A Collaboration...

Well it's been a few weeks in the making, but I can finally announce with giddy excitement what Ali Campbell (@crochetali) and I have been plotting!

Ali has spent a lot of time and hard work putting together the UK's first (Yes! First!) online crochet course.  What makes this course extra-special though, is that you can work on each lesson (there are 3 lessons that make up Course 1) as quickly or as slowly as you like, fitting it in around the rest of your daily life, and you can come back to it time and time again.  There are videos to watch, as well as photo tutorials, and Ali herself is on hand at the click of a button to answer any questions you may have, as well as to look at all those progress photos you'll email her for feedback on your progress!

So where does the collaboration come into it, you may ask.  Well, Ali asked me to be the exclusive seller of this online course in my Yarn and Craft Shop!  How exciting!  So from me you will receive a Welcome Pack including a ball of chunky yarn, a 6.5mm crochet hook, some stitch markers, AND a 10% lifetime discount code for use in the shop!

For full details about the course, including the lesson components, click on the link here.

Oh - I almost forgot: the first 3 people to purchase Crochet Course No.1 will receive an extra little gift from me!

Have a great week :)

Emmalemonade x x x

What a difference a day makes!

Barely 24 hours ago I was out in the garden pottering about in the warm bright sunshine, tidying up, re-planting and whispering growth chants to the tiny poppy seeds in their huge pots:

Cut to today and the weather's back to it's miserable worst.  The rain hasn't stopped pouring from the sky all day.  At least my plants are getting a good watering!

If you're feeling green-fingered like me, take a look at Lyndsey's online shop What You Sow - she's having a massive Spring Sale at the moment, lots of gorgeous gardening-related products have great discounts and it ends this Sunday.

I am still very busy crocheting lots of goodies for the Roath Craft Market on the 18th (not long to go now!) and the online shop is keeping me busy too, researching new crochet hooks and knitting needles to stock.

I shall leave you with a few images of what I've been up to for the last couple of weeks:

Much love,

Emmalemonade x x

Signs of Spring

I travelled by train down to Oxfordshire yesterday afternoon, to have a mini-holiday and spend a bit of time "chez Parentals."  The aim is to save a bit of money, and get my head down crocheting like a demon so that I have lots of things to sell on my very first craft stall at Roath Craft Market in a few weeks time. (More on that in a future post...)

So far I have managed tiny bit of French knitting on my old knitting doll that I dug out of the depths of the big box of Stuff I keep in my wardrobe:

And I have also crocheted two circles which are destined to become hanging bird decorations:

This afternoon I took the Parentals out for a walk in the village.  I say walk.  I really mean they strolled along, arm in arm, whilst I kept stopping to look at all the flora and fauna that seems to have appeared out of nowhere over the last few days, taking a quick photo, and then trotting along to catch up again.

The route we took is pretty much the one we always take, and I love that because in amongst the reassuring same-ness of it all, there is always something new to be commented upon, or simply quietly observed and tucked away into the corners of the mind.

There were many signs of Spring on our walk: blossom on trees; leaves on hedgerows, April showers in the distance; fields being planted with crops; and great swathes of bubbling cloud being chased across the sky by the wind.

 

What signs of Spring have you been spotting on your daily commute or walk in the park?

Much love,

Emmalemonade xx

A little hooky...

Hello!  How are you all this afternoon?

It's been lovely and sunny and warm for the past couple of days, and boy does it make a difference to one's mental well-being!  I feel alive, awake and raring to go!

Today I'd like to share with you some of my latest crochet projects.  I haven't posted anything crochet-related in quite a while, so this will be a visual treat for you all!

I've recently got back into crochet in a big way, after a couple of month's hiatus whilst I sorted out the purchase of my online yarn shop, and now that's all settled down and the Depression/Anxiety/Stress is under control, I feel able to fall back in love with it again.  Actually, it's not that I even fell out of love with it, I just lost interest in it, and couldn't deal with it and the yarn shop and everything else that was going on.

Anyway, I'll stop gassing and let you get on with the business of perusing my photos!

Mini Heart Bunting - made using Rico Creative Cotton aran in red (05)

an MBE in felt and crochet - A commissioned piece I completed just before Christmas

Shell Stitch Cowl - another commissioned piece.  Made using Wendy Norse chunky in Porpoise (2701)

Granny Stripe Scarf - I made this for a friend and it took me blimmin ages to complete!  Very pleased with the final result though.  Made using James C Brett Top Value yarn but Stylecraft Special DK would work well too.

