Thursday, February 14, 2013

I've been a busy bee recently . . .

 . . . and I'm really happy what all I've succeeded in doing, which is very satisfying to someone who can do so little normally :)

I've finished the gloves and legwarmers I promised to my daughter's friend, and they'll be in the post to her at the weekend, hopefully.

 
  

These are the fingerless gloves I've crocheted for Emma. I used my favourite blue wool - the Cygnet Royal Blue 100% acrylic DK yarn, that I've been using on Brex's blanket, and I crocheted some silver Lycra thread into it as I went along, to give it a little zing.

I found some lovely turquoise buttons in my stash, that I've sewn on, not only as a decoration, but also as fasteners for the cuffs, as I've made them able to be opened, if needed.

I've also sewn on my favourite little owl charm, as it's become a bit of a logo for me :)

Emma asked me to make black leggings for her, in the same pattern as one of the pairs I'd made for Brex. I used a revelry pattern, called Alicia Legwarmers, which are easy and quick to do. I got the pattern at:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/alicia-legwarmers



I used a Coney DK 100% acrylic yarn for these, although I ended up finishing them off with New Fashion Double Knitting by Woolcroft, as I ran out of the first before I had finished them. I was fortunate that both wools were a good match, as I was unable to trace any more of the Coney yarn :/

I put a selection of blue heart buttons, and small green buttons down the edge, as Emma had chosen these colours and, as I'd managed to make more shells on one leg than the other, I added my Owl charm for the fun of it :)

Once I'd finished, I started on the neck pillow I'd promised to a friend who suffers terribly with arthritis in his neck and, because they don't take too very long to make, I decided I'd make another one for his wife to use, as she's just retired, and I thought she'd find it handy while travelling.



The first one I made in an X-Large size, as it was for a man, and I used the New Fashion DK black wool I'd got to finish off the leggings, and matched that with the lovely Jade Green wool I had left over from making Brex's blanket. I think that the two colours look very nice together and, as I used a 6 mm crochet hook, due to having a double thickness of the DK yarn, it crocheted up lovely and thick, so it will be hard-wearing.
I filled it firmly with fibre-fill, so it will be completely washable, then I sewed on my little Owl charm, my care label, and also my friend's name in acrylic letter beads.

The following day, I started on the next one:


This one I made in the Large, adult size, as my friend is much smaller than her husband, and I used a combination of a pale lavender, & a Maroon, Robin DK 100% acrylic yarn. Once again I used the 6 mm crochet hook, as I loved the thickness, warmth, and durability it gives to the yarn, then I also filled this, and decorated it with letter beads, and my little Owl charm.

I'm rather pleased with the way these turned out and, although my sewing leaves a lot to be desired, it did the job.

I gave the pillows to their recipients this evening, and they were over the moon with what I'd done, so I'm a very happy Night Owl :)

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