Crochet Cat Inspiration

We have been donated oodles of yarn for the yarn bombing this year so a huge thanks to all our patients for their support. From the stashes that have been brought in these two felines have been created.
The inspiration came from a pattern bought on Etsy, I loved the mixture of knitting and crochet on the original pattern but sadly my execution was less satisfactory so I ended up adapting the knitted parts for crochet.

The pink pussy cat was first off the hook and was such a pleasure I just couldn’t resist making another.

Unfortunately I was not able to find the pattern again as Etsy is displaying ‘pattern not available’ but the link is below just in case. It is possible that our internet that is playing up this evening and you may be able to access the pattern if you want to make your own kitties at some point.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/59420476/crazy-cat-crochet-knitting-pattern

Rolo and Roxy

Meet Rolo and Roxy, my friends are the true masters of these lively furry bundles of joy but I wanted to surprise her with woolly versions.They are couple of characters who love nothing more than playing together in the garden, that is when they are not on work duty with their Dad in the van.

Roxy obviously loves the camera but you can just make out Rolo in the background.

I know that many of you will recognise the pattern as one from the Kerry Lord collection in the wonderful book titled Edwards Menagerie. I have made quite a few of the animals now and can highly recommend this book. The patterns are very easy and quick to work up and each completed animal is a delight. I can’t wait till September when Kerry’s next  book of bird patterns Edwards Menagerie Birds is being released, judging by the cover it looks set to be a huge sucess and you can pre order here.

 

Knitting for a Change

Last weekend I decided to pick up a pair of knitting needles, not that hooks are out of favour or anything I just fancied a change and it’s ages since I have knitted anything. Yes you might have guessed, my continuing love of tea cosies now has another added to the growing collection.

Have to admit it was lovely to get my hands onto these lovely rosewood knitting needles once again, I have a whole set of these beauties bought for me by my lovely hubby a few years ago. It’s simply bliss because now I no longer have to wade through a pile of cold metal needles to see if I actually have the size I need when I undertake to knit a new pattern. I bought some funky needle cases too so they are neatly stashed when I am favouring my hooks and they temporarily decommissioned.

Anyway, enough rambling and back to the project, here is half of it.

This one is made to resemble a beehive. My plan is to make some nice chunky bees to go onto it too. The pattern is from Yarspirations website, they have a couple more cosies that I intend to make too.

If you fancy making one too here is a little tip I found helpful. Can you see where I have knitted in another colour on one of the rows? This was to highlight the pick up row, you see to create the hive effect you knit a few rows then double back to pick up a previous row and I got a bit muddled on the picking up bit and ended up with a wonky hive, adding the contrast thread kept me on track so I have nice neat ridges in my cosy.  I had to undo it a couple of times in the beginning.

Here is the finished Beehive Tea Cosy, love the rippled hive effect but looks a bit empty don’t you think?

After much trawling online I settled on this Bee from a free pattern generously shared by Crochet ‘n’ Play, thank you so much for sharing.

Here they are my ‘five on the hive’, all buzzing and nicely settled onto their new home where they can make the honey for the tea and muffins.

 

Hilda the Hippo

I was going to make a pink rabbit but fell in love with the hippo so made her instead. Another make from Edwards Menagerie, this is a great book with simple animal patterns great for beginners too.

That is a great thing about these animals, the main body parts are he same for most of the animals, it’s the head, ears and tails that are the defining features. You can start with a certain animal in mind and then change your mind as many times as you like while making the body, arms and legs. I applaude the author, Kerry Lord, for this simple idea.

I have named her Hilda, for some reason I think it suits her. I have used some of the lovely cotton yarn that was kindly donated to our Yarnbombing from Best of Crochet and the good news is I think I will have enough of leftovers from the other colours to make another one but in my favouite………. stripes! The plan is to make a collection of these gorgeous creatures for this years project, I just need to come up with a unique way of displaying them.

Any ideas?

 

 

Crochet Cat for My Colleague

I was asked by a friend if I would make her a cat, and I have! He is very dinky compared to anything I have done before measuring approx 5 inches from head to tail.

I went online in search of a suitable pattern and chose one from son’s popkes called Dandylion . If you have a look at the pattern you will see that I have altered it a bit so he is curled up rather than stretched out, also I have stitched his arms into this curled up position.  I am rather pleased with the end result although I did set myself a bit of a task in trying to do it on a smaller hook than the yarn requires to get a nice tight finish.

 

Charity Yarn Bombing – Part 2

The seaside scene was really spectacular but I found it was the hardest to photograph because of the size. To give it some perspective the stretch of railing that it s dressing is 4 metres long. To get the whole thing into view it lacked detail so I will have to ask you to use your imagination a bit. I really regret not taking more close-up shots.

