Keep Calm and get crafting!!

Crochet....... 

Crochet is my secret obsession! 


I have tried knitting and couldn't quite get to grips with it ~ I kept loosing stitches or doing two rows of 'pearl' instead of 'knit'.  I made a few scarves and some blankets made from knitted squares for the children's beds, but couldn't really decipher the patterns well enough to progress to anything else......

About a year ago I found a very old book about crocheting.  To start with it was a bit of a laugh, who would want to wear a crochet tie or waistcoat these days?  Everything looked pretty though and it amazed me how many different shapes and patterns could be made with just one hook and some yarn! 

So I taught myself to crochet.

I can't remember the first thing I made, maybe it was a coaster, but I was soon searching for websites with free crochet patterns. These are some of my favourites:

Diary of a Stay at Home Mom   (my favourite blog)

Crochet with Raymond

Pardon my chaos 

My Rose Valley

Attic24

Also here where you will find lots of different patterns by different people:  

Red Heart Wool 
Lion Brand Yarn 

Then I  discovered amigurumi ~ the Japanese craft of making stuffed crocheted or knitted toys (the word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll) and started making  the children toys to play with.  This is sooooooooo much fun.

I don't get a great deal of time to craft.....what with my family, the animals, the house, the garden ........ the only time I usually get to crochet or craft is in the evenings and as the children are getting older they are going to bed later and later and our evenings are getting shorter and shorter.........

Now I "hook" whenever I can find five minutes to spare (not often enough), I must confess sometimes, I even fall asleep dreaming about hooking, about fancy granny squares and things I want to make in the future......

I want to use the Blog to keep a record of crafty things we have all made (not just crochet), projects the children or I are working on and things we would like to make in the future.  Hence from now on Thursday blog posts will be "Keep calm and get crafting" days and I hope to link up with other crafting blogs like:

Small Things (I love this blog)

So for today ............


❈ Something old ❈
                 (Something I have made in the past)

I made these two piggies for my friends Beth and Ros.

❈ Something new ❈
                    (Something I would like to make in the future)

You can find the link here:  Attic24

❈ Something borrowed ❈
                             (Something I have found that I think is great!)

Owlways

You can find it on this blog: Owlway

❈ Something blue or green or purple or .... ❈
                                                           (Something I am working on now)

It is supposed to be a blanket, but may end up as a scarf.

This week I am linking up with:

Frontier Dreams

and

Natural Suburbia