I'm a Dr!

Good afternoon

this is the first Sunday in 2.5 months that I haven't had to do work related to my PhD. I am very happy to say that it is FINISHED and I'm now Dr. Claire Lucas :)

The exam was way back in January, a 2.5 hour grilling/debate on the points of my thesis with some experts followed by the relief of saying I'd passed :) There were some minor corrections to complete, which have taken me until the end of February and then I was preparing for a competition for Engineering PhD Thesis of the year which took place on Tuesday (I didn't win but I got a prize for being in the final 3).

Needless to say I haven't had time for much else lately, between that and house-hunting. We haven't had much luck yet: our offers have been rejected. As it gets closer to August we may have to make some huge compromises in order to buy somewhere in time.

In the last few days though I've been on a bit of a crochet roll. I made a daffodil for my grandma for mother's day using Lucy's tutorial and then a stripey elephant for a new baby at church.

daffodil

stripey elephant

I promise it won't be as long until I post again now!

Claire

Spotty blanket

Afternoon,

what a miserable horrible wet day it is outside! And husband is poorly so I am sat with a cup of tea by myself for the first time in a while (for the christmas week we have been between parents houses and always surrounded by people).

I made a blanket for Mike's grandma for christmas, except I ran out of wool so I've turned it into a pram blanket and we've given her the pastel blanket instead.

Want to see the blanket I love so much that I'm very pleased I get to keep it?

spotty blanket

It's small (only 25 x 34 inches) but I don't want to add a border which would detract from the spots. But I love it so much! it's so bright in real life too. Pattern is from here.

A few more photos:

Hope you like it too

Claire
xx

crochet rabbit, alien and pig

There are so many new babies around at the moment that I have a choice of people to thrust my crochet upon (I hope they appreciate them!)

firstly, I made another bunny rabbit, this time with some multicoloured yarn I bought on our trip to Bath.

stripey bunny rabbit

This rabbit was made with Emma Lamb's pattern which works up very quickly, if having slightly oddly shaped arms! The last project I made with stripey yarn I didn't like very much but this one is vibrant enough that I love it.

a pig and an alien

I also made this pig and alien, the pig is a giant squishy ball with normal ears/legs/nose and a tail made by sc-ing a chain tightly inwards. The alien is straight from Nikki Trench's super cute crochet book and is the first time I've ever crochet-ed with felt!

I am really pleased with all of these softies, after a disappointing hot water bottle cover and the time-consuming blanket projects these small things are a delight to make and give away. 

Claire

Some recent makes: hot water bottle cover

I am writing a few posts at once for this week because I had scheduled these and they didn't post! I have been doing a bit of crochet recently. The first of these is a hot water bottle cover which was initially made to be a christmas present but it didn't turn out well enough to give away. I like the concept though and will fiddle with it a little in perseverence. Just this week Coco Rose posted a hot water bottle cover tutorial so perhaps this will help next time.

hot water bottle cover

I made 6 sunburst granny squares and a stripey back. This picture was pre-blocking so it looks slightly better but I think I would prefer smaller squares, or even a completely stripey cover - what do you think?

Claire

A reveal!

Ta-dah

hanging out after blocking

I can finally say that this blanket is done.

some closeups

It was originally started for a friend's baby but it turns out her sister crochets too so now it's in the 'pile of things I really should give away but-oh-it's-soft-and-pretty etc'. I'm not sure I like it as much as the bright blankets I've made but it is much better yarn and so the softness is a definite plus. I also made it big enough to snuggle on the sofa in (though it doesn't look it in the pictures). I would have made bigger but I was stopped by a lack of pink yarn (and even had to take apart a pink elephant to finish it so now he has blue ears). 

Anyway, here it is. The pattern is Lucy's summer square with a HDC border, the cream wool is a huge ball of aran I got from a discount shop and the other bits are odds and ends given to me. 

I hope you like it. It's hard to take photos of blankets!

Claire

Bunny Rabbit Rattle (with pattern)

I saw lots of these on holiday being sold for large amounts of money so decided to make one. This is a prototype which will be given to the next baby or baby bump I find for testing before I amend the pattern.

*amendment 1 - brighter colours

I suck at faces

HEAD
The head is a flat circle of increases:

round 1: ch 2, 6 sc into 2nd ch from hook
round 2: 2 sc into each (12 sc)
round 3: *2 sc in 1st, 1 sc in 2nd around* (18sc) - change colour
round 4: *2 sc in 1st, 1 sc in 2nd and 3rd* around (24sc)
round 5: *2sc in 1st, 1sc in 2nd:4th* around (30sc)
etc until desired head size is reached
round 10: sc in back loops only around
round 11-13: sc in both loops around
round 14: sc in front loops around
then decrease in the same way as rounds 1:9 changing colours as appropriate and stuffing with a bell and stuffing before you reach the end.

