Shawls

I've been a bit shawl making crazy this year. They are so satisfying to make. Also make a train journey very quick.

Here is a run down of a few. Check out my Ravelry page www.ravelry.com/projects/MandyMade  if you're interested in making one for yourself. The majority are now gifted, I managed to keep some to myself :-).

I'll start from the latest. Unfortunately I didn't get photos of them all finished and being "modelled".

Elise Shawl

Diagonal Shawl

Diagonal Shawl

Progress on my Sugar Sparkles Shawlette by Linda Permann

Mapleton

Tender sandstorm shawl

Boteh Scarf

Multiplicity Lace Shawl

Diagonal triangle shawl

Elise Shawl

New pouch

Hook Pouch

I wanted a new single project hook pouch. I looked at all the patterns I have but none seemed to fit. I was resigned to making up my own when Michelle brought out her mending kit pouch. Perfect! It took me a little while longer to work out which fabric to use then get around to making it. 

Hook Pouch inside

One of the aims of making it was to help get my crochet mojo back. It's been a bit AWOL lately. Instead I think I've got my sewing mojo back instead! I enjoyed making it, uninterrupted too!! I was a bit worried about the turn out with all the interfacing used but it worked out fine. 

Now to go through my huge yarn and pattern stash to find a new project ;-). 

Pattern used: Michelle Patterns - Mending Kit 

This post contains affiliate links.

Crochet Ballerina Mice

Ballerina Mice

There are so many projects that I have forgotten to write about. First up are the finished Ballerina Mice I made for my Nieces for Christmas. I added photos of the mice in the making but forgot all about the finished ones. Well here they are.

They were lovely to make. You can read all about the materials used on my Ravelry page. I mainly crocheted them on the train so they came together pretty quickly. They are so cute and were well received. I didn't add cheeks, I thought they were ok without them.

The pattern is Ballerina-Mouse by Mari-Liis Lille.

Construction time

Mice bits

It's mice construction time. I think it will be cool enough this evening for a bit of hand sewing. I would like for them to be finished by the end of the week but I always under estimate the time it takes to sew amigurumi together!!

Days 7-15. Taking form

Handmade Christmas Progress

Check out those shoes!! Well you can't really tell they are shoes yet, but they are cute. Yes I am making Ballerina Mice for my nieces. Both dancing obsessed at the moment. I have visions of them taking their Ballerina dolls to concerts for years to come, fingers crossed that will be a reality. 

They are really taking form now. I'm getting some very inquisitive looks on the train but more and more people are starting to ask what I'm making. I used to just stick with easy projects for the train, but I'm now getting very adventurous. Haven't pulled out the stuffing yet though ;-). If you are ever on a Hurstbridge train in Melbourne and see me crocheting away, stop and say hi :-).

The pattern I am using for this project is by lilleliis and can be found on etsy. I want to try so many of her other projects too. I'm checking out her free bunny pattern so I can use up all that pink i'll have left over!!

Have you found a great pattern lately? Please share.

Days 4-6 Progress

Progress days 4-6

Check out that pink!!!! Not a colour I am used crocheting with, so bright. I'm not a pink girl, but my niece is. Both of my boys have gone through a pink phase, but not bright pink.

I'm going to have heaps of it left over, now I need to work out what I can make with it! Pink dinosaurs maybe?

Day 3 progress

Day 3 Progress

I'm not used to such a large project!! These 100g balls are causing a bit of a storage problem. Hopefully they will minimise considerably. I've got more colours to add though ;-).

Christmas gift progress

Day 2 working on Christmas Gifts

I'm really enjoying making on the train again, and these girls are coming along really quickly. I'm a bit behind in writing about them, but that's ok. If you want to skip ahead check out my Instagram (look for dittocrafts) or flickr (click on the picture above).

