How to - 5 Great Pom Pom Crafts

I just love Pom Poms! They're easy to make and can be turned into so many things.

All you need to make them is yarn, scissors and some form of Pom Pom maker.  You might want extra bits, such as wiggly eyes, pipe cleaners and felt, to turn them into creatures

As a child, Pom Poms were made using 2 circles of cardboard. Of course, you can still make them this way but I thoroughly recommend the new Pom Pom makers that split in the middle and make Pom Pom making so much easier. They also come in lots of different sizes to. You can buy these from most yarn and craft shops as well as online.

Pom Pom Animals

Pom Poms are great for creating animals. From bunnies to sheep, cats to octopuses, just add some wiggly eyes, bits of felt and pipe cleaners and you've got yourselves a menagerie of creatures! 

Pom Pom Monsters

If animals aren't your thing, why not create some monsters? Let your imagination run wild and create some truly scary monsters. Combine yarn colours, Pom Pom sizes, add lots of eyes in different sizes, create multiple arms with pipe cleaners. Before you know it, monsters will be taking over your home. 

Check out this great tutorial - http://thepurplepug.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/yarn-pom-pom-monster-tutorial.html

Pom Pom Garland

These are just perfect for decorating your room or even the garden. 

Make lots if Pom Poms in different colours. When you tie the middle, leave a long tail to attach them to one long piece of yarn. String them up everywhere and enjoy.

Pom Pom Flowers

Another great decoration for any room.

You'll need lots of Pom Poms, sticks (the ones you use in the garden are great or, if you want a more natural look, why not go out and collect some?) and some glue.  Just blue your Poms Poms to the top of the sticks, leave to dry and then display in a beautiful vase.

Pom Pom Book Marks

You can never gave too many bookmarks and these mark your pages perfectly.

You'll need Pom Poms, lollipop sticks (you can buy these from craft stores and the children's craft section in the supermarket) and glue. Just glue your Pom Poms to the top of the lollipop stick, leave to dry and then enjoy.  You could turn your Pom Poms into animals or monsters! 

How to Finger Crochet

                       

The summer holidays are well under way here in Wigan!

Sadly, the weather isn't what it should be: it's raining, cold and I've had to put a wooly cardigan on as I refuse to turn the heating on in July.

Miserable weather doesn't have to mean miserable children. There are lots of exciting art and craft activities you can do at home that will keep your little ones (and yourself) entertained. 

Finger Crochet

Finger crochet is a fantastic introduction to crochet. Children often find it tricky to co-ordinate the hook and yarn and finger crochet offers them a way try it out.  I taught finger crochet as part of a family learning session last year, and the children lived making great long chains which they then plaited together to make necklaces and scarves they adored wearing. 

All you need to get started is some yarn and your fingers! You want something quite substantial and thick: chunky yarn, a few strands of finer yarn held together or you could even cut up an old tshirt or  fabric to make your own yarn! 

This is a great video, showing you how to finger crochet. I recommend that you just stick with the chaining for children (shown at the start of the video). How to work into the stitches is shown later in the video, great for teenagers and for yourself as I'm sure you'll be joining in to! 

Once you get started, there's no limit to what you can create - from one skein scarves to beautiful rugs -  there'll be no stopping those crocheting fingers.

The Shawl Project - Cherry Pi

As you may recall from my Edinburgh Yarn Festival post, I bought an amazing book - The Shawl Project from those lovely ladies at The Crochet Project, Kat Goldin and Joanne Scrace. The book features 6 gorgeous patterns designed by Joanne, as well as a great section about designing your own shawls.

As Michelle bought the book to, we decided that we would make the shawls together. 

So, on Thursday night, at knit group, we started our first shawl, Cherry Pi.

We picked it because we liked it and it said it was easy (we want to break ourselves in gently!)

I'm using 2, 50g balls of Knit Picks sock yarn in a lovely bright pink with sparkly thread in it. It's been loitering in my stash for ages, a Christmas gift from my husband a few years ago, and needed to be liberated. It's very soft to work with and has great stitch definition. On Thursday night, I completed the first section of the shawl which is worked in trebles and is super pretty on its own.

Michelle is using some utterly gorgeous green sparkle sock yarn by Old Maiden Aunt which she bought at Edinburgh last weekend. I have serious yarn envy over this - it's delicious!

Michelle had nearly completed the first section on Thursday night.

