Stitched 1st Birthday Card

Such a simple design - a felt "1" stitched on to fabric wrapped card, attached to a card base... But it is textural, with strong shapes and colours. I love it!

Crochet Giraffe

I think anyone who has been in the blogging world of crochet over the last 18 months has seen this giraffe pattern... Well, I too fell in love with it, and knew it would be great for my nephew's 1st Birthday :)

I often try to stay away from the pink for girls and blue for boys, and focus on fun, bright colours. I was pulled towards this colour combination, a bit wary of people's opinions... But my husband pointed out that they were actually quite appropriate for a giraffe! I just had my heart set on orange and grey.

I love how the colours worked out in the end. In fact, I just love this little guy! The temptation to keep him for myself has been strong ;) I added some cream stripes randomly into the orange and gry, and I think it breaks it up and adds some character.

I also gave him a plaited tail - I thought he needed it! When referencing this pattern I couldn't find many views of the back of him, or what he looks like stood up, so I've included these shots below:

Crochet Owl

I'm not sure when I came across the Jip the Owl pattern originally, but I found it in my crochet patterns folder on my desktop recently, and couldn't resist making it as a little gift for a friend.

Did I mention I am currently obsessed with pairing grey with bright colours? Had you guessed?!

The stitching on the owl's tummy is done with embroidery floss and a strand of sparkly thread.

The legs have pipecleaners in them to make him a bit more poseable, and the tale acts as his support.

I actually made the wings a little bigger than the pattern. The entire owl is made in double knitting wool, and I just felt the original wings were a bit too small proportionally.

 

I think he's a fine feathered friend!

Crochet Companion Cube from Portal

My husband is a fan of the video game Portal. Well, I suppose we both are really - on our wedding day we cut our cake to Still Alive! I think the idea of creating a large soft companion cube came from my husband, but it's been in progress for such a long time I can't even remember!

You can grasp an idea of the size of this companion cube from the 30cm ruler in the top photo. It is filled with two layers of chunky foam, which I think came from an old sofa cushion someone was getting rid of on Freegle!

My husband loves it, and I'm pleased with how it came out. If I was to make another one the major change would be the size of the corner pieces, as they aren't big enough to create the outer circular effect on each side, around the inner circle. But considering I made the pattern up as I went along I'm  considering it a triumph!