Brian the Sheep!

Brian the sheep, (named by Dave because he thought he looked like Brian from the "Go Compare" adverts) is the biggest amigurumi I've ever made. I know that usually amigurumi are small but I've found that people seem to like to order things that are more standard cuddly toy size.

Brian was a (very belated by the time I finished) Mother's Day present for my lovely mum. She has always been very encouraging of my crocheting. More so since I've moved into my own house and no longer leave bits of yarn all over her carpet!

I had a go at making Stephanie at All About Ami's Lambert pattern, The only fluffy yarn I had was purple (didn't like working with it at all) and my sheep ended up looking like a lion/monkey hybrid.

Slightly disheartened I decided to use the Stephanie's pattern as a basis to make a larger sheep and so Brian was made.

I wrote out a basic pattern which was altered several times while I was making it. I didn't actually intend for him to end up so big (he is about 14 inches tall now he's finished!) but by the time I realised I was too far in.

My mum loved him and he has pride of place on top of a unit in their living room.

I've mentioned before that I crochet at work, and many people saw parts of Brian in the making so once he was actually finished he was taken on a tour round the office for people to see.

I will admit I did have another reason to make Brian, he was a trial run. I have several work friends who have relatives who are having children this year (the year of the sheep) and have ordered sheep off me as gifts. One the same size of Brian and one is smaller with a pink face because they know the baby is a little girl (not sure what the feminine version of Brian is? Brianita?).

Lots of happy sheep crocheting to come!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend

xxx

BEDM - Day One - Introduce yourself

So true to form, just like last year I am a day later with the first Blog Every Day in May post. Although last year it slipped my mind and this year I was doing the very important job of dying my hair (it was so long overdue).

I'm going to use this opportunity to re-introduce myself for anyone new who might stumble upon my crafty ramblings. My name is Charlotte, I'm 24 and I live in Crewe, its in the most Southern part of Cheshire which makes it (just) in the North West. I live with my long-term (and long-suffering) boyfriend Dave.We live in a little Victorian Cottage, which I love but it is a listed building which means no double glazing (I'm so glad summer is on its way!).

The majority of posts you'll find on my blog are about my crocheting endeavours, with  some chunks of baking and a sprinkling of my everyday life. My big passion is amigurumi, I think it's because there are no limits, you can make anything you can think of, and for someone who isn't very exciting generally,  (I'm in no way shape of form a risk taker) its nice to have an outlet.

My family and friends are all very supportive of my craft, a lot of my custom orders come through Dave and his work colleagues. In contrast to this I am very harsh on myself regarding my craft and any little mistake I find myself focusing on. This is something I am trying (and sometimes failing) to do better with.

Onto something that I haven't really shared before but may help to explain my sporadic posting. I am sick. At the moment I'm still undergoing diagnostic tests, and if they come back (in many many months time) as what the Drs are thinking, its not something that can be easily cured, and possibly something that I'll live with for the rest of my life. It's a horrible thought that I might be in this much pain forever but I'm trying not to assume the worst until every other option is exhausted.

In the mean time I am going to carry on the best I can, small steps are better than none at all.

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend, I can't wait to read the other BEDM posts!

xx

Just because I <3 pink and dinosaurs

Hot Dog Costume!

This post is about the hot dog costume I made for the crochet Dachshund that I made for my sister, he is now referred to as Lord Buttons. The pattern for Lord Buttons himself is from Voodoo Maggie's Amigurumi book so all the credit for him goes to her. Once I had made him I then made the costume design up as I went along.

The costume was made in 3 pieces, 2 "bun" pieces and the central piece which I made using the same yarn I made Lord Buttons in. The distance between his front and back legs was 4 inches, which equated to 25 stitches, so I chained 26, and then single crocheted along for 10 rows until it measured 1.5 inches in length. I then crocheted tabs on the edges so it could be buttoned up underneath. I did 9 slip stitches and then 11sc and then crocheted 3 rows of 11 stitches. Obviously I made 2 one for either side. The "sausage" was made by chaining 26 and then repeating 15 rows of 25 stitches.

I used surface crochet to add the ketchup and mustard and sewed the button on one tab and some loops to attach to the button on the other.

He's so cute!

