Summer Morning Shawl in Neutral Tones

Sometimes, during the summer, I just want to grab a light shawl that I can throw over whatever dress I am wearing. The problem is, all my shawls are quite bold colour schemes, and I really wanted something more neutral.

I was drawn to Rico Design Creative Cotton Degrade in shade Ecru, as it faded from brown to cream, and the Summer Morning shawl pattern for it's simplicity. (Note: I didn't work the final picot edge.) It's a nice easy repetitive pattern, although I never enjoy how long the rows get as shawls progress!

I finished and blocked the shawl, wrapped it round me, and my husband and I agreed - it just wasn't me. It wasn't colourful enough, as insane as that sounds for what was meant to be a neutral shawl! Anyway, I was wandering through Abakhan and found some DMC Coloris thread in shade 4523, Vent du Nord, and the browns in the thread fitted with my shawl so well, whilst the blue and purple in the thread added a touch of colour. I worked this into the shawl as surface crochet in 4 stripes, and I'm pleased with the hint of colour it adds to what is still essentially a neutral shawl!

Extendable Octopus Card

I really enjoy designing cute animals for cards! This octopus is no exception, with his 8 legs, his tentacle details, his big cartoon eyes and a cute bow tie - he's all ready for my nephew's Birthday! I added some bubbles in the background in pale blue and pearl off-white - I love my range of circle punches!

You may have noticed the legs extend over the edges of the card? Well, it still fits in a normal square envelope! The legs all fold in to fit inside the envelope, and then all open out for display. I love the idea of octopus legs unfolding out the envelope!

Christmas 5 || Christmas Card

Every year I enjoy making a stack of Christmas cards to send to family, friends, and people who need some smiley post. The stamp I've used is Christmas Snowman by Fizzy Moon, and I found it on eBay. It is simply layered with a bit of sparkle, which is how I like cards to be :)

Freestyle Embroidery - Dog Handkerchief

I haven't done a lot of completely freestyle embroidery before, but I've always wanted to stitch a design on to a handkerchief, and this made the perfect Christmas present for a relative!

I based the design on my in-law's dog, Millie. The stitching took a lot longer than I expected it to though haha, but then it's not surprising given that the white fur alone is created from 5 or 6 different shades of thread! I love the result, but I might need some time before I do any more, certainly with this level of detail!

Crochet Shrug

Earlier this year, my husband brought this dress home from a charity shop, knowing that I could resize it to make it fit. It was just a size too big, so I turned it inside out and simply took about an inch in on each side, around the mid section.

The next problem? I didn't have a single top to go with it! I started scouring the internet for a suitable shrug pattern, and came across this, the Easy Shell Shrug. The very word "easy" filled my heart with glee! And then I got started... Now, I don't mean to be wholly negative about this pattern, but I did have a lot of issues.

I started by making a mockup in some scrap wool, and discovered the number of stitches and sizes were a bit odd, the fit wasn't quite right, and the collar section didn't sit flat for me.

I made some changes, and moved on to my finished piece, using just under three balls of an incredibly lovely black crochet cotton [I'll update soon with the exact one!]

To make the shrug to fit me, approx UK size 12, I began with 21 shells across - this required a base chain of 85:

(21 x 4) + 1

(number of shells needed x 4) + an extra stitch

So following the pattern, I had a base chain of 85, then completed Row 1 to make my 21 shells.

I then repeated Pattern Rows 2 & 1 14 times, ending on the pattern, rather than creating a straight edge. If I added any more rows, I felt like the sleeves became too baggy.

I returned to my base chain, and created 21 shells facing the opposite way - imagine a reflection. This meant that I had a nice shelled edge on the long sides of my rectangle.

Next, I joined the shrug by crocheting/stitching together the outer 3 shells at each end.

At this point, the shrug looked like this, and wasn't quite long enough for me to wear comfortably:

So I started experimenting to add extra length. I tried increasing shells along the bottom edge in a curve, but it wouldn't sit flat. In the end, I crocheted a row of 16 shells [needing a base chain of (16 x 4) + 1 = 65], and crocheted shells back along the base chain, to create the "reflection" again. I stitched this on to the shrug, making sure the deep bit of the shells on the strip sat into the shell recesses of the shrug, and vice versa (the deep bit of the shells on the shrug sat into the recesses of the shells on my strip). I repeated this with a row of 14 shells [needing a base chain of (14 x 4) + 1 = 57], and crocheted shells back along the base chain, to create the "reflection", and stitched it onto the shrug as before, attaching it to the previous strip.

This created a low enough back for me to wear comfortably (see the first picture!) I think if I wanted another shrug I would find a different pattern altogether, but I am happy with it, especially for my first proper piece of crocheted clothing!

With sincere thanks to my husband for the photography!

Woodblock Card "Design K"

When I saw this post over at Yardage Design I realised the limitless opportunites to create custom prints using something I have easy access to - woodblock letters!

I do intend to do some fabric work, but I'm much happier experiementing with colours and designs on card...

I decided to make this initial design into a simple card for a friend's birthday...

I adore the textures created thanks to the combination of the woodblock itself and my slightly messy brushstrokes when applying the paint!

Every single impression is unique, stunning, and they just work together so well! I love that they make a bold, statement print, and it is so versatile, too.

Expect many more to come ;)

A Third Birthday [Classic Mini Canvas]

My youngest nephew turned 3 last week, and when I asked his Mum what his current fascinations were, the answers included the colour blue, and "classic Minis"... I spent a lot of time thinking, and realised I'd never actually given him a painting. I don't have a lot of time or energy atm, so I wanted something that I could make without hours of fiddling, and that would be suitable to grow up with him a bit.

After spending a while finding images and gathering inspiration, I looked at this image and adapted it into a stencil... A few coats of dark blue acrylic paint, and a quick bit of white spray painting later, and it was done!

I also used an (older!) needle on my sewing machine to try a new accenting technique with his Birthday card...

Think I'll be doing this a bit more in future! :)