Chick hat for children

Five quirky children's knitted hats from what looks like the early 1960s (or, to be precise, four quirky hats and one standard pom-pom hat).

The yellow chick embellishment is incredibly cute and easy to make - make two yellow yarn pom-poms, one small one for the head, and a larger one for the body. Sew the head onto the body then trim to give the chick a good shape. Work two french knots in black cotton for the eyes and add a tiny pointed piece of black felt for the beak. Sew a few loops of yellow wool to the back of the body, making each one about 1 inch in length, then cut the loops to make a tail.

Llama

I do llike llamas. If I was a Harry Potter character, I'm pretty sure that my patronus would be a llama. An eight-foot tall one with laser eyes.

This one is smaller, and without the lasers, but the important thing is that I designed and knitted him myself without a pattern. His main body is knitted in loop stich chunky yarn and his legs and neck are acrylic double knitting. He has a thin wire frame inside to keep those spindly legs stiff. And luckily, he doesn't spit.

Now for sale on Etsy!

Emu teenager's cardigan

"Oi, Sharon!"

"Wot?"

"Yer cardigan's on back to front."

Poor Sharon will never be a member of The Crochet Set.

The Crochet Set

She's young... she's beautiful... she's looking very smug... she's definitely part of The Crochet Set.

And her baby pink crochet dress (worked in Lister Bel Air 4 ply) can only be worked up to a 38 inch bust size. It's skinnies only in The Crochet Set, sorry.

Buy a copy of this vintage 1960s crochet pattern for £1.50. You'll receive a link to download a high quality PDF document of this pattern upon payment. Pattern is for 34 - 38 bust.

It's raining cute

Howie Woo creates gorgeous amigurumi works of art. Check out his latest public project in Vancouver: 14 different cat and dog raindrops, each named, all hanging from a trellis in the Davie Village Community Garden.

Howie says: "As all eyes focus on Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics, I hope these raindrops show that we Vancouverites can be proud of the rain that makes our streets shiny and our lush trees grow". Bless.

Many more photos on Howie's Flickr page.

Embroidered tablecloth

Another creative idea from The Book of Creative Crafts - a tablecloth complete with machine-embroidered place settings.


Divide your cloth into an even number of squares for place settings, and mark them with tailor's chalk. In each square lay a place and draw round the cutlery with the chalk, then sew round the outlines in zig zag stitch, using a contrasting thread.

Felt applique quilt

This felt applique bedspread from The Book of Creative Crafts (1978, Octopus Books) is a wonder to behold. The quilt motifs are taken from 18th and 19th century stencil and patchwork patterns, and then worked in brightly coloured felt. The headboard is made out of more felt applique: some of the motifs have been gently stuffed to give a 3D effect.


The naive style of the stencils, coupled with the brightly-coloured 1970s felt, makes for a colourful folk art explosion - I think I'd find it quite hard to sleep in this bed.

Felt is easier than other fabrics to use in applique, because you don't have to turn over the raw edges, but even so, designing, cutting, and hand-sewing 56 squares full of peacocks, strawberries, flowers and maidens to complete your bedspread is a big undertaking. What a bedspread...