Getting my late night craft on!

What's a girl to do when she spies Pip's crafty larksfoot iPad cover in the new Mollie Makes Crochet book but to go right ahead and make it!

 

I just used some left over wooly yarn I had from another project to create a bit of a rainbow.  It whipped up super fast (took me two nights and just a couple of episodes of True Blood...which I am secretly addicted to!!!!) and the pattern was very easy to follow.  Makes me want to use it again on a larger blankety style project. 

 



 

 

Click here for a linkyloo to Pip's larksfoot pattern on her blog.

 



My creative space...

Some very relaxed creating around here this week after the big finale of Mario!  According to my stats 122 people hit on him for a looksie so that was nice to feel the love after all that hardwork!  It's lovely to see him being put to use as well as the boys wake up at some ungodly hour and sit wrapped up in him while quietly watching cartoons and waiting for me to feed them.

 

I started trialling some new crochet squares for a new baby blanket.  This pattern is out of a Mollie Makes magazine and I have used it before to make a lovely cushion.  I love the puff stitches and the cluster stitches in the centre circle which is why I keep coming back to it.

 

I've been watching some beautiful colours and quilt blocks emerge over on instagram under the tag #scrappyquiltalong so I thought I might give it a go.  Who cares that I know nothing really about quilting!  I can see how these are addictive!  This is my first one and it was very simple to do and used up some scrappy bits I have been unable to part with my from my stash.

I have followed this tutorial...

 

And since I can't justify watching rubbish on tv without busy hands I made this simple but super pretty crochet motif from this lovely book last night.  I think they would be lovely as a set done in twine or something and then used as coasters.  The pattern was so easy to do!
 

 

What have you been creating this week?

Mollie Makes... addictive magazines!

Have you seen the sweet online magazine, Gathered by Mollie Makes?

 

A new edition pops up every Friday on my ipad with some lovely sweet crafty ideas and links.  How to make a granny square is from this weeks one.



(just a screen shot from my ipad)

 

I am addicted to the Mollie Makes magazine just for it's prettiness factor really.  Although it's now more widely available in newsagents and even supermarkets these days, when it was first released I was having a copy or two specially ordered in!

 

I have heard that the same company is about to release a new magazine called Simply Crochet!  Click on the link for a sneak preview or what it will look like!  I'm hoping it will be filled with some 'funkier' crochet goodness than I have seen in some of the crochet magazines around.  I do love some nanna craft but I am often left wondering what on earth people are thinking!!!

Sad Sundays

You know those days when you wake up in the morning and you're already in a poop of a mood? 

That was me today.

It starts with a late night, over indulging on garlic bread which you wake up still tasting and then finding your three your olds little head sharing your pillow while you lay curled on your side on the edge of your bed, any sudden movement leaving you on the carpet at your bedside.

Your mood worsens as you end up standing in the freezing cold wind for over an hour watching U8's football.  Instead of being involved in the game in any way, shape or form, your child is the one who spends the entire game jumping in mud, playing with his socks and taking his mouthguard in and out, eleventy billion times!  Let's not forget the other two charming small people attached to your legs also bemoaning the freezing cold wind, their boredom and the lack of worthwhile food items.

Frankly I felt worse because it must have been Peppy Parent Day today as every other parent seemed so happy and proud of their poppets, cheering and clapping at every touch of the ball while all I wanted to do was screech across the football oval to leave his fucking socks alone, stay out of the goddamn mud and at least pretend to be interested in the bloody game!!!!

Kinder maintenance this afternoon had in no way improved my mood.  Taking cold grumpy children and a jumpy puppy to pre school to help sweep and clean was a wild mistake.  Their enthusiasm for raking waned after five minutes, poor Milo freaked the other families' little boy out and again there was a lack of worthwhile food items!  I find it hilarious that out of six families rostered on for the weekend only two managed to show up. 

My Sad (whingy whiney) Sunday is now being Vastly Improved by this large and delicious pepperminty Haighs chocolate frog, a wee bit more random granny joining and for my viewing pleasure The Mentalist and Castle.  For the ad breaks I have the sweet new Mollie Makes magazine at my side!  All the grouchy tired people are in bed, including the husband (who's snoring I can hear from the other end of the house!) so the best bit is I don't have to bloody share with anyone!!!!