However, she has raced ahead of me yesterday and is now onto the second section of the shawl, worked in clusters. She says the clusters are very pretty but struggled to work out which bit of the cluster stitch was the top on the next row. A bit of playing about and she had sorted it. It's looking very pretty.

I'm hoping to make some progress on mine tonight! Keep checking back for updates! 

Edinburgh Yarn Festival 2015

I'm very lucky to be writing this from my bed with a lovely cup of green tea with lemon and I've just polished off 2 crumpets with jam - yum!

I've had a particularly busy weekend which has been so much fun. Yesterday, as it was Mother's Day, I invited my Mum and our friend Janice round for a vegan afternoon tea. I baked tomato and Rosemary scones (which were just divine) along with other goodies. It was a lovely afternoon.

Anyway, I really want to tell you about Saturday and my trip to Edinburgh Yarn Festival.  

Back in January, I just had a look at train prices and discovered I could travel for £11 each way. Of course, I had to book them at that price and it was a great excuse to meet up with my friend Jo (aka Shinybees) as she now lives way up north in Elgin. My friends, Michelle and Debbie, on hearing the bargain price, decided to come to and so the adventure began.

Our train left Wigan at 7:38am so Mr Bunny dropped us off at Starbucks so we could fuel our journey.  

Here we are waiting at the station with rather excited faces fuelled by caffeine!

The train journey was lovely with beautiful views, lots of crochet and chatter about our day ahead. 

It only takes about 2 1/2 hours to get there so we arrived around 10:15, jumped in a taxi and headed to The Corn Exchange.

Lots of yarn addicts where waiting enthusiastically outside. We joined the queue. It moved quickly. We chatted to the security guard about his need for a woolly head. We got inside. We got our wrist bands. We put our coats in the cloakroom. 

First stop, find Jo, hug, catch up and give her her birthday present, my goddaughters and my nephews (I'm a fake northern Aunty!!!) She was in the podcaster lounge along with Louise from Caithness Craft Collective. We entered the free raffle - and Michelle won a prize! 

Then to do what we came for - shop - Wow! What a gorgeous array of stalls. There was just about everything you could want or need and, as ever, I was completely overwhelmed! Gorgeous hand dyed yarns, fibres, buttons, sheep themed goodies, felted items, books, patterns, project bags, stitch markers,. Phew! We walked around, browsing each stall, making mental notes, fondling yarn and getting generally excited.

The first highlight for me was The Crochet Project. Kat Goldin and Joanne Scrace doing it for the crocheters - because crochet is cool! I bought a copy of their new shawl book, The Shawl Project,  which has 6 beautiful shawl patterns in and a section on how to design your own shawls. I had a fan girl moment with Kat Goldin - awesome crochet designer and author of Slugs in the Regfridgerator blog. Michelle also purchased the book and we are planning what to crochet first. (Reviews to come later)

It was great to finally meet Eden Cottage Yarns. Such beautiful colours and fibres. I completely forgot to go back for some DK yarn in bright pink and green - thank goodness for Internet shopping!!!

I bought a scrumptious skein from Easyknits - I love their colours. I picked something I liked but wouldn't normally go for. I even had it wound at The Teapot Trust stand so it's ready to use.

I also purchased this gorgeous yarn cake to but I can't remember the name of the stall.

Aileen Clark Crafts was there with her beautiful felt items. I couldn't resist these gorgeous felt sheep earrings.

I also bought buttons and a shawl pin, a yarn hair clip and a project bag and 5 mini skeins of yarn - I just couldn't resist the cuteness! 

We had also booked onto a crochet bird brooch workshop with Carol Meldrum. This was lots of fun and I learnt how to make linked stitches - I will be using this lots!

The venue was amazing - plenty of seating for eating your lunch, no queueing for toilets, great food and a bar (we may have partaked of a glass of vino!) Everyone was super friendly and it was great to meet Instagram and Ravelry friends. 

The journey home was easy, with lots of admiring of our purchases. 

On Sunday morning, I wished I was going again - my purse certainly wasnt! 

Maybe next year I'll stay for the weekend! 

Free Your Skeins

I was very honoured to be asked to contribute a pattern pick to Free Your Skeins this week!

Free Your Skeins is the wonderful idea of the ladies behind The Golden Skein Yarn Club. Every day, a different pattern is shared that uses just 1 skein of yarn, inspiring us to set this skeins of yarn free that on,y get sniffed and stroked every so often and then returned to the stash box. Tuesday's are crochet pattern days and I picked the beautiful Consider Owls fingerless mitts. You can read all about them here - https://thegoldenskein.wordpress.com/2015/02/03/freeyourskeins2015-day-34-consider-owls-by-tanja-osswald/

Well hello 2015

Happy New Year!

