World Book Day

Today I sent off a little mini Alice in Wonderland to school for World Book Day. I am quite proud of the make do and mend style costume (inspired by the Mary Blair designs for the Disney film rather than the original book!) The 'Alice' band is crocheted and the apron was cut and sewn from a cheap cotton pillowcase. 

If you want to have a go at the hairband - simply use any DK weight yarn, make 5ch, then work 1dc in 2nd chain from hook and each chain to end. Carry on working straight in rows on these 4 double crochet until band is desired length around head, fasten two ends into a ring by working a slip stitch join.
Then work another strip in the same way of approximately 20cm long. Make two loops with this strip and sew or slip stitch join in place on top of head band. Weave in all ends and wear proudly!

Periwinkle Necklace

image by Britt Spring

Another new pattern up on the Love Crochet site - Periwinkle necklaces, simple and addictive! Easy to customise to your own desired length and they look fabulous in lots of different weights of yarn. This yarn is Wendy Supreme Cotton 4ply which is lovely for crocheting with - strong and smooth. 

image by Britt Spring

A little project for the weekend...?!

Daisy Chain Necklace

Another pattern up on the Love Knitting and Love Crochet sites this week is this pretty Daisy Chain Necklace. It is a really versatile project - I have already made necklaces, garlands and some pretty flower clips for my littlun to wear in her hair using these flowers and each project (especially the hairclips!) receive plenty of admiring comments. The chain is so easily customisable to any desired length, and you can play with the yarn weights used to create differently sized daisies. 
It is very quick to hook and the pattern is written for both UK and US crocheters.

 

All images by Kirsten Mavric

New Patterns

Image Britt Spring

You will be pleased to hear that I am fulfilling my unofficial New Years Resolution and finally getting organised! Currently I am going through my back catalogue of patterns published in magazines with an eye to producing them as downloadable single patterns. First up on Love Knitting is Molly, one of my favourite designs, a bold hat with colourwork made from scallop stitches a-topped with a cute pom. It is made with the lovely Jamiesons Spindrift yarn, but it is held double and crocheted with a 4.5mm hook, so a DK to Aran weight yarn held singly will work perfectly. And just in time for a chilly end to February!

Image Britt Spring

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.

Baby Shower

Last weekend I had the pleasure of bringing the knit into a beautiful baby shower for one of my oldest and best friends. It reminded me that I never posted about this gorgeous, summery baby shower of another childhood friend and as the weather is so bloomin' cold at the moment, it is the perfect time to draw a little warmth from the sunshine in these pictures!
My beautiful sister made the amazing cakes and threw the party to surprise her best friend, Dominique. One of the things I so loved about bringing this blanket together is that for the first time since I have been making baby shower blankets the baby's dad also knit a square. He knit as a child, and as dad to four boys (the bump is the fourth!) getting back into it is a great example to set. Knitting and crochet are categorically not reserved just for women, but some of the comments I get these days seem to suggest that a lot of folk now believe that is true, so anything that goes against that stereotype is fabulous. Anyway, before I get too high on my horse, I have to say that I love how this blanket turned out.

The colours chosen were bright, so I made some floral granny squares to make use of the gorgeous shades. The squares were also all really different sizes, so I decided to work a crochet granny edge around each of the squares - both knit and crochet - to make it easier to join them and I love the final effect! Gorgeous Rocco - the babe born shortly after this shower - is now one (look how behind I am at this posting lark!) and hopefully still using his beautiful blankie.

Resolutions

 

I am probably giving myself too many resolutions to achieve this year, but one I really want to try to keep is to take time out to read more. Reading used to be my biggest passion and how I unwound. Knitting and crochet became my go-to relaxation activity many years ago now and I want to redress the balance somewhat. Therefore, one of my newest designs for Inside Crochet - a bookmark - is hopefully going to be put to good use! It is in issue 73, out now in all good newsagents with a glorious granny cluster cardigan by Catherine Waterfield on the front cover, that I hope I eventually get the time to make for myself! 

If you don't usually read Inside Crochet, do go and search out this issue - I love so many of the projects inside this month, the colours and textures are beautiful, so it's well worth a flick through.

Bookmark images by Leanne Jade Photography