First world problems really are so easily solved!

Have you had a Sad Sunday or have you had a Super Sunday?

My Creative Space...

...with real pictures from a real camera (and not just one's from my instagram feed)!!!

The inspiration...

(from Mollie Makes)

And the real thing...

The pretty front...

And the plain back.

I crocheted my cushion inside it's cover since I think it will be used less as a cushion cushion and more of a pretty to look at cushion!  Just treble the front and back together and squeeze the cushion once you reach the fourth side!

 

I am in love with these little squares!

 

I shall go and wrap it now since it's being gifted to super lovely friend of mine.  Hope she likes it!

 

More creative people are over at Village Voices on Kidspot now.

Granny Cushion and Lamp Love

Did everyone spy this lovely cushion in Mollie Makes?
This is a lovely easy granny pattern from this lovely lady.  I absolutely adore the granny covered lamp she has made that goes perfectly with her cushion! 

Source: etsy.com via Sonia on Pinterest

I'm using 8ply Moda Vera pure wool from Spotlight.

And I have almost finished weaving in all these little ends.  (I find something oddly thereaputic about it actually!)

I'll be gifting this to a friend in the next week or so, so I hope it turns out alright!
I promise to locate my real camera and get a good photo of the finished product!

My creative space...

I made a cushion!  Almost.  I haven't closed it up yet as I am not sure what to do - whether to crochet the cushion into the cover, or add buttons so things can be cleaned if need be.  Thoughts, suggestions, linky loos to cushion closing????

This is a birthday present for a friend of mine and is totally made up of all my odds and ends so is quite the mixture of yarns.  I originally thought it might make a nice floor cushion for sitting on, but even though it is big I think it's probably not big enough for grownups.  Plus, I think it's too pretty for bums!

The back... or the front I guess, depending on what you like.

The intended front....

The pattern for this square is out of Mollie Makes.  

My yet to be closed end...



Soooo pretty!

My creative space has started up again this year (in fact it appears I have missed two weeks).  Play along every Thursday and link up you posts over this way.



Something I made.

A crochet cushion top.  Now I just have to make the other side!  I have used all my lonely bits of left over yarn from other projects on this so there is quite the mixture of different yarns in there but it appears to have worked out alright.  Think I might just do one big granny square for the back though.  I planning on gifting this to someone for the birthday - dorky or no?  I never really have faith in my crafty projects so always wonder whether the reciever might open it and say thankyou but then laugh hysterically after I leave and hide it in the cupboard for all eternity! 

For any interested crochet-ers, this is the pattern from the second edition of Mollie Makes magazine.

part of fatmumslim's photo a day challenge

Close-up.

My current crochet project.  Making squares out of left over bits of yarn.  Hopefully for a giant floor cushion to gift to someone.  We'll see.

part of fatmumslim's photo a day challenge

My creative space... Pippy Crochet

My undying love for my newsagent continued this week when he made sure that one of only three copies of Mollie Makes he recieved had my name on it.  Bliss and Joy.

And look who I found perched merrily in it's covers...

Pip from Meet me at Mikes! 

Perfect timing to be reading about her, cause I am currently following her fabulous tutorial and making my first ripple rug.  Pip writes the perfect instructions for crochet - really clear and easy to follow.  I learnt to crochet granny squares from her videos.

I've only done a couple of rows so far and I'm just using some yarn from my stash.  I hadn't crocheted anything in a couple of weeks and my hands were getting itchy!  I needed a project that lets me sit in front of my favourite tv shows and still feel productive and this is perfect. 

Oh, and we are still cutting out lego men for the Lego party of the century!  This is a big pad of coloured paper ready for Lego men to be cut out of and hidden around the backyard for a bit of Lego Search and Rescue.  Tell me that might keep 20 little people entertained for more than five minutes please???

OMG! Yes! Yes!

I just totally did a Meg Ryan at the newsagent when I spied this....

Apparently it is on limited release to some newsagents right now!

Have you seen Mollie Makes yet?