Crochet Guest Post - Home to Roost Blog

There's been a lot of guest post gorgeousness this year, a few of us who've met through blogging have been guesting for each other.  Today I am returning the favour for the lovely Sarah who writes a blog called Home to Roost.  You may remember Sarah, she wrote a great post on Make, Do, Sew about crochet and knitting back in March and now it's my turn to return the gesture.

I decided to write about a crochet puff stitch neck roll I have made, it is to go with a hat I have previously crafted. There was some delay in getting this post together (due to both my children having chicken pox and some technical internet issues) so I was concerned that my woollen scarf would not be suitable for Spring. However the weather has been so miserable that a snuggly Aran neck roll is still very wearable even in April!

I have to thank Sarah not only for letting me guest but also for her fantastic technical help. She managed to give my post a bit of a 'buff and a polish' and made it look fantastic.....thank you so much Sarah!  Please take a look and let us know what you think.

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Guest Posting - Handmade Easter Egg and Hen Tutorial

I made this Easter decoration over the weekend and today it's being featured on Cassie Jene's blog in the form of a tutorial. If you want to see how to make it click on the link. It looks great even if I do say so myself!  Cassie writes an inspirational blog offering tips and advice for keeping the 'work life balance' in order as well as being a creative entrepreneur and hobbyist.  Take a look at her blog, you won't regret it.

Easter Egg and Hen Tutorial.

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Guest Posting - Victoria Sandwich Recipe

What's so great about the blogging community is the support and friendship that's offered from people all over the world. Guest blogging is a great way to show mutual appreciation and today Mandi who writes the blog 'Poppy Fox at Home' has kindly agreed to feature my Victoria sandwich sponge cake on her blog.

Mandi, whos lives in Australia, writes about her life as a mother, crafter, thrifter and gardener, 'Poppy Fox at Home' is an inspiring insight into another persons life.  Why not take a look?

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Crochet and knitting – does size matter? Guest post.

Imagine my excitement when Lou bravely asked me to pen (or should it be type?) a guest post for Make, Do, Sew! I generally blog about anything and everything handmade, mostly about crochet, my current go-to craft. So I volunteered to cover something crafty, to fit in with ‘Make’, and have been musing on what to talk about, and also ask you about, dear reader.

Since I started knitting and crocheting last April I’ve always used a ‘standard’ size of hooks or needles, between 3mm and 5mm. But one day I was flicking through my copy of Inside Crochet and something potentially very exciting flashed in front of my eyes.

This thing was a pattern for a bag (I have a serious weakness for bags) made from t-shirt fabric yarn, with a 10mm crochet hook!! I was immediately hooked (please pardon the pun) and ordered the yarn (called Zpagetti from a company called Hoooked – yes there are three Os) and a shiny new bejewelled hook.

It took a few minutes to get used to wielding a hook so much bigger than I’m used to, and the yarn was less forgiving than a standard DK, but once I got the hang of it, there was no stopping me! What was really great for an impatient being like me, was the speed that the bag took shape. And once the bag shape became more apparent, I saw that it wouldn’t even need lining – bonus!

Completing the pattern made me think about what else I could make with a t-shirt fabric yarn. I trawled online and found some similar yarn, called Hoopla, this time in two fabulously bright colours.

I felt that my bag needed some embellishment, so followed an Attic24 pattern to hook up an anything-but ‘teeny tiny star’. With a few chain stitches to create a loop over a fuchsia button at the star’s centre, the bag was properly finished!

A yarn like Zpagetti gives anything you create a real feeling of sturdiness – that you’ve made something that’s built to last. The bag stands up beautifully, and is perfect for transporting new knitting and crochet projects to my weekly craft group.

And that project has made me think that maybe size does matter when it comes to crafting. I’ve now started knitting a Suzie Johnson-designed pyjama case for my niece, and this time I’ve gone even bigger – size 12mm needles! Again, it’s perfect when you’re in the mood to make something quickly – which such chunky yarn (I’m using Rowan Big Wool) and fat needles, it’s coming together at a rate of knots.

