Crochet Conquest

Over the last few months I have picked up a new hobby; crochet! So I thought I would dedicate a post to the recent crochet conquests, some of which are good and some of which aren't. I mentioned some previous projects in my last post and since then I have continued and continued to crochet.

I have recently finished an infinity scarf - I couldn't find a pattern I liked so I was making it up as I went along, this wasn't as quick and easy as I had hoped it would be, but I finished it, and I love it. I will aim to post the final pattern here as well, so keep an eye out for that - or subscribe and get it straight to your inbox.

My crocheting had started to take over the flat I decided to buy some storage from IKEA, and it may have been the best idea ever!

available here: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/products/30216536/

That is how the trolley looked when I first got it, it is now covered in wool, books and projects. I love it! It is an easy way to contain what I am working on without it taking over my flat.

Some of my most recent projects are:
Plaited ear warmer. I made two of these, one for me and one for my mum (my first customer). It was quite fun to make, and after making it once I was confident to make a few changes to make it a bit better. The other day when I was shopping I saw a version of this in H&M!

I have also made some bunting with roses - these were quite difficult to photograph and I have now taken them to work to put on a display board there, so please excuse the background mess. The bunting and roses were fun to make. I'm really allergic to pollen and don't get on well with flowers so I am wanting to make a full bouquet of flowers for the flat.  

I recently decided to add some crochet detail to a necklace. I wasn't sure how this would end up but I really like it, I used a black chain necklace from H&M and a small hook. 

At the moment I have a lot of projects I am working on, such as; another scarf, gloves, hat, cushion covers and a blanket. I will aim to post a follow up with more photos of what I have been working on. 

The blanket does bring me to the bad part of the crochet story. I found an independent shop online (not local) and decided to order a blanket and a jelly bag. Unfortunately the whole process of the order was a total mess. After a long and hard think (and moan at my boyfriend) I have decided to not bother giving much detail about the whole process, but in summary, the company (Spit Spot Loves) didn't post the parcel for weeks, half of it arrived and they never sent the other half. This resulted in me discussing options with my lawyer as the store was not returning my emails or attempts to contact them on social media. In the end (a month after order) I received a refund for the bag that never arrived. The customer service was shocking, in total it took a month from order to resolution and not once did I get an apology or did it feel like I was getting a genuine response from anyone there. If you come across this company or their website I would highly recommend leaving them well alone! I have since spoken to other people who have also had a shocking experience with them. 

Anyway...enough of that negativity. Let me know if you are a fellow crocheter and keep an eye out for a new business adventure I am starting with a friend...also a crocheter. 

Craft Station

A few months ago me and my boyfriend Dan moved in together and it is great!!

Dan is very supportive of my crafting ways, however he isn't very supportive of the way I tend to spread the supplies around... So, we agreed that I would have a craft station!! I've never had a dedicated area for where I will do my crafting because I haven't had the space to do so or the necessary supplies. Luckily when Dan and I moved in he had a desk which he uses occasionally for work but this has now become my craft station:

Excuse Bullseye and the trainer...

On the station I have current, ongoing and future projects.

A couple of weeks ago I started crocheting and I love it. At the moment I am practising and trying to master the basics, I have made an apple, hearts, bunting and granny squares. I really love it and I am finding it so relaxing, in my bedtime routine crocheting has replaced watching an episode of something or general TV.

Through a magazine from Outlaw Craft Show I had the basics to learn crochet, since then my love for it has grown and I have also joined a local crochet meet up. A few weeks ago I went to Hobbycraft and bought a selection of clearance wool and a friend at work gave me loads of wool that she no longer used.

I have also started to buy craft books and magazines:

They are a great source for inspiration and instructions. And yes, that is a wedding craft magazine, which isn't for me, it is for my friend Becky who is getting married next year and I will be a bridesmaid!!! I am so excited about being a bridesmaid and my best friend getting married that I got carried away with anything wedding themed. 

A project I have recently started and is ongoing, is crease free hair ties:

These are an example from a shop, but these four hair ties would cost £8!! After a quick search online I found a selection of the same material for 99p a metre and 80p postage. So I decided to make my own:

I bought two different sparkly purple lengths and have experimented with different tie lengths. It only took a few minutes to make these and I am really glad I did. 

