Busy, busy, busy!

I haven't updated this blog in some time as we have been very busy launching Yarnbomb Great Malvern, a community group who's aim is to encourage people back into our town centre and make people smile through the medium of knitting and crochet.  You can keep up with our adventures at www.facebook.com/yarnbombgreatmalvern

I have been working on a few personal projects too.  My favourite recent one is a tiny crochet flower brooch I made for the other Yarnbomb Great Malvern ladies.  Each flower measures about 15mm.

There are lots of exciting things in the works, both Yarnbomb Great Malvern projects and hopefully the beginnings of my journey into selling my makes, which is both exciting and scary!

Post a Patch

Have you heard of the Post a Patch project?  People from all over the world knit or crochet squares which are then sent to the lovely Iona in Australia who makes them into blankets and donates them to charity.  A wonderful initiative, and a great use for all those oddments of yarn you have lying around.  Visit http://www.post-a-patch.blogspot.com.au/ for all the details,or you can follow Post A Patch on Twitter.

When I first saw about Post a Patch through a retweet on Twitter, I knew I really wanted to be involved.  As soon as I had a few spare hours I whipped up 8 colourful squares which started their journey to Melborne yesterday. 

If you have a little spare time and yarn, I urge you to get involoved too.  It feels so rewarding - it's lovely to know that the blankets will be given to people who really need them (you can see which charities are currently being helped by visiting the website).  Full details of how to make the squares and the address to post them to can be found here.

If you know of any similar projects, particularly in the UK, I'd love to hear about them.

Rolt

Rolt, a photo by SakuraBlythe on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Alex's bunny I crocheted using the pattern in issue 2 of Simply Crochet magazine. He named him Rolt 'a cross between Ralph and Bolt'.

Rolt joined Alex on his recent stay in hospital and was even allowed into the operating theatre with him. Several of the doctors and nurses said how much they loved Rolt, which made me feel very happy!

In my Grandmother's footsteps

This little case is one of most precious possessions.

A few years ago I taught myself to crochet.  I have a very short attention-span though, so I made a couple of things (badly!), then got bored, and moved onto something else.  But a couple of years ago, I came back to it.  I got a really good book and started from the beginning again.  In December 2011 my Grandma sadly passed away, and my Granddad gave me her treasured crochet hooks and knitting needles.  Contained in the little red case now are the crochet hooks which I have collected along with the ones with which my Grandma spent her life creating things of great beauty.  It means a lot to my Granddad that I am continuing in her footsteps, and have a great love of crochet like she did.

On Saturday when we were visiting him, he spoke again about how my Grandma would have loved to see me taking after her.  He told me how when she was young and lived in Germany during the Second World War, she and her mother were too poor to afford a crochet hook, so she taught herself to crochet using a broken knitting needle.  It was such a powerful story, and I wanted to record it while it was fresh in my mind.

I hope she would be proud if she could see me now, and happy to see her hooks so well used and loved.

Ruth's Cushion

   Apologies for the extreme lack of posts on this blog!  As you will be aware if you read my other blog, Diary of a Coeliac's Mother you will be aware of how complicated life has been this year.  Fortunately both children are now on the road to recovery, and I am able to think a little more of things other than their health.

   So here is a cushion I finished back in July for my daughter.  She asked for unicorns, and I found these lovely unicorn patterns  at Sublime Stitching.  I adore this website, and have downloaded quite a few of the PDFs which are very reasonably priced.  The sakura blossoms were from a rubber stamp which I traced and trasnferred along with the rest of the pattern using a transfer pen.

   The little fox feltie is made using a pattern from Mollie Makes magazine.  This is currently my absolute favourite magazine.  So much inspiration and beautiful things to look at and make.  

   Sadly, what was initially thought to be a soft tissue injury to my thumb in January, was diagnosed in May as degenerative arthritis in the thumb/wrist joint.  It is rather debilitating, and was rather devestating to hear that it is probably going to get worse, not better.  I've had several steroid injections, but they haven't helped so I'm now awaiting referral to a rheumatologist to see if there's anything they can do, or if there's a underlying cause.  Along with many other things which have become difficult, embroidery has become almost impossible.  I'm really hoping that the rheumatologist can suggest something as I miss sewing so much!

New blog!

Brand new blog today :) Thought it was about time I got started with this.

So here's the story - I have always enjoyed making things. I love photography too. So when I got made redundant a few weeks ago I thought it was about time that I harness my abilities and do something creative. Which has lead me here. I plan to open a little online store to sell my hand-made (mostly stitched) things, and possibly photographic prints too.

This will also be a good place for me to record what I've been making.

To start, here are a couple of the cushion covers I've made recently.