Too many exciting things!

Hi!!!! It’s an exciting day today!! Tell you more in a while!

So what have I been working on?? Well I’ve been firing away on Sophie’s universe, I love it!!

Look at those beautiful little bobbles! I can now reveal, that I am making this for Amanda Bloom from Little Box of Crochet, she has finally bitten the bullet and she’s opening a gorgeous little shop in Ingleton called Craftopia, she has a beautiful bay window and she’s been so busy making things to put in her shop window that she asked @lyndascraftroom to make some amigurumi items and me to make her a Sophie’s universe. And doesn’t she just choose the most beautiful colours?!

I’m on round 76, but also working on designs for knitcraft Christmas!! How exciting!

In the meantime the new not so Little Box of crochet arrived last week, and I love it!!!! I’m not quite ready to share a full pic of my market bag! (Which is actually going to be a beach bag) as I still need to add embellishments to it, but I love it!!

I’m so pleased Amanda has gone for bi-monthly boxes, the projects can be much bigger which I like!

Anyway!!!! @lyndascraftroom and I were taking last week, and Lynda pointed out that we have never done a Halloween themed crochet Sanctuary, she’s quite right! So we got talking and ideas started flowing…..we’ve only gone and managed to secure Halloween weekend 2020!!! Like OMG!!!

We’ve managed to secure Esme from Red Sparrow Crochet I love her designs!!! She does a lot for magazines and yarn companies like scheepjes look at some of her work!

She’s fab! So that’s a big bit of exciting news, the next bit is, we have managed to secure a psychic medium paranormal investigator for Halloween night at the crochet Sanctuary!!! Andy W Jones is a medium and he has worked for tv and radio stations in the uk and us for 20 years and we have him coming to the crochet Sanctuary!! How exciting!

We only announced it today, and we’ve literally got about 7 weekend spaces! So if you fancy it here’s the link Halloween crochet weekend

Put it this way, I was on the phone to Andy last night, at that point he didn’t know anything about what we do, where we do it or what room, and he asked me a question that only someone who has been in the Banting suite at Cranage hall could know, it made my hair stand on end literally!!!!

That’s my news! Getting better at blogging weekly, trying hard to keep on top of my wips!

Hope you’re good

Happy hooking

Lisa xx

Wool Monty show!

Helloooo you! I’m taking a break from designing Christmas and crocheting Christmas! Seriously, it’s June, we’ve not even had a summer yet here, the weather is proper pants!

Anyway, on Sunday a group of us who all met at the crochet Sanctuary met up at Wool Monty in Sheffield.

We had a great day!! I had read that the event was packed and there were hour long waits for food, but when we got there it was fab! It may of helped with it being Father’s Day, Sunday and the last day, we didn’t have to wait and had a great time.

We met Lisa-Lou yarn dyer and fellow hooker from Made by Penguins and this girl knows marketing, all you had to do was take and share a selfie tagging in Made by penguins and you got a free bag!

That’s Lynda and Lisa-Lou, she was so lovely!! When we mentioned we were from the crochet Sanctuary she said she’d heard of us and follows us, and she’d like to offer us free bags for our guest!!! This is unheard of!! We need ever get freebies, I’ve heard some crochet retreats get free yarn, but we’ve never been given free yarn or anything really, other than knitcraft, they do support us when we ask but we kind of see that as payment for our designs, we have also been given a pile of 10% off at blacksheep wools and some after parties, so to be offered bags is just massive for us!

Anyway I was on the hunt for some watermelon dyed yarn, I failed miserably. I bought some beautiful neon (glow in the dark) yarn from Lisa Lou! I had to get it wound into cake though as it kind of unravelled and I knew I’d be in trouble if I didn’t cake it before I got home, there were some ladies from the knitting and crochet guild winding skeins for £1 winner winner!!

Is so bought some Lana Bou it was £15 for a lucky dip, how ace is all of this!!

I am such a yarn sniffer!!! So the perfect postcard ever!

I also bought this beautiful yarn from Diana home crafts now!!! This is the yarn I saw online in America, and when we went on the yarn dyeing workshop I tried to get the same effect, I didn’t do badly for my first time but this is the one!!!

Isn’t it a beaut!!!!! I’m going to use it for a one skein scarf designed by Lynne Rowe she wore one at our crochet sanctuary last year and it was beautiful so I bought the pattern, this is too beautiful to make socks!!

I’ve just finished work today, looked at my phone and thought what the hell! @lyndascraftroom has put a giveaway on Instagram when we have crochet days or weekends our guests always leave with a gift bag, we quite often have left overs so we’re doing a giveaway, you just need to find us on Instagram @thecrochetsanctuary follow us and tag a pal!

Anyway I’m getting good at keeping on top of my blog don’t you think?!

Best fo move my butt

Happy hooking

Lisa xx

Little update…..and steps?

I’ve not really got an awful lot to show you really, I’ve been busy this week crocheting Sophie’s universe, and designing some bits for knitcraft.

But I actually have a top secret order! And the colours were chosen but the person I’m making it for. I would never if chosen them, but they are beautiful!

