Have a good one!

So, it's Christmas Eve and I am just about to sit down and watch the Carols and do a bit of present wrapping, while trying not to cry to much. ( The carols always make me cry, a goodwill and joy overload maybe.)

I really hope you all have a lovely Christmas and festive season, my good wishes go out to you all dear readers, have a very merry and bright day!  Thank you so much for visiting my little patch of cyberspace in 2014, I so appreciate all the lovely comments and support you all provide, you guys really are awesome!  

This holidays I will be enjoying time with my family, and I hope you all get to spend some time with special people over the holiday period too, I really think that's one of the most important thing for us humans, feeling connected, feeling loved, feeling wanted and special, and if we can make someone feel that way I think that's a great thing! 

(I guess this bloggy internet community is just a great big extension of that! :))

I will be taking a little break from this space, I think a break from computer stuff will be quite refreshing, plus I have lots of hooky ideas to get out of my head!  A couple of weeks of planning and getting organised for the new year will get me all set up for a great 2015, I have some ideas that I wanted to try out on the blog this year but didn't get to them, so I hope I can get them off the ground in 2015!

Here are some cheery photos of my Christmas tree thingy this year, 

I am calling it our 'Christmas Cloud', it is definitely not a traditional tree, but I like it and there are presents under it too! 

I think it is well suited to our warm, sunny, Summer Christmas, kind of airy and bright, and it revolves in the breeze.  (Sorry for the excessive amount of photos, I was trying to capture the way it changed as it moved in the air. )

 All you Northern Hemisphere peeps, I hope you are warm and cosy, we will be trying to stay cool here in Melbourne, although the weather is looking lovely and mild for tomorrow, so it should be good for the big roast and pudding.  

Okay, that's enough waffling, Merry Christmas everyone!

Talk soon! 

Big love to you all! 

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Crochet Christmas Baubles. Love.

Hello!  How is you week going?  

Are you getting super busy yet?

The silly season has definitely arrived at our house, I seem to have lost a few days last week!

I have been so busy getting orders completed and trying to have enough stock for the Emu Plains Market on Saturday, my house looks like a dump, there are bits of yarn all per the place, it has certainly been a bit cray-cray round here! 

  

We also had our big extended family Christmas party on Sunday for my side of our family,  it was great to catch up with all my cousins and aunts and uncles, I love being part of a big family, it is always a really good day, and is fascinating to see the next generation coming along and getting so big!!  

So Sunday was great day, then Monday was a shocking day for the country.

 What an unsettling week so far, with the terrible siege in Sydney leaving the whole country feeling stunned and so sad, it's hard to believe something like the has happened in Australia, but I have just been watching the news and it is heartening to see how everybody is coming together to support one and other, the aftermath seems to be bringing out the best in people, that is something to hold onto I think.  Love to all of Sydney. xxx

Anyway, this is not supposed to be a sad space, so  back to the hooky stuff.  

Here's something to cheer you up, in a very colourful, fluffy, frivolous way!

I have been crocheting like a mad woman, currently I am making some crochet baubles.  I have seen some lovely looking baubles around the internet recently, so decided to have a go at my own version, and this is what I have come up with.  

I have to say I am rather pleased with how they are turning out.  They are so fun to make! 

As usual, I have gone over the top with colour, the colours of the Cascade Ultra Pima cotton really look fantastic together, and I have got a few favourite colour combos going that are working well I think.

I am also pretty happy with my little pattern, a bit of trial and error, but they are fitting nicely and I love all the colour changes.  Might try and write it down as some stage.  I am hoping to have about 20 of these ready to sell at the market, but I really won't mind if I bring them home again, they can certainly brighten up my pompom tree!

So here are a few extra photos, just because I thought they looked cheerful! :)

So, I am right in the middle of decoration making and have found some lovely tutorials and patterns around the traps at this time of year.

Here are a few links for other decorations to hook up if you have a few spare moments.

* Crochet baubles at The Patchwork Heart gorgeous!

* More crochet baubles from Handmade and Home lovely!

* Cute Christmas Trees from Poppy and Bliss over on My Poppet 

* more Christmas Trees from The Royal Sisters (great for buntings or garlands)

Are you making any decorations for your tree?

Have you had a go at crochet baubles yet?

Have a great day! 

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(Edited 10/11/16  it has taken a couple of years,but I have finally written up my pattern for these Christmas Baubles,  Yay!  It is in my Ravelry shop over here if you'd like to take a look! :) )

Puffy Flower Decoration Tutorial

Hello!

It's been a while since I shared a pattern with you lovely readers, so I thought it was about time to post a tutorial, there is still time to make a few of these before Christmas.  I thought you might like to make a Puffy Flower decoration, I have been making these recently and they are fun and not too difficult, I think they look pretty dangling around the place, or they make nice little gifts.

 I think it is nice to make a decoration or two each year to add to the collection, and I try and come up with a new idea each year, this is what I have been making this year!  

