Welcome Spring

On this damp, grey but decidedly spring day, these little guys wanted to welcome spring with open arms, I mean, wings.

The pattern for the birds is from Ana Paula's book Amigurumi Two.  I attached them to a piece of driftwood scavenged from the shore of Lake Huron and they will be my little welcomers at the craft sale next month.  I want to decorate my table simply but I don't want it to be stark.  I wanted a little bit of nature and a little bit of whimsy.  I think this piece fulfills both of those criteria.  Oh, and it also had to be inexpensive.

Now I am trying to decide how to display the soap itself.  I'm going to have lip balms in a little felted bowl.  Not sure about the bath bombs yet.  Any ideas?

Here's to spring.  Let's raise our cups together.

Tea and Cupcakes Anyone?

I had a request from a good friend for a crocheted tea set for her daughter's third birthday.  I always think of pink and purple when I think of Little Miss Abbie and I love the colour combination.

I thought the birthday girl might enjoy cupcakes with her tea.  Sprinkles, of course.

By far, my favourite part of the tea set are the felt tea bags.

I had to throw a little green into the set.  As much as I like the combination of deep pink and purple, green and purple is still one of my favourite combinations.

In the realm of soap (because I can't seem to stop talking about soap), I am ridiculously excited about the batch of soap I made this morning.  Yes, ridiculously excited.  Why?  I'm using PVC pipe as a soap mold and I simply love the look of discs of soap.  Let's just hope I'm able to get the soap out of the pipe.

Tea and Cookies

I am a knitter.  Simple.  Knitting relaxes me.  I enjoy the feeling that I can be productive while sitting on my behind.  i like the tools of the trade -- the yarns, the needles, the baskets I use to store my projects.  I especially like the resulting fabric with its simple stitches that, when together, produce fabrics that are as diverse as they yarns that can be found -- light and breezy, warm and squishy, even rugged.  But every now and then, I find myself being pulled in the direction of a crochet hook.  Unlike knitting, it's not always the resulting fabric or the process itself since I often feel like I have gnarly old hands after only a short time of crocheting.  What gets me is the shapes that can be made with crochet.

Last spring, I made one of these tea sets for a special birthday girl.  Recently, another friend asked if I would make one for her little girl for Christmas.  I was only too happy to oblige.

The pattern is from Ana Paula Rimoli's book Amigurumi Two! (I will add a link shortly when I remember how.  I am not tech savvy and just don't have the mental energy at the moment to figure it out.)  It's a really cute book and the boys will often browse through it and pick out things they want me to make them.  If only I had that much time!  The cookies are my own pattern and are so much fun to make.

Our advent stocking of the day:

Covered Stone Pendant

I have developed a bit of a thing for covered stones.  I think they are pretty.  I like how they feel in your hand.  I like making them.  I also like necklaces.  Yesterday afternoon I felt inspired to combine the two and see what I could make.  Here it is.

Can I tell you how much I love it?  I love that the shape of the stone dictates the finished piece.  It hangs beautifully.  Regardless of how it swings around, it looks pretty.  This particular stone came from the shores of Lake Huron and I love that the pale orange colour of the stone peeks through.

Perhaps what I like best about the necklace is that it allows a piece of my rock collection to be close by.  Because you will want to hold it.  Trust me.  It was the first thing my two boys did when they saw it.  It just asks to be held.  And I like that in a piece of jewelery.

Weekend Crafting: Another Covered Stone

Part of my Sunday afternoon was spent with this stone, some thread and a crochet hook.  Oh, and I can't forget that I was also joined by a cup of coffee followed by a glass of red wine.  This week though, I had a different plan.  Instead of using Margaret Oomen's pattern as given on the tutorial found here, I decided rather to use Margaret's stones and her work as inspiration and to do my own thing.  ( I almost said my own pattern but let's be honest.  There was no pattern.)  This was a big step for me because crochet and I have never really hit it off.  Having worn bell bottoms and ponchos as a child,  I can't say that I have ever been a fan of crochet.  (Remember seventies crochet?  Not terribly pretty stuff.)  Then, a couple of years ago, my opinion started to change.  I started to like crochet and I became eager to learn.  I attempted to teach myself but  I just couldn't seem to get it, to wrap my head around it.  Then, about six months ago, I tried crocheting in a circle and it clicked.  I soon discovered that the great thing about crochet is it is very forgiving, unlike my cat after I trim his nails.  Thus, with little experience, I was willing to try crocheting freestyle around this stone.  Crocheting talk has ended.  My apologies.  Who knew I could speak so passionately and at such length about crochet.

So I've got the stone,  the confidence and assorted beverages.  I start to crochet.  And crochet.  And crochet.  Because you see, I chose the biggest stone in my collection.  Look at it beside last week's stone.

That is one big stone.  I underestimated how much thread is required to cover a stone of this size.  Perhaps you have already noticed that there is a change in colour thread.  let's look at the back of the stone.

Yep, I ran out of green thread.  As I was using the red thread, I started thinking how the stone reminds me of the autumn leaves -- green, then yellow, then red with a little green peeking out again.  Or a Rastafarian beanie.  Take your pick.  Either way, I like it.  Doesn't mean I won't pick up enough thread of a single colour in the future but for now, it sits proudly on my table.

Weekend Crafting: Covered Stone

With the arrival of fall, I'm finding the time to squeeze in a little extra crafting time on Saturday afternoon.  But I haven't been doing my usual knitting -- socks, mittens, slippers -- you know, useful stuff.  Instead I have been wanting to make something that is pretty, something that makes my husband ask, "What are you going to do with it?"  My answer:  "Look at it.  May be pick it up and touch it every now and then."  I'm hoping that each Monday I will be able to share my weekend craft with you here.

Several months ago I discovered Margaret Oomen's beautiful covered stones.  She has a wonderful blog full of inspiring projects and photos.  I finally found the time this past weekend to sort through my rock collection and pick a stone to cover with crochet.

I added a piece of sea glass from my collection to this photo.

The two other rocks in this photo came all the way from Prince Edward Island courtesy of my father.  You can even see some of that famous PEI red dirt in the crevices.  Driftwood is from the shores of Lake Huron collected by Keegan.

The tutorial I used can be found at The Purl Bee .  This won't be the last stone I cover.  I love it!  By the way, he did ask, "And what are you going to do with it?"