A Crafting Year

Thursday, 13 February 2014

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.....

Wednesday, 20 November 2013

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

Tuesday, 5 November 2013

house warming gift

A friend moved house recently so I made a quick gift for her daughters new room. I bought a cardboard letter just like the one I decorated in cartoons for the boys last year but this time covered it in wool...

Wool and glue gun on the ends

then just wrap the wool round

2nd end

don't forget the middle

other ends

finished.

A great way to use up odds and ends of wool and Holly loved it.

Friday, 1 November 2013

Where has the time gone?

Well I can't believe today is November 1st. I really don't know where this year has gone.

Last time I wrote we were heading off to Dorset for a few weeks & I was looking forward to starting Hilo, the beautiful crochet shawl by Joanne Scrace.

I used the same as the pattern Fyberspates Scrumptious a 4ply sport 55% superwash merino 45% silk

in the shade Water and a 4mm hook.

It really is gorgeous and feels so soft definitely worth the £15 a skein price tag.

But I wasn't very careful when I came to unravel the yarn

This gave me a headache before I even started but my children weren't very keen to hold the wool as I had been for my mother.

I did a gauge

And was ready to go

Although it looks complicated its actually quite simple and has a lovely rhythm to it that makes it quite meditative.

A closer look at the pattern

The pattern naturally decreased as you went

I finished it quite quickly but it seemed a bit small so I took it apart and started again with a 5mm hook as I know I knit/crochet on the smaller side. It didn't take long to finish

up close

So now I need to 'aggressively block' according to the pattern so I tweeted Joanne who very kindly replied straight away

Joanne has a blog called Not so Granny and the next day a blog appeared all about blocking. It looked like I was going to need a blocking kit so I sent away for a set of non rusting wires and pins. However I am yet to block this as I need space to leave the shawl out to dry flat and at the moment I don't have the space which is a shame as I really want to wear my shawl.

Left unfinished

So what else have I left unfinished?

I also took on holiday the knitted and crocheted jumper that I took to the finishing course back in February.

As I had already sewn the body together I decided to have a go at the crochet pattern.

It looks ok to me so I carry on

3 rows in

looking alright!

I'm rather pleased with this so I do the other sleeve.

However I need now to do the neckline which requires time and concentration so I'm afraid the jumper is back in the bag......

Tuesday, 30 July 2013

Hexagon blanket update

Word to the wise.....I was a bit lazy when I was making the hexagon blanket and decided to knot the yarn and cut it instead of weaving all the ends in.

Do this at your peril!!!

Since finishing the hexagons have started to unravel and I spend at least one day a week with my hook trying to mend it.

Lesson learnt, however tedious ALWAYS WEAVE THE ENDS IN!!

Busy busy bee

Its been a while and I would love to say I had been busy crafting away but alas my new job dog walking and the three boys have kept me very very busy. My fantastically clever husband graduated from Reading Uni in July with his PHD in Nutrition and food science which was a lovely day out for everyone and a nice way to celebrate nearly 4 yrs of very hard work and dedication.