For Christmas I decided to have a play and crochet some supersize snowflakes. I followed my usual snowflake pattern, which you can find HERE, but used super chunky yarn. After crocheting the snowflakes, I blocked them…
Only three snowflakes fitted on my blocking board, compared with the normal sized ones…
After a l-o-n-g time the crochet dried and the snowflakes were ready for hanging. I thought that they’d make a great alternative to a wreath for my front door…
…but then I remembered that blocking with water-based glue (to stiffen the crochet) and the damp English weather, might lead to a very sticky mess on my door! So, I decided that the snowflakes would look good hanging in my window…
Last week I showed you the work for the incredibly talented Sophie Digard, today I want to show you the work of another equally talented artist Michala Gyetvia…
Michala works by stitching threads onto felt; to produce the most amazing landscapes…
I treated myself to a copy of Michala’s exhibition catalogue, so that I can look back, again and again, for inspiration. Inside the catalogue you are treated to images from Michala’s sketch book…
This has really made me think. Should I be keeping a sketch book, to record my ideas? I am a massive fan of Pintrest: perhaps I should start keeping a sketch book to record my ideas r? Perhaps we are seeing the start of my New Year’s resolution….
Last Friday, I went on my annual trip to the Knitting and Stitching Show, in Harrogate, (yes I went last year,and the year before, and the year before) and as ever it was brilliant. The things that I loved most about the Knitting and Stitching Show, isn’t the shopping (although that was amazing) it is seeing the creativity of other artists. One artist that I was drawn to this year was Sophie Digard…
Sophie’s exhibition, hosted by Selvedge magazine, featured her amazing crochet. I thought that I’d take some photos for you lovelies so that you can see her amazing work…
The catalogue, which supported the exhibition, explained more about Sophie and her inspirations, I particularly loved the pages that showed the photographs next to the finished work…
Isn’t Sophie’s work just fabulous? It reminded me of the diversity of crochet, from Sophie’s delicate work through to Felieke Van Der Leest work that I featured a a few weeks ago..
Hello Lovelies! It is great to see soooo many of you here, looking at the little blog, you are all very welcome! As a reminder you can also find me on Facebook HERE and on Ravelry HERE. Do pop by!
We’ve had Halloween. We’ve had Bonfire Night. We can officially start thinking about Christmas, not that we haven’t sneakily been doing so already, over the next few weeks I have two craft fairs coming up. One is in my home. Yes in my home! My local area is having a Craft-y-Crawl, where makers open up their homes, showcase their makes and, hopefully, have a few sales. The second craft fair I am going to be at, with York Makers. This year York Makers are having two fairs: one on the 29th November at Wiggington Recreation Hall, the other (the one I’ll be at) is on the 5th December at Clements Hall, in my local area. I would love, love, love to have done more fairs this year, but work has got in the way. Here is a sneaky-peek at some of my makes that I will be taking along to the fairs…
Mini crochet wreaths…
Sparkly snowflakes…
Perfect stocking-fillers: bookmarks…
More stocking-fillers: brooches…
And hair blossoms...
It would be just lovely to see soon of you at one of these fairs: but don’t worry if you can’t make, I’ll keep you updated right here!
It is a damp, dreary day, here is York. How is it with you? It is the type of day that my Grandma would have described as back-endish: it is definitely back-endish! Despite today, we have had a truly beautiful Autumn: the colours have been amazing and I have been lucky enough to spend lots of time outdoors wandering through Mother Nature’s most spectacular show. Of course I took my camera with me, so that I was able to share the beauty with you. I hope you find Autumn as inspirational as I do…
I know that some people find Autumn difficult, a season where the nights draw-in, days become shorter and the Earth prepares for her Winter sleep. For me it is a season, where I feel alive. I think it might be the farmer’s daughter in me coming-out. On the farm Autumn was a season of celebration and thanks-giving and looking forward to the new year, as seeds for the Spring crops were planted and plans were drawn-up for the coming year. Although I left the farm many years ag, somethings have defiantly stayed with me: my love of Autumn is one of them! I’d love to hear about your favourite season: with comment here or find me on Facebook HERE.
I went to Norway with the expectation that I would be blown away by the stunning scenery; the deep blue fjords, the tree covered hills and the snow-capped mountains. What I wasn’t quiet expecting was the inspiration that I would find in the colours of the buildings. The buildings reflect the colours found in nature, but they are so vivid, bright and alive. Naturally I took lots of photographs, so that I could colour match them to yarn and crochet myself something very special: and so that I could share them with you lovelies…
While I was in Norway, Si was indulgent enough to allow be to visit every yarn shop we passed. I am so glad he did. I fell completely and utterly in love with Dale Yarn. Dale is famous for its Norwegian jumpers, so naturally there produce the most amazing yarn. I didn’t bring any Dale yarn back to York with me, suitcase allowances and all-that, so my hunt is on to find some Dale yarn here in England…
It’s been a bit quiet here in blog-land, as I’ve been away. You’ll be hearing quite a lot about my time away over the next few weeks. I’m not going to apologise for telling you about my time away, I’ve had an amazing time and can’t wait to share some of it with you!
I want to start with the most amazing exhibition that I have ever visited. The exhibition featured crochet: in a way that I have never seen before. The exhibition was inspiration, fun, poignant, thought-provoking but most of all you walked around with a giant grin on your face.
The exhibition was at the Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum, which is the national museum of decorative arts and design, in Trondheim, Norway. The exhibition Into the Zoo featured work by the incredibly talented Felieke Van Der Leest . Felieke Van Der Leest combines plastic animals with precious metals and textile techniques, especially crochet, to create a zoo where humor and seriousness go hand in hand. The aim of her work is to appeal to both the inquisitive child and the playful adults: and it certainly did.
Want to see?
This is a small selection of Felieke Van Der Leest amazing creations on display. If you’re grinning like I was when I saw her work, I would recommend treating yourself to a copy of the exhibition book the Zoo of Life. The book has lots and lots of photographs of Felieke Van Der Leest’s work and also explains the thinking behind some of her creations. The book is a lovely memory of this amazing exhibition and will put a smile on your face!
Thank you for the staff at Nordenfjeldske Kunstindustrimuseum who allow photographs (without flash) to be taken in the galleries! If this exhibition ever comes to your country, please, please, please, get yourself along!
*** Warning. This blog post contains the “C” word! ***
I’m reliably told that we are only one-hundred sleeps away from Christmas: so I thought that it was ok to tell you that I have commenced with my Christmas crochet projects. I have a few Christmas crochet projects that I am working on; snowflakes (like the ones I've crocheted before), a nativity scene for my friend’s little girl (the one I often crchet for) and some mini-wreaths. Want to see?
Snowflakes…
Snowflakes…
Multi-snowflakes…
Crochet nativity…
Crochet nativity…
The above crocheted nativity is what I am using for inspiration, so mine is going to look slightly different, and the camel won’t be putting in an appearance, here it is so far…
I can’t decide if I should add faces or leave them Waldorf. Any thoughts?
Mini-wreath, still a work in progress but I’m happy with it so far…
What are you crocheting, or making, for Christmas?
I’ve wanted to share these fabric flowers with you for a while, I just somehow haven’t got round to it, until now. I was asked to make some fabric flowers for a wedding and the lovely bride set me the challenge of making them as large as I could possible make them! What a challenge! I was sooooo luck, not only to be asked to make these flowers for a very special day, but the bride happened to be an interior-designer and had access to the most amazing fabrics: I was, literally, a child in a sweet shop! The flowers are a scaled up version of these fabric flowers and the ones that I form part of one of my Workshops. Here is a small selection of the large flowers that I made…
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