roman sock

RIP Twinks

Wow, I have not posted for an awful long time! Thanks to everyone who has emailed me asking if I am okay, I am getting much better!

My lovely little dog Twinks who has featured on this blog far more than his fair share due to his startling good looks (and he knew it!) passed away last month.

His tracheal disease grew much worse over the last couple of months and after a rapid turn for the worse he had no alternative than to put him to sleep. It was a horrible experience so I have been trying to remember him when he was happy and not coughing all the time (I am so angry about Tracheal Disease - what a horrible way for an animal to die - so so unfair)

He used to love going for drives! You can just about spot his reflection in the wing mirror here:

But even more than traveling he liked ice-cream when he arrived at his destination!

Twinks gave me the idea for making amigurumi all those years ago and was in particular my inspiration for brushed crochet. Now when I look back at my work I can see his cute face in almost everything I made.

I have been struggling a bit finding my creativity back. It has deserted me a bit I am afraid.

Twinks liked ripping up paper like most of us like chocolate and one of the funniest sights was his bum jiggling as he ripped something apart! So rip Twinks!

 

  
  

  

Pleased as Punch the Polar Bear

 

As I am working on my special secret project and I am 1o patterns into it (Jumping up and down with joy!!!), I thought I would share some of the things that make me happy:

Dinos

When I was young my parents took us to a beautiful beach resort in Sri Lanka, the beach went on forever, the sand was soft warm and a beautiful gold colour. My brother and I thought we were in heaven.

I brought lots of books with me while my brother had brought his constant companions, 15 large plastic dinosaurs. Before we realised what happened my brother buried each each of these 15 precious dinosaurs along the beach, feeling very mini Indian Jones, then got quite caught up playing in the sea.

Before bed he suddenly wanted his dinosaurs but try as we might we couldn't find them. We thought the morning would bring illumination but in the whole next week we couldnt find even a single one, so my little brother had to go home without any of his faithful friends. But now I have had an idea, some 20 years later I thought I could replace my bro's long lost dinos with these cuties from Planet June. How sweet are they!

 

Yarn

I also am head over heals in love with the yarn from K1Yarns - Where I teach my crochet classes. Well worth a look if you are in Scotland with shops in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. I am coveting the new cashmere mixes - stunning.

Fluffiness

I saw a really sweet example of my brushed crochet technique I use to make my fluffygurumi like Punch the Polar and the little fennec fox

on RoxyCrafts blog , you can find my tutorial here

Great News!

Kristen Rask's new book Creature Crochet is being launched and it contains a pattern of mine (The cute beaver on the front cover) You can check it out here

I am very chuffed! Its looking good.

I am working on a very special project at the moment that I am head over heals happy about. I hope to be able to share more soon. Keep you fingers crossed for me!

Mollie Flowers - The Tutorial

 

I am so glad everyone loves these cute little flowers as much as I do!! You can download the tutorial here: Download Mollie Flowers

 

I have also included a section on the magic loop as that can be a wee bit tricky.

Hope you enjoy - I can't wait to see all of the things you create!!

 

Mollie Flowers

I have been completely obsessed with these flowers.

 

The brilliant thing is they are so quick to make, but the finished product looks really intricate and detailed. I can make about 50 in an evening which is enough for the whole bag or a pillow front (my current project). I think what really excites me is there modular nature - you literally could make anything. Some of the things I have been thinking about are big travel bags, mats, headbands, soft furnishing coverings, totes or even jewelery there must literally be hundreds and thousands of ideas.

After my sneak peak a couple of weeks ago... I finally have the finished product - a handy bag. This is going to be a pill bag for my grandmother – who is a keen knitter and a closet crochet lover, she once told me about two suits her mother crocheted for her that she wore for years and re-dyed every time they were looking a little worse for wear. She loves flowers, and her garden is always a riot of colours! Absolutely stunning!

 

So these are Mollie Flowers in her honour.

They are also very easy to sew together, I have perfected my technique since the bag and now the flowers sit really proudly and you get the full effect of the puffiness.

This is the first of a coaster set for my summer dining table to bring a little light and life to even the wettest Glasgow summer. I am also thinking about making place mats, although i am a little worried they will get stained – Maybe scotch guard would work?

If anyone is interested I can write up the pattern? I would just love to see what others could do with it? Although you could just whip them up - they are just 6 puff stitches of 6 lengths each in a magic loop with 6 sc

The Chicks are Multiplying - Free Pattern

The chick pattern is now available to download here: Download Springchicks I really hope you enjoy it! It's perfect for beginners and last minute easter gifts because it is just so quick and easy to make.

I will (hopefully!) be teaching some crochet classes at K1 Yarns and will use this pattern to do it because it covers all the crochet basics and gives you a cute wee chick at the end.

This is a sneak peek of my new project - all will be revealed soon...

Spring is Sprung

I felt the sun on my face today for the first time, this year, yesterday - so it is definitely time for a new free pattern. It is almost finished, but here is a very sneaky preview...

  

I have been having lots of fun whipping these guys up!

 

They are really very sweet and you can get loads of different looks just by moving their beaks and eyes.

    

They are also so quick you could whip up a whole easter table before you know it!

 

I seem to be addicted to stacking things... I am going to need to get over it soon...

 

The pattern will be up soon! Here's to the sun!

The Headphone Whale has arrived...

Just a very quick note to say the Whale pattern is now available here on the Roman Sock Shop or on Etsy

 

I finally managed to get a decent shot of our little garden fox sleeping. She is so cute!

 

Very like Twinkle!

 

Terror Pins... stacked and egged!

Pancake day inspired me in a slightly strange way.... A stack of lovely Terror Pins; for petting not for eating!

 

I have been thinking long and hard about this whole crochet thing. I really would like to make more of my patterns available, but at the moment crochet is my hobby and writing each pattern takes a long time and a lot of effort, so often they just don't get done...

So, if you guys don't mind too much, I would like to start taking it a bit more seriously, and start charging for my patterns. All the existing patterns on this site will remain free forever and I will make sure every third pattern is free. Does that sound okay? I really would appreciate your feedback. I have almost finished the Whale Earphone pattern, so that should be available from tomorrow too.

So Terror Pins is my first for sale pattern.... You can buy it here on the Roman Sock Shop or on Etsy (and soon on Ravelry).

 

I love the squishy little guys...

 

always looking for fun and feeling groovy

 

It was hard to entice them from their snugly eggs though...

 

You can kinda understand why...

 

Also, If you haven't seen them yet, I would pop over to Planet June's blog and check out her darling lemmings - they are cute and sooooo funny. http://www.planetjune.com/blog/

Whales and Headphones - Yes Whales and Headphones

I love my iphone, I think once you have one it becomes part of you, like a hand (but with way more functionality) I do however have one problem - I keep loosing or breaking my headphones - I am now on pair three and they are not cheap. I needed a way to solve the... I use it like a phone, but sometimes I want to listen to music dilemma...so whale cozy was born.

This pattern is now available on the Roman Sock Shop or on Etsy

 

The eyes are buttons and the whale folds out to reveal your headphones.

 

The whale can then be reconnected to your headphones so you don't lose him as well!.

I went outside in the freezing cold - with proper snow at the weekend, to take some arty shots, some how they are a little blue - but I think they capture the sheer cold!

 

He is a usefully wee guy, but is also kinda cute!

 

Am I the only one with these headphone related concerns?

I also took a trip up to Oban and have another pic to prove how beautiful Scotland is:

   

I have a bit of a chest infection so I am off to bed, trying not to cough!