Crochet, crafts and comfy dogs

I was just looking through our holiday photos again, and I noticed that quite a few shots of crochety bits had crept in. Hmmm. Remember the granny square blanket, which took me two years to complete? And the zigzaggy cushion I made with the left over wools? Well, those two now live happily in our cottage in France and the dogs instantly claimed both for themselves! I couldn't keep them away, they just loved snuggling down with the lanky and the cushion -

Poppy

Hector

Hector again

Poppy again, she loves burrowing under cushions and lankies, covering herself up

Mind you, its not just that blanket and not just that cushion. I started crocheting a very straight forward easy stripey lanky. I wanted something bright and cheerful, loud and in your face, for the garden, really summery. I had taken a whole lot of yarns with me, and I just picked them out of the box without looking for a totally random placement of the colours. Could I keep the dogs off my work in progress? Of course not -

Poppy telling everybody this is going to be HERS, so hands off

And Hector guarding HIS lanky while I was working on it in the garden

Sigh, these doggies are very good at finding the most comfortable things and claiming them.

This was my comfy outdoor spot, where I did some of the crocheting.The little blanket came from a bootsale a few years ago. I do love the colours and the starry pattern -


I started using it as a cover for my little table after a while,

well, after I found this at a charity shop and used it on that chair instead of the lanky. It was a very comfy cushion............

so of course I lost that comfy spot pretty quickly as well -

Oh, and while I am talking about the cushion from the charity shop, here are a couple of crocheted bits which I am going to make into cushions, from the same charity shop -

There you go, thats the crochet and comfy dogs bits done, now for the crafty bits. I had the best intentions of making all sorts of things while I was out there, but of course there was never enough time, hmmm, don't ask me why not, I really have no idea, but somehow there was always someone to visit, or we had visitors, or we were out shopping, or doing stuff in the garden or the house......

I managed to finish one felted flower corsage and one lot of felted beads. Many months ago I obviously had a completely mad moment and had put a fluffety thick cardigan in the wash, with disastrous results. It came out Barbie doll size and very well felted, lol. Of course I couldn't bring myself to throw it away, I knew there was something I would eventually do with it. I had vague ideas of making a felted cushion, I seem to recall. Anyway, before the hols I came across it again, and thought " flower corsage, yay", cut it up and took the bits with me to France. Along with a few beads and embroidery threads etc etc. It was really nice sitting under the trees and messing around with it, and I am quite pleased with the result. The flower is big and bold, and I love the colours-


Felted beads, hmmm. I loved the idea of felted beads and a very lovely and generous friend of mine, Ruth, had sent me some beautiful wool tops to mess around with. Gorgeously soft and almost too beautiful to use for felt beads really, but I was determined to give it a go. I had read an article on how to make felt beads in a beading magazine, but of course I had forgotten to take it with me, silly girl that I am. I remembered hot soapy water and lots of rolling around between your hands. I tell ya, I had the cleanest hands in the whole of France after making the beads for this necklace! Felted beads are not as easy to make as you might imagine. There was a certain amount of bad language flying around, because I couldn't get rid of little, well, sort of fissures, in the beads, grrrr. Still, for a first attempt they didn't turn out too bad, but I do need a lot more practice -



Thats quite enough for one post, methinks. I'll be back tomorrow with a few more pics from our little piece of heaven in France. Toodlepip xx