Dino Family

My Little Dino Family

It's a dino family!! I made most of these ages ago, you can see the little brown one in my banner, that was the first and is Little O. But AJ was bugging me to make his too. Don't know why it took so long for me to get around to it. They are quick to make, so he finally picked a colour and the yellow one was born. So now we have all 4 of us, in dino.

Too cute to handle

 

So cute!

Pattern by Planet June

Handmade Christmas 2014

work in progress

Hello totally neglected blog! It appears having two blogs doesn't increase blog writing, it just makes you ignore both ;-). Well I'm hoping that will change! This blog is after all meant for my personal craft making, not making for Ditto Crafts. So here is what I'm making at the moment. Gifts for my neices for Christmas. Can you guess what it will be?

Foxy Loxy

Not the best pic but had to share. This cuty is finally finished. I'll give more pattern details later. Now off to the day job!

Lots of crochet

I've been crocheting heaps lately. It's a great train project and so relaxing. I've gone a bit ripple blanket crazy! Only problem is I keep rushing in and not estimating yarn very well. So I've had to keep popping back to yarn stores to get another ball or 2. One of which (photo below) I can no longer get but I'm still on the hunt.

Back on the hook

And hopefully back into blogging. So many things have just got in the way, like life maybe?

It's school holidays here at the moment and we have all been sick, yuck. Seems like everyone in Melbourne is at the moment. Sewing at the machine while I'm sick usually spells disaster, so I've picked up the hook again.

I've been eying off Planet June crochet patterns for ages, waiting for the right time. Well the right time came so I bought and made a few! Here they are.

First up a few of her free tutorials, just to make sure I wanted to start again and my fingers would cope. So I made the baby whale, apple and pear. These are now sitting on my desk at work.

By the time I'd finished the pear I was hooked (get it!!) again so I bought a set of dino patterns and the lemmings pattern.

Baby Brachy

Baby Stegy

Oh no! Lemmings

I've also been playing with a few photo editors for the iPad and iPhone. Haven't found my "look" yet. It's all flickers fault, I had a look, oh well.

I think another reason I haven't been blogging is I've been having trouble loading the pics from my camera onto the big computer, so I've been iPhoning all my pics. I guess its a certain look, just haven't found one I like yet.

I've got one dino left to make in the set. AJ has already put an order in for a T-rex! He wants a bucket full of dinosaurs!!

Well hopefully this will be the start of blogging again. You can always find me over at Ditto Crafts too.

Happy Hooking

TTFN

Thirtyseven

Amigurumi Elephant, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Yep it's my birthday. Happy Birthday to me. The number 37 has followed me all my life, it's cropped up in all sorts of places. Have you got a number like that? Hopefully this is a good sign and this will be my year.

I made this little Ele while on a girls weekend last weekend, well most of it, finished it off when I got home, too much talking, eating chocolate and popping in the spa to get too much done :-).

A bloggers dilemma

Little Amigurumi Mushroom

I've been writing this post in my head for a while now and thought it about time I got it out of my head! I think I have blog overload or blog fatigue, and not just from posting here, from trying to keep up with everyone else's blogs too. I have so many in my reader now that I'm just not reading them, just scrolling down looking at the pretty pictures. I have a few blogs that I definitely read and try to comment on every post but I'm finding it really hard to keep up. And then I think, why am I trying to keep up? It's not my job, I'm not getting paid for this I don't have to do it. So I'm going to go through my reader and unsubscribe a few, which is hard, I'm a hoarder and it's like I've hoarded these subscriptions! It's school holidays here at the moment and I'm going away for a week next week, without a computer! I wonder how many posts will be waiting for me in my Google Reader, will I just mark them all as read? Then I think what if I miss out on something? What am I going to miss out on? It's only a week and it's only someone else's (that I usually don't know) blog!!

So if I'm skipping over blogs, how many are skipping over mine? I know I need to improve my photography, will that make people stop by or is it what I write or what I craft? Am I losing track of why I started this blog in the first place?

