Mermaid Tail Crochet Baby Blanket

My poor blog has fallen by the wayside in the last couple of years. A lot of life stuff has happened while I've been absent and I'm now a busy mama to not just Poppet (who is almost 6, btw!) but also to my sweet boy who just turned 11 months. It's busy around here these days and I have a lot less time and energy for crafting but I have noticed in the last few weeks I'm feeling a lot more inspired to get making (and I have several projects underway!). I've managed to make a few things recently. My biggest make of recent months has been a mermaid tail baby blanket for my second niece who's arrival is eagerly anticipated by the whole family (and not least by her mama!). A few more weeks to go before we get to squish her!

This new baby has a beautiful mermaid themed nursery ready and waiting for her. As soon as I knew the nursery theme I just knew I had to make her a mermaid tail blanket! These have become very popular here in the UK in the last few years but I wanted to make one that is different to the rest. Most mermaid tail blankets are like cocoons that you put your legs in and pull up over you to make it look like you're wearing the tail. These are cute and I even made one for Poppet a couple of years ago, but for a baby I wanted a flat blanket. Those cocoon/pouches are sweet but so impractical. Have you ever tried to stuff an octopus into a sock? That's how I'd best describe what it is to get a squirmy baby into one of those!

I scoured Pinterest for inspiration and looked all over for a flat mermaid tail blanket. I knew in my mind's eye what I wanted it to look like but it appeared that no one else had thought of it yet (and I'm not clever enough to design my own!). But then I found this great post which was just what I wanted! Kali at the Friend Red Fox had already done the hard work for me and written up her pattern for a mermaid tail baby blanket. So I dived right in! I had a few setbacks due to choosing the wrong thickness of yarn and then trying to upscale the pattern but I just couldn't make it work. I eventually went back to my local yarn shop and bought the right kind of yarn and whipped the blanket in just a few evenings. It's amazing what can happen when you stick to the pattern, ha!

Mermaid Tail Crochet Baby Blanket

I particularly wanted to share this project as I found it so difficult to find a pattern for a flat blanket with a mermaid tail that was suitable for a baby. I used Caron Simply Soft in Ocean for the main blanket colour and in Teal Zeal for the tail and border with a 4.5mm hook as I wanted a tighter fabric. For the border, I used this great pattern to get that seashell/wave look and using the ombre yarn has really given it a nice effect.

 

This blanket has turned out so well, I may be making more for future babies! I didn't measure it before gifting it but I would say it's a good size for a baby or toddler and ideal for a carseat as there is plenty to tuck in around the legs. I think for the best effect, the blanket is ideal for use in a crib or cot as then you'd see the full tail. I can't wait to see my baby niece snuggled under this!

Massive Granny Square Blanket - a well loved blankie

Way back in early 2013, I was coming out of the 'new mother' haze and starting to get itchy fingers, wanting to get back to some crochet. I picked up a hook and some scrap from my stash and started a granny square which soon became a massive blanket.

As I was looking throught my photos for a previous blogpost, I came across loads of pics of this bright and colourful blanket in use so I thought it would be nice to share some here, if nothing else than for my own enjoyment.

Lego playmat

A roof for the 'den'

This is my fave way to enjoy this blanket, usually with a glass of wine!

This blanket has served use very well over the last three years, and it is a staple in our living room. It doesn't match anything and is pretty loud but that's why I like it so much!

Have you made a blanket that has become a firm favourite?

Crochet for my girl

One of the best things about being able to crochet and sew, is that I can make cute unique items for my girl. She has sported a great many handmade items from things that I have made to loads of gifts from skilled family and friends. Now she's almost three and half, she totally knows if something has been handmade and asks me who made what anytime she wears a cardi, jumper, hat scarf etc. which I really like to see. She even makes requests! The latest was for a hat "a yellow had with a yellow bow and big yellow pom pom, or maybe some pink"...

Two of my latest makes for her are this cute pixie hat fron Kat Goldin's Hook Stitch and Give and the short sleeved cardigan from Simply Crochet magazine, issue 32. Both are in Drops Nepal, using the same colours as my poncho. So some days the two of us go out all matchy matchy!

I have plans to make another cardi from Inside Crochet issue 74 which is a lovely blue with a rainbow coloured yoke and cloud shaped pocket! i just need to get some other WIPs out of the way first.

Until next time,

K x

A Poncho Story

When I was still at school, I had a grey fleece poncho with a funnel neck, two pockets and a cream blanket stitch edging. It was brilliant. I loved it. It was from Next and I felt so trendy in it. Until I wore it to non-uniform day. Turns out I was the only one who appreciated this fashion choice. So I probably hardly ever wore it after that and one day it got sent to the charity shop. I still think about that poncho and my older, more self-confident self wishes I had kept it because I sould SO wear it now!

