spring catch up

It may only be the last day of February but there is diffidently an air of spring about.

I've been out in the garden doing the spring clean and clear. This is this gardens second year so at lot of the plants I put in last year should coming back again this year.

I've added in some early flowering bulbs and corns so this time next year there will be even more colour.

 This is my hellebore its about doubled in size since last year. I have a white and pink one aswell but that ones not looking too good the leaves look like they've been eaten by something.

 The anemones I planted last year are already starting to come up already. These did so well that I'm going to put some more in but I'm waiting to see what plant offer lidl get in.

The pond is a bit of a mess, full of duck weed and dead leaves. Its a full weekend job I think as I want to put some structure from the back of it so the liner isn't showing anymore.

It was nice to take a few days of work and get the garden set up for the spring. I have ahd a awful lot of crochet projects on at the the mo and its been pretty none stop.

In between commissions I've been working on some pt projects of my own.

This idea started as I needed a draught excluder for the back door. Its a bit of an old fashioned thing and I wasn't really liking any I could find in the shops and online. 

I thought I could think of a good crochet solution and after seeing a lot of rows of beach huts and house I thought a row of animal would be a cool idea.

I decided to go for sheep pretty quickly. I wanted a back sheep but struggled to find a fluffy yarn brand that had a dark grey or black. Not surprising really, these yarns are normally in baby colours and soft pastels. Black doesn't sit well in that type of colour pallet.
I thought if I couldn't find a black I could have the sheep all different pastel colours or have one of the sheep facing the wrong way, but luckily I the drop yarn.


The bodies of the sheep are made in one piece, then the heads and feet are sewn on. I had great fun giving each little sheep its own character. The one at the end is asleep,  two of them are kissing and one is chewing a flower :)

If you want the pattern for this it is available in my etsy shop here

I've also been working on some more tea cosys for my pattern collection.

 This first one is an afternoon tea, tea cosy. Its blue striped cobble stitch and covered in cakes.

 On top there is a swiss roll, battenburg cake, strawberry cupcake and bakewell tart.

No pattern for this one yet I've a few to type up and test then I'll be adding them to my etsy shop.

This one is a simple one. Again in cobble stitch so it has a lovely texture this one is cover in lots of pastel stars. For this I developed a new  way of making flat crochet starts. Its ridiculously easy but it makes a perfect little star every time.


I'm debating making 12 teacosys and turning them into a calendar as I have a half finished Christmas pudding one and a bee hive in the making. So I only need to think of another six and its done.
It might be one of those things that doesn't happen for a while as I have some big commission projects coming up and they always push my pet projects to the sidelines.

I have some pics of the few latest magazine projects to share but I'll save them for my next post.
till then happy crocheting xxx