The Craft Club Charity Yarnbomb

If you crochet or knit you've probably come across the concept of yarnbombing, where you decorate an outdoor space with a bit of crochet or knitting. I've always thought it was a cool thing to do, but haven't tried it myself yet. However, now I and anyone else who wants to can join in with a charity yarnbomb organised by The Craft Club in Essex. They are asking anyone who can crochet to try to help them break the world record for the largest display of crochet sculptures. They need 4061 items which will be displayed in the Little Havens Hospice Garden on 25 August 2014. Here's the details:

"We want to creater a magical garden scene for the children to discover, and so our theme is Enid Blyton's The Magic Faraway Tree stories. Any crocheted items that fit our theme would be welcome... woodland creatures such as hedgehogs, squirrels, rabbits and owls, fantastical characters such as goblins, fairies and troll, flora such as flowers, cherries, acorns, strawberries and mushrooms."

You can contact them for more information (see the poster above for the email) and you can  find them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecraftclubyarnbomb/timeline

I've got lots of free patterns that should be perfect for this, and most of them are small, so they'd be quick to work up. Here are some ideas, click on the patterns on the list to the right for the details of each pattern.

All the Totoros:

 

Mini Fuzzy-haired Troll:

Fierce Little Dragon:

Pet caterpillar or worm:

Tiny Rabbit:

Easter Bunny:

 Wizard's Owl:

Mini Frog:

I also have several patterns in my shop that would be good. I think I'll make a creature using the Little Folk pattern (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/85800576/pdf-of-little-folk-amigurumi-pattern-elf?):

There's also Flappy Owl (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/94316165/pdf-of-flappy-owl-amigurumi-pattern?):

The Wee Mousies (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/127288010/pdf-of-wee-mousie-amigurumi-pattern?):

Mother and Child Spirits (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/79959886/pdf-of-mother-and-child-spirit-amigurumi?):

Small Spirits (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/62106076/pdf-of-small-spirit-amigurumi-pattern?):

Halfling (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/150079653/pdf-of-halfling-fantasy-amigurumi?):

Or the Chubby Gnomes (https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/71474468/pdf-of-chubby-gnome-amigurumi-pattern?):

I hope that's inspired some of you to make something (or things) to help with this, it'll be fun!

Hollywood Crochet

I'm afraid I haven't been updating this blog very often recently, but that's because I've been working on commissions that I can't talk about until they're finished, which is quite frustrating. Last year I worked on a pattern book, Hollywood Crochet, and created patterns for six Hollywood stars. There were some delays with the book coming out - it comes with the yarn to make one of the figures, and unfortunately there wasn't enough yarn in there originally - but now that's been sorted out and it's available to buy I thought I'd post about it.

The patterns are for Elvis (with yarn), Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe, James Bond (Daniel Craig), and Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCapprio in their roles from Titanic. It was fun working out all the figures, particularly trying to do different styles of hair using various crochet techniques, and I was especially happy with the way Marilyn's iconic dress came out.

The book is published by Parragon Books, just search online to see where you can buy it depending on where you live.