Sometime in the last year or two, ponchos and capes have come back into fashion and I was on the hunt for one. Yanno, cos all the cool kids are wearing them now.

The shops just didn't offer anything I wanted to part money with, and then those that I did like made me look like some matronly nanny which is just a look I wasn't going for. Then Simply Crochet magazine had a pattern in issue 25 that just spoke to me. With a chunky cowl neck and lots of bright colours, it was just my kind of thing. So off I popped to order the wool (Drops Nepal) and I got hooking!

The waffle cowl neck was fun to make and it was a different way to get the waffle effect which I hadn't tried before.

After the cowl was done, it was time to start on the colours, and my are they devine!

This is the only pic I have of myself wearing the poncho. I'm just not a selfie type of person. I never know what to do with my face! Anyway, I wore it on top of my coat at last year's Easter Egg Hunt, hence the ears, and it was super warm. Everyone kept looking at me that day and I thought they were admiring my handiwork but it turns out they were eyeing up my headband! When did being a grown up mean having to be dull and boring? That's so not me!

This poncho has served me well and I'm excited to wear it a bit more now that the worst of the winter is over. Althought it's made from aran weight wool and is pretty heavy, it's a bit drafty on the cold windy days of winter. Having said that, I've worn it over my coat many times and not felt the cold at all those days! It even serves as a great blanket for a little person as Poppet found out while on a boat trip in Malta las year.

Until next time,

K x

Baby Makes

Here's a little selection of items I've crocheted in the last year or so for some new babies.

Tiddly mary-janes for a little lady's christening

This is the beginnings of a little baby blanket

There were a LOT of ends to sew in!

Tiny granny squares, all joined up with dc

I worked on it everywhere I went, even in the car on the way to Cornwall!

Here's how it turned out, and I must say I love the colour combination

Checkout the mustard!

These cute wee turban are always a hit for new baby girls

A pink granny square blanket with a white ruffle edging

A teensy turban for a wee baby born several weeks early

A wee dolly blanket for Poppet's little baby Susie

A wee teddy hat for a boy due to be born very soon

There's something special about making items for new babies. I think I prefer making baby items the most! I know I treasure all the handknitted and crocheted items Poppet has received over the years, and I always hope the items I give make a little difference to a new baby's wardrobe!

Until next time!

K x

Crochet Hook Storage

Any crafter will tell you, supplies and tools take up space. And they are best kept organised so you can lay your hands on what you're looking for just when you need it. Or is that just me?

I've built up a bit of a selection of crochet hooks, some cheapo plastic ones that came free with a magazine, some coloured metal ones, and loads of bamboos ones. I like the bamboo hooks the best, so much so that I've been selling them in my Etsy shop for some time now.

I like to have all my hooks together in one place in my crochet bag so that I always have the full range of sizes to hand as many projects I've done require more than one hook size. I've been using a pencil case to store them, but as my collection has grown, I find myself rooting around and emptying it out trying to find the hook I want. Annoying. For the longest time I have wanted a hook roll but between one thing and another I haven't bought/made one.

A few weeks ago I was perusing the online sale at Purple Linda Crafts and treated myself to a hook roll made by Sew Ray Me. I'm so pleased with it, now my hooks are organised and grouped in size order and so handy to grab the one I want!

The pattern is a bit different from my usual choice, in that it's not pink, but I really love it! There's even space for my pen which I use to mark my place on the pattern I'm using.

And it's not bigger than a pencil case once it's rolled up!

Pimped up Flip Flops

Flip flops are great summertime footwear but do you ever struggle to find a nice pair that you like or that will go with most of your summer wardrobe? I do, but maybe I'm just picky. I came across a little tutorial on how to spruce up a pair of flip flops with a bit of crochet and just knew I had to give it a go!

I got my hook out and a few leftover bits of yarn and got to it.

Rubbish late night Instagram pic

It's a quick and easy projects and you could easily make a whole wardrobe of crochet flip flops! Sometimes the straps are a but plastic-y and can make your feet sweaty, so covering them in this way is a great way to avoid that.

Pimped up flip flops

In hindsight, I should have used a cotton yarn rather than acrylic but they still work well. I just feel these look a bit woolly for flip flops, but I think they're cute! I quite like them and will certainly be stocking up on flip flops to jazz up!

To do these, I simply double crocheted (single crochet if using US terms) around the straps, making sure to bunch the stitches up so the rubber part didn't show through. Avoid crocheting around the toe post as I think that would be uncomfy to wear. For the bow, I made a strip of 12 double crochets and did 5 rows and then bunched it up in the middle by wrapping yarn around to make it bow shaped. Then I sewed the bow onto the straps and hey presto!