Captain Barnacles - I really enjoyed this commission. I loved adding all the little details.  Made using Rico Essentials cotton DK in Banana, Light Teal, Light Blue and Dark Jeans.  The pattern was from Etsy

I just adore these hanging bird decorations from Lucy at Attic 24!  I make these using any yarn scraps I have to hand.

Mobile Phone Case - more Rico Essentials cotton DK, this time using 2 strands at a time to create a stronger, more rigid finish.

Iron Man Mittens - I adore these!  I made them for the Mister but they were too small for him.  The pattern I found on Etsy and I used yarn scraps including some King Cole Merino Blend DK 

Valentines cards.  Awwww!  I used this heart pattern  and Rico Creative Cotton aran yarn in Red.

Baby Owl Hat in blues - I haven't made any of these for ages! I must make some for my upcoming craft market stall.....eeek!

I tried out Ali Campbell's simple pattern for a cowl using Stylecraft Special chunky and it worked a dream!

I am totally in love with this scarf!  It's a pattern by Erika Knight and it's made using the Vintage Wool from her new range of 100% British made yarns.  Totally luxurious and totally worth it - all the colours in her range are absolutely gorgeous.

A crown of my own design made for the beautiful Jodi Middleton for her to use in her photography business.

Another pattern I just had to try from Attic 24!

...and I liked it so much I made another one!  (This one I gave to my mum for Mothering Sunday.)

I have started making a tea-cosy using the pattern from Granny Chic.  I haven't got very far with it...in fact it  remains just as it was when this photo was taken!  I don't think I'm making it right, but I love the colour mix here and can't bear to unravel it all and start again!

I have started to learn to knit!  (for about the millionth time, but this time it's for real.)  Progress is slow, and I'm probably holding the needles all wrong, but I'm really enjoying it.

I hope you don't mind my unashamed links to my own yarn shop for the yarns I have used.  I'm doing my best to promote my new business venture, and hope one day to own my very own bricks-and-mortar yarn shop, so the more people I tell about it, the better, and the quicker I can earn the pennies to be able to make my dream a reality.  I really hope that you pop over and have a wee browse in my shop.  I'd really like to hear what you think, and if you have any requests for yarns and things you'd like me to stock then I'd love to hear from you!  Either write me a comment here on the blog or email me at info [at] yarnandcraftshop dot co dot uk.

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my last blog post by the way, it's always a pleasure to read them.  (Don't tell anyone, but Mabel is here right now asleep in the armchair!)

Much love, have a good week,

Emmalemonade xx

I call her Mabel...

There was a tap-tap-tapping noise at the window, a whiskered face peering in through the rain-spattered glass.  I stared back.  The face began to move, and I heard the pitiful yeowls of a drenched, windswept thing asking to be let into the brightly lit, warm room it could see beyond the glass.

OK, I thought, it'll be fine, just this once to be nice, and I'll probably never see it again anyway.  I got up out of my seat, took the key from the pot, and went to unlock the conservatory door.  No sooner had I opened it then a matted ball of fur on four legs shot past me...

...Several weeks, lots of cuddles, and several tasty treats (oops, they just fell into my shopping basket, I swear!) later, the friendliest cat in the neighbourhood is showing no signs of giving up her almost daily visit to my house.  She arrives exactly when she pleases, sitting patiently on the windowsill until I let her in, and she proceeds to pad around the house until she is satisfied that everything is in order.  Then she'll either curl up on the sofa and go to sleep, come and chat to me whilst I work, or demand to be let back out again, and she'll go on her merry way.  She probably does this at every house along the street, and gets fed at every house along the street too I'd wager, judging from her pretty rotund belly!

Having kept cats as pets when I was a child, I find that having the cat around (I call her Mabel, although I'm not actually certain if she's a boy or a girl, and if you know me then you'll know the story of our cat called Willow who had to have an abrupt name-change to Willum when the vet informed us that he was a boy!) is incredibly calming and theraputic.  She totally changes the way I work when she's here checking up on me, letting me allow myself a break from the computer screen without me even realising it, and sometimes even stopping me from working altogether by sitting on whatever it is that I'm trying to do!

She's got me right where she wants me, that cat, and I'm totally ruled by her, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  She never stays for more than a couple of hours, and I know that she must have an owner who loves her very much, as she is the most docile and good-natured cat ever, but it sure is nice to borrow her for a bit whenever she allows.

Now to persuade the Mister to give in and let us get a cat of our own...!

Much love,

Emmalemonade xx