I went AWOL

Didn’t I just?! I kind of lost any motivation for blogging, I think partly because I was paying £90 a year to WordPress for …………pretty much nothing! And decided not continue, anyway, I thought I’d touch base!

In fact, i haven’t blogged since September!! Crikey. So much has happened! We’ve had a number of fabulous crochet sanctuary weekends and days, @lyndascraftroom and I had the Christmas Bauble CAL, which surprisingly went down a treat, I think I didn’t think it would as it was such hard work trying to come up with 24 different bauble designs in 3 different colour ways, but I reckon we smashed it!

We had our last crochet sanctuary weekend in February, we were supposed to have April but obviously due to COVID-19 we have had to postpone, we had to postpone April, May crochet day and to be safe, and manage expectations June as well, however we have dates in place for all of them, we’re just conscious of posting about them incase they’ve got to be changed again.

Anyway! I’m going to skip Christmas and February and fast forward to Monday 23rd March 2020 UK Lockdown

@lyndascraftroom and I had already discussed running a crochet along, a stash buster, something to reflect the god awful times everyone was going through, we decided to launch it on Sunday 29th March and it is called Pandemonium, purely because life right now is pandemonium, but also the idea was is to gather around 1400g of dk stash, pull out any colour and go with the pattern, it’s gone soooooo well so far! The cal is lasting for 14 weeks, releasing 14 rows a week, 7 on a Sunday 7 on a Wednesday, we’re loving it! And we have so many people from all over the world taking part!

An example so far! I can’t show you mine because I’m a few weeks ahead now

The way we are working it is that lynda and I are discussing what stitches we want in the blanket, I am crocheting it and making the stitches fit, I send lynda a rough pattern, lynda is Crochet’s it, tests it, she then sends the pattern to our amazing admin ladies who then check the pattern and test it, and then we release 7 rows each time, we’ve never worked this way before, I’m loving the fact I can race ahead ha! Anyway it’s being held on Facebook, we are half way through but it’s never too late to join! All things crochet sanctuary follow the link, read the announcements which is where you’ll find the patterns and files here’s a few more!

Because I’m quite far ahead it’s meant I can work on a few items I’ve wanted to do for myself! Which feels so liberating!!

I’ve just finished this Hope cushion designed by Esme from Red Sparrow crochet

I finished this amazing cushion from Little box of crochet

Ive just finished this too! Using 3 skeins of hand dyed yarn, and I love it!!! Designed by TL Yarn crafts

I’ve crocheted quite a bit actually but I’ll save some for another post, hopefully you won’t have to wait until 2021 for the next one!!!

I’ve also been spending way too much money on yarn during lockdown, I guess you have too, but it’s so comforting right now isn’t it?! I think I’ll save that for another blog too! Anyway I’ll not bore you to death much longer.

I hope you are all staying safe and well, and I hope you’re keeping your hook on!

Please stay safe

Happy Hooking lisa xx

It’s been a while!

Hello!! It has been a little while since my last blog, but I’ve been on my jollies, having some fabulous family time in the sun. Weeks running up to me going I was trying to get my day job finished, then some Crochet sanctuary stuff sorted, and designs! @lyndascraftroom and I have a few projects we are working on at the moment, including the autumn cal for Knitcraft, some bits for Marriner yarns which is exciting. You know we love Knitcraft yarns, well we also very much like Marriner. You should really take a look as they have some stunning yarns and very well priced. In fact I think they under price their yarn, which can often make people think it’s cheap or poor quality, but it’s not, they’ve got some good dk’ sand some fabulous chunky verigated yarns and beautiful cottons, have a look!

So we went to Bulgaria for 10 days, and stayed in Nessebar, I was very much hoping to find some yarn, but I did come across some ladies making a living from their crocheted items

That was all the crochet I found!! I didn’t get much done whilst I was away either, took plenty of wip but it was too hot.

Before I went away I had my granny square design released on the Hobbycraft blog

We were given a list of items to crochet using granny squares, I chose the hot water bottle, using Knitcraft in the zone, I love the bright colours and the yarn just glides over the hook, lovely stuff!

Then whilst I was away my Not so little box of crochet arrived!! My neighbour kindly took it in for me, oh wow!!!!

It’s amazing!!! It’s designed using intarsia crochet…….never tried it before, and I don’t think I will again! Thank goodness the pattern Said we could use tapestry, intarsia for me is just a mess at the back, and I wasn’t leaving a long enough piece of yarn, tapestry is much easier, I’m not posting a pic yet as I’ve only done about 6 row after frogging the intarsia! It’s beautiful though and I know Amanda still has some boxes so you should order!