So, although generally my first instinct would be to craft with a ‘standard-size’ hook or needles, I would fish out something a lot bigger if I needed to make an emergency present, or wanted to turn a doily pattern into a floor mat (don’t think I haven’t already considered doing that!).

What size hooks or needles do you usually use? Have you thought about super-sizing your crafts?

You can follow my ramblings and join in my bespectacled conversations on my blog, I’d love to hear from you! And thank you so much for having me over here, Lou!

Sarah x

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Guest Blogger - Home to Roost

I'd like to introduce my third guest blogger Sarah Johnstone, Sarah writes a great blog called 'Home to Roost'. She lives in the UK and shares her love of her hometown, crafty makes and other day to day adventures on her blog.

I have long admired Sarah's technical blogging skills, I've seen her blog grow and morph through a number of stages each looking great, but with each change the overall design and layout just gets better and better.

Sarah has written a fantastic guest post discussing her love of crochet, check out her other crochet work on her blog and you will see just how talented she is, I really love the cupids arrow she made for valentines day!

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Ocean Waves - Guest Post

Hi I'm Susie and the very lovely Lou has kindly invited me to guest post on her blog which is a huge honour and really rather exciting. I mused for ages on what totally brilliant subject would be perfect for such a stylish blog and then a truly incredible happenstance occurred. The great thing about the blogosphere is that it gives you the opportunity to meet like minded people, connect with their lives and share the moments that make life special.

I have never met Lou in person but we have stuff in common. We blog, we teach, we bake, we make, we love our children and are separated from some of our family by thousands of miles, way too long on an aeroplane and definitely more money than we could make from our craftiness (although actually Lou is so talented she could probably make a tidy packet).

When the opportunity to guest blog coincided with an invite from my sister to head off to Australia to look after her daughter whilst she had what turned out to be her son, I thought a bit of winter sun would be the ideal subject.

I arrived in Kiama, NSW, Australia on 1st February 2013 for a flying visit. Isn't it beautiful?

For some, having children is a breeze and for others like my sister and myself, it is a difficult and traumatic process. I did not sail through any of my pregnancies with a healthy glow. Instead I spent hours laying in hospital beds always fearful of the worst, too sick to eat, alone, frightened and anxious. My sister has suffered that fate that is all too common and has had to wait six years for her little man to arrive.

Of course I couldn't fly half way around the world to meet my nephew without some crafty endeavour. The day after he arrived and with my head spinning from the long flight, the excitement and soaring temperatures, I walked into a little yarn shop in Kiama and picked out a selection of ocean coloured yarns.

 The woman who ran the shop was brilliant and incredibly helpful. I loved that she didn't even know how to knit when she took over the shop from a woman who had run it for 40 years. We chatted and agreed on how neither of us had to the time and patience for knitting patterns with all that counting and concentrating. Any how I took home my package of yarn and my big needles and cast on a huge amount of stitches and began to knit.

I knitted on the grass outside school on the school run. I knitted on the beach. I even knitted on the way to the rain forest. It didn't take me long to realise the enormity of the task I had set myself and wonder why, when I am so bad at knitting that I had decided to knit a blanket and perhaps a small crocheted teddy would have been a better plan for such a short stay.

So I knitted and knitted and knitted. Yes I could have packed it in my suitcase, finished it at home and then posted it back but just ask the unfinished crocheted blanket that I've been working on for two years, how likely that would have been. No this was one project I had to finish by the deadline of my flight home (I'm in transit now as I type.)

........so did I finish this bad knitting challenge? Of course I did! The blanket is totally un-blanket shaped (very wide and not at all long) but it is completed and embellished with a crochet edge.

 It does so remind me of the ocean waves and will be warm and cosy as the autumn and winter approach the Southern Hemisphere. And when it gets too small for wrapping a baby, it works perfectly well for cosying up the big sister.

