Crochet bunny time!

       Hello my yarny friends,  I hope you are all going ok and staying healthy, I don't know what it's like where you are, but there is a lot of Covid around here, so many people have had it,  I feel like I'm just waiting my turn. 

Anyway, it's nearly Easter and this is the time of year that I seem to like to crochet bunnies.  I always think I'll have plenty of time to hook up a big bunch of bunnies, but time gets away from me.

So here are some bunnies that I made over the weekend, I'm pretty pleased with this little family, I used Rauma Garn Puno for the bigger bunnies and it was a dream to crochet with and has given them a cute fuzzy fabric. It's a blown type yarn where the fibres are blown into a tiny tube so its very light and airy.  

You can of course make these with any yarn you like, I've made tiny ones in 2ply and 4ply in the past and once a giant 20ply bunny which was fun.  Just adjust your hook size for the yarn weight you are using, I always go down a few sizes so the fabric is nice and firm and the stuffing doesn't show through.

I've popped a link to the pattern if you'd like to give it a try.

  find pattern over here

You can also find it on on my Ravelry page Julie Harrison Designs, I have updated the pattern slightly and also made it available free as a little thank you gift to all my yarny peeps.  I hope you have fun with it!

Little Woollie Rabbits!

Hello everyone!
I hope you're having a good week, it's a beautiful day here and I'm making bunnies!  :)
I have had so much going on recently, (I've been trying to push myself out of my comfort zone and run more classes and workshops) it seems like my brain is always buzzing and full!
Organisation is not my strong suit, (as my sporadic posting over here shows! ) so I do find it quite a challenge to get everything ready for workshops.  I'm slowly getting slightly more comfortable with running workshops, I find if I keep my intro very short and we just get on with the making, I can enjoy the afternoon and just talk with people one on one. 
Anyhoo, that's just what  I've found seems to work well. :)

But I digress!  I was going to talk about this little bunny rabbit I've made for an amigurumi workshop on the weekend.  The girls all seemed to enjoy making him, and we ironed out a few pattern faults,  (thank you ladies!!) so I thought I would pop the pattern up for sale on my Ravelry pattern page for anyone who would like to make one too! Also, I think he would be a great little Easter bunny gift !

I made him out of Scheepjes Cahlista cotton, which is 10ply, and used a 3.5mm hook, so it's a nice tight fabric.  You could use an 8ply cotton with a 3mm or 2.5mm hook as well, and I have also made a small bunny with 4ply wool and a 2mm hook.  It is great for using up small amounts of yarn, so start stash busting!!

These bunnies don't take too long to make, you could probably whip one up in a couple of nights, so I think a whole bunny family is very doable. :)  The little satchel bag is also the perfect size for a mini chocolate egg.  I think I might make a couple of these for my nephews for Easter, I do have a lot of colour combos to try out!

Hope you all have a great day wherever you are in the world, and that you are getting some fun crochet time !  xxxxxxxx

PS I have a lot of crochet things on the go at the moment, I'm going to try and share them on here soon, I miss the record of makes that blogging gave when I was doing it regularly!

Windy day softie making

Hello.

Today I have been finishing off this red rabbit softie, the weather has been horrible with severe winds and rain on and off all day, so a good excuse to sit down and do a bit of crafting.  

(I always forget how windy Spring is, it surprises me every year!)

This poor softie has been sitting in a pile of pieces for a couple of years, 

so it was high time I got him Finished Off!

I really need to work on my embroidery skills, a bit rough I think! 

I made this using the basic pattern from my kitty cat, with a modification to ears to make them more rabbity.  I had forgotten how much I like making toys, they are fun to make and I am glad I have another finished project to tick off my list.

.......here he is sitting with his softie mates, cat and pig, nice cheery peeps!

I have used Heirloom Colorworks , Heirloom Babywool 8ply and Loyal DK for these toys, they have such lovely vibrant colours to choose from, and make very soft, cosy toys.  

(As well as the blanket behind them!)

What have you been up to today?  

Has it been windy where you are?  

I think we have more wind coming our way tomorrow here in Melbourne, so hang onto your hats!