I saw in the New Year watching Father Ted (I had been watching Gosford Park!), in my PJs crocheting. It was only the fireworks going off that alerted me to the fact it was midnight!

Although I'm not a big fan of New Year, I do like to take the opportunity to see it as a new start. A chance to think about the year ahead and set myself a few goals.

Last year, I said that I wasn't going to buy any craft supplies unless I needed them for my course or my business. I can firmly say that I failed epically in that department! My yarn stash is bigger than ever. Oops. 

I've set myself 3 goals for 2015.

1) To follow a vegan diet

I won't go into the big details here about my reasons for a vegan diet but I've decided that, starting today, there will be no dairy, eggs, honey or utter animal products in my diet. I've been a strict vegetarian for around 13 years now and I've already cut dairy out of my diet as I'm intolerant to it so eggs (and cake!) are the big challenge now. 

2) Journal 52

Last year I started the art journaling challenge, Journal 52. Sadly, life got too busy and I just didn't get round to making my pages. I love art journaling but haven't been making time for it so this year is the year I do! I've allocated a day, Wednesday's, so I can look forward to it each week. Keep an eye out for my posts!

3) And finally, the stash

I looked through my yarn stash the other day and came to the conclusion that I had a lot of yarn and I couldn't get rid of any of it. I'm not saying that I can't buy anything (look where that got me last year) so I'm going to make an effort to liberate what is in there! 

Have you set yourself any goals for 2015? If so, I'd love to hear about them!

Yarn Review - WI Yarn for Hobbycraft

Some time back, I volunteered to review some yarn for Hobbycraft. 

I was very lucky to be chosen as one of three crafty bloggers to receive a parcel of the new range of Women's Institue yarn to work with and review.  

Women's Institute yarns have been designed and made especially for Hobbycraft with 3p from the sale of each ball going to the National Federation of Women's Institutes.  You can buy the yarn online via the Hobbycraft website or from your local store.

In the parcel where 6 balls - 2 balls of Premium Acrylic DK, 2 balls of Soft and Cuddly 4ply and 2 balls of Soft and Silky 4ply. I thought hard about the best way to get a feel for the yarn and finally decided to work up a square motif in each yarn and colour . This allowed me to work with the yarn for a good length of time to be able to evaluate it.

Premium Acrylic Yarn DK - 100g - 282m - £2.20

This is a good quality, acrylic yarn up there with the likes of Sirdar and James C Brett.  It is soft and has a lovely shine to it.

As you can see, the stitch definition is good and, when crocheting with it, it doesn't split like some acrylic yarns do!  

There is a good range of colours available in the range, from bright shades to these more subtle shades.  Overall this is a great yarn that I would consider next time I'm shopping for acrylic yarn!

Soft & Cuddly 4ply - 100% acrylic - 50g - 125m - £3 (usually £3.29) 

This yarn is soooooo soft! Definitely one for babies, children and those of us who love soft yarn.  It is a 4ply that I found worked up as a DK weight yarn.  It has a lovely sheen to it.

It is easy to crochet with, working up smoothly with no splitting.  The stitch definition is excellent.

The range includes bright and pastel solids as well as the pink flecks and blue stripes. The pink flecks was by far my favourite. Although I like the shades of blue in the stripes, the length of the colour changes makes it better suited for longer rows rather than smaller motifs.  

I loved working with thus yarn and intend to use it to crochet some baby garments for a local charity, Pearl & Peggy, that sends gifts of blankets and clothes to premature babies and their families.

Soft & Silky 4ply - 100% microfiber acrylic - 100g - 304 metres - £3

I have never worked with a microfiber yarn before and I wasn't disappointed! Thus is a beautiful yarn to work with a gorgeous sheen to it which reminds me of working cotton but is much softer! 

The stitch definition is excellent and it works up as a 4ply yarn.  The colour range is lovely with some fabulous bright colours.

Overall, I loved this yarn and it has definitely encouraged me to use more microfiber in my crochet.  I can see a beautiful scarf or shawl worked up in this!

Keep checking back to see what becomes of my yarn! 

