Crochet Baubles

One of the things I spent lockdown (the first one...) doing is building up my stock of these crocheted baubles. 

I had bought a big box of red and white baubles in the January sales from Poundstretcher which were perfect for these decorations.

The first stage was to paint the baubles a base colour so the original colour wouldn't show through any gaps in the crochet.

As you know, my Mum is the crochet wizard, not me, so during a doorstep drop off of some groceries to my parents I handed over a box of painted baubles with drawings of extra pieces I needed like ears and scarves. Then a couple of weeks later I picked them up; all crocheted and ready to decorate. Probably in exchange for some bread flour or yeast that I'd managed to get hold of.

Most of my designs were straight up Christmassy - Rudolph, Christmas pudding, Elf etc - but I also tried some other things like these animals. They were all made by cutting out felt pieces which I sewed to the wool.

My favourite design is this BB8. It took a lot longer than the others but I think it looks awesome. I must try making a Yoda next...

Crochet Unicorn Ornament

It doesn't look like the unicorn trend is going away any time soon so I'm fully embracing it with my craft fair offerings. I have unicorn hairbands, unicorn pencil toppers, unicorn toys and now unicorn baubles.

When my Mum was crocheting the baubles for my Mickey Mouse ornaments I asked her to do a few white ones.

I made the horn and ears out of felt which I sewed to the wool.

I used some little fabric flowers to embellish the unicorns and added the eye lashes with black embroidery thread.

Crochet Superhero Balls

Did you know that my crochet emoji balls are my second most pinned project? (My most pinned project is Baby Groot)
For this year's craft fairs I decided to make some other crochet balls. With all the superhero movies around I picked superhero logos.

My Mum crochets around tennis balls and then I add the details. The Batman and Superhero balls are pretty straightforward to make, after a little bit of tricky cutting out. For the Spiderman ball I sewed some black wool over the ball to make the web.

We're a big Deadpool household so I also made a Deadpool ball to go with the felt Deadpool decoration which you can find in my Etsy shop.

What other superhero logos should I make?

Crochet Jar Covers

 My Mum saw this idea for crochet jar covers on Mollie Makes and got to work making her own version like the crochet wiz she is. She always has a supply of empty jars in the kitchen (for homemade jam!) so she just had to find three the same size.

She then left it to me to put on the faces. I used a black Sharpie and pink acrylic paint and pretty much copied the faces from the example because I couldn't improve on that cuteness.

I think these would look fun in a bathroom storing cotton buds and cotton pads (I thought I had some cotton balls to complete the trio, but no). Storing something white really helps the faces stand out.

The original tutorial has these jars containing kitchen ingredients, but I also think they would be a great gift stuffed with marshmallows.

What would you store in them?

Crochet Emoji Balls

A few years ago my Mum came up with the idea of crocheting around a tennis ball to make a fun toy. This was at the height of everyone's Minion obsession so she made some Minion face balls.
Then last year I thought the technique would make great Pokeballs to sell alongside our Pickachus. They were a big hit with the kids at a school Christmas fair.

And now with Emojis being my main make we've decided to make some Emoji balls!

My Mum crochets around a tennis ball and then I add the features by sewing on cut out felt pieces.



























The size and shape of these balls make for perfect Emojis. I think the crying laughing one is my favourite.

These are the ones I've made so far but I'm sure a whole range of Emoji faces will be appearing on balls soon.

Pin it!

Santa Belt Sweet Pot

This quick Christmas gift craft starts with a cardboard ice cream tub.

My Mum crocheted around the pot using red wool. Nice and festive.

To make Santa's belt I cut a long strip of black felt that went all the way around the pot. For the belt buckle I cut a square of orangey/brown felt with two slits in that the black felt could pass through.

The belt could be sewn to the pot but to make things easy I just glued it on using UHU glue.

Then to make the pot into a little gift I added a handle of sweets wrapped in cellophane.

Crochet Pikachu Pot

With craft fair season in full swing I've been adding a few more things to my stock. These character pots have been going down quite well so I've made a few more.

In order to stay on trend and 'down with the kids' I made a Pikachu one, since the Pikachu toy we made sold straight away.

