New Project for 2015 - beekeeper's quilt

One week into the New Year I spotted an Instagram post about making a hexipuff a day and was instantly captivated by the idea! It was my pattern tester friend Anthea's picture and I quickly looked up the hashtags she had added and fell in love with the beekeeper's quilt! If you have not seen or heard of this kind of blanket take a look at this blog post https://tinyowlknits.wordpress.com/the-beekeepers-quilt/

my 1st hexipuff

Anthea (@forestflowerdesigns - Instagram, blog - http://www.talesfrommountpleasant.com/2015/02/the-beekeepers-quilt-2015-knitalong.html ) is hosting a knit along (or KAL) this year. In order to make this vast blanket more achievable the idea is to make 1 hexipuff a day for the year and by the end of the year there should be enough hexipuffs to make a blanket!  

2nd hexipuff, so squishy!

I am using Tiny Owl Knits pattern which can be found on Ravelry (http://www.ravelry.com/). It is very easy to follow and the photos are adorable!

Catching up!

Because I stumbled across the KAL at the end of the first week in January I had to knit fast to catch up. Initially each hexipuff took me around an hour but I can knit one in 40 mins now, so I am speeding up!

Placed side by side in blanket formation

Today I made my 22nd hexipuff and I am really pleased with how they all look together. It is going to be an amazing blanket one day ...

Free Crochet Pattern - Alpaca Wrap - a Christmas gift to all my readers!

Merry Christmas everyone! I am sharing this alpaca wrap pattern as a Christmas gift to all my lovely readers! This pattern has been thoroughly tested and I am happy to share it with you for your personal use. Please respect my original design and do not reproduce this pattern or the wrap made from it for your own financial gain. Happy hooking!

 main photo

Alpaca Wrap Pattern by Marta Mitchell

A warm wrap which drapes beautifully over the shoulders. Worked in one of the neutral King Cole Baby Alpaca shades, this wrap will look pretty worn over blouses and dresses.

Materials

8 x 50g balls King Cole Baby Alpaca, DK (110yds/100m per ball) I used shade 500, “Camel”

4.5 mm crochet hook
tapestry needle for sewing in ends

Tension

20 stitches, 8 rows in 10 cm². The tension should be fairly loose, move up a hook size if you crochet tightly.

Abbreviations (UK terms)

ch chain

ch-sp chain space

dc double crochet

tr treble

shell shell motif (see notes)

fdc foundation double crochet

sl st slip stitch

WS wrong side of work

Notes

This wrap is made of two symmetrical sections which branch out from the centre. It begins with a row of foundation double crochet stitches. I chose this method because it produces a stretchy piece of crochet without any gathering or tightness. If you are unfamiliar with this technique it is worth looking up or you could create a similar effect by chaining 67 stitches and working a dc into the 2nd chain from the hook, and carrying on with 1dc into each ch (65dc across).

The shell motif is produced by working 2tr, ch1, 2tr into the dc stitch indicated.

detail of wrap

Pattern

Edit: This pattern was only free for a short time. It is now available to buy for only £3.60 in my Ravelry Store (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/crocheted-alpaca-wrap) and in my Etsy shop (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/462745672/alpaca-wrap-a-crochet-pattern-for-a-cosy?ref=shop_home_active_3)

I am extremely grateful to my online friend Anthea for testing this pattern for me. Anthea's blog is well worth a look - it's full of creative ideas!  http://www.talesfrommountpleasant.com/

If you have a go at making this wrap please send me photos, I would love to see how you get on!

Marta xx

5 Top Tips for Selling at Craft Fairs

Two days ago I had a stall at the Windmill Christian Centre in Arbroath, Scotland. It was the first craft fair I had done since turning my craft from a hobby into a business. I want to share a few top tips of how to make the most of selling to the public at craft fairs and markets.

1. Pack a small bag with items which might just save your day - eg blu tac, scissors, drawing pins, a pen, pencil, rubber - you never know exactly what your space will be like and these small items have always come in useful to me in the past.

2. Make friends with stall holders round about you. They can be a great help watching your stall while you nip to the toilet or grab a bite to eat. Fellow stall holders often offer each other discounts or freebies which is a great way to network too!

3. Have everything clearly priced. Customers often believe that if they have to ask the price it must be expensive.

4. Make sure the event has been well publicised. Ask the people running the event if they have created a Facebook event and invite your friends, offer to put up posters or hand out flyers.

5. Take a cloth to cover your table and use boxes or crates to create different heights to your display. This will add interest and make your stall more interesting. If it's Christmas time perhaps add fairy lights or battery operated tea lights to give it a festive look.