An Evening with Debbie Bliss

Last night I met knitting royalty!  I was lucky enough to get a ticket for the Debbie Bliss event at The Black Sheep Craft Barn in Culcheth and it turned out to be a fabulous evening.  

Being rather excited, we did arrive early, but this gave us chance to browse the yarn and to check out the beautiful fabrics in the new Fabric Room. 

The evening began with a goody bag from designer yarns, a glass of bubbly (I couldn't refuse) and canapes (or butties and sausage rolls for those of us slightly more common) before being whisked off to the workshop room for a Q and A with the lady herself - Debbie Bliss.

It was really interesting listening to Debbie talk about her career as a knitwear designer and work in producing her line of yarns, what inspires her to design as well as tales of projects that haven't quite gone to plan!  We managed to have a little chat with her (and a piccie) afterwards. 

From left to right:  Fiona, Me, Debbie Bliss, Joanne

During our chat about knitting and my crocheting, she started to talk about her friend who had come with her who was a crocheter and had just started to write a column in Simply Crochet magazine.  At the mention of the name Emma I knew who it was and I was whisked away by Debbie to meet her! It was the wonderful crochet designer Emma Varnam. I have to say that I was a little starstruck about meeting her as I adore her patterns and have made a few of them myself - the Indian Summer Shrug being the first crocheted item of clothing I ever made!  If you aren't familiar with Emma's work then check out her blog.  She regularly has patterns published in Inside Crochet and has written a new How to Crochet Book.  We had a really good talk about crochet, even though I couldn't remember anything I did, she admired my shawl, and photographed it,and she even took my business card (squeal)! 

Emma Varnam and Me

I am truly inspired now to really knuckle down and write up some of the patterns I've designed and get them out there into the crochet world - as I've been threatening for quite some time now.

Well done to The Black Sheep Craft Barn for hosting such a great event .  When is the next one?!

Working in Progress - Poncho

I'm still enjoying working on crochet projects that are all for me.  I finished my Rainbow Jumper last weekend and am really pleased with it (I will post some photos over the weekend) and have moved onto a cosy poncho.

 
The pattern I've chosen is the Intertwined Poncho from Curvy Girl Crochet by Mary Beth Temple.  It combines 2 of my favourite things - half treble stitch and crocheted cables.  I'm making it in Deramores Vintage Chunky yarn in a lovely grey colour (I chose grey as it will go with pretty much everything) and is a really nice yarn to work with.  I'm currently 2/3 of the way through the first panel and I love the way it is looking.

What are you working on at the moment? 

Yarndale 2013

Just over a week ago, me and Mr Bunny headed over the Pennines to the beautiful market town of Skipton for a new yarn festival - Yarndale.
The festival took place over 2 days and we attended on the Sunday. A few friends of mine went on the Saturday which was super busy. The Sunday was much quieter and pleasant (although when we left it was starting to get busier).
There was a great range of stalls, from yarn, notions and buttons to handmade items such as felt bags and delicate shawls.
The whole venue had been decorated beautifully with various knitted and crocheted delights such as bunting and flowers.  I loved the crocheted houses in the knit and natter area, which was a snug place to sit and have a little rest from shopping. If you check out the Attic 24 blog, you can see photos of the amazing yarnbombing which took place in Skipton (we didn't get chance to see this).
Needless to say, I did purchase a few goodies! A bought a gorgeous handmade project bag from Daisy Bun Boo Designs made from beautiful bunny print fabric, some.angora yarn from Bigwigs Angora  and a small skien of Blue Faced Leicester yarn from Laal Bear amongst other things (take a peek at the photo below to see some of the other goodies I bought!)

I met the lovely Knit.Spin.Cake on Daisy Bun Boo Designs  with her equally lovely mum as well as some alpacas and angora bunnies.
I would have liked to have seen more animals and I know, that for some people, parking was an issue. But, for a festival in it's first year, I felt it was well organised, in a brilliant location and offered lots of goodies for lovers of all things woolly. I`ll definitely be back next year!

Words of Wisdom - Yarn

OK, so today's Words of Wisdom aren't quite as sensible or inspiring as usual but they are relevant!

This week is a particularly yarny week.  Today I taught a beginners crochet workshop at The Coven (an amazing vegetarian/vegan/gluten free cafe in Wigan).  It was amazing and very challenging.  I really enjoyed sharing my love of crochet with some awesome ladies who, hopefully, have now gone away hooking away and creating some gorgeousnesses!  They worked really hard and, at times, you could have heard a pin drop!