A new project I am about to start working on is sparkly hair slides, I found the inspiration from BuzzFeed:

So far I have the items I need:

Just not the time I want to make them. I will aim to post an update.

The other day I also learnt how to make paper bows. The first one I made was using scrap paper at work and then I bought a block of paper and glue for £2 total and can make loads in pretty colours:

I will be adding these bows to the envelopes of cards. 

This has been a whistle stop tour of my recent crafting and I hope you enjoyed it :) 

Do you have any tips of how to keep a craft station clean, tidy and organised? If so, please let me know. 

Outlaw - Artisan Craft Show

On Sunday I went to Outlaw - Artisan Craft Show in Bristol. I had seen it advertised on Twitter a few weeks before and was really excited to be going.

First we (Dan and me) had a quick walk around to check out the place, then stopped for coffee and cake. After that I made a plan of action to do a bit of a shopping and then do a couple of the Make and Take shows.

The first Make and Take I did was making a paper pom-pom which was fun, but only lasted 10-15 minutes. The presentation of the material and the tutorial was great, but we only had the chance to make one pom-pom.

The second Make and Take I did was making a mini pom-pom garland with Thimbleson and this was great! First we were shown how to make a mini pom-pom with the items on our table and then we were let lose to make as many as we could for our garland. My first one was a bit of a duff....I snipped one to far and the pom-pom reverted to being strands of wool. But, after that blunder I was onto a roll and made 7!
It was great to have the demonstration and be able to make something to take home. I also feel like this is a skill I have learnt and would be able to do at another time. It was a big bonus that the material we used could easily be found around the home or bought easily.

Dan enjoyed the pom-pom garland as well. 

Photo from: https://instagram.com/thimbleson/ 

In addition to the Make and Take theatre there were quite a few workshops and demonstrations. I didn't fancy doing any of these workshops as they weren't something you could easily walk into without some prep. There was a good selection of demonstrations to watch, I did pop into the gift wrapping with attitude which was great to see. I would have loved to see the learn arm knitting demo but missed it.

After the fun of the Make and Take and Demo I did some more shopping and bought two pieces from two different stalls:

The above was from Bookshell Bindery. They had some amazing products and Dan bought a lovely notebook and pencil from them. 

Dan and I joint bought the above illustration. Again there were so many pieces that we could have bought from Esther Connon, everything was beautiful! 

Overall it was a really fun day out, and I could have bought a lot more than I did. My only comment would have been that I would have liked to see more supply stores, so that when I left full of inspiration I would have new products to use and experiment with.

If an Outlaw show comes near you I highly recommend that you go and check it out! I hope it comes to Bristol (or Bath) again.

DIY Clay Bunting

As promised I would post on Monday about something I have been making over the last week.
Last weekend me and a friend went to the local Artisan Market and there were quite a few items I wanted to buy and realised, I could make them myself.

One of which was clay bunting, which had letters painted on them. They were selling for £2 a letter, which I thought was quite expensive. I bought a 1kg of white clay for £3.99, acrylic paint for £1.99 and paint brushes for 99p. From this I made 13 pieces of bunting and have loads of clay left over.

To make these I:

• Rolled out a large piece of clay
• using a pre cut template, cut the clay to shape
• whilst wet I used scissors to cut in the required letter and make a hole at the top
• Left  the clay dry for 24 hours
• Painted the dried clay with white acrlyic paint (applied many coats)
• Used red paint to outline the letters
• Once dry I used PVA glue to make shine
• Used lace to link up the bunting

I only had black lace available, ideally I would have used cream but I ran out of time.  I made two, one for my mum and step dad and another one for my sister, which I forgot to take a photo of.

Upcoming Post

On Monday I will be blogging about my biggest crafting project yet.

I can't post the blog yet, as I have made presents for people who may read my blog, and I do not want to ruin the surprise. It took a few days to finish the complete project, but it was so much fun. And I am now convinced buying presents will be on the minimum and will be making them instead!