Lullaby Lodge

This week has been very exciting for me, very exciting and very busy.  Firstly I received my first ever commission from my Etsy shop and secondly I have been beavering away making lots of things for my craft stall at the Pudding Cup Art Market .   I don't know if you remember this post  here  where I made myself a crochet hot water bottle cover?   Well I put a picture of it in my Etsy shop and last weekend I received a request for a custom order of 4 covers.  I must say I was both excited and terrified at the same time, (excited to receive my first order but a little worried how well they would be received...).  I think I tend to be a little over critical about my work. The colours for the hot water bottle covers were chosen by my customer from the Woolcraft DK range.  Luckily I had all the colours she requested so could get started right away. The covers incorporate the beautiful  Sunburst Granny Square  pattern by Priscilla Hewitt, which is available for free at

 Some lovely ladies over at Ravelry have been kindly testing my  Sock Yarn Bauble s pattern.  I would just like to thank them all, for the time and effort they have put into this.   If you are interested in taking part in some pattern testing head on over to this  group .  Designers can showcase their new patterns and have them tested and  as a reward the testers get to try out new patterns before they are published free of charge. I am very excited to share with you some photos of the baubles made with my pattern. This one is lovely and bright.  Sock yarn is always a delight to work with as you watch the colours change as you crochet... I love the sparkly yarn used in these two.  Anything with a bit of glitter or sparkle always gives me that "it's nearly Christmas" feeling. The variegation in this one is very pretty... and lastly another sparkly bauble in traditional red gold and green. Thank you again ladies your baubles are g

Gosh, what a busy day I have had today.  I spent a couple of hours this morning at the allotment.  It was the most glorious sunny day here in Berkshire, not a cloud in the sky.  Then home to cook Sunday Lunch, Roast chicken with all the trimmings... and then after lunch I went to our local monthly craft fair.  Pudding Cup Art Market. By this afternoon sadly the sun was disappearing and the temperature had dropped considerably, so sensibly everyone at the market had their stalls inside in the warm.  I love perusing craft fairs and especially love to stop and chat to the crafters about their wares.  I am always fascinated to hear about how things are made.  Especially crafts that I know nothing about... This stall caught my eye as I walked in.  They were displaying the most beautiful glass jewellery. Another table had some really cute ornaments made from Fimo clay. More hanging decorations... These super cute doggy face cloths.  What an ingenious ide

Over the summer holidays, The Gilmore Girls came out on Netflix and I spent many an afternoon hanging out with Lorelai and Rory.  It's nice easy viewing, perfect to watch while indulging in some afternoon hooky.   Having very eclectic tastes myself I love the style of Lorelai's house.  I particularly love the crochet blanket you can see in some of the episodes, draped across her sofa.  It's a beautiful pale duck egg colour (this just happens to be my most favourite colour). I decided that I wanted to try and create something similar.  First I needed some yarn.  I discovered that Woolcraft New Fashion DK had added some new colours to their range and one of them just happened to be Duck Egg.  So I ordered some right away.  I use Woolcraft yarn a lot and particularly like it for blankets.  It's a bit thicker than some DK yarns and has a really soft almost fluffy texture.  It makes lovely squishy blankets and has a good choice of colours.   I searched th

I can't get over the weather we have been having lately and it's almost November.  We are spending a well earned weekend away by the seaside... Just look at those skies!  The beach here at Camber is one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen.  It stretches for miles.  The sea a distant patch of blue on the horizon while the tide is out. Meandering streams and pools remind you just how far it's travelled and the glorious sun glistens and sparkles on the water. Little T is in his element.  Splashing in the water, sailing his Frisbee along the fast current of the streams, chasing after it laughing and giggling. There was of course digging and castle building... and collecting pebbles for mummy. We treated ourselves to a Full English at a beach cafe with steaming mugs of tea.  Then back to our chalet... for some pebbly hooky! Bye for now... Catherine x

Hello everyone, I would just like to share with you how I made the sock yarn baubles from my   previous post .  This is my first time writing a pattern and some lovely people over on Ravelry have been testing it for me.  You can find the test page here.    I use US terminology (I know I'm from the UK but American terminology just makes more sense!).   You will need   sock yarn (small ammounts)  3.5mm hook sewing needle 60mm plastic bauble ribbon for hanging stitch marker Stitches used sc  single crochet sc2tog  single crochet 2 together Round 1 Starting with a  magic loop  work 6 sc into the loop, place marker in the last stitch pull tight Do not join we will be working in a spiral Round 2 starting in the first sc from previous round work 2 sc into each stitch around (12 stitches) Remember to move your stitch marker up at the end of each round Round 3  [2 sc into the first stitch, sc into the next stitch] repeat around (18 sti

Hello everyone, I hope you are all having a lovely weekend.  I have been busy using up the left over sock yarn that I used to make my crochet coin purses.  You can read about them in my blog post  here . So I thought my left over wool would be great to crochet over some Christmas baubles.   What! Christmas decorations already?  I know some of you may be thinking this, but in our house it's never too early for Christmas.  We love everything about Christmas and this time of year is always spent getting ready making home made decorations, baking, shopping and countless other Christmasy things... Every year I make some new decorations for the tree and every year little T makes some for his tree too.  Here's what I made. The yarn is Drops Fabel and has lots of lovely colour combinations to choose from.  Drops yarn is always a pleasure to work with and is extremely reasonable.  To be honest it's the only real wool yarn I can afford to use, being on a tight bud