flock of robins

It's nearly Christmas.  There, I've said it.  I love Christmas, yet the thought of it so early in the year makes me feel a bit ill.  Christmas shouldn't start until December.  Says the girl who's been making Christmas decorations in November.  Though I have an excuse, I've got a craft fair at the beginning of December and need some stock.

Made from felt, hand sewn and lightly padded.  

This one looks a bit sad.  Poor robin.  Does 4 constitute a flock?

top hat

So I made a top hat.  Not the kind of thing you hear everyday.  It was another prop for my friend's baby photo business (which you can see here if you're interested), but it's the last one for the time being before you fall asleep.

Made from black felt, it was a bit of a feat of engineering.  I didn't even look to see if I could fnd a tutorial as I knew I wouldn't!  The brim is interfaced, as is the crown, but the tubey-bit isn't.  It does seem to stand up OK though.

I called Mr Hefalump into service again.  He didn't mind modelling for me whilst he sorted my pins into colour groups.  I think the hat makes him look more dignified than the bonnets I usually make him model.

I made it to fit my friend's daughter, I took it over to her and it's slightly too large, but that actually makes it even more adorable!

Here's the inside view.  It's not the neatest stitching on earth (I challenge you to make a neatly-stitched top hat!), but it looks fine from the outside.

Job done!

chain maille

I've been chain mailling again.  Same pattern as I've done in the past here, here and here.  I know, I need to branch out!

This silver one was made for a lovely friend/stalker for her birthday. She's 52 now, don't let her try to tell you otherwise.

The photo above shows the new bracelet (on top) with my bracelet that I've been wearing a lot.  See the difference?  I must have very grimy skin.

While I had the Gizmo out, I thought I might as well whip up a red one for me.  Such a shame I don't have any matching lobster clasps.

booties

Having finished all the baby photo prop stuff I wanted to make (with the exception of one item as I hadn't figured out how to make it yet), sitting on the sofa watching TV, I needed something to do.

Something made me reach for the book Cute and Easy Crochet by Nicky Trench and when I came to the pattern for the booties, I knew I'd found the perfect quick project.

They're made with DK yarn, I had bought the green one recently though I can't remember what for.  The blue in the middle is from a never-ending ball of my favourite Sublime merino and the purple is the left-overs of some soft recycled yarn.  I think it's called Calico though I don't know who made it.

I did struggle putting the fronts together and after repicking twice, I amended the pattern to suit me personally better.  It was an excellent pattern, I think sometimes you need to find your own method though.

The purple tops are supposed to be picot stitches and I do think something was missing from the instructions here.  I can't seem to do picots but I'm sure they can't be THAT hard.

How cute are the soles!  I have no idea what I'm going to do with these.  I suppose they'll sit in my craft room until someone has a baby.  But only if they agree to lend me the baby for some head measurements.

In Rememberance

Last year's poppy was looking a bit worse for wear, so it was time for a new one. Just in time Kandipandi published a tutorial for a crochet poppy so I set to.

It didn't take long to make at all.  It's made from DK yarn with the stamens embroidered in black stranded cotton and a button in the centre.

I neated up the back with a couple of circles of felt.  Thanks for the pattern Lisa.  And yes, I did make a donation to the Poppy Appeal, I'd just rather not wear those paper poppies that fall off and are lost after about 10 minutes!

More bum coverings.

Still on a newborn photo prop kick!  I have seen really cute ruffle bum nappy covers around, but no tutorials other than those using a special ruffle fabric. I decided to wing it.  I started off with this tutorial at Made which is fabulous.  I thought I knew what I was doing with the ruffles but it all ended up a tangled mess with ruffles stuck in leg seams and stitches everywhere.  I started again, first with a simple cover, no ruffles.

Perfect for a little boy.  Then, with a better idea of how it all worked, I moved on to the ruffle one.

This is the front, it looks very odd! The fabric was from a craft fair, perhaps at the NEC and was a very bad choice as those little white flowers melt when you iron them.  Lesson learned.

Here is the back, showing the three rows of ruffles.  You can't really make it out, can you?  I need a model... Mr Hefalump!

Poor Mr Hefalump, no wonder he looks so sad.  This does show the finished effect better though!

And it co-ordinates with his blanket!  I'm sorry Mr Hefalump.  I won't ask you to model baby stuff again (I will). 

Oh, and I won an award!  I came second in Homecrafts Blog Awards.  Go check me out and the other winners.

Happy birthday mum