Consider Yourself...

...Stitchbombed!

Stitchbombing bikes around the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford:

Stitchboming bikes along Broad Street:

Stitchbombing bikes at Oxford train station:

And of course making a special beeline for the bull:

I wonder who the lucky recipient of this rather snazzy crocheted bicycle seat cover was:

...because I crocheted this one with my own fair hand!  (And the green one in the very first picture actually)

So why stitchbombing?

Well, it's all to draw attention to, and help celebrate Darn It & Stitch's 2nd birthday!  Hurrah!  Happy birthday Darn It & Stitch - two years young and going from strength to strength, no mean feat in these harsh economic times.

Darn It & Stitch will be celebrating with tea and cake and a massive lucky dip this Saturday 23rd June, from 10am until 6pm, so please come down if you're anywhere near and join in the fun!  Mr X Stitch (yes, him!) will also be there, taking a workshop on the art of cross-stitch.  The workshop is all booked up, but if you're very lucky you may catch a glimpse of him, or even have a chat over a cup of tea...

The Other Story...

Hello all!

What a lovely day it has been today - I was back in the "Nothing" shop after a few days away so I didn't get to enjoy the warm sunshine as much as I'd have liked, but it was so nice to be able to pull on a strappy top and wear sandals on my feet instead of the boots and jumpers I've been wearing lately.  In late June too!  Crazy!  I hope this sunny weather lasts, but something tells me it's not going to...

Thank you so much for all your sweet comments on my last post, it's been great to read them all and reply to most of them.  Apologies if I didn't reply to you, it's pretty hectic at Lemonade HQ at the moment, but I promise I'll try harder to reply.  A couple of you asked some questions, so I shall answer them now:

: :  I do have a photo of the owner of the mousie booties wearing them, but I must ask permission from Rachel first before I post personal photos of other people on here...

: :  I sadly did not design the patterns for the booties or the finger puppets myself.  A lady called Rachel Choi did, and I have provided the links on that blog post to Etsy, where you can buy the patterns for yourself.  Please let me know if the links are not working for you.

: :  The model who was trying to keep out of shot whilst wearing the finger puppets is the Mothership!  She is very patient when I ask her to model the things I make, but she is quite adamant that she does not want to be in the photo!

And so, on to the subject of today's post.  You remember me telling you about the other item that Rachel over at The Little Pip commissioned me to make?  And I told you it was a story for another day?  Well here it is!

Rachel received the booties and finger puppets for Pip, and was ever so pleased with them - so much so that she wanted a matching mousie hat, and asked if I would crochet one for her.  Since I don't very often design my own patterns (I lack a little bit of confidence in the the designing department, even though I've been crocheting for well over a year now) I headed straight over to Etsy where I usually find just the pattern I'm looking for, buy it, and get making.  This time however, I searched and searched and just could not find a pattern I liked enough to buy.  Right, I thought.  Pull yourself together Emma, you're going to have to design your own.  So I did!  I based my design heavily on the one for the sleepy owly hats I showed you in this post, and sought inspiration for the ears from a pattern for a mouse I made several months ago, but the whiskers and nose are all mine! ;)

Would you like to see the finished article?  Of course you would!

A sleepy mousie hat for Pip.

Crocheted using my favourite Debbie Bliss cashmerino yarn (55% merino wool, 33% microfibre, 12% cashmere: gorgeously soft and bouncey and perfect for young and sensitive skin....and washable too!) in a light grey and a dusky pink, and white Rowan cotton yarn for the eyes and whiskers and black Rowan cotton for the nose and eyelashes.

Super cute!  And both little Pip and mummy Rachel love the mousie hat very much.

I will be putting this and some other creations in my Etsy shop soon, on a made-to-order basis, so you'll be able to order from there, but you can of course still contact me via Facebook or Twitter if you'd like me to make you something, and I'll be happy to give you prices and lead-times and such.

I hope you're all having a super week,

Much love,

Emmalemonade x x

More Mice

First let me apologise.  Again.  For my continuing rubbish-ness at writing on my blog.  I've been sitting here for the last five minutes trying to come up with a reason for my absence, but I fear that you've heard it all before and that you're fast losing patience with the sporadic nature of my posts.  Thank you so much for sticking with me, and popping by on the off-chance that I might have written something.  I really appreciate it.

I do have a corker of a something to share with you today though:

A little while ago, a uni friend and fellow cellist Suzie contacted me to ask whether I would make her some things to give as a gift to her friend who was due to give birth.  I leapt at the chance to make something commissioned - this is my absolute favourite way of working as it means I get to try out new patterns and it prevents me getting bored of churning out the same old stuff a zillion times, and it means my customers receive bespoke pieces from me.  Everyone's a winner!

I asked Suzie what she wanted me to make, a pair of mousie booties and a set of five finger puppets said she.  An excellent choice, as I knew it would be, and she'd even found me the patterns on Etsy.

This is what I made:

A teeny tiny pair of mousie baby booties with the initials of the baby embroidered on the heels.  I crocheted these using Debbie Bliss cashmerino in grey which is both super soft and washable on a low temperature.  The pink ears, nose, embroidery, and black whiskers are Rowan cotton. The pattern is by a lady called Rachel Choi, and you can but it here

Five cotton finger puppets: a rabbit, a bear, a cat, a dog and an elephant.  I think my favourite is the rabbit, although it's pretty hard to choose between them, they're all so cute!  The pattern for these is also by Rachel Choi, and you can buy it here.

Both Suzie and the recipient (a lovely lady called Rachel and her daughter Pip) of these little crocheted delights were very pleased with them - so much so that Rachel herself commissioned me to make something else for her daughter....but that's a story for another day!  Remind me to tell you about it, because I will probably forget, I have a memory like a sieve at the moment.

Before I go, I must tell you that Rachel has a Blog called The Little Pip, and you must go and pay her a visit.

Much love,

Emmalemonade x x