Crocheting at Loch Tay

Last week I was fortunate to head into the heart of Scotland to Ardeonaig, Loch Tay. I was a parent helper on my middle son's Primary 7 adventure week; a residential holiday with lots of outdoor based activities. Of course, I brought along a new crochet project!

Loch Tay, viewed from our house 

on the evening of our arrival

Last month I had received "The Shawl Project: Book One" by Joanne Scrace for The Crochet Project as a birthday present, so this seemed the ideal inspiration for a new WIP to take with me! I chose some random, no label yarn which had been passed on to me and decided on the "Transposition" pattern. 

Crochet, tea and a beautiful view!

The children had a fair amount of free time to explore the grounds so I had some time to sit down, take in the view and crochet! The pattern is easy to understand and written in 4 sections which are very easy to memorise - an ideal project if you are going to be distracted.

I crouched down in the grass for

this atmospheric shot of Ben Lawers

in the clouds

I accompanied the children on a hike one day. We climbed up into the hills which gave us fantastic views of the loch and surrounding mountains. Ben Lawers, across the loch from us, is the 10th highest peak in the UK and I remember climbing it when I was 17! On our final full day we sailed across Loch Tay and back in a gig, a substantial sized sailing boat. 

The "Dawn Treader", our trusty boat

shawl progress

Back home now, I am about two thirds of the way through the shawl and it is working out beautifully. I shall enjoy finishing it and remember my special time away as I do so.

Adding Colour to the Playground, Part 2

I managed to dodge the heavy showers this week and install the yarnbombs at my boys' school! I did have to run in for cover half way through and there was an extremely heavy shower of rain and hail just after I finished, good timing!

 entrance to the fairy garden

I worked quickly, hoping that I wouldn't be spotted by the children because I wanted them to find the pieces for themselves at lunch time. I sewed the crocheted rectangles around fence posts and willow tunnel branches.

 another fence post piece

 several were sewn onto the willow branches

I had to twist and turn into all sorts of funny positions to fit in the child sized willow tunnel, it was good to stretch full height afterwards!

a much longer yarnbomb

 I love the shrinkies the children coloured!

In another area of the playground I installed 3 yarnbombs with amigurumi monsters attached to them! 

monster yarnbomb 

I crocheted the monsters for fun over 5 years ago without any real purpose in mind for them. Since then they have been moved around my studio space gathering dust. I thought this project would literally breath some fresh life into them!

a happy smile

I hope the children enjoy interacting with these small pockets of colour in their playground. I know they have plans to further transform the area and I look forward to seeing what they come up with!

Adding Colour to the Playground, Part 1

I was approached by staff at my younger boys' school to add some colour by creating yarnbombs for a small area of the school playground. This project was perfect for me! Primary 1 had made shrinkies with fairy, bug and alien designs on them for me to incorporate into the work. I hope it will be fun for them to go around and find their own mini piece of art combined with something much bigger.

 1st two pieces made, surrounded by shrinkies

I made sure I chose a mix of bright colours which would appeal to both boys and girls. I had plenty of acrylic wool in my stash and the school provided me with some more - I had fun picking out colours!

different textures

I crocheted rectangles of varying sizes and created stripy patterns as a backdrop for the shrinkies. I wanted the pieces to be really eye catching and colourful!

 finished crochet swatch

Once the ends were tied in I sewed on the shrinkies (they had a hole punched through them). Now I have a pile of 8 swatches, ready to be attached to rails, benches and trees in the playground. 

all finished and ready to attach

I plan to visit the playground later this week to sew the pieces in place, depending on the weather of course!! Part 2 of this series will show the finished work ...

Badge Bombing!!

Last Friday I took a trip to Dundee to go badge bombing for the first time! I went around the centre of Dundee and attached small badges to places for other people to come along, find them and keep them!

the finished badges, day before my trip

For a while now I have been following the adventures of @dymagate and @whimsicallush on Instagram and they both inspired me to leave something small of my own in a public place for someone else to stumble upon. I chose to make little badges with big smiley faces to brighten up someone's day.

 badge left near Dundee train station

I kept the badges simple, just button eyes and an embroidered mouth, and I hand stitched the word "Daft" on the back (my Instagram name is @mrsdaftspaniel but that was too long to stitch!). 

this one made me smile!

There were plenty of places to leave the badges, for example attached to fencing or abandoned cord and I pinned one to a yarnbombed tree!

 I like this one, blending with background colours

I had also brought a sample of weaving with me to sew onto a lamp post or something and I found the bench in the photo below to be the perfect size for it! I sat on the bench and sewed it on during lunch hour, I wonder if anyone even saw me?

and of course I did a yarnbomb!

As soon as I could I uploaded photos of my badge bombing to my Instagram and Facebook pages and was surprised to see that the badges were quickly found by people! Of the 5 badges I placed I know that 3 were found and brought a smile to those who found them, which makes it all worthwhile!

Help me!!

I am already planning my next adventure when I will set another load of badges free! Follow me on Instagram if you would like to stay updated :)