Made Marian: Oozing Crafty Goodness

If you assumed all baby blankets had to be pink or blue or maybe pale yellow, you were wrong.  I’ve recently finished a sports themed blanket for a friend of a friend.  It was done in the colours of this team, but I did joke that if my commission fell through I’d surely be able to find someone from Tipperary in the market for a baby blanket.

This pattern was “inspired by” a pattern in my Bible.   I changed the size though to make the blanket a square, it’s basically just two rows of navy double crochets and two rows of yellow DC all the way up.  Then I did a row of single crochets down the two sides to give it a better finish.  The navy looks very dark in some lighting, so dark that I could probably pawn it off on someone from Kilkenny should the need arise.  But I looked again at the teams colours and their navy is quite dark too, so it should be ok.

I’ve been a long time fan of the Irish music scene, I was brought up on a strict trad diet so I’ve always loved that but when I was in college I developed a love for all things Irish Indie.  My favourite band has been The Frames since 2000 when I saw them live in the courtyard in UL.  Since then I have seen the Frames (or various members of the band in their solo gigs) more than twenty times.  If you were a fan of the Irish Music scene in the early 2000’s you couldn’t have escaped the wonderful O by Damien Rice.   Neither could you escape the amazing voice of Lisa Hannigan on that album.  So I was delighted to hear that Lisa was bringing out a solo album and you can imagine how delighted I was when i saw the album cover and website wallpaper which her mother knitted it for her.  I need to find out if there are awards for the most beautiful album cover ever because I think this is it.  This isn’t a music blog so I’m not going to review the album but Darragh has a great interview and review here. Oh, and I won tickets to see Lisa in UL next week through The Limerick Blogger so I can’t wait to see her.

No, I’m not talking about the pledge that you might have taken with your confirmation, I’m talking about the pledge to Buy Handmade this Christmas (or holiday season as the website calls it).    I know I wont be able to make all my Christmas Presents myself, but I’m planning on making a good stab at it.  And what I don’t make I’ll probably get here (Susan doesn’t hand make the food but she does put the gorgeous hampers together by hand so I’m letting this one slide), here or here.  This also fits into my plans to combat Throwawayism single handedly

Stitchlily, a blogger I discovered recently thanks to Lou has also taken the pledge.

So, when I’m not crocheting flowers I’m picking up the needles again and giving knitting another go.  Nothing too serious though, just a scarf in a nice rib stitch.  I picked up this yarn in Broderick’s in Abbeyfeale, it’s on my parents street and my Mom only discovered this aladdin’s cave of yarn recently*.  This rib is really simple, Knit 2, purl 2 all they way across except that you end on one purl, this gives the scarf a nice edge.  This is the first of my handmade Christmas presents, although of course I’m not saying who it’s for

*I should clarify that my parents only moved to that street a few years ago and that my mom has only recently renewed her interest in knitting

I’ve posted about flower pins before and many of my readers have some of those.  But this one here is a little bit fancier than those as it has two layers of petals.   The pattern is again from Debbie Stoller’s Happy Hooker, this time from the pattern Spring in Winter.  I made this one to wear with a pink bolero and a black dress.

I’m thinking of making these ones to order so if anyone would like one, or if anyone would like to give them as a gift to someone get in contact through the link at the side.   I’d be looking at charging about €8 - €10 each for them as I’d be using good quality yarn and they take about an hour to make

My pal Lette has just set up an Etsy store, you can visit and buy her prints, photos and ceramic ornaments here.  The shop is called Crafty Paws (a tribute to Scribbles).

I’ve already snapped up these prints as part of a arty/crafty swap

My part of the swap is a Work in Progress at the moment.  Updates to follow.

I was asked a while back to make crochet lapel pins for some of the VIP’s to wear at Podcamp and once Bernie had ok’d my prototype I got to work on them.  Just a simple white crochet circle and then I sewed/embroidered on the logo in green.  Here’s the logo.

And here’s my interpretation. The yarn is “greener” than it looks in the photos.

As I’ve mentioned before Limerick Pride is coming up soon and since the Rainbow Coffee Dock makes such a great home for the Limerick City Stitch ‘n’ bitch I figured I should do something to help.  So, I’ve volunteered to make crochet flowers which will be for sale on the Saturday of the Parade (13th September).  Here’s a few I’ve started working on.

I’m working from my own and donated stash.  Lou was first to donate stash but Gina and Conor from the group donated generously on Saturday.  Flowers will be €2 and all proceeds will go to Rainbow Support Services.

You know those people that are impossible to buy for?  The people who just go ahead and buy whatever they want or need, well I’m sure you know that they are impossible to buy for.  My better half is one of those people so when his birthday rolled around again this year I was tearing my hair out trying to think of something to get him.  I eventually decided on novelty over substance….Lego.  So we spent a very enjoyable Saturday night taking on the challenge of using every brick (700 of them) within an hour.

I’ve been doing a lot of making stuff for other people and I tend to take that seriously so it was actually refreshing to make something for fun.  So if you have a box of lego up in the attic or hidden away in the garage I would recommend taking it out and having some fun with it….you’re never too old.

Today I’m guesting over on Beaut.ie.  I did the ladies a HUGE favour last week by DRAGGING myself to Cocoon for a facial….seriously they owe me one

I rave about Cocoon here.