EARS
made in the round, no need to stuff

round 1: ch 2, 4 sc into 2nd ch from hook
round 2: 2 sc in each (8 sc)
round 3: sc around
change colours as desired and continue until proportional to head.

HANDLE
made in the round and stuffed tightly

round 1: ch8 and join
round 2: sc in each around (8 sc)
continue until it can fit around your wrist stuffing as you go.
Join together with a needle and then sew to head.

FACE
I suck at faces, this is just a mess.

Claire

Quick Tea Cosy

I made a teacosy from scraps for our holidays. there wasn't a pattern - the vertical stripes give it enough give to stretch around and I left a slot for the handle, and added a gold button. The top is just Sc2tog and the bottom edge SC in white. It'll be handy to sit outside with though. I feel like I've seen something similar before so there may be a pattern for it online somewhere. 

The pink was left over from this elephant - the design is Nicki Trench's one in super cute crochet and I've made 3 very cute elephants from it in the past - they don't hang around long until somebody claims them. 

Claire

My first commissioned doll!

I was recently asked to crochet a brown-haired brown-eyed doll for the niece of a friend. I used the same pattern as before and I'm definitely refining the pattern.

I started her on Tuesday whilst husband was having man-friend time (steak and prayer). I sat in our little office with gossip girl and a glass of wine and honestly had a wonderful time!

On saturday, whilst Mike was painting a bureau for my birthday present, i finished her body on a deckchair in the garden. (I love our garden at the moment, we don't have much in there because it's rented but the pansies, alliums and irises are very joyful!)

Somehow she ended up with a little kink in the body - but this was sorted out with some extra stuffing.

 I finished off the dress on Sunday afternoon since it was a bit too wet to go out. 

The dress is more pale than I envisaged but she's lovely and was well received!

How has everyone's jubilee weekend been so far? We spent saturday morning watching a bit of tv with a cup of fresh-brewed vanilla coffee before setting about cleaning the tops and insides of the kitchen cupboards (so that it's less work when we move out). I made a test batch of lemonade scones (since I didn't trust the recipe and I had to take some to a garden party today) and then sat in the garden. Sunday morning was church followed by clothes shopping for Mike. He hates buying clothes but has lost weight so desperately needed new jeans/tshirts and a hoodie as well as a waterproof coat. The trip was a success and I managed to buy myself a few summery things as well. In the evening we had settled down to watch harry potter with a bowl of nachos when our neighbours knocked on us (northern phrase?) to come out onto the green where they'd put up a marquee and a projector and were drinking wine and watching kind hearts and coronets. We had such a fun evening as more and more neighbours came out onto the green in the middle of the close with blankets, floor cushions, wine and snacks. The marquee was lovely with the jubilee bunting designed by all the children at school and flickering tealights and lanterns. I am definitely doing this for my birthday party! The film was great too. I'm normally put off by black and white but it was very funny and highly recommended. The rain and wind meant I didn't catch it all but I was also busy crocheting a pink elephant and forgoing wine in favour of nutella melted into hot milk. I think 2 of our widowed neighbours are busy falling in love with one another too which was lovely to see. Today we had some pancakes (with the friend who asked for the doll) and then went to a garden party with the batch of the scones. I'm about to post that as a separate recipe!

 We still have one more day of holiday. Hopefully it won't rain because we have punting booked :)

Claire
x

Birthday card and bird

When we got back to our close on Saturday there was a marquee up and, more importantly, a bouncy castle. It turned out to be for a neighbours four year old girl's birthday party and the parents invited us over for a beer and a bounce. We had so much fun with their adorable girls that I decided to make this card for her, and a little bird for the bird box she cited as her favourite present. It's just drying so I will drop it off tomorrow.

Patten is little birdie from attic 24, sun leaves and flowers are improvised (leaves ate basically the wing of the bird and the flowers are a 9 loop circle with picots)

Claire
X

Bunny rabbits

I made some bunnies over easter. I started with a teddy bear pattern that I love (bear in a jiff) and made floppy ears. The bunnies didn't hang around long until somebody claimed them but I can always make more!

A peek into my finished blanket cupboard

1. A granny square blanket in blues and purples, pattern is 'Summer Garden Granny Square' from Lucy at attic 24
2. My most recent blanket, jolly cot blanket hexagons, again from attic 24
3. A wool eating plain yellow blanket with a pink border
4. A huge stripey blanket which was great fun to make from a variety of stitches inspired by little woolie

What do you think? I love them all. I think a ripple may be the next blanket that I attempt, or diagonal stripes... Claire x

Crochet Dolls

I have been trying to crochet without patterns this year. One of the patterns I've been developing is a doll. I've given away two but finally have one to keep for our future child (which doesn't exist yet, but i'm keeping my best creations anyway). The pattern is loosely based on the Lily doll sugar and cream pattern but with a few less rounds for the head, and a straight body. The top one is Arabella, whom I'm keeping. The middle was made for my cousins' baby's christening. And the bottom is Lucy, made for a christmas present for Evangeline.