Cute Halloween crochet.

Hope you had fun at Halloween!  Last week I had fun making some cute amigurumi pumpkins, a little witch and spider for my little granddaughter.

First I thought some little pumpkins would fit nicely into her baby hand. There are lots of patterns for these available but the idea I thought was most effective was where the pumpkin has more lifelike 'ridges' like a real one. 

Eventually I located a pattern called 'Autumn Bounty'  which you can download for from free-crochet.com-click here:  Autumn Bounty . 

It has American crochet terms but basically it just uses sc which is simply dc in English terms. The ridges are created by working into the back loop of the dc (American sc). So effective! I used Patons all wool dk for mine because I already had 6 balls of it in orange! It  gave such a nice chunky texture to the pumpkins and is very hardwearing which made it perfect for being played with and squashed a lot!

The pumpkins were such a hit with my little granddaughter, aged 13 months. She loved the textures and played with them like little balls.

. I made the two pumpkins pictured on the pattern above according to the instructions then a tiny one by simply reducing the initial chain. With the wool dk I used a 3.50mm hook, usually you would use a 4.00 but I do crochet loosely and I wanted to make sure there were no gaps.

Inspired then to make a little witch I Looked for something which would stand up and be just the right size for a small hand. My search brought me to a super pattern -find it here: little witch pattern. It worked out so well-many thanks to Sanity by Stitches. 

For my witch I used my favourite Patons merino extra fine dk  which I use in my mermaid dolls  -it is so soft and has a very clear stitch definition, plus it comes in gorgeous colours. Again I used a 3.50mm hook. 

 What a success the little witch was-Isabelle did not let go of her all morning! The witch had a little cauldron but it needed a spider to go inside it......

Many thanks to Petals to Picots for this super little spider pattern. I did  adapt the legs by crocheting them onto a band together, before attaching to body. I also added my own version of crocheted 'googly eyes' . 

Crochet 'googly' eyes: 

Magic circle. dc x 8 into circle, join into first ch, pull up to close centre.

Using a tapestry needle and black yarn, work a big French knot, by wrapping yarn around needle three times for the eye centres. 

Repeat and shape the eye centres with extra stitches is needed. 

Then push remaining centre wool yarn end into the back of eye to give a bit of stuffing to the eye, making it more 'googly'!

Oversew eyes in place using one remaining white yarn end.

What fun they were to make. I'm afraid I got a bit addicted to the spiders.....they are still being hooked up in different fun colours-all ready for next year!

Have a good week,

Best wishes

Alison

Wedding reflections...

Many thanks to all of you for your kind wishes for my daughter's wedding. I just can't tell you how wonderful a day it was. Everything from start to finish went just as we had hoped - it was such a memorable day full of love, joy and beauty.

Vintage inspiration.

For my 'Mother of the Bride' outfit I wanted to celebrate my mother's wedding in November, 1944 as it is almost 70 years from that day. She wore a navy dress and bolero jacket with tilt hat, three carnation cream corsage and cream gloves:

I took inspiration from Pinterest and put together a board- vintage corsages. Eventually I decided to crochet three basic roses in the gorgeous  Bergere de France 'Froment' which was the same as the butterflies I made for the table centrepieces, described in my last post here. 

Roses crocheted in 'Froment' using a 3.00mm hook.

I made up the roses and placed a mix of vintage buttons in creams and ivory, some little sparkly seed beads and some of my favourite Japanese toho beads in the centre.  

The 'leaves' were made from Laura Ashley 'Lucille' a deep rich cream silk. They are a simple square folded over and gathered at the long edge. I applied the whole piece to a backing strip and attached to my jacket with stitches which kept it in place much better.

I was delighted to find, incredibly, a jacket almost the same as the one Mum wore.  I remember her navy crepe dress and jacket so well as, decades ago, I found her outfit it in the bottom of her wardrobe. I was too tall for the dress but she let me wear the jacket to go out. I found an almost identical one by Havren. I am amazed by how styles seem to come back around!

Glove challenge!

