looking for a project to make for Father's Day? These crocheted socks work up quickly using 100g of sock yarn, and fit sizes 6-12.
Crochet pattern available in my etsy shop.

Seafoam Cotton Crochet Shawl

Seafoam Cotton Crochet Shawl, a photo by tree_bridge on Flickr.

A simple crochet shawl in cool cotton 4ply, using my 'Blackberry Jam' shawl pattern. The pattern uses 4ply sock yarn, but here I've used some cotton yarn in a seafoam green colour. You can use any weight of yarn really, and just keep adding rows until you get to the size you want.
Pattern available at etsy.

Toddler Apron Pattern

Toddler Apron, a photo by tree_bridge on Flickr.

I wrote a new pattern for a little apron for H. He's always busy helping (or trying to help!) with baking, gardening, and even dusting. One of his favourite things to do is to 'paint' the cake tins with oil using a pastry brush before I put the cake mixture in. Also he really, really likes raking soil. It's a busy time, being a two-year-old, so he needs a little apron to protect his clothes.

I chose double knit cotton because it's washable and durable. Also it's a nice project for summer because cotton is cool and comfortable to work with. There's a handy little pocket and choice of apple or cherries applique, but you could add your own motif. The pattern is in two sizes, 2-4 and 4-6 years but I find small children vary so much in size its best to use the measurements included rather than ages. Available in my etsy shop!

10% off all patterns in my etsy shop.

To celebrate the May Bank Holiday weekend, here's 10% off all purchases in my etsy shop. Just enter the code MAYTHE4TH when you checkout. Offer ends on Tuesday. Happy long weekend!

Instant Downloads

Good news - Etsy have made a huge improvement to their site for buyers and sellers of digital goods (such as crochet & knitting patterns or digital artwork). They've introduced 'instant download' so once you have paid for your digital item, you can immediately download it. This means that now you can receive crochet patterns from my etsy shop straight away and I no longer need to email you them as an attachment. It's great because now you won't have to wait for the email, search your spam folder, and it doesnt matter if its the middle of the night here in the UK if you are in a different time zone. It's what Ravelry have been doing for a while now.

All crochet patterns in my shop are now available as PDF instant download. 

Make do and mend...

The plan was that I'd look after the boys during the day, and then after they had gone to bed, I'd write some new crochet patterns. It hasn't turned out that way at all, P started out as quite a good sleeper but the last few months he's been waking up maybe 3 or 4 times a night. So once he's in bed, I'm exhausted and the last thing I feel like doing is switching on my laptop and typing up patterns, my brain switches off after 7pm! So I've been doing some easy crochet or hand-sewing in the evenings, (because my sewing machine is too noisy and would wake them up).  

I found all their old bath towels from when they were tiny babies and I didn't want to throw them away, so I edged them with polka-dot bias binding, and turned them into hand towels. It's an easy project because the towels are already edged, you don't need to cut anything. I added a band of ditsy polycotton along one edge.

Then I got addicted to bias-binding everything, and made some easy quilts. These are cotton cot sheets from Ikea, one has funny vegetable characters on (they remind me of those Garden Gang childrens books from the 80's), and the other is cats and dogs.

I quilted around the characters by hand, then I backed them with some soft blue jersey, and edged them with bias.  

Lovely and snuggly for nap time!

Easter Bunny Crochet Kits...

New for Spring!

 

Make your own sweet crocheted bunny...

Yarn, stuffing, safety eyes and printed pattern, all in a brown paper bag.

The perfect springtime gift for a crocheter.

 Available in my etsy shop

Happy Spring!

Yes, my name is Iggle Piggle...

I crocheted these 'In the Night Garden' toys for H & P for Christmas. I'm not very good at embroidering faces on toys, luckily Iggle Piggle and Makka Pakka are meant to have slightly daft expressions! Makka Pakka is my favourite, he is a quirky stone-age type character who lives in a cave and collects rocks. 

The Pattern was from Ravelry, by Magdalena Svartlok, easy to follow and fun to make.