P.s. Apologies for the overuse of "Lord Buttons" my sister would be mad if I referred to him as anything else.

November DI Craft Swap Part 2

So I'm still working on catching up with my posts from the end of last year. This post is about what I sent to Jenny at pretty column. When I found out that the theme was Woodland I messaged Hannah to ask if she would be able to let me have Jenny as my recipient because I knew what I wanted to make her because of something I'd seen on her Pintrest board.

Jenny had previously pinned some pictures of children's snoods with animal ears and said that maybe one day she would make one for herself, and I remembered this copy of Simply Crochet from September 2013 with this lovely snood pattern in it. Originally I wanted to make an Orange one as Jenny's favourite woodland animal is a fox but I could not find the yarn I wanted anywhere so decided to make a grey one instead.

Whilst I was working on this Craft Swap I ended up in hospital (an unfortunately common occurrence at the minute) and I don't like crocheting in the hospital (germs!) so I messaged Jenny to apologise that her parcel was going to be late; and I suggested that as her birthday was at the beginning of December that I would hang on to her parcel and add to it for her Birthday, and I was really happy when it got to her actually on her birthday.

So in addition to the snood, which was horrible to photograph, for a better picture go to Jenny's Instagram there's a photo of her wearing it...

I also made her a cupcake pin cushion (you can never have too many pins!)

And for the bought items I got her a fox mug and a fox notebook. 

I was so glad that Jenny liked everything I made, I think its one of the things I love most about crafting is seeing someone so happy with something that you made especially for them.

Also realised the other day that me, Jenny and Hannah were all born within 6 weeks of each other, thought that was a bit of an odd coincidence - there must have been something in the water 24 years ago haha

x

November DI Craft Swap Part 1

There will be a few catch up posts over the next few weeks, I thought about leaving them and just starting afresh but I've received some lovely things and want to share them all with you.

November's theme was Woodland and my parcel came from Anna over at teawithmissbeatrix.com

She really looked into my need for things to be useful and she did a wonderful job.

 Firstly the box everything came in was lovely (and you can never have too many boxes to put things in!)

I got a lovely postcard from Anna herself and some lovely Beatrix Potter postcards which I think I might frame, they go lovely with our little Victorian house!

Inside the box were lots of lovely things!

These lovely leaves are now hanging by my fireplace

I adore the pegs, red an white polka dots are my favourite pattern, I'm looking forward to the weather getting better so I can hang my washing out with them.

A fox rubber (which was really hard to take a photo of!)

A hedgehog button that Anna made

And then there was this...

Anna crocheted me a lanyard, and I was so happy because I have to wear a lanyard to work and now I have a lovely crochet one rather than a plain boring black one. When I wore it to work I got loads of compliments on it and a lot of people asked if I had made it, I took great pleasure in saying it was a gift.

Every month I take part I am overwhelmed by the talent and generosity of the people involved. As always a big Thank you to Hannah for organising everything! What would we do without you?

This will probably be my last post before Christmas, I'm spending tomorrow morning with my mum and sister to do our annual tradition of watching "Its a wonderful life" in our pyjamas before coming home and watching "The nightmare before Christmas" with Dave while eating obscene amounts of cheese!

I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and wish you all a fantastic New Year

xx

Amigurumi vs "mindless crochet"

Anyone who has had a little nosey on my blog will know how much I love amigurumi. Its quick, uses simple stitches and they're adorable.

Although I love it amigurumi can sometimes be quite stressful, because its not constantly the same pattern each row it requires a fair amount of attention. Sometimes after a long day at work I like to do what I call "mindless crochet", things like blankets and clothing.

This is not to say that this type of crochet doesn't require skill or concentration. I often find these projects more difficult, especially when it comes to putting them together. However they tend to have big chunks in the middle where the same pattern row is repeated over and over again. I think its quite therapeutic really.