We’ve only got 5 weeks until the next crochet sanctuary Yayy!!!! I’m so excited, it seems ages since the last one.

We’ve got the rather fabulous Heather from KCACOUK hosting our guest designer workshop on the Saturday afternoon, which I’m really looking forward to. And we’ve completely sold out until June 2019! What’s that about?! Who ever knew we’d sell weekends so quickly, and to think @lyndascraftroom and I were sick with nerves when we started! We do love it, and we have some amazing guests.

I’ve really missed not going to our Knitcraft social the last few weeks, so looking forward to going back on Saturday, it’ll be lovely to see everyone. Then! On Sunday @lyndascraftoom and I are off to Toft in Warwickshire, we’ve never been before, it was Lyndas birthday in July, so for her gift I booked us both in for a workshop to crochet Chablis the unicorn

Isn’t she gorgeous?! There is also an option to supersize her, so I’ll see how much it is, I’ve been a little naughty recently in terms of yarn 🙈 I can’t help myself.

I’ve still got my nameless blanket to finish, Sophie’s universe, 2 Sophie’s stools, a Mabel bunny from wool couture, primavera blanket oh jeez the list goes on and on! And now I’ve bought this!!

Couldn’t not to be honest! Sneaky little purchase while lying by the pool, ah well!! I really do nee to start concentrating on finishing some WIPs it’s starting to take over the whole house, and that’s without the crochet sanctuary deliveries. So we will see about Chablis!!

I think I’ve caught up…. oooh!!! I bought a sewing machine!! Made one bandana for the dog 😂 bought tonnes of material and tools, cutting boards, rotary cutter tailors chalk pins you know, everything I need, subscribed to sewing mags, got quite a few patterns, and I’ve done nothing….. but I will, I’m a bit scared I think! As my dad would say, ‘all the gear and no idea’

So yes I think I’ve caught up, will let you know how the toft workshop goes!!

Happy hooking

Lisa xx

Knitcraft social and crochet books

Hello! I’ve not had too much to blog about recently, we’ve mainly been focusing on the new Knitcraft Spring CAL, so I can’t tell you much about that just yet…….also finalising the finer details for the February Crochet Sanctuary , it’s literally two weeks away, and I’m becoming so nervous! At the same time we are also planning and taking bookings for the April Crochet Sanctuary, we’re pulling all the stops out on this one! We visited cranage hall yesterday and looked at the room again, our own Harry Potter style room, discussed the layout, and realised we need more crocheted items!! So Abby (my beautiful daughter) has been making lots of Pom Poms to fill our TCS (the crochet sanctuary) fillable letters, to pop onto the fire place, we’re adding more bunting and finishing blankets and cushions

You can’t have too much right?!

Our Knitcraft social group is growing rapidly!!!! I don’t know where they’ve all come from but it’s great!! We’ve had 4 new ladies join us, and @lyndascraftroom and I are thoroughly enjoying helping them to grow their yarn stash!!

We’ve even had a little girl join us who is being taught how to crochet in school and even though she’s not quite joined the group she has been popping along with her Mum for help, and it’s lovely!

I’ve finished the top part of Sophie’s stool!!!

I still wish I’d dropped another hook size because it’s still slightly too big, pattern a 3mm for the top but I think I should of dropped to a 2mm, but it’ll have to do now, just the shoes to go, I’m so pleased with it.

Today’s been great, we had our Knitcraft social this morning and then this afternoon we attended the Event City exhibition hall at Trafford for the craft show, we had won tickets through a competition ran by the lovely Lynne at Wool Nest, so free for us to get in, unfortunately not too much there in the way of yarn, I think 3 stalls in total, so we only stayed for an hour, I did treat myself to some king Cole cake (more yarn cakes) 🙈 I seem to have gained rather large collection of scheepjes whirls, Caron cakes, style crafts and now King Cole, there’s only so many shawls a girl can have! Then later this afternoon we popped into blacksheep wools for some more of their little patterns.

I’ve had a good bargain or two this week from eBay, I’m a stickler for a good Crochet book, and won this

What a book! The patterns are amazing! Really modern and I literally want to make everything.

I also ordered this one but not 100% keen really, it’s no where near as good as the Celtic cables one, but in all fairness I’ve not read through thoroughly yet

Manic few weeks

It’s been a little busy to say the least, my parents have now completed on the sale of their property and moved in with us, I’ve got my new craft room, well half of one anyway!  

