All posts tagged: crochet

Secret Valentines Exchange

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Things have been a bit hectic in the Thimberlina household.  I really need to update you with the final details of #SEWDOWNDEWSBURY but my Valentine’s post has just jumped the queue! The meet up post will be here before the week is out I promise, but last Sunday’s Sunday Sevens won’t be – I’m afraid it’ll have to be a double bill next week instead! If you’re on Instagram you may have noticed lots of posts popping up with the hashtag 2017SVE.  This the Secret Valentine Exchange organised by Sanae and Ute.  Over 400 people in 30 countries took part in it!!  And I was one of them! I received my recipients details in plenty of time and began stalking her on Instagram.  Well, not really stalking, just having a good nosey.   I really wanted to put some thought into what I could make.  As well as receiving their name, address etc, participants were asked to state their favourite colours.  Pink was one of the colours mentioned by Niemandszeit.  My thoughts immediately went to the heart themed shawl I’d …

The Octopus Scarf

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You’ll just have to humour me.  I know they have 8 tentacles and my scarf has a lot more but it still does remind me of one!   A few of you were interested in how I made Mo’s scarf in last week’s Sunday Sevens so I thought I’d buy some wool and make another, taking a few pics along the way. I’ve only been crocheting a couple of years and I think I’m somewhere between a novice and an intermediate sort of crocheter. I’m hoping this makes sense! I much prefer to crochet and knit with variegated yarn (stripy!) as I find it exciting to see what’s coming next! And with this scarf it also makes the tentacles different colours or shades depending on the subtlety of the colour change. This yarn was also different thicknesses.  I wasn’t sure how it would turn on so it was kind of an experiment.  Click HERE to see it on the Sirdar website – there’s some gorgeous colours.  2 50g balls cost me less than £6. The label recommended a …

Yarn Bombing in Taunton

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Yarn bombing, yarnbombing, yarn storming, guerrilla knitting, kniffiti, urban knitting or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk. I think I need to get out more as of up until last Saturday I’d never even heard of it! We were having a stroll around town before heading off home when we turned a corner and entered a small alley way. I was so excited! Everyehere i turned there was gob smacking creations! I wish I could take you there, but I’m afraid you’ll have to make do with photos, sorry!        The         i    It really was amazing! Stumbling across this alley gave a holiday our lovely happy ending. Have you heard of yarn bombing? Can you share any links to any other places that have been yarn bombed?!

The Chunky Headband Pattern

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In yesterday’s post I told you about my first ever crochet pattern! Here it is! Free! I used 1 x 100g ball of Sirdar Denim Ultra Chunky & a 10mm hook for the blue one, but with the pink one I used 2 strands of a chunky wool & a 8mm hook (no bobbles – I just used row A) The blue one is 6″ wide and the pink is 5″ wide.  The finished width will depend on your tension, hook and yarn.  I’ve also made not so chunky, narrower ones and they look good too! Chain 15 Foundation row: skip first chain, SC in 2nd chain and the remaining chains – 14 stitches in total. All stitches from now on will be worked into the back loops only – this creates the rib effect. Row A: chain 1. SC into the back loop of all 14 stitches. Row B: chain 1. SC x 3. TC. SC. TC. SC x 2. TC. SC. TC. SC x 3 Here’s another way of looking at row B: …

I’ve Made a Crochet Pattern!!

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Now I don’t know what to do with it! Last weekend we stayed in a cottage in Seahouses, Northumberland to celebrate my mums birthday.  I couldn’t take my sewing machine so I took my crochet hooks instead! I made another head warmer (my 3rd I think) and I’ve used the band as the ribbing on a hat too. On Tuesday I wore my blue one to play golf and one of the ladies asked if I’d followed a pattern.  I hadn’t. I’d just made it up as I went along.  I’ve written a proper pattern out now, so if anyone wants to have a go it’s really easy.  Leave me a message and I’ll email it to you.  I need to put it somewhere like Ravelry but I’ve not worked out how to do that yet!  Watch this space!! PS I’ve only been crocheting just over a year and I love it!! UDATE! PLEASE CHECK OUT THIS BLOG POST FOR THE PATTERN!

4 Espressos, with Cake Please

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Whilst lots of you have joined in the OWOP challenge (one week one pattern – wearing the same pattern every day, Carolyn being my favourite with her collection of Archers), I’ve subconsciously been having my own little challenge – OSOP – one sumner one pattern! My wardrobe staple this summer has been the Yasmin Yoke skirt. I have my 3 denim ones (light, dark and black), my leopard print and my linen one.  Joining the RTW fast has (and putting on a few 20 pounds stopping smoking) has made it difficult to find something to wear in my vast wardrobe. That’s when the Yasmin Yoke Skirt came to the rescue. On fat days she sits on my waist and on thin not so fat days she sits more on my hips. Now Autumn is upon on, I’m now needing a little more leg coverage. I’ve worn Yasmin 5 with woolly tights and boots, But I stumbled across Cake’s Espresso leggings and read the wonderful reviews, and now 5 pairs later I’m loving them!! I also made a pair …

TMS – Pants Challenge

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Phew! Talk about Cutting it fine.  February’s challenge for The Monthly Stitch is to make pants. Or trousers, or slacks depending whereabouts in the world you might be. So here’s my moleskin Manhattan Skinny Bitch Curvy Chick trousers. I bought the PDF version of the pattern for $12 (about £7) as I didn’t want to wait for it to be shipped from the USA. This pattern company designs patterns for petites – I’m 5’4″ so not too small but not tall either. Neither am I a skinny bitch or a curvy chick, but hey ho, I loved the free Tonic T pattern that I made here, and here for my mum in law, so thought I’d given the Manhattan pants a whirl. Sticking together the PDF pattern pieces wasn’t the easiest of tasks. Not sure if it was my printer but I lost some of the lines near the edge of the paper and had to draw them in where I thought they might go….. Once I started sewing they were a dream to put together. The instructions …

Happy Birthday Mum!

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A little belated Birthday wish for my lovely mum, and introducing my niece to sewing! It was my mum’s birthday at the end of January but unfortunatley whilst my sewing mojo has been in overdrive I’ve had writers block with the blogging!   Think it’s due to a combination of finding the time candy crush saga and also having some decent photos to add to it. So here we are, I’ll share with you what I made for my mum: The scarf can be worn a few ways: The scarf who really easy.  The only challenging part was counting the chains for each length – over 100!!  I also made her a top which is on an earlier post here. Just after my mum’s birthday my brother and his family came up from Southampton for a long weekend.  It was great to see them, and I was able to spend some quality sewing time with Ebony, my niece. She loved the fabric I used for my 1950’s outfit and ‘we’ made her a zipper pouch with …

Christmas and other Pressies…final post, I hope!

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This is my second post (and last!) of Christmas gifts which I made.  All the ladies in my family received handmade gifts, mainly zipper pouches, peg bags or tote bags, oh and scarfs (no pictures, forgot to take some before they were wrapped but will pester the recipitants for one!).   Is it just me, or do you guys struggle to give things away when you’ve made them? I kinda get attached, and make things that I’d like, but will only make things for those who I think will appreciate them. I didn’t find it cheaper making things if I account for my time.  If I’d have spent the same amount of time at work working overtime I’d have been quids in!  But I wouldn’t have been as happy! Here’s one last pic, an after Christmas Pressie!  Oh, go one then, one more…… Edited with BlogPad Pro