Crochet Hook Conversion Chart

UK hook size     USA hook size

2.25mm                B/1
2.75mm                C/2
3.25mm                D/3
3.5mm                  E/4
3.75mm                F/5
4mm                     G/6
5mm                     H/8
5.5mm                  I/9
6mm                     J/10
6.5mm                  K/10.5
8mm                     L/11
9mm                     M/13
10mm                   N/15
15mm                   P/19
16mm                   Q
19mm                   S/35

Yarn Weight Conversion Chart

UK	USA	Suggested	Typical uses
		Hook
2ply	Baby	2.25 to 3.5mm	Baby clothes
	Fingering
3ply	Fingering	3 to 4mm	Baby clothes,
	Sock		shawls, socks
4ply	Sport	3.5 to 4.5mm	Baby clothes,
			shawls, socks,
			lightweight sweaters
Double Knitting	Double Knitting	4 to 5mm	Children's clothes,
	Light Worsted		toys, adult sweaters
Aran	Fisherman,	5.5 to 6.5mm	Adult Sweaters
	Worsted
Chunky	Bulky	6.5 to 9mm	Adult Sweaters,
			Bags
Extra Chunky	Super Bulky	9mm-12mm	Bags, Rugs

 
Yarn comes in a wide variety of thicknesses, and it can be quite daunting when you first start crocheting to know which yarn to use. Most patterns will specify a yarn, and give an approximate gauge / tension size, usually how many stitches and rows over a 4 x 4 inch square. (Tension is the traditional term used in knitting in the UK, but the US term is gauge).

It's important to check your gauge / tension before starting a project, to make sure you have the correct yarn and hook size, especially when making something that needs to fit, like clothing. Once you've been crocheting for a while, you'll be able to play around with different weight yarns and not just stick to the yarn weight specified in a pattern.

The names for different weight yarns vary between the UK and USA. Bear in mind that even yarns in the same weight can vary a great deal, eg Paton's Diploma Gold DK is much thinner than say, a budget acrylic DK like Paton's Fab. 

I've included the recommended hook sizes for each yarn, although again, this varies depending on what you are making. For a bag you would use a smaller hook to create a dense, tight stitch, but for something drapey like a shawl or scarf you would use a larger hook. A crochet pattern will always tell you which hook size to use.

Happy crocheting!

Happy New Year! And Thank You!

I'd just like to say thank you so much to all of my lovely customers who've supported me this year. I love being a work-at-home mum, difficult as it is sometimes! I get to spend time with my two boys at home, and I also get to have fun making things and writing patterns when they are in bed. So thank you to everyone who has ordered something from my shop, bought a pattern, posted a picture of a finished item on Ravelry, or just commented, it really means a lot to me and my little family. 

2012 has been a bit rough for a lot of people, I hope that 2013 can be a happier year for everyone. So happy new year, happy crafting, and most of all, be kind to yourself and to those around you.

Tutorial - Christmas Crackers

 

Handmade crackers are fun to make, and you can fill them with personalised gifts and use them as place settings. I'm making the crackers this year, and my husband is in charge of writing the bad jokes to put inside.

You will need, per cracker:
1 loo roll tube
1 cracker snap (I got mine on ebay for about £1.60 for 12)
1 A4 sheet of festive paper
A slightly larger piece of tissue paper
Luggage tag
Ribbon, wool or string
Decorations, eg stickers or cardmaking toppers.

Joke or General Knowledge Question

Chocolates and gift - mine mostly came from charity shops. I'm using vintage wooden push up toys, jewellery, Guatamalan worry dolls, and miniature bottles of whiskey.

 

1.  Put a cracker snap, chocolate, joke and gift inside the loo roll.

2. Roll the piece of tissue around the loo roll, and glue or tape in place. Then do the same with the A4 coloured paper, making sure that the tisse sticks out the ends.

3.Twist each end of the cracker and tie with ribbon, wool or string.

4. Write the name of the recipient on the luggage tag, glue to the cracker and decorate with stickers, toppers, buttons or whatever you like.

Tutorial - Easy Christmas Cards

 

These jolly holiday cards are easy to make using festive papers, luggage tags and ribbon.