I was on a roll with 'Froment' and challenged myself to make my own gloves in vintage 'fishnet' filet crochet. The actual crochet is basically simple trebles, but first the thumb shaping then the fingers sent me into a bit of a twist! Seeing the effect take shape though I was determined to see it through. At one point, about a week before the wedding I had just one glove completed-thought I'd end up looking like Michael Jackson. 

 I kept going with my favourite Aristotle quote : 

Practice then, I thought. Sort those fingers!

Success!

Loved finally doing the edging-so pretty!

Now all they needed was a vintage button at the wrist...

Through the generations.

With a navy dress to match, the search for 'the hat' had been on for some time. Have you ever seen something you really like but then searched around trying everything else, before coming back to that original piece you saw first? It seemed nothing was as fitting as this cute pillbox in navy silk with an oversized bow-uncannily like Mum's. 

  

Hat's off Mum! You always said you loved me in navy and cream, in a hat, and with my hair 'done up'. I  so wished you could have been there, but I could feel your love running through the generations as I saw my lovely daughter married. Hope I made you proud!

What a wonderful day-thank you for sharing it with me.

Best wishes
Alison xx

Merci and Vielen Dank

A little bit of bead crochet. 

So it was time this week for fond farewells to colleagues and friends who are moving on to various new ventures.  I wanted to give them a little special 'Thank you' from me so I made a few of these lovely beaded crochet necklaces based on Fiber Flux's Coral Blossom necklace. Fiber Flux is just such a wonderful blog-it has completely re-inspired my love of crochet-there are some fantastic tutorials on You Tube as well.  I had never used beads in crochet before and couldn't wait to try the design out with some of the gorgeous Japanese Toho beads I've been loving lately. Toho are top quality seed beads which come in an amazing array of colours and styles and have a large hole which makes threading easy-they are a pleasure to work with!

With this one I had a colleague in mind who loves blues and turquoise.

Tiny gift envelopes.

I made little gift envelopes from some pretty scrapbook papers using a Bigz L Sizzix mini envelope die. This die makes a cute little envelope ideal for small presents such as necklaces, earrings etc.

I added a glue dot to close the envelope.

A new art pen!

I have recently treated myself to a new Rotring art pen . I used to write with these a lot -they are the unparalleled kings of German fountain pen engineering! Such a lovely smooth write; I have been using cheaper italic markers for so long but with false economy-for normal writing you need the fine tip and the nibs always 'go' on them far too soon. Can you see the little stuck on label below which reads 'Mum's art pen'? Now why would there be a need for that-well because my pens have always either disappear without trace or I find them been used to scratch something on the family calendar-does this sound familiar? Well I am not having my new Rotring used for that, Vielen Dank!   

I practised my writing by making some little labels.

I popped one on each necklace with some natural jute twine.

A la cards...

For colleagues with whom I had taught languages I decided to make a Paris themed card. I gathered together some papers with French vintage themes, keeping to a palette of mostly deep red, black, vintage creams with silver accents.

Then I played around with different layouts-I love these Eiffel Tower shapes-I cut them from deep silver grey card. 

I'm a little bit in love with Graphic 45's 'Couture' collection at the moment! Gorgeous fashions from the Gatsby era in reds, black and vintage creams with plenty of Français going on as well.

I hand stamped some greetings and came up with a design which I mounted on a 5 x 5 in cream card...voilà!

I love my art altered these days and am also enamoured of the gorgeous designs from 7 Gypsies. The backing paper to the left of card above and backing the one below is from the 'Lille' collection- 

The lovely lady from 1922 is printed with a rubber stamp.

With this one I couldn't resist adding a bit of bling to the tower-after all it's always lit up at night! 

Au revoir...not Farewell.

So,  goodbyes and a little something for lovely friends to keep. Luckily I shall remain in touch with these wonderful friends and colleagues as most of them will be staying in the county. For those moving 'up country' as they say down here, there's always social media to keep in touch. I do like that of course, but how I miss the joys of letter-writing, when I could use my italic pen to my heart's content!  

Summer ends of terms are often a time for showing gratitude or saying goodbye to those moving on ...have you had to say goodbye or thank you to a friend lately? 

Hope you are having a lovely weekend...warm but with a nice breeze I hope!

Alison xx 

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