Friday and Saturday it is Woolfest!  Yay!  If you have never heard of Woolfest then where have you been? It is an annual fibre festival held in Cockermouth in Cumbria.  There is plenty of yarny goodness, demonstrations, talks about sheep, entertainment, ewes milk ice cream and local produce.  You can easily spend all day there.  This year I'm going up on the Friday and from 10am-11am you can find me on the Artybird stall chatting to people about the fabulous courses they provide (if you are there, pop along and say hi!)

Saturday is knitting group, The Coven Stitchers, in The Coven, Wigan and hopefully the sun will shine and we will be able to sit outside and knit and natter.

A very yarny week I'm sure you'll agree. And so here are my Words of Wisdom!

Until next time,

Sarah x

Where do you buy your yarn?

Black Sheep Craft Barn- My Local Yarn Shop!

2 events this week have got me thinking about where I buy my yarn from.  The honest truth is that I buy my yarn from many different places.  The main places I buy my yarn from are Abakhan (a large haberdashery chain here in the UK), Deramores (an online yarn store) and my Local Yarn Shop (LYS) The Black Sheep Craft Barn in Culcheth just down the road from me. Occasionally I may pick the odd ball up from Hobbycraft (a large craft chain in the UK), from independent yarn shops on my travels from small indie dyers such as Laal Bear (who lives just up the road from me) and those vending at festivals such as Woolfest. 

EVENT 1
Yesterday I was doing my shopping in Tesco and was surprised to find them selling knitting needles, crochet hooks, cable needles and yarn.  The yarn was acrylic and, wuite frankly, overpriced at £2 for 50g.  At first I was quite excited and then I started to look at the prices, the range, the quality and I started to think.  Why? Why is Tesco, a supermarket, selling yarn supplies? 

This isn't the first time I've been into a supermarket, or large shop chain, that is selling yarn.  Sainsburys started to sell Red Heart Yarn and needles a while ago (and had quite a good range that, when on offer, was a bargain and yes, I did buy 10 balls of sparkly pink yarn!) B&M Bargains sells 100% wool in amazing colours for £1.99 a ball and I know that other chains sell acrylic yarn and needles to. 

EVENT 2
I read a rather worrying post in a group on Facebook. Someone had started knitting and wanted to know where they could get cheap yarn to knit with because everything they had seen was very expensive.  People then started to make suggestions, charity shops (a great place for yarn I think) and then came the recomendations for the chains that sell a small selection of, what I consider to be, poor quality acrylic yarn at high prices.  Not one person suggested that this person went to their local yarn shop where they would be able to find good quality acrylic yarn at much cheaper prices.


On the one hand, I think it's fabulous that knitting and crochet is so hugely popular at the moment that large chains and supermarkets feel that there is such a demand that they can stock these items.  I think it's wonderful that people can buy yarn and needles and hooks from anywhere and be inspired to knit and crochet.  That's great.

However, what about the 'little man'? What about the small, independent yarn shops and indie spinners and dyers?

Your LYS is a treasure trove of yarny goodness.  They stock at great range of yarns at various prices.  They sells needles, hooks, buttons and other necessary notions.  You can buy your patterns, join their knitting group and ask for advice about your current project from the experienced and passionate staff.  I'm not sure how much knitting and crochet advice you could get from the staff who work in the supermarket (although I'm sure some of them would be able to). At my LYS, you can even get coffee and cake in the new cafe!!!

Events this week have really made me think carefully about where I purchase my yarn from.  I love my LYS (Black Sheep Craft Barn) and would miss it if it wasn't there.  I love being able to see, feel and smell (yes I do smell every yarn I come into contact with!) the yarn before I buy it.  You can't beat buying a skein of hand dyed yarn from an indie dyer online or at a festival and knowing that it was lovingly and carefully dyed to create a unique, one off yarn.  I want to be able to continue to buy my yarn this way.

Laal Bear - One of my favourite  independent dyers!

I don't want to see my LYS go the same way as so many local, independent businesses who have disappeared from the highstreet. I want it to be here for as long as I will need it, and beyond for future yarn addicts!

So I have decided that I am going to purchase my yarn this way in future, from my LYS, from independent yarn shops on my travels and from the indie dyer. 

I am going to support my Local Yarn Store and the indie dyer and I think you should to!

Swap it!

