Good news

Yesterday I was clearing out my junk mail (89 emails in 2 days yikes) when I noticed an email from a different tutor on my Forest School course.

It was an email telling me I had passed!! Hooray I am now a level 3 forest school Leader so all the sweating over my portfolio paid off as I didn't have any rewrites to do to get the pass.

I am very very happy and so that you know what I'm talking about here is a link to an article in the Guardian about Forest Schools in the UK. Enjoy

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/dec/09/the-school-in-the-woods-outdoor-education-modern-britain?CMP=share_btn_fb

Blocking

Blocking is not something I have ever done but I know I should as it completely changes the look of a garment. I have made the beautiful Hilo shawl by Joanne Scrace and her instructions said to 'aggressive block'.

I tweeted her (follow her on @notsogranny as she's fab) and she replied

So I bought a blocking kit which consists of different lenghths of rustproof wires and pins but I never got round to using it because I don't have anywhere to put a large shawl out overnight to dry.

Joanne then posted this brilliant article on her blog which explains everything really well-follow her she's very interesting and explains lots of things like yarn weight, tension and swatches really well plus her designs are gorgeous

http://notsogranny.com/2013/08/tidkt-how-to-block-your-work.html

Anyway I have decided

that I really need to get a handle on this blocking lark after finishing my sisters All at Sea scarf as finished it looked like this

it was supposed to look like this

So I got the blocking set out and laid it all out on my bed. I used

roll mats that we never used and cut them in half. Then I washed the scarf in wool soap and rinsed it out. Whilst wet I started to pin

The scarf still wasn't big enough so after 2 hours I decided to stretch and pin again

The hair dryer was me trying to hurry the drying along but it didn't work

Blocking on my bed had its own issues as I had a helper ...

 Once again the pictures are all turning on me...really must work that one out... anyway as you can see Charlie truly believes my bed is actually his and even moans at me when I try to get in it so you can imagine his delight at me using my bed for blocking!

I had to move it all onto the floor to sleep and it took a full 24 hrs to dry. However I think it was definately worth it , just look at the difference blocking makes

Gorgeous, really pleased with it. I just have to keep it safe as my sisters birthday isn't until January.

Talking of getting ahead I finally made my husband a winter hat. I first attempted this 3 years ago but our dog then a puppy ate the hat and the circular needles one evening and I've never gotten around to starting another one.

This one is from Simply Crochet issue 24 and is the Candy Beanie by myboshi.

it crochets up very quickly, you can make one in a day

modelled by my son

however I think the seams need work but he's happy with it

Simply Crochet issue 22

Do you subscribe to any crafting magazines?

I get Simply Crochet, Mollie Makes and Making every month. That's quite a lot of magazines but the one I wouldn't give up is Simply Crochet (I also but Inside Crochet buy only if I see a great pattern)

My lovely sister was visiting from France as I was looking through Issue 22 and she spotted a beautiful scarf called All at Sea by Elisabeth Davis de Herraiz

The pattern was mainly treble crochet and looked easy enough and the colours were gorgeous.

She asked me to make it for her birthday and I happily agreed after all I haven't made anything other than a huge granny square for months.

I ordered the yarn  a gorgeous Araucania Botany Lace 100% Merino buying 2 skeins so I could make one for myself.

I sat down to make it and immediately ran into trouble. I just couldn't follow the written pattern and got really confused. It was so frustrating especially as I hadn't tackled a pattern in such a long time it really knocked me. There was no chart either and I like to have a chart to refer to. I discovered during my Forest school training that I am a visual learner. I like to see what I'm learning, be able to pick it up and have a good look.

Thank goodness for twitter I sent Simply Crochet a quick tweet #loveachart and they sent me this reply

So the chart you can see peeking out from the magazine is the one I printed from their website. So now I am off!!

the pattern will need a serious block to look anything like the picture but once I got my chart it was easy

Its growing very quickly and only has 50 rows, I have 10 more to go.

Meanwhile I have finished sewing in all the ends of Jacobs gorgoeus granny square blanket. I haven't blocked it although I would like to as the ends curl up but the boy wanted his blanket so here it is on his bed...