It's not just blogs that I'm trying to keep on top of either, it's also facebook and recently I was introduced to pinterest! So I think having a break for a week is going to be good for me, get my head and priorities straight.

So does anyone else share in my dilemma or are you stronger than I?

On another note, these are a few pics of what my mum has been up to lately with the Grandkids. They are so lucky to have an art teacher for a grandma. She got the inspiration and pattern from here. Every time a grandchild comes to play they add a little.

Saucepan Man

The Magic Faraway Tree

Dame Washalot's washing

Dame Washalot's house

Toadstools at the bottom of the tree

So that's it for me on this very wet, cabin fever, kind of school holiday day. Hopefully I'll be able to take some pics of some baby hats I've been making.

TTFN

200th post

Wow never thought I would get here but I have. 200 posts. Could have got here sooner if I blogged more!!

I'm taking a little break from sewing, after the marathon effort over the last couple of weeks, so I can now catch up on other things that have been a bit neglected. Like blogging and connecting with other people!! (Not to mention house work!)

Lego Box pouch for Billy

A couple of weeks ago I made another box pouch, this time for my cousins now 5 year old. I love this lego fabric, I wish I'd bought more.

This is what I've been busy making.

Lots of tiny shoes

Lots of Pocket Clutches

And a cute little Amigurumi mouse

I think I am now up to date in sharing what I have been making. Next will be for family and friends. It's been a good experience making for a market but I do get a lot more joy out of making for someone in mind. I'm looking forward to taking commissions though, there is a contact and I know where the product will end up.

Until next time.

Happy Sewing

TTFN

Edit: I would also like to thank those that read and comment on my blog, thanks heaps, I wouldn't have got to 200 without you :-).

Wordless Wednesday

Curly Worley Wormy Keychains, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

Crochet Clutch

I've been wanted something to put all of my crochet needles in for ages and I'd book marked this tutorial by Kim Walus at Moda Bake Shop ages ago, well I finally found the time to make it. The fabric I used was a fat 1/8th bundle from spotlight, perfect size.

The tute was easy to follow, the few things I would change would be to list everything you need at the top, you have to read the whole thing to make sure you have everything, there was some instruction missing from how to attach the inside pocket and hook pocket to the outside, it kind of left you up to your own devises as to how to do this, looking at the photos I didn't do the same as Kim.

I'm happy with how it turned out, it was the first time I'd sewed with plastic so that was interesting. If I was to make another I would leave cutting the top and bottom curves until just before adding the binding, it was a bit messy trying to line everything up after sewing onto the centre piece.

Well I'm off to cut into that fabric I mentioned yesterday, ran out of time! Wish me luck ;-)

TTFN

Ewok's on an adventure

Ewok's on an adventure, originally uploaded by MandyMade.

I made these two little guys for Little A's friends (brothers) for their birthdays in early November. They are Star Wars fans along with their Mum (I made the yoda for her) so now they have their own star wars amigurami. The pattern was a free tutorial found here. I can't believe she gives this tutorial away for free. It was very easy to follow and gave two options for the face, which was handy so I could make two individual ones. Little A is now obsessed with watching the Ewok movie. Lucky I haven't been asked to make one for him.

More stuff made in the last couple of months to come. Now I have the photos off the hubby's camera they will come sooner rather than later. I love the new lens he has on his cannon, perfect shots. I want a new sewing machine before I splash out on new lenses for my camera.

Only 3 weeks of work to go and only 3 weeks to start and finish making stuff for christmas. It's been so muggy in Melbourne that I haven't felt like sewing. Need to crank up the air con.

TTFN

Made a yoda I did

I recently made this little guy for a friends 40th, star wars fan, can you tell? I've got plans for her kids birthday's this year, shh. I got the pattern from a crochet tutorial by Oh so happy together. Go check her other stuff out.

My mum's been busy again. Another tea cosy, more to come, she's not stopping here.