FO – Orbit the dragons

Hello lovely readers!

I made it, I finally managed to sew together my second Orbit the Dragon (pattern is from Projectarian) and take pictures. For some reason at the moment, I’m quite good at finishing things but not so good at taking pictures straight away, which means I end up with finished objects that I can’t really blog about (because I know that you’re probably like me and love pretty pictures!).

Anyway I digress! Here are my two finished dragons, I’m so happy with how they have turned out and I’m looking forward to my next amigurumi (I think I’m back into wanting to crochet more rather than knit).

Aren’t they cuties? The one we are keeping for baby is the one on the left (with the darker green and lighter belly) and the other will be gifted to one of my childhood friends also expecting a baby boy around the same time as us (it will be sent to France with my dad when he leaves after his visit).

I hope you’re all having a great weekend and I’ll be back tomorrow with progress on my EPP!

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FO Friday – Aragorn square

Happy Friday everyone!

I have exciting news, my thesis is due on Sunday but I have started the submission process today so I am officially done writing my thesis! It is really a great feeling and I’m so glad it’s done.

But of course you’re here for the crafty bits and I also have something quite exciting to share. Slowly but surely I am tackling the end of the LOTR blanket this year, and I have finished another square, Aragorn!

This means I only have 2 more squares to go before I can join my blanket. After over 2 years in the making I’m almost going to be as happy to finish it than I am to finish my thesis!

I have had issues staying motivated for such a long project, which is a shame because I love graphs and I would love to make more in the future. Do you have a secret to stay motivated on huge projects?

Have a great weekend!

WIP Wednesday – Orbit the dragon

Happy Wednesday everyone!

I hope you’ve been well and that you’ve had a good week so far. I’m going to be back on the WIP Wednesday wagon for a few weeks as I am participating in a CAL to make the cutest dragon amigurumi! The steps will be released for free over several weeks and I’m very happy to say that I’ve finished week 1, with week 2 being released (hopefully) tomorrow.

On the left is what the finished dragon will look like, and on the right you can see all the parts we were meant to make for week 1. The pattern is Orbit the dragon from the Projectarian and if you head over to Instagram you can see all the awesome colours people have chosen! I’m being quite restrained and I’m only using 3 colours using Patons cotton/acrylic blend and I’m loving using this yarn, the stitch definition on it looks great for amigurumi and it wasn’t overly pricey. This will be a perfect toy for baby, as hubby and I are really hoping to pass our love of dragons (and all things fantasy) onto him!

Let me know if you are also joining in on the fun, I’d love to see your dragons!

 

FO – Campfire cardigan

Happy Wednesday!

I have to say I have been super slow at knitting my Read Between the Lines shawl so I haven’t got any pictures to share but I have finished my Campfire cardigan yesterday, just in time for tomorrow’s deadline to enter the #grannyCAL18 hosted by Rosina of Zeens and Roger. I’m totally in love with it and as usual when I finish something I’ve been wearing it around the house a lot (read I haven’t taken it off) since yesterday.  You will notice they are quite a few differences with the original pattern, I decided not to make a hood and to keep the sleeves at 3/4 length.

I had lots of fun today doing a little photoshoot in my kitchen. I find photos are always a bit challenging to find the right pose (I ended up taking waaaay more pictures that those 2) but well worth it 🙂

In other news, I’ve been participating in March Meet the Maker over on Instagram, you can have a look at the pictures I posted on the right panel of my blog even if you’re not on IG, I’ve been talking a bit more about my design process and what I normally do of my days if you’re interested 🙂

WIP Wednesday – Campfire cardigan

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Better late than never, I’ve finally made a start on my project for the granny along hosted by Rosina over at Zeens and Roger. This crochet along has been going since the beginning of Feb but with my stay overstate I just didn’t have time to start earlier. I was also pretty unsure about what project I wanted to make so I’ve left it to last minute (the CAL finished next Thursday on the 15th of March).

So finally today I chose a pattern, I’m making a cardigan for the coming winter. I have a couple of knitted jumpers already but I wanted something that I could just slip on, with sleeves to keep the chill away (unlike the kimono I currently have, which is great but has short sleeves). The pattern I chose is the Campfire Cardigan, which you can find for free on Make&DoCrew. I had never done a hexagon granny before and I’m loving it, the granny stitch is just so fast!

Just from today, I’ve managed to make one of the sides and I’m well on my way with the second side. Next I will have to lengthen the bottom of the cardigan and the sleeves and I will have a perfectly snuggly new cardigan to wear! I don’t know if you can tell but I’m excited! This will have to be finished before Thursday next week, I should be okay but still, wish me luck!