Annoyingly I can't turn this the right way up but you get the idea....it has blended in but at least its not on the floor like everything else in his room as he likes to make his bed tidy to display it. Huge praise indeed from a teenage boy....

Summer

Summer has shot past by in a bit of a blur.
 I handed in my Forest School Portfolio and spent the summer hanging out with my sons.

They decided they wanted to get the Blue Peter green environmental badge so we started to build a wildlife garden area in the back garden.

We were also given some pallets to make a bug hotel

Jacob making bug houses

Noah mixing wild flower seeds and compost

our newly fenced off wild patch

construction of the bug hotel begins

getting stuck in sawing the pallets up

starting to take shape

Finished hotel! Doesn't it look fantastic?

We also had a bumper crop of pears this year from our tiny pear tree

I've made flavoured gin before so thought I'd give pear gin a go

So this year so far I have (L-R) Bramble vodka, pear gin, damson gin x2 then another bramble vodka

roll on Christmas when they will all be ready to try

 The new bug hotel has attracted many bugs to our garden and I was able to take this fab picture of a bee with pollen saddlebags on my phone. She was so busy collecting pollen that she totally ignored me. I've been reading A sting in the tale by Dave Goulson which is a fantastic read about the plight of the short haired bumble bee. Read it if you can.

So after a 3 month wait the badges finally arrived

They are all pretty pleased with themselves and can now get in free to over 200 attractions so I'm pretty pleased too!

I haven't forgotten Jacobs granny square blanket either.

He chose the colours and the design and I've finally finished it.

I'm very pleased with it but I am still sewing in all the ends so he hasn't quite been given it yet....

But I have got my crochet mojo back and have started on a gorgeous scarf for my sisters birthday from Simply Crochet magazine. I'll save that for later but now I'm off out with the dogs to enjoy this gorgeous October sunshine

Forest School course

Christmas has been and gone and no crafting has taken place :( 

Instead I have been very busy learning about Holistic learning practises, emotional intelligence and the history of woodland management.

I am loving my course and we have had opportunities to be creative in the woods. We were shown how to make a natural picture frame using twigs and string but my group decided to make a huge frame and work together using newly learnt knot tying skills.

It was big enough to fit us all inside

We then used the materials around us to make a picture

Do you like our beautiful Peacock??

We have also been building fires, cooking bread on whittled sticks

And learning to use various tools. Here I am using a bow saw 

to make wood cookies

I am loving it all as you can no doubt see but the homework is long and hard after not writing essays for a very long time. I spend all my free time reading but have managed to sneak a few little crafty treats into my work...

little crocheted oak leaf

Stinging nettle

Snail

I have attempted to start a few things recently but find I don't have the patience (or possibly brain space) to follow a pattern so I have instead starting Jacob's blanket. I've had to wool for months 

I had wanted to try the ripple crochet pattern but Jacob wants granny squares

We did a few to play with the colour combos then we decided that he wanted bigger squares

It is growing steadily and is a really nice easy, no thinking project for me at the moment. I have to finish my Forest School portfolio and plan my lessons so something that has no charts or complicated pattern is really perfect right now. Right, back to the portfolio.....

Birthday Bunny

it was my nieces birthday last week, she was 6 and as I have a house full of boys I always enjoy making something a little bit more girly for her.

So in this issue of Simply Crochet they had a pattern for a gorgeous bunny

So I decided to give it a go.

It is crocheted in a spiral and is all piece work

I dug out a stitch marker and away I went, first the body...

It's starting to look like a bowl

This really shows the spiral pattern

It looks more like a pear now...

The ear

2 arms and 2 legs, legs have more stuffing but the pattern is exactly the same

I have already attached the ears and have started to embroider the face (not my strong point)

pink nose

attaching the head to the body

 Ta Dah!

But to take her out of the clutches of my son, I had to add a flower

So My bunny v magazine bunny...can you tell them apart??

   

I was very pleased with it and so it would seem was my little niece