I made a thing, custom crochet guinea pigs.

A nice lady I know asked me to crochet a pair of guinea pigs for her daughter based on their real guineas, and I was of course happy to oblige. 

These are the piggies in question, aren't they sweet. 

I used Kati Galutz's 'Chubby Guinea Pig' pattern, which was mostly easy to follow but I think made harder by trying to match the OP (original piggies) markings. 

I used DK yarn and a 4mm crochet hook.  Each one took about 3 evenings in front of the TV to make.

I've actually started up a Facebook page for my crochet-ty makes, just to take orders from friends and family on a kind of casual basis to make a few extra pennies, check it out if you'd like to.

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I made a thing, crochet sleepy head mice.

I made a cute crochet jellyfish for my new niece, but her big sisters needed presents too!

I wanted to make a baby somethings, because they have a new baby in their lives, and I fell in love with these little baby mice in their own leafy beds.

I used this lovely free pattern for a mouse sleepy head from Ravelry.  I pretty much followed the pattern for the mice, but I just did htr stitches for the whole bed, which made it easier, using this method meant the bed only needed 5 rounds, and I missed off the little leaf from the bed too.

I used DK yarn, and a 2.5mm hook for the mice and a 3.5mm hook for the beds and blankets, the eyes are teeny tiny safety eyes. 

I've actually started up a Facebook page for my crochet-ty makes, just to take orders from friends and family on a kind of casual basis to make a few extra pennies, and I've already been commissioned to make a pair of guinea pigs!  Check it out if you'd like to.

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I made a thing, crochet baby jellyfish.

Last week my newest (4th!!) niece was born, and her mummy requested a crochet octopus.

Of course, I left it to the last minute and was feverishly crocheting a week after she was born.  And I decided to make a jellyfish instead of an octopus.  But she's finished (unlike the blanket I started but still haven't finished for my 3rd niece, who born in October!) 

I used this lovely free pattern - cute crochet jellyfish amigurumi pattern.

I made a few changes to the pattern, I used DK yarn (Yarnfair stripes from Wilkos in the colourway 'brights') and a 3mm hook, and made the tentacles much longer than the pattern told me to (it says chain 20, I chained between 40 and 55 for each as I wanted them all different lengths.)

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My crochet stripey harmony shawl.

I love love love my new crochet shawl.  In my head I call it my crazy parrot wings shawl, because the colours and the pattern the variegated yarn made looks a bit like parrot feathers.

Made using - Yarnfair Stripes yarn in colourway 70304, 3 50g balls (exactly!) and a 4mm crochet hook.

Pattern - Harmony Shawl free crochet pattern by Bodhi Sasa on Ravelry.

Made while watching - Practical Magic, Sunday Kitchen, The Flash and Doctor Who.

Time Taken - 3 evenings, 1 morning. 

This is the best I can do for an action shot!  (usually I would take a mirror photo, but we don't have a mirror at the moment!)

Here it is with my mustard Harmony shawl.  My mustard manta-ray shawl and my crazy parrot wings shawl!  I love this pattern, I'm going to make more I'm sure!

What have you been making?

Linking up with Flaunt it Friday.

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Retro Seventies Crafts #2. Crochet.

Here are some more of my wonderfully bonkers seventies craft pattern cards.  These ones all feature crochet.

They were published by Hamlyn in 1979.

I'd love a loopy hat or a poncho, how about you?

You can see more here.

Retro Seventies Crafts #1. Animals, Dolls and Creatures.

I found some craft cards from the seventies while I was tidying and packing things in my flat.  They're so cute and funny and bonkers, I had to share some with you! 

The cards were published by Hamlyn in 1979.

My absolute favourite pattern is 'Blondie and the Spaceman', I love the wallpaper in the background, and Blondie's lace nipples!

Which is your favourite?

Linking up with Flaunt it Friday.

Short Tip Triangle Crochet Scarf, Pink Clouds.

I used the lovely free pattern by Ateljé Bohemian for a Short Tip Triangle Scarf from Ravelry to make this little shawl.  Unfortunately the pattern has since disappeared from the internet, which is a shame because it's lovely, and I wanted to make another one!  I'm going to have a really good look at this one I've made, and see if I can work out the pattern from that. 

I bought the yarn ageeeees ago, from Aldi.  It reminds me of a cardigan I had as a child, it was made from similar pink and blue variegated wool and had little pink elephant buttons. 

The yarn is DK and I used a 6mm crochet hook.  I used just over a skein of yarn for my shawl. 

I love the colours, it reminds me of the sky when there's a pink sunset.  Which is my favourite kind of sky!  

Linking up with Annemarie's Haakblog and Flaunt it Friday. 

What are you making?

Crochet Flowers Dangly Mobile Garland.