So I have made a little tutorial for you if you would like to have a go. This is a little thank you to all the people who visit here and my shop and leave lovely comments, thank you for your support and kind words, I really appreciate them! 

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Puffy Flower Decoration

Ok, so you will need small amounts of cotton yarn in different colours, I used 8ply and a 3.5mm hook for this example, but you could use what ever you have, just use a hook that is one size smaller than recommended.  This tutorial uses US terminology.

( Throughout this pattern the initial chains made at the start of each round to get to the stitch height do not count as a stitch unless otherwise stated)

To begin chain 4 and join with a slst to form circle.

Round 1: Ch3, make 12 dc into circle, join with slst to 1st dc (not top of 3ch)  (12 st) Fasten off.

Round 2 : Join second colour, Ch3, create puffy petal - make 4 tr into same st as chains, leaving the last loop of each stitch on the hook.....

......so it looks like this, with 5 loops on hook...... ( sorry about the sideways photo, it refused to be edited!)

.....then make the last yarn over through all 5 loops, creating a puffy cluster........

.....into the next st make 1dc and a puffy petal in the same way......

Continue making a dc and a petal into each stitch until you have 12 petals made.  In this round only, join with slst to third ch of starting chain. Fasten off. (24st)

It should look like this.

Round 3: Join 3rd colour to stitch at top of any puffy petal, chain1, make 2sc into same stitch, then 1sc into next st (top of dc of previous round).  

Continue making 2sc in top of petal, and 1sc in top of dc, 12 times in total till you are back to the start, join with slst to 1st sc. (36 st)

 Round 4 : Chain 1, make 2sc in same stitch, then 1sc in next 5 stitches, *then 2sc in next stitch, then 1sc in next 5 stitches* , repeat from * to * all around , join with a slst to 1st sc. ( 42st)  Fasten off.

This makes one puffy flower circle.

Make a second puffy flower circle the same way.

Take both circles and place wrong sides together. 

Working through the back loops only of each circle, join yarn and chain 1, make 1sc in each pair of back loops, with a 4 chain picot every 6th stitch if you wish, or you could just leave the join a plain circle of sc..........

......continue around the circle until you get back to the start, join with a slst to 1st sc.  Chain 45  and join with slst to 1st chain to create a hanging loop. Fasten off.

Use a needle to weave in your end securely.

And there you have it, one finished decoration! Yay! 

I hope these instructions make sense, if you have a problem, I'll try and help.

Now you can go and play with colour combinations and make lots of dangling goodness for your holidays! I hope these little things help make your Christmas very merry! 

Have a lovely crafty day! 

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A crafty bee in my bonnet. A wooly pompom tree.

Hello.  How is your week going? Good I hope! :)

Well, I have been quite busy with a little idea that just had to be made before everything else I have on my to do list.  

Do you ever get ideas like that?  

Where you just have to make something and see if it turns out how you are imagining?   

I certainly had a bee in my bonnet, and I couldn't concentrate on any of my other makings until it was out of my system!

The idea I had was for a wooly pompom branch that could be used as a whimsical Christmas tree and adorned with decorations like my flowers and stars. I like something a bit quirky for my Christmas trees and I like the spindly nature of branches, this was just taking it a bit further down the cute road with the addition of pompoms!

So I got out my wire and masking tape and bent and stuck that wire into shape, then I got out my wool and wrapped the wire in lots of greens and reds ( a little bit Christmassy).  Next I made a heap of pompoms and then sewed them onto the wire frame, and tadah, all finished and out of my head!

........here is the start of my pompom collection......

....and here is how my wooly pompom branch has finished up, a bit of a folly, a whimsical twiggy branch with pompom fruits at the end of each twig, it is very hard to photograph as it is so spindly and an awkward shape, it looks much better in real life, but you get the idea.  It is actually making my happy just thinking about it!  I think it will look very over the top hung with flowers and stars and maybe some crocheted leafy vine........ :)

While I was making the wire bits I had envisioned making up about a dozen branches in different colours all covered with a rainbow of pompoms and selling them at my market stall, like a forest of pompom trees, I think 3 stems would make a lovely Christmas tree alternative don't you?   

But by the time I had actually got one to the finished stage ( many, many, hours later) I was thinking that this will just be a home project for our Christmas, they just take so long to make and are quite fiddley, I don't think it's a viable item to sell, (maybe just for special people if I am asked). 

So I am going  to make up the other stems at my leisure and just keep them at home for a crazy display.  It is looking a bit sad just with pompoms, must get out some other things to add to it! 

So now I can get back to making things on my to do list!  It is alway good to have a little crafty interlude with a side project!  I am inspired to keep making pompoms, and am thinking some pompom garlands would be a nice addition to my stall instead! :)

Have you made anything completely just for fun, to try out an idea that won't leave your head?

Have a great day, talk soon! 

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