You will need:
Card blanks and envelopes
Festive paper in at least two colours or designs (you can use wrapping paper, scrapbooking papers, vintage wallpaper or even fabric).
Luggage tags
3mm ribbon
Glue
Small Christmas Rubber Stamp (eg pudding, robin, snowflake, Christmas Tree) and Ink Pad

1. Stamp the luggage tag with the Christmas rubber stamp, and leave to dry for a few minutes.

2. Tie a 6" piece of ribbon to the top of the tag and tie in a bow. Cut ends to the right length.

3. Cut 2 rectangle pieces from the Christmas paper. Use two contrasting patterns. The size will depend on the size of your cards, but one rectangle should be about half an inch smaller in length and width than the larger rectangle. Use a guillotine if you've got one, but I prefer my cards to look a bit wonky and handmade, there are no straight lines in nature.

 

4. Glue the larger rectangle to the card, then the smaller rectangle, followed by the luggage tag.

5. You can play around with other designs. Instead of stamping the tag, use cardmaking toppers, stickers, festive buttons or beads. Use glittery card instead of printed paper.

Happy Making!

Tutorial - How to make a Christmas House

 

Decorate a cute house to display your Christmas ornaments and trinkets.

You will need:

A Chipboard display house

PVA glue

White Paint & Paintbrush

Christmas Papers (I got mine from Tesco but you can also find them in Cardmaking craft shops and places like Paperchase or Hobbycraft). You can use scrapbook backing paper, vintage wallpaper, wrapping paper, or wallpaper for dolls houses. 

1. Start by priming your chipboard house, this is an undercoat of dilute PVA to stop the paint getting absorbed into the chipboard. Make a mixture of 3 parts PVA glue and one part water, and paint onto all surfaces of the house. Leave to dry overnight. You can skip this part but you may end up with chipboard showing through the paint.

2. Paint the house with white paint, it may need a couple of coats. Leave to dry.

3. Wallpaper your house! Measure the internal compartments and cut the papers to size. Glue in place.

4. Then have fun filling the compartments with Christmassy objects. You can use vintage cake decorations, acorns, pine cones, sweets, anything you like!

Tutorial - Christmas Wreath

 

Raid your haberdashery stash to decorate a festive wreath using ribbon, pom-pom trim and buttons.

You will need:
Vine wreath
Plain ribbon, about 2 metres
Pom-pom trim, 1 metre
Christmas ribbon
Jingle bells
Assorted buttons
Needle & thread 

 

1. Begin by choosing a colour scheme. I used red pom-pom trim (to look like holly berries), cream ribbon, rusty jingle bells, wooden star buttons and red polka dot buttons. You could also use vintage wooden cotton reels, brocade ribbon, organza, beads, or even zips.

2. Wrap some plain ribbon around the vine wreath. Don't wrap it too tightly, it should look kind of rustic and effortless. Bear in mind that the buttons will be sewn to the ribbon at the end. Pin or tack the two ends of ribbon together at the back.

 3. Loosly wrap some pom-pom trim around the wreath, and pin or tack the two ends together at the back.

4. Tie the jingle bells on to the top of the wreath using some festive ribbon. Make a bow.

5. Tack the buttons to the plain ribbon all the way around the wreath. Just one stitch in and out should hold them in place. Alternatively, glue the buttons to the ribbon.

And that's it! Your wreath should last years if you hang it indoors, but as the ribbons are just tacked on, it's easy to add or remove them, and you can re-use the wreath again with a different colour scheme another year.

Rainbow Toddler Mittens & Scarf Set

 

A couple of years ago, my sister-in-law asked me to crochet my nephew (her son) a rainbow striped scarf. He was 3 years old at the time and she said that by the next winter he would start refusing rainbow colours, so she wanted him to have one while he was still young enough. They loved the scarf so I made him a couple of pairs of mittens.

 

The pattern for both the mittens and scarf is available in my etsy shop, and on Ravelry. To make them you'll need double knitting yarn in 7 colours and a 5.5mm hook. The mittens can be plain, striped or blocks of colour and will fit a 2-4 year old.

New & Improved!

Sweet Yolk Cardigan Pattern now includes toddler sizes. 

This sweet scandi style cardigan has been my most popular pattern, and I've had many requests for toddler sizes. I've now included 1-2 years and 2-3 years. One day I hope to go all the way up to adult sizes but that will take a very long time!

It's available in my shop and at Ravelry, it works up in just a few evenings and makes a great Christmas present for babies and toddlers.

Hands and Feet!

Patterns for gloves and socks, all available in my shop and at Ravelry.