In fact I made two! We've been selling these pots with socks in and with sweets in. You can guess which has been more popular with children.

I also had a blank white crochet pot that my Mum made so I thought it would be perfect as a snowman. Tis the season after all. So this guy is roughly based on Olaf; everyone's favourite snowman. Or would that be Frosty the Snowman? Or the snowman from The Snowman?

Crochet Pikachu

Last year the best sellers on mine and my Mum's craft stalls were crochet minions. We made and sold a lot.

With craft season quickly approaching we thought about what's popular this year. The obvious answer was Pokemon so my Mum found a Pikachu crochet pattern to try out.

Like the minions, my Mum crochets the whole thing and my contribution is to add the face.

We also had the idea to sell Pokeballs which my Mum makes by crocheting around a tennis ball. They're quite fun for throwing at your sister and yelling 'I choose you!'.

More Animal Pots

My Mum's been busy crocheting so I've made some more animal boxes. Like the last ones my Mum crocheted the blank pots and I added the felt features to make them into cute characters.

The purple hippo is my current favourite. Look at those ears, and the teeth!

This cute cat has embroidery thread whiskers that stick out.

And finally the monkey with it's sticky out ears.

What other animals could I make?

Animal Sock Boxes

First craft in my new flat!

My Mum retired at Easter and has been spending some of her free time crocheting up a storm. She came up with the idea for these boxes, which are made by crocheting around sturdy muffin cases, and left it up to me to make them cute.

I used felt to add on the features. This green one started off as a crocodile but now I think it looks more like a dragon.

To make these into sellable gifts my Mum had the idea to put a pair of socks inside, which double up as the animal's tongue.

What do you think? She's also made a pink and a purple one - what animals could they be??

Crochet Olaf

Since the crochet Minions my Mum and I have been making are proving quite popular (we've already sold 12 to my sister's friends) we thought about what else might go down well, and it was pretty obvious; Frozen!

Fun fact: I only watched it for the first time this summer #latetotheparty

So my Mum looked around for an Olaf pattern and adapted what she found slightly. 

Then it was my job to make the mouth, eyes and nose out of felt.

And sew on some eyebrows. They really make all the difference.

Crochet Minions

Another school summer holidays project my Mum and I have been working on is these Minions.

They were actually my Mum's idea and she does most of the work as they're crocheted.

She hasn't even seen Despicable Me but she's noticed how popular Minions are at the moment (and hopefully later in the year when we plan to sell them at craft fairs).

She found the crochet pattern online but then altered it a little by adding the bib and straps of the overalls and the strap of the goggles.

My part is to make the eyes and mouth, which are both made of felt, and I've started doing the hair as well.

I have a feeling by the end of the holidays our house may be fully inhabited by Minions.

Banana!

Crochet Easter Basket

This craft is all my Mum's creation. I asked her if she wanted to do a guest post but she declined.

My Mum thought it would be nice to have an Easter themed item to sell at the craft fair last week so, being the crochet whiz that she is, she made these little Easter baskets.

They're the perfect size the hold two mini chocolate eggs and a chocolate bunny. So sweet!

Crochet Baubles

I recently saw some knitted baubles online and wondered if my Mum could crochet something similar.

Of course she can, she's a crocheting magician!

She just crocheted around a plastic bauble. Half way through it looked like the bauble had a little beanie hat. Then when she was done I added the stars for some bling. 

My Mum also tried some more lacy designed so the colour of the bauble showed through. Which style do you prefer?

Plain white t-shirt

Boring shirt --------> Less boring shirt!

I saw this post on Trash to Couture about adding crochet trim down the sides of a t-shirt which is what I was going to do with this plain white t-shirt, until I thought that putting the crochet trim round the middle would look better.

This piece of crochet has been in the fabric drawers forever, so it was nice to finally find a use for it.

I cut the t-shirt across the middle as straight as possible and hand-sewed the crochet to the two pieces.

Bit more skin on show. Goodness!

I also cut a new neckline for the shirt and gathered the middle for a more flattering fit.

My Mum very kindly crocheted some new trim for the neckline to match the original stuff.

She's got skills.

Have you got an favourite ways to fancy up a plain white t-shirt?