Crochet – Page 52 – Emma Varnam’s blog

Christmas idea and the trash can pin cushion…

My goodness it has been a busy week! But firstly ‘thank you’ to all of you who have been so supportive, I am really grateful. I wanted to show you this most wonderful biscuit tin which spoke to me from the shelves of my local M & S. The British Shopping Institution which is Marks & Spenser have done some wonderful packaging in the last few years. They trawled their archive and re-used many of their vintage labels and have also been commissioning up and coming graphic artists to produce ‘new classics’. I so adore this telephone box and think it is a great Christmas gift. Little B has already commandeered one that I bought for a friend. They have also produced a wonderful double decker bus. If you have a pal who loves their vintage finds or is a graphic maven, then this is a perfect pressie!

Secondly, you might have thought I have gone a bit quiet on the crochet front. Well rest assured little secret projects have been evolving, I just can’t share them with you yet. But if I use the word ‘festive’ you will understand my meaning.

I was chatting with a friend of mine, who is a wonderful cross stitcher and I glanced across her desk. There, like a little jewel was a ‘biscornu’ pin cushion. Like a magpie, I picked it up and had to inspect it in full detail. I think the biscornu had been hugely popular in the stitching world for a couple of years. Good examples are found here.

It got the old grey cells working, and I wondered if you could use the same principle to make a crochet floor cushion…. Well let’s just say, not all my little schemes go to plan and my first example was thrown with quite severe force into the bin. On Tuesday, my friend Ems came and sat in my crochet chair and glanced over to the bin. She fished it out and said ‘What’s this? You can’t throw that away! That makes me feel very sad, will you finish it?. So I did.

I am not totally finished with the concept yet, but it is such an intriguing shape that something must be done. If you find better examples I would love to see them. Hope you have the most wonderful weekend.

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Going Local – Crafty Fun

I wanted to focus on the local today. Over the past week I realised there were a number or really fantastic crafty events going on that I didn’t want to not mention them.

Firstly a friend pointed out that the Manchester Science Festival was holding a really great event – Knit a Galaxy – I think this will be great fun and I might take Little B along to see what he thinks about it. Looking at the programme there appears to be lots of crafty events, and I just love the tie between art and science. So if this intrigues you or your little ones, please do have a look at the website.

Next up the utterly awesome Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, put this in your diary… the most wonderful opportunity to get inspired, buy original work and chat the really talented makers. The fair runs in the very trendy Spinningfields area from 20 – 23 October 2011

My lovely friend Katie K is a wonderful vintage fashion connoisseur and she is orgainsing a Vintage fashion and Craft Fair, I am valiently trying to work on a few trinkets to sell. But if you are in the area it is worth popping in to browse stalls, try on outfits and meet with friends over a cup of tea, slice of cake and a chin-wag. The fair takes place at Emmanuel Hall, behind Didsbury Library on Barlow Moor Road, Didsbury Village on Saturday 29 October from 10 am – 4 pm. Entrance is £2 per person and children under 12 go free. Excellent Fun.

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Autumn Colour – Pumpkin

Ok, so I have a bit of a pumpkin vibe going on at the moment…

Often there are little projects which float about in my head, they don’t even get written down in a list or drawn on the back of an envelope. After making the pumpkin teacosy, this little chap was a natural extension. Firstly it began as a pin cushion and then I realised that it would make a lovely place setting for a Harvest/Thanksgiving supper.

If you wanted to give the pumpkin more character then the addition of some beads and a little embroidered mouth would be pretty easy. The pattern is pretty simple and a really good starter for any amigurumi fan. Feel free to download the pattern here for free

I must however mention that my friend Jonathan pointed out very gracefully that I had declared my teacosy pumpkin to be a vegetable. But alas my friends it is a fruit… because of the seeds! He made me laugh out loud sending me this….

“Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is leaving it out of the fruit salad!”

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Autumn Colour – Pumpkin Cosy

Isn’t it funny that although many people don’t work in academic years, the start of a new school/college term has a sense of new beginnings. It makes me want to get new stationary, buy new tights and think about wonderful autumn knitting.

So it was the on-set of the Autumn term that made me think of little fun autumn projects. I was also inspired by the blog of Emma Lamb to get involved in the Celebrate Color blog event. The idea is about celebrating all things autumnal through crafting. If you would like to get involved and share what you have made which has an autumn feel, please have a look at Emma Lamb’s blog or visit the really inspiring Celebrate Color page.

Now a couple for a couple of months I have been happily making some teacosies using the Ruth Cross design from Purls of Wisdom. All the time there has been a nagging feeling in my head, ‘this would make a fabulous…..’ Then it came to me, Pumpkin! So a few hours later, with some zesty orange and a little green I-cord, the Pumpkin Cosy appeared. The most fun is making those little tendrils on the top. They are easy to do with a crochet hook and they certainly make finish off the chubby vegetable. Yummy! Now I am thinking of pumpkin soup and evenings by the fire – Oh and something warm and snuggly cast on the needles.

So many of you ask me for the pattern for this cosy – but I am afraid I don’t feel able to write this one for you. The basic pattern is taken from the Book by Jenny Lord, Purls of Wisdom. As a designer myself I feel strongly that it is important that the originator of the design should get the credit. I just made an icord top in green and a crochet spiral which you can find easily how to make on the web – sorry to disappoint.

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Cute Show and Tell

Now here is a little bit of ‘Cute Show and Tell’. Back in January I told you about an expectant Mummy I know, who wanted to make a crochet blanket for her little one, but had run out of time before the little one arrived. Just before she went on maternity leave I taught her the basics of crochet and to make sure she had a bit of crochet to keep her warm feeding in the middle of the night I made her the Wavy Waiting Blanket and Mummy Square Cushion

Well here is the gorgeous bundle we were waiting for. How cute is this little one? He is covered by another fabulous creation by his proud Mummy – a gorgeous Granny Square Blanket! It makes me beam with excitement.

