Marrakech Cushion

Hi there!
I thought I'd show you something that I've been making over the last week or so, it's a mandela that is going to become a cushion. :)   The pattern is called Marrakech Cushion by Sandra Eng , I had been admiring Sandra's cushion on Instagram ( she is @mobiusgirl over there) , so was very happy when she released the pattern!!

Here is the front all finished, the top photo was when I was about half way through, you can see that the finished front has grown quite a bit!  I used Cascade Ultra Pima cotton for this, I have gone to my favourite colours for this one, it just seems to happen that way!!  When I've finished the back and sewn it together I'll pop a post up to show you.  I'm hoping to make a little stack of these cushions in different colours, I think they will look cute in the shop!

I have actually been doing a lot of crochet recently, so will pop up some of my recent makes over the next few days until I have caught up with everything from my big bloggy break!

Have a great day!

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Big Heart Blanket #2

Hello everyone! 

It feels like ages since I've shown what I've been crocheting, probably because I've been working on a big blanket for a lovely customer and it felts like I'd bore you showing the same work all the time. :)

Anyway, I have finally finished this Big Heart blanket and it is happily living in it's new home! 

I thought I'd show you some photos of the process along the way and how it turned out. ( Sorry if you've seen most of these on Instagram!) 

I am really happy with this finished blanket, it is bright and colourful and very hearty! I still love tapestry crochet so much, making these blankets is fun! 

....I made 12 heart strips to make this blanket......

.......sewing up the strips......

.... still sewing up the strips........

....it is a nice wide blanket to go across the end of a queen size bed......

....colour overload!! The clash of patterns! ......

So that is the end of another big project, it's time to think about what to make next!

So many possibilities!  I think I might work on a few small quick things for a while, big projects can take over your life!! 

Have great day you guys! 

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Washer week....

Hello there!  

I hope you all had a lovely weekend, it was freezing here, typical Melbourne winter really!  

The light has been very dull for taking photos, and without photos I don't really have anything to blog about!  

But I thought I'd show you what I've been up to recently anyway, bad light and all. 

I have been trying a new way of organising myself to make things for the market season that starts in a couple of months.  I always think I'll make heaps of stock in the off season and have lovely full stalls for the market, but what usually happens is that I don't do much for most of the time and then am frantic in the last 3 weeks!  So this year I am trying to make something different each week until the market season begins, last week was washcloth week, and this week is beanie week, so I'll see how many beanies I can make in 7 days.  

These photos are of the washcloths that I have made so far, they still need edges, but at least it is a start!  There are so many lovely colour combinations to do, I am going to schedule another washer week in a month or so. 

I have also been busy in the shop, I've had lots of lovely new yarns coming in, well four new ones anyway!  Who would have thought you could spend so much time phaffing around with wool! :)

So lots of photos to take and uploading to do, I'm hoping for a brighter day tomorrow!  

Oh and I have Clover hooks for sale now too, and pompom makers!! Yay! 

 So a big day of updating my shop tomorrow! 

So that's a bit of what I've been doing, what have you been up to recently? 

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Back in the swing of things.....

Hello there!  

Well, 2015 is over a week old already and this is my first post for the year, my 'post more regularly' resolution is kind of out the door before we even begin the year! :)

It has been hard to get out of holiday mode if I am honest, I love the slow mornings and unplanned days of holidays, with no real routines and lots of chilling out at the beach or daytime crochet without the guilt trip.  January is often not a very productive month around here, February and the return to 'normal' life seems to arrive very quickly! 

This year I am trying to be productive and stay in that 'holiday feeling' zone.  I have a couple of markets in January and not much to sell, so really need to get cracking on some stock!!

And I have bitten the bullet and made a schedule for crochet classes, workshops and crafternoons for the first few months of the year, starting this weekend!  Eek!

(so if anyone is around the Crib Point/Mornington Peninsula area and would like to join us, feel free to get in touch!  More info in the last photo, sorry about the fuzzy quality of the image!)  

This is a new project I am starting, my Summer Hearts blanket, so far it is turning out how I imagined, so that is a win.  Hoping to finish this one quite quickly, I am going to try and make more blankets this year.  I was quite pleased with making 9 blankets last year, and then I saw a post by the fabulous Patchwork Heart showing the 43!!!! blankets she made last year, how is that for productive! Amazing amount of work, and she works full-time as well!  I think I will take a small step towards this level of productivity and aim for 12-15 blankets this year, I hope that is doable for me!  :)

( My problem is that I get side tracked, spending too much time at the beach and in the garden, who could resist when this lovely spot is 5 minutes away! ;)  )

Somers beach yesterday. Beautiful!

