Well frog it all to hell....

I have been working on my Midsummers night shawl that I am making for my mum.

I was getting on great, progress was going well - given that I only have a couple of hours a day at most to work on crochet.

I got up to the final piece of the edging and then disaster struck ... the pattern just didn't work.  After a couple of attempts and  a bit of head scratching I finally thought to check that the shawl was even on both sides.

AAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH.

It wasn't, damn it all .... I'd made a mistake, and not one of those "I can cover this up" sort of mistakes - a proper, buggered it up mistake.

So I took a deep breath and thought to myself. "It might not be that bad.  Just start frogging ("rip it") and see when the mistake happened, its probably not that far back".

17, yes 17 rows of frogging and I finally got back to where the shawl was correct.  17 !!!!!!!!!

Feeling pig sick, I wound myself up the largest ball of yarn and got back to crocheting those 17 rows.  So far I have managed to rework 6 of my rows.

I should chalk this up to a learning experience, at least now I am checking that everything is as it should be with every finished row.  I don't plan on frogging this one again.

what to do with a butterfly

I created this Irish Crochet butterfly during one of my enforced periods of resting. 

This is created by crocheting over a number of strands of cotton to create the padded appearance.  This was quite a challenging piece of work for many reasons.  The tiny gauge thread, working over multiple strands to create the padding and also the pattern was vintage.  The phraseology and ordering of instructions in vintage patterns can take great patients to work through.



Having battled my way through the pattern and the pain of stabbed fingers from the tiny hook I needed to use I finished the butterfly.  I think it looks quite pretty.

The final challenge is what to do with it.  I had considered;

1. Make a brooch
2. Thread it up for a Christmas decoration
3.  Attach it to a hair ornament

At the end of the day, I'm really not sure what to do with it - but it seems a shame to have put all the effort in and just leave it there.

The Pattern for my Crochet Irish Rose

I mentioned before that although I love making Irish Roses and they feature not only on many of my handmade items but also in my shop banner & on my avatar I have never got round to actually creating a pattern for it.

Well I have now.  After getting an email asking if I had a pattern for sale I thought I really need to write this down.

When I make them, no two are the same.  I usually have another idea of making frilly edges or adding beading.  Even the number and densitiy of the petals can change.

I love to mix colours, use multi-coloured yarns or even use different yarn weights & textures when making them.  I think, like in nature, my roses should be individual.

Have a look in Walnut Baby to see some of my little rosy creations and the pattern is there for you too

I love the rose I created for this pattern

I made it using DMC multi-coloured embroidery thread.  The silkiness of the thread gives this particular rose a lovely sheen and the feel is so soft.

Sorry its been a while, more on Irish Roses ....

There is something about this lovely weather that we've been having that makes me not want to crochet.... so unfortunately my shape sorter has not progressed much in the last couple of weeks. 

I do have 3/4 of the circle side done, it would only take me an hour to finish it - so why don't I??? 

In the mean time I was contacted about my Irish Roses

I make them in all sizes and designs, some with the little ball in the center & the ruffled edges  & some a more classic design



And others decorated with beads, or crochet using embroidery thread



I guess they are my signature piece :)

So when I was contacted about them and asked if I had a pattern, I was embarrassed to say "No".  Now I am writing up the pattern(s), I have my first draft that I need to try out to check that it works as expected & I'll need to do the photos ... so watch this space, hopefully I'll have a new pattern for Walnut Baby very soon.

Thinking of my next project

I have finished my wedding garter now, and will photograph it this evening if I get home during daylight hours!  So I need to think up my next project.

As per my promise, I will need to make something with the stash of yarn I already have.  It is so easy to get sucked into making something that means I have to go and buy even more yarn - I am completely useless at estimating the amount of yarn I'll need to I almost always end up with leftovers.

So I since my collection of cotton yarn seems to be the largest I think I'll have to find projects for that.  I need a coffee cozy sleeve because the drinks at work are super heated & the cups are super thin!  So I can start off with that.

I could also do with a little coin purse for my holidays - if they happen! I'm at the mercy of the British Airways cabin crew on that one, I'm hoping the strikes get called off.

So I think that I'll be making things for me for a while rather than my Etsy shop.

Designing new projects

I am getting on quite quickly with my Aran shawl now, new photos of progress to follow, so the time has come to come up with new projects.

I find the design process quite challenging, I don't generally like to simply follow a published pattern unless I am trying something out for the first time. 

Since spring is upon us & summer is (fingers crossed) just around the corner I am planning to make some more light weight & Summery items. 

My inspiration comes from lots of places, things I see in films & magazines, pictures, photographs and so on.  Quite often I will see a piece of jewellery and think maybe I could crochet something like that - generally my inspiration comes from things that are totally unrelated to Crochet.  I like the challenge of taking an idea and seeing how I can translate that into a finished crochet piece.

This little bracelet for example, clearly not crochet - but seeing something like this in a magazine or seeing someone wearing one would give me an idea to see if I could create something similar in crochet.

I have a few plans right now. 

I'd like to create some Irish crochet inspired barefoot sandals.  Irish Crochet can be very delicate and whispy or much heavier lace.  I am quite looking forward to combining some Irish Crochet motifs to create some barefoot sandals.

I'd also like to try out some more hairpin crochet & create more shawls & also some fingerless gloves - I think that the hairpin crochet would make some very pretty bridal items too.

The one major stumbling block that I have is that I am no artist.  I keep a book where I write down my ideas & also document my patterns.  Unfortunately sometimes I go back to an idea I had and find myself wondering just what exactly that little sketch is supposed to be :)

Multi coloured arm warmers

I have been planning to make a set of arm warmers for a while.  I know that the season for warm stuff is (hopefully) growing to a close but when I get a notion I have to go with it.

I made the warmers using baby wool so they are lovely and soft, and I wanted to add a bit more to them with some irish roses. 

The arm warmers have proper thumbs as well, rather than just holes.

I made the roses two different colours, but tying things togther by putting a ruffle edge of tthe other colour on the larger rose.

They are available from my etsy shop.  Walnut Baby

Shamrock brooch

I finished my Shamrock brooch

I started out making the simple shamrocks and then decided to make the larger more detailed one. 

Since shamrocks are three leaves I made three shamrocks to make the brooch.  Its quite difficult to see in the photo, but the twists on the smaller shamrocks worked out quite well.

Making Shamrocks....

So I got out my irish crochet patterns again to see if I got any inspiration ... so I decided to go with the thought of St Patricks day approaching & made a couple of simple shamrocks

I am planning to make a more detailed one as well....

I guess once I have a few made I'll decide what exactly I'll do with them :)  For now I'll be making a stash of shamrocks.

Walnut baby

I bought myself a display head this week - I thought it about time really!  So I have started updating the photographs on Walnut Baby to show them "worn".

Walnut Baby

Walunt Baby

Hopfully the new images give a better impression of my little creations :)

I still have quite a lot of re-photographing to do.  I want to take the pictures in daylight, which is quite difficult at this time of year ... on a day like today it barely gets light at all!