Busy busy

I was surprised this week when this photo popped up on my facebook feed. It was a post from inside crochet magazine asking readers to guess what it is. It would have been cheating if I guessed as I recognised him straight away. I made him.

Its my little knitting sheep. He is the fist pattern I have done for inside crochet and hes in the issue that comes out this Friday. I love how the have photographed him he looks very cute and well read.

.

I have had some strange comments about him, the main one being he should be crocheting.

Well sorry but it never even crossed my mind when I came up with this design that I was combining crafts and this might cause some strange comments. I knit and I crochet. I love both crafts. I though a sheep who was knitting was a fun and cute idea. If you can't do one or the other, then you can combine this project with a friend who can. While your at it, why not get them to show you a few stitches and have a go at the other craft, you might just like it :)
 We all take yarn and sticks and make lovely things and we should all just get along. 

Ok mini rant over. Time for a catch up. The past two weeks I've been working on the patterns for the book commission. It has been long stressful days but a very enjoyable challenge. My deadline to get the patterns in was last Thursday and I made it. I am happy with what I've come up with, it was a tight brief but my style comes through in the designs so I'm happy.

I can't show you any of that work till the book is published but I'll keep you posted.

I can show you this little guy. He didn't quite hit the brief so I've kept this pattern for me and worked another one for the book. When I get a spare hour or two I'll get this pattern typed up and get it in my etsy shop for you.

Its been ages since I made a real traditional amigurumi bear and this little guy is so cute. He doesn't have a name yet so I'm open to suggestions.

I gave myself a few days to relax and recharge after my deadline but I just can't keep my hands off my hook and so I had a play with some new stitches to make some bathroom accessories.

Its a lot of things for one photo but I'll break it down. On the left is a scrubby, I make these for the bathroom all the time, in fact I posted a pattern here ages ago. I have refined that pattern to make it easier to understand and give perfect results.

 Next is a soap scrubber (the thing with buttons on) this is a little open weave bag that you put your soap in and then use it to wash with. Its a great idea for using up bits of soap, I however have filled it with a yummy smelling rose soap I got for Christmas :)

At the end are the wash cloths. Simple but tricky to get the right size and shape. I've been playing around with new ways of forming the foundation chain so you don't have to block these. I've leaned you don't even need to make a chain at all and there is a new way of using the crochet stitch to get an edge. It didn't work for these but I luckily found a way that does.

 Last up is this little pot. This started life a a little tumbler but I couldn't help going one step further and make a lid. The flower on top is another new idea of using amigurumi shapes in different ways. Would it shock you to know this flower is actually made up of bunny ears?

There is also some crochet jewellery and some herb pots I've made this weekend while I've been "resting" but I didn't take photos of them. I'll save them for another post.

Oh and for all those doing a weather check. Hardly any snow here in York. It was white over on Saturday but its all gone now :)

Its back to work today I have another pattern due today that at the mo is only in my head but first I'm gonna have another cup of tea and head on over to handmade Monday and see what the other craft bloggers have been up to.