I hope these small tips help you if you are setting up a craft stall, please let me know if they do!

Happy Scrappy Yarn

A few years ago I began to join all my odd ends of wool together to make a ball of stripy yarn. I then used this wool to make crocheted toys which my family loved! I have continued to collect the wool and join it together ever since, making bunnies and monkeys as soon as I have enough to do so. 

crocheted monkey, hanging from a tree!

Recently I decided to see if this stripy wool would work well  if it was crocheted into fingerless mitts or wrist warmers The result was just as I imagined and my "happy Scrappy" collection began!

1st pair of wrist warmers

Above: happy scrappy wool, ready to use 

Below: odd ends of wool, waiting to be joined

I use a needle felting tool to join and blend the two ends of wool together. This creates a strong join and a lovely blend between the two colours. The first pair a happy scrappy wrist warmers sold very quickly and before long I had enough to make a second pair. I make a lot of granny square blankets and any wool which is too short to make the centre of a new square is placed to one side.

2nd pair of wrist warmers

The yarn is all 100% pure wool and a mix of all sorts of different brands including Rowan, Debbie Bliss, King Cole and Drops. As long as it is around double knitting (DK) thickness and any kind of pure wool it is added in!

2nd pair of wrist warmers, modelled

I listed the second pair of wrist warmers today in my Folksy Shop today  www.folksy.com/shops/martasecocrafts This week I am offering a special 15% discount on all shop items! Simply add the code "CHRISTMAS" at the checkout. Offer ends Friday 5th December 2014.

An owl and a monkey

I have had a lot of fun recently following Vanessa Mooncie's patterns and making crocheted animals! I bought Vanessa's book 'Crocheted Wild Animals' about 6 months ago and so far I have made the elephant, the giraffe, the owl and the monkey. I find the patterns very easy to follow because they are in both written and diagram form.

finished owl

The owl was particularly fun to make because it involved various different stitches. I loved making the shell pattern body!

I decided to make the monkey as a surprise birthday present for my husband this week. His birthday was yesterday and despite him catching me working on it a few times he did not suspect it was something for him. I chose darker wool than the pattern suggested, mainly because that is what I had in my stash. For both patterns I used King Cole baby alpaca DK and the finished animal is so soft and squishy!

finished monkey

If you would like to see more of Vanessa Mooncie's crocheted and knitted animal patterns take a look at her Ravelry page http://www.ravelry.com/designers/vanessa-mooncie

My latest pattern - at the testing stage!

The alpaca wrap crochet pattern that I had been working on is finished and it has been typed up. One of my followers on Instagram kindly volunteered to test it out for me and I sent the pdf off to her a few minutes ago - phew! It is such a good feeling to be at this stage. This pattern has 4 repeating rows which look very similar in written form and they had me going cross eyed trying to focus, making sure I was typing in the correct abbreviations!

finished alpaca wrap

So, all I have to do now is wait patiently while this pattern is tested and distract myself with thinking up new possibilities! I also began work on a pretty pink baby cardigan yesterday and found it to be the perfect little distraction. I know of several babies due in the next six months - one of them is sure to be a girl! The pattern is another Kat Goldin one, from her book 'Crochet at Play'.

my current work in progress

There will be details soon of where to find my latest patterns, stay tuned and happy hooking!

New pattern ideas

The school holidays start today so I thought I had better fit in a quick blog post because I know I am not too good at blogging in the holidays! I have been busy crochet pattern writing this week and wanted to share my progress with you. Earlier in the week I looked back over my ribbed ear warmer pattern and made a few changes before sending it out to a couple of testers. I know that one of them has begun work straight away and it's always exciting to find out from testers how it's going so I can not wait! This pattern will be published here once the testing stage is complete.

ribbed ear warmers (crochet)

Tightening up my ear warmer pattern gave me the urge to create another crochet pattern and I had 10 balls of King Cole baby alpaca sitting in my stash waiting to be put to use. I have worked in this yarn before, creating a shell pattern cowl (the pattern is free on my blog, look under April 2014). I love how soft this wool is and also how well it drapes so I decided to make a larger piece in it.

the beginnings of a new pattern

After a short time playing around with a few ideas I settled on a pattern I liked and quickly worked out the dimension details before beginning for real.

pattern progress

Today it's raining so it's the perfect day to curl up in my cosy corner and crack on with this! I shared a picture of where I sit and do most of my crafting on Instagram earlier this week so I will post it here too.

my crafty corner

I will endeavour to blog at least once in the holidays, until then happy crafting!