I wanted to make a present for my friend in Brazil (that I visited last year, and that I made the granny stripe blanket for).  It had to be small, because I was asking her mum to take it with her when she visited.

I decided on a dangly, mobile, garland thingy!

 

I followed the free pattern for amigurumi stars by Amy's Odyssey that I found on Ravelry.  Mine look more like flowers, because I did the 3 rounds in 3 different colours.  I've made this pattern using solid colours before and they looked a lot more star like. 

I used a 3mm crochet hook and lots of DK yarn from my stash.  There are 2 little gold bells on the end that I attached to a chain of crochet.   

Here it is in action.  I think I might make one for myself!

Linking up with Flaunt it Friday and Annemarie's Haakblog.

What are you making at the moment?

How to Make an Easy, Crochet Heart Valentines Card.

I made this card for my valentine, and it was lovely and simple to do.

I used the lovely, free crochet heart tutorial from HelouiseV's blog, a 4mm crochet hook and some cream cotton yarn, the kind sold to make dishcloths.

I stuck the crochet heart in the middle of the card, using those double sided, foam sticky pads.

Finally, I used letter stamps to spell out a message underneath the heart.  To get the letters straight(ish!), I find it helpful to stamp the middle letter first (in this case I lined up the V with the point of the heart and stamped that first), then work outwards.  

And that's it!

I'm adding my Valentines card to Aniko's link up 'Make, Thrift and Tell', the theme this month is letters, and there are letters on my card!  Go and check it out, and join in!  I'm also linking up with Flaunt it Friday and Annemaries Haakblog.

Happy Valentines Day!  I hope you have a happy day, whether you're in a couple or not.

My Crochet Harmony Shawl, aka my Mustard Manta-ray Shawl.

I've been crocheting this shawl from the free 'Harmony Shawl' pattern on Ravelry for the past couple of months.

I call it my Mantaray shawl, because laid flat, it does look a little like a Manta-ray (thanks Mum for pointing that out!) and because it's mustard coloured!  

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The crochet pattern is really quick and easy, I used Stylecraft Special DK yarn in 'Gold' and a 6mm crochet hook.  I used about a ball and a half of wool to make this shawl.  The pattern says to use worsted weight yarn and an 8mm hook, so my version is lighter and more lacy and drapey. 

Ta-dah!

I'm linking my crochet shawl up with Aniko's 'Make, Thrift and Tell' challenge.  This month's theme is pattern, and I used a pattern to make this shawl, so I think that counts!  You should go and have a read of her lovely blog and join in too! I'm also linking up with Annemarie's Haakblog and Flaunt it Friday.

For my next projects I have a couple of things in mind, this awesome hat and these cute mini stockings to make a reusable advent calendar for next year.  I also have my Mollie Makes Starburst Flower blanket to finish off, I would love to be able to use it in our new home sooner rather than later!

Hat Photo/pattern, Ravelry.  Stockings-Photo/pattern, Ravelry.

My Mollie Makes blanket, that has taken about 4 years so far!

Are you making anything, or do you have any crafty ideas floating round in your head?

Manly Mens Ribbed Crochet Hat.

I crocheted this hat for my boyfriend for Christmas.

It's from the free pattern found here on Ravelry from the blog Eating Out Loud.  I used a 5mm crochet hook and aran weight yarn, the brand is Tivoli and it's a tweedy, wool/acrylic mix.   I used 1 and a bit balls of wool for this. 

Typically, I started crocheting this on the 23rd of December, and finished on Christmas Eve!  The pattern made my brain hurt to read (what do you meean you skip 4 stitches, at one end, every 4 rows?!), but once I'd started it made perfect sense and was a quick and easy pattern to follow.

I've never done a ribbing stitch in crochet before, this one is really easy.  The ribs are made by crocheting into the back loop of each stitch, and it makes a lovely warm, stretchy fabric.

It was funny to make something so black and manly, I love colour and stripes and flowers and pompoms, but I don't think my boy would be very pleased with that!   It was nice to try a new stitch and a new style for once, but I'm back to finishing off my mustard shawl now!

What are you crocheting at the moment?

 

Handmade Christmas Cards with Salt Dough Tags.

I made just a few Christmas cards this year, and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out!

I made the salt dough tags with little cutters and pressed in letter stamps for the initials.  I drew the dots on the salt dough with fineliner pens.  The paper in the background is from the Usbourne book 'Christmas Decorations to Cut, Fold and Stick' and I had the cards in my stash (in fact, I didn't buy anything new to make these, I had everything already). 

Then I used a needle to pop a hole where I wanted each salt dough tag to hang, and threaded it through with embroidery thread.

This one with 4 tags on is a little heavy, I don't know how good it's chances are of staying standing up!

Did you make your Christmas cards this year? 

Linking up with Flaunt it Friday.