Both these are actually for Baby Harvey, I make a lot more amigurumi than I do anything else. However I am looking forward to starting my first project using a pattern chart. One of Dave's colleagues wants a butterfly pillow, I'll keep you updated on my progress

Take Care xx

Daisy the Cow - Free Amigurumi Pattern

I'm so excited to be sharing this pattern The last one I did was back in May for Steve the Octopus. Now I present to you Daisy the Cow

I had an old school friend contact me on Facebook and asked if I could make a cow for her young son as they are his favourite, I agreed and set about designing this pattern

Anyone who has made the elephant posted on Stephanie's "All About Ami" blog will realise the pattern looks similar I loved that with the elephants the legs were crocheted straight on It's so much easier once you get your head round it!

Here's what you need to get started:

White, Black and Pink Yarn, scissors, 2.5mm crochet hook, stitch marker, yarn needle, and some eyes, I always use safety eyes on my projects so they're not accidentally pulled off.

Abbreviations used:

sc - single crochet

hdc - half double crochet

dc - double crochet

tc - triple crochet

slst - slip stitch

inc - increase

dec - decrease

The only technique used outside of these is crocheting on both sides of a chain

Body - White Yarn

Chain 9 - foundation chain

Round 1 - 7sc, 3sc in next, then working on other side of chain, 6sc, inc in last (18)

Round 2 - inc, 6sc, 3 inc, 6sc, 2 inc (24)

Round 3 - 8sc, inc, sc, inc, sc, inc, 11sc (27)

Round 4 - inc, 9sc, inc, 2sc, inc, 2sc,inc, 6sc, inc, sc, inc (33)

Round 5 - 2sc, inc, 6sc, inc, 3sc, inc, 3sc, inc, 11sc, inc. 2sc, inc (39)

Round 6 - inc, 11sc, inc, 4sc,inc,4sc, inc,8sc, inc, 3sc, inc, 3sc (45)

Round 7 - 15sc, inc, 5sc, inc, 5sc, inc, 17sc(48)

Round 8 - 2sc, inc, 14sc, inc, 6sc, inc,6sc, inc, 8sc, inc, 4sc, inc, 2sc (54)

Round 9 - 4sc, inc, 7sc, inc, 7sc, inc, 7sc, inc,17sc, inc, 5sc, inc, sc (60)

Round 10 - 6sc, inc, 8sc, inc, 8sc, inc, 8sc, inc, 18sc, inc,6sc,inc (66)

Round 11 - sc around (66)

Round 12 - inc, 17sc, inc, 9sc, inc, 9sc, inc, 11sc, inc, 7sc, inc, 7sc (72)

Round 13 - sc around (72)

Round 14 - 2sc, inc, 18sc, inc, 10sc, inc, 10sc, inc, 12sc, inc, 8sc, inc, 6sc (78)

Round 15 - sc around (78)

Round 16 - 4sc, inc, 19sc, inc,11sc, inc, 11sc, inc, 13sc, inc, 9sc, inc, 5sc (84)

Rounds 17 & 18 sc around (84)

Then the body needs to be divided for the leg chains, carrying on from the last stitch of round 18, chain 6, skip 20 stitches and then join with a slip stitch, repeat 3 times until you have 4 leg holes and a central "belly" hole

Legs - White Yarn

All the legs are crocheted the same. For the first leg you crochet can be continued from your last leg chain.

Round 1 - 20 sc of body, 6sc of leg chain (26)

Round 2 - sc around (26) 

Round 3 - 18sc, dec, 6sc (25)

Round 4 - 17sc, dec, 6sc (24)

Round 5 - (dec, 2sc)x6 (18)

Round 6 - (dec, sc) (12)

Round 7, dec around (6)

Sew closed hole.

Repeat for the other 3 legs, the start of each leg is the stitch of the body closest to the leg you've just finished. 

Head - Start in White Yarn

Chain 10 - foundation chain

Round 1 - 9sc on either side of the chain (18)

Round 2  - inc around (36)

Round 3-8 [6rounds] - sc around (36)

Change to Pink Yarn

Round 9 - inc, 5sc (42)

Round 10 - inc, 6sc (48)

Round 11 inc,7sc (54)

Round 12 inc, 8sc (60)

Round 13 &14 (60)

This is what the head will look like at this point, to make the ears of the cow you need to put some stitches between the 2 ends of the original foundation chain to pull them up.

The difference may not be that noticeable but will be once it is stuffed. At this point you also need to add on the eyes, and some french knots for nostrils if you want to add them.