Below is another cute bundle. This gorgeous little pup is full of character and joy. The little rabbit is also adorable and made by my dear friend J, but apparently puppy is less impressed with the snuggly rival. I don’t think it will be long before little rabbit finds its way into the puppy’s bed.

There is nothing better than seeing good friends discovering and enjoying a hobby which you love. So I wanted to share the love with you!

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Granny Skirt – Granny never looked so good.

The really great thing about the new Inside Crochet Magazine blog is that you can view the patterns featured in the next month’s magazine, before it even hits the newsagents. As a designer this is doubly exciting. I get to see how my hookery will be featured way before I get my sticky mits on the paper copy. I was really excited to see this photo of my Granny Skirt which is featured in Issue 22.

When I designed Granny Skirt, Claire the Editor was kind enough to let me make it in black. You might have noticed that whilst most of us wear quite a lot of black or navy for both flattering and practical reasons, very few knitting and crochet magazines feature patterns in those colours. I think mostly it because the dark colours are fiendishly hard to photograph well, it is hard to get the definition of the stitch without washing the whole image in a flash. But I have to say that the photos in Inside Crochet are really very good. When I design something I have in mind the outfit would put together with the garment. I try REALLY hard to design things that I actually want to wear and are practical. This does mean that sometimes I imagine myself to be taller and of a slimmer shape than I actually am, but generally I hope to be wearing the design myself.

So to cut a long story short, I really wanted to Granny Skirt to be in a practical black colour. The idea is that you would wear a contrasting colour slip underneath or perhaps a silky black slip for evening. I imagine it would be teamed with black boots and a denim jacket, an unfussy top (as in the magazine photo), so that the skirt did all the talking.

A couple of years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of wearing a crochet skirt… but this season is crochet season and I can’t wait to pop it on. I have seen a number of designs which use an i-cord to gather the skirt at the waist. However I have put an elasticated waist in this design, to ensure I cover my modesty. Otherwise knowing me I would stand up and find that the I-cord had worked loose to leave me standing in my underwear – you see practical and polite!

Anyway I hope you like it, x

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Cutie Hootie Owl – Back to School Toy

The summer holidays are quickly coming to an end. It occurred to me yesterday that going back to school for a new year is both exciting and a little nerve wracking. I wanted to make Little B something he could pop in his pocket and find in an absent moment for reassurance.

It was actually Little B who named him ‘Cutie Hootie Owl’, genius. If you are an amigurumi fan, this a a quick make. It is a 3D adaptation of my Oliver Owl Keyring. I have put little beads in the base to make him perch nicely on a desk. I think he would look very jaunty in stripes as well.

But the most important thing is that Cutie Hootie Owl has the facility to pop a quick we note under his arm. A little word of encouragement to reassure the most nervous, new term student. Hope you like him. If you would like to make him yourself, please download the pattern for free.

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Show and tell

Firstly thank you to all my lovely friends who sent me a postcard recently in response to my blog post, really lovely. Most of these lovely cards have found their way onto to the pin board for inspiration. Secondly the lovely Mrs J, spotted this fab bag and thought of me and my Tunnock Tea Cake obsession. I love it! I think might become the new knitting bag.

Now I felt a little celebratory ‘show and tell’ was in order. A couple of people have emailed me photos of their finished projects, which is so exciting. I met a really lovely lady only a couple of weeks ago at a party and we started talking about knitting/crochet (can you imagine how rock and roll my life is?) She wanted to make a couple of teacosies as Christmas presents and another friend interjected and said she should use my cable pattern. Well shockingly this photo arrived. Really nice. I especially like the cute small one.

Finally I taught my friend J to knit in March. By May she had made all these things, and most of the items are from her own design

In May she decided she wanted to learn to crochet. So in one evening I showed her how to crochet. My goodness who knew that quite so much speed and skill could be achieved. This is a laptop cover and phone cover of her own design, using Drops Cotton and 3mm needle. Fairly intricate stuff. She was inspired to use colours she had see on her holiday in Croatia. How cool is that! I take no credit for the teaching. J has that wonderful ‘no fear’ style. It’s like watching someone play jazz piano through intuition. Very cool.

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Tis the season to be…Stash Busting

If you are not a knitter/crafter you will be horrified by this fact. Now is the time when people in the crafty way begin their…(sssshhh say it very quietly) Christmas gift projects. I know how dreadful! Can you really believe it? But it is true.

A friend of mine, Mrs McD has already begun. She has some super ideas. I know there are others out there too. I might post a few photos of projects completed by visitors to the blog using my patterns.

Now a lovely friend of mine Katie K, runs some very successful vintage and craft fairs. She put a call out to stall holders in my local area to say that she was planning an event in October. I got back to her immediately and said. ‘I won’t be able to do a stall of my own, as I don’t think I have the time at the moment’. It was like a little secret challenge to myself.

Now my mind can’t stop racing with little trinkety stuff to fill up the Christmas stocking. So first up.

I have been swatching some crochet granny motifs. Rather than put them in the bin or allow them to collect dust. I made this one into a rather jaunty pin cushion.

Firstly I marked out two squares of felt slightly bigger than the crochet square and cut the edges with pinking shears.

Then I tacked the motif to the felt using co-ordinating cotton.

I then sewed round the edges of the square on the sewing machine, leaving a small hole for the stuffing. This prototype was not particularly neat.

Finally taadahh! I am loving pin cushions at the moment, so much handier than racing round a little tin to pick up a pin.

I think more will follow to add to my accumulating stock for the Craft Fair. Lets hope they get snapped up, otherwise friends and family might find them in their stocking.

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