Off the hook #1 ~ Sock Yarn Mitts

To continue my series of posts sharing my finished items from the past few months, I bring you my finished mitts!  Now, I know what you are thinking, it's summer and, despite the vast quantities of wet stuff that seems to be pouring from the sky here in England, it is still quite warm out there and not 'mitt' weather.  No, I haven't worn them yet (as tempted as I was to show them off to the World) but I am looking forward to being able to slip them on when the weather starts to get a bit chillier.

As you may recall, I received some superb birthday presents way back at the start of June and my best friend, Shinybees (she has a fabulous blog here), bought me the most delicious ball of supertwist sock yarn from Nuturing Fibres in South Africa which had been hand dyed especially for me. I couldn't resist the temptation to use the yarn straight away and started searching for suitable patterns to use.  I chose the Boleyn Mitts by Aoibhe Ni from her collection of mitts and gloves in the eBook Gloves to Love (all the mitts are fabulous in here and I have plans to make more - no cold hands for me!)  They have a stretchy, ribbed cuff and are then finished with lace detail at the top.  You then add ribbon and a button to finish it all off - gorgeous.  

I made the small size, and my ball of sock yarn was 100g.  There is still some yarn left and I now need to decide what to make with it - quite possibly some flowers for brooches and my hair! 

Making for other people




My Folksy Shop Banner!

 

This past week has been extremley busy, mainly with work, so I have devoted this weekend to making and generally being a creative soul!  My main aims this weekend were to:

Flower Brooches

Make some zill muffs for my friend Janice (my first comission!)

Make the red wrap for my Folksy Shop

Make some brooches (as requested by my friend Amanda)

Tidy the craft half-a-room (boo!)

List items on Folksy (about time to!)
Have a fab time at the stitch and bitch (my life is so hard)



Jan's Raspberry Zill Muffs!



I am pleased to say that I have achieved all of the above and without too much nagging needed from the husband regarding the whole tidying situation. 

A lot of my making recently has not been for me but for other people whether they be presents, comissions for friends or for my Folksy Shop. 

I really enjoy making presents and comissioned items for friends.  I get a real buzz from their reaction to having such a thoughtful gift that has obviously been made with love, care and attention.  As has been previously posted on here I made the fantabulous apron for Shinybees birthday and have a hand made present awaiting delivery for Baby Shinybees!  For Mother's Day I made my mother-in-law a crocheted mug hug, that went down really well, and a journal wrap and tub for my Mum which she loved too!



Mug Hug!



Making for my Folksy shop is different, and sometimes more difficult, as there is not a particular person in mind when I'm making.  I always make items that I would like to own as I feel that if they are good enough for me then they are good enough for others!  I have been struggling with what to sell and so have opted to make a few different items to see what sells and have made it clear that I will make custom orders as requested! 



The Red book wrap I made today for sale on my Folksy Shop!



My voyage into online selling for items I have made myself is rather scary but quite exciting at the same time!  I just hope people like what they see!

What's in a name?

I thought it would be really interesting to write a blog about where the name 'The Gingerbread Bunny' came from.  For those of you who don't know, The Gingerbread Bunny is the name of my very new crafty enterprise (Eeeek!)  Inspired by my crafty friend Shinybees (check out her fantastic blog here http://shinybees.wordpress.com/), I decided that I needed a craft name to put on my products.  The difficulty came in choosing a really good name and for this I sought the help of my husband and my mum.  I had a pretty good idea that it was going to have something to do with rabbits  (more on that later) and so the ideas came.  Eventually, I settled on The Gingerbread Bunny, which I love! 
So, why the bunny?  Around 2 years ago we eventually bought our own house.  I have always grown up with pets and, after living in a rented house for a few years where we couldn't have pets, we knew that when we got our own place we were definitley going to have pets.  We couldn't have cats because my husband is allergic and we felt that a dog would have to be alone at home too long during the day.  We had heard of people keeping house rabbits and so, after much research, we contacted the wonderful people at Manchester and Salford RSPCA and became Bunny Parents to rescued rabbits Hansel and Gretel.

Hansel and Gretel chilling on the rug!

 Hansel and Gretel did not had the best start in life and, since they came to live with us 2 years ago, have definitley been spoiled bunnies.  They have given us some trouble, chewing through fridge freezer cables, chewing through the water pipe to the washing machine and flooding our kitchen and other such 'adventures' but, despite this, we still love them to bits!
So, this is where the name came from!  I am in the process of creating cuddly bunny toys with clothes that can be changed and I am hoping to make these to sell with the money generated going to charity to support the rescue and rehoming of bunnies! Here is the one I made today, he needs some clothes and I need to work on my eye and nose and tooth sewing but I am confident that they will be fab!

Prototype bunny made from some old jeans I had. 
He hasn't got any clothes yet though but I am going to make him some!