Who's been inspired to pimp theirs up?

Sublime Baby Poncho

Oohh, look at me blogging twice in a row!

Today I'm showing off my latest make for Poppet, a poncho! When I was a teenager, ponchos were all the rage but not crochet ones. Crochet was not cool. I had a grey fleece one with a funnel neck, it was tres chic because it was from Next and it cost me several weeks pocket money in the sale. Anyway, I digress. Apparently ponchos are back and they are cool and crochet is cool again, so when I saw a pattern in my copy of Cute and Easy Crochet Baby Clothes, I just had to make it!

As usual, I didn't have the suggested yarn, but I did still have some gorgeous Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK  (I think this is my top fave yarn ever) which I've previously mentioned here and here and here. This stuff is utterly sublime to work with and it washes up pretty well. I also made Poppet a turban with it and it still looks pretty good after umpteen washes.

The stitch is a cluster stitch I hadn't tried before but once I got the hang of it, I flew through the patten. It took a lot of yarn to make, I used four 50g balls which I think is a lot consideing it's a baby item. It was a quick project as it only took a few hours to hook up and it is absolutely adorable! 

I added a couple of rows of dc around the neckline as the foundation row was a bit stretchy and I think I added a few rows on the bottom as Poppet is quite tall and I want it to last that wee bit longer. I wish you could feel the srumptiousness of this stitch, it's just lovely. I don't have any pics to share of Poppet modelling as a) it's summer and way too hot for a poncho! and b) Mr PC and I have decided not to feature her on the blog for reasons I'm sure I don't have to explain. I hope you can imagine the poncho's loveliness from the below pic.

Roll on the return of poncho season! I may even work out how to make one in mummy size!

Giant Granny Square Rug

Hello! My crafty endeavours are regularly gazumped by a lack of time/energy by the time my Mummy duties are done for the day. However, I do manage to get some things done from time to time and today I want to show you my giant granny square rug which I made for our bedroom.

This rug has a bit of a back story in that I've wanted to make a giant doily rug for the longest time and finally got my hands on a pattern and then realised it was just going plain wrong! The particular pattern I chose is, in my opinion, not suited to being a rug as it came out too flimsy and would have been a major trip hazard. So after rethinking and making it again using another pattern and that failing, I decided to make it into a granny square. If in doubt, do a granny!

It proved rather difficult to photograph the rug in situ but here are the best shots I got!

I used DMC Zpagetti in Fuchsia to make this and used about 1.5 spools. I've previously used Hoopla for smaller projects, and Zpagetti is very similar. I found it to be less stretchy than Hoopla which I thought important for a rug. It is also easily washable which is handy. I was, however, very disappointed in the number of knots in the yarn. I'm talking dozens! This meant that I had a LOT of ends to sew in as cutting them out was the only option, they were so unsightly. But apart from that, Zpagetti is pretty good stuff to work with, altho it is a workout on your wrists!

Here's some pics of the rug's original incarnations:

You get more per spool than you do with Hoopla!

The original pattern, it looked lovely but not very practical

The second attempt, different pattern but I had issues up scaling it. 

It looks great in our bedroom but it took a while to get used to is as we kept walking round it for about two weeks! Poppet loves it as she can stick her fingers in the gaps and it feels kinda squishy!

The clusters are so touchy-feely!

The best aerial view, as modelled by Sophie Giraffe

Rug Facts
Yarn: Zpagetti, in Fuchsia 1.5 spools
Measures: 1metre x 1metre, 13 rounds made
Hook: 12mm

If you'd like to have a go at making your own rug and need large crochet hook, checkout my Etsy shop where you can purchase a lovely handmade hook perfect for some extreme crochet!

Crochet Catch Up

In writing about my Massive Granny Blanket, I remembered I have also made some smaller items in recent months. Sometimes those granny squares just got too dull, or too big to lug about when out and about. I thought I'd show off share some pics of my other wee projects.

First up, a large, single granny square baby blanket for a friend's baby boy. I found this one kind of boring as it seemed to take and inordinate amount of time to do considering it was actually only small.

Ran out of wool with 12 stitches to go!

I found a cardi in the Next sale which I wanted to spruce up so picked a lovely doily pattern from Inverleith's book, 500 Crochet Blocks (you must buy this gorgeous book, Hannah and Kath did a stupendous job and the patterns are swoon-worthy!) and voila, a jazzed up cardi!

I made a ruffle skirt for Poppet in our favourite colour.

A pants picture but look at the cuteness!!

Poppet modelling her new skirt

And my current WIP is a new cover for my hot water bottle.

All in all, not too bad for a new mum with little spare time!