2019 - Good Luck, and don't fuck it up!

Ok so, I have literally no idea how 2018 is over already, but here we are! So Happy New Year and all that jazz! Last year I wrote a post about all the craft related goals I wanted to achieve and specific that I wanted to sew, which was all very well and good, but plans change and I didn't do quite a lot of them.

On the plus side I did do a lot of things that weren't on my plans for 2018. I made lots of baby items or my colleague, my favourite cousin and my sister in law, multiple dresses, tops, pyjama trousers, a skirt, pair of jeans and even a couple of Scottish Sock Puppets 😂 Let's have a wee look at some of this year's makes 😁

It's nice to look back and see all the things that you've accomplished over the year, I didn't realise I had made so much!

For 2019, I don't want to make big, long lists of plans because that clearly didn't work last year 😂 This year I'm just going to sew whatever I want, whenever I feel like it and keep any lists in my bullet journal so that even if I don't accomplish my goals, then at least my lists look pretty!

My inspiration for 2019 come straight from the fabulous RuPaul...

Baby Crafts Round 2!

So it would appear that 2018 is the year of babies as not long after I started making the baby basket for my colleague, my favourite cousin told me that she was pregnant 😁👶 Of course, I started planning what I could make straight away (like literally went straight to Hobbycraft after work for supplies 😂)

I knew that she wasn't going to find out the gender before the birth so I had to think gender neutral. I went straight to Ravelry to see what patterns were on offer, and I found some ADORRRRRABLE crochet patterns. Before I show you all the pictures, I want to state that I'm not just strangely obsessed with sheep, my cousin's partner is a sheep farmer which is why I went for the sheep theme 😂

So on with the show!

I got the yarn for these from Wool Warehouse and used Aran weight for the sheep hat and Chunky for the pompom hat, and as we all know the bigger the pompom, the cuter the baby!

While shopping at Wool Warehouse I also got some Bernat Blanket Yarn for this sweet little sheep sleep sack! 😍

I will note that as cute as this is, it was such a pain in the arse to make and I vow to never make another one! 😂 The bobbles on the front are easy enough to stitch, but when the yarn is that thick, it really kills your hands!

I also had some sweet, grey, cat print cotton in my stash so I put together a little bib and burp cloth set and a sleeping bag (all of which could have done with being ironed before taking pictures) for when the baby is a bit older.

I just used a towel to back the bib and burp cloth because good quality towelling is stupidly expensive 😖 And some paw print fleece for inside the sleeping bag.

I wanted to present the whole thing in a basket, but my cousin lives in Ireland and unfortunately we weren't able to meet up before the birth so it had to be squeezed into a large postage bag which really wasn't photo worthy😂

I didn't want to put pictures of other people's children on the internet, but you can take it from me that baby Sophie is just so cute!!! 💓

Anyway, see you all next week for my round up of 2018 and plans for 2019! 👋

Oh, Baby!

There must be something in the water, because every time I turn around someone else announces they're pregnant 👶 it all started with a lovely girl at work who is expecting her first in the summer so I wanted to make something special for the baby. She found out it was a boy so I decided to make a little baby blanket in blue and grey to go with her colour scheme for the baby's room and found this lovely chunky yarn in Hobbycraft and settled on doing a corner to corner crochet blanket as it was quick to work up. I used the tutorial from the Crochet Crowd and started crocheting away. I finished the blanket and was really pleased with how it came out, I used four and a half balls and the blanket is 30"x30".

Now I could have stopped there, but now I had the bug, I wanted to make other things for him! So after plenty of time rummaging around in my books and on the internet I made a set of (really soft) hats using Hobbycraft's own baby yarn in blue and grey.

Aaaaand I could have stopped there, but I had some beautiful Peter Rabbit fat quarters that I'd had for a couple of years, but the right project had never come up....until now! It turns out you can get 2 bib fronts out of every FQ, so I decided to do a set of three to go with the 3 hats. I knew that it was much cheaper to buy decent quality towel and cut it up rather than buying toweling from a fabric shop, and as luck would have it, an ASDA extra soft hand towel is just the right amount to cut out 3 bibs 😁 They were so easy to make, all I had to do was cut out a front and back, sew the right sides together (while leaving a gap at the bottom) trim the seams, turn it right side out and zigzag around the entire edge and then just sew a wee bit of velcro on. They took no time at all, but be warned, if you cut up a towel, you'd better have your hoover handy because the fluff goes EVERYWHERE!!

But wait, there's more! I bought a little grey basket from Home Bargains to store it all in and thought it looked like it was missing something. Ahhhh....no baby should start life without a cuddly best friend! So I dug out some grey yarn and got started on a cuddly elephant. This actually took longer to make than any of the others because it was a small hook (3.5mm) and a lot of rounds of stitches that involved continuous counting. But when I finally sewed it all together, the result was totally worth it, he's so adorable!

 

So off he went into the basket, but something still wasn't quite right. So I went in search of the finishing touch, I thought maybe some ribbon would do the trick until I found soft tulle on a roll! AHA! I exclaimed and took it home to finish the job ( I will note that I did actually pay for it 😂) Everything was bundled up in the tulle and even the little elephant got a pretty, little bow round his neck.