I only started this on Sunday evening after the crochet Sanctuary last week, and I’m hooked, I’m already on Part 7, long way to go yet, but it’s a good start.

Aren’t the colours fabulous?

I’m also using my new stitch markers, from @mrsgmakes Mrs G comes to the crochet Sanctuary and she has started making these amazing stitch markers

I love them, there’s even one that looks like a mini schnauzer to me. Anyway should you wish to buy some you can find her on Instagram, you won’t be disappointed.

On a more serious note……. don’t you just wish that crochet burned more calories than it does? Well I’ve recently lost a stone on a silly diet, I’ve so much more to lose, but I want to do it healthily and I found out about a team on Facebook called TeamRH, I’ve really been enjoying it, I’m moving more, eating better and I was feeling good until………I thought I was smashing 15,000 steps a day according to my Apple Watch, my husband bought me my watch and it cost him an arm and a leg. Anyway I may be slow but, I only twigged last week that my Apple Watch has been tracking my stitches as steps!!!!! And I can’t change it, of course I can take it off while I crochet, but then I’d forget to put it back on, and also I can’t wear it to bed to monitor my sleep (something i struggle with) because it needs charging every night. So I’ve been hunting for a device that can where but not on my wrist, plus my husband would be fuming if I bought another tracker. If he knew it was a tracker……. anyway!! After a bit of research I found a company called Bella Beat oh Lordy!!!

It’s wearable as a necklace, brooch, bracelet (depending on the style you buy) and it’s absolutely bloody gorgeous!! It tracks sleep, meditation, steps, monthly cycles, stress levels, and it doesn’t look like a tracker, it doesn’t need charging, just battery replacing every 6 months, which means I can keep wearing my watch to please my husband but know that even when I’m crocheting it’s spot on, so I ordered this!

I’m so excited!! It’s coming from the US but it landed in London today so I’m hoping to have it by Tuesday, so once I’ve given it a go I’ll let you know what it’s like! Anyway, if you fancy ordering one then here’s $25 off! Click here

I’m so excited!

Oooh our guest designer from the crochet Sanctuary posted a podcast today and it’s pretty much about the crochet Sanctuary! Well worth a watch especially if you fancy a laugh about the girl that wasn’t a ghost, yes you read this right, worth a watch! Podcast

Anyway I’m off to bed, I’m off to wool monty tomorrow!

Happy Hooking!

Lisa xx

What a fabulous weekend!

We always get a little nervous before a crochet Sanctuary day or weekend, we get so excited and then when the day comes it’s like…..’what if it’s not as good as we thought?’ But it really was!

Our guests received a scheepjes project bag, which included a 10% off at Blacksheep wools, a scheepjes diamanté yarn slice necklace, face masks, bath bombs, pens, stitch markers etc here’s the fabulous Paul helping us to pack them!

We started off our evening on the Friday by giving everyone a kit for the scheepjes first shawl. These don’t actually come in kits so we just put one together in an organza bag with the after party pattern. So I did finish mine weeks ago but I couldn’t show you! I can now do here it is

Yep that’s me! And below is lynda!

We had one super fast lady Tracy who actually finished hers by Sunday morning!

How pleased does she look?!

On the Saturday morning we started off with a design from myself and Lynda, it was the lotus flower cushion using tapestry crochet, the yarn used was knitcraft in the zone which I love!!!! It’s very synthetic, I bet there’s not one natural fibre in there at all, but it’s so soft, and so nice to crochet with, but great for bags and cushions as it crochets up really sturdy but soft at the same time. If you’ve never tried it I would definitely encourage you to give it a go it’s a real pleasure to use.

Now the paid pattern is available on our Etsy shop which again I cannot link for some reason!! There will be a free pattern available on the Hobbycraft blog soon though if you don’t want a pdf version.

After lunch we had a workshop hosted by Zeens & Roger I’ve been watching her podcasts for quite a while, so to actually have her there in person was fab! She provided us all with the 3 strikes bag, which is a c2c project, we had never had a c2c workshop and we had quite a few c2c virgins there so it was fab! Now I have crocheted in c2c but I’ve never known how I should change colour, it turns out there is no special way, it’s a pain in the arse with the ends but…..so worth it!!! I finished my bag!

I love it!!! I improvised a little and just did one button, but it was really relaxing, and thoroughly enjoyed.

On the Saturday night, to tie in with our theme ‘crochet girls night in’ we had movie night!!!!

I actually think we’ll make this a regular thing, we already had a white pull down screen in the room, so it was just a matter of projecting it onto the wall, there was something so nice about us all being in our pj’s crocheting, munching popcorn and singing along to dirty dancing!! I loved it!!

Then our last day….was finishing projects here’s a few more pictures

It was just fab! Now we have a bit of wait to the end of August for our crochet day, then mid September for our next weekend….time flies way too quickly!

Happy hooking

Lisa xx

Tie backs and yarny buys!

I was going to save this for next week, but I’m currently working away from home in Harrogate, staying at faulty towers, it’s 00:34 and I’ve just got back to my room after a false fire alarm, I wouldn’t of been surprised if it had been a real one, this place is so badly maintained!