Round 15 - (dec, 3sc)x12 (48)

Round 16 - (dec, 2sc)x12 (36)

Round 17 - (dec, sc)x12(24)

Stuff the head

Round 18 - dec around(12)

Round 19 - dec around (6)

If there is a small hole sew closed.

If you do not seem to have noticeable points for the ears, you can add in some stitches going from the base of the head to in between the ears to lower it.

Now you need to sew the head onto the body. As all the legs are the same it doesn't matter which way round the body is.You need to sew it so at least 1/2 the height of the head stands above the body of the cow.

Cow Splotches

These splotches can just be random patterns made in black wool. If you are making it for someone special, you could consider making some little crochet initials. Here are the ones I have used:

#1

Round 1 - 6sc in a magic circle (6)

Round 2 - inc around (12)

Round 3 - inc, sc (18)

Round 4 - inc, 2sc (24)

Round 5&6 - 5sc, 2hdc, 2dc, 4hdc, 2dc, 3slst 3hdc, slst, 2sc (24)

#2

Round 1 - 6sc in a magic circle (6)

Round 2 - inc around (12)

Round 3 - inc, sc (18)

Round 4 - inc, 2sc (24)

Round 5&6 - 5sc, 2hdc, 2dc, 8hdc, 4sc, 2hdc, sc (24)

#3

Round 1 - 6sc in a magic circle (6)

Round 2 - inc around (12)

Round 3 - inc, sc (18)

Round 4 - inc, 2sc (24)

Round 5&6 - 5slst , 10dc, 4slst,5dc (24)

#4

Chain 7 - foundation chain

Round 1 - 6sc on each side of chain(12) chain 1

Round 2 - inc around (24) chain1

Round 3&4 - 9slst, 5dc, hdc, 3slst, dc, 3tc, 2dc (24)

Sew the splotches wherever you want on the cow body/legs

Tail

If you want to add a tail to your to your cow (not recommended if its being given to a child), cut 4 pieces of yarn twice the length you want the tail to be, mine were 6 inches. Fold them in half and using your crochet hook pull the folded end through the stitch were you want the tail to start

Then pull the loose ends through the loop sticking out to form the knot

Then tie the strands together towards the ends to form  a tuft

Stuff the body making sure you put enough stuffing into the legs.

Last Bit!

Belly

The colour used for this is down to preference, you can use white, but I chose to use pink, in place of adding any udders

Round 1 - 6sc in a magic circle (6)

Round 2 - inc around (12)

Round 3 - inc, sc (18)

Round 4 - inc, 2sc (24)

The sew into the gap between the legs, this is also 24 stitches so it should fit perfectly

And its finished!

I'd love to know and see pictures if anyone makes a Daisy of their own 

I'm on Instagram and Twitter as @craftycharlotte 

xx

Please feel free to use this pattern to make your own cow(s), but please do not sell the pattern or anything created from it (special circumstances will be considered, please contact me). Please also do not post this pattern anywhere else, if you want to share it please provide a link back to this site.Thanks

September DI Craft Swap - Post 2

My Craft Swap arrived!!!

The postman tried to deliver it on Friday (the one day I wasn't at home for the post!) so I went to the sorting office before work today. The first thing I noticed when I picked it up was that it was heavier than I expected, and then, when I was walking up the road, decided I could feel what I thought was a book. Then I was super excited!

And I was right!

Sarah-Jane has sent me a copy of "Cute Little Gifts to Crochet". I love to crochet books! (and I have a lot!) I draw a lot of inspiration from them and find they often have stitches and techniques that I've never heard before!

The book is lovely, full of pictures and diagrams to help with making the amigurumi. It's divided into chapters, one of which is based on the holidays we celebrate. And then I was even more super excited - Christmas Crochet! Just the other day my mum was asking me to make her a Christmas tree decoration for her tree this year and now I have a pattern.

The second part was the handmade part and Sarah-Jane has made me this really cute picture holder - the base is a camera with a face!

I love inanimate objects with faces! They're just so cute! This is going to take pride of place on my desk at work when I put a photo in it

I've had a great time taking part in the Craft Swap and I can't wait until next months Woodland theme swap

If anyone wants to join in contact Hannah

Have a lovely weekend x