What have you guys been working on?

Little Hearts for Grace

Hello everyone!

I hope you’ve had a great weekend, here it’s been scorching hot! Today I’d like to share with you a charity CAL I’ve taken part in, and that you can still join in before the end of January.

This CAL is run by Lindsey from Lottie & Albert and Jen @justlittlejen on Instagram. Seven squares have been designed and are available for free on Lindsey’s website. The goal is to make some of those squares and send them over, so that Jen and Lindsey can make a blanket and raffle it in the UK to raise money for two charities: Bristol’s Children’s Hospital and Little Hearts Matter.

This CAL started because Lindsey and Jen have a common friend whose little girl Grace was born with only half a heart. Both of them have been amazed with how Grace’s family has coped, and they wanted to help in their own way, by raising money for the charities that helped them when Grace needed it the most. Lindsey explains it very well in her podcast on youtube if you would like to know more about it.

I was very touched by Grace’s story, so I decided to make three squares and send them to the UK. The colours should be including purples (Grace’s favourite colour) or pastels.

There is still some time left if you want to join in too, they are really fast to make (it only took me a couple hours for all three of them). I’m sure that the more squares they receive, the better it will be. If you are in the UK, you can also buy a raffle ticket to support the charities (it won’t be available internationally because of strict UK raffle laws).

I hope you guys have a great week ❤️

WIP Wednesday – Christmoose

Happy Wednesday beautiful readers!

I hope that this last week before Christmas isn’t too crazy and that you are all getting into holiday mode. I have my last week of work before the holidays now and it’s been quite hard to stay focused when all I want to do is bake and craft!

You probably remember a few weeks back I participated in the Fantastic Creature Amigurumi design contest from amigurumipatterns.net. I wanted to say a very warm thank you to everyone who voted for me, it was my first participation and seriously it was awesome!

Wiley and Sandy did pretty good too, I was very excited to get over 500 votes with Sandy, it was really a great experience and I can’t wait for next year’s contest!

I did not win the contest (the first person had over 2000 votes for her design!) but I’m really happy with how I did and all the participants earned a place in the December ami-along hosted on amigurumipatterns.net. Which brings me to today’s WIP: meet my Christmoose! He is Sabrina Somers design for the December ami-along and he is adorable!

He tuned out so cute! I’m very excited to add the finishing touches: baubles in sparkly yarn! ✨

Are you currently participating in an Ami-along or have you participated before? I’d love to know!

FO – Liula stole

Happy Wednesday lovely readers!

I’m a bit sad to announce that we had no trick or treaters yesterday, so I was a bit sad but on the other hand, more lollies for us, so still a win!

Today I’ve finished my Liula stole. The design is from Emma Potter from Potter & Bloom and I absolutely adored it! I started this last week on the 24th and I literally could not put it down! Emma was also organising a crochet-along for Liulas FO so I was able to enter it on her Ravelry thread. It was super fun to see everyone’s FO, they all look so great!

Here is mine, pretty good right?

What I loved is that the pattern calls specifically for a yarn cake in 4 ply, and I have to say I had been dying to try one of those! I actually found out that they sell some at Lincraft, which is an Australian craft store chain and I had to go and buy one. Because the Liula pattern is inspired by leaves, I chose rather autumnal colours and I love my new stole! I think it will get quite a bit of wear, especially because it’s still pretty cold here during spring.

Have you participated in any CAL recently? I’d love to know about them!

LOTR CAL – Gandalf’s pipe square

Happy Monday lovely readers!

It has been a while but I have finally finished square 9 of my LOTR CAL! I have been seriously distracted by other projects but I hope that I can get back in the groove and finally get done with this huge blanket!

It’s a very short one today because I’m actually at a conference all week and so I won’t have much time for blogging. I do hope you all have a great week and I’ll try to be back on Wednesday with some plane knitting updates 🙂

Blurre Shawl

Happy Friday!

I have finished it!!! I’m so so excited about this shawl, and it’s been finished just in time to enter into Deanne CAL (finishing today, mind you!) 😊

Anyway I’ve already rambled a lot about how much I love this shawl, so without further ado here are some pictures.

I love the colours I’ve chosen so much! My favourite part in probably in the middle, the variegated yarn kind of looks like a leopard print 😊

I’m probably going to wear this shawl a lot, I’m planning on making a second one as well once I have a bit more sock yarn minis! Have a great weekend!