....this is the little schedule I made for my crochet classes, I'm hoping there will be someone local on the Mornington Peninsula interested in joining me! :)   

I am also doing something very exciting for my little yarn shop, I feel that I have out grown the room I have been using for my stock, it is far to crowded and I can't really expand my range until I address the space issue.  So we are creating a proper yarn studio and workshop space just for me!!  

We have a large garage attached to our house that has been place where all our junk ends up.  We are having a huge clean out and then I am turning most of it into a gorgeous studio for all my lovely yarn, and there will be plenty of space for more yarn and for classes too! Yay yay!!  

It should be a win win situation, as the house will be much tidier and easier to look after without all my crafty things spread throughout the place. 

So that has also been keeping me busy, I really want to have this finished in a month or so. 

Ok, I better stop there, starting to ramble a bit too much I think, I had so much to catch up! 

I hope you are enjoying your January and getting lots of hooky time too! 

Talk soon, I think I will be starting my Friday Finds for 2015 tomorrow, so I will be back with that. :)

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Crochet Christmas Baubles. Love.

Hello!  How is you week going?  

Are you getting super busy yet?

The silly season has definitely arrived at our house, I seem to have lost a few days last week!

I have been so busy getting orders completed and trying to have enough stock for the Emu Plains Market on Saturday, my house looks like a dump, there are bits of yarn all per the place, it has certainly been a bit cray-cray round here! 

  

We also had our big extended family Christmas party on Sunday for my side of our family,  it was great to catch up with all my cousins and aunts and uncles, I love being part of a big family, it is always a really good day, and is fascinating to see the next generation coming along and getting so big!!  

So Sunday was great day, then Monday was a shocking day for the country.

 What an unsettling week so far, with the terrible siege in Sydney leaving the whole country feeling stunned and so sad, it's hard to believe something like the has happened in Australia, but I have just been watching the news and it is heartening to see how everybody is coming together to support one and other, the aftermath seems to be bringing out the best in people, that is something to hold onto I think.  Love to all of Sydney. xxx

Anyway, this is not supposed to be a sad space, so  back to the hooky stuff.  

Here's something to cheer you up, in a very colourful, fluffy, frivolous way!

I have been crocheting like a mad woman, currently I am making some crochet baubles.  I have seen some lovely looking baubles around the internet recently, so decided to have a go at my own version, and this is what I have come up with.  

I have to say I am rather pleased with how they are turning out.  They are so fun to make! 

As usual, I have gone over the top with colour, the colours of the Cascade Ultra Pima cotton really look fantastic together, and I have got a few favourite colour combos going that are working well I think.

I am also pretty happy with my little pattern, a bit of trial and error, but they are fitting nicely and I love all the colour changes.  Might try and write it down as some stage.  I am hoping to have about 20 of these ready to sell at the market, but I really won't mind if I bring them home again, they can certainly brighten up my pompom tree!

So here are a few extra photos, just because I thought they looked cheerful! :)

So, I am right in the middle of decoration making and have found some lovely tutorials and patterns around the traps at this time of year.

Here are a few links for other decorations to hook up if you have a few spare moments.

* Crochet baubles at The Patchwork Heart gorgeous!

* More crochet baubles from Handmade and Home lovely!

* Cute Christmas Trees from Poppy and Bliss over on My Poppet 

* more Christmas Trees from The Royal Sisters (great for buntings or garlands)

Are you making any decorations for your tree?

Have you had a go at crochet baubles yet?

Have a great day! 

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(Edited 10/11/16  it has taken a couple of years,but I have finally written up my pattern for these Christmas Baubles,  Yay!  It is in my Ravelry shop over here if you'd like to take a look! :) )

Puffy Flower Decoration Tutorial

Hello!

It's been a while since I shared a pattern with you lovely readers, so I thought it was about time to post a tutorial, there is still time to make a few of these before Christmas.  I thought you might like to make a Puffy Flower decoration, I have been making these recently and they are fun and not too difficult, I think they look pretty dangling around the place, or they make nice little gifts.

 I think it is nice to make a decoration or two each year to add to the collection, and I try and come up with a new idea each year, this is what I have been making this year!  

So I have made a little tutorial for you if you would like to have a go. This is a little thank you to all the people who visit here and my shop and leave lovely comments, thank you for your support and kind words, I really appreciate them! 

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Puffy Flower Decoration

Ok, so you will need small amounts of cotton yarn in different colours, I used 8ply and a 3.5mm hook for this example, but you could use what ever you have, just use a hook that is one size smaller than recommended.  This tutorial uses US terminology.