The whole house has been turned upside down, but it needed a good organising anyway.

I’ve carried on with a little bit of my manual madness but find I struggle with counting stitches when I’m tired, and boy I’ve been tired! I’ve not carried on with anymore if my star of wonder, and I really need to, because I’ve got my new sofa! 

The grey, white and lime would look really nice with this, I think once I’m back into a routine next week I can get stuck back into it.

So I’ve had to stick to some easier things, things that don’t take so much concentration.

I’ve used up the rest of my James c Brett flutterby and made a nice cushion for my daughters bedroom, It’s just a simple granny square but the James c Brett makes it look lovely 

I also nipped into Aldi today as I keep getting told they sell yarn, ok so the selection isn’t huge but I managed to get a really nice grey super bulky chenille yarn with a bit of a twinkle to it, it’s nowhere near as soft as it looks, but I thought it would look nice on the sofa for the dogs to sit on, I got 400g for £3.49!!  I reckon it would make great cushion covers too

So Aldi is worth a look if you ask me….
Happy hooking xx

Free Pattern! – T-Shirt Yarn Cushion Cover

I had  been itching to make something out of T-Shirt yarn for quite some time, but trying to find a nice pattern is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, so I thought I would design my own.
This pattern uses a rib stitch, I started off with just DC, but found that you could see the cushion underneath, so the rib stitch gives it some great texture, and also makes the cushion less visible. You’ll find this pattern nice, simple and quick, it only took me an evening!
Materials
 10-12 mm Crochet Hook
 2 x Hoooked Ribbon XL or any other T-Shirt Yarn
 16 x 16 Cushion
 6 x Buttons
Stitches Used – UK Terms
 CH (chain)
 DC (Double Crochet)
 BLO (Back Loop Only)
Instructions
(Make 2 of each)
Start by chaining 40
Row 1 – 1DC into the 2nd chain from the hook, 1DC all the way across, CH1 and turn
Row 2 – 1DC into the BLO all the way across, CH1 and turn
Rows 3 -18 Rep Row 2 and fasten off
You might need to complete more or less rows depending on the thickness of your T-shirt yarn and your tension, also the size of your cushion; by increasing or decreasing the number of rows you can make a larger or smaller cover.
Joining
Place the two panels together and join by 1DC all the way across until you get to the corner, once at the corner of each panel 3DC in the same stitch then continue with a 1DC until the end, leave one side unstitched, so that the cushion can be removed for washing. Add some chunky buttons to secure the cushion until required.

If you would like to print the PDF version feel free, just click on the link and print tshirt-yarn-cushion-cover

Happy Hooking xx

On the mend

I’m still getting over the virus that started last weekend, it took the wind right out of me, literally, I ended up in A&E on Wednesday evening on a nebuliser to help my breathing, but feeling much better, and got my hook back on last night.

Whilst I’ve not felt like doing much crochet I did do a little online shopping!

My daughters friend came with us to yarndale last week, she’s just had all of her bedroom decorated and was in the hunt for some cushion covers, but we found that not many stalls were selling finished items, more the yarn and utensils to make an item, I felt guilty that we had to leave early so I said I’d make one for her bedroom.  She’s only young so I wanted to do something quite fashionable for her and lovecrochet had an offer on hoooked tshirt yarn, so I bought some ribbon xl

Now this really is XL, I thought I’d bought enough for two cushion covers, but two of these skeins barely finished 1!!  I also struggled to find a pattern for a cushion cover using tshirt yarn, so improvised and wrote my own, if you like it you can find it on etsy, anyway this is the finished result

I used a rib stitch, I’m quite pleased with it to be honest!

Hooks

I’ve been using some very pretty knit pro bamboo hooks with a cute Swarovski crystal at the bottom, but recently a lot of people have been speaking about clover amour, one person said since using clover she cringes using her knit pro! I thought I’ve got to give these a try, so they arrived yesterday evening

Verdict

Where have I been!!!!! These are a amazing!!!! They gliiiiiiiiiide through each stitch so smoothly! I’ve crocheted all day today and when I finish this update I’m going back for more, compared to my knit pro these are honestly like driving a Rolls Royce!!!!

I’m looking forward to crochet brocade tomorrow, I’ll be taking my carousel to join before the next release on Tuesday, if I get that finished I’ll also be taking lily pond, I’ve not done much on that recently.

I’ve also started this sneaky project, I found the pattern foc, and I had the yarn already so made a start on The Tree of Life isn’t it gorgeous!!!

Anyway I’m missing my clover hooks off to do some more! 
Happy hooking xx