 

Now everything was just right! I was so excited to bring it to work the next day for the recipient and thankfully she absolutely loved it 😄

Now I get to start crocheting and sewing for my favourite cousin who is having her first in Autumn 👶 I can't wait to get going!

Crafting Resolutions 2018

Yeah I know it's yet another New Year's Resolutions blog post, but I think by actually writing down the things I want to achieve and sending it out into the big, bad world, then I'm actually more likely to do them!

So sit back, relax and prepare for a lot of wordy waffling!

1. Finish all my projects by the end of the year - This should actually be achievable as long as I don't leave lots of my own projects half done to desperately finish off Christmas presents 😂 - Obviously didn't happen! 😂
2. Learn how to properly grade between sizes - Something so simple, yet I've never actually learned to how to do it properly. - Actually did do a bit of this! I'm far from being a expert, but I managed to grade a few patterns this year.
3. Try more indie patterns - I want to reach out past the big pattern companies and help support small businesses while looking fab 😜 - Achieved! I think I actually made more Indie patterns then Big 4 this year.
4. Make a quilt - I actually made a (very squinty) quilt top several years ago and I'm determined to actually finish it this year! - Ahahahahahahaha!! No. I actually binned the quilt top because when I took it back out of the bag of doom, I looked at it and saw that I had literally just taken fat quarters and sewn them together with no trimming and no consistent seam allowance so it was just a horror show! So that went into the recycling bag.
5. Always pre-wash my fabric - Yeahhhh..... I'll try, but I'm not holding my breath for this one. - Didn't happen! I know I should prewash fabrics, but I just can't be arsed 😂
6. Learn the basics of pattern drafting - This goes hand in hand with the grading between sizes. I want to be able to make even just a simple top without the aid of a pattern. - Sadly this didn't happen, but my Mum gave me a book for Christmas, which might remedy this for next year!
7. Work through as much of my stash (fabric and yarn) as I can - Now, I'm not saying I'm going to stop buying fabric and yarn because that's just unrealistic! I'm want to use a lot of what I have and if I'm never going to use it then either donate or sell it. - I did actually use up quite a bit of fabric, but not so much of the yarn, because I was mostly crocheting baby items, which meant buying baby yarn because I didn't have any so now my yarn stash is probably bigger than it was at the start of the year.
8. Do more selfish crafting - As much as I love making gifts for other people, I want to concentrate a bit more on the things I want to do :) - I made quite a few items of clothing for myself, but I did end up making a lot of baby items for other people.
9. Crochet preemie baby hats and donate them - As well as selfish crafting, I want to do some selfless crafting. I have more than enough yarn to make some wee baby hats and give them to the hospital and simple wee things like that can make such a difference! - I really wish I had gotten around to doing this. I spent so much time making items for baby gifts that I had neither the time or the motivation to make more baby stuff 😕
10. Update my blog and Instagram regularly - Again, not holding my breath! I'm not going to just post for the sake of posting, but hopefully if I actually apply myself I'll get lots of cool things accomplished and actually have something interesting to share! - I'm giving this one a thumbs up! I have done 18 blog posts this year and however many Instagram posts ( I can't be bothered to count)
11. Try lace making - Obviously I'm not going to become a lace making genius, but my Mum gave me a kit to try it several years ago and I've never had a go so this is the year! - Didn't happen, it was just too annoying to make the lace so it made it's merry way to the charity shop.
12. Make a Frankenstein garment - I want to use at least 2 separate patterns to make something totally unique :) - Ohhh I had such grand plans for this, but I just never got around to actually making it.

So those are my resolutions! Probably best not to put money on me doing all of them, but I'll give it my best shot :)

If you haven't fallen asleep or got bored and left, then here is a list (I do love a list!) of specific things I want to make in 2018.

Simplicity 1008 AKA the Dracarys Dress - Honestly, I wish I had pet dragons so I'm going to make the dress on the right ideally in a nice linen or something without it looking too costumey :) - I started this and then a million other things got in the way so it's only partially constructed.

Simplicity 8338 - My gym gear currently consists of sporty leggings and a variety of old t shirts so I want to whip up some nice new ones that don't make me look like I've just stumbled out of bed. - DONE!

 Finish my houndstooth coat - I started making this like 4 months ago when it was way too hot to be dealing with wool and got annoyed with it and has been sitting in a heap looking sad for far too long now, so by Winter 2018 I WILL have a nice houndstooth coat to twirl around in! - NOOOOPE! It's still sitting on the dress form mocking me. The outer coat is constructed and the lining is mostly constructed, but it wasn't sitting right and I just got frustrated with it. Not all is lost through! It was a very mild winter, so I probably wouldn't have worn it anyway 😂

Finish my velvet cape - This is another sore one for me. The cape has been sitting half made for even longer than the coat because I was getting frustrated with it and has been hanging in a corner begging to be finished, so if I crack on I will look so fly next Winter 😎 NOOOOOPE! I did a bit more work on it, but I just wasn't into it so it got relegated to the recycling pile 😑

Finish the Mario blanket - Bloody hell......sooooo many unfinished projects on this list! I started making a granny square pixel blanket with Mario from Super Mario Bros for Gregor in 2014 so that he could take it away to uni with him. Buuuuuuuut I got bored doing the same squares over and over and sewing them together that here we are nearly 4 years later (he's already been to uni, graduated and got a new job) and I STILL haven't finished it! It's really just a matter of principle now, it must be done! - Ahahahahaha! I actually dug this out and did a few more squares and at this point in the year, I worked out that if I completed 1 line of squares every week then it would be completed before Christmas and theeeeeen I didn't touch it again 😂 so maybe 2019 will be the year of the Mario Blanket.