Thank you very much for having me and if you do ever feel like popping in for a chat, you can find me over at Ridgeway Cottage Anyhow. 

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#52Lists

I am so happy to be a guest blogger on the wonderful Make Do Sew blog.  Very exciting, as this is my first guest post anywhere ever!

I write over at www.catseatdogs.com and I have been blogging for almost a year.  I make jewelry and sell it on Etsy and locally here in the Mid West of America where I live with my husband and 2 boys. We have lived here for about 10 years and I am from Lincoln, UK originally

I am going to share with you a new project for 2013 which could be a great collection by the end of the year.  A nice change from the photographic challenges, although I do love them and I post my 'Photo a Day' every month.  I started the photo challenge at the end of 2012, and I am looking forward to having a full 2013 collection.

 

February 7th 'Your Name'  

The new project is #52lists from the lovely Pip Lincolne of Meet me at Mikes and Justb Blog School. The rules are flexible, make a list and blog/tweet/facebook it using the hashtag #52lists.  One a week with a bit of a catch up to make 52 is my aim.

Rainbows over Brentwood. List 2 

Not strictly a list, but more a gathering of rainbows taken from various locations in my neighbourhood this morning.

Here at Make Do Sew,  I will be listing some iPhoneography apps and filters I use and enjoy.  Let's see where it takes us.  Please do join us and let me know what your favourites are - filter, font, best effect found.  Which app can you not stop using?  Have you always used the same one or do you cheat and go find other apps to use and dump the old ones?!

I use the iPhone 4 for all of my photos, so all of the apps I mention are from the iPhone repetoire.

So, here is List number 3 (yes I included the rainbows and my first list was a photo of a shopping list!)

Seven iPhone apps I like to mess about with and my favourite lens/font/filter in each them

1.  Hipstamatic.
This photo of my French bulldog, Pablo, is taken with the James M lens and the C-Type Plate.

 

2.  Camera +.

     I like to add the 'Clarity' scene and on top of that put the 'Vibrant' filter in FX Effects and Color

     filter.  This really pulls out colour and detail.

3.  Overgram.

This a photo of some earrings I made.  I added Clarity in Camera+, then popped the photo into Overgram (it is worth paying for the full version I think) and added the Text which is 'Live Simply'.

4.  Laminar Express (used to be called Iris).

For the bananas fighting for a place in banana bread, I used the crop in Laminar Express then added the speech bubbles in Edit - Annotate - Bubbles.

5.  TypeDrawing.

I took this photo in Instagram, then put it in TypeDrawing to get the words on.  It took me a few goes to get the circle right and even more goes to get the last word to end correctly and not overlap.  Thank goodness these apps are very forgiving and we get to try try again!

6.  PicFrame.

I picked the six frame.  Tap each box and add a photo.  Position the photo with your finger.  Keep an eye on the positioning as they sometimes move back to where they started.  I narrowed the frame and added a label.  Remember to save when you are done!  I had to do this one twice as I accidentally hit 'clear' instead of the save 'cloud' thingy.  Oops.

7.  Instagram.

Some bracelets close up.  Instagram is a great sharing machine and I enjoy seeing other peoples photos on there.  It is also a good place to swap techniques, most people are happy to tell you how they got to the end picture.  Just be sure to think before you post as it is a public playground.

 

All of the apps are in iTunes, some are free and some not.  

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A Very Warm Welcome to my First Ever Guest Blogger!

I am very pleased to be hosting a series of guest bloggers over the next few months, see my previous post for more info on this.

My first ever guest blogger is Clare, originally from the UK but who now resides and writes her own wonderful blog www.catseatdogs.com all the way from the USA.  

Take a look at Clare's blog, it's great and has lots of fab ideas, musings and photography as well as a cool name!  Clare is also a jewellery designer and maker and sells her designs under the Cats Eat Dogs name on Etsy.

See Clares guest post today (above) and as ever comments always welcome as are guest bloggers!

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