Bits of this and bits of that

I have definitely got my creative mojo back and I am sure that it is linked to the return of some sunshine. I am not conscious of being affected by winter time, but as we move into Spring, I do feel my spirits rise and my sense of optimism returning.

This has all been manifested in my bobbing around from one thing to another. Similarly, this post is all over the place as I have lots to tell you.

I loved my fox so much, I have started on another. Here is his green, Slytherin vest.

A lovely friend came round for coffee and cake on Sunday and ordered 3 toys for a little girl, her younger brother and their eagerly awaited new baby sister. This is an exciting project as I was just
told their preferred colours and was given free range. I have started with a dog for the little boy.
It will have pale blue ears like the muzzle and fabric patches on his feet. I had forgotten how quick crochet is, compared to knitting.

I have ordered yarn in the same range for the other toys. I am using the same basic pattern but making a blue bunny for the little girl and a pink teddy for her baby sister. I will post photos when I get the yarn and when the toys are made. Below are photos of some charity knitting I have done from the same King Cole yarn.

I LOVE working with baby yarn and pastel colours. Somehow it always feels so clean and so hopeful. Last week, on a whim and because I could not face knitting another hat, I played around with some pastel colours. These are the Easter eggs I made:

The yarn ids among you will see that my favourite is Hayfield baby yarn.  The mixture of acrylic and nylon makes it so soft (and easy to care for!)

I also made a little bird using an Attic 24 pattern.

As you can see, they are designed to be hung up.

I am going to rope Fin and Atos in to find some suitable branches from which to display them. I think that, along with some daffodils, they will make a pretty Easter decoration.

Also last week, I was feeling low and decided to indulge myself. Something totally frivolous, totally for me. So my trusty iPad and my even trustier PayPal account came into play.

Look at what arrived from Susan at Mary Jane's Tearoom:

It is slightly ridiculous that a middle aged woman should get so much pleasure out of toys, but I do.

I have a variety of crocheting tools that make me happy:  My Clover hooks, hedgehog pincushion, frog tape measure and clicky counter. The cheap plastic stitch markers do NOT make me feel the love.  Good old Etsy to the rescue. Aren't these exquisite? And don't my tools look better with their addition?

To finish off, here are some unmistakeable signs of Spring, to cheer us all up:

Basil is here

In my last blog, I left you with the body of my new project...

                                                   
                                                     The next step was to make the arms.

             .                                     

                               I then went on to make very big paws attached to short little legs.

This tail is the giveaway. People in their 40s and 50s in Britain will probably remember 'Basil Brush' a fox puppet.

Basil has on a claret waistcoat and a golden scarf - the Gryffindor house colours fom Harry Potter.

Basil is for sale in my Etsy shop or I can make a completely customised fox just for you.

A New Project

I absolutely LOVE starting new projects. It's the same kind of excitement that I (as the quintessential goody two shoes) used to get at the start of each new school year, picking out a pencil case and supplies to go into it.

Knitting is so amazing in that it requires few items and yet from them, a whole new world can be structured.

This is what is needed for my new project that I started last night.

The yarn I have chosen is a new one to me - Vanna's Choice. It is 100% acrylic, light Aran weight, 

and until recently was only available from the USA.

It is knitting up nicely, but would only use it for toys where the stuffing will give it some heft and shape. It's a bit too floppy for garments, even hats.

I always use my little hedgehog pincushion. It is made from a Little Cotton Rabbits pattern and is ever so cute. I made it a couple of years ago in the depths of a major depression. It was small enough for me to be able to sustain concentration and it provided some kind of a link to the world, even if it was only the world of a blog. 

I feel uplifted every time I see it.

I have been knitting for about 50 years.  In that time, I have gone through many, many row counters that fit on the end of your knitting needle. They always proved unsatisfactory, though, as the numbers kept slipping. 

I then tried writing the row number down on a piece of paper. That is very time consuming, especially making toys, when each row is usually very short.

Then I came across this 'clicker' model. Job's a good 'un!

So this is my new project that was started last night. Any ideas?

Clue: It is to go into my Etsy shop and have more appeal to boys as my Lady Bunnies in skirts are very girly!

Bunnies and Bears

I have a real love/hate relationship with crafting. I desperately would love to be one of those calm, serene folks who floats gracefully around, absorbed in craft work. They seem to find it effortless to decide what to do and for what purpose.

I, on the other hand, am pretty much a disaster area when it comes to crafting. Having my hands busy helps keeps the symptoms of my bipolar disorder at bay and I genuinely love seeing things emerge.

BUT...what to do, what to do? And, equally important, how to keep my craft area in some semblance of order?

I start a project, I get fed up with it and abandon it. I buy a new pattern, sure that this will be THE thing that will satisfy my crafty cravings. Then I trawl the Internet and find something else.

This all brings me to my Bunnies and Bears. There are 3 people whom I particularly admire for selling their toys. One sells crocheted rabbits (Green Rabbit Designs), one sells linen hares and mice (Patchwork Chickens) and one sells knitted bears and hares (Cotuit Bay Knitter).

So, I have decided that I need to focus myself more and to that end, I have started making Bunnies and Bears, sticking to one basic formula. 

I have put some up for sale on Etsy and this morning, I got a sale. So, I will try not to flit around as much and see if I can concentrate more.

But I don't know if that's the right way to go ...