Making something for me

Yes, I have decided to make something for ME!!!

The only problem is; I'm not so good at choosing a number of colours that go together well and it could all end up looking a bit funky all too easily.

To choose two or three colours that go together well is easy - just choose shades of the same colour - but I want to do the Bernat Mystery Afghan blanket CAL (that's a Crochet a-long) and for that I will need to find 5 complimentary colours that are available as yarn.

Luckily, a friend showed me this wonderful blog; Design Seeds.com Jessica is a proper designer; she's been a car designer, shoe designer, colour & material specialist and forecaster so she knows what she is talking about. She has all these wonderful photos on her blog and then, after she has got the mood just right, she picks out the main colours and shows us the proper hex numbers for them so that we can use her colourways for anything from wedding colours to afghan blanket colours.

This is the colourway of hers that I have chosen for my blanket out of the many, many she has.

If you go to the actual blog, you will be able to hover over the colour points and it will give you the proper hex numbers. You can also search for colourways by colour, or theme. It's really cool. But these are the ones I want for my blanket.

Well, its all well and good choosing lovely colours - but the real question is; are they available in the real world as real yarn colours? At this point, much internet searching went on. I mostly discovered that UK yarn is made in lots of colours - but they don't necessarily go together. UK yarn is not made in palettes, even finding shades of the same colour in the same brand of yarn is tricky.

Eventually, I found Hayfield Bonus DK which is made by Sidar. It has over 55 different shades to choose from. Well, did I find a good match for the picture? judge for yourself. Here is the picture again, this time with the yarn colours I chose in a bar across the bottom.

It's a pretty good match between the two, yes? The brown is a little darker than I hoped for but I won't really know the colours until the yarn arrives (I've only just ordered it so I can't wait for it to be delivered so that I can start)

The bar also shows how much of each colour will be used in the finished blanket. You need a main background colour, then 3 colours that work well together and a bright accent colour. That is all I know about the blanket - it is a mystery you see. You are given the various motifs to make one at a time and then they tell you at the end how it all goes together. For example motif one will have written instructions and how many to make. So, I have to make 9 motifs in the main colour, 1 in colour A, 1 in colour B and 1 in colour C. (I'm sure colour D will be in there somewhere later - maybe for a border)

The pattern is free on the Bernat website and, as I said, they release the motif patterns one at a time. They are doing a Crochet blanket and a Knitted blanket - I'm only doing the crochet one. I hope it does not get too difficult.

Hello gang

Oh I'm so sorry; I haven't posted anything in ages

So I guess I'll just show you one of my cartoons

Here are photos of my last visit to the Zoo - Do you think I'm obsessed with handicrafts?

Panda bears - Done :)

Hurray, It may have taken me four weeks but here are the finished bears. As you can see; they ended up quite big.

Each one is made from slightly different fibres of yarn but the same fluffy white yarn too. I was really surprised to find that the wool based yarn behaved so differently to the polyester based yarn that I practically had to re-write the pattern for each!

Here is a better picture of the little guys without me in the way.

Little Panda Bears

Aren't these just the cutest little bears? They belong to a CBBC show called "the same smile"

In the programme they are taken around different playgroups in Britain to see how different kids do different things (different religons or abilities) but how they are also all the same; all kids like to play and have fun. It's a really cool programme.

There is just one problem. Even though loads of kids watch the show and are, of course, in love with the bears, the people at CBBC do not make the toys for sale to the public. This is so sad.

I was asked to have a try at making one. Well, I love a challenge...

The original bears are made from different materials but I was unable to find the right materials in the right colours.

Here is my first attempt. He is knitted all from a toweling effect yarn. His legs are pretty small and there is not much difference between him sitting down and standing up - but he can do both. (his head is not really off to one side I did that for the ahhhh effect lol) He does stand an impressive 14 inches tall though - which is pretty close to the same smile bears.

If I make the others it will be in white toweling yarn and yarn with no special effect. But that will make them more like the ones I'm trying to imitate. I'm quite pleased with him.

Hello ducky

If you liked last year's snuggle bunnies, then you are going to love this years snuggle ducks. Little yellow ducky cushion pals with a choice of colours for the beak and feet.

Just like the bunnies, you can put a few on the bed or sofa and tell everyone that they are just "throw cushions" to brighten up the room. But we all know that they are for secret hugs when you feel the need (but we won't tell)

These little cushion pals are bought for baby showers, teen congratulation gifts, going-to-college gifts, housewarming gifts, toy collections, room decor, throw pillows and "just because..." Gotta love that reasoning.

All hand knitted from extremely soft, fluffy yarn with washable fibre filling; they can be machine washed on a cool cycle ('cos we all need a wash sometimes) and are a 10 inch circular artwork.

Of course, I intend to make more, but for now, you can find the blue one here and the purple one by clicking here The bunnies are also still available - they look so happy together.

Pink Mammoths on Parade

My latest dinosaur in the collection is Woolhelmina The Woolly Mammoth. She is also in my Artfire shop She is a total snuggle beast and a real hug monster. But nothing scary here.

All hand knitted, she is perfect for any age. I can also make one up in another colour if you like. Just like all Mammoths she has a head bump and lovely long tusks and just look at those manicured finger nails. Her arms and legs are securely attached but can also move (just like a teddy)

More dinos

OK this is how Barney the dinosaur should look. Lots of teeth and claws for "rawr, rawr, nom, nom, nom" Well, maybe not so scary. He can do a mean rock and roll dance too as his legs have "teddy bear" joints and he is oh, so soft and fluffy.

Of course he has a cooler name than the "other purple dinosaur" too; He is a tyrannosaurus rex so his name is Tyrone O'Saurus, of course. You can find him with others at my artfire store.

As always you don't have to have him in this colour-way. You can choose your own colours and I will make one up for exactly the same cost.