For a while now, the wonderful Lousie from  the Caithness Craft Collective Podcast, has been organising swaps in her Ravelry group.  I have joined in with all of them and have received some awesome items and gifts and got to know some fabulous people a little better.

The most recent swap was a christmas decoration and handmade letter swap.  My lovely swap partner was Twinset Jan from Pennsylvania and it was so lovely to arrive home one night to an amazing parcel full of goodies.  She had needle felted me 2 little bunnies who look exactly like the gingerbread bunnies, Hansel and Gretel!  They now have pride of place on my tree and will most definitley be coming out every year. 

Hansel and Gretel Decorations

Also in the parcel was a lovely letter, some Herseys chocolate (as this is made in the State where she lives), a packet of mocha mix - which is delicious, and a skien of sock yarn which is the most beautiful blue and has cashmere in it making it smoochingly soft and snuggly.

Gorgeous yarn - what will it become?

I can report that she has received her package from me complete with a felt owl and a felt robbin decoration and other lovely goodies for her to enjoy.

Swapping is a great way to receive 'nice' mail and I love spending time choosing things to put in my parcel and making items for it to.

The next swap has already been announced - dishcloth and recipe swap with an 'unwanted' christmas gift that you can pass on to a loving home.  If you fancy getting involved, pop over to Ravelry and join the Caithness Craft Collective Group.

Happy 'belated' Christmas Everyone!

It has been quite some time since I last posted - you'll be pleased to know that one of my New Year's Resolutions is to make my blogging more regular but I'll save that for a future post!

Christmas has been and gone and I hope yours was filled with crafty gifts, fun and love.  I had a lovely Christmas spent with Mr Bunny and Grandma Bunny (my Mum - she considers herself the creatures Grandma!!).  I received some lovely handmade goodies including a hand made Gingerbread Bunny as a Secret Santa gift and some crochet mitts and bracelet from my mum.  Mr Bunny bought me Kirsties Vintage Home (yay) and some pink sparkly yarn, a needle case and a whole box of goddies from Felted Fancies Supplies full of ribbon and buttons. 

I handmade a few goodies this year, although not as many as last year.  Inspired by Attic 24 and Julia Crossland, I crocheted a mini wreath for my aunty to go in her new house.  I loved making it and the colours look so cool with all the 'bits'. I'm planning on making one for my house to that can stay up all year round. 

Crochet Wreath

I knitted - yes knitted - a scarf for my goddaughter in some amazing pom-pom yarn I found and felted a knitting needle roll for my best friend, Shinybees. 

'Baaaa'

Who doesn't want a scarf covered in pom poms??

I made fruit and nut cupcakes for my brother and sister in-laws, decorated with marzipan, icing and some little sugar decorations.  They were a great gift to make and looked really cool all boxed up and wrapped with ribbon.

No event is complete without cake

I also gifted quite a few crafty supplies to inspire and get more people crafting - yarn and knitting needles for my mum and wooden spoon people kits for the children.

All in all, my Christmas has been lovely and crafty.  How crafty was yours? What was your favourite gift?

Life is like a box of chocolates

Receiving an unexpected gift is amazing. Receiving an unexpected skein of beautiful hand-dyed Nurturing Fibres yarn all the way from South Africa is just awesome!

A good few months ago, I arrived home from work to find a package waiting from me.  I saw the South Africa postmark and Nurturing Fibres label and thought my friend, Jo (aka Shinybees) had sent me a gift. I was correct but my gift yarn was so much more then that.

I was the lucky recipient of a 'me please' skein called 'Box of Chocolates' which the lovely Carle had dyed for her birthday. These skeins were offered to people who had to gift them to someone else (in this case me!)

The gift yarn was accompanied by a letter to explain why the yarn was for you and my letter was truly moving and did, in fact, make me cry.
A few weeks ago, I turned this extra special skein into a shawl! The pattern I used was the Chakra Neckercheif from a past issue of Inside Crochet magazine which worked perfectly to show off all the different colours.  I also added added the bead edging using larger beads which worked really well.

My shawl is, quite possibly, the most important item I've ever made. It is filled with love and hope and lots of happy memories.

The Wool Boat!

Sunday mornings generally means yoga! If I'm not off on my felting course or away, I can be found in the quaint village of Parbold relaxing in a yoga class before returning home to partake of a little crafting.

Today was different.

As usual I left the WI hall, heading back to my car, when a poster caught my eye. A poster for the wool boat! The Wool Boat is a barge which sells wool and other knitted goodies. During the winter months, it moors up in Burscough, heading up to Parbold once a month. Over summer, it travels along the waterways of England providing yarn addicts with a little treat.

