Day of the dead bracelets

Ooh 2 post in one day. I'm really getting cracking now.

This is just a photo post really. I've been taking some new shots of my day of the dead bracelets and I'd like to know which ones you like best?

 Now in blue

Craftseller Woodland critters

Its time to reveal my latest craftseller project

 This month they wanted 4 woodland animals. Lovely right up my street. As you can see by my past blog post I was already working on hedgehogs and squirrels. I had loads of ideas, however 4 different animals with 4 different body shapes was going to make for a very long pattern.

I had a re-think and started a pinterest board to gather inspiration. I think this is the image that made my mind up for the way to go with these guys.

We love woodland creatures so much this simple stylised version by Rileyconstruction on etsy tells us straight away its a fox no fuss.

With this in mind I was able to simplify my designs so that the all 4 animals could be made from a similar body shape.

This was the design I was left with along with yarn colour choices.

The finished result. I love these photos :)
 I've used little felt flower cut outs and old mother of pearl buttons to decorate each one.

 The hedgehog is the first pattern to be printed with my new overworking stitch. Its a very easy stitch which creates a great effect but just in case anyone does get stuck with it I'll be adding a photo tutorial section to the blog soon.

Everyone has a different favourite with these guys. My favourite is the raccoon. Whats yours?

In other news I got a nice email from the peolpe at Love crochet magazine. They said they had included my owl doorstop pattern that I did for craftseller last year in their latest issue.

Here he is in craftseller and here the surprise I got when I found a copy of Love crochet..

Doesn't he look fab on the cover :)

I have a big crochet weekend coming up and I'm hoping to get to work on another owl I'll try and keep you posted :)

Heart teddy

This week I'm off Duttons and have a full week of crochet ahead of me. I'm gonna be setting up my own website and part of this is doing new photo shoots with my amigurumi so they look lovely on the website.

When I first started writing amigurumi pattern nearly 2 years ago this little teddy was the first pattern I put in my esty shop.

I still have this little bear, he sits on my bookcase but I thought I'd have a go making him again anyway. I soon found ways the pattern could be improved. I changed the feet so they had bigger pads that would support a fabric patch and changed the face, using bigger eyes and a felt muzzle patch. Other than that he's just the same.

What do you think?

 This photo is taken with a the soft filter on my new camera. I like the vintage look it gives. The fabric on the ears and feet has little strawberry's on it so I used another strawberry fabric (which I maybe should have ironed... whoops) for the back drop of the shot.

 I really like this camera affect that adds a boarder around the bear. It really draws you into the bear and makes the red heart pop. I think I'll be using this affect more and more.

 No camera effects on these two. One with heart and one without.

Finally a photo without the heart and with the boarder. This is my favourite photo:)

In other news I was asked via my etsy shop if I would make one of my chunky money amigurumis for a lady who couldn't crochet. I am always happy yo do this so the requested monkey with an additional eye patch (I don't ask questions, you want a monkey with an eye patch you got it) was lovingly made and posted off.

Today I got this lovely message from Natasha who commissioned him

"Thank you so much for making the monkey.
Myself and my fiancé collect handmade monkeys which we have created for important moments in our life( they then travel the world with us) the little monkey you made was to celebrate our wedding next month( hence the colour) and the patch was because 2 weeks ago my fiancé was rushed into hospital with an abscess on his brain that very nearly killed him, he pulled through but his sight was affected so he has to wear a patch until it recovers. I gave him the monkey yesterday and he loves him- he's now joined our 5 other monkeys and will be off on his travels with us soon.Thank you again. Have left you feedback "

How lovely is that.
 Its wonderful to think that one of my silly creations will be a treasured part of their family :)

Natasha and her hubby are going to send me some pics of the (nameless at the mo) monkey with his new friends so I share them with you all when.

Now its handmade Monday time which means cup of tea and a blog hop :)

What a hoot

A few months ago I was lucky enough to get my first magazine cover.

 These owls have been really popular. I have had some wonderful feedback and seen some lovely pictures of your makes. I will be adding a "Your makes" gallery to the blog soon so if you have made anything for any of my patterns send me a photo via amigurumi barmys facebook page and I'll add your photo to the gallery.
 I have had a lot of people saying how much the like the owls but they can't crochet. Thankfully quite a few people have been inspired to learn to crochet but I know this isn't the option for everyone. I have had a bit of spare time this week so I've putting together some sets of 3 owls. These will be for sale in my etsy shop for a limited time.