Simplicity 8377 - I'm a big fan of cardigans! I hate having my upper arms on show (mainly because I have the bingo wings of a 90 year old) but jumpers are too warm for 3/4 of the year. So cardigans are a wee life saver for me, but they can be pretty expensive for a wardrobe basic so I want to be able to make my own using this lovely multi style pattern. - Didn't make this because I just didn't come across the right fabric. 

Patterns for Pirates Brunch Blouse - As you'll have seen, one of my crafting resolutions is to try more indie patterns and this is just the ticket. I want to make the dress length version, as it's a lovely simple shape for work and for casual wear. - DONE 3 TIMES!!

Sewaholic Cambie Dress -This was actually one of the first patterns I ever bought, but just never got round to making it because I needed to grade up the largest size and I didn't (and still don't) have the knowledge to do so, but if I stick to my plan then I'll finally be able to make it! - Nope. Just wasn't that into it. I still really like the pattern so maybe at some point in the future I'll make it.

Wardrobe By Me Haute Curvy Pants - These have been cut out for a few weeks now so they're next on my list to crack on with :) They look so comfy and they should keep my tummy in a bit and keep my kidneys warm! - DONE!

Simplicity 1109 - I plan on making this in a lovely tartan after doing a practice run in sheeting because the pattern pieces seemed a bit on the short side, and after all, I'm 27 not 17 so I don't really want my arse on show to the world 😂 - I made a toile of this and it was reeeeaalllly short so maybe I'll lengthen it and make it, or maybe not! We'll just wait and see :)

Sewing Bee Palazzo Pants - I think these will be an absolute god send in the Summer so I'd better get planning! - Couldn't decide on a fabric for these, but I still like the pattern so hopefully I come across the perfect fabric.

Grainline Studio Morris Blazer - I made one for my sister and I want one (or several) for myself. The pattern piece for the sleeves are too wee for my jelly arms so that grading will come in handy again! - Didn't make this one either! (I see a theme developing) Still love the pattern, but haven't decided on a fabric.

Woodlands Quilt - This is the quilt I mentioned in my resolutions that is stuffed into a bag begging to be finished. - NOOOOPE! See my notes in the resolutions about this horror show.

Planets Panel - This one I actually finished on the 1st of January so at least I was off to a flying start!

Patterns for Pirates Peg Leg Leggings - This is my favourite kind of pattern, free and comfy! Hopefully making these in a nice soft jersey to wear to bed. - DONE!

Vogue 8882 - I've made this pattern a couple of times already. Once in two tone taffeta to wear to my cousins wedding and a second in MacQueen tartan. This time it'll be in black leatherette 😍  - DONE!

Simplicity 8229 - I bought this about 6 months ago and I'm yet to find the perfect fabric for it, hopefully this is the year or stretch lace! - Sadly I didn't make this either, I can't find a nice stretch lace 😭 If anyone knows of a good stockist, let me know!

Cotton and Chalk Pinafore - I made this last year in black corduroy with hearts on it (trust me, it's adorable) but at the time, I was too scared to attempt pockets. Now that I have done pockets, I want pockets in everything! So I'm going to make another one, I'm not sure which type of fabric yet, but preferably something wild :) - I didn't make another pinafore, buuuuuut, I did use the same pattern to make dungarees WITH POCKETS!!


Wooooooooo!!!!!!

You made it to the end of the post! Well done!! As a reward for enduring my rambling, please enjoy this picture of Crusoe the Celebrity Daschund and his brother Oakley because they always brighten up my day :)

 

Thanks for reading and be sure to give me a kick up the arse if I'm slacking!!

Louise Belcher Bunny Hat

So this post is a bit on the late side, I started a new job this week so I was visiting home last week to make the most of my time off 😄 I love the show Bob's Burgers and Louise is my favourite character so I decided to make a crochet version of her hat!

I got the pattern from Emily Taylor Crochet on Etsy and it's super easy to follow. I made the hat in about 3 hours, I probably would have been quicker but, I was watching Always Sunny at the same time 😂 The pattern called for worsted weight yarn which is about the equivalent of aran weight in the UK. I could only get that colour in double knit, so I used the size of hook that it called for and just crocheted a bit tighter.

Look at those ears!! :D

  Even though it was roasting when I made it, I couldn't resist trying it on. Can you see the similarities? 😂

 

All I have to do now is wait for colder weather so I can actually wear it!

Cost

• Pattern - £5.03
• Wool - £1.50 I actually might manage to squeeze another hat out of this ball.