( Throughout this pattern the initial chains made at the start of each round to get to the stitch height do not count as a stitch unless otherwise stated)

To begin chain 4 and join with a slst to form circle.

Round 1: Ch3, make 12 dc into circle, join with slst to 1st dc (not top of 3ch)  (12 st) Fasten off.

Round 2 : Join second colour, Ch3, create puffy petal - make 4 tr into same st as chains, leaving the last loop of each stitch on the hook.....

......so it looks like this, with 5 loops on hook...... ( sorry about the sideways photo, it refused to be edited!)

.....then make the last yarn over through all 5 loops, creating a puffy cluster........

.....into the next st make 1dc and a puffy petal in the same way......

Continue making a dc and a petal into each stitch until you have 12 petals made.  In this round only, join with slst to third ch of starting chain. Fasten off. (24st)

It should look like this.

Round 3: Join 3rd colour to stitch at top of any puffy petal, chain1, make 2sc into same stitch, then 1sc into next st (top of dc of previous round).  

Continue making 2sc in top of petal, and 1sc in top of dc, 12 times in total till you are back to the start, join with slst to 1st sc. (36 st)

 Round 4 : Chain 1, make 2sc in same stitch, then 1sc in next 5 stitches, *then 2sc in next stitch, then 1sc in next 5 stitches* , repeat from * to * all around , join with a slst to 1st sc. ( 42st)  Fasten off.

This makes one puffy flower circle.

Make a second puffy flower circle the same way.

Take both circles and place wrong sides together. 

Working through the back loops only of each circle, join yarn and chain 1, make 1sc in each pair of back loops, with a 4 chain picot every 6th stitch if you wish, or you could just leave the join a plain circle of sc..........

......continue around the circle until you get back to the start, join with a slst to 1st sc.  Chain 45  and join with slst to 1st chain to create a hanging loop. Fasten off.

Use a needle to weave in your end securely.

And there you have it, one finished decoration! Yay! 

I hope these instructions make sense, if you have a problem, I'll try and help.

Now you can go and play with colour combinations and make lots of dangling goodness for your holidays! I hope these little things help make your Christmas very merry! 

Have a lovely crafty day! 

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Handmade Christmas Making......

Hello, how are you going today? 

I am having a good day, nothing special, just food shopping and general housey things, but I like days like this.

Firstly, I'd like to thank you for the lovely comments on my last post and your ideas for reinvigorating   bloggy energy.  I think I will just continue to blog when I can and not worry too much if it's not everyday, I think I am too casual for anything like a formal schedule, so this blog is just going to go with the flow, the same approach I take to most aspects of my life.  Thank you all for your continued interest in Little Woollie, I have a few new ideas to try out over the next few months so I'll see how that goes. :)

Well, suddenly Christmas doesn't seem that far away, (eek, nearly November!) and once again I am finding myself tossing up how much of a handmade Christmas I'll be able to achieve.  I'd love to make some of the gifts for my family this year, I don't think I'll worry to much about all the boys I have to buy for, they are not really into handmade stuff, but I could do some baking for them, they do love a homemade bikkie or 2.

I am thinking that cute crochet washers and a nice piece of soap would be a nice little gift for my friends, I like making the washers so they should be fun to make.

I am doing a couple of markets between now and Christmas, so I am also trying to make some things that would be good presents for people to buy, maybe for teachers or other people we get little gifts for at this time of year.

So I have been making these little milk jar covers in multicoloured stripes, I think they look so cute in a group!  These jars make good small vases and you could pick a posy of flowers and give a cute jar of flowers to your favourite teacher, or you could stick a nice candle in one for a candleholder, or you could fill it with some bright coloured fine liners for a cute pen holder.......or you could fill a shadow box with different patterned one for a very cute wall display!  

These small milk bottles can be picked up cheaply from 2 dollar shops, or you could keep your eyes open for interesting shaped bottle and recycle bottles that are finished in the kitchen, I think a little collection of different shaped and sized bottles with there cute colourful cover would be a lovely present! Cute and thrifty, gotta love that!

.....I just had to pick a few ranunculus from the garden and colour match them to their vase....

.....and a couple more gratuitous flower shots, just because I can't get enough of their gorgeous colours.........

So, are you making any presents this year?  

I am going to make a few decorations too.

Have you been following the Handmade Christmas posts over at One Crafty Mumma?  Mel is one organised girl!  She has lots of ideas and links for handmade things this year, I am getting on board a little late, but there is still lots of time to get making!

During the week I will have a look around the internet and see what Christmas decorations I can find and share with you all next week.

Have you got any handmade ideas for Christmas this year, any secret crafty plans?

Have a great day!