Crochet Skirt - Rowan 36

I really, really love this skirt! I feel very triumphant about it because it was my first finished crochet project and when I told people I was making a skirt with motifs they all looked horrified - I could almost hear 'Granny Square Alert' sirens and expected the 'Anti-Doily SWAT Team' to leap from the bushes and take me away for my own safety. HOWEVER they were all amazed, full of compliments and madly jealous when I showed them my labour of love.
Well done Rowan for designing such a thing of beauty - my only gripe is that there was no chart and the written instructions were a little unclear in places (I found a chart for this motif in the Harmony Guide - 220 More Crochet Stitches, by the way).
Anyway, it's inspired me to design my own crochet skirts so I'm working on some ideas right now which will appear here in due course, so watch this space. 

Cutie Booties - Crochet

These were made for my aromatherapist Lucy for her bundle of joy - a gorgeous baby girl named Maura. I got the pattern from Lesley Stanfield's 'Adorable Crochet for Babies and Toddlers' (ISBN 1-84340-269-6). This is a fantastic book, full of lovely things and these were so easy to make.
She has another book out called 'First Crochet' with another pair of cute booties too. I really like her simple, more modern style - not fussy and weird like some stuff out there.
Anyway, Lucy loved them, Maura is wearing them - what more can I ask for.............

Jackie Bag

This is a bag I made for a friend Jackie to say thank you for all her support. I'm pleased to say she loved it and it is now her 'daily bag' which is lovely! I had 2 pure wool pashminas which had started to bobble so I stuck them in the washer and boiled them - they came out beautifully felted and soft so I made the pattern around them, using their shape and size to dictate the design of the bag. I was playing around with the fringe and noticed it looked cute as a kind of rosette so I added that to the design too. It's lined with lovely soft pink stretchy terry-type cloth (sounds weird but it's gorgeous - honest). I made the button by sandwiching a felt coaster-type-thing (you use them under chair legs for protecting wooden floors!!) between 2 circles of felt and them added a heart button to finish. Voila!

Jackie, may you wear it well x