 These sets will include 1 big, 1 medium and 1 small owl. Each with hand embroidered felt eyes. These are sold as collectible dolls and are not toys for small children.
 Set one teal, red and yellow

 Set 2 pink, blue and lilac

Set 3 green, bright blue and pale blue.

I won't be making many of these sets so if you want one you need to grab them while you can.

I also had time to make one for myself

I'm just in time for handmade Monday to I'll go add my linky now :)

Crochet dolls

Yesterday I posted off a set of dolls for a magazine project. I was very sad to see them go as one of them is, I think, the cutest doll I've made yet. So cute that I kept picking him out of my work bag just to look at and hold. It'll be a couple of months till you get to see him in print but when you do I hope you agree with me.

Anyhoo. With that in mind I have been inspired start a major project and write lots of patterns for diffrent dolls.

I have a good base pattern that I created for the trick or treat dolls.

With adaptation this should work for a range of cute dolls. I'm going to experiment with different ways of doing hair and clothing too and if works out I'll put some tutorials up on the blog so you can follow my progress.

I'm gonna try and keep the blog updated more often as I work on this project so you'll all be able to join in the fun.

I have also started a pinterst board for inspiration. Anyone who wants to add to board, message me your email and I'll send you an invite :)

So what should I make first Girl or boy?

Craftseller geisha girls

Now the magazine has hit the shops I can finally share with you one of my favourite projects to date.

These Geisha girls were a project from craftseller magazine and as soon as I got the email I knew they were gonna be great fun to create.

They wanted 6 geisha girls- very pretty with lots of detail. This was the first sketch I did, but before this sketch there was a lot of working out to be done. I had to get 6 girls with 3 different hair colours, 3 different styles, 6 different symbols, 6 dress colours and 6 contrast colours and not clash or double up on any colour combination. I have a wonderful graph that I worked it all out on but at the mo I can't find a picture of it. It would probably look like gibberish to anyone else anyway.

The pattern was the next part it needed to be simple enough to not put off anyone new to crochet off and fun (I had to repeat it 6 times after all). With a bit of playing around with the maths I had a pattern that fit the bill.

 The first one I made was ginger like me. This photo shows the original wig that was changed so it would come down more on the face so they looked more cute

The second picture shows the positioning of the obi at the back of the dress.

 Here they are all together. The best part of making these girls is being able to go to town the detail in the hair and on the dress. I used buttons, embroidery, felt, ribbons, beads, sequins and even an old earring. It was one of these great stash raiding party's where you get to use all those things you been saving "just in case" :)

It had been hinted that these were for the cover of Craftseller but I didn't know for sure till my mum called me very excited when her subscription copy arrived. I get a very proud feeling seeing these girls in the magazine. They were a lovely project and I hope they inspire others to pick up a hook and get crocheting. Me I'll be baking the Chelsea buns in this issue as they look yummy and I may even get my knitting needles out and have a go at Tracy Todhunters knitted shawl or I might just try and crochet some shawls and cover ups as this good weather can't last forever.

I've missed a few weeks but I'm linking in with handmade Monday over at handmade harbour. Why not head over there too :)

Magazine work

The week seem to have flown by since my last blog post. The weather has been lovely and crocheting and warm days do not go together well.

I do have some things to share I've had a few more patterns published in magazine.

 This photo won't turn the right way round no matter what I do.

First up in last month copy of Inside crochet magazine I had two patterns, My lovely Walter the whale and my cotton wash mitts.

 This magazine will still be available on back order if you want to get hold of it.

 Next up in the third of the new look Craftseller are a pattern you haven't seen from me before. These little amigurumi dogs are a fun if a bit fiddly pattern and can be made in any colour to match your family pet or for custom orders.

 These dogs are based on our old family dog Judy and a Dalmatian and a pug.

 I love to see my work in magazines and one of the great things about it is seeing how the professionals photo my work. They have really made these dogs come alive. This double page spread from Inside crochet below is one of my favourite of my work.

 Not amigurumi but these patterns for  a heart bag charm and oak necklace use the same stitches. I really enjoy making beautiful crochet jewellery and seeing these photos in print  really inspire me to get a hook in my hand and make more.

In other news I have a new love in my life. After 2 years it was finally time for a mobile upgrade. My is the samsung galaxy mega, it is a big one, more a tablet than a phone but its fab. I can not totally run the business on the go so hopefully you won't have to wait a month for my next update :)

Happy crocheting everyone x