Granny squares

Here is something I never thought would happen: I am hooked on crochet! I have finally managed to get it and my thumb is now very sore.Yesterday I crochetted four or five basic flowers, two flowers around wooden characters, two granny squares and today I made three more granny squares.

Mouette from "Gentil Coquelicot Mesdames" (see link in my favourite blogs) sent me a link on how to make Granny Squares. The pattern is beautiful and the explainations are extremely clear. Just following them to the letter allowed me to succeed right away! I will definitely check out more patterns on that blog! 

But from now on I will limit myself to one square a day ;) my fingers will thank me! My goal is to collect the squares and get enough for a colourful blanket :)

 

Crochet flower

Good morning to you all!I haven't posted in a little while as I am being kept busy by three projects and sick chilren. Yesterday I was the one lying in bed trying to get rest before I'd get too ill. It seems to have worked! Those two books were my companions and here is what I managed.

I undid it 6 to 7 times before deciding that I couldn't be bothered anymore. For some reason the heart of the flower does look different and I had space for 8 petals instead of 12. Ah well, at least it's a start. I am still very far from the project I wanted to attempt two weeks ago!

 *Edit: here's a second one! I've understood (thanks Mouette!!) what was wrong with the centre*

Crochet...

I have seen a couple of crochet patterns that really made me want to give it another try. Somehow knitting and crochet are things that I find difficult and annoying. But Mouette from Gentil Coquelicot Mesdames. was very encouraging. Mouette if you read this: thank you. I am very puzzled by my work at the moment though!

The more I crochet the smaller it gets... whyyyyy? I don't have the impression that I am skipping stitches... could there be a trick that I need to know?

Not sure I like crochetting... but I'll keep trying for a little while before giving up again ;)

Hair clips

I only have one daughter and she is becoming girlier every day! She loooooves putting clips and bands in her hair even though it is too thin and straight to hold in place. I was quite impressed though by the price of hair accessorize in shops! So I took the matter in my own hands and made her some myself.

 I started with felt since it is my favourite material at the moment, but then I moved on to wool after making my mother-in-law's Christmas present. I like working with the flower loom :) it does look complicated at first, but it actually isn't so bad.

 Not all the flowers are my daughter's, some were sold at a small local Christmas market and a few were given to my nieces.

How do you like them? If anybody is interested I could make a video on how to use the loom, just comment and ask ;)

Earrings just for fun

No need for big explanations there, I'll just show you what I made for my mum and my mother-in-law :)

 How do you like them? Would you also wear such earrings? One big advantage: they are quite light and soft.

Black&Red

Two years ago I started a project for my mother-in-law but I didn't get round to finishing it. This year I finally did! Woohoo! And I think it looks prettier than what I had in mind at the time.

Using a flower loom I spool-knitted three large tubes and then plated them to make a scarf.

 With two beads and two pompons to finish it, I think it looks very decorative and festive.

Then the loom was back to its proper us: making flowers. I made one big flower out of the same wool as the scarf and attached it to a bought plain black hat.

 And finally, still in red, I embroidered two hearts on the back of the matching black gloves.

Made with love, that was the Christmas present for my mother-in-law. I hope she will enjoy wearing them as much as I enjoyed making them!

Spool-knitting with a 3,5yo

My 3,5yo daughter and my almost 2yo son really like trying their hands at what I am doing. So the big game is sometimes to use scissors and cut all sorts of threads into pieces, or glue stuff, or thread beads, and so on and so forth.

 Some time ago I was spool-knitting and N. asked if she could try too. She found it difficult with the small knitting mushroom, so I made her try on my flower loom. She could not hold it too well as it was big, so I had to find an idea on how to set it up. Look what brilliant idea I had ;)

 The toilet paper roll was the perfect size to hold the loom AND the hole in the middle was just what we needed to let the knitted cord go down.

N. was very pleased with herself but she got tired of it pretty quickly. She still managed to obtain enough loose cord to make herself a small bracelet :)

 

Pompons fun!

I love pompons, especially since I have realised that I had always been making them with too little yarn. Now I use loads and they are nice and fluffy. We tested a little chick for Easter, and several bunnies (found the idea on some felted wool tutorial).

I particularly like the bunnies and I rather like the final result of the pot with a small touch of lace. It gives it a bit of a vintage look.

What do you think?

Autumn - Home fun

The weather is autumn does sometimes confine us to our flat. We keep as busy as we can though to prevent from feeling moody and depressed. And what is best than a little bit of baking and craft with N. ?

Redcurrant muffins with Fennel herbal tea

Learning to keep her balance

Making animals with stickers and pots

Different sizes of pompons

Brownies in a cup

 Still many possibilities of what one can do at home. What do you do with your children? Any tips, fun activities to share?