Of course, I headed there straight away, with Mum in tow, and yes we did buy yarn. Eventhough it is a smallish barge, it carries a good range of yarns: acrylic, wool, bamboo and cotton can be found aswell as buttons, books, hooks, needles and knitted items. The owners are super friendly and we had a lovely chat about my need to sniff yarn before I buy it! I bought a ball of very bright variegated yarn and some subtle variegated pink yarn.

If you ever get chance, it is well worth a visit, even if it is just for the novelty value of buying yarn on a barge!!

Busy, Busy, Busy!



Look what I've been up to - Oswald the Owl

As the title suggests, I've been rather busy lately. My creative mojo is most defintley present and my head is full of crafty ideas for The Gingerbread Bunny. 

I have been planning my newest venture, Crafty Parties for children and workshops for both children and adults and am currently checking out venues to hold these in.  I am really excited about these as teaching is what I do.  I love sharing my knowledge and passion with others and empowering people to be able to do it for themselves.  I am hoping to hold my first workshop before the end of the year and then, come the new year, I can really get stuck into them.

I have also been working on some funky applique designs.  This all came about because I wanted a t-shirt with a russian doll on and I couldn't find one anywhere. So, I decided to have a go at making one.  I bought a vest and used the internet to find a suitable template and then set about using up scraps of fabric in my stash, some bondaweb, embroidery thread, felt and Suzie the sewing machine to put it all together.  I really enjoyed making it and loved the finished product.  My Mum thought I'd bought it! From this, ideas came into my head for other designs, including ones for bellydancers (my alter ego!) and it has taken off from there.  I have developed 4 designs so far, Rita the Russian Doll, Oswald the Owl, Fatima and Tania the Tribal Bellydance Doll.  There are plans in process for a Gothic Doll, a lotus flower and a yarn themed design.  So far, I am creating vests, tshirts and tote bags but again can see project bags for knitters and crocheters, children's tshirts and even babygrows in my applique future - if it stands still, it is in danger of being appliqued!

Rita the Russian Doll

I am still crocheting as well and have just completed a custom shrug for my aunty to wear to a wedding.  I used some lovely orange Sublime bamboo and pearls yarn which is so soft and has a beautiful sheen to it - ideal for a wedding!  The design was very simple and, to add a bit of something special, I bought 2 beautiful bamboo buttons from the Textile Garden which had branches and orange flowers painted on - they really finished it off.  I would highly recommend the Textile Garden for buttons, shawl pins, clasps and even funky ribbon. 

The new term brings lots of new courses to.  At the end of September I am starting a City and Guilds Felting Course with Artybird in Carnforth.  It involves me attending 1 weekend a month for around a year and I am so excited about it.  I have always wanted to learn how to felt and this is a great course.  At Woolfest examples of work and projects were out to look at and, I have to say, it was amazing.  I only hope my work is as good.

I am also hoping to do a 6 week dressmaking course starting in November.  My aim is to be able to make an A-line skirt out of the beautiful Amy Butler fabric I bought in the sale from John Lewis last month.  I am far to scared to take the scissors to it at the moment so this should, hoepfully, help me turn it into something I can wear.

And finally, at the end of November I am returning to The Tribal Sleepover (a bellydance event in Huddersfield) to teach 2 crafty workshops in Fabric Flowers and Art Journaling.  I have some exciting ideas planned and I am really looking forward to sharing my love of craft with others.

To add to all this, the full time day job has returned.  The summer holidays are officially over and my crafting has to fit in with my job as a primary school teacher.  For the time being, crafting is limited to evenings and weekends although change is on the horizon and 2013 is definitley bringing new starts and challenges for myself.  Watch this space!

Wonderwool 2012

It's been a whole since I blogged, so I thought I'd better get a post up before you all thought I'd disappeared! (life just keeps getting in the way!)

Last weekend I found the time to head down to Wonderwool in Wales. As I can't attend Woolfest this year (I'm away on a residential with my class), I needed to get my wool fix. I had even co-erced Mr Bunny to come with me! Plans were nearly scuppered by a very poorly guinea pig with an aggressive eye infection who needed feeding, by syringe, every few hours but my Mum came to the rescue and piggy sat for us.

