Rabbit

I made one rabbit for a friend who has just had a baby girl, however.........
My daughter has a thing for rabbits so she has claimed it so I had to make another. That was fine by me though as I wasn't very happy with the firt one. I substitued 2 strands of 8ply for the recommended yarn and at the top of the head the stuffing could be seen.




I found the pattern on Ravelry. There are instructions for knit or crochet.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/bunny-blanket-buddy---crochet

Here is the link for the pattern.

http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/50722-2.html?noImages=

I think in the photo you can see the stuffing.
On my second attempt I made a few changes to the pattern. For the first row I did three sc into the second chain from the hook. I left out all the 1 ch spaces. I evened out the arms by doing 4 rows on each and I completely reworked the head.
I changed down to a 6.5mm hook and with two strands together still, I worked 2 scs into each sc in both the front and then the back loos. For the next 10 rows I just went around the head with a sc in each sc. I then changed to *2sctog, sc* all the way around until I had just a small hole left.
It took a bit longer, used a bit more yarn but the results are much better. I can see no stuffing and there was more stitches to embrodier the face as well.




I think I will be making more of these. It took less than 3 hours with the changes so it is a great gift for a newborn. I will have to make one for my new addition whilst the pattern is still fresh.
:D

Amelies shrug

Amelies birthday was coming up so I made her this shrug from 5ply cleckhetons crepe wool. I think we got this wool from an op shop for next to nothing. The edging was done with "Watermelon" which was left over handdyed 8ply crepe.

The pattern comes from the book, "Crochet for Babies" by Bobbie Matela and the name of the shrug is Sazzy Style Sweater.
http://www.amazon.com/Crochet-Babies-Bobbie-Matela/dp/1573672610/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-9396670-5036642?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1188790190&sr=8-1

The Ravelry link is

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sassy-style-sweater

I think it turned out well. The pattern was easy. Apparently Amelie has worn it a lot :D Her family are going to Austria for Christmas, so hopefully this will fit for then and the Australian winter after.

Birthing bundle

Last month I did Georgina Kellys "Art of Birthing" course. It is based on the book "Birthing from Within" by Pam England. This is a great book that lets you explore some of the myths surrounding birth. Excellent if you have had a previous traumatic birth, but a must read for all pregnant women.
Georginas class was very good. I was led gently into exploring my past births and getting in touch with my intuition for this upcoming birth. If you are interested in the course, leave a comment and I will email you some information.

http://www.capersbookstore.com.au/scripts/shop_item.asp?by=a2z&item=13

Anyway, as part of the course we had to create a birth bundle. Our instructions were to find something that represented the feminine, the masculine and the new baby. We were to wrap the bundle in "a precious cloth" so of course to me that meant something I had crochetted. Here is what I came up with.

New Tam pattern

I know I am a terrible blogger. The truth of it is that I am pregnant and I have trouble creating crochet whilst I create life within me. Anyway, over the last two weeks I seem to have my mojo back and I have been crochetting every night. Of course I have given away a couple of things without taking photos of them first, but hopefully I will be able to show everything off in here over the next couple of weeks.

This is an almost finished tam I am making for a friend in Perth. It is made out of Pakchu cotton which is organic fair trade cotton from Peru.
http://www.ecoyarns.com.au/index.php?main_page=page&id=4&chapter=0&zenid=bdcc7fbf521813deb514709adcb2b089
It is very soft but the colours are a bit disappointing. We wanted a stronger chocolate and dark olive and in the photos that was what it looked like, but sadly when it turned up it looked a bit pucey. It took me ages to work out how to get the colours to work together.

Guess what I did?

It was just to big to do anything else. I am a perfectionist and it was quite carthartic to frog it. I am going to start again tomorrow. I have an invitualation job (uni exam) that will take 3 hours, so I am kid free with nothing to do. It will be bliss. I can't believe I get paid for it! I will post pictures when I have some.
:D

Tall Latte - ARGH!

I feel in love with this pattern as soon as I saw it.
http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/crochet/crocheted_v_neck_pullover.php

I bought the book then bought the yarn and then got my friend, who is a dressmaker, to measure me. The pattern state that if you don't want a figure hugging jumper then to go up a size. I did a gauge test and even did a swatch test with the contrasting colour.



I did that and realised by the time I got to the underarms that it was way to big, so I frogged it and started again. The size down is written poorly. There are quite a few pattern row that simply don't work. I doubt it was tested once typed out, because one of the rows is obvioulsy half missing. Having already started the size up I improvised those rows. The whole way through I had one extra pattern repeat which is about an inch to inch and half (American pattern). Now I have measured it and it is about an inch - inch and half bigger than it is supposed to be, but on me it feel huge. I still need to do the sleeves and the neckline.

It doesn't look too bad right?

Again, not too bad right?

Hello? Can you see the extra material now?

OK, now here is me holding at least 6 inches in at the back?

Does it look better or is this going to make me look fatter?

And that is my grumpy face! LOL

Now looking at these pictures I am thinking it doesn't look that bad, but it does feel huge. I think I should frog it and start again a size smaller, but this would be a size smaller than my measurements as well. I seriously think that won't be a problem because there is a lot of room in this one. Anyway I need your help! Does it look huge and would I be better to frog the lot?Another alternative would be to go back to the hip shaping and take that out. It would save about 4 - 6 inches, but I worry that it would look boxy.


Can anyone give me some advice please?

Baby Jacket

Wow I am a terrible blogger. I seem to be driven to crochet for hours for a whole month and I don't want to stop to blog it all.
I am currently persisting my way through Tall Latte by Doris Chan. I am almost finished my third attempt and I am only mildly happy with the results. Don't be surprised if I frog it for a third time. I think I need to go down a size again. I should take a photo and let you all decide what I should do.....
I have also made a shrug for Amelies birthday in August. I just need to weave in the ends and take some photos of her with it on before I blog it.

I made this baby jacket for my niece who has just turned one. The pattern came from "Crochet for Babies" and is called the Soft Shells Jacket. This is the pattern link on Ravelry. http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/soft-shells-layette
Anyway, as it is so warm here in QLD I decided to use Bendigo 8ply cotton in the shade of Lavender. It was a well written pattern and the jacket turned out perfectly. It fits like a dream. Sadly I didn't grab a shot of Shannon wearing it. :( I may make one of these for my precious angel as well.