Craft Fest weekending......

Yesterday I had a stall at the Western Port Craft Festival in Hastings, we were lucky with the weather although it was very windy and the tent  nearly blew away on a few occasions!

I was sharing the big Bendigo Bank tent with another lady who did quilting and made other fabric things,

 I thought I'd show you some pictures of my half of the tent, even though it feels a bit dumb and self promoting.   

I took lots of bits and pieces that I thought might inspire people to give crochet a go, several half finished pieces of crochet and my toys and some scarves and baby things and a big pile of my wool.  I also brought some of my crochet books  for people to look at and get ideas, I wish I had a few to sell as people liked the books!

I have to say that my stall did look colourful, even with the red tent giving everything a rosy glow! There were many comments on the lovely colours of my Heirloom wool, I can't believe how many people find it hard to find good coloured yarn and weren't aware of this yarn, it is Australian too!

I was a bit disappointed in the lack of interesting colour in the other stalls, I don't thing colour gets enough consideration in a lot of crafts, I felt that many people were just using up whatever materials they had on hand and it is such a shame that all this work goes into a piece that is kind of ugly ( in my humble opinion) because of drab colours or really bizarre combinations!   I think I must be a colour snob!  :)  Of course I realise not everyone has the same taste as me, and I have been told my colour choices are a bit 'out there', so I might be the one with the strange ideas!  

Anyway, it was a very pleasant day spent chatting to lovely ladies who were all very complimentary and kind about my stuff and I even had a few sales!  

I also felt quite young!  Most of the people there were older than me and in a lot of cases much older than me!  Is craft something that is not interesting to younger people (say 30 - 45 year old) ?  I must be a bit weird, but it seems that the online crafting community has a wider age range and more people 'having a go' than our local community.  Another reason why blogging is great!  But a bit sad really for our local crafters.  

I put a sheet of paper out and took email addresses for people who might be interested in learning to crochet and knit, and I am happy to say there were some takers, so I am going to offer some classes or workshops from home and spread the crochet love!  Our local area is going to become super crafty whether it likes it or not!  :)  On the off chance that there are local Hastings/ Western Port area people reading this, if you'd like to join in and learn to crochet or knit, drop me an email and I'll add you to the list!

There were a few things that I got finished in time for this stall, mainly my mini granny square blanket, so I will show you all the tadah moment soon....

So how has your week end been going?

Having a fun one or just chilling out?

Talk soon, bye!

Tweety Bird Softie -Tadah!

Sooooo....... how's your day been going? 

It's pretty grey here, I have been trying to make the most of some sporadic sun and take a few pictures of my new softie that I showed you a bit of yesterday.

Tadah! 

So this is my version of a bird, still quite owl-like but I was trying for more of a kooky, parroty type bird this time.  Not sure how successful I was!  It's been a while since I made a softie, and it was really enjoyable to make something a bit whimsical.

I made some little feathery things for a bit of a flamboyant crest, a bit like the peacock that has been visiting us.

The green and red honeycombish stitch that I have used for the body, was something I came up with while trying to create a polka dot type effect, it's not too far away from polka dots.

I like this stitch combo a lot!

I am sure I'm not the first one to come up with this stitch combo, but I have no idea what it's called, I think it is quite effective though, and have plans for a few other projects using something like this.

Stay tuned!

....same old stitched and embroidered face as my other softies, I am getting a bit predictable i think!

Here she is on the work table like yesterday, I don't have a pattern for this tweety bird, as I made her up as I went, but I might make another one in different colours and a slightly different shape and I will try and write a pattern as I go, but that could be a little while down the track!

On a slightly different note, I was wondering if anyone out there would be interested in a little crochet-a-long?  I am thinking of making another mixed stripey blanket, using some of the interesting stitches I have come across in the last few months, and I thought it might be fun to make up a pattern and share it with you all, and kind of make it in stages together?  

I will see if anyone is interested, this idea still needs a fair bit of thought, as i have some ideas for a pattern but haven't drawn anything up yet.

Anyhoo, it could be fun, but we will see!

Talk soon!

Have a great weekend!