Not being put off by the weather (which was truly terrible) we headed off early on Sunday morning and arrived just after 10.30am. Parking was easy and there was even a mini-bus shuttle up to the halls for the price of 30p (all money going to the Welsh Air Ambulance). We, however, thought it was a good idea to walk to the halls in the wind and rain. Needless to say, when we got to the halls we where freezing cold and in need of hot chocolate to defrost us!

The venue was huge and packed with traders and guilds. Just like Woolfest, I was totally overwhelmed by the choice of yarn and buttons and notions! We headed over to Toft Alpaca first to see the alpacas and proceeded to look at animals for the first half an hour or so!

We must have walked around 3 times before I actually bought anything as I just couldn't choose, despite being armed with a list! In the end, I bought some purple sparkly sock yarn from Laal Bear to make a shawl and a large button and alpaca pom pom (more a pet really) from Toft Alpaca. In all honesty, I could have spent a fortune!

Mr Bunny enjoyed himself, and I suspect he has bought me some birthday presents as he kept wandering off (he needs to learn that telling me to stay in one place just doesn't work, I'm like a magpie and if I see sparkle I'm off!). He loved the animals and had a go at weaving on a loom. He also bought a small amount of fleece so he can have a go at carding and spinning on my drop spindle!

Wonderwool isn't just about the wool. There are lots of other stalls selling textiles, buttons and lots if food! The wool schools they offer look fab and there are talks throughout the weekend. It is very well organised and there are plenty of people on hand to direct you and offer help. It is definitely worth a visit!

Crafty Bath!

Last week saw the anniversary of 4 years of wedded bliss to Mr Bunny.  We chose to celebrate this momentous occasion with a few days away in a city we have been desperate to visit for quite some time.  Bath. 
Bath is famous for it's impressive Georgian architecture, Roman Baths and as home to Jane Austen.  We were not disappointed with our visit and spent hours wandering around admiring The Crescent visiting the Abbey and admiring the art work in The Victoria Art Gallery.  There was even time for a sneakily large piece of cake and a pot of Breakfast tea! 

The Crescent

However, behind the tourist attractions of Bath you will find an array of craft, wool, art and vintage shops awaiting us crafty types.  Being very organised, I had already made a comprehensive list of places I wished to visit so that I didn't miss out! 

First stop was The Makery, a cute little sewing shop nestled down an alley in the middle of the city.  I first became aware of The Makery through Mollie Makes magazine and, as well as the shop, they also have a separte premises where the majority of their workshops are held.  Although small, the shop sells a good selection of fabric and other bits 'n' bats including stamps and thread.  I purchased 2 fat quarters of fabric, a hair slide ready to be decorated (I think I'm going to use buttons), a magnetic bag clasp and a wooden bobbin purely because I liked it. 

The Makery

Wool is, as the name suggests, a yarn shop.  It is situated in the middle of the city and stocks a wide range of yarns in all weights.  I spotted popular brands such as Rowan and Debbie Bliss as well as some less well known ones.  They also stock needles, hooks and some very pretty stitch markers.  There was a good selection of patterns and books with a comfy couch (which was wearing a rather pretty granny square throw) on which to sit and peruse these.  Although I didn't buy anything from here, I was getting rather tired by this point in the day, the lady in the shop was really friendly and helpful and was assissting some of the locals.

Wool

The final crafty attraction, which was also my favourite, was my trip to Great British Yarns (GBY).  GBY can be found on a little industrial estate just off the A4 as you head towards Bristol.  It's location means that parking is really easy and, as I did, men can be left in the car safely as long as you leave the window open for them!  GBY is mainly an internet based yarn store however, a trip to the showroom is a must if you are ever in the area!  The properitor of the shop (who I think is called Sharon but don't quote me on that!) is exceptionally friendly and explained really clearly how the showroom works - basically she has one of each yarn in each colour on display and then you just ask for the quantities and she goes and gets it for you!  They stock a great range of yarn - Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Jamieson Shetland, some King Cole and Knit Picks.  I had gone for the Knit Picks, which is amazing! Everything is organised really well with clear prices.  They also stock a good selection of patterns and books and KnitPro hooks and needles (yes I did buy a new hook).  I had a lovely natter whilst I was paying and shopping at GBY was such a great experience.  It is well worth checking out the online shop if you can't get to the showroom.


My stash from Great British Yarns

Bath is a beautiful and amazing city to visit both for it's traditional tourist attractions as well as it's crafty ones!  It is definitley a city I will be visiting again.