Anyway, I’m wide awake now so thought, ooh blog!

I finished an order I received from my cousins wife, she had asked for a giraffe tie back and a zebra tie back, I did share a pic of the zebra a few blog posts ago, but he’s now finished!

As you can tell, I do not have one single pair of curtains in my house, at all, so blinds had to do!

I’ve also finished the giraffe

Who has super long legs, both of these were designed by Nice and Cosee crochet she has so many tie back patterns! I’m pleased with these though, super cute

Which means!!! I’ve started my medium sized Ubuntu by scheepjes! I’ve really gotten stuck in and I’ve just this minute finished all of the diamonds to part 3, although not many pics

I’m really enjoying it, I’ve just to finish the main. Colour part on each diamond before I can move into the half diamonds.

I’m also working on some Christmas designs for Knitcraft with @lyndascraftroom it doesn’t half feel weird crocheting Christmas in June! But we’ve been given a brand new yarn to use and it’s lovely, with plenty of colours too! But more of that when I’m allowed.

And then there’s our designs for The crochet Sanctuary but I can’t show you those either! Not until next week anyway, I’m mega excited for the crochet Sanctuary this weekend. We’ve got our guest designer Zeens and Roger who’s work and podcasts I’ve admired for a while, so it will be nice to actually meet Rosina in person, and of course work on one of her designs. I’m so looking forward to meeting up with our regular hookers ha!! And some new people too! We’ve a couple of surprises for them this weekend too!

And I didn’t think I’d be saying this but…….2020 has almost sold out!!! We’ve literally got 5 weekend spaces left for April, 5! That April we have Lynne Rowe from the wool nest (on Instagram) hosting our guest workshop, Lynne did a workshop for us last year, and we enjoyed it so much we’ve booked her again for next year. We’ve lots of crochet days available though, which is good, as although it’s nice being sold out it’s nice to have spaces to fill!

Ooooh I’ve been shopping! I really should just stop! However I am currently waiting on a delivery for this! I’ve pinched this pic from Etsy it’s not mine!

So lynda bought this, when you pull the cow down it plays a tune!!! From the X files!!!! It’s amazing! And it’s bigger than I thought too. So I’m currently waiting delivery!

I’ve also bought……and I’ve pinched this pic from Woolly Mama Yarns I can never add a link for this on Etsy, so I apologise, she has a yarn club called back to the 80’s, I could not resist this!

It’s so watermelon! And it’s actually called ‘I carried a watermelon’!! I’m so excited, lord knows what I’m going to do with it, I’m hoping it’ll be there when I get home tomorrow as it’s been dispatched.

I’ve also pre-ordered some books!

This is by the authors of dragons and unicorns and I loved it so much I couldn’t resist!

And!

Who doesn’t love Mabel bunny and co? Wool Couture are releasing a book!

Again this is pre-order, and should be September, literally so excited!

I suppose I’d best get some sleep need to be up in just 5 hours!

Happy Hooking!!

Lisa x

I dyed yarn!

Hello! Ive been so excited for weeks about attending a yarn dyeing workshop with @lyndascraftroom yesterday. We’ve been talking about running a yarn dyeing workshop at Crochet Sanctuary in 2021, I know so far ahead but we have to plan quite far in advance! Neither of us had dyed yarn before, we had no idea how it worked or what appliances are required etc. So thought we’d find out more about it. So we booked onto a workshop at Blacksheep wools with Debbie Tomkies from DT Crafts.

Neither of us knew what to expect, I think the bit I enjoyed most was actually getting messy ha! The course was really good value, we originally thought we would come away with a 100g skein but we actually dyed a 50g skein of merino and then a 100g skein.

But first we tested 1ml, 10ml and 20ml of dye on 25g skeins

Then we played with colour swatch cards and mixing colours together it was fab!

With my first 50g skein I was nervous about dunking it to be honest, incase I’d ruined it, so I decided to paint mine by hand and I was quite pleased with the result, don’t laugh!!! I think it was a good attempt for my first shot

Imagine it dry though and wound into a ball? I reckon it’ll make something pretty nice!

We were then given a 100g skein and I remembered seeing a colourway by witch candy yarn, here’s one of her pics of the yarn I like

But I cannot justify buying it as she is in Canada and with the cost, postage and import fees I just couldn’t justify it. So I thought I’d give it a go, it soooooooo didn’t go according to plan, and very adventurous of me for my second attempt (head in hands) but here’s what I did

Oh well!!! I’m quite pleased with it and I think it’ll make a nice stripes pair of socks, and it’s dry!!

Here’s a few more pics of the day

I think if anything it’s made me realise just why hand dyed yarn is so expensive, the thought and skill that go into it is unbelievable, the pre soaking, rinsing, actually dyeing, cooking, rinsing and drying, I’m actually surprised they don’t cost more. I’m quite pleased with my first attempts.

We’re still not sure if it would quite suit the Sanctuary purely because of logistics, I.e constant supply of water, protecting the newly laid carpets and of course being able to cook it, albeit we do have access to an outdoor kitchen……so watch this space!

Happy hooking

Lisa xx