USE IT OR LOSE IT #4 - PROGRESS AND A CROCHET - A - LONG

As you know, I've embarked upon a much needed tidy up and clearout of The Woolnest. Each day I stop and take a few moments to look around, mooch through a drawer or empty out a tin, just to see what's there and to decide whether or not I can keep it - using my USE IT OR LOSE IT rules (you can read about them here). It's surprising what lovely things you find when you start to look!!!

So far, I have a lovely new shelf, thanks to hubby who called in at IKEA, bought me a shelf and fixed it up for me. Perfect.

 

 

Now all of the things that were on my desk are on the shelf, which leaves room on my desk to work. That's a first for The Woolnest.

 

 

I also parted company with my beloved Molly Makes magazines, converting a pile of magazines that I barely look at, to a few sheets of paper that I want to keep. These are either projects I would like to make, or inspirational photos.

 

I also mooched out all of the free gifts from the mag, which I'd stuffed into a box for "someday" and I carefully removed the accompanying instructions from each mag. Now I have some fun sewing projects that I can give to friends, complete with instructions. Brilliant. It took me a couple of hours, but it was worth it.

I then found a bag of 100% wool balls that I keep buying from the same lady at Yarndale and Wonderwool. I'm not sure why I keep buying these little balls of yarn, but I love the lady's stall and I'm drawn to it like a magnet. She sells vintage paraphernalia as well as these gorgeous balls of wool (100% British and hand-dyed) in lots of subtle, earthy tones. I don't intend to buy any more on Saturday when I visit Yarndale ...... but you never know!!!

 

So I pondered what to do with these little lovelies and, as if by magic, Black Sheep Wools announced a Crochet - A - Long for their Spice of Life Blanket, which will be perfect.

Photo credit: Sandra Paul at Cherry Heart and used with permission

The blanket has been designed by blogger Sandra Paul (aka Cherry Heart) and patterns will be released every couple of weeks. The blanket is crocheted in Rico Baby Classic DK and you can buy the pack here from Black Sheep Wools:

Spice of Life Yarn Pack

 

You can read Sandra's fab blog here with lots of helpful hints for beginners:

Sandra's blog (Cherry Heart)  

I'd love to hear how you're getting along with your own USE IT OR LOSE IT campaign - don't forget to tweet about it using #useitorloseit and you can join the Ravelry group here (some ladies have posted some great ideas for organising your stash):

Use it or Lose it Ravelry group

Happy Making,
Lynne xx

USE IT OR LOSE IT #3 - YARNDALE FLOWER BROOCH - A FREE CROCHET PATTERN

My stash busting project is going well and I now have a crocheted shawl that I'm halfway through, a little pile of books for selling and I've made around 15 small flower brooches for the ladies on my Yarndale trip (which is only a few weeks away - yippee). I still need to buy the printed ribbon which will say "YARNDALE 2015" on it, and the idea is that the flower will act as a little momento of our trip.

I've been using up the remains of 3 skeins of British Gotland DK, which is perfect. The natural fibres create a slightly fluffy effect and the yarn changes colour ever so slightly throughout, due to the hand-dyeing.

I  love the colours I'm using too which all have such great names - 'Sunset over Chequers' (pink), 'Monkstone Beach Sands' (mustard) and 'A Touch of the Blues' (blue).

The yarn was left over from a design commission, and was provided by The Little Grey Sheep. They produce the most beautiful yarn and you can see their products here:

The Little Grey Sheep

I thought I'd share this pattern as it creates the perfect little flower that you can add to your favourite bag, coat or scarf. You could even add it to a headband for a little girl, or clip the onto the front of you favourite shoes!!! It only uses around 8g of yarn, so with a 50g skein, you could make about 8 flowers. I've added the pattern as a pdf file, so that it's easier to print off, or you can save it to your computer or tablet and avoid the printing.

Click here to download the Yarndale Flower Brooch pattern

I've added the pattern to Ravelry here, so don't forget to add your projects. If you share your flowers on social media it would be fab if you could link me - I'm @thewoolnest on Twitter and Facebook and the_woolnest on Instagram, thank you.

If you want to join in my stash busting project, you can read the rules here (and these are just my rules - you can change them to suit yourself).

Happy making, Lynne x

Exciting Things Part 2

I blogged here about my first bits of exciting news - and this time next week I will be at Event City, Manchester with the Woman's Weekly team, teaching crochet. I can't wait. I'm excited, but just a little nervous as teaching 30 people to crochet in just one hour is quite an undertaking!!! Wish me luck!!!! Michaela Strachan is opening the show - I remember her more from the Hit Man and Her in my Youth, but enjoying watching her on the various nature programmes she now hosts.

 

And now I have some more exciting news to share. I've just signed another book deal with Search Press for one of their 20 To Make Series. I'm really excited as the content will be colourful and fun to make and I'll share more with you once deadlines and full content have been agreed. I love their 20 To Make Series and have a nice little collection up in The Woolnest. I have a feeling that mine will be very popular. One of my current favourites is Sue Stratford's mini Christmas knits.

 

Talking of books, I was delighted to see these little characters pop up on facebook - made by a teacher for her class. Aren't they so very cute. I love it when people share their photos, as I often a worry that when other people make my designs, they won't turn out the same and they may feel disappointed. Afterall, we all crochet and knit ever so slightly differently, don't we. But these are perfect, phew!!

Other great news is that I have a interview in the current issue of Crochet Gifts Magazine. It falls across 2 pages and is followed by Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, also from my crochet book "Once Upon a Time in Crochet".

 

 

You can buy my book here from Amazon. Sometimes it goes on offer for £6.99 which is a great price. It currently has 10 reviews and all are positive, which is fantastic.

 

 

I have a little bit more news to share with you, but I'll save that for another day.

 

Have fun making and crafting, Lynne