Apple for Teacher

 There is only a week left of school which will mean my baby has finished a whole year in reception. Where does the time fly?! I have also been teaching her to knit and so we are making something together for her lovely teacher, more about all that later. If you want to make something special for your little one's teacher this year, then how about an archetypal Apple for Teacher? I have just published this little pattern over on Love Crochet and the little amigurumi toy would make the perfect gift for a cherished teacher.

 All images courtesy of Kirsten Mavric, styling by me.

Two little birdies

Top of my to-do list at the moment is to pop up all my recent patterns onto Lovecrochet and last week I managed to upload these adorable two little birdies patterns. Originally made in Paintbox DK cotton (robin) and Scheepjes cotton (blue tit) the pattern is relatively easy yet fun to hook.

Head on over to my designer page and you can find the pattern for both this little blue tit and robin red breast in one download!

Robin image copywrite Claire Montgomerie, Blue Tit image copywrite Kirsten Mavric

The Cold Never Bothered Me Anyway

Probably some of the most common questions I am asked when people find out what I do for a living have something to do with how much knitting and crochet I do for my daughter. No doubt when asking, they have pictures of a poor little urchin bundled from head to toe in mismatching handmade items...if only!

Usually my poor little one has to make do with things I have made for books or magazines but luckily she usually loves them. It warms my heart to know that she still adores anything that mummy knits her. Her current favourite is this simple balaclava from my book Knitting for Children, which sat in the cupboard for about 7 years waiting for the day it would fit a child of my own. I knew that I had to make her something that was just hers, designed with her in mind and that she would love regardless of whether I had made it.

Finally, a couple of months before her third birthday, I decided that I would make her something for her gift, and settled on some toys inspired by a film that she loved. To try to illustrate just how little leisure craft time I have, I finally finished them in February of this year. Just one year and 5 months after her third birthday, so just a tad late! 

Luckily, it was worth the wait, because although she is less obsessed with the film these days, she still knows all the words to the songs and dresses up as the characters. Incase you haven't guessed, the film is a certain animated and very cold story of sister princesses! I have always thought that the little rag dolls the sisters own as children were very cute (if you haven't spotted them, keep an eye out in the Do You Want to Build A Snowman song!) These cuties are my crochet take on their dolls. 

Of course, the ridiculous length of time this project took wasn't helped by the fact I wanted to make the dolls underwear so they were decent, along with removable dresses, not to mention a full head of yarn hair to plait and style, which I painstakingly hooked into their heads one thread at a time – I used a whole ball of Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino for each doll!

Fortunately, the toys have passed muster with the littlun; she took them both to bed with her on the first night I gave them to her and enjoys dressing them and styling their hair as well as pushing them in her buggy. Huge sigh of relief!

I will get round to writing up a pattern for the basic doll and dress so that you can make your own versions and customise them. I find the finished toys so lovely, that I keep thinking of what other characters I could make. Littlun has started watching Brave again, to my delight, so I may have to find time to make a Merida, although I must admit that the thought of all that hair is making me have second thoughts....

Happy Tenth Birthday

It is a very special day today. One of my beautiful nephews (I have four, all equally as gorgeous!) has a momentous birthday. Today he turns ten. It is extra momentous to me as it made me realise that it is ten years since I was commissioned to write my first book, Easy Baby Knits. How do I know this? Because little Finley, who is not so little today, was a beautiful baby model for it. Only six months old at the time of the photoshoot and with the brightest smile you have ever seen. All the people at the shoot commented on what a happy baby he was and said that the old adage 'Never Work with Children...' definitely didn't apply to him! Hence, there is quite a lot of him in the book!
Anyway, in a lovely coincidence, nine years after it was finally released in 2007, Easy Baby Knits has just excitingly been reprinted with a fresh new cover. And guess who the new cover model is? My gorgeous Finley. Happy Birthday beautiful boy and thank you my lovely for being the smiliest model I ever did see.