Edward's Crochet Imaginarium

I am very excited to have been asked by Pavilion Books to join in the blog tour for the latest in the Edward's Menagerie book series from Kerry Lord of Toft. Yesterday you heard from Sarah of Crafts from The Cwtch and tomorrow I hand over to Natasja from Crochetime. You can see the beginnings of her monster from the book over on her Instagram account and I for one can't wait to see how it turns out! 

The Menagerie's distinctive designs and aesthetic appeal to me and I always look forward to seeing what Kerry comes up with next. Once, when editing Inside Crochet magazine, I even had the chance to request an exclusive animal to be designed by Kerry for the publication - the result was an adorable Hedgehog called Francis.

Edward's Crochet Imaginarium is a diversion from the usual themes in the series as it is a collection of mythical animals - or rather monsters - as opposed to the usual critters which have generally been based on actual living (and extinct!) birds and mammals. It is also published in a rather unusual and extremely entertaining flipbook format. Kerry's books have always included an interactive element that was mainly aimed at children, allowing them to pick and choose their favourite characters, while the basic shapes of the animals remained fairly simple and similar and therefore easy for the maker to create. The Imaginarium takes things one step further by allowing you to create your own unique character from a myriad of different design elements - there are supposedly over a million variations, meaning practically limitless appeal! 
The spiral bound, flip book format is so gorgeous and engaging that my daughter read it for ages by herself, treating it like one of her picture books. The reader is actively encouraged to construct their own monster using the well-loved split-page layout familiar from a multitude of children's books, but something that I can't recall seeing in a craft book before. This is a great tool for those crafters who are a little scared to stray far from the design of the pattern they are making - it is very common for knitters and crocheters to want to make a pattern exactly as the one on the page, down to the yarn type and colour as they are unsure whether the finished result will be successful. This book doesn't give any single pattern for one creature at all, but simply the 'recipe' for a smattering of different body parts that can be used in different ways, actively encouraging you to play with body shape, limbs, hair, colours, embellishment and placement of the appendages to create a unique personality, suitable for the monster's new owner.

If you are still a little apprehensive at starting from scratch, there is a handy gallery of sample monsters, which is actually where my littlun started her design process. I was quite surprised that she loved Bella, as she isn't the 'pinkest' of little girls, but she liked Bella's long hair and horn mix (as did mummy!) and we tweaked her limbs and added in some other colours and design elements to make Bella just right for her new playmate.
Kerry suggests in the book drawing out the basic shape of the monster and then letting the child you are making for colour it in, which we loved the idea of. This resulted in the addition of a couple of other colours and a whole lot of stripes, which both of us are partial to...

When the yarn arrived, I was glad to find that the colours are bright and clean and the pink was a very pretty shade on the right side of coral - I think I have said before, I am not much of a pink lover to say the least! It is also really lovely to use. I have never used the coloured yarns before, only the naturals and it is a really nice experience to work in technicolour in such a lovely alpaca yarn.
There is only one point that I found a little clunky with this book. As one toy can be a mixture of many patterns, even though every effort has been made to make everything clear for the reader, it can get a little confusing skipping around the book, especially if you make the decision to add more elements to your design. I would suggest writing out your selected pattern mixture before you begin, so you don't have to keep flipping pages and referring to different sections of the book with your crochet in your hands.

Having said this, the project I am currently working on is really fun, and very simple once you have worked out the pattern. I have especially enjoyed the collaboration with my daughter on this - she really feels involved in the whole process as she often gets frustrated that she cannot yet crochet and help me out! She has also been hovering over my shoulder as I make Bella, getting more excited as each element becomes recognisable. 
Tune back in soon as I will be revealing the completed character as soon as she is finished.

Those kind folk over at Pavilion books have also given me one copy of this lovely book to give away, so if you are as excited about this new book as I am, please leave a comment below or on my Instagram feed under the relevant comp post to have a chance to win - comment on both for an extra entry! *

 * Competition closes at midnight on Wednesday 14th September. Entries from the UK only please, sorry! Prizes are as offered and are non-transferable, non-refundable, non-changeable. No cash alternatives are available. Only one entry for website and one for Instagram is permitted per person and the editor's decision is final. Entries received after the closing date of the promotion will not be considered. No responsibility is taken for entries lost or delayed, by way of technical errors including malfunctions via the website. The winner will be drawn at random. No correspondence will be entered into. The winner will be notified within 28 days of the closing date. Unless specified otherwise, if a prize remains unclaimed for six months it will not be awarded, provided reasonable attempts have been made to contact the winner using the contact details supplied.
Please note that the publisher provided the book for review and the competition prize and Toft provided the yarn to make Bella but I have received no other reimbursement for the review and all views are my own.

lush, plush hooks

p-LUSH hook in action

Belinda Harris-Reid and Rachel Vowles are the two very driven women behind the upcoming p-LUSH fibre festival and they recently very kindly sent me a rather red p-LUSH hook to play with. The hooks  are being sold in aid of Target Ovarian Cancer , the chosen charity of the festival. The p-LUSH festival will be held on the 27th and 28th of March 2015 in the Ricoh Arena, Coventry and looks to be a rather different sort of fibre fair. Focussing not only on fibre but also craft, design, art, upcycling and even the biggest alpaca event in Europe - there will be hundreds of alpacas roaming around to admire! There are also some rather wonderful looking workshops to sign up for. I fancy making the alpaca birds, while if you haven't tried Tunisian Crochet before, the talented Helen Jordan should be your ultimate guide.

I first heard about the festival, the hooks and the Target ovarian Cancer appeal through Rachel. She is a brilliant technical craft editor - you can find out more about her work in a great interview with Emma Varnam.

Rachel and I have worked together on a myriad of publishing projects now, but we mainly collaborate on Inside Crochet (in fact there is a very lovely interview with her in the current issue 63). She also has an amazing story to share about her own encounter with ovarian cancer, you can read more about her astonishing tale on the p-LUSH blog here. Please do take the time to read this post, as Rachel is doing the 50s Challenge - trying to tell at least 50 people about the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer (which she outlines in the post) as only 3% of women feel they can confidently name a symptom. I was shocked by the fact that many women get repeatedly misdiagnosed with IBS as the symptoms are so similar.

Anyway, onto the hooks! I might have mentioned before that I am not a lover of wooden crochet hooks, and so my heart did sink a little when I picked it up, as I wasn't sure I would like using these. Usually, I find that wood grips my yarn and loops too tightly, making it a pain for me to crochet. However, the hooks are made of beechwood, which is then painted red, and this shiny surface was a smooth joy to hook with. 
Another gripe with wooden hooks is usually that the hook is usually not 'hooked' enough, making it hard to grab the yarn, and getting caught when coming through the stitches. The hook on the p-LUSH hooks, I am pleased to report, is very well defined and crisp, meaning that my stitches were flying off the hook! Luckily the girls sent me a 4mm hook because, as we all know, you can never have enough 4mm hooks and I will definitely be using this one again! 

p-lush. Lush

The range of notions does not stop at hooks - if you are a knitter, they are also selling knitting needles in the same pretty red painted beechwood and £2 from every purchase goes to the ovarian cancer charity. If you do buy a hook or some needles, p-LUSH is asking that you then head to social media and post a picture of them in use with the lushplush and plushbritish hashtags to spread the word. Even if you don't knit or crochet, you can also donate by visiting Rachel's Just Giving page - find the link on the p-LUSH blog.