Hello! Today I would like to highlight two of my shawl patterns which are perfect for Spring! The weather is starting to get warmer here in the northern hemisphere and it's time to think about replacing hats, gloves & thick scarves for something lighter. First up is my Crocheted Alpaca Wrap - a warm yet light wrap which would look pretty worn over a blouse or dress. It's worked up in one of the neutral King Cole baby alpaca shades.  The Crocheted Alpaca Wrap is available on Lovecrafts.com here on Ravelry here (please note this site may cause issues for people w ..read more

Hello! It's Mother's Day here in the UK this Sunday and if you're still looking to make a card I have some crochet card inspiration for you here! I was wondering what kind of card to make my own mum when I remembered a pattern I had written for a simple crocheted flower. I thought it might look quite cute stuck on a card and began playing around with different ideas, with and without the added pen lines. When I looked up the pattern, written back in 2016, I found it looked totally alien to my current way of writing so I gave it a makeover! This design includes both UK & US terms, a char ..read more

Hello again! Have you ever struggled with choosing colours for a crochet or knitting project? I'm frequently asked how I go about choosing my colour schemes and so in this blog post I am going to share 3 practical tips to help you make the most of colour. Tip no. 1.  Play with colour!  Start by keeping things simple with just 3 colours at a time. Choose balls of yarn from your stash to help you with this or perhaps you have yarn wound round pegs or you could even use paint swatch cards from the DIY store. Look at your 3 colours and ask yourself "Do they go together?  Are they ..read more

Hello, I'm on a roll with the crochet pattern releases this year with yet another pattern published this week! The latest pattern is my Bee Happy child's scarf - a practical, cosy accessory with a fun twist - there's a honeycomb shaped pocket with room for a little amigurumi bee!  This scarf is designed for a young child, 3-8 years of age. It's inspired by my 4 year old niece who does not like layering up to go out in the cold and I thought the little bee would make putting on a scarf more fun. The bee can go along for all her adventures! To make the scarf you will need just 3x 100g b ..read more

Hello everyone, I'm excited to announce the release of 2 crochet patterns; my Bandwagon Mitts and my Elsie Beanie. The photo shoots for both patterns were done on the same day and they do go well together. Last week I published the Bandwagon Mitts design and I'm pleased with the response so far. They are the perfect pair of mitts to wear on a winter's walk - indeed, I wore them to go sledging on several occassions! The pattern begins with a stretchy rib worked as a long strip, next it's joined to make a round and then crocheted up to the fingertips in a continous spiral. A gap is made for th ..read more

Hello everyone! I'm starting this year's blogging off with the FREE instructions to crochet your very own happy scrappy blanket! Does that sound good? This is a blanket I began making last summer, working just a few rows at a time as the mood took me and allowing it to gradually grow as scraps of sock yarn became available from knitted or crocheted sock and shawl projects. I'm using the term "instructions" rather than "pattern" because I am simply going to give basic information for you to use and make this project your own. So, what do you need? Lots and lots of scraps and odd balls of ..read more

Hi everyone! I have decided to launch my very first CAL (crochet-a-long) starting next Wednesday 8th July! You can follow ANY crocheted doll pattern, it doesn't have to be my pattern - however, if you do follow mine it will give you double the chances of winning a prize! Coral, Gabriella & Leo Last week I published the crochet pattern for these dolls (known as Coral, Gabriella & Leo) on Ravelry, you can find the pattern here at the early bird price of just £3.50! I will keep it at this intoductory price until the start of the CAL. You may remember seeing Coral and L ..read more

the stove is lit and I am all set up and ready to go! Hello! Last Saturday I held my first ever craft workshop at Dalmore Croft, Barry and I wanted to share my experience here in this blog post because the morning went very well, the ladies all enjoyed themselves and they learnt a new skill. I should add at this point that all recommendations are my own, this post has not been sponsored. materials and tools I have been needlefelting for many years now and I almost exclusively use gilliangladrag.co.uk for my felting supplies. It's a bricks and mortar shop in Dorking, England which also has an ..read more

if at first you don't succeed ... Hello! A short blog post because there are not so many colourful crochet photos to share this week, it's been all about drawing out crochet charts instead! my set up The above photo is from my Instagram stories, it shows my usual drawing set up: sketch pad, pencil, laptop and a mug of rooibos tea (with soya milk). I have just finished drawing out the chart for my Fields of Wheat beanie, and it's been one of the trickiest charts I have ever drawn! I had to think long and hard about exactly how to depict the intricate 3D form of the beanie as a 2D chart. Howeve ..read more

my finished Fun a Day project Hello! Today's blog post is all about a project I was involved with in January. For the second year in a row I took part in Fun a Day Dundee, a project which has been running in the city since 2011. "The premise is simple: pick a project (take a photograph, make the bed, draw a picture, bake a cake, etc) and do it every day in January, then show your work the following month in a big group exhibition." (quote taken from the Fun a Day Dundee website). initial sketchbook ideas Last year I drew a flower every day for the month using various methods and a wide arr ..read more