I had to wear a wrist support for a week after making two thirds of the sea blanket and was extremely grateful to Debs for taking over and finishing it. She made the wonderful pennant and ball bunting and the magical giant jellyfish too.

Sorry that the light doesn’t show up on the lighthouse but it really does work, honestly, the top lifts off and you just have to press down on the bulb and hey presto, it lights up! With a bulb top and bottom it gave off a good amount of light and drew lots of comments.

There was a family of whales swimming above the tiny fishes amongst the seaweed on the far side. In the centre were more fish,  jellyfish and a knitted submarine. The octopuses occupied the near side of our woolly sea blanket. As you can see some of the creatures were stitched into place and others were 3d and hung from the top giving the whole scene a life-like appearance.

At the back of the surgery the pond scene worked so well despite a last minute hitch about getting the cover made! We were very grateful to the local builders who we managed to rope into doing it for us just a week before the event.

We had little creatures nestling in the undergrowth.

And a tea cosy disguised as a fishing gnome.

Just around the corner from the pond was the little grotto.

Imogen finally got her wings thanks to Rosemary and she sat primly on her swing overlooking the scene below that was full of taodstools, mushrooms and gnomes.

At the front of the pond scene was this amazing tree that was full of little birds. It has found a new home as a window prop in a local shop in town.

The pond was home to a little family of ducks that swam amongst the groups of water lillies sent by my lovely Mama H.

And caterpillar was very good and did not nibble into our plants.

There will be one last post to show you that last of the photos including our safari corner with snakes, monkeys and friends.

Shelly the Snail

Who’s beady eyes are these? And no, it’s not a monster or an alien.

Is this a cute face or what?

I fell in love with this little cutie and just had to buy the pattern and make one.

Yes it is a snail, I know they are usually not well thought of as they invade your garden leaving their silvery streak behind them. But Shelly is just not that sort of snail, she is a loveable character created by Moji Moji Designs. Pattern link, there are smaller versions called Sheldon and Shelby too but I haven’t got around to them yet.

Here is a peek at the back.

And just so you can have a full 360 view, here she is from a side view.

I just love the frilly base, it really finishes her off and also helps her to balance.

Bird Box on a Fence – Friday Fences

Just as a quick diversion from the usual crochet projects I thought it was about time I posted another image in support of Friday Fences. Yes I know it is a bit quirky and you may well be wondering . Why? But I ask you this. Why not?

This is another of the little areas in the woods near where I work, I go and sit in the picnic area and have my lunch on good days when the weather permits. I thought this was lovely and I left the remnants of my sandwich in the little built in birdhouse as an offering to thank the wildlife for sharing their lovely wood. I hope they like egg mayo!

I was not having the best of days and I was enjoying a bit of peace away from the office and was delighted when this butterfly alighted upon a dandelion beside me.

Well back to the crochet projects so I will have something else to share with you all soon.

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Joining in with Friday Fences

Thanks to the quirky humour of Nanacathy I have discovered Friday’s Fences, this is a site that invites you to post a photo of a fence or a view through a fence. So here goes……..

Near where I work is a lovely valley so I often drive down to park in one of the little pull in car parks and eat my lunch. Dog Bark Bend is one of my favourite spots so I thought it would be a good one to share with Friday’s Fences.

This feels like a good time to disclose a fascination I have that is maybe a bit weird………… Trees that look like something.

I am not crazy honestly, it all stated about 15 years ago when I spotted a dead tree at the side of the main road out of town that resembled an elephant stood on his hind legs with his trunk extended to the sky. I mentioned it to a few people and quickly found that I was not the only person to have made this observation. I often thought about taking a photo but was always hurrying somewhere, or forgot to take my camera. Then one year there were some terrible thunder storms and said elephant tree was struck by lightning, he sadly lost his trunk and promptly ceased to resemble anything other than a dead tree!

But since then I have noticed other forms in trees and in my lovely valley is a great wooden snake rising out from the edge of a field reaching for the skies.

On a more sane note I also snapped some dying seed heads bobbing in the breeze against a blue sky laden with feathery clouds.

More hooking news to follow this holiday weekend, hope you all enjoy this extended weekend break.

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Deer Visiting in the Garden

We get Deer regularly in our garden but I can never get a good image of them as they are so timid and run as soon as they hear the door opening. These are the best I have managed so far.

They are lovely to see but can be a bit of a pest as they eat your flowers.

There are actually two of them, can you just see the other one behind the tree?

I did not have time to change my lens so the picture is a bit blurry.

As soon as they heard the click of the camera they were off like a shot.

They look so amusing, all you see is their little white bums bouncing as they make their hurried departure.

Last year we had a family of foxes who visited regularly, I am hoping to catch them for you too soon.

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